I'm Back to Work

After a much-needed break in D.C. over the weekend, I'm back home. The picture to the left is the view of the National Cathedral towers from our hotel room.

It was delightful to visit a former home and one of my favorite cities in the U.S. Lots of friendly humans. Lots of friendly dogs. Lots of good food.

Took the wrong Metro a couple of times because the subway system has expanded over the last 30 years. Also, I rode in a Tesla for the first time! We Ubered to dinner our last night because the Red Line was being serviced on Sunday.

Apparently, I still look like I know what I'm doing down at the Mall. I was asked for directions by three different tourists. The little bit of rain that fell over the weekend didn't impede our explorations. Plus, Saturday was way warmer and sunnier than predicted.

All-in-all, a much needed and rejuvenating break. Now, back to the ongoing story...

Prince in April

Still my favorite of all Prince's backup bands.

On the Road Again!

It's been a rather stressful four months here. Between recovering from surgeries and diving into the basement every time the emergency sirens go off, I got behind on a lot of publishing and writing things. My perfectionistic streak settled into my spine and connecting muscles in such a way that yoga classes are barely making a dent. Heck, I still have two people I need to send Christmas gifts to!

Anyway, a friend in Cincinnati said let's take a long weekend, get massages, and eat some good food. So, I'm heading down to her place tomorrow.

So, the blog will be relatively quiet for the next few days unless some major event occurs.

Don't worry. Darling Husband and Princess Bella have plenty of foods and snacks for when they watch On Patrol Live and this weekend's Premiere League games.

There's No Magic Handshake

I guess I've been a professional writer long enough that I'm attracting people who want to know the magic handshake.

There is no magic handshake.

There's no secret formula.

There's no password to riches.

Frankly, if you want to be rich, invest wisely. Or buy a Powerball ticket. Or find a sugar daddy/sugar mommy.

Over the last two decades, I've met a lot of writers who have quit. They got discouraged. Tired. Bored. But in almost every case, they tried to be like every other writer. They followed tropes and rules instead of being their own unique selves.

But the most important of all, it's what they don't mention that's really behind them quitting. I never hear them say how much they love story-telling.

Never. Ever.

If you don't love making up stories, you're not going to have a long-term career. I and most other readers can tell when your heart's not into the story you wrote.

Basically, if you're not having a good time writing your story, why do you do it? There's a shit-ton of of jobs out there that are tiring and frustrating.  I've been down those roads. You can usually leave the bullshit at the office or factory.

But writing and storytelling should be a passion. Something you can't live without. It's a tough road, but it's worth it when you love it. It's no different that any other art.

The only two things you need to remember is BICFOK, i.e. "butt in chair, fingers on keyboard".

And love your stories!

My Favorite Music Artists

I'm starting with two months of Prince and his various incarnations over the decades. I admit I play his albums while writing romance scenes.

Errands and Accidental Insults

I had a bunch of errands to run today after yoga. Picking up my prescription drugs. Dropping off paperwork for Princess Bella's surgery in two weeks--nothing major, but somehow she managed to break two teeth at the end March, and they need to be pulled. Stop at our dentist and request a full accounting from December of 2023 until now because the company handling our Flex spending account had thrown a fit about the documentation we've already sent them.

Also, I stopped to get a haircut.

Not a big deal, right? The stylist asked how my day was, and I said, "I'm running errands." He was like, "Oh, errands." I shrugged and said, "It beats being at work."

And I apparently offended him.

Oops!

And running errands did beat sitting at home, staring at the laptop screen, because I got stuck on a scene right before I went to bed last night. Ironically, I was able to work out a solution to the story in my head while he cut my hair in total silence.

It was pretty obvious he assumed I was a Karen. Most probably a wife of some Marathon Petroleum executive. But he didn't ask what I did for a living, and when he got huffy, I didn't offer.

I get it. Sometimes, it's hard for people to make a living, and I know I've been graced with certain privileges. However, my life has been all over the place. I've headed the probate division of a law firm, and I've worked three jobs while homeschooling an eight-year-old.

But good grief! I'm getting my hair cut at a discount place, not at a fancy, schmancy salon. Think it through, man!

Should I have apologized? Maybe. But I stubbornly dig my heels whenever someone jumps to conclusions about me. And that's the same whether it's a stylist in Findlay, Ohio, or the mom at GH's daycare who turned her nose up at me because she worked for Vinson & Elkins in Houston (second biggest law firm in the city), and I didn't.

ECLIPSE!

DH and I took today off. It's been a busy, busy year, and we're already a quarter and change through 2024. And today, our little town was almost smack dab in the middle of eclipse totality.

I've seen partial eclipses in person, and I've seen picture of full eclipses, but nothing prepared me for a full in-person eclipse.

We moved our front porch bench out into the front yard before we grabbed our eclipse glasses, DH's binoculars, and Princess Bella. The neighbors on our side of the street did similar things with their seats, equipment, and pets. Folks on the opposite side of the street were in their back yards. Local schools cancelled classes, so all the kids in the neighborhood had a grand time since our weather was damn near perfect--70 degrees, a scattering of cirrus clouds, and no rain.

