Meandering Through Monday

Posted on June 15, 2026 by Silver James

We’re almost halfway through June. It seems like I go to sleep and when I wake up, four days have passed. Weird. I remember when time dragged and th stuff I looked forward to would never get there.

We had rain early Sunday morning. Evidently it was just over an inch and a half. By the time I got outside to feed the birds, I couldn’t tell. Thirsty ground in these parts. There were big storms in the northern part of the state, in Kansas and Missouri, including tornado warnings. True story. I’m sitting here at my desk (typing this on Sunday afternoon) and I keep hearing this thigh pitched…siren-like sound. I mute the TV to make sure it isn’t background noise there. Nope. Not the TV. High-pitched, wailing, distant. Like the storm sirens across the city limits. I’m like…”But…but? It’s cloudy but with sun. What?!?!” Before I went into a full muppet flail, I finally recognized the sound–the vacuum cleaner. LG was running it in the opposite end of the house. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Speaking of the rain/storm, when I went out to feed the birds and squirrels, I found a large, opalescent blue, plastic egg out in the driveway island, near one of Nessie’s* humps. I “harvested” it and brought it into the garage. Then I checked the security cam footage. At one point, during the heaviest rain, it scooted across the street but I couldn’t tell you where it originated from. At that time it was intact. At some point, it jumped the curb and split into it’s two parts. Little late for the Easter bunny so who knows? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Sadly, those two events are the highlights. I did update my word count on ARIEL’S DAMN BOOK. I’m almost to 48K now and I actually made progress last week and over the weekend. Here’s hoping for leaps and bounds this week. Hoping, but not holding my breath.

OU shut-out Alabama at the College Worlds. They play tomorrow night in their winner’s bracket. West Virginia plays later tonight. Go Mountaineers! Hey, they’re Big 12 and we always support the teams against “outsiders.”

I’m still working through FATE’s EDGE. I’ve finally reached the 50% mark. I am sooo far behind on my Goodreads reading challenge. Oh well. I’l catch up or I won’t. I have some newly relased books but I’m just not in the headspace to listen to them yet. One of them is ARCHANGEL’S ETERNITY, the final book in Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter/Archangel series. It’s been a favorite series of mine and I’ll admit to being a litttle sad and nostalgic that the series is over. That’s the reader in me. The writer totally gets it!

So, there you have it. That’s my life at the moment. Anyone reading a good book? Progress on your own projects–whatever they might be? Seen a good movie? Did something exciting? I’m nosy. Also, have a great week! The only thing on my agenda is a return visit to vet with Jake on Wednesday. And hopefully, movement on AsDB! 🙄

*For those who don’t know, Nessie is my concrete sea serpent garden statue that resides in the island of our cicular drive. Her head and tail are about 3′ tall and her three humps are 2″ tall/3″ long.

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Friday Sinema: Celtic Echoes

Posted on June 12, 2026 by Silver James

Here. Have a 6 minute vacation on me. Hint, this is who Aisling could be if she ever figures things out. Also, if I could manipulate AI like these folks, I’d have some AMAZING book trailers and videos! Have a great weekend, everyone.

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Boom

Posted on June 11, 2026 by Silver James

Here we are on Thursday once again. It’s a good thing the Universe has thoughts because me? Yeah, not so much. Then I had an interesting conversation with an aspiring writer. She mentioned that she’d toyed with the idea of writing a book for several years. She’d come up with ideas for a plot, write a few paragraphs, lose interest and would then do other things. Then she’d get another idea and she go through the same exercise. She asked me this question: How can you just write?!!? My response was a meme I’d tucked back a long time ago. It’s a simple explanation: Everybody can write; writers can’t do anything else.

Dream it, Silver.

Show up.

Boom!
The Universe
©www.tut.com 

P.S. If boom delayed, Silver, repeat step two.

It really is almost that easy–but also so much harder. You dream up the story, the setting, the characters. You show up to write it all down. And boom! You have a book. Well, sort of. You have a first draft that needs editing, revisions, rewrites. It means querying for an agent and/or publisher and/or setting up to self publish which is a whole new can of worms to open. And what happens if you get stuck. That Boom! you hear isn’t a good one. Well, the Universe has the answer. If the boom is delayed, you just keep showing up. That’s the key to writing–you just keep showing up until it’s done. And boom. Mic drop. Now pardon me. I need to show up because my boom is a long way off.

