Thursday Thoughts: Universal Miracle

Posted on September 15, 2022 by Silver James

Sometimes, completing a manuscript feels like a miracle. Writers love when a book seems to write itself. Inspiration is front and center, the words flow from our imaginations to our fingertips and appear on screen as we typity-type-type away. Then there are books we want to write–have a deep-seated need to tell the story and it’s like scooping out a hole in quicksand. Good thing the Universe has a remedy for this. And it’s so simple, really, when you stop and think about it.

The secret to performing miracles, Silver, lies in:

1. Knowing your desired outcome.
2. Not knowing how you’ll pull it off.
3. Proceeding anyway.

When you move, I move –
The Universe
©www.tut.com

Once again, Silver, taking action saves the day.

And that’s how it’s done my friends. Take action, which means butt in chair, hands on keyboard. We got this, right? Write! Sometimes, progress is measured in a few words. Sometimes, in a chapter. As long as we’re taking action, stuff gets done–whether writing or doing anything in life. What action will you take today?

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Wednesday Words: Payback

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Silver James

It is time, once again, for us writers to be inspired and scribble out some words because it is Wednesday and that;s what we do. Right? So, #1lineWed is back to somewhat inane themes but whatever. This week, the THEME, with explanation/hints, is **IN — Opposite of out. Thrall. Place. Bruges.** #ThursdayThreads was a great follow-on to last week’s with “You’re going to pay for that.” Rather than find some way to incorporate it into my “current” WIP (CROSSFIRE), Iffy sent my brain a different direction. She, and It, decided to revisit the Moonstruck Mafia WIP. As a set up, Maura Brannigan is a Boston ADA. The DA, Alex Crenshaw, is a real piece of work. Ronan O’Conner, alpha Wolf and second in command of Boston’s Irish mob, has taken an interest in Maura for all the reasons a Wolf does. 😉 Anyway, this is around the middle of the story. The chemistry is there but they havven’t exactly hooked up yet.
****
Maura jerked around as the door to her office slammed shut. Alex, all but foaming at the mouth, stalked across the floor, his footsteps silent on the government-grade carpet. She raised her chin and braced herself. Her boss had a mean temper and he’d raked her over the coals more than once when they butted heads over a case but today he appeared almost deranged. She didn’t back down as he got right up in her face and she gripped the sides of her tailored slacks to keep from shoving him away.

“What the hell did you think you were doing!” It wasn’t a question so she remained quiet. “You stupid cunt. You’ve probably ruined the case we’ve built against Tommy Gallagher’s murderer.”

“All the evidence is circumstantial. You have no means, no motive, no weapon. In fact, the medical examiner’s report says that Gallagher was killed by an animal. The man you arrested does not own a dog. And he has an alibi.”

Alex got even closer but he was so agnry no words came out when he tried to speak. A small part of her brain wondered if he was having a stroke. Spittle flew from his mouth as he slapped her. She gagged when it landed on her face. With supreme calm and control, she pulled his immaculately folded handkerchief from his suit coat pocket and wiped her face.

Neither of them realized they were no longer alone until Ronan O’Connor spoke. “You’re going to pay for that.”

Maura backed up, Alex’s handkerchief still clutched in her fist. She’d come close to punching the man but Ronan’s arrival prevented her from taking that reckless step. Feral red flashed in his eyes and she truly feared that he would kill Alex. She had to regain control of the situation right now. She opened her mouth but had to clear the lump in her throat before the words would come out. “Mr. O’Connor—”

“A man doesn’t hit a woman.” He cut her off, totally ignoring her. He remained completely focused on Alex. is Irish accent was thick and his voice so gruff it was mostly growl.

“Get out.” Alex spat the words, literally.

Ronan reached for Maura’s hand and retrieved the handkerchief. He slowly wiped his face and then stuff it back into Alex’s pocket. “Ms. Brannigan, would you like me to summon the police so you can file assault charges?” His smile was slow and wicked but his remained hot and deadly. “I will happily sign a witness statement that the District Attorney lost control and struck one of his female employees.
****
And there you have it.” I will get back to Boston one of these days, hopefully before the end of the year. We’ll see. No promises but hey! Lots and lots of teasers because I’m all tricky like that. You have your assignment, wirters, should you wish to play. Readers, what’s your favorite form of payback?.

