Book Bandwagon – Lessons Learned – Christmas in July

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Hey guys, welcome back! I know, I know, I’ve been MIA again. The days are getting away from me lately and while I’ve been super productive in some ways, I’ve been neglectful in others. And for that…I apologize.

So let’s get right to it, shall we? 

It’s Christmas in July week and yes, I am one of those people who loves to celebrate it. I read holiday themed books, have some cocoa and of course wear Christmas pjs. (Although, I live in those year round but I still think they are ‘special’ during times such as this.)

I have a huge pile of Christmas themed books that I’ve both read and are on my TBR list. The ones I’ve read, I recommend and a couple have stuck with me, long after I’ve read them. I have them up in my Amazon storefront and will post the link below this post if you’d like to check any out. Just note, some have spice, some don’t. You have been warned. 🙂

As for my TBR list, (‘to be read’ for those who don’t know the acronym) I’ve been saving a couple for just such an occasion. One in particular, I’ve seen everywhere. It’s big on #booktok and I’ll admit, I jumped on the bandwagon to buy it and it’s sequel for last Christmas season. I never got to them though so I thought I’d save them for July. While I’m not usually one to be so highly influenced by trends, I have found some great reads through #booktok as well as my Facebook algorithm. Go figure, right?

So there I am, pulling out the Christmas books for the week and ready to dive on in. I couldn’t wait for this first one and yet, within the first two pages, I wanted to scream. This book lost me in the prologue! I have never had that happen before.

So I push through. Deciding to at least get to know the main characters, right? Well, I hated them instantly. Not one redeeming quality among them all. Just an example, the matriarch of the family needs help after hurting herself. Part of the family won’t come because they have a timeshare in the Caribbean and are in the canasta tournament. So they call their daughters to drop everything, including their careers, fly to another part of the country to take care of their relative. That is where the whining, um, complaining from the daughters begins and lasts through several chapters. I gave it my all for five chapters before throwing in the towel. I’ve never read a book that tries so hard to be something and failed so miserably. I also found myself yelling at the editors in my head.

While I normally don’t read reviews, (movies and tv included) because I like to be my own judge of something, I just had to go in and see if others caught what I did. Thankfully, I was not alone in any of my thoughts on this book. The first five chapters could have been two. Literally. Every detail of every aspect of life was described here and there was no reason for it. I don’t need to know how a reindeer feeder keeps the feed fresh. Just say, “I filled up their trough and was on my way.’ Instead, we get step by step details of the thing that took up an entire paragraph.

Also, I was quite put off at the ageism in this book. They made a woman in her fifties seem feeble and a woman in her eighties like she should be put out to pasture. Now, that could just be me as I was already hating on this book, but I still didn’t appreciate it. The fact that I’m in my 50’s may have played a role in that as well. Just sayin’.

Now, if you’ve been following along with my own writing journey here, you know that I am in the process of editing my own manuscript. That my own writing has been more than wordy, (like this post) and that I’m in the process of cutting down thousands of words to get my book to where I can submit it to a publisher. If anything, this book I just tried to read was a freaking wake up call of what NOT to do. How I can rework some things in my own book to cut even more words from it and keep my future readers from thinking what I did with this one, “what the hell were they thinking letting this get published?”

The ultimate irony of all of this is? The publisher in question here, is the one I’m hoping upon hope to submit my book to. I’ve read so many others from them and have honestly loved each one. Not every book is for every person and this current one is just not for me. However, that will not stop me from reading more from them. It may stop me from reading more from this particular author though.

I don’t relish talking about another writer this way. After all, I certainly wouldn’t like these things being said about me. But this is why I don’t leave bad reviews, post something about it on TikTok and mention the title or author by name. Just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean others won’t as well. Plus, I know the hard work it takes to get their work out there and I fully respect the process.

This is the second time in a year I’ve tried to read a popular author and just did not like the work. I know I’m in the minority here on both. Hell, one is being turned into a streaming series and I couldn’t get past chapter two of that one!

