Thursday Thoughts: Universal Doing

Posted on September 19, 2024 by Silver James

Welp, I’m lagging behind again. Yesterday was a weird day. I woke up sort of light-headed. Not dizzy, per se, but I kept feeling like I was going to pitch forward and so I had to hold onto things to walk around. I got protein into my system. Then caffeine. I sat. I stood. I did not lay back down. Then LG and I made the much needed Wallyworld run. I now have a few jeans and shirts that fit. Anway, I dropped the ball on the WIP. And there’s a worry in the back of my mind that this book is going to be too long, too convoluted, too crowded, too boring. Then, I went looking for today’s Universal wisdom and I found this…

Don’t be afraid to go where you’ve never gone and do what you’ve never done, Silver, because both are necessary to have what you’ve never had and be who you’ve never been.

Be the ball,

The Universe
©www.tut.com

P.S. “Hut, hut,” Silver, go, do.

Since I dropped the ball yesterday, I really need to step up and be the ball today. Many words to come because, yeah. With this book, I am going where I’ve never gone and doing wht I’ve never done. I’m a little afraid but hey, “to infinity and beyond,” right? Right! Where are you going and what are you doing today?

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Wednesday Words: Not Like That

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Silver James

Words on Wednesday. As I’m setting this up in draft form (last Thursday) I need to point out that there are no spoilers in this scene. You might think there are but trust me, this thing is not like the others–not really. Why? Because. Let me explain. Last week’s Thursday Threads prompt came from my flash fiction because I won. I don’t like piggybacking scenes. I’d rather take the prompt and create something completely new. In the course of writing this behemoth, I’ve hit on some twisty-turnys in the story that ARE spoilers. I wanted to work on one of those scenes while the inspiration was fresh, and did, but then sort of borrowed bits and pieces for the challenge of 250 words. Here’s the prompt: **It wasn’t like that.”** I won’t say where in the timeline any of this scene might happen. I will say that only part of it DOES happen. Because I’m a big ol’ tease like that. Anyway, here goes:

****
Maura knelt beside Ronan, fighting panic. She heard men approaching. Good guys? Probably not. Ronan was still breathing. Maybe she could lead them away, lose them, and circle back here. Did she have a choice?

“You sure you hit the guy?” The voice was low and dubious.

“I shot ’im. Saw ’im take the hit. He’s dead.” The guy was bragging.

“We gotta find the girl then get outta here.”

“Nobody around here will call the cops.”

They were close enough she could smell their sweat. The time had come—it was now or never. Like a startled rabbit, she jumped up, knocked over a trash can, and sprinted down the street, away from Ronan. A gun went off behind her and she almost face-planted on the broken concrete. The men argued as they chased after her.

“Idiot. You coulda killed one of us.”

“It wasn’t like that,” the braggart whined. “I thought it was him.”

“You said he was dead. Get the girl then we’ll come back and finish off the Irishman.”

Maura kept running. These men were after her, not Ronan. It was her fault that he was lying unconscious and bleeding. The lines between black and white blurred. Again.

She turned a corner and realized her mistake. A dead end. With no time to escape, she backed into a corner and tried to make herself disappear.

“C’mon out, girlie,” one said.

Then the other screamed as a gigantic silver beast took him down. Ronan. Rescuing her again.
****

Don’t get all excited! This scene will be stretched (already has–mostly) into several scenes spanning a complete chapter. As mentioned, I could only submit 250 words and trying to tell a complete story–which is the whole point to flash fiction–in 250 words is HARD! I would almost lay odds that once the book comes out, y’all won’t remember this snippet at all once you read the completed chapter. Anyway, there are twists and turns and loop-de-loops and these aren’t them. *bwahaha* All I can say is, “It wasn’t like that…” because I’m evil. What are you like today?

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Tuesday Treats & Titles: Tidbits

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Silver James

I have no food today. Nor do I really have a title to push. I mean, I have lots of books so go buy one but I have nothing in particular today. What I do have is some tidbits. As y’all know, I write paranormal and urban fantasy. I have wolf shifters (Moonstruck universe) and all sorts of critters in the Penumbra world. Penumbra has a werewolf. They call themselves that. The Moonstruck Wolves get affronted if they are called werewolves. They are quick to snarl and get offended. “Shifters,” they growl. “We’re wolf shifters!” Yeah, yeah. They will also eat anything but that’s another story.