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Wednesday Words: Goodbye Girl

Posted on June 10, 2026 by Silver James

Once again, I have words for Wednesday. Sadly, I didn’t win, place or show in last week’s Thursday Threads but that’s okay. Three in a row is pushing it! Luckily, the prompt that was chosen from my previous win lent itself to a new scene. Except I really need to stop with the random scenes and work to build on the random scenes I already have. This is part of my writer’s block–too many scenes all vying for a place and my brain just doesn’t want to respond. But I’m off point. This is Wednesday and y’all are due a snippet. First up, the prompt: *”Could he say goodbye?”* All I know is this scene occurs at some point.

****
Ariel watched Aisling from beneath half-lowered eyelids, his expression one of bored disinterest. Movement in his peripheral vision drew his attention. The queen watched him like a hunting hawk with its prey in sight. Arousing Titania’s curiosity was never good.

Oberon called his name sharply. He looked toward the king. “Yes, your majesty?”

“Your report leaves much to be desired.”

He lifted his shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. “I have given you the facts as I’ve learned of them, m’lord.”

“I warned you.” Titania did not keep the scorn our of her voice. “Allowing free rein during the Lilac
Festival is dangerous.”

“We all need to let loose. What is the term the humans use? Let our hair down? Yes. That’s it.””

Ariel leaned back against the wall. This conversation would quickly devolve into a typical Titania and Oberon row. Except it didn’t. Titania marched up and stabbed him in the chest with a wicked nail.

“Does she have it?”

“Have what?”

“The book, Ariel. The book. It is the key to this whole catastrophe.”

He forced his gaze to remain focused on Titania but he’d heard Aisling’s sharp intake of breath. He shook his head, knowing he was lying.

Titania leaned in close. “You must walk away from her, Ariel. This will not end well for either of you. Do your duty and be done with her.”

The queen was right but would he ever be done with Aisling? Could he say goodbye? He didn’t want to find out.
****

Oh my! Is it possible Queen Titania is developing a conscience? Naw. Probably not. Writers, do you have a character facing this delimma? Here’s your prolmpt. Readers, let’s make this semi-fun. What is one bad habit you wish you could say goodbye to?

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Tuesday Treats & Titles: Blue(Moon)berry Delight

Posted on June 9, 2026 by Silver James

Much too often, I’m a day late and a dollar short. In this case, I’m about nine days late. That said, better late than never, right? Today’s recipe is about as easy as it comes, is light but filling, and sweetly tart and creamy. That’s a winning combination for me!

Blueberry Delight
Yield: 4 servings
Prep time: 5 Minutes
Cook time: 5 Minutes
Total time: 10 min

Ingredients
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
4 tablespoons brown sugar

Instructions
1 - Bring the ricotta to room temperature.
2 - Preheat the broiler and place the rack about 6 to 8 inches away from the heat source.
3 - Evenly divide the blueberries into 4 ramekins.
4 - Top the blueberries by spreading the ricotta to cover the fruit well. Sprinkle with brown sugar breaking up any clumps with your fingers.
5 - Place the baking dish or ramekins on a cookie sheet and place it under the broiler until the sugar melts, bubbles are forming, and you can see the caramelization starting to take place, about 5 minutes.
6 - Let cool and enjoy.

DJ Collier may have left the US Marshals Service but she’s still in law enforcement. And while she might have led a busy life with crazy hours, she managed to keep herself fed and just with take out. She’s a big fan of this dessert and happily introducted the other Moonstruck mates to it. Her mate, Antoine Fontaine grew up the Louisiana bayous, more wolf than man. While very much a carnivore, he’s been known to walk through the kitchen and swipe a ramekin. Their story starts in BLUE MOON but they also figure largely in CHRISTMAS MOON and MOONS SHOT. If you’re interested in reading more about DJ and Antoine, just click on a pic or title or grab your cell and follow the QR code. You’ll pop over to the Books2Read landing page for the book you’re clicking on and you can find your on-line bookseller of choice. DJ hopes you enjoy both the treat and her title!

