Three Accomplishments

I Did Some of It

Yesterday I made a list of my goals each day. I didn’t come close to getting all of them done. As I said, beating myself up hasn’t worked, so I’m being easier on myself these days.

What I didn’t do was shower. No matter what, I couldn’t imagine crowding myself in that little box and allow water to pound on me. Many of you will relate. Many of you will wonder what the hell is wrong with me. That’s okay. I’ve got clean clothes laid out and will be taking a shower as soon as Maurice leaves for work. It’s a bit hectic around here while he’s getting ready.

I got some writing done. Not much, but some. I could have gotten more done, but I had some changes in mind to make in the novel, so I took care of some of those. The most pressing was one of the suspects. For whatever reason, the guy I had in mind wouldn’t go away. I didn’t like him as a character at all, but he wouldn’t go away. At first I thought it was my subconscious mind telling me to leave him alone, but I wasn’t willing to accept that. Today I had an epiphany. The entire character didn’t have to go, but he needed some major changes. I started to take care of those.

As I recall, I can only remember one review that was a complaint that my characters were stereotypes. Primarily they were referring to my black and latino characters. This hit me in the gut and I really thought it through. I knew these people. I mean in real life I knew them. They weren’t identical, because it is fiction after all, but their looks, actions and environment I knew damn well. Two of the characters they complained about were Latino. It bugged me because I knew them to be true.

Stereotypes exist for a reason people!

Anyway, this one review has made me very cautious to avoid stereotypes to the point it was cramping my style. Yesterday I made the decision to get over the person’s comments and be true to myself and my view of the world. It made things much easier.

I also read. Not much because I needed to take a nap, but I got started. I opened Simple Justice by John Morgan Wilson. It was written in 1996, but had gone out of publication. Fortunately, my friends at ReQueered Tales bought the rights to it and rereleased it. At ReQueered Tales they buy the rights to out of date gay novels and republish them. A lot of great novels have fallen to the wayside, so they are doing a great service. Most of their books are mysteries, which I believe is where they intended to focus entirely, but they got the options to print some non-mystery novels and took advantage of them. I’ve read nothing but great things about Simple Justice, so I’m looking forward to really getting into it.

The third thing I did was allow myself to watch some TV. I had planned to watch a little more of Perry Mason on HBO, but Maurice had a very rough day and wasn’t interested in something dark, or that he’d have to pay attention. Instead we watch Aerial America, which is informative and always easy to relax to. Last nights episode was about Ohio. After that we watched The Wall. It’s a fun game show except when it gets overly sappy when the contestants tell each other how proud they are and how much they love them.

I did look at catching up on The Walking Dead. It was more of a conversation with Maurice than a consideration.

Here I thought I’d stopped watching The Walking dead in season 6 when I actually made it halfway through season 9. It seems a lot longer than that since I stopped watching. Anyway, it means I only have 1 1/2 season to go before season 11 begins. The 11th will be its final season. I have no idea if I’ll go back to Fear The Walking Dead. I’m not sure I want to invest more time on it.

We did agree to start watching the newest of The Walking Dead franchise, The Walking Dead: World Beyond. We figured it was worth checking out an episode or two, but dammit! It’ not available on AMC. It’s only on AMC+. I’m sick of all these cable networks that have started putting their best shows on a more expensive premium channel. Fuck you, AMC. I’m not playing your game.

Podcast is Ready Early for a Change

I did finish editing and uploaded the next episode of my podcast. My guest was Dieter Moitzi, who was pleasant to talk with. I enjoyed our conversation. I am thrilled I didn’t to wait until the last minute to do all the things that need to be done before I can upload the episode and prepare it for release. It’s loaded and I’m done with it. It releases next Tuesday. This gives me time to prepare for my next guest who I interview on Sunday.

I love doing the podcast, if for no other reason that I’ve made contact and friended some brilliant authors. Some of my friends are concerned its eating away too much of my writing time, but it’s not. I’ve gotten quick at editing, etc. Most of it is done by Sunday night, unless I procrastinate. That takes nothing away from writing because I don’t write on the weekends. I try to make that the time I spend with Maurice.

Missed Opportunity

I miss my daughter so much. She lives in Berlin and is studying to get her master’s degree. She texted me a message on my birthday and asked if I wanted to talk. I said I was too busy, but I didn’t tell her I was not in a good emotional state. I’ve been trying to get back to her with no luck. Seeing her face on a Zoom call brightens my day, even if we only chat for a few minutes. With her spending many hours studying, and me being stuck at home during the pandemic, we don’t have much to talk about sometimes, but I savor those few minutes

Facebook

Facebook has been great in many ways. It has allow me to connect with friends and family I haven’t seen or talked with in years. I want to leave it. I don’t like Zuckerburg’s politics, nor do I like having all my data mined for use everywhere in the world. It’s impossible to get away from it all. If you’re on the net you are taking a risk. Accept that as fact. I just don’t want Facebook to make it easier for the powers that be to go digging into my life.

The problem with leaving Facebook is it’s the best place for promoting my books and my podcast. I’m stuck there. Without those two obligations I would have been long gone. It’s kind of like me hating Amazon with a passion, yet I sell my books there. It’d hurt my readership, and earnings without them.

I hate selling my soul.

Twitter

I used to despise Twitter. I only used it for promoting books and my podcast. The problem is you have to interact a lot…a whole lot…to have your posts get noted for people to see. I stopped promoting either of those and have sworn off it for good. I failed.

Now that I’m not promoting anything anymore I’m interacting for fun. And yes, even a little bit of politics. There’s a thrill when Trump makes a post and you can respond right back to him that he’s full of shit. Naturally, that sets the wrath of his cult upon me, but that’s okay. I’ve learned to ignore and even block them. I don’t try to converse, or debate with people who won’t use logic, reason, and lies to defend themselves.

I guess I’m stuck with Twitter for a few minutes a day.

The Weekend

The weekend is here so you probably won’t see any new posts for a few days. Since Maurice needs a break from the world, I’m hoping I can convince him we should go to the beach and pitch our tent. That’d be a lovely way to get in some reading.

6 comments on Three Accomplishments

  1. Go to the beach! That’s what I intend to do on Sunday when I’ve finished my current round of edits! Nothing like the pounding of the waves on the shore to calm the nerves ♥

    1. I’m real shaky this afternoon so I think a day at the beach is exactly what I need. I’m looking forward to it. Now its time for a nap.

  2. Enjoy your weekend! One bad book review is nothing to worry about! I’m sure there were plenty of great reviews! Focus on those instead of worrying about one negative comment! I will look forward to buying and reading and reviewing your books when they get on audible. Do email me to let me know! shirley1980@eircom.net is my email addy. Let me know when the books are available for purchase! carol anne <3

    1. I’ve made a note to email you when it’s available Carol Anne. I just hope I find the note when the time comes.

      I generally don’t let negative emails affect me. I get far more positive than negative. In fact, based on advice from much more seasoned writers, I no longer read my reviews. I let someone read them for me and give me a synopsis. This has worked out great, especially on Goodreads where people can be vile.

      I think this review stuck with me because the man gave me 5 stars. He merely commented as a suggestion. I take that more seriously than the “This book is the worst piece of crap” reviews.

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