Smut & Scones

It's the week of the holidays and it's raining nicely outside. I'm up early to steal some writing time around my visiting family, having to work today, and all the other to-dos that this week will bring. I know it's cliche but listening to the rain outside really is a nice way to write. I have hot coffee and the whole house is asleep, except the cats. I've had a cold for the last couple of days, which is really annoying. But you know moms don't have time to actually be sick, so I've just been chugging DayQuil and carrying on with things. I had a marvelous time baking all weekend, even so. I haven't really been one for new years resolutions in a long time. Everyone's freaking out about how this is the last year of a decade, which I don't remember people doing in 2009, but maybe switching over to a year like 2020 makes it seem like a bigger deal. I had both of my kids in this decade, got married, moved to the beach, and learned a hell of a lo...

So here I am sort of completely restarting my NaNo project on Day 10. Though I am NOT deleting the almost-5K I wrote already. Per the great Chris Baty, I'm just changing the font to white so it doesn't show up in my word doc and then pressing on. I still wrote those words, dammit, even if I don't end up using them. I'm still writing the same basic story, but I spent a lot of the last 10 days trying to force myself to work with this particular outlining style -- which I do think is a good style -- that I've never used before, and trying to get the hang of it while also attempting the speedy word dumps necessary for NaNo was driving me crazy. Also, I'm trying to write essentially a paranormal romance, here. I know how those are paced. Using an outline that asks me for scenes better suited to straight fantasy novels was throwing me off and getting me frustrated. Once November is over I'll have to sketch out an outline that would be better to use for PNR. Pr...

It's Day 3 of NaNoWriMo 2019. I love it when November starts so close to a weekend. It means you get to really kick off the month with some solid writing time which, for me, is super helpful. I'm behind on the traditional daily word count, but considering I spent most of day 1 just trying to figure out what the heck I was even going to be writing this month, I now feel pretty encouraged to have a plot and the first few sections of an outline done that I actually like, plus a solid day's worth of writing. One of my two kids has been spending the weekend with grandma, which has also helped. I don't know how to explain the fact the the Walmart brand of French Roast coffee grounds is so vastly superior to the Albertson's store brand of same. But here we are. I bought a 2lbs bag of it just to save some money by going bulk, and I am living. Current writing inspiration novels I'm keeping by my side are actually three I haven't even finished reading, and in fa...

Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien My rating: 5 of 5 stars Love this one! It is SO refreshing to find a cozy mystery that isn't about white ladies working in bookshops. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE a good bookshop mystery. But I am so thrilled to have stumbled upon a series that has a POC cast and a unique setting. Chien's writing is also amazing, funny and cute without any of the cliched, Hallmark-channel feeling that abounds in cozies. The characters all felt real, young people being written by a young person, and it showed. I loved it. And the mystery was great. Not obvious, not obscure. I am all in for this series and I can't wait to read the next one. View all my reviews

Husband drove up to the Bay Area with the kids on Wednesday, to visit his parents one last time before school starts on Tuesday. His dad's dementia is getting just worse and worse, and my MIL could use the help around the house, and some kid hugs. I stayed behind, because work was busy, because we just got a new cat who is still acclimatizing to the old cat, and to get things ready for school. I was a little nervous, or, I guess, afraid I would be nervous, if that makes sense, that I wouldn't like being without them for four days. Even though I knew I'd have lots of times to get things done and do my own stuff, there was a part of me that, really, was worried I'd start having anxiety. But, happily, things have been fine. I spent the first two nights eating all the junk food I haven't had in ages, all by myself, in front of whatever I wanted to watch on tv. Friday night, when I didn't have to worry about getting to bed, I sat on the couch and worked on my...