A Few Good Pics

We babysat Mr. Oliver yesterday so his parents could have a break, which is the joy of being grandparents. The boy is constantly on the move; out of the 39 pictures we took about 90% were blurry. Here's a few that weren't:

He's also very curious and lightning-fast. His mother and I figure we have a month or two to childproof both our houses before he starts walking and can get into, well, everything.

Back It Up

The other night I was working late on a particularly difficult scene, and as is now my habit I stopped about an hour in to back up three times (once to my hard drive, once to Dropbox, and once to a memory stick.) It annoyed me to have to do that, as I was just starting to get the scene to work. I even thought "Why am I backing up during writing sessions when I can do it later?"

The universe heard me, because five minutes later everything suddenly died, and I was left sitting in complete darkness. I sat and waited for the power to come back on so I could recover my files. But the power didn't come back on, so eventually I had to go to bed.

We didn't get service restored for another five hours, as it turns out. When I went to reboot my computer, which is getting a bit old now, I thought of what might happen if the outtage had fried it. I have a backup laptop for work, but I haven't been copying my files to it since last summer. All I had of the last three weeks of work I've done was on that memory stick and in Dropbox.

Moral of the story: back it up during writing sessions. Create multiple copies and save them in different locations. Also, never prod the universe to answer your idiot questions.

Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay

For Kat

In case you're still lurking out there, Katherine (she knows about Valerean now), I thought I'd devote today to some old pics of you.

You are amazing. You always have been. I have so many good memories, all thanks to you.

Being your mother has been this incredible gift, and a huge responsibility. I'm in awe of you, and I want you to stay healthy, and safe, and protect you in every way that I can.

I also wanted you to have the freedom to be who you are, and find your passion. I think I've done that.

So from the first day of school (remember this?) I made myself let you go out into the world to find your path.

Remember that I believe in you.

And I love you.

Katherine will be graduating from college summa cum laude in the top 5% of her class, by the way. I give her all the credit for that.

Lockdown Ten

Ten Things I Have Learned During the State-Wide Quarantine

Diplomacy: I'm taking my time before I e-mail or post to double-check myself and make sure I'm not being too blunt or potentially (and inadvertently) triggering someone else. Also making an effort to include happy thoughts and pics whenever possible in case the person on the other end needs a boost. When I'm in a very bad mood I don't answer e-mails until I get myself out of it.

Fan Fic: I've never read much fan fiction, as I can't in good conscience condone it (although I understand why people write it, which is why I'm on the fence about it.) Recently I found myself on a FF site where I read some. A lot of it is clumsy, but there are also some professional-level works out there. The passion of FF writers is what mostly impressed me. I wish they'd try to write in their own worlds.

Food: I discovered that cooking with limited supplies calls for a lot of creativity and flexibility, but is sometimes more fun than when I could run out to the store whenever I liked. Also, I have made terrible meals -- truly terrible -- and laughed at myself for them.

Happiness Sourcing: Because of all the bad news and online hatred I'm now actively looking for ways and opportunities to feel happy every day. Staying unplugged as much as possible is helping, but so is reading and journaling. Looking at pics of my grandson is always an instant mood booster. As you can see by this latest pic with his grandfather he's a hat lover.

Juggling: Mentally I have a lot going on (work/home/kids/baby/my guy/food/supplies/finances/neighbors/being safe/staying smart/staying motivated and creative), but I think I'm getting a little better at switching gears and managing most of it. When I don't, I forgive myself. Not a machine is my favorite catch-phrase these days.

No Big Dealing: I'm learning how to let go of my OCD need for perfection. Two months ago it would have made me crazy not to vacuum/mop the floors once a week. Now? Eh. There's always next week.

Routine: In keeping with No Big Dealing, I'm allowing myself have days when I just do whatever needs to be done rather than sticking to a schedule -- and occasionally I give myself the damn day off from all my routines.

Sleep Disruptions: I'm not sleeping much, but I'm finding ways to keep from waking up when I finally do. Everything is unplugged at night except one phone for emergencies.

