Wednesday, October 8, 2025

AITA

I've been getting these AITA posts in my FB feed.  (For the record, AITA stands for 'am I the asshole?')  And since I stopped and read one, they're showing up with startling frequency.  Anyway, the whole premise of these things is to lay out a story about something you've done and then ask the world at large whether you're the asshole in the situation.

Okay, I'll admit it... these things are kind of addictive.  Unfortunately, in order to see the whole story on any of them, you have to click a link or something, so I'm only going off the parts I can see without clicking.  Still, for the most part, I think the person telling the story is not the asshole.  (Occasionally, the person is definitely the asshole.)

For instance, I read one this morning about a dad who had sole custody of his teenage daughter, and it seemed like every time he got after her about anything, she's play the 'I want to go live with mom' card.  Finally, after she was particularly rotten, he gave her what she wanted.  He packed her bags and dropped her off at her mom's to live.  Within a day, she was asking to come home.  He left her there for four days and then let her come home.  Like I said, I didn't read how it all turned out, but it seemed pretty reasonable to me.  

Thinking about it all now, I feel sad for people who think they need to ask whether they're the asshole in any given situation.  If you thought what you were doing was right when you did it, what exactly is making you think otherwise now?  Explore that before you go looking for validation online.  You can probably tell for yourself whether or not you were the asshole, hindsight being 20/20 and all that.  

I expect those things are probably not all true.  Clickbait, doncha know.  Except I never click because, while the story was interesting to read, I don't really care what the outcome was.  Does that make me the asshole?  ;o)

Monday, October 6, 2025

Marketing Monday - Project Hermes

 It's Monday again and that means Marketing.  This week, I'm offering PROJECT HERMES up to the sales gods.


Starting today, PROJECT HERMES is free.  (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.)  Get your copy of this medical/political thriller today.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017Y6G0EW

It's the little things that kill.


Sunday, October 5, 2025

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 40?

 I think it's week 40, but these days, who knows?  :shrug:

Earlier in the week, I was doing pretty good at doing something writerly every day.  It lasted 3 days.  I'll try to start that up again today.  START TODAY*.  Okay, so those three days, I added words to the end of DN3 and then I got stuck because I haven't touched the damn book in weeks, so I went back to the beginning and I'm reading through it all to get back into the story.  I'm up to page 49 and hit a spot where I either have to write a new scene or go back and delete the paragraph where I hint about the maid needing to talk to Duke privately.  We'll see what happens.

I did some marketing this week.  Ugly and the Beast was free and I moved 64 copies of that, and one copy of Sleeping Ugly.  (I also sold a copy of Dying Embers (print copy... woot).)  Starting tomorrow, Project Hermes will be free for five days.

I didn't do a Reading Wrap-up this week because I didn't finish anything.  I am in the middle of reading a Phyllis Whitney that I suspect I may have read before.  :shrug"

In baking news, I make a chocolate oil cake with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream.  It's yummy.  Friday, I made chili and to go with it, cornbread.  Yay.  

On the activity front, I didn't do a lot of very active things, but I did things.  One day I walked.  I did some limb cutting and I cut down a nuisance tree.  I vacuumed and brushed the kitchen rug, which yielded me enough cat hair to build a third cat, if I wanted.  And I did Wallyworld, which is always a workout.  Let's not talk about weight, eh?  I'm going to call what I just saw on the scale an anomaly.  Derp.

The deck garden is still producing tomatoes, so yay.  I get one ripe one at a time, which is perfect for burgers or sandwiches.  As long as the warm holds out, I should still be getting 'maters.  Of course, as long as the warm holds out, it delays my ability to plant trees, so there's that.  (Heat, bugs, etc.)

I'm finally getting over the jetlag from my trip.  Funny how the change of just an hour can really mess a body up.  And I get to do it again next month... change times not travel.  Stupid timechanges.  Blerg.

Nothing else really going on around here.  Hubs and I have some projects we're talking about doing, but we haven't firmed anything up yet, so they don't bear talking about at this time.  

Anyway... see ya next time.  Have a great day!  And if you're so inclined, leave a comment.  I enjoy comments.


*'Start today' was supposed to be my mantra for the year.  We all know how that has gone so far.

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Thursday This n That

I keep forgetting to make blog posts.  This is not helping with my new goal to be more present in my writing career.

What is with the phrase 'being present in x-thing'?  Where else can you be?

I heard something this morning about people being accused of taking money to support Israel.  Someone is out there paying people to do this?  I've supported Israel for decades, so where's my money?  Feh.  

Somedays, I'm full of shit and I know it. Other days, I don't know it.

I don't know about you, but I'm laughing my ass off over some of the things the dems are doing.  I'm also laughing my ass off over how Trump is responding.  A sombrero and mustache on Dollar Store Obama?  ROFL

Yesterday, Hubs and I sat down to watch a new-to-us crime drama from the early '00s.  It started out pretty good and then just got nasty.  VETO from both of us.  We don't need that shit floating around in our heads.  Gah, the little bit I did see is stuck in there now.