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Tuesday Treats & Titles: Rescue Me

Posted on September 13, 2022 by Silver James

There’s a recipe, if you will, to creating a book and getting it ready for self-publication. The fun part is creating the characters and settings, plotting the story line, putting words and actions into the narrative. Then comes editing. Revisions. Decisions about covers–which can be fun because it means looking through lots of stock photos, which can also be kind of boring and/or frustrating if you don’t know exactly whay you and/or your cover artist is looking for. There’s the dreaded blurb. I hate writing blurbs. I suck at it. Luckily, I have a friend who is pretty darn good at it and she freely gives me advice. Yay. There’s formatting invovled. Front matter. Back matter–which has to be constant updated each time you release a new book (more about that in a sec). Table of contents for digital. Page numbers and header content for print.

Updating book lists hopefully just got easier. I wasn’t sure the link would hold up on the ‘Zon because they want their links but evidently, they don’t have a problem with a universal link, which works as a landing page for a series. This is especially helpful for an on-going series. You just have to update the title in the list and have that universal landing page as the link for the series title. In my case, I’m using reader lists on Books2Read. If you click on the link, it takes you to a caroursel that shows the cover of each book. Click on it and boom–you go to the book page and find links to every story where the book can be baught. Yay! With 50+ books out there, the thought of having to update the back matter in each book? Uhm…nope! I’d never write another book. It’s also easy to update on my website. Want to see how it works? Since RESCUE MOON is now available a few places for preorder, and since I remember to add it to the carousel, give it a shot. CLICK HERE. And while you’re there, grab RESCUE MOON or one of the other Moonstruck Wolf books that are out.

In other publishing news, I’m on track to get the other 3 books ready and uploaded for preorders in quick order. SEAL MOON has a planned release of September 24, ASSASSIN’S MOON on October 3, and UNDER THE ASSASIN’S MOON on October 10. Depending on when I get them uploaded, they’ll have varying lengths of time to preorder.

Now, why do I need to be rescued? Because I hate all the “technical” stuff involved with self-publishing. And the marketing, which I totally suck at. This is why I was a liberal arts major instead of business. Anyway, it also didn’t help that the ‘Zon has “updated” their upload process. I had a ranging headabhe by the time I was finished Sunday. Luckily, a win by my Cardnials and a long nap cured the pain.

So we’ve talked tiltes. Let’s talk treats. To help with the headache, I grabbed a box of Cheez-Its Snack Mix because I’m too lazy to make my own Chex Mix (you know, with Chex cereal, Worchestire sauce, butter, etc.?). That said, when I do, I tend to go overboard. Like the original recipe, I use Rice, Corn,  Wheat Chex. plus  I use pretzel sticks and mini pretzel bows. I throw in peanusts, pecans and cashews rather than mixed nuts, because those are my favorite nuts. Then I add Cheetos–puffs, balls, and crunchy. Can’t ever have too many Cheetos! And bagel chips, because those are in the original recipe. So yeah, I have to up the butter and Worchesthire to cover everything. Here’s a LINK for the original Chex Mix recipe. Who else is a fan of Chex/Snack Mix? Do you make your own? What ingredients to you add? And can you stop eating it before the bowl is empty?

Posted in Books, Craft, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Falling Into Monday

Posted on September 12, 2022 by Silver James

Mother Nature is such a tease! Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. We had some rain overnight, then temps in the 50s and gray skies until noon. The sun came out and we were still below 70. I opened windows and turned off the AC. I’ll probably have to turn it back on this morning, but that’s okay. I had a chance to air out the house and enjoy the change in weather. FYI, Fall is my favorite season.