Stressing Out: I have been stressing out a lot, so now I'm focused on how I can combat that. My guy and I are taking a ride at least once a week to get out of the house (we don't get out of the truck, we just drive through the country back roads.) I'm buying our veggies and fruit from local farmers now, which makes me feel like I'm helping them a little, and sharing the wealth with the kids. I'm breaking my rule about no naps and take one if I'm too tired to make it through the day. I'm printing out pictures that inspire me to glue them in my journal. I haven't been able to meditate so I may start using a guided meditation every morning. Anything I can do to relax is important now.

Unplugged = Productive: I've figured out that the more I stay off the internet, the better I write, so I'm not checking the Covid-19 stats every five minutes like I did at the beginning of the pandemic. I watch a nightly news broadcast on Youtube each day but since they're becoming repetitive I may stop doing that, too.

So how are you coping? Any tricks or tips you want to share? Let us know in comments.

Unbeliever

I finished up my latest read, When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O'Neal, which is women's fiction. If you like sister stories that include terrible tragedies that ultimately result in happily ever after endings, this is definitely a book for you. Me, not so much.

I've been trying to figure out how to write about what I thought of it, especially as I've been so negative lately about everything I've been reading. I want to be fair, but I also want to be honest. To be fair, it's usually a pleasure to read this author; she's very talented and a wonderful storyteller. To be honest, I had major problems with this book.

The story hit on everything I dislike in novels about women and their relationships with other women. To me they're not real at all. I'm not sure if I'm just ruined for this genre by the dysfunctional friendships and relationships I've had with other women, including my own female siblings (too many, I think, to make me a fan of sisterhood stories), or there's this sister-love gene that I didn't get and I'm heartless toward other women (I don't think I am, but hey, it's possible.) Either way, the sisters were the central part of the story, and they didn't work for me at all.

Why? Life experience, I suppose. Step into the way-back machine with me, and we'll jump back to my rookie year as a pro. I didn't know any other women writers until I got into Publishing, and the reality was very different than what I had expected. I remember one successful novelist that everyone looked up to (who shall remain nameless because the point isn't to name-drop) who took me aside after reading StarDoc to lecture me about my female protagonists.

Every heroine in every story I wrote, this lady informed me, needed a best friend, a sister or (preferably) a mother who lives close by because who else would the heroine talk to about her problems, and who would support her when she was in trouble? Men, the lady insisted, were just for the romance bits. This was not my life experience at all (which is why my preferred female protagonist is an orphaned friendless only child, but I digress.)

Moving on: the story is about two sisters, one who faked her death, and the other left behind to deal with the loss. After Left Behind finds out Faked It is still alive, she drops everything and travels to the other side of the planet to find her. Mixed in with all this are issues like alcoholism, addiction, [and spoiler stuff I'm not going to mention]; you name it and pretty much these sisters have gone through it, all told in disjointed but very well-written flashbacks. These issues were another big problem for me for reasons I'll get to in a sec.

When they're not enduring the worst the sisters do have a few moments that are touching in the flashbacks; there were just WAY too many flashbacks. There's also a lovely little romance Left Behind has with a Spanish guy while on the search for Faked It. I will say he was the best part of the book for me. Spanish Guy was a gorgeous character, and he's the only reason I finished the story. There is absolutely a big honking HEA at the end for everyone as well (not realistic or plausible for me, especially given all the sisters' issues.)

To be honest, it was unpleasant for me to read the story mainly because of the issues as well as the unrealistic relationship between these sisters. I have had toxic people in my life with similar problems who have caused me to suffer. Eventually I had to walk away from them, every time (and I don't quit easily; once it took me 56 years to do it.) I also don't think such issues are entertaining. This is why people in my books rarely drink and never use drugs, by the way. I'm not interested in writing about substance abusers -- or reading about them, for that matter. The real deal scarred me for life.

So this is the kind of situation where I'll say that I as the reader wasn't appropriate for this novel; of course your mileage may vary. Although I do keep most of the author's works to reread I'm going to donate this one to the Friends of the Library. Once was enough for me.

Oliver Again

I got these pics from Oliver's mom:

Full-time smiler.

