Angela Brown, Unicorn Bell, and Facebook Security

Every now and again, posts and blogs catch my eye and shout out is in order.

Angela Brown caused me to consider the lack of diversity in books.

On the one hand, I agree. More variety is a good thing. There is a market for different takes on life, rationales, and opinions. But I question whether someone such as I—farm girl, introvert, and fantasy aficionado—could deliver a true picture of life in New York City of a Broadway show cast member who loves to party. Or life as a transgender girl in Spain. I don’t think I have it in me. The amount of research blows my mind even if I kept my derriere home and Googled it all. I have no doubt traveling to these spots would be a living and breathing stranger in a strange land experience.

Summary: I fall back on write what you know.

I like twisting my set-in-her-ways mind in different directions. It’s creates flexibility by encouraging the synapses to branch out. But I can’t go down the path of forcing writers to be diverse when the experiences aren’t there.

Compelling works only so far. After a line is crossed, the story becomes awkward, fake, and unbelievable. 
I'd rather read it than write it. But that doesn't help the diversity problem, huh?

UnicornBell lost a fantastic moderator this week. E.J. Roberts is the force behind A Drop of Ink Reviews, a book review site in demand from readers and publishers. Even Random Books wants her reviews. How cool is that?

Our critique site will miss her, but we wish her well and hope to hear many more great things.

Facebook and security. When I edited my profile of FB, I made of point of NOT listing my birthday. IMHO, it gives too easy access to sensitive information. How many sites ask for your birth date as a security measure?

But I have relatives who know when I was born oh-so-many years ago and post happy birthdays galore. Oh well.

Do you stretch you writerly mind with diversity? Enjoy concise, fair book reviews?

Think relatives need to mind their own...er, do you believe posting your birthday is a security concern?

First Page Contest, Deadpool, and The Walking Dead

I don’t usually celebrate Valentine’s Day other than with a "have a happy". 

But yesterday was memorable.

My Sweet Baboo of 42 years doesn’t go to the movies much let alone enjoy the same outrageous stuff that I do. He likes Sabrina and American President type movies. Chick flicks I reckon. I like Galaxy Quest, Star Trek/Wars, and the Marvel universe. Yesterday, he manned-up and took me to see Deadpool. What a sweetie, huh. Not sure he liked it all that much but love was in his heart.

Deadpool...okay, wow. Funny, amazing special effects, and way cool script. I was laughing from the first opening credits to the end and enjoyed every minute. I want to see it again to catch what I missed. So many inside jokes that it doesn’t always connect at first. It is so different from the other characters in the Marvel franchise that it seems a whole new genre.

No spoilers here but keep in mind, this is not for kids. Don’t take your thirteen year old to see this. Absolutely not for the young’uns.

One thing, IMHO, staying for the two teasers after the credits was a waste of time. Not like Iron Man III for example. Or Thor.

And another thing: If graphic violence (of bad guys getting their comeuppance), multiple curse words, nudity, and sexual situations offend you, don’t watch. I didn’t feel any of the above was gratuitous but yanno, that is my opinion.

The Walking Dead premiered its second half of its sixth season with an on-the-edge-of-your-seat shocker. This show just gets better and better, keeps me wondering who will die without killing off too many—aka Game of Thrones—to ruin the ride. 

For writers, it highlights how to plot, divert attention from the real story, and blow up expectations.

Regarding the last, if you can guess the storyline, predict it, the surprise factor is a mound of glue. Surprise, shock keeps the reader interested. Not just via deaths but unexpected plot twists.

First Page Contest. Here is your chance to get your writing noticed, create interest, and build a platform to display your skills. Plus, you win BOOKS! 

It’s a contest over at Unicorn Bell, our critique site. Moderated by the multi-talented Charity Bradford, it gives writers a shoutout. Enter soon and win bragging rights.

Are you a Marvel Universe fan? Want to see Deadpool? Worship Walking Dead? Ready to enter a writing contest?

The Quiet Knock

Ambition waved goodbye several months ago. 

I shrugged and went about my day. The days turned into weeks then months while Shame and Guilt competed to bring me down.



A knock at the door in my mind. I notice a familiarity about it.

Ambition stands there shuffling its feet, not knowing if it is welcome. 

I think I will let it in. Maybe it will fill the space in my heart and crowd out Shame and Guilt. For today, at this hour, I will call it a win and hope it is the turning point.





Maybe the guttering candle flame will blaze into the conflagration it once was. 

And I will name myself Writer once more.

For the Love of Fall

It is nearly universal, this love for the halcyon days of pumpkins, glowing leaves, and changing weather. 

The angle of the sun gives the fields a depth of color that wasn't there in the summer.

And the decorations make it extra super, doesn't it?

If only the Asian beetle didn’t crash the part. So annoying. They look like the esteemed Ladybug but they aren’t. See the difference? 

They bite, invade the house, and fly around on warm fall days waiting to land on me. If bothered, they eject a stink like no other. Yuk.

Go here to see how they ended up in my living room.

On the Farm. Harvest is in full swing with days of greasing the combine, moving equipment, and bringing the lovely grain to bins. Beautiful, beautiful weather has made a wet spring a distant memory. Thank Heavens.

Halloween is coming soon and in the spirit of the season, here is a video that made me actually scream.

Have a happy. If you can. *evilgrin*

IWSG - In a Fog of Recovery

IWSG—Insecure Writers Support Group: The Final Frontier.

These are the continuing voyages of the Ninja Captain, AJC. His mission, to explore all new writing venues, to seek out new authors and new blogs. 

To boldly go where no blogateer has gone before.

Coming together on the first Wednesday of every month for a virtual pat on the back. 

If you check the date of my last post, you’ll see it’s been nearly two months. I’ve had longer periods of inactivity but

this time I had a purposeful dry spell. You see, I quit writing.

It was a time out session intending to get the juices flowing again. After motivation goads that only served to foment guilt, I took a break from it all.

This week, a tiny spark became a guttering candle-flame, easily blown out but determined, and I began to write again. 

Thank Heavens.

Windows 10 update. In the name of all that’s Holy, be careful upgrading this pile of buggy poop. Especially if you have Win 7 with older programs. My computer is only seven months old, so it was well able to handle the upgrade. But some of the programs did not play well with Win 10. For about a week all went well and I was doing a happy dance. Loved it.

Then came a Microsoft “fix” and all went south. 

• Windows Live mail went into recovery mode
• Windows Media Player (not Center) deleted all music playlists
• Internet connection failed or was cut
• Cortana left me
• Store button quit working as well as the Start button
• Desktop kept freezing
• Control Center went into hiding

Things went downhill from there.

Microsoft had no answer. The forums were filled with comments but no solutions. I re-installed Win 7 and got most of my functionality back but some programs needed a personal adjustment.

I replaced Windows Live Mail with Outlook and I am in the process of retrieving all my music files and inserting them into WMP. My desktop is back. No more blue screens.

A clean install might be a better choice for someone deciding to go this route. Just be careful and watch for all the above after a few days. 

On the Farm. It’s Hammer and Tongs time. Harvest, in other words. The weather is cooperating but equipment breakdowns are delaying some aspects.

My heart goes out to the folks on the East coast with over two feet of rain in a very short period.

Got Win 10? Liked it? Hated it? Or are you running like a scared rabbit from the upgrade?