So, RESCUE MOON should be appearing in on-line stores for preorder. Its release date is September 19. Click over to its page on Books2Read. Buy links will populate there as they go live and it’s already available at several stores, including Amazon, Apply, and Kobo! Speaking of the ‘Zon, it has changed the process since the last time I uploaded a book there. Not sure I’m thrilled with the new version but we’ll see. By the time I found the last three typos (that I CAN thank the ‘Zon for) and fixed them and got the two versions uploaded to the ‘Zon and Draft2Digital, I’d given myself a headache, despite copious amounts of caffeine. It happens. Today, I start the next book, SEAL MOON. One last read-thru for proofing, then formatting the two versions and uploading, also for varrying lengths of preorder time. The four “new” Moonstruck Wolf books will release one week apart, but all will be available for preorder as soon as I get them uploaded. I’m sort of running an experiment on sales. We’ll see what happens.

Stormy had his first fall soccer league game Saturday. It wasn’t too bad, weather wise. It did get warm before the end of the game but it was tolerable. We were glad we’d taken cold bottled water for Jake. He was thirsty before it was all over. Stormy did good, as did his BFF. The other kids are still trying to figure out the game but there’s hope for quite a few of them. We have a double-header to look forward to next Saturday. Oh joy. 😉

I have a new vice. “Yellowstone.” I have no clue why I never actually sat and watched the series.When it originally aired, I DVR’d it, then decided at the end of the first season that since I hadn’t made time to watch it, that I wasn’t interested so I deleted the season and stopped recording. Funny thing that, and this is something of a long story in that it is twisty-turny. I’m watching a Cardinals game and the two announcers, Dan and Brad, are discussing the walk-up music for one of the players. Dan is the play-by-play guy and he stated that he wasn’t sure if it was the theme from “Yellowstone” or the theme from “Game of Thones.” He hoped it was “Yellowstone” because this player was a dead ringer for one of the characters. Turns out Dan is a fan. Curious about the music, I “you-tubed” it and got the recording of the symphany orchestra and director recording the theme to a series of scenes from the premier. OMG! I’m looking at those scenes and thinking, WTFOMGBBQ! I need to watch this sucker like right now! And since I HAD finished the proofing of RESCUE MOON, I decided to check it out. Here’s the deal. So the premier is free on Peacock. I watched it on my computer. There’s the patriarch (Keven Costner). There’s the prodigal son, the disappointing son (in that he wants to be a cowboy not a cattleman–there IS a difference), the eager-to-please son, and the rebel hell-on-wheels daughter. There’s a good Indian and a bad Indian (who happens to be chief), there’s star-crossed lovers, a slimy real estate developer, politicians, and…and…and! That was just the premier! So, I now have a subscrption to stream Peacock so I can catch up on the four seasons already “in the can” as they say. Any of you fans?

Reading was a bust. Again. Makes me sad. A new book I’ve been waiting on releases tomorrow. I might give up on the current read and dive into it. I’ll see when I get up in the morning. The good news is, I’m less tempted to skip working on the proofread of the other 3 Moonstruck Wolf books.

In sports news, the REAL OSU (go Cowboys!) beat the Sun Devils, OU beat up on Kent State, and Texas almost pulled off the upset of Alabama. Crazy college football this weekend. My Cards are back to being hit-or-miss but they’re still holding the lead on the NL Central Division. And they did come from behind to take 2 of 3 games from the Pirates. Albert Pujols got his 496 career homerun and tied A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) for 4th all-time on Saturday and then yesterday, he got 497 to hold 4th place all by himself. Everyone is hoping he’ll break 700 before the end of the season. The 700 Club is very exclusive–like Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth. Anyway, yay sports teams.

There’s not much else going on in my world. Just nose to the grindstone on the book proofing, sneaking in an episode of “Yellowstone” and doing my weekly Wallyworld run. Oh, and laundry. It is that time of the week. On that cheery note 🙄 I’ll return you to your regularly scheduled morning routine. Have a good weekend? And what’s on your agenda this week?

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Friday Free For All – Name Calling?

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Silver James

Today, I present you with a collection of odd thoughts and trivia that have popped into my head. So there ya go…

It’s September. You know what that means, right? *points at meme in the corner* Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

Whiskey Fox. Alphabets. Y’all know that the military and first responders use a “phonetic” alphabet because voices don’t always enunciate words and so many words/letters sound alike, especially on the radio and with all the regional accents we got goin’ on. So, for the military, it’s Able,Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf/, Hotel, India,  Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform,  Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. Stick with me here. I AM going somewhere with this. As a rule, cops and first responders use a different alphabet, using names: Adam, Boy, Charles, David, Edward, Frank, George, Henry, Ida, John, King, Lincoln, Mary, Nora, Ocean, Paul, Queen, Robert, Sam, Tom, Union, Victor,William, X-ray, Young, Zebra.