Princess Bella was only confused about why we were sitting outside instead of relaxing on our recliner couch. The birds and crickets were like, "Whoa! That was a short day."

The drop in temperature and the darkness I expected. We were lucky enough to see Bailey's Beads and the diamond ring effect. What I didn't expect was my bionic lenses creating a blue diamond shape in the middle of the moon. There's a halo effect created by multifocal lenses. I've had them long enough my brain edits out the effect, but this was new so my brain latched onto the blue diamond.

The picture above is the only really good shot I captured. The neighbors' security lights and the street lights had just kicked on, and you can see the edge of the moon's shadow via the cirrus clouds just above the treeline.

At the moment of totality, a cheer erupted from the neighborhood kids, followed by a dull roar of voices from all the spectators in town.

Like I said, pictures can't replicate the thrill at seeing an eclipse in person.

Stress and the Little Things I Do to Deal

The last five months have stressful for me. It's sucks that even good things stress me out these days.

My cataract surgery was very successful. It's so cool I ditched glasses for the first time in fifty-one years. But still, it's surgery. Things can go wrong. And I have one of those brains that has to analyze every single possible outcome.

Because of the unexpected surgeries, I got behind on fulfilling my 2023 Kickstarter campaign. I failed to get the majority of holiday gifts out before New Year's Day. I struggled to get my tax information collected and handed off to our CPA.

And I feared we would lose our fabulous CPA last year when he was diagnosed with cancer.

CANCER SUCKS.

Another friend also had cancer surgery this week, too. I know I'm at the age where shit happens to my peers. But the stress collects in my body. Yoga classes help, but not enough.

A friend noticed, and she suggested we get away for a weekend. She's had her own issues over the last year. We both need a little break right now. So, I'm taking her up on her idea of a little weekend getaway to a hotel with a spa.

I'm really looking forward to this getaway, and I'm sure I'll come back refreshed.

I hope you all find your own ways to relax over the weekend!

Believe In Yourself

This is for any writer who reads my blog.

Believe in yourself!

You will get a ton of criticism in your life. It's inevitable. Why? Because it's human nature. Maybe they want to make themselves feel better. Maybe it's because they want to "help" you. Maybe your art simple wasn't their taste. Regardless, the so-called feedback generally has nothing to do with you. Worse, it hurts (especially when it comes from someone you hold in high esteem and you want to impress them). And in the end, it all sucks.

If you want to succeed in life, you need to believe in your own talents and dedication to achieve your goals. You will be told by your critics that they are only looking out for your best interests. Heck, they often believe their words. But as the proverb says, the road to hell is paved by good intentions.

The best method o deal with criticism is to set aside your emotions and consider where the comment is coming from. Is there any truth to what the critic is saying? Is it something that needs to be improved in your art? Or is itsimply that your art isn't to your critic's taste?

For example, I've learned not to show my romance books to my SFF friends and vice versa. Very rarely do these fandoms cross genres. And that's okay. But these opinons will be colored by the persons' preferred genres.

If the criticism is more specific, like X section seems a little slow, or the heroine said this in Chapter 2 but does the exact opposition in Chapter 21 fo no apparent reason, then you have some to work on. Assuming you agree with the critic.

Then, there's times where someone tells you your story sucks. There's no specific reason why. You simply need to brush that kind of crap aside. It's not helpdful to you, and it says more about the person saying those kinds of thing.

Some writers think if they license one book to trad publishing, their career is made. This is not necessarily true. Yeah, your agent will tell you your book is the greatest thing they's ever read. Yeah, it makes you feel good, but it's not any different than the person who says your writing sucks. Something else is going on that has nothing to do with your writing. Maybe your book is exactly what a publisher said they were looking for. Maybe there's a hole in the publisher's schedule they need to fill.

No matter what anyone else thinks, the only person who really believes in your talent is you. No matter what path you take, make sure it's the path you want, not what someone else who claims to be "helping" you wants

So l said above, believe in yourself. Because no one else will care about your book as much as you do.

April Fool's Day

It used to be there would be all kinds of jokes and fake news on social media on April 1st. There was always outrage from idiots who didn't realize what day it was. The ones that struck were the peole who got their panties in a twist if someone joked about being pregnant. I understand the rage and frustration at not being able to conceive or losing a baby.

Seriously, I do. Genius Kid was a fucking miracle. However, I didn't get too upset over someone else's idea of a joke. It had nothing to do with me or my life. Those April's Fool pranks actually helped me to let go of my own fury at my situation. Life goes on after all.

But all jokes disappeared in April of 2020 with the rising death toll and the overwhelmed hospitals from COVID-19. Most April's Day jokes remained missing until this year.

Today, a few jokes popped up on my feeds. The moderator of a fan site dedicated to Neil Gaiman's Sandman switched the header to say it was a fan site of Goldie the Gargoyle. Another friend beyond her child-bearing years made the usual pregnancy joke. Mainly, there were an abundance of puns.

After the last four years, most of the humor was actually humorous instead of cruelty-based. In a way, it's reassuring the world hasn't totally devolved into fractious fighting and mean-spirited insults.

Or maybe I'm just doing a better job of weeding out the trolls.

Either way, Camp NaNo started today, and I have a book to finished. Wish me luck!