Monday Memo

Posted on June 20, 2022 by Silver James

Note to self: It is Monday. All day. Do not forget this fact.

Drover is home. Drover is the name of my Highlander. The garage has been empty without him. The good news is, the Kids found a car they really liked, was a good deal and they could afford the payments. It’s a 2017 Nissan Pathfinder, with only 34K miles. It’s white, has a few bells and whistles and gets very decent gas mileage. Plus, they get 3rd row seating and/or cargo space. It’s pretty. I petted it at the dealership when we met Baseball Boty there Friday to drop off Stormy and to bring Drover home. I’m free! When means I’m very likely at Walmart and then Starbucks as you read this, depending on how early you get up.

In other news, there’s not much to tell. It’s hot. It’s humid. I have the summer doldrums. That means I want to eat ice cream for dinner–which LG and I did Saturday night. He had Blue Bell Peachy Peach and I had Moollinium. Good stuff.

There was baseball–MLB and college. My Cards split with the Red Sox. Now they go play the Brewers. It’s like green eggs and ham. OU beat Texas A&M and played Notre Dame last night. If I remember, I’ll come back and update the winnder. If not, check the internet if you care. LOL

I really don’t have much else to say. Seriouwly. Last week was pretty much a blur. Except “pop” computer games are freakin’ addictive. I will not open on today. No, really. Stop laughing. I used to have three games on Bing that I played–Bing Homepage Jigsaw, Sliding Tiles (using the homepage pic as the background) and 2048 which is a number game. After checking email, news, and blogs each morning, I would play each of this one time and then I’d be ready to work. Then Microsoft, which owns Bing went and mess things up. Kinda like the new “records” page for KDP, which is Amazon’s self–publishing platformen. The new setup depresses me. It’s very in-your-face about getting no sales. The old version was just a graph and somehow, it didn’t depress me as much. Ah well.

Okay. I seriously need to work today. And deal with Stormy. And LG. And Boone. Jake. Loki. Pete? I go out to the garage and pet him because as long as there’s food in his bowl and he gets the occasional pet, he’s a happy cat. I want to be a happy cat. Who else wants to be a happy cat? And who did something interesting this weekend?

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Friday Sinema: Shopping

Posted on June 17, 2022 by Silver James

I am NOT a shopper. I don’t like wandering aisles, going store to store, comparing things only to return to the original thing I looked at. Shoes, clothes, groceries. Sadly, these things cannot be done on-line, which is where I tend to do the majority of my shopping. I caught this short video the other day and it made me not only laugh, but relate. I’m like the tall, skinny guy. I have a list. I know approximately which aisles I need to hit. I grab and run. Easy peasy. Even when people want to stop and visit about Jake. What kind of shopper are you? Be honest, now. 😉

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Easy

Posted on June 16, 2022 by Silver James

If you’re doing something you love, it’s supposed to be easy, right? If telling stories is your thing and you know the characters and the tale unfolds as you speak the words (or type as the case may be) and it’s all an effortless endeavor. Except it’s not. Writing is hard. It’s work. It is not for the fainthearted. Despite what the Universe says. Except the Universe is right. It should be easy. So often, we get in our own way. We make it harder than it has to be. We fight the words instead of working with them. We fight the characters instead of letting them evolve the way their story demands. We fight the way the story is going because we planned on Destination A and the plot keeps meandering down different paths, turning left at the crossroads instead of right, and is self-determined to arrive at Destination Z despite our best intentions.

It will “all” seem far easier, Silver, when you keep in mind, all of the time, that it’s supposed to be easy.

Everything.

That was easy,
The Universe
©www.tut.com

Silver, starting right now.

Everytime I see people melting down over this, that or another (*koffjansixkoff*) I want to break out into that song from “Frozen.” You know the one. The earworm one that everybody did karaoke videos of for like…forever? Yeah, that one. Well, at least the chorus. I need to keep that in mind when I get wrapped around the axle of my writing. I nead a big red Easy button (do y’all remember that commercial?)–or a sound effects button on my computer/phone so I can program the song in to play when I need the reminder.