With me so far? Hang in there for another minute. Now, most of you know I’m married to a former US Army officer, and I’ve worked both in the fire service and with law enforcement. So yeah, I speak the language. I also happen to be a big fan of “On Patrol Live,” the reincarnation of “Live PD.” It’s a reality-based TV series where cameras ride around with law enforcement offivers and its broadcast live, where it’s predecssor “COPS” was filmed and edited.  Now, keep hanging, I’m almost to my point. Up above, I just stuck in two words. Whiskey Fox. Which is sort of military shorthand. A cop on one of the episodes called in a description, and said “Whiskey Fox.” Which stnads for “White Female.” I’m cracking up and then Iffy, my Muse, pokes me in the stomach and says, “Stop that! And write it down. Because what a freaking awesome name is that for a character?!?! Whiskey Foxx. Oh, hell to the yes it is! 

And now you’re sitting there scratching your heads going, “Well, that’s five miutes of my life I won’t get back.” Tough. I thought it was funny and yes, in some future book–likely a Nightrider story–there will be a heroine with the name Whiskey Foxx. And no. She will NOT be an exotic dancer, though…yeah, people might just assume that she is.

Sometimes, real names are better than made up names we authors create for our characters. Like Cutter Pryde. He’s a real person. And I totally want to steal HIS name for a character.

So, I heard an interview with a college football coach about the expanding playoff systems. “I could care less. Really. I could care less.” Dude, that means that you totally care but you are tying to come off like it doesn’t matter. “I couldn’t care less” is supposed to mean that you don’t care are all. Or does it? These two phrases put my brain on the hamster wheel. “I could care less” means that it IS possible for you to not care as much as you already do, because like, you already care a great deal.  Right? “I couldn’t care less” means that you don’t care at all and therefore it is impossible to care less than you already do. Or does it? Does it actually mean you care too much and therefore can NOT care less? See? What if they actually mean the same thing? Gah! Now I have a headache.

And yes, I have cheat sheets for stuff like that, along with effect/affect, lay/lie, and other confusing words. My bugaboo is “it’s” and “its.” Yes, the former is the contraction for “it is” while the latter is the possesive, as it something belonging to it. But possessives have apostrophes. And yes, I have to run a search on a finalized manuscript and look at every dang use of the work. Takes forever and I still manage to miss some. And now my headache is back.

On that note, I’ll leave you to your regularly scheduled Friday. What’s in a name? And what words/phrases make you crazy? Have a great weekend!

 

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Thursday Thoughts: Universal Betting Pool

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Silver James

Whenever I watched the Mary Martin “live” version of “Peter Pan” as a kid, I ALWAYS clapped for Tinkerbell. You see, I believe in fairies. And Faeries. There is a difference. I also believe in unicorns and angels and ghosts and things that go bump in the night. I had an invisible friend as a child. He wasn’t imaginary. He was very real but I was the only one who coud see him. His name was Loyal (LOY-al) and he was tall, slender, with pointed ears and long hair. He told me was a High Elf, and they were different from the fairies who made toadstool/green grass fairy rings in the yard, and also different from the Fae. My mother would roll her eyes and my dad would simply nod solemnly and go on about his business. Sometines, I thought my dad caught glimpses of Loyal. Maybe not. Anyway, yes, I was that weird kid but I didn’t care. I made up fantastical stories and read others written by actual writers. Imagine my surprise when I first read Tolkien!?! HE knew about the High Elves and the differences. When this little gem dropped into my inbox, I wasn’t too suprised.

The lions and tigers and bears of time and space, Silver, are really the angels and fairies and unicorns that followed you here, in disguise, from world’s beyond, agreeing to poke, unnerve, and awaken you should you ever begin to forget that you’re making it all up… your life, that is.

