(no subject)
Finally got around to binge-watching Downton Abbey. I actually found myself watching most of it rather than just listening to the script. I think their research department is to be applauded and I did like most of the characters. I think there were a few convenient deaths, but after all, it was a soap opera. I'd give it 4 1/2 stars even though I'm not a fan of the genre.
Working on plots for some Amish romances at the moment -- the publisher wants two series using a couple of characters from previous plots. One couple runs a bakery & diner and the other couple is a healer and his wife, a former patient of his. The idea is that each couple decides to play matchmaker -- the baker and diner owner with various employees around town and the healer and his wife with their single patients. Much more fun than the Victorian melodramas!
I'm also working on "Upon a Once Time," an anthology of merged fairy tales. The idea is to take a fairy tale from one culture and mash it together with one from another culture. I'm doing Baba Yaga and the Djinn, with a poor young woodcutter as the hero. After that, I may do "The Wild Hunt" if I can think of a good plot. Both are due at the end of February.
Then there are a few March anthologies and the April Sisters in Crime anthology. Somehow I missed their previous anthologies ("Sex" and "Drugs") but I'm going to enter one for "Rock 'n Roll 'n Ruin." Surely I'll make it into at least one anthology ...
Meanwhile, I continue to edit the novel with the help of my local (Zoom meetings) critique group and the League of Utah Writers online group (email only). I've gotten some excellent advice (and some well-meant but not-so-good advice from some who don't ordinarily read sci-fi).
No luck so far on the job front. Tomorrow I call the local recruitment agency and find out what I need to do to get some advice from them. They don't handle pharmacy jobs but maybe they can find me something that pays almost as well that I am qualified to do, like medical writing. I've lost count of how many applications I've sent in, both for remote positions and for local jobs. CVS didn't want to hire me as a COVID-19 vaccinator, so I'm probably crap out of luck on that front since I believe they've cornered the market on the vaccines, or at least locally they have. It would have been a temporary position, but at least I'd have been paying the mortgage ...
I need to un-decorate the tree this week and pack everything away. This time, I'm going to organize my packing boxes so I know what's in each one. Maybe a little sharpie list on the lid as well ... Friendsmas will be this Saturday evening at JN's new house. He's got a firepit and there will be homemade cheesecake. No gifts this year but I have plenty of stocking stuffers and Christmas crackers, plus some leftover fireworks from New Year's. Should be fun.
Working on plots for some Amish romances at the moment -- the publisher wants two series using a couple of characters from previous plots. One couple runs a bakery & diner and the other couple is a healer and his wife, a former patient of his. The idea is that each couple decides to play matchmaker -- the baker and diner owner with various employees around town and the healer and his wife with their single patients. Much more fun than the Victorian melodramas!
I'm also working on "Upon a Once Time," an anthology of merged fairy tales. The idea is to take a fairy tale from one culture and mash it together with one from another culture. I'm doing Baba Yaga and the Djinn, with a poor young woodcutter as the hero. After that, I may do "The Wild Hunt" if I can think of a good plot. Both are due at the end of February.
Then there are a few March anthologies and the April Sisters in Crime anthology. Somehow I missed their previous anthologies ("Sex" and "Drugs") but I'm going to enter one for "Rock 'n Roll 'n Ruin." Surely I'll make it into at least one anthology ...
Meanwhile, I continue to edit the novel with the help of my local (Zoom meetings) critique group and the League of Utah Writers online group (email only). I've gotten some excellent advice (and some well-meant but not-so-good advice from some who don't ordinarily read sci-fi).
No luck so far on the job front. Tomorrow I call the local recruitment agency and find out what I need to do to get some advice from them. They don't handle pharmacy jobs but maybe they can find me something that pays almost as well that I am qualified to do, like medical writing. I've lost count of how many applications I've sent in, both for remote positions and for local jobs. CVS didn't want to hire me as a COVID-19 vaccinator, so I'm probably crap out of luck on that front since I believe they've cornered the market on the vaccines, or at least locally they have. It would have been a temporary position, but at least I'd have been paying the mortgage ...
I need to un-decorate the tree this week and pack everything away. This time, I'm going to organize my packing boxes so I know what's in each one. Maybe a little sharpie list on the lid as well ... Friendsmas will be this Saturday evening at JN's new house. He's got a firepit and there will be homemade cheesecake. No gifts this year but I have plenty of stocking stuffers and Christmas crackers, plus some leftover fireworks from New Year's. Should be fun.