Ages ago, I tried to warn the Owl about being careful about what she reads and watches, because once something gets inside your head, you can never get it out.  I used the movie SYBIL as a reference point.  I watched it in college and I still think about it from time to time even now.  :shudder:

I have scads of tomatoes in varying levels of ripeness - from teeny-tiny ones not much bigger than a pea to bigger ones starting to turn red.  As long as the weather holds, and I can keep the hornworms off, I should have tomatoes through the month.  Hell, some of the plants are still blooming.  I could have 'maters through to Thanksgiving.  Lemme tell ya, after months of fearing I wouldn't get any fruits off these dang things, I am happy to know my efforts weren't in vain.

And now, I'm off to Dollar General, I think.  We're almost out of ice cream and there's almost a whole cake to eat.  Yep, definitely a tragedy to be averted there.  See ya.


Monday, September 29, 2025

Monday Marketing - Ugly and the Beast

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since I did one of these, but here we are.  And I'm still hungover from the trip, so bear with me.  


Starting today, UGLY AND THE BEAST is free. (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.) It's a snarky and fun paranormal mystery about a cursed model who's just trying to get her life back, and now there's a surprise beast or two in the mix. No sex, but a lot of swearing, so not for the kiddies. Pick up your copy today.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087ZRD6XM

Sunday, September 28, 2025

Sunday Update - Week ?

As I said to Hubs, "Oh, wait, it's Sunday, isn't it?"  I'm all messed up on dates, days of the week, and time.  I've been on Eastern time for a week, doncha know, and dragging myself back to Central is proving to be a bear.  Jet lag sucks.

Anyway...

Obviously, no writing, editing, or marketing while I was away.  I did sell some stuff while I was gone, so yay.  Starting tomorrow, Ugly and the Beast will be free for 5 days - ending this month and starting next month with a bang.  (I hope.)  I do have plans to get back to writing.  Maybe do a Halloween WriMo or something.  We'll see.  I haven't been very good at setting writing goals and achieving them this year.

I didn't do a whole lot of reading while I was gone either.  I did finish one book on the plane on the way there.  Woot.  Sadly, I'm way behind on my goal for the year.  :shrug:  

No baking.  I meant to make a cake for Mom, but cake was purchased.  I thought about doing a homemade pizza for her, but pizza was also purchased.  :also shrug:

I did get in quite a bit of activity.  I started out by lugging luggage and walking airports.  Took a few walks at Mom's place.  Ended with more lugging luggage and walking airports.  I figured out I walked about 3 miles, altogether, which puts me at 58.55 miles for the year.  I didn't feel like I ate that much while I was gone, but I gained weight, even after the walking.  Blerg.  Weight: 173.0

While I was gone, Hubs watered my garden.  I have a bunch of tomatoes in various stages of ripening.  I also have tomato hornworms.  Rat bastards are getting fat munching on my plants.  On the upside, I also have Braconid Wasps - which prey on hornworms.  So the fat bastard caterpillars are covered in white eggs that will hatch into their bodies and eat them from the inside out - a fact both fascinating and grotesque.  The trees mostly did fine in my absence, so yay.

Okay, I think that's it for me.  What have you been up to lately?

Friday, September 26, 2025

I'm Back

I know, I know... I didn't tell you I was leaving.  I'm a staunch believer in the 'don't share with the internet that you won't be home' thing.  I mean, Hubs was still here, but I wasn't, so there ya go.  Anyway...

In the wee hours of the 18th, we made the drive to the airport, where Hubs dropped me off in the parking lot (he would've walked me in but, much to our dismay, the airport and its parking lot are under construction), and off I went to Michigan.  I spent 7 days hanging out with Mom, my middle sis, and sis's dog.  Oh, and other Michigan fam showed up on Saturday for a surprise birthday thing for Mom, who turned 85 while I was there.

It was a nice and mostly relaxing week.  Mom and I ate stuff we don't normally eat and we watched a lot of TV.  I took some walks, so it wasn't all lazing about.  I also rented a car, which gave me the ability to drive out to the old homeplace.  The place was barely recognizable.  (Who paints an old farmhouse candy-apple red?? Derp. And they cut down all the maple trees.  Turds.)  

I got back last night.  I haven't downloaded the photos I took yet.  I unpacked (mostly) and then flopped into a chair to watch an episode of Doc Martin before crashing into bed. 

The cats were not pleased with me coming home smelling like dog.  They're over it this morning for the most part.  Finn is still displeased with me.  Sawyer was up in my lap this morning like I never left.  

Anyway, I'm spending today decompressing and nursing my aches from carting my carry-on luggage through O'Hare and from the horribly uncomfortable seats on the airplanes.  (Never sit in the last row. The seats don't have any give in the back and the lavatories are problematic... i.e. they stink and the flushing device is LOUD.)

So, I'm home again with Hubs.  Sleeping in my bed, driving my car (rental cars... blerg), eating my food, and playing with my cats.  I still need to evaluate my writing, so I didn't accomplish that, but I did spend the week not angsting over it all, which was nice.

How are things in your world?