Now that’s love –
The Universe
©www.tut.com

True, Silver, they also lost the bet that you’d indeed “go human,” commando, no less…

Okay, yes. I’ve gone commando a time or two. Who hasn’t? And I’ve always had an affinity for lions and tigers and bears, especially after playing The Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz.” Golly, if I only had a brain! The point of all of this is without imagination, stories wouldn’t be written, there would be no stories around the campfire, or movies, TV, or art of just about any sort. There’s an interesting point in Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changling books. For those not familiar, a brief world overview to this paranormal/alternate future/scifi series. There are changlings. They are shifters and live very close to their animal halves. There are Psy, who are endowed with crazy psychic abilities and who embraced Silence in order to survey some of the crazy. Silence is the absence of emotion. Then there or just normal humans who manage to struggle through against the odds. Guess who is responsible for all the music and the art that gets created? Yup. The plain ol’ humans who live and love and hate and survive by the hairs on their chinny-chin-chins. It’s our very humanity that gives rise to our imaginations. Now it’s up to us to set them free to soar so we can create. My challenge to you today is to go out and create something. Anything. Food. Writing. Music. Art. Crafts. Whatever captures your imagination. And hey, if there are some fairies, unicorms, angels, lions, tigers, and bears involved, all the better! 😉 (Also wolves. Can’t leave out the wolves. Or the horses. 🙂 )

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Wednesday Words: Are We There Yet?

Posted on September 7, 2022 by Silver James

My caldendar shows that it’s Wednesday again so time for some inspiration and new words. The theme for #1lineWed is **DELUSION** and the prompt for #ThursdayThreads is “You know why I’m here.” Today’s snippet is short. I usually embellish what I worked up for the prompts but I didn’t get around to it this week so what you get is the 250-word flash fiction. It’s hard to tell a story or show a scene in 250 words. Try it sometime. 😉 Anyway, I’m not going to set this up for you. You’ll just have to roll with it.
****
Meg wrapped the towel around herself but used one corner to wipe steam off the mirror. She looked…haggard. Unsurprising considering she’d spent weeks getting out of Ukraine. At least she was in shape now. A rueful laugh escaped. Turning away, she marched over to the bed. A small pile of clothes was neatly stacked there, provided by Duke’s beautiful wife. Evidently, once she’d gotten word they were safe, she’d gone on a buying spree. All the kids had new clothes.

She shook out a long skirt and admired the bright colors and silky feel. There was a blouse that went with it, and a shawl. This was date stuff. Like going out with the man of her dreams stuff. Yes, she was delusional. They’d landed. She and the kids had been herded onto a small bus where they’d gotten checked by doctors, fed, and then placed in these barracks. She hadn’t seen Kin in twenty-four hours.

Folding the outfit carefully, she set it aside, choosing soft fleece pants and a pullover instead. There’d be no dates for her. The mission was over. She’d be flying out in a day or two—once she made sure all the kids would be taken care of.

Her door opened on creaky hinges and she whipped around, holding the clothes in front of her like they’d protect her. Yeah, right. Nothing would protect her from the man standing there.

“You know why I’m here,” Kin said.

Okay, maybe not so deluded after all.
****
There you have it. Writers, feel free to do some free writing with one or both prompts and share if you dare. Readers, your question of the day is, “Are we there yet?”–whoever we are and there is… 😉

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Tuesday Treats & Titles: OMGWTFBBQ!

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Silver James

Despite the subject title, this post IS SFW, as opposed to NSFW. Don’t you just love all the acronyms you have to learn to hang out on the internet? Oh, yeah. Me, too. 🙄 So. I’ve been craving BBQ ribs over over a week now. Everytime I think I’m going to get mine, Life happens. Understand, I don’t actually grill/smoke/cook my own ribs. Nope. Not my forte. My dad was the grillmaster. He did all sorts of things on the grill like yummy ribeye steak sandwiches–thin cut ribeye steaks, grilled to perfection and served on homemade buns. The buns? Now those I made using the family yeast roll recipe but rolling them out a little thicker and cutting them bigger. I even have a special “biscuit” cutter that’s the right size. His ribs though? They were the talk of the neighborhood. He started two days in advance, first rubbing and “resting” them then smoking them almost a full day before finishing them up oover an open flame on the grill. They were fall-off-the bone tender, flavorful but the beef/pork flavor came through loud and clear. I’m not patient enough. Period. Luckily, I live in BBQ country and we have a BBQ joint fairly close that does a dandy job with all the meats AND the BBQ sauce. FYI, I also make my own sauce when I’m doing a BBQ brisket. Those are done in the oven, not on a grill so totally in my wheelhouse.