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Meanwhile, It’s Monday

Posted on June 8, 2026 by Silver James

I wish I could. Just lie here. Or there, actually, because technically, I’m sitting at my desk. I’d still be in bed (not the couch) but I have things to do, coffee to drink, words to conquer.

At the moment, I’m waiting for Jake’s vet to open. I’m to take pictures of his poor tail and text them to the doc. I took him off pain pills then put him back on, though not on a strick schedule. He can have one every eight hours but I’m currently only giving him one or two a day as he looks like he might need one.

In other news, there’s not much going on. I did work this weekend. Yay! You might remember that I went back and printed out all the random scenes (40+) that are written for Ariel’s Damn Book. I read them, made notes, put them into piles, realized some of them neeced to be inserted into chapters I thought already written. Oops. So, I went back to the beginning and started editing. I haven’t done that in years because I tend to get a bit obsessive and reedit the same stuff ad infinitum. I’m forcing myself to only fix typos, left-out words (yes, I sometimes type so fast I’ll skip things like “the”, “as”, “he”, etc.), deleting extraenous words and phrases. This is basically what I do with a first pass edit after the book is finished. The good news is, those first 11 chapters will pretty much be subject to final scrutiny when I get back to them for real edits. That’s the good news. The bad news about this process is that it takes time. I can only read so much at a time before the eyes blur. It’s slow. And since I’m inserting already written words, there’s not much new wording going on. Still, it’s all progress for getting the dang book written.

In sports news, college softball is over but pro softball starts this next week. Go OKC Spark! And they’re televized on ESPN. Yippee. Also, college baseball is in full swing headed toward Omaha. OSU is out but West Virginia (hey, any time that stands in front of the crowd when they win and sing “Country Roads” gets my cheers! OU played last night. I haven’t check to see if they won or lost. If they won, they’re headed to Omaha. If they lost, they play the “what if” game…today? I think. Anyway. In soccer news, Stormy had league tryouts this weekend. The Kids thought he “showed” well and he said he had fun. It’s a huge instructional league and all the coaches for each age group gets a good look then they all meet and divvy up players. I haven’t heard which team he’s landed on yet.

I’m currently listening to FATE’S EDGE, third book in Ilona Andrews’ Edge series. There’s some very interesting world-building and some characters from this series crossover to their Innkeepers series. I haven’t read or listened to the books since 2021. It’s been a minute! LOL There’s one more book after this one and then I’ll figure out what’s next. There are two new books on my Want to Read List due to drop soon so they’ll be in the mix.

The only other thing I have to talk about is the weather. We got a smidgeon of rain Friday night, along with clouds and high humidity. This week, the humidity is sticking around, along with temps in the 90s. Ugh. Thank goodness we’ve already had our AC checked!

On that note, I need more coffee while I scroll social media for one more cup and then it will be time to take Jake pics. After that, work. Happy Monday. 🙄

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Friday Sinema: Folded Flag

Posted on June 5, 2026 by Silver James

I’m a big fan of Black Rifle coffee–a company created and run by veterans. They make funny videos to advertise their brand. They enjoy their coffee. They are as patriotic as all get out. One of their co-founders, Mat Best, also happens to be a talented singer-songwriter. They released this video in honor of Memorial Day. I didn’t see it until last Friday, a few hours after my Friday post had gone live. It may be late, but the message is there. I need to finish Ariel’s book because there’s a new Wolf looking out at me from this video. Inspiration comes from many things… Have a good weekend.

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Dragons

Posted on June 4, 2026 by Silver James

Writers are an odd bunch. We often live in our imaginations. Our best friends are fictional characters. We freak out–both good and bad–over the weirdest things. This is especially true when we’re working on a project. We obsess over which word to use. How to structure a sentence. Is that dialogue conversational? Or is it stilted. Will readers like the main character? Is the antagonist bad enough to be disliked? And finally, the biggie that hits us most often: What the hell happens next?!!!? The Universe has thoughts.

It’s not the day you have to manage, Silver, but the moment.

