Month: June 2019

Getting Stuff Done

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I read a book on Saturday!

It shouldn’t be shocking since I write books, but I haven’t read anything for a while. Constant overtime at work leaves me with very little creative energy when I get home. On the good days, I manage to write a little for RTD or one of my other projects, but when I come home wanting to shoot my brains out, I sit in front of the TV and give into easy entertainment. No writing accomplished and definitely no reading, which sucks, since I’d rather read fiction than the THOUSANDS of aggravating emails at work from people who 1) don’t proof read  or 2) are plain stupid or 3) only answer half my email which extends the conversation and slowly drains my life force from me ☹

But I like fiction, and I finally read a sample that kept me interested enough to throw my hard, soul-draining money at it.

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

Blurb:

Classic movie fan Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online as Alex. Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush.

Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new archnemesis. But life is a whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever it is she’s starting to feel for Porter.

And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately.

AKA: Modern Day You’ve Got Mail (which I loved!)

Yes, it’s YA romance and a trope I’m always interested in: enemies to lovers. My TBR list is pretty long, and I’ve been meaning to read *many* amazing-sounding books from other romance authors in the circle I run in, but I opened my Kindle, saw a suggested story and clicked. And enjoyed. Plus, I like the name Alex. He’s the hero in my BTT series, so obviously I’m attracted to it. 😊

Other than my book, Batman and I spent the weekend binge-watching Good Omens. Have you seen it? Angel and Demon have a bromance situation, and work together to prevent the end of the world after losing the Antichrist.  It’s actually pretty good, and I love the fact that 20,000 Christians petitioned Netflix to stop showing it, especially since it’s on Amazon Prime.

Anyway, that’s all that’s new with me. One book, one show thoroughly binge-watched, and Batman and I secured our wedding planner. Look at us getting stuff done! The Universe kicked my ass a little last week, but thank God no spider’s nests…

*still shuddering*

What about you? How has life been? Read any good books/binge any good shows lately?

Fine, Universe, You’re Off the Hook

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Last week kicked my ass. Can we all agree it sucked? ☹

Since my favorite Aunt was in town, everything was cranked up to the next level of crazy-emotional, and I found myself crying at work on THREE different occasions over things I would’ve normally bottled up and whined about to Batman. And not cute little tears that I could pass off as a tender moment of sadness. No. I straight up Ugly-Cried, guys. AT WORK. Where I have to go back and show my ugly-crying face daily. And since I don’t care enough to wear make-up, just imagine my level of sexiness. Yeah.

*shudders*

I also put my hand through a spider’s nest.

I’m going to give you a second to think about that. To really get the image. Not a web. A nest. A spider’s nest which means there was one fat momma and her *billions* of babies. Really soak in that image. Are you fainting yet?

Because I nearly did. After the scream that shook the earth (and a terrible day earlier; note the ugly-crying above) I about passed out because WHAT THE HELL UNIVERSE. Yeah, I know I don’t sweep every day since Appa leaves a healthy layer of fur on my floor, but I WAS GETTING TO IT. Why would you hide the forces of evil under my dryer sheet—with *billions* of evil babies—and then let me grab it? With my hand? The one that I use to write and CANNOT chop off even though it’s touched the lowest layer in hell and will forever be tainted.

*Barfing*

*wipes mouth*

Excuse me.

So, last week was fun. 😊

I still get sick in the morning (most mornings) and no, I’m not pregnant. I’m stressed, and my body just reacts. Though, I will say this is one of the best diets I’ve been on. Is it unhealthy? Of course. But so is depression, and that’s the next best option that I’d really rather not explore. The silver lining is that it’s been great for wedding-dress-shopping which I recently did. Want to know how it went? Let’s just call it the opposite of my spider’s-nest-drama because mom and sister helped me FIND MY WEDDING DRESS 😊😊😊

YES! I HAVE IT! Eons early, but I have it, and it’s perfect, and I cannot WAIT to put it on again (many, many months from now.) I’d *love* to describe every frigging detail down to the time of day we went and the number of dresses I tried on, but I can’t. Sometimes Batman reads my posts (sometimes…) and I don’t want him peeking in on anything his happy butt can wait to know in November 2020. If we’re besties in the real world, of course you’ll get the whole story (details included!). For everyone else, just imagine the most gorgeous, perfect dress you didn’t realize you wanted—or even knew existed. And it’s yours! GUYS. I HAVE MY WEDDING DRESS!

Okay, so maybe the tail end of last week turned out to be not so terrible. I’ll give you Friday afternoon and Saturday. But Monday through mid-Friday—WTF, Universe? And really, a SPIDER’S NEST? You know it’s the antithesis of everything pure and holy.

*shudders*

But I did find my wedding dress. And it’s so, so beautiful…

Fine, Universe, you’re off the hook this week. But only because Batman just might cry now. He swears he won’t ball at the ceremony, but this gown might be the trick. I hope so. I’d really hate for mom to lose her five bucks. 😊

IWSG, Is That a Genre?

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I ALMOST missed this post because Batman and I were house sitting this weekend and it totally threw off my writing schedule and then the first of the month snuck up on me, so I thought seriously about skipping this until I realized what post this was so here I am 😊

*ahem*

Optional question for Insecure Writers Support Group:

Of all the genres you read and write, which is your favorite to write in, and why?

That’s a toughie. All my genres have a subcategory of romance, so I guess that’s the obvious answer. Believe me, I love love LOVE writing romance because it gives me all the feels, and it’s pretty frigging cool coming up with something you hope others will get the feels from too. So, I’ll go ahead and answer the question now: Romance.

That being said, I need to shout-out to writing military strategies. Is that a genre? Or what genre would that fall under? I honestly couldn’t tell you, but in addition to romance, I love love LOVE writing Sampson/the gang’s conversations with foreign leaders in regards to their common enemy (Arizal Wars). I never thought I’d enjoy pairing up an ex guard, a chancellor, a princess, a tribal leader, two lieutenants and a handful of helpful humans to discuss plans for domestic and foreign invasions—but I do! More than I thought I would. 😊 And what’s more, I love when they disagree on how things should be handled. I’m rooting for everyone, because everyone has a valid point, but they each want things to play out differently and the drama is AMAZING. I’m not sure why I’m so drawn to it, but there you go, my honorable mention in genre categories, and I don’t even know what it is.

Since I write fantasy and science fiction (again, with a subplot of romance) there tends to be a lot of corrupt leadership in my stories. Am I writing pieces that echo something about the nature of our county in this day and age? Not even close. I have an imagination, and I dream up all sorts of worlds. Also, if everyone agreed and everything was wonderful and happy, there wouldn’t be a story. Shit needs to go down. People need to scramble to figure out what to do. Enter: Me.

To recap:

  1. Romance, because of “all the feels”

2. Military Strategies (genre?) because I might’ve been Patton in a previous life. We’ll never know.

Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) is a monthly blog hop for writers at all levels to share their fears and insecurities in a safe and encouraging place. Please drop by and say hi to Alex Cavanaugh who started this nifty concept in bringing us all together.