tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5303732974657668402024-03-23T21:35:22.839-07:00Apocalypse NanaJacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.comBlogger173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-50221058513722029802023-11-28T19:54:00.000-08:002023-11-28T19:54:39.446-08:00Author Beware - Yeah, they tried to scam me<p><span style="text-indent: 0in;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP85D7ESogzr6WVK6toccuzC1j8f0R4IiDGyrE3T_jMAR4XKdJlFozlJrQWclkDp_9uYoU-Hr3AnoWQAlYdL0VbyspE3tEeqlTVvWX2Iyp6rJxoNmGCP8v4mXsC5IHK0C6RvpUYNVRRkTO0VV194qwjm7pIwuV4cRUaHwgfX9Fgrjc8wG9BJ-WiMWCy30/s1200/scam.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP85D7ESogzr6WVK6toccuzC1j8f0R4IiDGyrE3T_jMAR4XKdJlFozlJrQWclkDp_9uYoU-Hr3AnoWQAlYdL0VbyspE3tEeqlTVvWX2Iyp6rJxoNmGCP8v4mXsC5IHK0C6RvpUYNVRRkTO0VV194qwjm7pIwuV4cRUaHwgfX9Fgrjc8wG9BJ-WiMWCy30/s320/scam.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />First, let me
start by saying that I didn’t get scammed. They tried, but since this is one I
haven’t heard of I thought I would share. Especially for authors out there that
may not work in film as I do.<span style="text-indent: 0in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0in;">I did some
research and found out this was happening more so two years ago, but now it’s
back.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">It started with
an email.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">An email came to the
account I use for my amazon KDP, not my public email. It was from some director
interested in talking to me about movie rights to one of my books. I looked up
this director, Peter Andrews. The email looked legit, he had links to his IMDB,
etc. So I replied, saying I was interested in what he had to tell me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">He replied the
next day, which scammers are usually waiting for you to reach for the hook. He
said it would be better to talk on the phone. We set up a call time and I gave
him my work number.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I get a call,
right on time from a man that identified himself as John Greene. He said hw was
an acquisition agent with Amazon Prime. He was looking at my catalog and was
interested in acquiring movie rights to My Dead World.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“Ok.” And that
was what I said in a confused sort of way. “Ok.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“Now Mr. Andrews
is ready to pitch this to our team of investors next Thursday.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“Ok.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“Now are you
familiar with how the process works, getting investors, pre production?” he
asked.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“I’m a filmmaker.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“Great! So I don’t
have to explain all this to you. Now we’re prepared to offer you 400k for rights
to the series.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“Hmm.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“What?” he asked.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“That seems a
little high, ok, just go on.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">He did and asked
if he could send me a test email. I told him yes and which email to send it. When
asked if I received it, I said yes. This is what I got.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUJj6qJHkXu91OybiqJXJSxe_VN0KQCDqM0K6WGZC727T-vlgVqBBvaK6qPBf8vsRCnwJze7vLj_FoKapWDA0XZjuLga8DSa7Q_TaP3CsQPH3WBpv3Pv_l1ib9ZTmNLj4xI8Pwg7o8HfyabiJ0fut39OCRJ0WWK6dk81nT-4Q7DXb2UgBl14kaWnCXYV4/s535/johngreene.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="524" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUJj6qJHkXu91OybiqJXJSxe_VN0KQCDqM0K6WGZC727T-vlgVqBBvaK6qPBf8vsRCnwJze7vLj_FoKapWDA0XZjuLga8DSa7Q_TaP3CsQPH3WBpv3Pv_l1ib9ZTmNLj4xI8Pwg7o8HfyabiJ0fut39OCRJ0WWK6dk81nT-4Q7DXb2UgBl14kaWnCXYV4/s320/johngreene.png" width="313" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“What do you need
from me?” I questioned.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“We need a
treatment and a concept trailer, which is a high quality pitch to—”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“Yes,” I cut him
off. “I know what it is. I see this company listed in the email. Creative
Films.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“Yes, they are
willing and ready to do the trailer for you. That’s what they do.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“How much?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">After going back
and forth he told me, “Five grand.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">“John, why would
I give Creative Films five grand for something I can do. I have access to the
best equipment, filmmakers and editors in the country. I’ll do it. Send me the specs,
I’ll handle it.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Silence.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">He gathered
himself and chipper said, “I’ll talk to Mr. Andrews. I don’t see that as a
problem and I’ll get back to you tomorrow.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">He never did.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Apparently, I
learned this is a way to take advantage of authors. Sort of like those
publishers who charged ten grand to edit and do a cover for a book that sells
ten copies, promising the moon.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I suspected it
was a scam, but knew when he said the amount for film rights. How many others
wouldn’t know and would be so excited for an opportunity. Shame on Creative
Films for taking such a dubious approach. If a film producer is really interested
in your work, I won’t dismiss that they won’t email you if you’re self
published, but chances are, they aren’t going to pump sunshine with a high
offer up your butt before asking for money from you.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-39958023615711156562023-11-25T08:43:00.000-08:002023-11-25T08:43:32.469-08:00Tale of Three Turkeys<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiARz3TPBPbiOHFsgCzRCvTgbv8xJg-de-5Y_QwhEv9ULqOORbtoZnX4sri83DwK8zAyjlA4hIrFmhV1kOxsZhDHmuiIdo-s5UNexnJlxOEPZC2lcTbh57fuEUWZJTaZppsjOpViKPxThZE_QIYEP7dhDBReZHewYnQMyb-EHQetHlUCcsCqFkxT-ed6bY/s1170/famfight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="1170" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiARz3TPBPbiOHFsgCzRCvTgbv8xJg-de-5Y_QwhEv9ULqOORbtoZnX4sri83DwK8zAyjlA4hIrFmhV1kOxsZhDHmuiIdo-s5UNexnJlxOEPZC2lcTbh57fuEUWZJTaZppsjOpViKPxThZE_QIYEP7dhDBReZHewYnQMyb-EHQetHlUCcsCqFkxT-ed6bY/w200-h131/famfight.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /> Nothing says Thanksgiving more
than holiday visits with family and friendly sibling competition, especially
when they don’t know they are competing.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">This year 75% of my kids held
their own Thanksgiving Dinners. Three out of four in case you don’t know how
many offspring I have. The lone non-cooker, was happy just to not cook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided that during the course of my
holiday I would go to every child’s home and have their dinner. It was the morning
of that I created a score sheet. Why not? It would be fun.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Upon finding out that my first
former husband was doing the same, I figured we’d compare notes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I went to Drew’s home first, he
