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Writing news and the monthly book post
I have writing news! And I read some books! And it’s cold in Tucson! C’mon, at least pretend you’re excited. My delicate writer’s ego bruises easier than an overripe heirloom tomato. And if you humor me, you get memes. OK, fine, you get memes anyway. Let’s get this party started before I make a bigger idiot of myself. Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer, and the What’s On Your Bookshelf Challenge, hosted by Sue, Donna, Jo and Deb. Grab a treat, have a seat, and let’s get to it.
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The monthly book post–and a great tool for readers
We’re talking books this week–what I’ve been reading, a nifty tool that lets you revisit your Kindle highlights, and of course the usual meme-y silliness. Oh, and weather bragging. We must have weather bragging. With apologies to those of you who live where winter exists: Feel free to gloat in June when it’ll be approximately 872F here in Satan’s Anus. Right now it’s my turn. Now that I have the weather bragging out of my system: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer, and the What’s On Your Bookshelf challenge, hosted by Sue, Donna, Jo and Deb. Grab a treat, have a seat, and let’s get to it.
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7 things I love about reading (and writing) crime fiction
As I noted in last month’s IWSG post, I write in several genres, and I will read almost anything, but I keep coming back to crime fiction. Why? Let me count the ways. But before I do: Happy IWSG day! I participate in the monthly IWSG (a/k/a Insecure Writers Support Group) Blog Hop, which happens on the first Wednesday of each month. We offer words of encouragement to our fellow writers and share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Thanks so much to our wonderful October co-hosts, Tonja Drecker, Victoria Marie Lees, Mary Aalgaard, and Sandra Cox. Each month our fearless leaders provide an optional question we can answer in our posts. This month’s question is:…
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Books, book memes, writing news and more
We’re talking about books this week, because it’s time for the monthly What’s on Your Bookshelf challenge, hosted by Sue, Donna, Jo and Deb. And of course this post is also part of the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Grab a treat, pull up a seat, and let’s chat! Personal and Writing News A few exciting (well, to me they’re exciting) news items in my world this week: Long-Suffering Husband and I celebrated our 31st anniversary! I still can’t wrap my head around that, because my brain is desperately clinging to the fantasy that I’m still 25, making our anniversary a temporal impossibility. One of my short stories was accepted! I can’t…
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Risking my life for new bookcases
Last week I shared that I was planning to spend a long weekend installing new bookcases in my home office. Friday morning I ordered 2 Billy bookcases from the Tempe IKEA, and Long-Suffering Husband and I headed out on I-10 in my pickup to get them. The first thing to note here is that neither of us thought twice about driving 100 miles to buy bookcases. Well, he probably did, but he’s lived with me for over 35 years, so he didn’t bother to argue. The next thing to note is that the weather forecast called for dust storms and thunderstorms. Our solution? Pack a tarp and go anyway. I…
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No, I don’t want to live in a fictional world
I’m so excited to be co-hosting the IWSG monthly blog hop, along with my wonderful co-hosts, J Lenni Dorner, PJ Colando, Jenni Enzor, and Diane Burton! Please stop by their blogs and show them some comment love. Also, this is my 30th IWSG post. How the heck did that happen? (If you’re really bored, you can go here to read the first 29). In this month’s post, I’ll answer the optional question, If you could live in any book world, which one would you choose? But first, a couple of things. I have a newsletter! After spending several quality hours with MailerLite, I have a newsletter! If you’d like to see my nonsense witty commentary…
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Fire near my old neighborhood, books, and more memes
As some of you know, I used to live in the country outside Flagstaff, Arizona. We lived on 2.5 acres a half mile or so from the Coconino National Forest, with a view of the San Francisco Peaks from our driveway. It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever lived. This week my former neighborhood was evacuated because that beautiful place is on fire. This fire, the Pipeline Fire, is the second major fire in the area. The Tunnel Fire blazed through in April. According to the current map, this fire burned to within about a half mile of our former home. So far the neighborhood has been spared, but…
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Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Books and Reading, Flower of the Day, Garden, Weekend Coffee Share, What's On Your Bookshelf
The weekly update: bobcat sighting, books, garden pix, and a small batch of memes
Good morning and happy Saturday! This week’s update will be a little short, because we’ve had a distinct lack of excitement here at Camp WTF. After today, I’ll be on vacation for a week, so I’ve spent this week working, working, working to get stuff done. And that’s after spending all weekend cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, because my son has a houseguest this week. This adulthood thing is a thrill a minute, I tell ya. Before we get to all those thrills: This post is part of the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer; Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge, hosted by Cee’s Photo Challenges, and the What’s…
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January in the rearview mirror (Weekend Coffee Share #23)
Lately I’ve been by turns baffled and terrified at how fast time is passing. 2022? Shouldn’t that be the title of a sci-fi movie? But here we are, almost a month into that sci-fi year, and I find myself in a weird, reflective mood. The last week or so has been… odd. I feel like the fog in my life has lifted, and I’ve found my blue sky again. Cheesy? Yup. But true. I’ve come to realize I’ve spent the last quite a few years just slogging through life. They’ve been hard years–lost my mom, lost one of my best friends, watched my husband suffer through multiple painful surgeries, and…
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Looking back on 2020, Episode 2: Attack of the Books
I don’t know what I was thinking when I created my first Looking Back on 2020 post and decided to riff on Star Wars movie titles. Now I feel like I’ve committed to writing 9 of these posts (or 11 if you count Rogue One, which you definitely should, and Solo, which you probably shouldn’t). I’m not sure anyone wants to read that many posts about my experiences in 2020. Maybe I can shift to the original trilogy for looking forward to 2021 (2021: A New Hope has a nice ring to it). Anyhoo, let’s move on to one of my favorite topics as a writer and lifelong reader: books!…