Personal Update : Feb. 22

I had some great plans lined up for last weekend and for the Monday after – I even blogged about said plans. Well, nothing went as planned as I got the flu. Not the 24 hour bug either. This thing hit me like a freight train Friday morning and kept me in bed until noon Tuesday. The only warning I got was a little nagging cough that made my chest hurt while I was at work Thursday night. I had sweats, chills, coughing, and I couldn’t seem to stay awake for more than five minutes at a time. I barely ate, and I almost over medicated myself several time because I couldn’t remember if I’d taken any meds. Feeling like I was going to die didn’t help me either. Tuesday, I made myself get out of bed and go to work. I was weak and nauseous – still not completely 100% with that either. Still, I couldn’t afford to miss work so, I went. I made it through and slowly, I’m on the mend. I still have bad headaches, from sinus congestion which I’m told is normal while recovering from this strain of flu. I don’t get sick often but when I do, it knocks me down for a while. So, needless to say, my plans to see my gentleman friend as well as my travel plans to Groveton, went out the window. I don’t know when I’ll have the time to do either again because of my work schedule, but I’ll let you know as soon as I have the time again.

In other news:

Grand Jury duty 21 Feb: We did 50 cases on Friday and one of them was a murder case. I can’t go into details, but I can tell you it’s going to trial. I feel bad for the family of the victim, and the killer is lucky I’m not on that jury.

Work: I’m waiting to be moved to Shipping. I’ll be working 12 hour shifts 6 to 7 days a week, but it’s a pay raise. I plan to work in this department until my debts are all paid off – about 6 months, roughly. Yes, it’s going to be hard, but it needs to be done. I’m getting too old to be doing this kind of work, and my back won’t take it much more than 6 months. Once my debts are taken care of, I can get work elsewhere for less money but better hours. I’m also working on building up my freelance clientele so I can have another income stream.

Writing: This has been on hold since I got sick. Now that I’m feeling better, I’ll be working on it again. I won’t be meeting my personal deadline of my birthday, but I’m hoping for June or July at the latest.

Randomness: I’ve been binge watching television when I can. I tried watching Harrow, an Australian cop show, but it didn’t hold my attention for long. I’ve been watching Lincoln Rhyme on Hulu, and I’m doing good so far keeping up with the weekly episodes. At least two members of the cast were on Grimm together, and I liked that show. I’ve also been watching Carnival Row with Orlando Bloom, just finished the first season. So far, it looks pretty decent lots of steampunk and alternative history which I like. I’m currently watching, Locke and Key which is very different and pretty interesting so far. I’m on Episode 8 of the first season. Not sure how far they can go with the show’s premise, but I’ll follow the yellow brick road as far as it goes.

Not much else to talk about. I haven’t begun a new virtual race yet because I’ve been sick, but I will as soon as I’m up to it again.

Well, that’s it for this month. See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Mind How You Go

This is a phrase I first heard on one of my favorite shows, Endeavour. For Americans, it basically means “Be Careful”. Personally, I think it means so much more.

In the show, this phrase is said by people who are worried about the person they are talking to. DI Thursday says it to his right hand man, DS Morse, whenever they’ve been talking about things that have them worried, or has Thursday worried about Morse. Morse is incredibly clever, but he’s also very caring – too caring at times. This worries his boss so, he cautions him to be careful, but it a more meaningful way.

It’s also said by Thurday’s wife, June, to Thursday. This is usually said when he’s off to work on a case that is especially troubling to the couple. Or when they’ve been talking about personal issues between themselves. The phrase is said with love and so has more meaning than the usual “Be Careful” seems to have.

At times, it’s also said between friends as with DS Morse and his fellow officer, DS Strange. Strange has said it on more than one occasion to Morse, especially when the other man sees Morse bucking up against higher ups during investigations or with potentially dangerous criminals. Morse has said it to Strange as well, though more as a caution to how he was behaving rather than to his physical well being.

My Point? Mind how you go. A phrase that conveys more meaning, in my humble opinion, than a simple Be Careful. Leave it to the English to put more meaning into a simple phrase just be how you say it, than just the words themselves. To me, it shows more depth of emotion, of caring, of mindfulness on the part of the speaker than Be Careful does. I’m going to try to use it more often in my own life, even though I’m an American, and we don’t actually use the phrase.

Who knows, maybe I’ll start a trend! Brilliant is another British English word that means more than just bright 🙂 I’ll be trying to use that more often too.

Mind how you go, and I’ll see you on the flipside! Don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Crimson Knight print version : https://www.amazon.com/dp/1794494480

Crimson Knight ebook version : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008W9ZH22 This is available for free from Kindle Unlimited.

