Thursday Thoughts: Universal Stillness

Posted on August 1, 2024 by Silver James

I never considered myself a morning person. Hated mornings. Mainly because I was a night owl. Around about 10 pm I’d get my second wind and I’d be up until the wee hours. When you don’t work out in the real world, you can get away with this. Or if you’re a young’un–like high school or college. At some point, that all changed. If I sleep much beyond 6 am, I’m probably sick. And I’m barely keeping my eyes open for the 10 o’clock news. I’ve come to appreciate early mornings now, since I’m usually the only one stirring. I have my coffee. If the weather is cool, I’ve been known to take a few moments outside in the backyard sipping the elixir of life and listening to the world come awake around me. And it’s in that stillness that I start to understand this message from the Universe…

Be still, Silver.

Stop thinking.

Feel.

Visualize.

Take action.

Repeat.

Yours,
The Universe
©www.tut.com

P.S. Did you catch the double entendre, Silver? “Yours” as in do these things and that which you want is yours. And as in I’m yours. We’ve still got “it.”

This is how I–and I suspect many others–write. Oh, the actual process is far more detailed. You know, that whole plotter/pantser/puzzler conundrum. But the underlying structure of what we do is outlined above. We still. We stop thinking. We feel. We vizualize. We take action. And repeat. Scene after scene. Book after book. I have a feeling that this will work for everyone, no matter what they’re involved in, be it the creative arts, business, athletics…life. So, take a moment today to just be still. Open up to the world and let it wash over you. Deep breath now. And how do you feel? Me? I’m feeling it’s time for a second cup of coffee and then I’m ready to take on the WIP.

JuLoWriMo is officially over. I didn’t finish the book but I’m way closer. I did something about the “business” of writing every day but one. I’ve hit 112+K words and added 14 solid and completed chapters. That’s nothing to sneeze at considering I didn’t do a thing for 6 months. Now it’s August and time to finish off this tale, get it edited, formatted, and published. Who’s ready for a new book? ” 🙋🏼‍♀️

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Wednesday Words: Ideally Speaking

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Silver James

The wheels on the week go round and round… Here it is Wednesday once more. I sweare time is racing but according to Google, the Earth has not sped up. The good news is, today’s snippet won last week’s Thursday Threads flash fiction challenge. It also got me 250 new words on the WIP. The prompt is: **“I’ll admit, it’s not ideal.”** This little scene comes sort of in the middle of what’s left to write before The End. I think. And yes there’s stuff that happens before the opening line though I haven’t gotten there yet. By the time I do, I’ll have it figured out. Hopefully. shiftyeyes

****
“I’ll admit, it’s not ideal.” Maura scrubbed at her forehead with the heel of her hand. She was so damn tired. Her mind blanked for a moment. How long had it been since she’d slept? Far too long.

“I see no other solution.”

She studied the gray haired man on the other side of the desk. She’d heard stories about Brian “Boru” O’Hara. He was handsome in a hewned way. Usually, the word rough was used with that word. She wondered how many people knew that hewned actually meant rough. Her brain skipped a beat. Wow. She desperately needed a nap but these were dangerous times and she was negotiating with a dangerous opponent. Except he wasn’t exactly. Life was strange now. Allies were not to be trusted and enemies were now friends with shared goals.

“Ms. Brannigan?”

Maura glanced up. She’d drifted again. “I apologize, Mr. O’Hara.”

“For what? You’re drivin’ on fumes, girl. I’ll have a room made up for you.”

“No need for that, Brian.”

She didn’t turn around. She knew exactly who stood in the doorway. Her heart started to gallop when he stopped behind her chair. Maura almost groaned when one hands settled on her neck and his magic fingers began to knead her muscles. Her eyes drifted shut as the men’s voices floated around her.

“Take her home, boyo. We need her at full capacity when it all goes down.”

“Aye. We do. Are you sure about this?

“I am, Ronan. You know what to do.”
****

Anybody wanna guess what’s going to happen next? Let me know because I don’t have a clue! 😜 Happy Hump Day!

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Tuesday Treats & Titles: PBJ & Tuna

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Silver James

Not together, mind you. Because that would be just…weird. But it is summer and it’s hot outside which means the idea of heating up the kitchen isn’t high on my priority list. Of course, at the moment, neither is much heavy duty cooking. I made patty melts one night last week. Butter grilled Texas toast, cheese, grilled onions and hamburger patties. Yummers! This week, it’s really hot so even less incentive to heat up the kitchen. For lunch yesterday, I made a toasted crunchy peanut butter and jelly sandwich. LG fixed soft tacos from the leftovers from Sunday night’s dinner. Last night, I made tuna salad sandwiches. About the only possibly odd thing I add to mine is sliced black olives, a dash or three of Worchestshire sauce, dill pickle juice and hard boiled eggs. As for the sandwich, we like a smear of cream cheese as a base for the tuna salad. That’s yummy too.

