Soul Sucking Things that Get Writers

Covid 19 is a soul sucker. It's an on-edge feeling of fear, want & confusion. We fear the virus (or we should.) We want to be normal. To go back to our day to day life and to our old goals and ambitions. Right now all that is on hold. We face confusion every minute of the day. Information overload from all directions.

I was a that real job thing the other day when a man told me about those Americas Frontline Doctors who said that hydroxy-whatever can cure Covid. Wow, wouldn't that be great? So as soon as I could get to a computer I looked it up. A bunch of doctors said it's so. So I looked them up. Each. Individually. I wanted to know if they were people I should believe. 

First I saw that Facebook and Twitter had deleted the postings. hmmmm, why would they do it? 

Well it call came out that 2 of them were ophthalmologists and not regular medical doctors. One of them doesn't even have a license. The main speaker has publicly stated that she believes dreaming about demons can get a woman pregnant. 

Did I really have to read further? 

Ok so the ball of confusion is everywhere and by the time you research -- we are writers after all, that's what we do; research -- maybe an hour or two has passed. Then where are we? Certainly not writing or editing.  We all know social media is a soul sucker so now on top of all that we have Covid-land. So, how do we get our drive back? 

Back to basics; 

1. Schedule your writing time and go to it like a job. Every great writer does this so it's #1 on the how to get your writing mojo back. 

2. Close the door. Not just on the people in your house but on all that static from social media. DON'T OPEN IT! Consider it a demon ready to snatch your writer's soul. 

3. Set a goal. It could be 20 minutes it could be an hour. I like pages. Setting a goal by pages makes you get it done. I could daydream for an hour and then wrap it up. Done. But if I say I have to write 10 pages before I get up... well, then I'll have something to show for the time. 

Stay strong my writer friends. You are creative and the world needs your words. 

Under the Dome by Stephen King

Just finished Under the Dome by Stephen King and I still haven't caught my breath. In this story a mysterious force field-like dome covers a small New England town trapping the people inside. Maybe that wouldn't have been too bad at first, but one of the town selectmen, Jim Rennie, has dictator issues and quickly works behind the scenes to create havoc. He fills the town police force with incompetent bullies, murders those who threaten to expose his crimes and manipulates the towns people to his own benefit. When the president sets up an ex-military man, Dale Barbara (Barr-beee), as the person in charge Big Jim pins him with a multiple murder rap and has him thrown in jail. Suddenly all the chaos created by Jim Rennie is blamed on Barrr-beee. What happens next will keep you on the edge of your seat.
My one problem with this book is the size...no it's not the length of the book...it's the physical size. This book is 4 inches thick in hardback. I guess I should have waited for the paperback because this book was hard to fit in my purse. And to make matters worse I couldn't put it down! lol So after going through the first few chapters I went out and got the audio version so I could listen during my 40 minute drive to work. Raul Esparza read this book and he is excellent. His ability to do voices was amazing and really took me into Chester's Mill and it's characters. I think he's the best reader I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.
The characters in this book will stay with me for a long time. When the book ended I felt like I was losing some old friends. Isn't that the best feeling in the world? Well done, Mr. King. Now...will you sign my copy?
Five stars. I loved this book!
Go to Amazon to see a video of Stephen King talking about this book.

Cross Country, Oy! Mr. Patterson!

Normally, I love James Patterson. Yes, I've heard the rumors that he doesn't write his own books and yes, sometimes those short chapters annoy the hell out of me, but generally I like his books. And I love the Alex Cross series.
Then I read Cross Country and prayed for it to be over. This was the worst book I've read in a long! long! long! time!
It broke all the rules! There were so many exclamation marks I thought I should be jumping up off my chair for every other sentence!
There there were the rhetorical sentences. They came in groups of three (always three!) in every chapter.
If you've ever read any of the Alex Cross books you know he's this big, tough detective. He's too smart to take unnecessary chances and always puts his family first.
He's the perfect man.
Well, whoever took over the Alex Cross in this book was none of those things. He came across dumb as a doornail, took stupid chances and was a really feminine. Yes, big tough Alex Cross came across in this book as a girl. Jacqueline Daniels had a bigger pair than this guy.
Now lets move on to the plot....Alex goes to Africa to try and track a murderer. However he goes without a clue as to where to look for this man. Africa is a big continent so....what's the plan Alex? Wander here and there and hope for the best to bump into this guy?
But lets back up, Alex has no proof that this guy is in Africa. He only has some rumors that the guy originally came from there. The Alex Cross in previous books was much smarter than this guy.
Weak plot and out-of-character characters make for a really bad book. And I think this book was written by a woman. The feminine voice comes through so loud and clear
I can picture big, tough Alex Cross running in high heels.
Sorry James, whoever wrote this book needs to go back to writing 101.