Never wants to be strapped in when he can flip and see where he's going.

Loves his Dad.

The Egg Has Landed

Latest pics from the sandhill crane nest:

Farmer's Market Haul

As our local farmers are having trouble selling their crops we decided to take a trip to our favorite farmer's market to buy some fresh veggies. First thing we saw when we pulled up were five truckloads of cucumbers like these:

I can't even imagine how many tons of food are going to waste right now. To do my part I bought extra while I was there, which I'll share with Oliver's Mom and Katherine. They had such lovely veggies in the market area:

And here's my personal haul:

Inspirations

While spring cleaning I unearthed a few treasures that now I've been looking at as inspiration to get back into quilting.

Sachet pocket from a writer pal who loves crazy quilting. I'm going to refill it with dried lavender and tuck it in my lingerie drawer so I can see it every day.

Crazy quilted postcard, purchased on Etsy years ago just because I liked the colors.

Snow, an unfinished art quilt by Yours Truly. Should really finish it one of these days.

Whatcha Reading?

The book I'm reading right now, usually while I'm having breakfast. Melancholy, but beautifully written. My next read will be this one by a new-to-me author, which should arrive today:

So whatcha reading right now? Let me know in comments.

Priming the Other Well

As we're plodding along toward the end of April I thought I'd take a shot of my progress on the March block of my silk crazy quilt project. I've managed to do a little more stitching on the center patch, but I'm not forcing myself to work on it. I don't want to sew or quilt at all, which feels very weird, but it is what it is. Most nights I just write or journal.

Maybe I have two wells: one for writing, and the other for non-writing creative projects. I can always write, and that's also my go-to for when I feel stressed. I've knocked out a lot of work since the pandemic started, and nearly filled up the sojourn journal. But to do other things I draw inspiration from life, I guess, and life has been pretty grim. Or maybe I'm focusing on the wrong things. Maybe in some way we all are.

Anyway. I'm going to make an effort to look through some quilting books and mags for inspiration, and hopefully get back to the project in the days to come.

Oliver the Shark

Sorry for subjecting you to another Oliver and Grandmom pic, but I thought I should warn you: If this kid gets any cuter my head will explode.

Quickie Chicken

Last night I was looking for something different to do with chicken, and remembered this Quick Chicken Piccata recipe from my Taste of Home cookbook. It doesn't require a lot of fancy ingredients (basically flour, salt, pepper, butter or margarine, lemon juice and white wine or chicken broth.)

To make mine I used the bottled lemon juice I keep for making iced tea, and that worked fine. It's something you can prepare in a skillet in a fairly short amount of time, and have it with pasta, egg noodles, mashed potatoes or steamed veggies; I think it works with all of them. If you click on the link to the recipe there's also a video to show you how to prepare it.

My guy is not a fan of chicken, and he liked it a lot, which I consider a glowing endorsement. :)

We Have Watermelon

Monitor Prompts

Author Anne Rice wrote on at least one of her computers with a Sharpie; here's a photo of one from 1998 that eventually went up for auction (I could never find out what it sold for.) In a weird coincidence I actually saw this particular computer monitor in person; it was in a book store devoted to her works in New Orleans that I visited while at RWA National in 2000.

I'm not one for vandalizing my computer equipment for the sake of my writing. Also, all computers seem to be black now, so I'd have to use a white marker. I prefer to keep all my scribbles in my novel notebooks so I can go back to them for easy referencing -- and yes, I also index them, copy them, and keep the extra copies on my hard drive. Organization and paranoia, thy name is Lynn.

Along with notes and ideas I put together visual prompts for my stories, such as pictures of people. I call these body models, and they're simply photographs I find on the internet who look like my characters do in my head. I also keep these in my notebooks.

Sometimes, when I'm having a hard time focusing on a project, I'll tape the images to the edges of my computer monitor. Here's today's collection:

The female body model (who really is a model and popped up when I did a search for brunettes) is virtually identical to how I envisioned my female protag. The male body model (a K-pop star) is a match for my male protag's body type and some of his features.

Seeing the images while I work does help me concentrate, and also has a nice side effect: they remind me not to spend all day reading crap on the internet that has nothing to do with my job.