went to Roni’s home first, we switched and met up at Noah's.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">When they found out we were secretly
voting, the competition began. They wished they knew ahead of time, but what
would be the fun in that?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhDa7opquYHAvC2XC70VYM-e0NA8PZ9p8IHp0pX7JryFHiJ9qTeFS4IUEg3yUlz7cEnVEOGIkLRvwaWZLEXOILVYEhtSFMdCsRC2A2UOxddztz-fpHnJjjGQtblDN9KIed32hEnM2WpD3zoWXC1OFUt9EHHcwT33yFQ8stQABFePPKYK4b-DoUJgAjDUY/s4032/IMG_6583.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhDa7opquYHAvC2XC70VYM-e0NA8PZ9p8IHp0pX7JryFHiJ9qTeFS4IUEg3yUlz7cEnVEOGIkLRvwaWZLEXOILVYEhtSFMdCsRC2A2UOxddztz-fpHnJjjGQtblDN9KIed32hEnM2WpD3zoWXC1OFUt9EHHcwT33yFQ8stQABFePPKYK4b-DoUJgAjDUY/w150-h200/IMG_6583.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>I preselected my scoring criteria
and off I went.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Three houses. Three Turkeys. All
prepared three different ways. Deep fried, roasted and smoked.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Off I went.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">First stop, my son Drew. Let’s
start by saying that 75% of my children cook well, the final 25% can care less,
but I am willing to bet in ten years she’s on Top Chef. Okay, maybe not.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />Drew had just purchased his first
home with his family a month ago. So I knew this would mean a lot to him. He
wanted to deep fry the bird and spent more money getting the things he needed
than he did on the turkey.<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh66VOXA4Fjor5ISUjf2pO7xKEmBuaAHBzZRLSHskibpYkDBVyPBQZ0dJbglhWHkU-qKrnABaAk2PNxCzCg9RLkVY1TJermiMOtR1kr_1gi4FBQfF2Bf8Ix_yXzzCrCEI7R3u14nYpO9xmgvJugONUWUWsFiiI8xTJkGSy_PH_2FbVHoN8pBtL3EUWDJ_k/s4032/IMG_6584.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh66VOXA4Fjor5ISUjf2pO7xKEmBuaAHBzZRLSHskibpYkDBVyPBQZ0dJbglhWHkU-qKrnABaAk2PNxCzCg9RLkVY1TJermiMOtR1kr_1gi4FBQfF2Bf8Ix_yXzzCrCEI7R3u14nYpO9xmgvJugONUWUWsFiiI8xTJkGSy_PH_2FbVHoN8pBtL3EUWDJ_k/w200-h150/IMG_6584.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I had deep fried turkey once before
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and was not impressed. The worrisome mother
in me was frantic about my son working with a vat of hot oil. So fearful of him
catching himself on fire, I sent him an article on what NOT to do when deep
frying a turkey.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">It was quiet at his house, just
him, Gina, their kids and Gina’s mom. He and Gina were working together to get
the food out. Drew proudly boasted that deep fryer and the fact he hadn’t
caught himself or anything else on fire. It looked good in there. Golden brown,
and after pulling it out, he basted it in the final touch of some butter
coating.<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpQmtcb-j-7s5yHE_CKUAnR9Vmsb9-zdSKuMyTC9YKXroK4Z9SHtEDpyNY3llMp6zP35QSZdDMc0BfyvRZxyGcAsFmuMiDEte20RE6Jz3X_1lhmNfNtRZshu3iar58rni910mxmwBxfg3_EqOwGlGvFoi2bIp_HJsDqsAuDGtLMaDSL74gmFC4oe7zg4/s4032/IMG_8473.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpQmtcb-j-7s5yHE_CKUAnR9Vmsb9-zdSKuMyTC9YKXroK4Z9SHtEDpyNY3llMp6zP35QSZdDMc0BfyvRZxyGcAsFmuMiDEte20RE6Jz3X_1lhmNfNtRZshu3iar58rni910mxmwBxfg3_EqOwGlGvFoi2bIp_HJsDqsAuDGtLMaDSL74gmFC4oe7zg4/w150-h200/IMG_8473.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I thought maybe I had the
advantage of having the turkey fresh, but it was the best tasting, juiciest
turkey I have ever had and his gravy, I could have drank it. In my mind though,
he was going up against Noah in the gravy department and Noah is a gravy master.
Bring on the competition. Hating to leave the quiet, relaxed feel of Drew’s, I
knew I had to get to my daughter’s and his father was due to arrive and needed my
parking spot.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Let me pause to say that my
daughter and her best friend, ‘Life Partner’ were cohosting the dinner at Roni’s
and were prepping and planning a long time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM4yZVMuRNtDvACCxd0FvlAtcIL5QUwK8_ktL18wLJZNroiJOJmWSg6VJLwyJrDf3Nd8HBv8dC08Y2o30H-sGdFwS1P49aP-XPZSWRoomjBlQTAtUwN-qwc5ftWfX-Ha3v5qYmztTK3OYOLIT_Jmh_d1tSfhoHvS2paw5seitFoThZbLF7YHknxdDcfks/s4032/IMG_8476.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM4yZVMuRNtDvACCxd0FvlAtcIL5QUwK8_ktL18wLJZNroiJOJmWSg6VJLwyJrDf3Nd8HBv8dC08Y2o30H-sGdFwS1P49aP-XPZSWRoomjBlQTAtUwN-qwc5ftWfX-Ha3v5qYmztTK3OYOLIT_Jmh_d1tSfhoHvS2paw5seitFoThZbLF7YHknxdDcfks/w200-h150/IMG_8476.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>I thought somewhere in my journey
I entered a twilight zone. Because when I walked into my daughter’s home, I
didn’t recognize a single person in the living room. Who were these people?
Surely I was in the right house. They looked at me as if to say, ‘who is this old
woman that just wandered in? Aw, is she in the right house. Bet she’s lost.’<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Then I saw my daughter and she
was dressed exactly like her best friend. They both said ‘welcome’ at the same
time. Like some sort of Shining Movie Moment. I was led into the kitchen where
I truly saw the fruits of their planning. Martha Stewart’s best effort probably
looked like a Truck Stop buffet compared to the Kardashian bonanza my daughter put
out.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XIGNAxWRKagyHCumAkIBhHUSBqDf7zOYXklagTOO6dSZ6MV4TFek7lnCpP2KKpm-RaRfvu0oBTnX_mzQFeUKcrHFjlQnoaQ5PehhTQIBXepTEPC7KQ4sO5AgbgOP8-XcBWCzc8ysaaRGla2hPkKgHbD86jqZtGa9hmUo_y0MKWJdjWIsQw0zKZ3xhQk/s3681/IMG_8481.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1957" data-original-width="3681" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XIGNAxWRKagyHCumAkIBhHUSBqDf7zOYXklagTOO6dSZ6MV4TFek7lnCpP2KKpm-RaRfvu0oBTnX_mzQFeUKcrHFjlQnoaQ5PehhTQIBXepTEPC7KQ4sO5AgbgOP8-XcBWCzc8ysaaRGla2hPkKgHbD86jqZtGa9hmUo_y0MKWJdjWIsQw0zKZ3xhQk/s320/IMG_8481.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />There was so much food, so much
variety, appetizer buffet, and there wasn’t just a charcuterie board, there was
a charcuterie table. It was visually stunning and the food was fabulous.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">It was evident how much hard work
and effort they put into this Thanksgiving celebration.<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6zKMu6iX_DdJsfyXN36BDHM64G2kt_HIaWbNmQa1lR2smOgW_nr-wPQK-3pLVgUrNgKGO-4AVFeoJw2LaANNGdaeFPCR7q5C7wTcJ9B3n5ruVLmyjnauuelyPEwOuGcvys1tlVnJgwUlPCKgtOe4r870a2eQN4oOiyeDZQIjsLDV1nAd6Uw7VDUR4NtE/s4032/IMG_8477.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6zKMu6iX_DdJsfyXN36BDHM64G2kt_HIaWbNmQa1lR2smOgW_nr-wPQK-3pLVgUrNgKGO-4AVFeoJw2LaANNGdaeFPCR7q5C7wTcJ9B3n5ruVLmyjnauuelyPEwOuGcvys1tlVnJgwUlPCKgtOe4r870a2eQN4oOiyeDZQIjsLDV1nAd6Uw7VDUR4NtE/w150-h200/IMG_8477.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The only downfall was I just didn’t
feel comfortable because I really didn’t know anyone. Strangers packed at
tables set up all over the house. And that’s okay. When I was her age, I invited
anyone and everyone. People came to my home and stayed all hours. It was her
show and she did a great job.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Onward to Noah’s.<o:p></o:p></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I was going to stop right here
and just because, say, “It was okay’ to mess with him, but that wouldn’t be fair.