Okay, I wasn’t going to do this but I can’t resist. I had to watch the video and you know what? There’s a good message there for me and my writing so t’heckfire with it. I’m sharing. What message are you going to take away from the lyrics today?

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Wednesday Words: Surprise

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Silver James

So, I’ve mentioned previously that I sort of blanked out Thursday. That means I didn’t participate in Thursday Threads, even though the prompt–“She can hear us.”–is/was a good one! And the #1lineWed prompt was equally good–SURPRINGSLY, Off-guard, Taken by, Bombshell.

See? Good stuff to work with there. Well, I finally got around to putting the prompts together and this is a happy little scene that clattered from the keyboard. It happens soon after a previous scene, where the famous rock star who is aow a military commander appears in our refugees’ encampment. Note that Maxim is the teenaged boy in the group.
****
Muffled giggles followed the whispered, “She can hear us.”

Meg lay very still, concentrating on keeping her breathing measured, as if she was still asleep.

“No she can’t. She’s sleeping.” More giggles from behind hands pressed over mouths.

Her command of the Ukrainian language was far from expert but after spending almost a month with the orphans, she was picking up the finer nuances of their conversations. Twelve-year-old Anichka and the slightly older Galyna had curled together, sharing their sleeping bags.

“Can you believe Vadim was here?” Anichka asked, her surprise and glee evident despite her best efforts to mute the volume.

“He hugged me.” Galyna’s voice, filled with wonder, returned to almost normal volume.

“I was so jealous,” Anichka admitted. “But then he signed things for all of us.” She sighed a deeply feminine sigh that was so pre-teen.

“He is handsome.”

Anichka’s voice turned a little sly. “I thought you liked Kin best.”

“I did,” Galyna said. “But I can’t marry him. He is Meg’s.”

“So you think you can marry Vadim?” There was teasing in Anicha’s tone but also a touch of scorn.
Meg tensed. She’d never noticed the other children being mean to Galyna and she was hoping that she hadn’t misread Anichka.

Galyna laughed. “No, silly. He is a big star with lots of pretty women. He would never marry me.”

Meg’s heart broke a little at the stark truth and acceptance in the little girl’s statement.

Now it was Galyna’s voice that sounded a little sly. “What about you? I thought you wanted to marry Maxim.”

A sharp “Shhh!” was followed by the sounds of a rustling tussle. Once more she thought to intervene but was caught off-guard when a low, husky voice whispered in her ear.

“Am I yours, Meg?”
****
And there you have it. A little “free range” writing to add to the on-going story. Writers, do you have any suraprising words that you don’t want “her” to hear that you want to share? And readers, who was your teenage crush? I’ll confess. I had two–Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees and Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders. And if you know who they are, then you’re old as dirt like me. 🤣

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Tuesday Teats & Titles: Italian Style

Posted on June 14, 2022 by Silver James

We celebrated my sister-in-law’s birthday last night at Olive Garden. I hadn’t eaten there in…wow…at least two years or so. Still love the salads and the bread sticks. For some reason, I started thinking about a “conversation” held on a book blog I follow. The post centered on books where food takes a starring role and got into all sorts of nooks and crannies from deep descriptions of what’s being prepared and/or eaten to restaurants depicted in books to actual recipes.

So, thinking about all that, after eating at an Italian restaurant, I remembered that one of Sade’s favorite places to eat in DC is a little Italian place where Sinjen takes her to eat after picking her up from her FBI office. This happens right before she cuts and runs. Again. Dang but that vampire is patient.

Anyway, no recipe because I make stuff from scratch–meaning a bit of this, some of that, that kind of cheese because that’s what in the fridge and this pasta because I have enough in the pantry. So, That’s my post for today. The title: GHOSTS & THE ANCIENT STONES. Go read it if you haven’t.. Just click on the cover or the title for the Book2Read landing page to find the on-line bookseller or subscription service of your choice.

As for our regular programming, what about y’all? Do you like books with culinary delights. locations, and/or characters included?