CHERRY BOMB

Just finished reading Cherry Bomb by J.A.Konrath and it was a real page turner.
Bad girl Alex Kork is back with more of her twisted games to torture our hero, Jack Daniels. If you like Serial Killers, Cops and lots of action buy this book. The imagery is vivid and might keep you up at night. Konrath has a real talent for wretching emotions from the reader. This read is like a roller coaster ride of tears, fear and edge of the seat screams. His writing will paint you such a vivid picture that you can't help but keep turning the pages.

The opening of this book will answer the cliffhanger at the end of Fuzzy Navel. Thank you Joe! It was totally unexpected. Brought tears to my eyes. They didn't last long though as we were dragged into the non-stop action.

Good read! I give it five stars! *****

Skinny Bitch ~almost....

My dd is a nutrition student and told me to get this book. It was a quick and easy read and I finished in in one day. Some of the language was a bit snarky. Almost preachy. "You cannot keep eating the same shit and expect to get skinny. Alcohol- fat, bloated pig syndrome. Coffee is for pussies." In the beginning this kind of language was kind of funny but by the end of the book (don't be a cheap asshole) it was tiring. Believe me I'm no prude. I'm from NJ- we put the FU in Fun! But after awhile it was like they were trying to shock or be funny with the language and it just went overboard.
This book provided a lot of great information on healthy vegetarian eating. It explained what the chemicals in our food do to our bodies. What good food does for us. Which things we should avoid and which things we should eat were explained in detail. I really liked this information. It was well written and easy to understand.
Then we got to the part about meat and there was a whole horror chapter on the meat industry. In depth, gross details on what happens to an animal before it becomes food. Totally a PETA rant. It tells you to go to www.goveg.com. I was happy about this and went right to the site for more healthy eating information. I was disappointed because it looks like a PETA site.
I've been thinking about going vegetarian for awhile so the vegan concept isn't lost on me, but this kind of thing wasn't about the health of the vegan...it was about bashing the meat eaters.
I think I'd feel better as a vegetarian because I just can't stand looking at meat. Having to cook raw meat makes me gag and I refuse to touch it. Ever try to cook a turkey or make a meatloaf without actually touching the meat? My family laughs at my efforts.
Skinny Bitch also says that humans shouldn't naturally eat meat. Predatory animals have big teeth and claws to hunt their prey, humans don't so biologically shouldn't be predisposed to eat meat. However if that theory were true then we shouldn't eat wheat or any other grain. Because it can't be eaten without much processing with "tools" so going on the same train of thought we probably weren't predestined to eat it right? If we can't hunt (with tools) meat, then we can't process wheat? Right?
I don't think so.
Anyway it seemed this book started out as a great book about health and nutrition and then turned into a PETA flyer. It would have been a better and more inspirational for weight loss and diet if they left out the politics.

I've been SLAUGHTERED!

This book was so good I stayed up nights reading it. First thing in the morning while the dogs whined for their morning walk I'd have to finish just one more chapter.
And then the ending.....OMG! I sprang up out of bed at 2 a.m. shouting "NOOooooOOoooo!"

Have you ever read a book and get to one line that stands out as amazing. Like you have the wow, I wish I wrote that feeling.
There were many great lines in this book but my favorite was:

It had rained all night, a hard, heavy rain that tapped on their window like a witch trying to get in.

Love Karen Slaughter! Find her here.

Triptych by Karin Slaughter; A review!

There aren't many books that make me gasp, but this one did. I originally picked this book up because an agent mentioned Karin Slaughter on her blog. She said she'd love to have a writer like this in her stable. So, I just had to find out what made the agent drool.

And I got a real nice surprise.

Most books are predictable. I can guess the next move, the villain or the ending. Maybe that's because I read a lot, or study different styles of writing or because I write my own stories.

But this...

Triptych had some great twists in it that I never saw coming. Karin Slaughter's voice just sucks you right in and leaves you --you guessed it--gasping! There were times where I flipped back because what I was thinking turned out not to be so. She throws in several red herrings that will take you completely off guard. Slaughter is a master of optical illusion. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who needs to be surprised and shocked. This book is page turner that will keep you up at night and make you late for work.

Read it!

Book Review- More Than Fiends by Maureen Child

If you are looking for a fun read pick up this book. It a light hearted story with some dark and dangerous demons.

Cassidy Burke is a single mom with her own cleaning business. When she finds out the women in her family are destine to be Demon Dusters and save the world she really has her hands full. Add a sexy new client who has more than business on his mind with a hunk of an ex lover who happens to be the father she never told her daughter about and all hell is about to break loose in the sleepy little town of La Sombra.

Loved this book but even better I just checked out Maureen Child's site and found out there's a sequel. Whooo Hoooo!

If you are looking for a good laugh pick up this book and read how Cassidy maintains her cleaning biz, reels in the sexy new client (in more ways then one) and handles her hunky ex lover while she dusts demons on the side.