I know my oldest so well, that when he says a time, I know to go late. I was
greeted warmly and stepped into a house where I knew everyone’s name and was
perfectly on time. His company was long time friends and his wife’s family.
Like an episode of Cheers, they all said ‘Hi’ at the same time. I was waiting for
my son’s famous gravy, anxiously awaiting diving into it, and then I looked at
the stove and experienced that Jason, screeching violin moment.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO92OcDIQSZPfLfeVwcQ5cBUuUi_c0hDZls9pE-yc1CMcAi6QI-69t-fzrHANv1NFgCRKU2Rs4FzRtFlJkhXPdD4s-6aPe190Z9otjDyH5cckmZckIB1EfPz1qHTrtf_asTt2skt-gZJPKTCZQpQStvKdTkdglXu8qy8HtOgqfJ3JOLGYm6DY_4zkpCgc/s1052/noah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1052" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO92OcDIQSZPfLfeVwcQ5cBUuUi_c0hDZls9pE-yc1CMcAi6QI-69t-fzrHANv1NFgCRKU2Rs4FzRtFlJkhXPdD4s-6aPe190Z9otjDyH5cckmZckIB1EfPz1qHTrtf_asTt2skt-gZJPKTCZQpQStvKdTkdglXu8qy8HtOgqfJ3JOLGYm6DY_4zkpCgc/w200-h148/noah.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>“Um, that’s not your gravy,” I
said.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“No,” he replied. “I didn’t have
enough drippings.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“No!” I cried out. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“Here, Ma, have a drink.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />Ah, yes, my sons (And I say sons)
know me. About the point I dove into his juicy, tender smoked turkey, Ex Hubby
1 arrived. After dinner, we shared notes. Both of us shared our dismay over the
lack of Noah’s homemade gravy. But we did agree on who did the turkey best.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">But I didn’t leave after that. I
stayed, laughing with his guests and genuinely enjoying myself.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Pick a winner.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I went into this thinking I would
pick a winner, but like picking your favorite child, how can a parent choose
who did it best.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Each shined in one way.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Best food – My son, Drew. Ex
husband and I both agreed his turkey was unforgettable. He focused on his meal
and flavors, he didn’t culinarily spread himself thin, and it was comfort food
at his best. The quiet, at home feel, was so relaxing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Hands down Roni has to have it
for the best planned Thanksgiving. Her spread and party planning were
undeniable. All of her guests, at least 30 of them were comfortable, chatting,
and enjoying their food.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Noah gets the award for the ‘Most
like Mom feel’, eclectic guests that are enjoyable and an atmosphere that makes
you forget the time. Honestly, he could have served Banquet chicken, canned corn
and Little Debbie Pumpkin cakes and it wouldn’t have matter. Although, I really
wish he made his gravy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I am so proud of my kids, beyond proud.
They all, in their own way killed it. I can’t pick one winner. As much as it
sounds like a copout, they were all winners in their own way.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Next year though should be
interesting because they are going to know I am keeping score.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-5544020251689385072023-03-21T11:54:00.004-07:002023-03-21T11:54:53.584-07:00The Pitfalls of Being a (armchair) Masterchef Contestant<p><span style="text-indent: 0in;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCW73_qR3WlYIxs8sTNjaIMCI0RGWhSVeuzX4cPmKxzxYBDKInsY2ajLgI1XDB84hQC2q-2QkUzxPKBtOdIZr9kCbPiXeyLwdOK1nxIKn_Op1wUIjcNchiOf1kQliuXOaKXF5uq9YcuGY3wqGvyQEjaVn5GafJRN3oxPSNEllyi0Nundg6ykHoGBs/s640/MasterChef_current_logo_&_wordmark.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="640" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCW73_qR3WlYIxs8sTNjaIMCI0RGWhSVeuzX4cPmKxzxYBDKInsY2ajLgI1XDB84hQC2q-2QkUzxPKBtOdIZr9kCbPiXeyLwdOK1nxIKn_Op1wUIjcNchiOf1kQliuXOaKXF5uq9YcuGY3wqGvyQEjaVn5GafJRN3oxPSNEllyi0Nundg6ykHoGBs/s320/MasterChef_current_logo_&_wordmark.svg.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />Undoubtedly, you
have heard of an armchair quarterback. I have now invented a new one, armchair,
MasterChef contestant.</span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">Like millions of
others, maybe not that high, I became obsessed via binge watching the
television show MasterChef. I had heard of it, but never watched it. After
watching a TV show called Pressure Cooker, I found my love of cooking shows and
movies and naturally gravitated to Masterchef. where have I been the last 14
years or so. Watching it, I hated Joe the judge and I loved Joe, in the same
breath. I found myself rooting and cheering some contestants while begging for
others to serve raw chicken. Early on the cooks were okay but as the seasons
moved on they got better and we were privileged to Gordon Ramsey master
classes. Some seasons I disliked because it was obvious who they favorited, but overall, it’s fantastic.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">For the record, I
can’t get into Masterchef Junior, the judges are way too nice.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Anyhow while
watching the show I suddenly found myself loving to cook more, trying new
things and techniques.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij42-OlN3YKICUGylvJmKPcslMQncqRcWe4UxS1_lY1OSGlBMhT3YUZzpqnE93kO_ajIQwWAhBdyQQrlBQtFIjOOJO4mKgXQGGa3VZxrRWiAVWEuCYUaO7xOOtCotRDfTjePXUhrzJcjHFMC665L9BdlO7XG7Hq9L7Q49QzPnM0LjbBEXrO5htEct4/s320/IMG_6932.jpeg" width="240" /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">I’ve always been
a good cook. Masterchef contestant level? No. I was a Mom cook and Nana cook.
Whipping up comfort foods, like Mac n cheese, goulash, sloppy joes and a killer
spaghetti sauce I learned from my grandmother.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">But as the
seasons rolled on and the contestants got better, so did I. Suddenly I was
making a perfectly medium rare filet mignon, my own pot stickers, I could
poach a lobster, and do my own pasta. (Albeit I have a pasta machine now). Heck
I made a rack of lamb with red wine reduction. Fondant potatoes are once a week.