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Middle Monday

Posted on June 13, 2022 by Silver James

Well, it’s sort of the middle. June has 30 days so technically, Wednesday is the exact middle but today puts two Sunday’s behind us and two Sundays to look forward to. I know. I’m weird. Psst. I totally identify with this pair

It’s hot. Seriously hot. We’ve had back-to-back heat advisories for several days. Yesterday hit 103 at the neighborhood bank. Ofiffically, heat index was 108. My poor AC. Plus, critical rate on electricity of 43 cents a kilowatt hour. Normally, it’s 11. And the idiots in DC want to do away with fossil fuel. When 60% of electricity if produced by fossil fuel and some states are already having rolling blackouts due to the drain on the electrical grid but hey, they want us to go out and buy $60K electrical vehicles and buy the fossil fuel we need from terrorist countries who produce DIRTY fuel. Seriously?

Okay. Climbing off my soap box. It just really pisses me off. LG fill up his truck yesteray. $92. NINETY-TWO FREAKING DOLLARS!!! And gas is relative “cheap” here, compared to the rest of the country. Moving on.

Stormy is here early today. His dad is stull doing Oklahoma History on the Road and baseball camp doesn’t start until Wednesday. That means I had to hit Wallyworld yesterday. Whole different set of People of Walmart in there on a Sunday. Since the Kids still have my Highlander, LG was nice enough to drive Jake and I. He dropped us off and headed down the shopping center to Home Depot to pick up a shevling unit for me for the garage. We don’t know if there was a cat fight or a ghost or what, but the shelf that was in there with laundry stuff and the cube of my Pepsi Zero. It had collapsed and broken during the night. Granted two of the legs had previously broken and been duct taped. If you have a “smart” phone, get the Gas Buddy app. It relies on people reporting gas prices but it lists all the stations near you with the price. It saved us almost 10 cents a gallon and we didn’t have to drive out of our way to fill up the truck.

FYI, I’m ignoring last week. I actually blanked out Thursday so there was next to no writing, revisions took a bad continuity turn (fixed now), and I buggered my shoulder again. Part of the problem is the height of the cabinet I use for my mouse. It’s about 3 inches too tall which puts my arm and shoulder in a weird position when I have to do a lot of mouse work. It sucks to be old but I can’t “fix” the problem until I get my office rearranged and lets not even go there, uh-kay?

There a little Pete Progess to note. He’s come nose-to-nose with both Boone and Jake. Boone’s like “Huh. A weird cat. It’s orange.” Jake is like, “Car? Car! Ride? Ride! Oh. Orange cat. Hi. I’m going in the car!” Loki, on the other hand, is all like, “What the hell is that thing? It sorta smells like me but it’s orange. With short hair. And Mom! What IS IT?!?!?!” Loki has not been up close to another cat since he was a little kitten. We lot Adidas when he was about 2 months old and she was already mostly “bed ridden.” Not sure Pete will ever truly be an indoor cat. He likes the garage and enjoys following us around ourside. We’ll see.

OSU lost in baseball regionals. OU went on to win in the super regionals and the baseball team is now headed to Omaha for the College World Series. Am I the only one who giggles and thinks of Peyton Manning whenever the word “Omaha” comes up?

And that it for me. Like I said, last week has been erased from memory and the weekend was too hot to do anything but complain about how hot it was. What’s going on in your world? FYI, the shoulder is a little better, so long as I stay away from the mouse. We’ll see how typing goes today. Later, taters!

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Friday Sinema: Commercial Break

Posted on June 10, 2022 by Silver James

Okay, y’all. I know this one is way longer than I usually post but trust me. I laughed out loud so many times, LG came in from the den to see what was so funny. Then I had to replay it for him. Also, you don’t have to be a Southerner to enjoy. You just have to have a warped sense of humor. Which one was your favorite? Have a great weekend!

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Worldbuilding

Posted on June 9, 2022 by Silver James

I remember sitting on a panel at a writer’s conference one time. Most of the audience was comprised of new writers–either just published or still waiting. One of the questions asked by the moderator was: Which is most important–characters , plot, or worldbuilding? I thought it was a dumb question but the answers before mine were surprising. The mystery writer said plot. That was sort of d’uh but at the same time, if your “dectective” is simply a cipher or two-dimensional, readers won’t stick around. The romance writer said characters. This is true the conflict and character arc in a romance is important. I bet you won’t be surprised that the fantasy author said it was all about the worldbuilding. Then it was my turn and everyone was tuned in, waiting to see which would get my vote because with 4 authors and 3 choices, one was going to get twice as many votes. I fooled them. My replay? All of them are equally importqant. Boy, that opened the flood gates. Lots of discussion and arguments and I sat back and rolled my eyes, which made the audience laugh. Finally, the others glared at me and demanded I explain myself. So I did. Charactes do not exist in a void. No matter the genre, they have to LIVE somewhere. And with no plot, the story is boring. That said, when I encouter an author who is particular well-versed in combining all three, I am in awe. This is especially evident in long-running series. The plot foreshadowing in book 3 that comes to fruition in book 10? Bloody brilliant. The minor character introduced in book 1 who becomes a major player in book 6? Again, brilliant. And what holds all that together? What is the base of the story and the characters? The world created by the author. And yes, I did end up teaching a class on this at another writer’s conference. The Universe sums it up rather well, IMO.

True brilliance, Silver, is not a function of understanding one’s view of the world and finding order, logic, and spirituality in it. True brilliance is understanding that your view of order, logic, and spirituality is what created your world.

You can change anything and everything.

Shape Shifting 101,
The Universe
©www.tut.com

Oh, Silver, reality is such a trip…

As a writer, you need to create such a reality for your characters and plot. You need to create characters that react with the reality of their world in a way that is…real. And you want a world that creates such a reality for the other two. As a reader, I get lost in books where the author has melded all three into such a reality. I’m thinking about this today because I’m doing a marathon relisten of Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series. She is a master in both this series and her Guildhunter/Archangel series. The wife/husband team known as Ilona Andrews does the same with the Kate Daniels series. I’m always amazed when it happens to–and sadly, usually by accident rather than intent. Sort of. I figure my subconscious brain knows something I don’t so when something I wrote back in book 1 pops up and is important in book 5? I mean…talk about a light bulb moment! Now, I just need to figure out how to do it consciously because that would be an awesome reality for a writer like me.

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Wednesday Words: Sophisticated Tell-All

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Silver James

Yes, I won’t complain about how fast time is flying and how fast Wednesdays are hitting me in the face. June is already on a big start toward full summer. I’m not ready! However, it is time for a snippet using the #1lineWed theme of **SOPHISTICATED** and the #ThursdayThreads prompt of “You’re telling me this now?” I actually managed to get an honorable mention from the judge in last weeks Thursday Threads flash fiction post so yay me. This doesn’t need much set up. The team and kids are still in the woods, still trying to get out of Ukraine in one piece, and Kin and Meg are still dancing around each other, only Kin has decided to take the lead. Sort of. I hope you enjoy.
****
Before Kin could move, Meg placed both palms flat on his chest and shoved. Hard. “You’re telling me this now?”
She pushed past him, stomping toward the treeline. Then she stopped and marched back toward him, her eyes sparking, lips pressed in a thin line, fists clenched and leading the way. Again, he didn’t dodge as she landed a haymaker that cracked his jaw and rocked him back on his heels. He stood stock still, bemused at the strength of her assault. He was an adult alpha Wolf, a trained SAS soldier. And this little bit of a thing had truly socked it to him. He didn’t smile. He didn’t laugh. But it was a near thing. Discretion being the better part of valor, he kept his mouth shut, though he did rub at the sore spot on his jaw.
“We are in the frigging wilderness. With kids. And all your buddies. No wonder they’re walking around with shit-eating grins every time they look at me.” She blew out a breath so hard it ruffled her hair. Hands now fisted on her hips, she glowered. “Well?”
He debated speaking but he could no longer resist tweaking her temper. “Well what?”
She growled at him. A wonderfully feral growl. “You have no sense of propriety. I may not be sophisticated like my mother or cultured like my father, but by George I know when it’s a good time. This is so not a good time.”
“Doesn’t change things. You’re still mine.”
She snorted. “Yeah. Right. We’re in the middle of a fricking war zone with a bunch of kids and all of your buddies—.” She snapped her mouth shut, cutting off the rest of her sentence. “Are they…”
Her eyes widened and Kin now understood the term “eyes the size of dinner plates.”
Meg peered into the trees, scanning the area. In a voice barely above a whisper, she hissed, “Are they like you?”
And how was he going to answer that? Loch was. Duke, Tank, and Dalton were, to coin another tried and true phrase, a horse of a different color. So was Uri, though his talents lay on the psychic plane rather than the physical. The crew who wasn’t here—the PJs and pilots—were all human. And their whole team was a well-guarded secret.
“Come here,” he ordered.
Her brows immediately scrunched together and her eyes narrowed. “No.”
“Megan.” His voice held a warning.
“Fraser.” Her’s held a dare.
That’s when his wolf decided they’d had enough and pounced.
****
Not sure how sophisticated she’s feeling at the moment but at least he got around to telling her…somting. 😉 There are other words before this scene but that part is made up of spoilers, not that most of you can’t guess but I’ve got to create a little mystery, right? Writers, have anything to share, or care to do some free writing o your own? Go for it. Readers, take your pick of which question to answer. Are you sophisticate? Or, what have has someone said that caused you to ask, “You’re telling me this now?”