I’ve been reading and rereading (okay, technically listening) to several different authors, all with shifter characters. And each author has their own rules for their critters. For example, me. My Wolves are born human, only males can shift–that pesky gene on the Y chromosome, and not all males can shift. Some of them just carry the recessive gene and while they can pass it on, they can’t shift. Others try to shift, and fail. They don’t survive. This is why children are important to my Wolves. Silver doesn’t bother them, they can change any time they want, and they mate for life.

I’m currently listening to Suzanne Wright’s Olympus Pride series, which is a compantion series to her Phoenix Pack and Mercury Pack series. She has a huge cast of shifter characters of all sorts of breeds, including ravens, black mamba snakes, wolverines, Pallas Cats, mink, tigers, and wolves. Lots of wolves. Each of her main characters has a personality quirk. One believes in “portents.” Another throws cheesy lines at every female within his vicinity (untill he gets mated). One doesn’t understand “proverbs.” Not the biblical kind but the “Slow and steady wins the race” kind. Another sucks on lollipops and spouts weird factoids. I’ve wondered how much sleep the author has lost trying to come up with something cute, funny, and quirky for each character. I mean, with three series, she has a TON of them. She’s also very good when it comes to imbuing her characters with their animal traits.

Another prolific author is Nalini Singh. Her shifters are born and part of a triumvarite of changlings, psy, and humans. Her shifters change in the blink of an eye and a sparkle of light. There’s some sort of magic involved but no one really knows how it works. Her “quirk” is that if two shifters of different species mate, their offspring will be the animal of the most dominate at the time of conception. In one case, it was triplets and there were two wolves and one leopard. Both parents were dominants, so the boys took after dad and the daughter after mom. Seems fair, right? I’ll digress a moment and point out that “mixed matings” occure in Wright’s books as well. In some cases, siblings belong to different species but I don’t remember there being a “dominance” factor.

In other authors’ books, there are other quirks. In Dannika Dark’s series with shifters, they always have a food craving after they shift. A smart mate/potential mate discoveres what that craving is and has it readily available post shift. This is worth all kinds of relationship points. The cravings are often…weird. One wants vanilla pudding. Another wants peanut butter. One want sardines (I think–it’s been a while) yet hates the little fishies at any other time.

See? I did manage to work food into this meandering monolog. I enjoy these little quirks and differences in the worldbuilding. It keeps things fresh and different. I also like the humor these quirks often bring about. All totally intentional on the authors’ parts because we’re talented that way. So, now that I’ve rambled along, here’s my quesiton(s). If you were a shifter, what animal would you be? And what food would you crave and what “personality” trait would you have? Pick your “adventure” ell me what it would be. I’ll go first. I’d probabl be a wolf but a horse would be a close second. My craving would be cappucino chocolate chunk ice cream and my trait would be double entendres and/or euphemisms. With a side of sarcasm. Just sayin’… Who’s next? 😉

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Monday, Monday, Monday

Posted on September 16, 2024 by Silver James

For those of us old enough to get it, read today’s title in Jan Brady’s voice. And yes, I was reaching but it still made me laugh.

In other news, it is Monday. I may or may not be making a Wallyworld run. I still need to buy some clothes that actually fit. Also, a few groceries. But first, coffee. Psst this meme literally made me snort coffee out of my nose. So true!

Speaking of working, I am soooo close now. The weekend was very productive! Some loose threads found where they belong in the tapestry of the story. On Saturday, I added to a chapter that had mostly been finished on Friday–once I figured out one of those threads. Then I wrote two chapters on Saturday and took a look at the remaining puzzle-piece scenes. I got them lined up in tineline order and jotted ideas for transitional narrative to tie them all together to the story. And in doing that, I figured out how to tie up all the other lose threads. This is HUGE progress. Still no promises for the date of The End, but I’m truly thinking that maybe by the end of this week. Yippee! I’m starting on chapter 50 today and closing in one 150K words. I’m hoping that it’s only about 140-145K once the edits are done.

In sports news, no soccer this weekend but there was college football. My OSU Cowboys beat Tulsa. OU struggled a bit but they beat Tulane. This coming Saturday will be a doozie. OSU takes on Utah and OU goes up against Tennessee. Also, ESPN’s Game Day will be televised from Norman. Adding drama, Tennesee’s head coach is a Heisman-trophy winning OU quarterback. I do like this time of year.

I finished off the latest release in JD Robb’s In Death/Eve Dallas series, PASSIONS IN DEATH. As almost always, it’s awesome. Now I’m doing a marathon relisten to a ParaRom series because the newest book in it finally dropped in audio. It centers on a pride of Pallas Cats, along with some wolverines, eagles, a Tasmania devil, a bear cat (aka red panda), and a black mamba snake. I end up laughing a lot. I ❤ Pallas Cats becaue they are the original grumpy cats and are also all kinds of bad@$$. Fun stuff.

The weather is warm again but just barely above seasonal average. First day of Autumn is coming up and there’s talk of a cool front coming in this weekend. It’ll be a relief. In the meantime, at least the nights are cooling off and the idea of a cup of hot coffee on the back patio to watch the sun come up doesn’t sound so bad.

On that note, time to knuckle down. Coffee is on the grocery list and I can’t complete the circle of life unless I get to work. What are you working on today?

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Friday Sinema: Faerie Pirates

Posted on September 13, 2024 by Silver James

Happy Friday the 13th. I’m not superstitious. At least not about today. Weird things happen to me on Friday the 13th but never bad stuff. And the weird stuff happened earlier when I “rediscovered” David Garrett. If you didn’t see Tuesday’s post, go back and check it out. Garrett, a violinist extraordinaire, is/was the inspiration for one of my favorite characters from early in my writing career–the Fae Harper Abhean in the Faerie Reign series. Add to that one of my favorite movie themes and we have this fun bit of Friday. Fun..What about y’all…Are you superstitious about today?

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Truth

Posted on September 12, 2024 by Silver James

There I was yesterday afternoon, sitting at my desk, tip-top-typing away. I got to a spot where I needed a metaphor. Or is it a simile? I always get those confused–which is why I am NOT an English or Creative Writing teacher. Anyway, I was looking to compare two things as in this thing is like that thing, which is a simile. Yes, I just looked it up. So, I hit this part of the narrative and came to a complete halt because I couldn’t figure out a good way to say what I wanted to say. It happens. It’s a mild form of writer’s block. Real writer’s block? Yeah, that’s when you sit and stare at the screne and/or paper and absolutely no words come, nor ideas either. You’re just stuck there in the mud like a drunekn off-roader. All writers are subject to this malady. But, I think maybe the Universe has an idea…

Silver, if only you would look inside…

The truth you seek could no longer hide.

You know it,
The Universe
©www.tut.com 

P.S. WHATEVER it is you’d like to know, Silver, is with you right now.

Gosh, the Universe is a poet and I suspect It knows it. I saw a quote the other day: A person without imagination is like a teabag without hot water. That is a simile! And also true. Thank you, Alan Fletcher, for your wisdom. Writers need to be full of imagination. That’s how we dream up our plots, settings, and characters. It’s how we string words together to describe those settings and characters and tell the tale. Imagination is something that lives inside us and as the Universe says, that’s where we need to look to find the truth of our story. This is also good advice for just life in general. All we have to do is take a good, long look inside ourselves.

P.S. The simile I came up with? “Avoiding Ronan O’Connor was like trying to hide from ants at a picnic.” Not the best one but it served the scene. What are you avoiding today?

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Wednesday Words: The Fix Is In

Posted on September 11, 2024 by Silver James

Wednesday means words and there are new ones this week. My current word count is 140K+ words and I finished off Chapter 45 yesterday. I am happy to report that today’s words made me the winner in last week’s #ThursdayThreads. To say I was surprised is an understatement. The prompt was a good one but tough! Especially given the type of story I’m working on. Anyway, I managed to find a way to use it and it was good enough. I’d like to thank Maura for her inspiration and Judge Francone for his cooperation. 😉 Here’s the prompt: **”But I heard the system break.”** I’m not going to give any background because the snippet pretty much stands by itself. All things considered…

****
Maura stared out. Boston’s buildings crowded around like a scrum of rugby players. Her scattered thoughts weren’t condusive to explaining her actions.

Judge Francone cleared his throat. She didn’t turn around. “Ms. Brannigan?”

“I don’t know what to say, your honor.”

“We aren’t in the courtroom, Maura.”

“No, but you are still a judge.”

“And you are still an assistant district attorney.”

“Am I?”

“Have you filed a letter of resignation?”

She had to consider that. Alex had, for all intents and purposes fired her. But that was before… “It wasn’t like that.”

“Talk to me, Maura. Me. Not the old fart in the black robes with a gavel in his hands. It’s just you and me here. Off the record. Just Maura and Tony.”

She almost giggled but reined in the slight hysteria rising up inside her. “Tony? Really?”

“My mother only called me Anthony when I was in trouble.”

“What did your father call you?”

“Trouble.”

They both laughed and she relaxed, finally turning away from the world outside the window.

His voice was soft and curious when he spoke again. “What’s happened, Maura?”

Where did she begin? Her falling in love with a criminal mastermind? Her boss turning into a homicidal megalomaniac? Her snooping? Maybe. Or not.

“I learned the system was rigged. Law and order. My guideposts have always been law and order. Then I discovered what was happening. I thought I could do something but I heard the system break.”

“Then fix it.”

“I can’t.”
****

This is the original 250 word snippet. It’ll be edited in the final with some additional action, etc. Of course, at the rate I’m going, the dang book will be 200K. I’m not to “War and Peace” level yet, nor George R.R. Martin, but I am J.R.R. Tolkien levels. Which is scary because I am none of those authors. The good news is that I truly think I am drawing closer to The End. Keep your fingers crossed. As alwasy, writers feel free to grab the prompt and iIn the mean time, what would you like fixed today?

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Tuesday Treats & Titles: Faerie Bread

Posted on September 10, 2024 by Silver James

Long story. I rediscovered a musician that I liked very much years ago. Like at the beginning of my publishing career years ago. I liked him so much, in fact, that he became the inspiration for a character. I was working on a trilogy that eventaully became a trilogy with a novella. The first book I sold to a published was FAERIE FATE, about an older woman who is tossed waaaay back in time and instead of being old, she’s young again. The basis for the plot was not only time travel but reincarnation, which became the underlying theme for the rest of the books. I fell down a LOT of rabbit holes researching Irish history and Celtic myths while writing that series. One of the characters is Abhean, the Harper to the Tuatha de Danann. He is rather villianous but he got his own story in FAERIE FAITH, which is part of an anthology series, The Twelve Brides of Christmas. Anyway, I came across a David Garrett video over the weekend and thought to myself, “Self! You have a title to peddle for Tuesday Treats and Titles! Also, you have a video for Friday the 13th. Yippee!” And here’s the recipe to go with Abhean’s book.

Faerie Cloud Bread

Prep Time: 20 mins.
Cook TIme: 30 mins.
Total Time: 50 mins.
Yield: 6-8 pieces

Ingredients

  • 3 large eggs, separated
  • ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 2 ounces cream cheese, very soft
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • Sanding sugar (large grained sugar) or sugar sprinkles to go on top

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

  2. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar together in a bowl until stiff peaks form.

  3. Mix egg yolks, cream cheese, and sugar together in a separate bowl using a wooden spoon and then mixing with a hand-held egg beater until mixture is very smooth and has no visible cream cheese. Gently fold egg whites into cream cheese mixture, taking care not to deflate the egg whites.

  4. Carefully scoop mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, forming 5 to 6 “buns”.

  5. Bake in the preheated oven until cloud bread is lightly browned, about 30 minutes. You need to watch it closely because no two ovens are alike.

  6. Remove from the pans and cool on a rack or cutting board.

TIPS:

1 – While warm they are crumbly and similar to baked meringue. Don’t let this fool you! Once completely cool, seal them in a ziplock storage baggie or a Tupperware container overnight. They will totally change their consistency, to something much more like bread – a softer texture that is nice and chewy. If you do not like softer, chewy bread, then eat them as they are, nice and crisp.