Before Masterchef I didn’t have a clue what a fondant potato was.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjg4uARif1L4B2d2GjE-9xXZJWwvMW8qWuSoRWV8zdDQIQppaDtoANm4BFIewmB90515RFm2iWKK-bC4ivEzQZMxItWumffmuXL8ui4EKU0ibQpA2WTi3Ok9XjVsLD_SGwsHYp11JhkMxePMsK0PHiseySWKehNoSXyqkExd2iXAZcg1Xd1tGbR5GC/s2048/freshpasta.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjg4uARif1L4B2d2GjE-9xXZJWwvMW8qWuSoRWV8zdDQIQppaDtoANm4BFIewmB90515RFm2iWKK-bC4ivEzQZMxItWumffmuXL8ui4EKU0ibQpA2WTi3Ok9XjVsLD_SGwsHYp11JhkMxePMsK0PHiseySWKehNoSXyqkExd2iXAZcg1Xd1tGbR5GC/s320/freshpasta.jpeg" width="240" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0000ee;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0000ee;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmhsRfU3K90MJZGPWreqBbZ7N01gbbaynAXst_klTNbAG8NZv0VSfJe8NKaV1-7RD7namQpANdZv1qc7lTtAvm4MSUFtSq-Qk3NUUvnoA9J1yzk0_v4RafZGe7DxD1_LE5_tFp5ugWidtVj8D-3w5Zfuj4NYOgcErsKSMXhYkTf-3S3EjhJcMtwdC2/s2048/IMG_6914.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmhsRfU3K90MJZGPWreqBbZ7N01gbbaynAXst_klTNbAG8NZv0VSfJe8NKaV1-7RD7namQpANdZv1qc7lTtAvm4MSUFtSq-Qk3NUUvnoA9J1yzk0_v4RafZGe7DxD1_LE5_tFp5ugWidtVj8D-3w5Zfuj4NYOgcErsKSMXhYkTf-3S3EjhJcMtwdC2/s320/IMG_6914.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><u><br /></u></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;">Every day, I kid
you not, was a new cooking experience. I went from having three or four spices
to an entire rack and a cabinet with Asian sauces and Indian spices I never
would have thought to buy let alone know how to use. I do.</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">My fresh drunken
noodles … the bomb.<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaoWMrb4w4motYop0wcrgtuzZJ1HHzCzbE8Fwad7bLmx-TpYZFX8b3fp_r10QFwjnO5LA8sClEZ1dw5AyK0_avutR5OZBpCcSgttIF7pvX9657xR6jokqnXmmZSt6rAgMvlsBVAgBJF1mEos1ieqjfSOnpYt4T5YYVepAu7sp6DPiqEGiZy9J-mEep/s2048/noodles.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaoWMrb4w4motYop0wcrgtuzZJ1HHzCzbE8Fwad7bLmx-TpYZFX8b3fp_r10QFwjnO5LA8sClEZ1dw5AyK0_avutR5OZBpCcSgttIF7pvX9657xR6jokqnXmmZSt6rAgMvlsBVAgBJF1mEos1ieqjfSOnpYt4T5YYVepAu7sp6DPiqEGiZy9J-mEep/s320/noodles.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">My phone camera
roll went from pictures of kids to mainly food I created (Obviously by this blog).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I was serving
myself and granddaughter restaurant quality meals. I stopped getting take out
because I wanted fresh. Not a bad thing right? I slowly became a food snob.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">But something
happened, something horrible.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">While taking the
path to great cooking I lost my knack for making tasty comfort foods. Or did I?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I learned this
when I decided to make Mac n cheese. It didn’t taste right, gummy. The cheese
was weird. I didn’t do anything different. Had to be a fluke. Then the
confirmation came when I wanted Sloppy Joe’s. Simple right? No. They were
horrible. Meat was hard, the sauce too sweet. One bite and I threw it out. Who
fails at making Sloppy Joes. This lady here.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Ug! What happened
to me? Did I become a horrible Mom cook or did I just get used to elevated
style meals. I don’t even want to try a pot roast. Thankfully my sauce is still
super killer.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Even though I
lost my touch or rather palate for normal foods, I anxiously await season 13.
Let the cooking neuroticism begin.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Sigh.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I really wanted a
Sloppy Joe<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-69438065415189915982023-03-07T21:20:00.005-08:002023-03-07T21:20:47.804-08:00The Great Bacon Off Test<p><span style="text-indent: 0in;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBwla5dH2UPoIHTpM5MNMVH0kT-M_H18S6XdyVvR2j2sU6ZDa3g2QjVS6G8H6ic8I9Im-mWWTBtdHSCUAFpHrpoDkByY3OFtlRtgjb-UkpCq0I28avGaVRYPA3Lw7HjV3Qam4c5vjeVLk6hpmb4eDwNAd7o2QQLirDwnenFr5_vyM9lFP0bLxlYjV2/s4032/IMG_6892.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBwla5dH2UPoIHTpM5MNMVH0kT-M_H18S6XdyVvR2j2sU6ZDa3g2QjVS6G8H6ic8I9Im-mWWTBtdHSCUAFpHrpoDkByY3OFtlRtgjb-UkpCq0I28avGaVRYPA3Lw7HjV3Qam4c5vjeVLk6hpmb4eDwNAd7o2QQLirDwnenFr5_vyM9lFP0bLxlYjV2/s320/IMG_6892.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />It’s all about
the bacon. You would think. In an unpopular opinion, probably even offensive to
people, I’m not overly crazy about bacon. I think it goes back to my youth when
we were “lucky” to get two pieces of bacon and it was hard to tell upon looking
if it was even cooked. My parents loved their bacon fatty and limp. Yeah. Um
no. But I do enjoy a bacon sandwich or a piece on a burger.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Which brings me
to my hatred of cooking bacon. The grease, sizzle and snap of oil that burns
your skin when it flies from the pan. The greatest invention to me was
precooked bacon you out in the microwave or flash fry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">There are so many
brands. I didn’t think they were too different until my granddaughter, Penny
asked me for magical bacon (that’s what I call it because it’s done fast like
magic). I only had two strips of one brand and made two strips of another. She
refused to eat the second type because it was different.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Was it.? So I
decided to take it to task and invite two of my grandkids over for a bacon off.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lily is five, Aiden is 14.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">They didn’t know
which was which. Plates simply number one through five. I asked them to score 1
– 10 and tell me what they liked or didn’t.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I cooked the
bacon according to the package instructions and both kids knew this.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Here is an image before
and after. I apologize because the kids dug into bacon 2 and 3 before I could
take the photo.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA3Zh7CzF2TYO_IsHaF-6nwSknnlqnveD5iVPtOForRv1BJDB7-jHIvYrlNhgkBKzfEXkTwHRotUid0hl_oZYapTc_Wm0-lCA9atSlNOJZGc303JTuMe_DkP6l7ZQlf460eihOD-WDcNsT2VL1qrHxBrEX0njeAzCNlNDxD78wkXhNnrXAyRTSkd3a/s1778/BACKNBEFORE%20AFTER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="1778" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA3Zh7CzF2TYO_IsHaF-6nwSknnlqnveD5iVPtOForRv1BJDB7-jHIvYrlNhgkBKzfEXkTwHRotUid0hl_oZYapTc_Wm0-lCA9atSlNOJZGc303JTuMe_DkP6l7ZQlf460eihOD-WDcNsT2VL1qrHxBrEX0njeAzCNlNDxD78wkXhNnrXAyRTSkd3a/s320/BACKNBEFORE%20AFTER.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Here are the
results I quote their own words. (Video of their final results at the end)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>Bacon One – Sugardale</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis51-bz2B6VNjUPTmNKhmbpHIHyTr5LLp3ezm50209ETHEWzXeHkH9MrGsHF8usgXlKmjuA6sElqyF8So6eDz3enGL2SyhV--yFDJUTmkd-sIZ6n2n5av_NaG5B0bdZ3KuBJTpF-3Sk_0u2t15tntIyIN_VeAaWCGh91hgoSF71pnYe5kGK1g5j-zr/s600/SUGARDALE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis51-bz2B6VNjUPTmNKhmbpHIHyTr5LLp3ezm50209ETHEWzXeHkH9MrGsHF8usgXlKmjuA6sElqyF8So6eDz3enGL2SyhV--yFDJUTmkd-sIZ6n2n5av_NaG5B0bdZ3KuBJTpF-3Sk_0u2t15tntIyIN_VeAaWCGh91hgoSF71pnYe5kGK1g5j-zr/s320/SUGARDALE.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Lily: Score 3.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><i>“Not impressed,
said it was too hard and burnt, but the flavor was okay.”</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Aiden: Score 7<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><i>“Love this bacon,