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Monday Musings

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Silver James

It’s June. How did that happen? Why is June the season for weddings? You know, that whole June bride thing. I’m sure I know the mythology behind it but it’s buried in the London fog that is my brain currentl and I don’t have time to fall down that particular rabbit hole. Anybody else know off the top of your collective heads?

So, stuff happened. The Kids’ Jeep is toast and while both Baseball Boy and Stormy are out of school, stuff is still going on. BB teaches a summer “travel” class on Oklahoma History. And there are sports camps–soccer, baseball, and softball to coach and attend–for Stormy. He’s also doing a 5-week golf clinic where he goes for an hour or so on Thursday evenings for instruction and play time. Needless to say, which Only’s job, being a one-vehicle family is not an option. There’s little to no trade-in value on the Jeep at because…toast. So, for the time being, they have Drover, my Highlander. Granted, I don’t get out and about much and I can drive LG’s truck but I don’t like to drive LG’s truck. I’m not familiar with the controls, it’s big, and it’s not…mine. 🙄 I know, I know. I’m tempted to make him get up early this morning to take me for my Wallyworld run. We’ll see.

Softball is a big thing here. The NCAA Women’s College World Series has been held in OKC for gosh…almost 30 years now. Or longer. I remember taking Only when she was a kid to watch the “Big Girls” play. Regular readers are aware that both O-schools (OU and OSU) are in the 8-team series. Both are undeated at the top of their respective brackets in the semi-finals. They play today–OU against UCLA and OSU against Texas–and if each wins, they face-off in the finals, starting Wednesday. FYI, as they are both undefeated, the other teams have to beat them twice in back-to-back games. That’s HARD to do in softball. There’s been some awesome ball played so far! There’s also baseball, but I haven’t been paying that close of attention. Cards and Cubs played a 5-game series. They split the series 3-2, with the last two games being won by the Cards in extra innings. Whew! OSU CowBOYS got beat in the second game and played yesterday in the loser’s bracket. The final score was 29-17. Yes, you read that right, even though it’s more a football score than one for baseball. The Pokes had to turn around to play Arkansas, in the winner’s bracket. If I’m not asleep, I’ll come back and update if they moved to the final game in their region played today or went home, which is hard to do because the regional is at their home field.

We’ve had rain, sunshine, cool temps, humid temps, rain, and cool, humid temps. Ah, gotta love the weather in Oklahoma. It’s never boring.

I need to stop listening to other author’s words and write me own. That said, it’s been 3 years since I last did a marathon of Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series. New book is coming out later this summer and I’m on the short list for a library hold on an unrelated book. I can insert a book into the line up and not lose track of the longer series. Plus, I’ll admit it’s a bit of a comfort read for me. Win-win all around.

Speaking of, I did manage to do a little writing of new words. And a little addition of new words in revisions. Not sure why I’ve stalled out on this last book of the Moonstruck Wolf re-release series. I gotta fix that. Stupid brain. Coffee’s not helping. I gotta get outta my head. And….and now I have an earworm. Thank you, brain. Here, I’ll share the goodness. Hey. Hey. You. You. Get off of my cloud! How was your week and and weekend? Anything to look forward to?

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