It’s not the dragon you have to slay, but the fear.

And it’s not the path you have to know, but the destination.

What a relief, huh?
The Universe
©www.tut.com

P.S. Love every moment, Silver; nothing can make you less.

The biggest fear we have is whether we are actually writers. Are we good enough? Is the story good enough? Will anyone read it? And if they do read it, will they like it? You cannot have a fragile ego and be a writter. Oh, it’s okay to be a bundle of insecurities, but you have to let that stuff just slide off. Once again, the Big U has pretty much summed it up in a nutshell. Writing. Life. The Writing Life. Same same some days.

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Wednesday Words: Sign Up

Posted on June 3, 2026 by Silver James

Well, good news and bad news. Which do you want first? Bad news, right? To get it over with? Yeah, I’m with you. So, there was no Thursday Threads last week. The blog writer who hosts the challenge was otherwise busy. Now fir the good news. I had some prompts tucked back from the times that I judged so lo and behold…*sounds of celestial trumpets*…there are NEW words for today. The prompt i picked from a hat is: *“This isn’t what I signed up for.”* Truthfully, the last thing I need at the moment is more “loose” snippets running around. That said, I think I have a place for this one. We shall see. Anyway, all I know is something happened, a part of the Scooby Gang is gathered in Aisling’s office at the library, and this conversation occurs…

****
Aisling shook her head and backed away. “This isn’t what I signed up for.”

“None of us did.” Sade huffed out a breath. “Okay. Maybe I did. And Caleb. Well, not this exactly but as FBI agents, we do what we have to do.”

Ariel raised a hand. “I didn’t sign up. I have orders.”

“You know, Ari, you really need to find a better job. I’d really like to know what the hell King Oblivious and Queen Titty-Fae have on you.”

He didn’t look directly at Sade as he responded. “It’s a tale as old as time.”

She burst out laughing. “Have you been watching the Disney Channel again?” Sade glanced over at Aisling. “I have no clue why you are in the middle of this mess but you are. For some reason, whatever magic is at work here is drawn to you.”

Druic shuffled his feet, catching her attention. The kid wouldn’t meet her gaze though he kept throwing surreptitious glance Ariel’s direction. Young Druic knew more than he was letting on.

“But why me?” Aisling’s voice held a soft whining note. She thumped her fist on the leather-bound book sitting on her desk. “All I did was take a new job. I’m a librarian for goodness sake. I was just a geeky girl who loved books and all I ever wanted to do was get lost in them.” She thumped the book again. “And now all they want to do is eat me!” The whine was replaced by frustrated fear.

Sade, catching the expression on Ariel’s face, muttered, “They aren’t the only ones.”
****

There it is. And yes, Sade’s mind went there. If you were to ask why, she would reply, “If it weren’t for the gutter, my mind would have no place to go.” Writers, run with the prompt and have fun. Readers, have you ever signed up for something and then regretted it?

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Tuesday Tidbits: Jake Version

Posted on June 2, 2026 by Silver James

First and foremost, Jake is home, resting, in a bit of pain, but is still his sweet, mellow self. I picked him up about 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon. He walked to the car and climbed in all by himself. I almost cried with relief. He came through the surgery in good shape and while we won’t know if that growth was cancerous or not for a few weeks, he’s home and for all intents and purposes, healthy.

This is one of my favorite Jake pics. He was sleeping hard on my bed doing a modified “dead cockroach” position. And yes, he was snoring.

This is a pic of him “on duty” as my service dog. Please note the long, fluffy tail. He’s a “stubby” now. The doctor wasn’t able to save his tail. There just wasn’t enough skin left to cover the open wound left by the tumor. I haven’t actually measured but I’m guessing he has about 8″ left. It’s more than enough. He goes back Friday to have his bandage and sutures checked. Because she had to take the tail, the vet was able to use some laser therapy which will help speed up healing. The main thing is, he is home, mostly comfortable–we have pain and anti-inflammatory meds for him, and life is settling back to a more normal routine. Not all the anxiety is gone–won’t be until the biopsy comes back–but I’m breathing a little easier and not prone to tearing up for no apparent reason. Thanks to all for the good thoughts and prayers.

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