can I have the rest?”</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b style="text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;">SCO<span style="text-indent: 0in;">RE TOTAL: 10/20</span><span style="text-indent: 0in;"> </span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;"><br /></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>Bacon Two – Oscar
Myer</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1jhjoobB4FI3VemB1rrKe8ZXOsWfAeBDsUriovASGLc4DZKzP-LKYkNqoXXlK7A2K6UaWaH5sv8_YDRRQnPiJHxTdqgMXiH4dM5niCB806hAugwHm0eWyFupUiqQMv-6HQEgQE7ZS_COeFepXuSUeoQ5Biqd4CS0o6WTiPtFlk1nqyNi_4SZ5-22/s600/oscarmyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1jhjoobB4FI3VemB1rrKe8ZXOsWfAeBDsUriovASGLc4DZKzP-LKYkNqoXXlK7A2K6UaWaH5sv8_YDRRQnPiJHxTdqgMXiH4dM5niCB806hAugwHm0eWyFupUiqQMv-6HQEgQE7ZS_COeFepXuSUeoQ5Biqd4CS0o6WTiPtFlk1nqyNi_4SZ5-22/s320/oscarmyer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Lily: Score 8</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><i>“Texture is great
and it tastes good and bacony.”</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Aiden: Score 5<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><i>“Texture is good,
tastes is a little off and is greasy.”<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p><i> </i></o:p><b style="text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;">SCORE TOTAL: 13/20</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p><br /></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>Bacon Three –
Trader Joe’s</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPm47AXKtpow8qjry5i2VEK2vzLvRdjFz8GleXhwWrg339m-3su7bUTITTiK9BLvo81hc_629VA1yZBo9Rjci7NbcF_mnU8qCS1u0bqP6CB--cqkVcIN-UKMCEV8oHZdIHgul2LsSKCIWC938EhWqw1OcwfVDvx9h2ASVcb9Q59Fgduf_VsfURYAR4/s600/traderjoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPm47AXKtpow8qjry5i2VEK2vzLvRdjFz8GleXhwWrg339m-3su7bUTITTiK9BLvo81hc_629VA1yZBo9Rjci7NbcF_mnU8qCS1u0bqP6CB--cqkVcIN-UKMCEV8oHZdIHgul2LsSKCIWC938EhWqw1OcwfVDvx9h2ASVcb9Q59Fgduf_VsfURYAR4/s320/traderjoes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Lily: Score 6</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><i>“Not bad tasting.
I like the texture, the instructions don’t make it hard”</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Aiden: Score 4<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><i>“It has the best
texture but the smoke flavor stays with you too much.”</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">SCORE TOTAL: 10/20</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>Bacon Four – Hormel</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8c20stEqMYUVu2OpT9v8FkqfzNUcLHkP5TI_lH_94JRJ8h2jfE3nSAg2ahIWbrqch_YJ3QY32ceykOF41WkSwlfZ7QZTkVg5z-VgjC_-s4563lfoNet4IFW94RJQv-T2Wp2MV1O4mhTWJorCSz140yIWK-M5j-NwNkUR_eLmaAKYK_uERn9T7BJLX/s600/HOrmell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8c20stEqMYUVu2OpT9v8FkqfzNUcLHkP5TI_lH_94JRJ8h2jfE3nSAg2ahIWbrqch_YJ3QY32ceykOF41WkSwlfZ7QZTkVg5z-VgjC_-s4563lfoNet4IFW94RJQv-T2Wp2MV1O4mhTWJorCSz140yIWK-M5j-NwNkUR_eLmaAKYK_uERn9T7BJLX/s320/HOrmell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Lily: Score 5<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><i>“Flavor is great.
I kinda like the texture. Needs to be softer.” (Man my parents would have loved
this girl.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Aiden: Score 4<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><i>“Goes kinda
haywire in your mouth. Nah.”</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">SCORE TOTAL: 11/10</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>Bacon Five –
Store Brand Giant Eagle</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p><br /></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoik9DbgApcjx5AKJ7zrYFrCJq1pyOzW1JAPUl2s6aZd9z1ImFiSabs0xJT-pIxoOuUdg4BqJpmfeOloUIYNQwRJf6NWol_VP-fMEn5OF6MC0-BGJKpjKe4sNd96QavrjO4DM4AgtsOIKN4ReyCYwJS8TVK5m13ZoWJReRnKlWEa-KfuN-QjPknQhE/s600/GE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoik9DbgApcjx5AKJ7zrYFrCJq1pyOzW1JAPUl2s6aZd9z1ImFiSabs0xJT-pIxoOuUdg4BqJpmfeOloUIYNQwRJf6NWol_VP-fMEn5OF6MC0-BGJKpjKe4sNd96QavrjO4DM4AgtsOIKN4ReyCYwJS8TVK5m13ZoWJReRnKlWEa-KfuN-QjPknQhE/s320/GE.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Lily: Score 9<i style="text-indent: 0in;">“I love this. It’s
soft but crispy, tiny and melts in your mouth. My favorite,”</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Aiden: Score 3<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><i>“No, no. What
happened to it. It’s too thin and dry.”</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">SCORE TOTAL: 12/20</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p><br /></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Finally Now
because the original inspiration (Penny) was under the weather and couldn’t
make it, I carefully wrapped each sample and marked them and sent them over.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">She wasn’t in the
mood so my son and son in law took the test and both decided bacon 2 was the
best.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">After adding the
scores from Aiden and Lily, bacon 2 was the highest</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Me? I agree with
Lily and prefer the broke<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and tiny tasty
store brand.<span style="text-indent: 0in;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Which do you
prefer if you buy precooked bacon. Leave a comment and let me know. And enjoy the quick video testimonies!<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw7e9v6mAMopPhR5DDXNgVnpEaCcOH19q2ohMUiEHMfga2RoG8rxYny6EEqPsa0_9bQY1qevFLL91qswAUv4g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw5wAl2YAVuhDhWTrOmoAN1HHNI6yUDs4QsCk481jfECpqIZ4Xca8SjAsoGmTRUiVtukG0IuX2TSyDaI2f6pQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-17613718586525304932023-02-10T14:50:00.001-08:002023-02-10T14:51:37.154-08:00The Breaking Point of Negative Feedback<p><span style="text-indent: 0in;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXqP7dJ4j3U426oLJmsk5iu1l8Zf0LnH-H0d1SB2EOSm4-KWQAMiaz0ORjaKrll7jPM0p2X-iu7MmLBdUAgB_6MIV9zZvpixPJKcqLxWKZa2rRJ-SW3Cvidw6WKvZoi-ML_KnO5RyhZ3aXPN06m5ICRuHMPTGPE1y3kXLURIrA-LDVEX9ZVVfwNGx/s402/negative.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="247" data-original-width="402" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXqP7dJ4j3U426oLJmsk5iu1l8Zf0LnH-H0d1SB2EOSm4-KWQAMiaz0ORjaKrll7jPM0p2X-iu7MmLBdUAgB_6MIV9zZvpixPJKcqLxWKZa2rRJ-SW3Cvidw6WKvZoi-ML_KnO5RyhZ3aXPN06m5ICRuHMPTGPE1y3kXLURIrA-LDVEX9ZVVfwNGx/s320/negative.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />I heard it said that negative feedback
is better than no feedback, or you need to hear the negative to fix the
mistakes. While that is true, for the purpose of this blog, there are two types
of negative feedback. Critical and harsh. You can tell someone they suck
without using the word suck.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">This cherry pie sucked!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">This cherry didn’t do it for me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Both tell the baker he didn’t do a
good job on the pie, but while one can make the baker reexamine his recipe, the other can inadvertently make that baker put away his
mixing bowl for a long time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">When you put yourself out there,
especially as a writer, you have to expect the bad with the good. I know this,
I have been doing this a long time. People are going to love your stories, hate
your stories, or be indifferent.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">You can’t please everyone, and I
know that. I love getting positive feedback, emails thanking me for a great
story, I mean, who doesn’t. Believe it or not, I don’t mind the critical ones.