I think the point here is that we are all influenced in some ways about things in our lives. Be it clothes, decor, cars, hell even food. I mean, here in my area we have pizza wars…it’s quite a time to be alive. I am always up for suggestions for books to read and have found a lot of great authors by listening to those suggestions. Like anything, it’s hit and miss. Not everything is going to be a winner. The main thing is, I tried, right? I mean, this particular author is famous for a reason. Maybe I shouldn’t judge by this one book and maybe in the future I’ll try one of her works again. In the meantime, I have a lot more in my TBR pile to get through and I’m ready to move on to the next one…a little sooner than expected.

Again, I do have lots of fun holiday book recommendations (ironic I know) in my storefront and while I’m not trying to influence you, I’m just sharing what I’ve enjoyed reading in the past.

And that is where I’ll leave you for today. Until next time folks…cheers!

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To follow me on social, including #booktok as well as see my other links, click: HERE

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Link to my Amazon storefront below and if you’ve made it this far, I thank you for it.

You can click the image above or click HERE to get to my Amazon storefront.

Heatwave – Chronic Illness – A-ha Moment

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Photo credit: me 🙂

Hey guys, welcome back! Hope everyone has been hanging in there with the heat, wherever you are. Here in the Northeast, we are gearing up for a long stretch of brutally high temps and I’m already counting down the days to my first pumpkin spice latte.

If you know me at all, or have been following along, you may know that I am not a summer person. Ok, so that is putting it lightly. I hate this time of the year. Having said that however, the last few years, I’ve been learning to embrace it a bit more. I think I even remember enjoying the last few summers! (Go figure.)

This year though, I’m just trying to get through it. Not being someone for hot weather, it is already gearing up for a long season. I’ve been escaping into books as usual and have a line of holiday themed ones ready for Chrismas in July escapism. I’ve already seen back to school ads on tv and I will be looking for the first fall catalogs to come in the mail after the 4th of July, which always gets me through.

Now I know a lot of you out there are rolling your eyes and that’s fine. I do the same when I hear the complaints about cold weather and the holiday ads coming way too soon. So I get it. What many don’t understand though isn’t just that I’m not a fan of the summertime, it’s a difficult season when you live with chronic illnesses.

When I was younger, I had a lot of fun in the summer. Vacations or cookouts with friends, it was all good. When I got sick just under 10 years ago, the hot weather started to wreak havoc with the pain that I deal with on a 24/7 basis. You see, I have what some call ‘invisible disabilities.’ Meaning, you wouldn’t know to look at me that I have a whole lot going on.

Between pain and breathing issues, it has taken a toll on me. If you’ve been following along here, you know that I started my latest setback last August. I missed out on my favorite time of the year because of it. (September-New Year) So here we are in summer once again and I was JUST starting to pull out of this setback. I’ve been a little more active. I’ve been able to help out more, doing such trivial tasks as taking the garbage to the other side of our complex and grocery shopping. Yes, I’ve even had fun at the grocery store. I mean come on, they play good music there now!

With the heat though, comes a little backslide. The pain increases, sleep is hit and miss. I’m either completely passed out or up for a day or two. Add humidity to the mix and my breathing is shot to hell. And to add insult to injury? My bedroom AC died and I’m dealing with a room that got up to 97 during the last time the temps rose. This time I’m trying a few different things to get the room cooler, just call me MacGuyver!

I’ll get off of this subject in a second, just wanted to say, if you know someone who deals with illness of any kind, be sure to check up on them. Make sure they are ok. Be sympathetic if they are having a tough time or keep canceling plans on you. There just might be a reason they do that and that reason could be that the heat is giving them a harder time than they usually have. Enough of the soapbox, let’s get back to the regular stuff…

During one of my sleepless nights, or in my case, days, I suddenly had an idea about how to cut a shitton of words in my manuscript! It would help cut my word count by a whole lot and bring about a deeper part of the storyline that has been lacking. Now I just have to write it.

With ADHD comes a lot of doing everything but doing what I’m supposed to do. So after I had this remarkable revelation on how to fix my book, I did what any other writer would do. I read a book, did some laundry, cleaned the bathroom, binge watched 9-1-1, edited previously edited chapters. Now it has been two days since I figured out how to fix this story bridge and I have yet to rewrite the section.

The one great thing about this, is that I know I’m not alone. I’ve befriended a lot of writers on the internet and we all do the same thing. We do anything but what we are supposed to be doing, ADD or not. It’s in the author’s DNA to postpone the work. Thankfully, I’m not on a deadline. Actually, if I was, I’d do it last minute like I always did in school. (At least stuff got done.) Having no deadline means I can take my time to make this right. Or binge more Chicago Fire when my brain decides to take a vacation.

The point here is, I’ve figured it out. The execution of it? Hopefully I’ll have better news on that front in a future post.

In the meantime, for those celebrating, Happy 4th of July. For those beating the heat? KEEP HYDRATED. And for those sticking with me throughout all of this? I thank you greatly!

Until next time folks…cheers!!

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To follow me on social, including my #booktok and to shop my new Amazon storefront as well as my other shops, click: HERE

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If you’ve gotten this far, I thank you and will see you soon!

Prime Day Announcement

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Photo credit: justynafaliszek on Pixabay

Hey guys, welcome back! This will be a quick post, but one that I promised to make…

With Prime Days now upon us, I have now made my Amazon storefront LIVE to shop through!

I’ve curated lists for readers and writers alike as well as some author recommendations and small biz goodies. Of course you can always shop through the links for anything else as well, which will help support this site.

You can access it by heading to my linktree: linktr.ee/promosocially and clicking on the ‘My Amazon Storefront’ tab.

I will continue to add to this shop as time goes on and of course, I will be adding Fall and holiday goodies soon because that’s how I roll. So be sure to keep the link handy to keep checking back for updates or hit the ‘follow’ button on the storefront itself.

I had said that I’d get this shop up and running in time for Prime Day and here I am making good on it. Hope you find something fun to treat yourself with or a gift for a friend. Maybe a new Summer read as well!

Thanks so much for checking it out, for being here and I’ll be back soon with a more ‘normal’ blog post.

Until next time…cheers! 🙂

One Freaking Word

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Photo credit: ??? (Sorry)

Hey guys, welcome back! I hope everyone is doing great, staying cool (or warm, depending on where you are) and of course, ready for the weekend. We here had a string of some super hot days and as I’ve been rereading a book series, I was more than happy that the one taking place during the Winter holidays had been next in line. Reading about a snowstorm while temps had hit 101 heat index? Helped my mind do a little escape from the furnace I was living in. (Have I mentioned I’m not a Summer person?)

Anywhoo…for those who may be new here? Hello! Let me give you a little background first before I get to that one freaking word my title is talking about.

I’ve been working on a book for over a year. This site has been my way of documenting my progress and my struggles. It’s also been a way to, I hope, motivate others. Not just about writing, but about life stuff in general. And yes, every now and then, I vent out some things that needs to get out of my head.

I have been working so damned hard on editing this book. My initial hope last year was that it would have been published by the holidays. HA! What a freaking pipe dream that was!

First off, my initial word count was astronomical. What needs to be in the 100,000 area, (give or take 20,000 plus or minus) was in fact, well over 400,000. I’ve since shaved off a LOT but still need to cut another 150,000 or so to get it where I need it.

In last week’s post, I talked about progress and how not every day can be a day of cutting a few hundred or thousand words. Sometimes you need to go inch by inch. Which leads us to today…

Last night, I worked for HOURS on a ten chapter block, never getting past the first three. I cut paragraphs. I rewrote my sentences. I rearranged the text. I cut some more. I reworked some more. And in the end when I went and checked the word count for the day? I was only down ONE FREAKING WORD!

I had sworn I cut hundreds. But it turns out, all that rewriting and reworking had me adding more than I cut.

Now, this is not the first time my counts have been disappointing. Far from it. In fact, the last ten chapter block? I added a few hundred words to that several times until I went back and slashed a ton of things that never should have been there. I refused to get out of those chapters until a significant number had been chopped. When I was done with it, I had cut about 250 words. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things of course, but every read through brings more cuts, so I’m not worried.

I think the reason this one word thing is bothering me so much this time, is that I really worked hard all night on this. I was so sure that I was doing well and that my count was going to be significantly lower. I was on a roll! I also consumed more sugar in those few hours than I have in a month, so be sure to factor that into my mental state as well.

It was a kick to the gut that after all that work, all that time, the progress that I had hoped to make, didn’t happen. I need to remember what I wrote here last week, about how every little bit helps. That eventually, the numbers will add up. For now, I will wallow a little then get back to it.

I think my takeaway from this particular night is this…some days, no matter how hard you try, you may only move one inch. However, that one inch? Is still one inch more than where you started. (I hope that made sense.)

And that is where I will leave you for now. Thanks for visiting, reading, sharing, shopping the links, tipping and supporting. It means a whole hell of a lot to me that you do. It really does.

Until next time folks…Cheers!

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To follow me on social, including my #booktok and shop my shops, click: HERE

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If you enjoy what I do here and would like to help support the site, you can do so by shopping any link here or head to my Ko-Fi to make a direct tip. You can click the logo on the site or head: HERE

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If you’ve made it this far? I thank you. See you soon!! 🩷

My Own Worst Enemy & Heat

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Photo credit: Me! 🙂

Hey guys, welcome back! Hope everyone is doing well and if you are dealing with hot weather like we are, hope you are finding ways to stay cool. It seems so damned early for such temperatures, but these days, who knows what kind of weather we’ll have day to day. Especially here.. The old saying of, “welcome to the Northeast, don’t like the weather, wait five minutes” exists for a reason. Personally, I’d be happy for some snow right about now. (I am not a summer person at all.)

Anywhoooooo…it’s been a minute since I’ve been here and I’m sorry about that. I have been working on my edits and some rewrites, dealing with the weather and trying to do what I can to keep sane. I’ve been making more progress on my book, still not enough though to declare it ready for submission anywhere but progress is progress.

I’ve finally realized that even if I only cut a handful of words during edits in a week, that is still acceptable. I’ve always been one to be visual. I want to see the proof that my work is actually amounting to something. So when I was getting incredibly discouraged that over a few nights in a row I may have only cut a word here or there, it was disheartening to say the least. I mean, why go on if I’m not getting anywhere right? Wrong.

Because inch by inch, the work has been getting done. I was really shocked when I did that last total word count of the entire book to see just how many thousands of words I had in fact cut. Doing that total breathed new life into me. Suddenly it was there where I could see it. The number of words had gone way down even though I had sworn I was in some cases, adding on to the count instead of cutting. Which frankly was true.

This past week or so, I’ve been back going over the first twenty chapters. Trying to rework them, even rewrite them in some cases, to get that number even lower while adding a bit more depth to the characters that I realize now, I hadn’t had before. That was a sobering revelation, let me tell you. There is room for more backstory and it still amazes me after working on this for well over a year now, how much more I’m seeing that can be done.

The issue I’m having with all of this right now is that I am my own worst enemy. I have no tolerance for authority, never have. (Which explains the trouble I got into in school.) So for me to now defy myself? So unacceptable!

I know what needs to be done. I can see it in my mind how I need to rearrange some chapters, write new scenes, cut a shit-ton of words and all of that…but the part of me that hates to be told to do anything? Shutting down. I’d love to blame it on the weather but really, it’s an internal struggle and one that I cannot escape from.

If I’m going to make this something worth reading after all of this time, I need to buckle up and get it done. Even if it is just word by word. Because again, progress is progress and once I start on it, it will come into focus and get done. It’s just getting it started that always trips me up. However, this time, I have only myself to answer to. No blaming it on a boss or a teacher, no. This time? It’s all me. And I refuse to let myself down on this. I’ve come too far, done too much work and am honestly in love with these characters so much, that I don’t want to let them down either.

Progress is progress. Word by word, inch by inch. No matter what the job is, it is a universal problem that can be fixed with just three words: Just Get Started

Oh, one quick thing before I go…I will have my Amazon storefront ready for Prime Days but you can always shop the links I have on this site whenever you need something. Even if it’s not something I have linked to, just by clicking the link and heading to Amazon, anything you buy will help out this site. (I thank you in advance for that.)

And that is where I will leave you for today. Until next time…keep cool, keep hydrated, keep safe and cheers!

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If you’d like to follow me on social including my #booktok or to shop with me, click: HERE

Ps. There’s a new design up in my Dashery shop to see!

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If you’d like to help support this site more directly, you can click on the Ko-fi logo or head to my Ko-fi page: HERE

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If you’ve made it this far, I thank you and will see you real soon! 🙂