Crimson Knight audio book version: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RWFD7TC

Please leave a review no matter which version you get. If I don’t know how you feel, I can’t fix things or make things better.

*Note* I know about the formatting issues in the print and ebook versions, and they are being worked out.

Travel Inspiration

I have been having fun visiting the blogs of some of the travelers who have so nicely begun following my own blog though mine is not about traveling per se. Thank you all by the way, each and every one of you wonderfully talented and unique people who are following me! I wasn’t expecting such richness when I began my blog. It’s more me just writing what I want to share, or it was in the beginning. However, I digress. This post is about traveling.

Looking at all the pretty pictures and reading all the lovely stories has me inspired to do some writing. I can’t, obviously, go very far – thank my job mostly for that – but I do want to get out and do a bit of driving! I love to drive – just hit the road and go! Being the person I am, I can’t just go without a plan though. I need to find a place to go to, or a general vicinity. I had once planned just to go to a town about 20 miles away and for once, I decided to take a loop that was supposed to take me closer to where I wanted to go – in theory anyway. I took the wrong exit and ended up in little town I’d never been in before. Best thing to happen to me in a long time!! Their little cafe has the best buttermilk pie I have ever tasted and some of the best catfish in a non coastal town!

Again, I digress but only a little bit this time. My apologies.

As luck would have it, I have a three day weekend coming up this very weekend! I’ll be traveling to visit my gentleman friend and then, I plan to visit a town closer to home called Groveton. It’s a little town, but I’m hoping there’s a library so I can try to get some history on the place. I love visiting places, finding out their history and checking out any old architecture there might be about. I’m doing this on Monday so if there is a library, it’ll be open. It should be anyway, but you never know in a small town.

I’ll be taking pictures I promise! I’ll also be writing about the visit – no matter how it turns out.

All this because of the other travel writers here in my little corner of the blogsphere sharing their own travels with me! Thank you all so much!! I feel so excited and can’t wait to get going!!

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!

Endeavour – Television Show Review

This is a wonderful television show produced by the English and show on Public Broadcasting Station, known in the US as PBS. This is the very same station that helped me discover Dr. Who once upon a time. I really love watching this station!

The show is the prequel to the long running Inspector Morse, and it’s all about how young Endeavour Morse, known to all and sundry as Morse, got to be such a great Inspector. Under the sharp eye of his mentor and friend, Detective Inspector Fred Thursday (played by Roger Allam), Morse (played by Shaun Evans) works all manner of cases. Some get him and Thursday killed!

The show is very good, and I haven’t missed an episode since it first started airing in 2012. It’s up to its 6th season now! I’m looking forward to the new season starting.

This is a Crime, Drama and Mystery show with Morse being the clever sleuth who is almost too smart for his own good. Rather than being snobby or annoying with how smart he is, Morse is rather charming. I feel for the man because he has very bad luck with the ladies, no matter how smart he is.

I give it a five star rating and highly recommend you watch it. Don’t take my word for it though! Watch one episode, hell just watch the first 15 minutes and then, post here to tell me what you think! 🙂 Go on! You know you want to!!

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!

Sweaty Monkeys — The Last Word On Nothing

The people around me often have burning questions. (This happens to other People of LWON as well. ) These people are often very upset that I do not know the answer. Why do I not know, for example, exactly what would happen if the center of the earth explodes? Why do I not know how…
Sweaty Monkeys — The Last Word On Nothing

Ending Importance or Lack Thereof #Writing #Author #Advice

I totally agree with Mr. Harrington on this!! Please read, it’s worth it!!

James Harringtons Creative Work

Hi Jim,

You write a lot about endings and how important they are. I’m currently part of the way through my first book and was actually thinking about some of your advice. You seem to put a lot of stock in the ending, and I mean to the point where it’s the most important element to the story. I’m reminded of saying ‘it’s not the destination, it’s the journey that counts’. I was actually wondering if you could explain a little more your thoughts on the subject, because at this point, I kind of disagree with you.

Best,
Krysten

Hi Krysten,

Thanks for the question. It’s fine that you disagree. Writing would be a completely boring job if everyone agreed. Honestly, the whole ‘it’s not the destination, it’s the journey’ argument is one of those rare instances where it holds up in life, but not on paper. I can only…

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Website is Updated! 9 Feb. 2020

It’s been a while since I update my website over on sitey, but I finally did it. I need to tweak a few things still, but all the links to my book, Crimson Knight, are now active. This makes me feel better. I still have a ways to go to get everything the way I want it, over here and over there, but it’s in the making so Yay Me!!

Anyone else have issues with keeping their websites updated?? Feel free to share your story/ies here!

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Crimson Knight print version : https://www.amazon.com/dp/1794494480

Crimson Knight ebook version : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008W9ZH22 This is available for free from Kindle Unlimited.

Crimson Knight audio book version: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RWFD7TC

Please leave a review no matter which version you get. If I don’t know how you feel, I can’t fix things or make things better.

*Note* I know about the formatting issues in the print and ebook versions, and they are being worked out.

King Arthur Virtual Race – the Reward!

At Yes!Fit where they host these wonderful virtual races – races you can walk, run, bike or a couple of other things I don’t remember off the top of my head – so there’s a way for everyone to participate in, except couch potatoes, of course.

Unless you’re a Club member, you do have to purchase a race to participate, but a reward is included in the price. You can choose from a medal(something I always choose), a tee-shirt or a sweat shirt. You can order additional rewards i.e, a tee-shirt and a medal or all three rewards, but you have to pay for the additional rewards as well as the shipping fee.

The medals are not cheap little pieces of tin either. My current medal could lay a hurt on someone if I hit them with it. It feels like it weighs a couple of pounds at least. 🙂 The ribbons that are attached to the medals are very good quality as well, not that flimsy stuff you use for presents and such.

King Arthur Virtual Race Completed 1/2020

As you can see it’s a pretty nifty looking thing! The round part with the enameled shield moves, but it moved the ribbon as well so I won’t be playing with that. 🙂

I need to dig out my old medals from storage now and find a place to hang them all! I have found a new spark of excitement for these races and plan to continue for as long as I can. Join me!! I completed King Arthur on Yes.Fit, and I think you should too! If you’re new to Yes.Fit, use the Promo Code dMu5UqMT during check-out, and you get a discount and I get a gift card! This is win-win for us. Don’t forget to use this code when you purchase your first race, otherwise we both lose out. Go to https://yes.fit/races/King-Arthur-Virtual-Race to sign-up for the race and receive your discount! This one-time discount can be applied to any race, as long as it’s your first.

That’s all for today! See you all on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Ephialtes

This is some good stuff!!

a.mermaid'spen_

I often find myself with the ghosts after the whole world goes to sleep,
The world say those creatures are horrifying
but to my wonder I saw them weep.

It always seems like their darkness is my comfort even though they suck out my light,
My world sometimes seems dull and shallow do they have it bright?

They know the colour of my nightmares and all the words that drag me below,
How the world starts slipping out of my body
whenever I hold on and try to swallow.

Breath by breath I try to walk, not sure about the horizon or meadow,
I was told not to go too far as hell has nothing to offer, now I know.

~🧜‍♀

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Golden Knave Update – An Annoying Setback and Moving Forward

Almost a month ago I crowed about completing the second draft of my sequel novel to Crimson Knight, Golden Knave and how it now needed to be sent off to my Beta readers.

*Note to self* NEVER clean while both having an argument and cleaning!!

I have was having an argument via phone before work one day was quickly cleaning before I left because I had other things planned for after work. I do spur of the moment cleaning as well. At this time, I was arguing with a service trying to bill me twice for something, and I was not happy.

Long story short, my son’s cat had knocked my papers onto the floor and among them were the loose leaf sheets of my finished work. I hadn’t had a chance to add them to the main story in a notebook yet. I write all my work long hand and then, after placing it in one notebook, I put everything on computer.

Cue the tragic music: I threw away the 14 handwritten pages that completed Kitya’s part of Golden Knave. I had been struggling with the ending for some time, and this was a tear jerker – when I realized what I had done almost two weeks later. In that time, I’d looked everywhere several times before I remembered throwing the papers away. I was devastated to say the least.

Fast forward to last weekend. I sat down and wrote the ending again. This time, for some reason, things came a bit easier. It flowed. I wrote it all in one sitting – another 14 glorious pages! Then, I began adding them to the main story, and those pages, those scenes, GREW!! I was only able to get 1 1/2 pages transferred before I got pulled away, but those 1 1/2 pages had become 5 in the notebook!! The scenes had expanded, the dialogue had continued!! I was thrilled!!

I haven’t been able to work on the transferral since because of work and my life in general, but I’ll have the time tomorrow. Then, the tedious chore of putting it all on computer begins. I’ll have to do it in spurts, but it will get done!!

So there you have it, my update 🙂 I hope you all have a wonderful day/evening/night depending on where you are in the world.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Crimson Knight print version : https://www.amazon.com/dp/1794494480

Crimson Knight ebook version : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008W9ZH22 This is available for free from Kindle Unlimited.

Crimson Knight audio book version: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RWFD7TC

Please leave a review no matter which version you get. If I don’t know how you feel, I can’t fix things or make things better.

*Note* I know about the formatting issues in the print and ebook versions, and they are being worked out.