Often times, I see their point and make the change or mental note.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Critical.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Not Harsh Negative.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">There’s a big difference you know
and every so often, every couple years, something I write causes a rash of harsh
negative emails. Again, not critical, but harsh negative. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">For example, things like … (Taken
from recent emails)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><i>‘I’ll never read your books again,
the errors were horrible.’</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><i style="text-indent: 0in;">‘I wanted to throw my kindle,
what a waste.’</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><i>‘Did you even graduate eighth grade?’</i>
(Why do I get asked this? It’s happened before)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><i>‘What were you thinking putting
out crap like this’<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">A recent critical comment, the woman
said, <i>‘I really enjoyed the story, there seemed to be far more errors than
normal for you, please let me know if I can help.’<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">If you don’t see the difference, I
can’t explain. But I can say this, the impact of the emails makes a difference.
One type tells me, ‘Wow, she hasn’t given up on me’, the other makes me
question as to why I even bother. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Recently, after a book was released
through my publisher, those harsh negative emails started to arrive. All stating
multiple errors, but they weren’t just letting me know about them, they were
slamming me as a writer. I’ve had this happen with self published books, despite
having two or three sets of eyes on the book. Things slip by.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">But this … this is relentless and I
am not exaggerating. It started as a few here and there after the release. A
couple critical, one or two harsh negative and then it took a turn. After a
weekend of several a day, suddenly, every single day I am getting no less than
five emails. First, balancing out between criticism and negative and then the
scales tipped. Never in my career have I ever gotten so many negative, bashing
emails a day over one book. The ones not ‘slamming’ became few and far between.
It has gotten to the point if I see an email and the subject even slightly
talks about ‘The Book’, I don’t even open it. I have probably 50 unread in my
inbox. So I apologize if you were emailing about something else and I didn’t
reply yet..<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Not one. Not a single one is positive.
And you know what sucks? I LOVED writing that book, I created a cover from
scratch and labored over it. Before you say it’s on the publisher, ask yourself
… is it? My name is on that book and my name is also synonymous with self
publishing so those who know my work just assume it’s self published. They aren’t
blaming a publisher, they’re blaming me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Maybe I should take it as a good
thing that people feel they can reach out to me about this. That I am so
approachable they can tell me anything, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">There are readers I communicate with
regularly that are just ‘letting me know how horrible it was’,. Not the story,
the errors, then again, no one cares about this story. Little hint, if a book
has been out for a couple months, and it’s that bad, really there’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>no need to let me know, chances are 50 others
beat you to the punch. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">So here I have a super original
story, I freaking loved, sunk to a quicksand world of humiliation. A work I
want to be proud of but now that ship has sailed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">For the errors, I blame myself. I
didn’t pick up what the editor missed. My eyes read what my mind wrote.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">I own it. My readers deserve the
best I can give them and I failed them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">I know how frustrating it is to be
in the flow of reading only to be halted by an avoidable error. I have reached
out to many authors and none have ever experienced this, especially at this
volume. Readers leave the negativity in the reviews for them not their inbox.
Heck not even I have had it this bad.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">This is a phenomenon, even after I
was assured the mistakes were corrected the emails not only kept coming but
grew in numbers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">The bottom line is, everyone has
their breaking point. I’ve reached mine along with a legitimate fear that his could
be the downfall of everything I worked so hard for. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">So why did I write this blog? Maybe
to vent, to be a bit of therapy, but mainly to ask anyone reading this that before
you fire off an email of criticism/complaint penned in your frustration,
whether it’s a coworker, an author, a business, just pause, breathe, reread before
you hit send.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">As a consumer, leaving bad reviews
are your right, say what you want. But when sending a personal email, just know
you, think it through.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Maybe I’m wrong. But I just wanted
to put this out there.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-15157536463405683562023-01-07T20:23:00.002-08:002023-01-07T20:25:46.070-08:00Why I side with Harry<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4jnODbWrLoDvfkOC5kjHy8tIyY-bllDH4odMO51C2mxvmOlkssXjrB3M2JYPv7iWp4ISgg-m0ssDLb8dcBDi5oVl_ewABC8NRZEK670TXDLtkG4cZ96DKTkTlAZzRlcGbmPDONSQp0MDOJ8TncOw9m9txdXsyPsWnsfWmypIM8PvdHPnsMABjOTZw/s599/Lancering_Invictus_Games_2020-7_(cropped).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="436" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4jnODbWrLoDvfkOC5kjHy8tIyY-bllDH4odMO51C2mxvmOlkssXjrB3M2JYPv7iWp4ISgg-m0ssDLb8dcBDi5oVl_ewABC8NRZEK670TXDLtkG4cZ96DKTkTlAZzRlcGbmPDONSQp0MDOJ8TncOw9m9txdXsyPsWnsfWmypIM8PvdHPnsMABjOTZw/s320/Lancering_Invictus_Games_2020-7_(cropped).jpg" width="233" /></a></div> <span style="text-indent: 0in;">On the eve of his book’s release, my
preorder is in and I can wait to dive into Harry’s words.<br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">I am obsessed with the Harry-Meagan
story. I have at times used their first names as if talking<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>about old friends.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Actually, my obsession began with
the royals the day Diana married Charles. I was doing my Saturday volunteer
duty (candy striper back in the day) at the hospital with Sister Mary Louisa.