Anyay, I’m still craving BBQ ribs. Also, I’m the only one in the family who likes to eat them–another reason for not going all out to prepare them. LG likes briske–chpped and sliced–and hot links. Oh, and BBQ bologna. Yes, it’s a thing. Don’t ask. I’ll eat fried Spam before I’ll eat bologna. But, you know…whatever. I like crunchy peanut butter, he likes smooth. We’ve still managed to stay married for going on 40 years now.

I promise this will circle back around to writing. Like, right now. I don’t know about other writers but my brain gets these little blips. It’s like it goes dark for a minute, totally unfocused on whatever I was doing or thinking, and when it comes back on line, it’s spewing otu…stuff. Stuff that has nothing to do with anything remotely what I’m working on. This happened yesterday afternoon as I was revising RESCUE MOON and craving BBQ ribs. This is what happened:

Brain: *blip*

Me: *stops reading/typing but still hankering for Earl’s BBQ ribs

Brain: “Lordy, child, but sumthin’ sure got a’hold of you.”
“Yes’m. It surely did.”
“What was it?”
“I don’t rightly know but it sure took a dislikin’ to me.”
“Well, set’cherself up on that table so I can get a good look at’cha. What’s your name, girl? Where’d you come from?”
Brain: *returns to normal function*

I’m not kidding. That conversation popped into my head and after it replayed a couple of times, I figured I’d better write it down. So I did. On my white board. Have I mentoned I love my white board? I do. Totally. Thing is, I have no clue who these characters are, where they live, what *it* is, or anything else that’s going on. Will it turn up in a book some day? Probably. Why? Because my brain is totally this:

It’s stuff like this that keeps me awake at night. I have no excuse. It’s just the way I’m wired. Some days, I’m amazed I get anything at all done. Thos that’s today’s bit of writing weirdness. My question to y’all, are you a fan of BBQ? If so, what do you make or are you lazy like me and just get it from the restaurant because…instant gratification!

Posted in Craft, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Labor Day Monday

Posted on September 5, 2022 by Silver James

How can it already be Labor Day?!? And how come it took so long to arrive?!? Ah, the conundrum of time. However it happened, today is Labor Day. Lake people are at the lake. BBQ pitmasters are manning their grills. There’s baseball. And for once, our temps are too bad. Usually, Labor Day is one of the hottest days of the year but the weather has been funky of late and it’s not supposed to get out of the hight 80s today. I’ll take it!

So, there was a week and a weekend and I’m sure y’all are waiting with bated (or baited, as the case may be) breath for my update. Saturday was “First Saturday,” which normally means storm siren test for the Ham radio club, followed by lunch with the Kids at our fave Mex restaurant. Only is also a HAM, like her dad. Anyway, LG went alone. The Kids went up the turnpike to visit Baseball Boy’s dad. I stayed home because Boone stresses when we all leave. When we’re gone several hours, I always worry that we’ll get home and find him…gone. It’s time, but I don’t really want him to cross the Rainbow Bridge alone. Anyway… No Mex for us but we’re celebrating LG’s and Uncle Fix-It’s birthdays tonight over dinner at a fave pizza place.

I splurged last week. For some reason, my body chemistry hates the letters on my computer keyboard. The letters I type the most are usually gone within a month of instally a new board. That’s one reason I used to buy plastic covers. Then the people that made covers for my split/ergo keyboard stopped. So I resorted to stuckers allegedly made for that very reason. Except the glue got sticky and the sticker started sliding around. Yes, yes, this is a first world problem but when you live by the keyboard, it’s important. Well, I found a set of stickers that was BIG for us old folks who don’t see as well in our dotage. I spent a whole $7.18 (free Prime shipping but sales tax) to get a set that was for EVERY key, not just the letters. I can tell at glance now which key is ENTER and which is SHIFT. Yayayayay! It’s the little things. I have to admit that it took me almost an hour. I can only hope this set has a better quality stickem.