2 – This stuff is basically carb free. If you’d rather have savory, leave out the sugar and add spice/flavoring of your choice, like garlic, rosemary, etc. You can use two “slices” to make a sandwich. Me? I have a sweet tooth so I’m all about the sugar.

So you know the background. FAERIE REIGN, which is the trilogy +1’s title contains FAERIE FATE, FAERIE FIRE, FAERIE FOOL, and Abhean’s book, FAERIE FAITH. I should mention that Mannanan Mac Lir, the fae king of Tir Nan Og (Land of the Ever Young) banishes Abhean to the human realm. If you’d like to know more or want to grab a copy, click on any of the titles or either of the pics. The link will take you to another page on my website which is the series page and you can find buy links and blurbs. These are still some of my favorite stories.

Our question for the day: Sweet or savory?

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Spicy Monday

Posted on September 9, 2024 by Silver James

Seriously? Can they just wait until…like…October? And no offense but pumpkin belongs in pies and bread. Not coffee. (Sez the one who drinks mocha frappucinos and/or sweet cafe au lait. *snort* I’m kidding. Y’all go enjoy your pumpkin spice everything. I’ll wait… 😉

So, on to the mostly unexciting life of me. More progess made last week and this weekend on the book. I’m pushing 140K words and a scene I wrote yesterday has me double-thinking but I’ll let my beta decide. Anyway, things are picking up speed. No promises but maybe by week’s end… Provided I don’t get distracted.

In other news, it was First Saturday and we had a successful siren test along with lunch with The Kids at their favorite burger place. I’ll admit, their “Black & Bleu” is pretty tasty–Black Angus beef with bleu cheese, red onions, lettuce on a homemade bun. I get the slider size which is just about right. The OSU game was on and it was a nailbiter! My Cowboys ended up wininng in double overtime. There’s a reason we call them the Cardiac Cowboys. The Kids were treated to suite tickets to the OU game. Baseball Boy is an OU fan. We are too, except when the Sooners play the Cowboys. I’m still irked at the Sooners, though, since they cut and ran for the SEC. Anyway, they had a tough time and squeaked out a 16-12 score. Sunday afternoon was soccer with Stormy. His team won 5-2 so yippee! I still don’t understand the sport and at this point, I’m not sure I care. LOL I go to watch Stormy play.

It is starting to feel a little like fall around here. Lows are actually cool so early mornings are nice–like sitting out on the patio sipping morning coffee nice. Hights are only mid-80s and that’s tolerable. I am sooo ready even though this summer wasn’t all that bad. We’ve had much worse around these parts.

In reading news, I upped my goal in the Goodreads challenge from 50 to 70. I was 12 books ahead now I’m like 2 books behind but that’s okay. Most of what I’ve listened to lately is new versions of old favorites, ie. multi-cast audio. Good stuff. One new book is THE SINNER, the newest release in Dannika Dark’s Black Arrowhead series. I’m currently listening to JD Robb’s PASSION IN DEATH to remind of where things are for the new release PASSIONS IN DEATH. I’ll be on it probably tomorrow.

I’m totally irked at Disney and Direct TV/ATT. They’re arguing over fees so we’re missing about 15 channels. Which we are paying for but can’t watch because DT/ATT have blacked them out. Or Disney has. I’m not sure. I hope they work it out but I worry how much our bill will go up. I’m about to the point to compare costs of several of the streaming networks combined to see if that would cost more or less. It’d be a pain because the streams don’t like my and the TV in my office isn’t smart. Yeah, yeah, first world problems.

So, that’s pretty much my life. Laundry got done over the weekend so the only real chore left this week is the grocery run. Depending on how late LG sleeps in, I may just grab Jake and the two of us will have an adventure at Walmart. We’ll see. Right now, all my thoughts are contained in this first cup of coffee. And yes, it is just plain ol’ cafe au lait with a big spoonful of stevia. What’s up in your world?

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Friday Sinema: It Happens…

Posted on September 6, 2024 by Silver James

So, I’ve never actually heard of this artist before but then again, I haven’t exatly been staying on top of music these days. Long story shore, I came across his name (Granger is an AWESOME name!), looked him up, and listened to this song. Yeah, it pretty much happens like this for all my Wolves. 😉 Have a great weekend!

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