Tuesday Time Off

Posted on August 6, 2024 by Silver James

This time forty-one years ago, I was out in my parents backyard wiping the dew off the rows of chairs set in rows before this gazebo that my mother contracted because we needed a “focal point” in their very lovely backyard for my wedding ceremony. She sold the gazebo to one of the neighbors down the street after the wedding. It was a lovely morning, though warm. My husband to be, my dad, my brother, my future male in-laws (brother & dad) and LG’s best friend all looked very handsome in their formal morning coats and trousers. We got married in the morning for two reasons–it was outdoors in Oklahoma in August and my dad always wanted to wear a morning coat.

My wedding dress was a size 3 that was altered to be smaller. I had a 22 inch waist back then. For years after, I said I’d never fit in that dress again. Guess what? If the dress still existed*, I’d fit in it now. Who knew?!?! 😲

Anyway, I’m taking the day off. LG is taking me out to dinner–maybe Olive Garden because he has a gift card (and I–like my mothr–am cheap!) Alternative is a local Mexican restaurant that opened right before I got sick but we’ve never tried. We’ll see if we’re feeling Mediterranean or south of the border.

My advice to anyone looking for love, thinking about getting married? Marry your best friend. And remember to laugh. Happy Anniversary, Lawyer Guy! I’d do it all over again with you.

Happy Tuesday.

*My mother put the dress into storage at a local cleaners and at some point, it just…disappeared. I still have the hat though.

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Hot August Monday

Posted on August 5, 2024 by Silver James

Why yes, I am a fan of Neil Diamond, why do you ask?

It’s Monday. It’s August. It’s hot. But the days are getting shorter and Fall can’t be too far away. Right? I like Fall. It’s my favorite.

So, there was a week and a weekend. I finished off JuLoWriMo and started Labor Day Countdown. But no pressure. Beyond writing, my most productive effort was sitting down with LG to plan out some home-cooked dinners. He made the grocery list and let me tell you, the man is a general planning a battle when it comes plotting out his grocery shopping skirmishes. And no, I didn’t go. Maybe next week. Mainly, it was because it was hot out when he went and I would have wanted to take Jake because he loves going.

We had a traditional First Saturday–siren test followed by lunch with The Kids. We had burgers at one of their favorite places that isn’t far from their house and on our way home from the storm siren site we cover. The restaurant had the Olympics on all their TV screens. We got to watch the USA take gold and silver in the shot put. Yay! Only was a thrower in middle school and college–shot put, discus, and javelin (in college–no javelin in MS or HS around here. No clue why.) Food was good but there were a few kitchen issues and some promotional stuff. It all got worked out.

In reading/listening updates, I should be starting the newest Nalini Singh Psy-Changeling/Trinity series title today. For those of you unfamiliar, there are like 16 books in the original Psy-Changeling serie. The newest release is #8 in the Trinity series, which is a continuation of the series but with a different plot arc and focus. I did a marathon listen to the 7 Trinity books plus one book from the original series because the hero of this newest release is a secondary character in that book. In other book news, my sister author B.E. Sanderson has put her SCIU (Serial Crimes Investigations Unit) thriller series on special sale at Amazon.  Dying Embers will be free.  Fertile Ground and Early Grave are be 99c (US and UK only). If taut criminal investigation novels are your catnip, go grap these!

Not much else going on around here. Tomorrow is #41 for LG and me. I’ve been married to him 11 years longer than I lived before we got married. No wonder I feel old! 😉 Time for another cup of coffee because it’s Monday and I need it. What’s going on in your neck of the world?

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Friday Sinema: Because…Smol Criminals

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Silver James

The Pallas Cats are back. We all need a smile and I’m happy to share what made me smile this week. Have a great weekend!

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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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