Anyway, since I’m too lazy to figure out some new theme for my Tuesday posts and no new book or characters ready to hawk for sale, I’ll just toss up random food thoughts for awhile. But, since I am still trying to sell books from my back list (wow, I’ve sold a whole 18 books at the ‘Zon for a royalty check of approximately $34), I’ll also toss in a random character and book.

After approximately 50 books, there are a lot of characters to choose from. PBJ is one of those childhood staples that anyone might fall back on. Tuna salad seems more like a femine choice though my personal alpha male appreciates a double helping of tuna sandwiches and chips, or a fruit cup, since he’s watching his weight and blood sugar. Would any of you be surprised that the Nightrider clubhouse has a large supply of peanut butter–smooth AND crunchy, along with various flavors of jelly–grape being predominant but also strawberry, peach, and plum. Easy, the hero of NIGHT SHIFT is known to slap together a plateful of PBJs–grape of course–for him, Noah, and Noni. If you haven’t read this series, NIGHT SHIFT is the place to start. If you click on the title, you’ll land on its Books2Read page to find your on-line bookseller of choice, plus it’s available to read for free on Hoopla. If you click here on NIGHTRIDERS, you’ll pop over to the Nightrider page on Books2Read to see all the books. Go forth and propagate your ereaders!

How about y’all? Which sandwich would you pick? PBJ or TUNA? Inquiring minds want to know. 😉

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Monday Morning

Posted on July 29, 2024 by Silver James

This is the last Monday in the month. I think. I suppose I should actually look at the calendar, but where’s the fun in that?

So, Monday. A new week. New possibilities. New options. New stuff. It’s all new. Yeah. Refer back to today’s pic. And yes, that cat does remind me a bit of Pete, who is feeling much better, thanks for asking.

Sadly, I could pretty much stop the post right here. It’s Monday. There was a weekend. Period. I didn’t do much. LG did take me to the local grocery to pick up a few items, followed by a trip across the street to Ace Hardware for bird seed. Jake got to “suit up” and go. He hasn’t worked as my service dog very much over the past 7th months. He likes to go with his people and he likes to work. The grocery was mostly empty so we were in and out. Ace used to be a regular stop and he gets pet there. We found out that his favorite clerk had been out on sick leave for a couple of months–bypass surgery. It was good to see her looking healthy and she appreciated the chance to pet Jake. That was pretty much the highlight of the weekend. I did make the fixings for soft tacos for Saturday night dinner. I’m still not cooking much but that’s more due to not having ingredients to make stuff.

In other activities, I did laundry. Whoopee. 🙄

I haven’t made a lot of progess on the WIP. I’m feeling my way along the plot line, adding in new words and scenes around previously written scenes. It’s coming. I still feel like it’s a good story–which actually kinda scares me a little. At 111K words, I should either be sick of it or claiming it’s junk. I’ve done neither. 😲

I’m currently on a marathon relisten of Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling Trinity series. New book out last week. As much as I love that world, I did not go back to start with book 1.in the original series. I started with the “turnover” book that moves the series into the next iteration and am currently on book 4, ALPHA NIGHT.

Have I mentioned how much I love old-fashioned chocolate sodas? Yummers. After a light lunch yesterday, I fixed one late in the afternoon as a snack. See? Boring life. At the same time, going “radio silent” for so long wasn’t good for me and I hope y’all missed me while I was recovering. I’ll try to figure out some way to be entertaining again. Maybe. If I’m lucky. Anyway, that’s my world at the moment. What’s going on in yours?

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Friday Sinema: TGIF

Posted on July 26, 2024 by Silver James

I will not lie. I love this song like damn and whoa! I love it so much that it is the “alarm” on my phone for when I have to get my @$$ out of bed before the butt crack of dawn. There are times I wish I could listen to the whole song instead of jumping up to, once upon a time, catch a plane or leave out on a road trip. Don’t do much of that anymore. Now I use to remind me of various times during the day when I have to do stuff on a schedule because…yeah, I get involved and lose track of time. Anyway, bottoms up and happy Friday. Hope you have a great weekend!