A very tiny, old, petite, scary nun and as we were bagging surgical supplies
she went off on a tangent about what the heck was that old man doing marrying
such a young girl. “I give it ten years. I heard he has a tart on the side”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5g0BQq0QZjP5iYB9l6mV6G_4hEOfK2TQP_LdAk4gH-HsytD4PANFrGhWasoQxeladahe3fsKHFkT62a6mqKaTKlfw-06I3Su5q0KnyKsP2qKikUBGrTUisawLdD72tzQH9R2AmwcLKTIHY-n7G-lZu4QQl_QJyLRfj65inDUVtKA-Gen4pXERwYy_/s252/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="200" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5g0BQq0QZjP5iYB9l6mV6G_4hEOfK2TQP_LdAk4gH-HsytD4PANFrGhWasoQxeladahe3fsKHFkT62a6mqKaTKlfw-06I3Su5q0KnyKsP2qKikUBGrTUisawLdD72tzQH9R2AmwcLKTIHY-n7G-lZu4QQl_QJyLRfj65inDUVtKA-Gen4pXERwYy_/s1600/images.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>What? Who were these people she
spoke of. Plus, I wasn’t familiar with what a tart was. I went home, spoke to
my Nana and she immediately got me a national enquirer (reading choice of our
family then)<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><br />I have followed ever since. A real
life soap opera. So when things started with Harry a few years back, I called
it. He’s gonna do what his mother couldn’t and break away.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">I watched the Netflix Documentary
and unlike everyone else I know, I loved it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">What’s the deal with the Meghan
hate? Immediately, it’s like ‘blame the woman’. When we all know from the get
go, Harry was the wild child. We all remember his Vegas Vacation and the nude snaps
that came out.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Meghan didn’t grow up rich. She grew
up with very little and I can totally understand where her thinking was skewed
on how it was going to be. But Harry knew. Like his father, he didn’t prepare
her. Because she was a B list celebrity didn’t mean she knew how to handle
things. And though I love Harry, I bet he can be a real dick.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Okay all that aside, we saw what happened
with Princess Di. Relentlessly hounded by the media, cheated on by her husband,
made to look foolish in public. We all heard her side of the story, and I
remember people judging her, not believing her. Harry and Meghan say pretty
much the same thing, and people are reacting the same way. This isn’t the first
or even second time, a royal stepped away and said these things. We all
remember Edward.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Plus, hey, Tyler Perry is standing up
for them and he is the stand up guy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">I heard someone today say, “He’s
turning on his family.” Um, isn’t Meghan and the two kids his family too?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Harry never wanted to walk the
normal royal walk. When he served his country he did so unlike any other royal,
he led by example and was out there with his men and women. Harry is not stuffy,
well, not like the others. He’s like Philip who refused to be tamed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Maybe I’ll have a different feeling
when I read the book, who knows. But I do know this and this is the way I see
it. Dick or not, he walked away because he saw things unfolding the exact same
way they did with his mother, and her final result is not the history he wanted
to see repeated.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">I wonder what Sister Mary Louisa would
say.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-33246103000551525542023-01-03T13:06:00.006-08:002023-01-03T13:06:42.819-08:00Facing the Writing Changes<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigjaQUgOtOg4xOtYTqvwiCfLPnf-xnhptr1VOEy7fObXfV2Ytql9Lp30347lI_uJfkhgHc7ryVXgkNpAyostvbckaOXxEP-yktjipOLtaNOr_tsoLDtVt-UdENUvgjoQPulo-qhaHGDdU2VPcb_w4r-6PeucVZOw0J9LJM6KBM7uOplqBv0LCyJGx_/s1024/Free-Clipart-Happy-New-Year-2018-1024x687-1024x687.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="1024" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigjaQUgOtOg4xOtYTqvwiCfLPnf-xnhptr1VOEy7fObXfV2Ytql9Lp30347lI_uJfkhgHc7ryVXgkNpAyostvbckaOXxEP-yktjipOLtaNOr_tsoLDtVt-UdENUvgjoQPulo-qhaHGDdU2VPcb_w4r-6PeucVZOw0J9LJM6KBM7uOplqBv0LCyJGx_/s320/Free-Clipart-Happy-New-Year-2018-1024x687-1024x687.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />I think this may be the longest I
have gone without blogging, and I think I need to get back into it. Every year,
I say the same thing. Who knows, maybe this will be the year.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p><span style="text-indent: 0in;">I thought about blogging again
because I wanted to do a food blog. Since living on my own, I find myself
cooking more because, well, I am making what I want to eat not what everyone
else likes to eat. My daughter calls them spinster dinners, but technically AM
I spinster if I have been married a bunch.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p><span style="text-indent: 0in;">This year I face a lot of challenges
as a writer and any oldie (Writing for Kindle for 7+ years) will know what I
mean about changes. I just celebrated my 12</span><sup style="text-indent: 0in;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: 0in;"> anniversary with
Kindle and the changes are strange. Many I never noticed because I never used a
lot of the things other authors did.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">It took me 10 years to realize I
could email amazon and add my book to different categories other than the two I
picked during publishing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always
thought that was limiting, now, you can tell them what categories to add but you
will only really show in three. So I’ll just stick with my two and let Amazon
determine from the keywords, like I always did.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">There’s a lot of changes in my genre
of apocalypse as far as readers go. It starts out subtle, you don’t notice the
trend until your rank is no longer what it used to be. So many genres are
buried and done, like zombie. No one wants to read about a plague. Forget
nuclear war. Until a fresh batch of readers gets scared of it, that will tank.
EMP is so overused, as now is the CME events. So what is left? Natural disasters,
aliens. I try at least once a year to invent a new type of apocalypse.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">I find myself, as others probably
do, stalled to the will of the masses. When I actually think my diehard readers
don’t care. Yeah, some refuse to read zombie or aliens. But trying to fit the mold
takes more time then just writing what comes to me. Be it horror, apocalypse, comedy,
BEGINNNINGS!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">So for the record, I am making my
writing New Year’s Resolutions. I’ll check back in a year and see how I did. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Finish at least two books I started
and never finished.</li><li>Finish a dead trilogy (One I stopped
writing because I lost interest)</li><li>Write what I feel, what comes from
me. If the genre is a gone genre, vow to bring it back with good story telling..</li><li>Get back to Vella. I like to do a
vella book once and a while, they really keep me on my writing tows.</li><li>Make my yearly ‘different’ book that
I write, really different.</li></ul><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-56489798322400898562022-01-19T20:12:00.002-08:002022-01-19T20:12:45.795-08:00Is there Injustice in Justice?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgeRu_RVR01QU016Ivk-Buaih1E9I8QlPXqvgCJgQiLic88oJAMzX8I-I-0xK-cnqWCiDu7Ta3ZgECgmPeUUTKb0UFWCUz-2jIkHom6zzfqAhY-MGvAd6mnzY0Kk5axsdZU6IDXb8LFULJmhOiDuFqsZak_6XMUqvtVxi1JhqJbRwp5S6w4o9ubn41=s640" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="601" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgeRu_RVR01QU016Ivk-Buaih1E9I8QlPXqvgCJgQiLic88oJAMzX8I-I-0xK-cnqWCiDu7Ta3ZgECgmPeUUTKb0UFWCUz-2jIkHom6zzfqAhY-MGvAd6mnzY0Kk5axsdZU6IDXb8LFULJmhOiDuFqsZak_6XMUqvtVxi1JhqJbRwp5S6w4o9ubn41=s320" width="301" /></a></div><br />It doesn’t register, nor does it
ever seem important the background of the person deciding your fate when you
step into a court of law. My ignorance of the process has always led me to
think that judges are highly qualified and can objectively look at a case based
on their experience as an attorney.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Magistrates I always looked at them
as the street smart judges. Not always attorneys, but have the smarts to make
quick and sometimes compassionate decisions.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">It wasn’t until I started looking
into things that I said, “Whoa, hey, wait a minute.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Now I speak only for what I have
learned in Pennsylvania, specifically the Fifth Judicial District. – I am not a
lawyer and I never took Civics, this is based on my observation as a layperson
so correct and educate me where I am wrong.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">If you want to look up for your
state I caution you that it’s a rabbit hole of WTH moments.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">It’s mind baffling. It literally
sounds like something you’d read in a dystopian, totalitarian society novel.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">How many of us really, really
look into the background of judges when they appear on the ballot? Maybe you
do, maybe you just trust the system. Because those on the ballot are heavily
vetted by the judiciary committee of the bar association.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“A well-rounded field of
candidates to fill seats.” A quote from an article said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Judges are elected and seated for
a ten-year term – yeah, that needs to stop.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">But did you know, at least in
this county, once elected, it’s anyone’s guess where they go. Why is it that
way? <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">There are four areas in the
Common Pleas court system: Criminal, Civil, Family, Orphans.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">One person, the presidential
judge makes the decision who serves where ( I think). And by looking at the
backgrounds, there’s no rhyme or reason to it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Why are these judges not elected
to specific benches? When we vote, why aren’t we voting on Family Court Judges,
Civil Judges and Criminal Judges?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">We want former pubic defenders
and prosecutors in the criminal court, Real estate and personal injury lawyers
in Civil, family lawyers in Family Court.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">No instead we have a former
personal injury, eminent domain, and defense attorneys deciding the fate of
our most precious commodity … our children.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">They say in custody cases, the
courts favor the mothers in 72% of the cases, In Allegheny County is it any
wonder?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">45 judges preside in the Court of
Common Pleas. 46% are women.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">YET, of the eighteen judges that
preside in Family court, 72% of those judges are women.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Of the 12 judges in civil, 90%
are men.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Criminal – 69% are men.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">What is this saying? Male judges
aren’t competent enough to make decisions in Family court. Or maybe women
aren’t level-headed enough to make decisions in criminal or civil cases?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">With 61% of all female judges in
the Fifth Judicial System serving in Family Court, to me, it makes sense why it
is so biased.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">And look at the cases, go on, they’re
public. One judge. Judge X, when a case was filed, ruled the mother could not
withhold the child from the father. Yet, four weeks later the father filed an
emergency petition because he still hadn’t seen his child.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Denied.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">What? Wait, didn’t Judge X just
say a month earlier the mother couldn’t withhold? Four more weeks later, the
father wanting to see his child, another petition … denied. Three months since
originally filing, the father has filed again. Still hasn’t seen his child. This
is what happens, they don’t care. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Judge X is out of family court
now, bet she never gives the case a second thought. Yet that father feels
hopeless, missing his child, over a decision she didn’t blink to make.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Sometimes I think being assigned
Family Court is a punishment, clearly, you can have an open criminal case to run
as a judge and decide the fate of a child, yet with that same record, you can’t
work in a school cafeteria. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">In reading over 30 cases, I have
found in the last three months 90% of all emergency petitions were DENIED.