I've used other images as monitor prompts, such as locations that match my settings, floor plans or maps. When I work on a story set in a large area with many defined spaces it helps to have a ref I can see while I'm writing. Often I choreograph scenes while working out movements and timing in a particular setting first, and then add the characters, action, dialogue etc.

Do you have to tape pics to your monitor to enhance your story? Nope. But if it helps you to focus, it's a neat trick -- and no Sharpie required.

Image credit for Anne Rice monitor: https://lelands.com/bids/anne-rice-computer-monitor-used-for-vampire-book

State of My Mini Garden

So far the garlic is doing well:

The cucumbers I planted sprouted, too:

I should have some watermelon starting in the next couple of days as well.

More Oliver

Nothing is better than spending a day with a gorgeous guy who loves to crawl around on Grandma's quilts:

Here's Mr. Oliver with his beautiful Mama:

Most of my shots look like this one -- Oliver wanting to help Grandma with the camera:

It was such a great day. I needed one, too.

Off to Be With Mr. Oliver

I'm unplugging to spend the day with this handsome boy. I'll have more pics tomorrow.

Wishing You

Happy Easter from Valerean.

Image by Terri Cnudde from Pixabay

Some Emergency Oliver

I forgot to write a post for today. So instead, some new baby pics (his parents took these):

I know all grandmothers feel this way, but man, he's so damn cute.

More Science Kat

A UCF article about my daughter featured this photo, which I nicked, of course.

Full Moon

Very pretty this month.

Y'all Stahp

Today I finished Anthill by E.O. Wilson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of twenty books, and a professor at Harvard. If you're a fan of novels about Southerners, nature, and the clash between the two, this is the read for you. Unless you're a woman, did not have the benefit of higher education, and/or expect very intelligent writers to write with empathy and clear insight into a variety of human beings. Then, my friend, you are SOL.

This is a coming of age novel about a naturalist, probably based mostly on the author's own life, and a patch of wilderness he becomes determined to protect. The writing is as expected from a Harvard professor: very smart, but approachable. The chapters about the disputed property and what goes on there are stellar and would fit into any nonfiction book about conservation, its importance, and why we all need to preserve unique pockets of nature. I lived for those chapters.

Now we get to the rest of the story. As my grandmother would say, and Jesus wept.

First, I'll tell you why I only rarely create characters who are writers. It's very tough to write a character who does what you love and not make them (and, by extension, yourself) into a Mary Sue. Even when I was trying to make Emma and Olivia from Ghost Writer into real writers, I found myself glossing over their flaws and over-inflating their positive attributes. Why? Because on some level I felt they were both representing me. Maybe we all want to be the heroes in our stories.

E.O. Wilson showed no such restraint. The protagonist is a superhero, highly intelligent, exceedingly clever, and has zero flaws. I mean it: No. Flaws. He's relentlessly brilliant while in pursuit of his goal, and what he does to achieve it. Even when the character missteps, someone else is slapped with the blame. Result: the protagonist is the Queen Mother of all Mary Sues.

The author, who grew up in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, has zero love for Southerners. This is tediously illustrated by all the negative stereotypical characters in the book. The few who are shown to be admirable (two) whole-heartedly support the author's beliefs. The rest are ignorant, proselytizing rednecks.

I understand how that happens. I come from a long line of people the author would consider trailer park white trash Catholics. It would be easy to sneer at my family. Yet I have great respect for them and the lifelong struggles to overcome poverty some have endured. I don't share their beliefs, but I would never ridicule them for holding onto their faith. I am glad I found my own way, but that doesn’t make me superior to them. We simply walk different paths.

More importantly I have worked in various sectors of Southern business, and you cannot paint red the necks of everyone south of the Mason-Dixon line. If you do, like Mr. Wilson, you're the ignorant one. We have many different types of people in this part of the country -- yes, many descended from the old South, but also the offpsring of Northerners and Midwesterners and West Coasters who relocated here. My last boss was from New Jersey (so is my guy). My own family hails from Maryland.