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Creativity

Posted on July 25, 2024 by Silver James

As y’all know, I had to take a forced hiatus from writing. Heck, I was forced to pretty much give up doing much of anything besides lying in bed and occasionally forcing down food and drink. Being extremely ill Doesn’t leave much time for anything but survival and then recovery. There’s no brain space for much of anything beyond that. Slowly, there’s time and energy for other things. Reading–or listening–to a book. To watching TV beyond news and weather. When you’re a creative person, this is a tough adjustment. And by creative, I don’t mean just writing. Art. Crafts. Cooking. Any activity that gets your juices flowing. Heck, playing solataire or tic tac toe. Anyway, It’s been about six months now. A friend–also a writer who had to take a hiatus because time and brain power had to go to the day job–and I decided to dedicate the month of July to getting back up on the writing horse. The whole point was to be creative every day–whether it consisted of a 100 words or 10 pages edited. She is mostly writing. I’ve spent the first 2/3s of the month on edits but yesterday, I hit the next chapter and while I had scenes, I didn’t have a completed chapter that made sense from opening line to the hook at the end. That’s why today’s message from the Universe, while actually delivered much earlier this year makes perfect sense to me now.

Life? I kind of see it like this, Silver:

Second after second, illusion after illusion, miracle after miracle… an unending parade of opportunities to catch yourself in the act of creating.

Gotcha!
The Universe
©www.tut.com

P.S. Here comes one now, Silver…

So, m’friends, cheers to life, illusion, miracles, and opportunities to create! Today, I’m on chapter 32 and have hopes of figuring out–from scratch–chapter 33. I’m creating new words and a new chapter. What are you creating today?

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Wednesday Words: Famous Last Words

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Silver James

Once again, we have hit Hump Day. The mid-point of the week. Wednesday. Which means words–250 of them in fact. Yes, it is time for a snippet from the ol’ WIP. I loved the Thursday Threads flash fictio prompt this past week. I didn’t win, place or show, but man did Iffy perk up and grab her scissors. I had to distract her by offering up frappucinos and pictures of hunky guys. Since Ronan and Maura are my main romantic couple (among several!). This scene is a quiet moment between the two of them. Sort of. *bwahaha* And what was the prompt? Ta-daa! 👉🏼 **“They can try to kill me.”**

****
The ruby red liquid swirled in the Irish crystal snifter. Maura wrapped both hands around the glass to keep them from shaking as she lifted it to her lips and sipped the brandy.

“Are ya afraid of me then?” Ronan’s voice, soft and lilting with his native Ireland, wrapped around her.

She was quick to answer. “No. Never of you.” She inhaled deeply to settle. “Afraid for you? That’s a different question.”

“And why would ya be afraid for me?”

She leveled a look on him filled with consternation. “Seriously? You’re trying to take over the entire Irish mob here in Boston.” At his chuckled her eyes widened. “Oh, crap. You and Brian are planning on going bigger, aren’t you. You want the whole damn state.”

Ronan was truly amused now. “And?”

“Don’t get flippant, Ronan.”

He settled back into his chair and sipped his whiskey. “Would that be a…roadblock?”

“A roadblock to what?”

“To us, Maura. You and me.”

She didn’t sip the brandy this time, she gulped it. “There’s no choice there.” His arched brow infuriated her. “I have a question but I want a serious answer.” Her penetrating gaze lasered into him. She didn’t continue, waiting, he guessed, for some sign from him. He offered the barest nod of his head. Once he made the gesture, she said, “What’s the worse they will do?”

“They can try to kill me.”

“Try?”

“I’m hard to kill.”

Later, she would remember that she’d muttered, “Famous last words.”
****

There you have it. Let your imaginations run wild on what might happen after this scene. And don’t ask me because I don’t actually know. 😲 Anything can happen! Psst. This is the fun part of writing. Anyway, hope you enjoyed today’s peek. Writers, does this prompt help you out? Readers, what famous last words do you remember?

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Tuesday Treats & Titles: What If Brisket

Posted on July 23, 2024 by Silver James

So. I still don’t have a recipe to share, per se. Nor a book. All my self-pubs remain on 50% off sale at Smashwords. Go forth and grab one and we’ll play “what if” today. CLICK HERE to head over there.

Now, before we play, I do have a bit of food talk though not really a recipe. LG saw a video of this dish (a friend texted the video to him) and told me about it. I’ll probably give it a try at some point because it sounds pretty easy. It involves tater tots, beef brisket, BBQ sauce, and cheese. Thaw the tater tots and smush them into a pie pan to make a “crust.” Bake them for 10-15 minutes until they’re browned. Toss some chopped brisket on top and cover with your favorite BBQ sauce. Bake it for another 10 minutes and sprinkle cheese on top and serve. I should probably try to find the video to double check times and stuff but what the heck. 🤷🏼‍♀️

So, the “what if” portion of today’s program. A bit of background…writers occasionally imbue their characters with certain personal traits. For instance, Hannah and Sade both are coffee fiends. And Hannah especially has a “mouth.” They both like the “f” word. Favorite words, drinks, and foods crop up in books. And, yeah, as mentioned above, I do that sometimes.

