Archive for October, 2020



Trick or Treat is nearly the exact term I would use for 2020. I have been keeping a journal and writing a book for first CampNaNo where I wrote about 25K and now starting at midnight plan to add another 50K. Getting ready for the start of NaNoWriMo this year required me to edit the spring start of the book and make sure all the journaling and whining and prompts not touched got put in the section of yWriter that keeps that count for being in the total word count. I want that count to be purely story.

All of that to say, I have now relived 2020 from March on. It has been a slow and boring rollercoaster full of angst and sometimes loneliness. Since my book is loosely based on the pandemic, it is titled Pandamapocalypse (I may have to rename it as I can never remember the way to spell it. Clue: There are Pandas and Ma’s but remembering is there an ‘a’ or an ‘o’ after the second ‘p’ and then after the ‘c’ has no hints to hold onto.

During this year I have watched more series than I think I ever have. It is curious how the writers come up with their plots. One thing I have noticed is that if it is a long series they resort to using the holidays as they come. Making sure there are tricks and treats for Halloween seems to give them lots of fodder for maybe even two episodes.

My characters have only experienced Easter and that was too fearful to do more than think it and move on. So they are going to get a treat both on Earth and on Haven as they all celebrate in ways to help them enjoy life again and yet stay to the mission to see why it is spreading and how they can help stop the process. My trick for them is how, now that the virus is human, things can get worse before it gets better while trying to keep it light enough that I want to write.

Well, I did manage to blog. Yay, me! Hope you all had a great Halloween and didn’t get tricked.

Happy NaNoWriMo to those that are joining me!

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

Per Linda G. Hill: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “trick.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Finishing Friday


I hate to admit to not having anything finished today.

Remember the socks on the CinDWood X loom (what I can’t help but call X-wing)?

I decided that they were turning out too wide. So I frogged nearly all four and readjusted and started three from the beginning.

Remember the half-finger gloves?

I got down to just below the thumb and can’t understand the tutorial for the next couple of rows. I’ve sent out requests to the designer to see if she can walk me through.

I have made a couple more ear warmers but something you can make in half a day doesn’t make me nearly as happy with the finished project as the hats in the above picture.

I didn’t finish my editing for the four previous chapters of Pandamapocolypse. I hope to finish that by tomorrow afternoon. Then I need to get a vague outline for the next 50K to add to that story. And I will try to beef out the characters so as to have more to write about.

Oh, and I haven’t finished the fourth and last season of Hart of Dixie. It is winding down. It is light fun. And one episode recently actually made me cry, Mostly I find it fun/funny.

If you want to watch something to escape the news and anxiety, and fun background while you get something done, this is it.

Tomorrow I may not blog as I need to get NaNoWriMoing pregame workup and then living the night of writing dangerously.  If you are joining me, good luck! And

Happy Halloween!


Seventh HeavenSeventh Heaven by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love me an Alice Hoffman book. I don’t what happened here. Okay, maybe I can make the allowance that reading this with text-to-speech makes the confusion of characters even more perplexing. There was a whole neighborhood of people with problems.

Maybe when you can read the book as a paper product, you can see whose point of view that you are looking through. Books with a lot of characters are hard when the author doesn’t give you a straight forward warning like the chapter name (character’s name) or first word (character’s name) of the new chapter. Especially with TTS.

Having read a couple of reviews, I found some who felt the story started with promise but went downhill. I was bewildered during the first part of the book. I just rode along feeling I would soon catch up. Sure enough by the end, I did seem to care about a couple of the characters and felt I was knowing who was who.

This book takes place in the late 50s early 60s. I didn’t need the author to spell that out as I recognized it right away. I remembered people saying and gossiping about the things included in the story. It is my least favorite part of my life. So it was painful to live it again. Still, I wonder how folks who are not of that era see all of this. Older women may see this far differently than Gen X-ers. I need to go read some other reviews to see if age affects the read.

Alice Hoffman writes so well that even when I am lost I stick with the book until the end. I certainly think others might enjoy this book thoroughly.

View all my reviews

One-Liner Wednesday


When all is said and done, let’s hope all is said and done; I’m just sayin’

 

Linda G. Hill is the queen of One-Liner Wednesday. <–Click on that blue URL to take you to the main page.


The Breeders (Breeders, #1)The Breeders by Katie French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A friend and I discovered this book and decided to make it a book we both would read somewhat together. I got to it a few days ago and finished two days ago. And just a hint, I have already ordered book 2 of the series.

Now there are bad reviews for this book. I liked it. Not loved. Just liked. But enough to find out what happens next with the characters.

Yes, there are things that stop me while reading. One of the things is that it is written in the present tense. That is hard to pull off. And sometimes I don’t notice it. Other times the characters and plot put me back into the story.

Some have pointed out the problems of the characters being shallow or not living up to the situations they find themselves in. I can’t get that picky about it. I accept what the author has set them up to be and so I just hope for the best for them and try not to prejudge their behaviors. Though there is violence it isn’t gratuitous. It seems necessary for the moment.

This story is a bit different than other post-apocalyptic tales and is therefore fun to read without feeling the terror I felt in previous reads. I couldn’t put it down to sleep because I wanted to know what was going to happen next.

View all my reviews


https://writersrelief.com/2020/10/21/15-creative-writing-exercises-to-improve-your-skills-writers-relief/

A Few Snowflakes Last Night


In the teens last night. A high of 34 F today. Tonight 8 F. I’m tired and cannot get warm even with the heater on high. So my brain is not bringing the creativity! Stay warm everyone!

Stream of Consciousness Saturday–M


My computer is back! Yay! It is lighter weight and so is better for my lap. I had been borrowing my husband’s. That was nice of him and he followed through to find what was wrong and it seems it needed a different charging cord. I haven’t checked out the  yWriter and WriteItNow to see if my latest NaNo is up to the last date I worked on it, but I know where I can find the files to get it there.

MY COMPUTER! It is like that most comfortable coat or pair of shoes that when you put them on there is MAGIC.

Pixabay.com

I couldn’t find a laptop picture that shows my comfort level with my own, lightweight, machine. That one on the bottom left is closest. Except it isn’t a couch but rather a recliner. Not a massaging chair but a place of comfort where I can sit in my favorite position of half-lotus and either lap the laptop or use the foot of the chair as a desk. So a heavy laptop can hurt my legs and then hurt my arms as I move it.

Medical shows are my favorites. While I am writing this I have discovered a new one. Transplant. No, it doesn’t start with M but my Stream seems to migrate to the show. So I’m sharing. I am loving this!

And that brings me back to the happiness of working on MY COMPUTER!

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “starts with ‘m’.” Use any word that begins with the letter “m” as the subject or theme for your post. Enjoy!

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

Filmage Friday


Here is what I’ve been watching lately. It is very bland but it grows on you.

It’s on Netflix, by the way.

Throw-Back Thursday


I know that Throw-Back Thursday is about pictures of ourselves in younger less dignified days, but the physical body only holds onto all the stuff our beings have been through our whole lives.

John Holton shares lots of music that I and other babyboomers remember with fondness on his blog. He mentioned Lloyd Thaxton the other day on The Sound of One Hand Typing. Regardless of the music I suddenly thought of the line that Lloyd Thaxton ended his show, “Always smile with your bottom teeth.” As happens often at my age I doubted my memory and needed to Google whether it was Lloyd … or maybe Soupy Sales.

I fell down the YouTube rabbit hole. My day was spent watching and laughing at the crazy Supman. A good place to get started is his biography.

My brother and my son and I watched and laughed so hard. At first, my son couldn’t remember Soupy. But I tried to explain that he was Pee Wee before there was Chairy. Finally, I just had to put the YouTubes on the TV. If you need a day to escape the crazies, this will do it!

Meanwhile, I searched all over for Lloyd Thaxton saying, “Smile with your bottom teeth!” That he ended his show with on occasion. That sent me down another memory rabbit hole. Remember this?

That was when I fell in love with Motown, and lipsyncing. What a fun show it was.

In my search, I learned that Lloyd passed in 2006. Maybe I knew and forgot? But it made me sad all over again.

By the way, Lloyd Thaxton had a blog. You can find it here.

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