There are countless other ethnic groups who came here over the centuries, and whose people have had a positive effect on the South without being absorbed by it. Cubans, for example, are a huge community in Southern Florida, and none of them have turned into rednecks. In the panhandle I worked with the first generation of Americans whose parents fled the war in Vietnam, and they have their own culture. Being born in the South does not automatically hang the stars and bars over one's mantel.

The author's hatred for people of the South is also directed with particular vicious contempt for every female character in the book, regardless of her role. Aka all women are evil, conniving, greedy snakes. Again! I should introduce this guy to James S.A. Corey. Finally, the wrap-up of the book is so ludicrous I almost threw it across the room. It challenges Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain for the #1 spot on my epic stupid endings list.

So, to save your walls from damage, I cannot recommend Anthill by E.O. Wilson. Off to the Friends of the Library it goes.

DVD Ten

I am not a television watcher, or a movie buff, but I do have a pretty large DVD collection. I like mostly SF and mysteries, and a lot of BBC productions of historical novels (I think I have every version of Jane Eyre ever made.) I put the DVDs on a personal player and listen to them with head phones.

There are a few series I never tire of watching, so here are:

Ten TV Series That I Watch Over and Over on DVD, and Why

Battlestar Galactica (the 2004 remake) -- Very realistic, terribly gritty and always melancholy, the modern remake of this old tv classic SF series has amazing actors, awesome special effects and some of the best world-building I've ever seen. I hate the ending, though.

Blindspot -- I'm watching Season Four this week, as it happens, and there's one more to go. The storyline is supremely convoluted, but Jaimie Alexander is superb in her role as a woman who wakes up covered in tattoos and has no idea who she is, or why she was dumped naked in Times Square. I also like the support cast a lot.

Dead Like Me -- This black comedy about a group of misfits who work as grim reapers after they die is definitely quirky, truly funny, very poignant and kind of mysterious. The brilliant cast includes Mandy Patinkin in one of the best roles I've ever seen him act.

Firefly -- Yep, I'm a Firefly fan. Mainly because of the lovely jobs Ron Glass, Gina Torres and Adam Baldwin did with their roles. A one-season SF western in space that fans still can't believe was cancelled (and neither can I.)

Haven -- A SF/crime drama based very loosely on Stephen King's The Colorado Kid, in which an FBI agent goes to a small town in Maine where the tight-lipped townspeople have supernatural abilities, many borrowed from Stephen King's books, and finds out she's part of their history. What to say about Haven . . . it's more complicated than it should have been, but very well done for what had to be a super low-budget production. I mostly like the slowly-developing romance between Agent Audrey Parker and local cop Nathan Wuornos.

Lost -- Another SF series, in which a plane crashes on a mysterious island where the survivors discover its secrets while we slowly learn theirs. Oh, if only I could rewrite this series, which suffers from confusing storylines, depressing themes, and badly planned, build-as-you-go world writing. It also taught me to hate flashbacks. But it offers a fascinating, compelling cast, a remarkable setting, and a core concept that is really cool. I hope never to meet the writers, because I'd slap them for the idiot way they ended it.

Medium -- I love this supernatural psychic drama, loosely based on the life of a genuine psychic, for the inventive storylines and the way the Dad and kids cope having a psychic mom. Patricia Arquette is amazing as the lead character. Also, I've had a thing for Jake Weber, the actor who plays her husband, ever since I first watched it.

Ripper Street -- a BBC historical crime drama set in Whitechapel immediately after the Jack the Ripper murders. Surprisingly authentic and absorbing. Matthew Macfayden and Jerome Flynn as cops are both fabulous.

The Blacklist -- Another crime drama. Ryan Eggold and James Spader are the two reasons I watch this one. Actually, James could probably recite his grocery list for ten seasons and I'd watch it.

The Expanse -- one of the best SF series I've ever watched, with a cast of nearly complete unknowns and a marvelous storyline. Don't waste your time reading the book, though.

What do you collect on DVD and watch over and over? Let me know in comments.

How Does Your Garlic Grow?

Pretty damn fast, as it turns out. Here it is on April 1st, when I planted it:

Yesterday: