 I, too, am a Pinball Wizard, Mr. Wizard Another birthday month comes to a close and I'd have to say this one was successful. I'm still on this side of the dirt, which is always good, and I had big fun this September with a comedy club outing and an arcade outing. I rounded up fun friends who came to both of these events with me and having my honey along is always a blast. I also didn't overschedule, correctly assuming I'd need a weekend in between festivities to chill. A girl has got to know her limitations. Speaking of knowing limitations... My regret for this birthday year is that I haven't written more, but fortunately, I'm getting wiser as I get older. I'm getting better at letting go of disappointment and not letting it stop me from moving forward, even if it's only at a snail's pace. Snails still make progress. I'm not doing the guilt thing about my low writing productivity because maybe these past two years of writing super-short non-fiction books isn't because I'm too busy, lazy, or not smart enough to write "real" books anymore. Maybe it's the space between the notes, my time of gearing up for something big. Temporary low productivity doesn't mean I'll never write a lot again and this year was cra-cra for me (see the post on 9/12/2023) so I have a good reason for only putting out a wee book. I remain optimistic for my writing future. What I'm reading: The third, and I hope not final book in The Misadventures of a Paranormal Post-Relationship Personal Effects Repossession Specialist. How's that for a doozy series title? I've enjoyed the whole series and the most recent book, A Siren Sings Her Heart Out, is possibly my favorite. The offbeat humor is right up my alley and I love the relationships between characters. Also, in book three, we finally get a glimpse of the hero's mysterious past. Start with book one and you won't be disappointed by any of them. What I'm watching: Who loves Mel Gibson, even though he's bat-shit crazy? Check out Force of Nature to watch him in a perfect role. The movie got bad reviews but I totally enjoyed the action, the cheesy storyline, and the frequent humorous lines. When the bad guy gets what's coming to him at the end I know you'll cheer like I did. What made me happy: Finally catching the baby-making machine Pixie! The Cat Crew and I have been trying to catch this female for over a year. She's been fixed and is back in her 'hood and will be much happier now that the boy cats will leave her alone and she won't get preggers again. I tried explaining that to her but she was giving me the stink-eye, for sure! Thanks for reading!  I can't believe I walked into this trap! "Music is the space between the notes."~ Claude Debussy
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 Every year a few of my writer buddies go to the NINC conference, along with a whole bunch of other writers. NINC is Novelists, Inc. and to join you have to meet a criteria of having earned a certain dollar amount selling books. I've never earned that amount so I'm not invited to the party. Honestly, most years I can't afford to go anyway and don't have the time but still. I want to be able to have the option to go or to say no, I'm far too busy spending my millions of dollars I made from my last book doing other fabulous things so there, nanner nanner nanner. Being able to join NINC and attend the conference, however, is a real goal of mine so it gives me a good reason to keep writing.
I swore I would write once a week and this week it's going to be short as I suspect other weeks will be also. But like I always tell my honey, everything we write doesn't have to be an epic masterpiece. Just get the damn words on the page. So, here's what's going on with me. What I'm reading: I just finished The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, our book of the month for my book club. It was a decent read but shiiiiiit! Those people had a rough life. Made me glad to live where and when I do because I think I'm tough but I'm not Kentucky hill-woman tough and I don't think I would have survived long in the situation the book's heroine was in. What I'm watching: Check out a super-cute movie called The Spy Who Dumped Me and enjoy the absolutely delightfully wacky performance by Kate McKinnon. And does Sebastian look familiar? Picture rolling hills of Scotland behind him. What made me happy: Planning a trip to Arcade Monsters this weekend to celebrate birthday month. Yeah, I like games. I like drinking beer and playing games even more. I'll just throw my own party! Thanks for reading!  Yoga at the Wizard of Oz Museum. Kinda scary, mostly fun. I always like to do something that scares me during my birthday month so this year I'm challenging myself to really and truly keep up a blog. My goal is to publish here at least once a week, maybe more. What, you say? Writing a blog isn't that scary. Uh, yeah, but commitment is and this year has pretty much already scared the shit out of me so I'm taking it a wee bit easier with my birthday month challenge this year.
What happened this year? Pull up a chair and a glass of your favorite beverage and I'll tell you my tale of horror. Due to Florida suddenly becoming a hugely popular place to live, prices have skyrocketed. The rent on my shop went way up so I had to move my business. Not once but twice and let me tell you, I had a lot of crapola after being in one location for ten years. It was heartbreaking, a lot of physical work, and I spent way too much time being pissed off at greedy, asshole landlords but in the end, I ended up at a great place with a fabulous roommate and I'm incredibly happy with work life now. Insurance has gone through the roof in Florida and many companies, including our homeowners' insurance, flat-out left our lovely state. Seems it was costing them money to pay for all these hurricane claims. Huh. Property taxes soared like a vulture swooping down for some good ol' Southern road kill. Sooooo, now I have higher bills to pay and, oh yeah, I had to get a new car which is lovely but comes with payments which is a major adjustment after not having a car payment for a long time. All this means lots of money going out. Yep, that's scary. Writing, publishing, and marketing takes time and money and I don't have a lot of either right now. To put effort and $$$$ into a book that I'm fairly certain won't sell like crazy is disheartening. But. You never know when the Universe is going to surprise you with Random Shit and any of my books could actually sell like crazy, or at least sell a wee bit. I'm a persistent bitch and even if I only put out one short book this year, that means I haven't given up. If, however, I do absolutely nothing, that's exactly what I'll get back. I'd like to say that all is well now and I'm moving along at breakneck speed but that's not true. There are still plenty of challenges in my life and with all the craziness going on these past few years I've shifted course several times. I wish I had more books planned but I don't. I wish I knew exactly what I want to write going forward and have adjusted my wacky schedule to write those awesome books but that's also not true. My writing goal this year is just to publish the second book in my Humorous Haiku series and that book is moving along nicely and should be done soon. Next year...we'll see. Making a commitment to carve out more time for writing and for sharing more about myself IS scary but I'm moving forward, which is the only way to go. I'll end with a favorite quote. Thanks for reading. "You fail only if you stop writing." ~Ray Bradbury |
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