Quirks in the Night

I’m not particularly adept at using my phone – bad eyesight and fumble fingers - so when a character or a line of dialogue or a story idea strikes in the night, I don’t bother reaching for my glasses or my phone. (Besides, there’s a very good chance I’ll knock one or both of them off the nightstand anyway.) 

Instead, I nudge my husband and he’s got his phone in his hand, email open, ready to take dictation in the middle of the night. The next day, I open my email and voila! There are my thoughts, all nicely typed out and legible. (Of course, that doesn’t mean it makes sense, but that’s on me not my husband.) 

It's just one of the many, many . . . um, let’s call them, quirks . . . of mine that my husband puts up with. This month, we’ll be married 26 years, and while he is now, apparently, my personal assistant/secretary, he still is and always will be, my rock and my wings.  

WRITING

I’m playing with ideas for some upcoming themed submission opportunities, one for a drabble and one for a short story. Another short story idea is waiting patiently for its turn. 

 

Progress is being made on a longer story/novella. It’s slow going because I’m still fleshing out backstory and foundational stuff, trying to fill in as many plot holes as I can now so I don’t fall into them later. I’m considering doing my own version of NaNo later this summer to get down a first draft. 

READING

Loved the delightful and heartwarming middle grade novel Old School by Gordon Korman. Five stars and easily one of my favorite books of the year! And I also really liked Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5) by Suzanne Collins. It took me back to when I first read The Hunger Games.

 

WATCHING

TV – Thoroughly enjoyed A Man on the Inside (with Ted Danson, on Netflix)! Fun and funny, heartbreaking and heartwarming. Looking forward to Season Two! And, at pretty much the opposite end of the spectrum, is the dark but absolutely compelling, Adolescence (Netflix.) The acting blew my mind. 

 

Movie – My hopes for The Companion were that it would be solid, a pleasant enough way to be entertained for a couple of hours. Turned out to be way better than I thought! Dark and creepy, yes, but also a whole lot of fun in a weird twisted way. 

 

*****

Are you handy with your phone? Any tips for old Fumble Fingers here? Do you have someone in your life who encourages and supports your creativity? If you’ve done your own version of NaNo, how did you set it up and how did it go? Read or watched anything good lately?

The Push Broom in my Mind

So far, my KISS – Keep It Super Simple - word/strategy for 2023 is working pretty well. When I catch clutter creeping in, especially mental clutter, I imagine my focus as a big push broom, shoving stuff out of the way. (My husband always laughs when I use housecleaning examples because we both know the only time I might ever actually use a broom would be for Quidditch.) 

 

WRITING – 

I'm pretty sure I've done more work on my novel/novella last month than I did last year.  

 

WATCHING – 

Movie – Summer of 84 (2018) is nostalgic AND creepy. The monologue delivered by one of the characters toward the end is utterly chilling. I'm still thinking about it. 

 

TV – Don't ask me how we missed Friday Night Lights the first time it was on because I don't know. I do know, though, that we're enjoying it now! We're in the second season so no spoilers, please! 

 

PHYSICAL HEALTH – 

Well, we signed up for another miles challenge. And we're carrying over one from last year so here's where we are as of 1/29/2023:

19/300 miles

0/100 miles.

 

I usually focus more on overall health, but this year, losing pounds - in a healthy way! – is my goal and will hopefully give me the most benefit all around. So far, I haven't lost any weight, but I also haven't gained any either, so I'll take it.  

 

*****

 

How's your year going so far? Any movies or TV shows – old, new or new-to-you – that you're enjoying? How do you lose pounds or handle weight loss in general? Any suggestions?

The Year is Young

Even though I have managed to stall out already, I am not giving up. The year is young – even if I am not – so I am revving up and getting going! 

WRITING – 

I'm focusing more on writing-related work lately. Yes, some of that is pure procrastination, but it's also because I have a couple of ideas simmering on my brain's back burner that are not ready to be served yet. 

I'm cleaning up some around the blog. Since Blogger is less user-friendly than it used to be, I'm streamlining things a bit. I want to keep it easy for readers to navigate and for me to update. 

 

WATCHING – 

TV – Downton Abbey was a huge hit around here, and now we're watching Longmire. (Yes, I know we are waaaaay behind the times. Trendsetters we are not.) 

 

Movie – See for Me was better than I expected. A solid thriller with a couple of nice twists.

  

READING – 

I really enjoyed These Silent Woods by Kimi Grant Cunningham. It was a little slow going for me in the beginning, but I absolutely loved the last chunk of the story.

 

*****

 

How's your year going so far? Have you stalled a bit or are you revving right through? Are you happy with your blog/website and/or its host? Have you read or watched anything you'd recommend?

Hunkering Down

The plan for this summer is to pretty much hunker down and Get. Things. Done. Somehow, life – and that includes everything from health to writing to cleaning - has gotten away from me. Keeping things on track is like herding tortoises back inside the house from the patio (believe me, it's harder than you think.) Time to start moving in a positive direction again!

 

WRITING

In publication news, my flash fiction story, "The Perfect Match", is in Shallow Waters Vol. 7: A Flash Fiction Anthology, and I have two drabbles coming out this summer in anthologies from Black Ink Fiction. 

 

I actually "attended" my first StokerCon – the big conference for horror writers - from the comfort of my own home. I watched panel after panel and learned so much. I took pages and pages of handwritten notes, all of which I'm hoping I will be able to decipher. 

*****

 

READING

We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker is a little more of a slower paced book than I usually read but the writing! The characters! The revelations toward the end! The ending! The book just blew me away. 

***** 

 

WATCHING

Movies – "Rent-A-Pal" was creepy, sad, and unsettling.

 

TV – We finally finished watching "Justified" and overall absolutely LOVED it! The last episode was excellent and the very last scene was just perfect. 

***** 

 

TORTOISES

Larry and Mrs. Larry are now 12 years old! They celebrated by having one of their favorite treats – banana!  The rest of us had cake.

***** 

 

WALKING

Seriously, what was I thinking? Why did I let my husband convince me to do this 500 miles walk? Why didn't we just do the 100 miles? We'd be done already! Why did I think I could do this? (Okay, whiny rant over. For now.)

 

Miles walked as of 5/31/2021 = 137.2/500 (Click here for what this craziness is all about.)

 

***** 

 

Any projects – creative or otherwise – you plan to tackle this summer? Have you read or watched anything great lately? How about a pep talk, a butt kick, or a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup . . . or two? I need all the help I can get!