Reading this past week was something of a drought. I finished RUBY FEVER (Hidden Legacy #6) early in the week. I LOVED it. Love the whole series and I hope the husband/wife team known as Ilona Adrews will keep going with another 3-book story arc for the youngest Baylor sister. Anyway, I had something of a book hangover anyway. Then I looked at the more recent releases in the series of the next new release I’ve pre-ordered, which drops tomorrow. In looking back, I realized that the last three in that series had disappointed me in many ways and I just couldn’t work up the interest to reread in prep for the new one. Sadly, nothing else jumped out at me either. Good thing I started the week 9 books ahead of schedule on my yearly Goodreads reading challenge. Anyway, I’ll give DESPERATION IN DEATH a listen when it arrives in Audible. It’s been weird not have a book to listen to as I puttered around doing errands, laundry, and other stuff. Ah well.

Sports! My OSU Cowboys had an awesome game Thursday night against Central Michigan. OU beat UTEP. My Cards are rocking. As of typing this, they’re 7/5 games ahead. If they won yesterday (yes, I AM setting this up Sunday afternoon while watching/listening to the game) and the Brewers lost, they’ll be up 8.5 games. Really hoping they make the playoffs because…Waino, Yaki, and Pujohls last year. It’s historic! Yes, I am a Cards nerd. Sorry, not sorry.

And in case you are wondering, I AM not ignoring a writing update. There were new words on CROSSFIRE this past week. In better news, I also made some serious progress on the re-revisions of RESCUE MOON. Not done yet, but I’m a lot closer. I’ve fixed a couple of problems that had been niggling at the back of my mind. I figured out how to handle both, found the spots, and fixed it. I’ve added 5K words this go-round. It really will be a better book when I’m finished. Hopefully, the rereads/last pass of the other 3 will go much faster and easier. Part of the problem is that RESCUE MOON is the manuscript that disappeared when I had a minor computer meltdown. I couldn’t find it for weeks, and I thought it was all but ready to upload for publication. Then it reappeared and I was soooo thankful! It meant I didn’t have to go back and start over. Thing is, considering some of the typos and other things, I’m starting to think the copy that reappeared was one of the auto-saves before I’d finalized the last past, which was almost done when the ethernet ate it. Anyway, good thing I decided to give it another look. Not that it totally sucked, but yeah, it was pretty sucky, hence my fixing it.

And there you have it. That’s my week/weekend in a nutshell. Mostly good stuff, nuttin’ truly bad, cooler temps (of course, anything under 100 feels cooler around here!), and some rain. S’all good. What about ya’ll?

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Friday Sinema: Trumpets Blaring

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Silver James

Okay. So y’all know I’m a big fan of baseball and softball. And baseball has some…odd traditions. Like singling “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs). Or singing Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” at Fenway Park in Boston. I have no clue why Red Sox fans do this. And what would a ballgame be without the stadium organ playing short bursts of familiar tunes. There’s also walk-up music when the home-field batters come out of the dugout and get in the batter’s box. With the advent of TV, talking heads, and commercial messages, walkup music is usually overshadowed. The players get to pick their own and the only one I can name is the Cincinnati Reds Joey Votto. His song, for reasons beyond my knowing, is Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” I know this song and recognize it immediately whenever my Card play the Reds in Cincy. With the advent of the DH (Designated Hitter who hits for the pitcher), pitchers aren’t heralded with their own music. Well, with one exception. Edwin Diaz. Hot-shot relief pitcher for the New York Mets. Someone, somewhere (could have been him, again, no clue), Timmy Trumpet’s “Narco” was played. Now it’s a tradition. Trumpet (no clue what is real name is) is from Australia. Until the other night, he’s never been to an American major league baseball game. Now he’s a fan. Why? Because he performed live when Diaz made his entrance from the bullpen. I’ll admit, it was pretty cool. And I kinda like the song so there ya go. Anyway, a bit of side trip on this Friday. Have a great weekend! I’ll be watching baseball. My Cards are playing the Cubs at home in Busch Stadium.

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment