Month: September 2019

MJ Monday: MJ’s Motivation: Happy 100’s Update

Only eight days remain in the current Happy 100s Writing Challenge. We write 100 words a day for 100 days. I’m still hanging tough. I haven’t missed a day of 100 words since November 30, 2018. That’s new manuscript words. It doesn’t include blogs or revisions or rewrites. Simply 100 brand new manuscript words each and every day.

I took my small laptop with me when I went to my film festival. Another participant has something on her phone that allows her to get in her 100 words. Another participant claims it’s only 15 minutes. Some days that is true. Other days, not so much. But words are being written, the mind is immersed in the story at least a little bit every day.

That’s what counts.

MJ’s Musings: My Favorite Mugs

There are too many coffee/tea mugs in my house. There are boxes of them in the basement. They are stacked in the cupboard over the stove. They reproduce faster than guppies.

Four of my most favorite mugs have been broken: two oversized bright yellow mugs, a cobalt blue one from the 2000 RWA National Conference Chapter Presidents’ Retreat, and one my parents brought me back from Florida–a lovely gray and purple beach scenes with the moon rising over star fish in the dune grass.

Here are four of my current favorites:

I call this my SARK mug because of all the brilliant colors. I like to drink tea from it. It was a gift from a critique partner one holiday when we drew names.

I purchased this mug at the Margaret Mitchell House Museum  when I attended the RWA National Conference there in 2006. It was the last one I’ve attended. The legend at the bottom says, “In a weak moment I have written a book.” I also have the matching refrigerator magnet.

This is my favorite tea mug. I purchased it from an import store in Syracuse that eventually became Pier One–but the mug predates that. My then-room mate and I each bought one. This mug is older than most of my co-workers at Day Job.

Captain Planet! When I worked in local TV, I was given a lot of mugs by program vendors (see previous comment about boxes in the basement, although I did leave many at the station when I left).  This was always my favorite. The reverse side reads THE POWER IS YOURS. The interior is a fabulous periwinkle blue. How can you not love Captain Planet?

MJ Monday: MJ’s Manuscript: Beware of the Moon Cover Reveal

One-night stands don’t turn into forever unless you happen to pick-up a werewolf.

She thought the hook-up was just another one-and-done.

He knew she was his one-and-only.

But when his mission unlocks the treacheries of her past, they are forced to put aside their differences as they battle for their lives.

Brittany Hauge thinks she was blowing off a bad day when she hooks up with a stranger for a one-night stand.

Werewolf Dakota Towne knows better.

She was raised to fear demons before she traded hellfire and brimstone for science; he’s everything her preacher daddy warned her about.

But when Dakota’s undercover mission unleashes the true devil from her past, only her werewolf can save her.

Beware of the Moon, on sale October 23, 2019.

MJ’s Musings: Book Bingo-Self Published Author

I live under a rock when it comes to popular culture. A total and complete rock.  I freely admit I don’t watch a lot of TV and I rarely read outside of my comfort zone. That’s why my RWA chapter’s Book Bingo is good for me.  My competitive nature loves a challenge.

I failed this year. Miserably.  I read many category squares but didn’t achieve even a single bingo.  Part of my lack was from being busy writing. Three books coming out in less than a year is challenging. No excuses. I agreed to the schedule. And it hasn’t kept me from reading. According to my Goodreads challenge, I’ve read over 100 books this year. I’m not ashamed of that number.

I did read a self-published author. Actually, I’m sure I’ve read many. My reading is really random. When the #copypastecris scandal broke out–a major plagiarism case–and Nora Roberts got involved, I checked out the list of authors whose work was stolen.  Many favorites were included, but there were other names on the list with whom I was not familiar. I settled on the author whose fan was the first to discover and report the plagiarism: Courtney Milan.

Now, I don’t know if she is exclusively self-published (and this is one of frustrations I have with Book Bingo–the time spent trying to locate books that qualify for the square), but I decided The Duchess War (the plagiarized book) would fit the bill.

I loved it! I loved it so much, I read the rest of the series. (Thank goodness for my local library and Kindle downloads.) Milan’s heroines are so different than the usual historical heroine. As much as I love historical romances, sometimes they get tiresome. Not so with the ones in this series.

Five stars.

MJ Monday: MJ’s Music-Aida Soundtrack

Y-Chromo was in his high school production of Aida. To this day, it remains my favorite of his school play (including the role of Tony in West Side Story, which he rocked!) The story is based on the opera, with music and lyrics by Tim Rice and Elton John.

I’ve heard people say the only good song in the play is “My Strongest Suit.” They would be wrong. There are many wonderful tunes.  There’s a CD of covers,  including such artists as The Spice Girls, James Taylor, Sting, Tina Turner, Boyz II Men, Shania Twain, Lenny Kravitz, and others. It’s a good CD, although I still prefer the original Broadway sound track.

When the show came to our city, almost everyone from the high school cast went, even though it was several years after the fact. The consensus was our kids were better in their roles than some of the professionals we saw that night.

While I was researching this blog, I learned that my favorite Monkee, Mickey Dolenz, played the same role on Broadway my son played in high school.

How cool is that?