Some of you might be asking what is “what if.” This is one of the things writers use to trigger ideas. For instance, I heard the song “Cowgirls Don’t Cry” and I thought to myself, “Self, what if a former cowgirl has to come home to save the family ranch and ends up doing…something…crazy.” Like a modern day cattle drive. And what if she fell for the son of her families biggest enemy… That’s the “what if” game.

Here’s today’s version. What if each of y’all picked one of your favorite foods and matched it to one of my characters. What is the food, which character, and why would they eat it. I’ll start and I won’t default to Hannah or Sade. For those unfamiliar (and if you are, dang! People, people, people!* Go read MOONSTRUCK: SECRETS and/or THAT OL’ BLACK MAGIC! They are both on sale! And yes, those are the Smashwords links.) Anyway, for this game, I’ll pick Maura Brannigan. Her faves are a vanila latte and blueberry scones. Why yes, she does have a recipe for blueberry scones which she will share when the time is right. *bwahaha*

See? That was easy. Now it’s your turn. Character and food or drink please…

JuLoWriMo update: I am soooo confused on word count and chapters. Yes, there has been major cutting and pasting. I am currently on chapter 30. There are currently 109,921–though I think that number is inflated because there has also been copying and pasting. Anyway, the whole point is to work every day and that I am doing so yay! 🥳

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Monday Again…

Posted on July 22, 2024 by Silver James

How can it be Monday already? It was just Monday like…two days ago! Gah! Time needs to slow down. I have way too much to do yet! We’re almost to the end of July. JuLoWriMo is going pretty well despite some set backs. This is the fun of being a puzzler. Sometimes pieces of the jigsaw look like they fit there but don’t. So then you need to figure out where they DO fit. That was my Wednesday and Thursday, and part of Friday. I thought I had things figured out so Saturday was a good day. Then there was yesterday. There was much gnashing of teeth and muppet flailing to be had. I found some scenes that had already been incorporated and the rough draft of them not deleted. Then I found scenes written for a particular plot bunny that did fit but they’re too good to just toss. Gah! Yes, this is me muppet flailing again this morning. I will get it figured out but my neat little counter at the end of my blog posts is now pretty much worthless. I have no clue what the current word count is. I am currently “remastering” chapters 30, 31, 32, and maybe 33…if I figure out what comes next. Anyway, the whole point of this months was to reread, edit, and write every day. I’ve done that every day but one so there’s that.

In other news, I worried for Pete. 😞 He still has no appetite but he is still drinking water, and still wanting out during the day though he disappears until late at night when he comes back in the garage and I have to urge him to come in the house. We have clue how old he is because he was a TNR who just appeared a couple of years ago. .

I’ve sold a whole 7 books on Amazon so far this month. 🙄 Hopefully, the Smashwords sale is going better though probably not because I’ve done very little marketing. That takes energy and brain power and I’m still short of both. Oh well. Write or die, they say. So I’m writing so I can get a new book out. Happily, I’m enjoying the reread of the story so I’m hoping it will do well. 🤞🏼 And yes, I can enjoy the story even while Iffy dashes around with scissors, screaming like a bansidhe at the top of her lungs when she pauses to cut up my scenes. Why yes, I am blaming the current writing roadblocks on my mythical Muse, why do you ask?

Last week and the weekend was a crazy news cycle. I have to admit I’m paying more attention to national news than I probably should. I’ve ignored politics for years. Now I’m remembering why I was a governement/PoliSci/history major in college. Should I mention that I had a psychology minor? Yup, I was Liberal Arts. LOL

I don’t have much else to unpack. Book listening is sporadic and I’m still on the same book I was last Monday. I remain pretty much a hermit though I do drive now. Well, as far as the nearest Starbucks which is about 2 miles away, and back home. I really need to start doing the grocery shopping thing but I hesitate because LG seems reluctant to give up that duty. He goes often to pick up just a few items where my MO is to go once a week and stock up. It’s his excuse to get out and about every day or two.

Anyway. I’ll stop boring you. I’m going to refill my coffee mug, open Scrivener (the writing program I use) and get back to figuring out which way is up. I’ll get there. There will be a new book by summer’s end. How was y’all’s weekend?

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Friday Sinema: Catzz

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Silver James

Yes, I love Pallas Cats. Yes, they are so cute you just want to cuddle and scritch. Yes, they will eat your hand off if you try. But they are sooooo KYOOOTE!!!! So here’s a short break that all parents will appreciate. 😉 Have a great weekend.

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