Mother or father … it didn’t matter … denied.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The defendant is not innocent
until proven guilty, this isn’t a criminal case. This is a child’s life, and
the judges need to view it as such, look into the facts, and to the point that
most of these emergency petitions aren’t filed out of spite, they are filed out
of genuine concern.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The judges don’t see it that way
because most didn’t start in family law.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">In fact, only four of the current
Family Court Judges have a background in family law. I'm talking about where they started, not tenure on the bench.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">But whose fault is that? The
people that elected them? They elect from the choices they are given. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The Presidential Judge makes
choices on what he or she has.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Old habits are hard to break and
it’s time for a change. When the people elect a judge they should be choosing
which judge goes to which bench.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">How can a fair and balanced fate
be delivered when the process itself is not fair and balanced.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">When a former public defender
decides the fate of a child and a personal injury lawyer decides the fate of a
criminal.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">They are sworn to uphold the law
… yep, I get it. But those who uphold the law should be experts in the law of the area they serve BEFORE they take that bench. Until that happens … unfathomable rulings will be made, unjust
sentences handed out and true and fair justice will never be served a hundred
percent. <o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-47335626185569147362021-12-16T14:17:00.001-08:002021-12-16T14:17:23.852-08:00BookBub's New Releases for Less - My Experience<p><span style="text-indent: 0in;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsVPtlTx8Ii93lJLUqWv1TzWayOWsFpNuWJQfotU1etnAYnK7SjMPli4FwQQL8jH-mLCEdjdrq56F0n2r_Q0j81bu--t4E47xiITJD2jXVTlw935eBSLrYDImYYg884-lg70oksGuWaroyKxO0JUetzDganSsilpDiDGD9uu4MK3LgRG154NfUt4rC=s400" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="199" data-original-width="400" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsVPtlTx8Ii93lJLUqWv1TzWayOWsFpNuWJQfotU1etnAYnK7SjMPli4FwQQL8jH-mLCEdjdrq56F0n2r_Q0j81bu--t4E47xiITJD2jXVTlw935eBSLrYDImYYg884-lg70oksGuWaroyKxO0JUetzDganSsilpDiDGD9uu4MK3LgRG154NfUt4rC=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br />Every author
knows Bookbub as the Master of Advertising. If you are picked for a feature you’re
all but assured of a great sales day and residual bumps. (Most of the time) Heck,
I remember when they started and I was one of the first dozen or so authors to
get a feature. But note, that didn’t give me any special privileges. I still
get rejected by them.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Recently I was
able to try the latest feature, ‘New Releases for Less’. Googling this didn’t
breed many results. I only read people stating they heard ‘mixed results’. I couldn’t
find one dedicated article, so I decided to write one.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I read a comment
on a post that they accept everyone. Not true. I had two rejected for new
releases for less. That being said, my latest novel, The Black, was accepted
under horror and here’s what I learned, but I didn’t just watch my book.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">It’s important to
note that they base their decision on your <b>release price</b>, so doing a
Countdown deal of .99 won’t work unless you contact them ahead of time.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>The email</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">An email is sent
out in the early afternoon (EST). It targets readers who subscribe to those categories.
In my copy of the email, there were three books. Mine and two others. I tried
to reach out to these other authors to get their opinion, but one was like trying
to contact a mythical creature, no FB or website. The other just didn’t get
back to me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Anyhow, let me
start by saying my book was at a disadvantage going into this ad campaign. A
recent Amazon glitch caused my book to be without a rank. For ten out of
fourteen days it was not listed in any categories and therefore unsearchable
other than by my name. Yeah, that sucked. So it started out pretty bad compared
to my other new releases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>RESULTS</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">There were three
books in the email.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MSRLQ2K" target="_blank">The Black</a> – by Me
(2.99 – Horror)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KGZG38G" target="_blank">The Signal</a> - Philipp
Calvert and Joshua T. Calvert (0.99 – Sci Fi)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Z6J14SX" target="_blank">Not Like Yesterday</a> – Ava Strong (4.99 – Psychological Thriller)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><i>Here is how I charted
the ABSR (Amazon Best Seller Rank)<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p><i> </i></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHWM5pZ73vx21QSBkl8UYYXtp1I11VqTXbiCGUGjHQacqtRF24M0psdfPCYWsTJla5rQQgILHfft9A5t8wQ65s6jNVZo4v98Iisea07vesGuBVZPrPVBmD7TW1wEXoaQb2PZzDTXGv4NvmBEG5WUz9euqssKnvje8_fX2MrAAfPYrRCYZcdJBm3VCm=s652" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="131" data-original-width="652" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHWM5pZ73vx21QSBkl8UYYXtp1I11VqTXbiCGUGjHQacqtRF24M0psdfPCYWsTJla5rQQgILHfft9A5t8wQ65s6jNVZo4v98Iisea07vesGuBVZPrPVBmD7TW1wEXoaQb2PZzDTXGv4NvmBEG5WUz9euqssKnvje8_fX2MrAAfPYrRCYZcdJBm3VCm=w400-h80" width="400" /></a></i></div><i><br /></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>Now for the breakdown.</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">To be fair I used
the <a href="https://kindlepreneur.com/amazon-kdp-sales-rank-calculator/" target="_blank">KDP Rank Calculator </a>to estimate sale. Even on mine, which by the way, if I
break down page reads as book sales (Divide by KENP #), it comes pretty close to
the calculator.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>The Black –
Release Price $2.99</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Est Three-day unit
sales – 104<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Cost of ad - $260.00<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"> Est. Royalties $208.24<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Loss/Profit <span style="color: red;">-<b>$51.76</b></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><i>Opinion </i>– Not great,
but not bad. I really think the glitch put my book at a disadvantage, but only
the next several days will tell. Like all books sales go up and down. The
difference in rank wasn’t grand, but hopefully, it will make a difference.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>Not Like Yesterday
– Release Price $4.99</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Est Three-day unit
sales – 29<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Cost of ad - $700.00<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Est. Royalties $101.30<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Loss/Profit <b><span style="color: red;">-$598.70</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Opinion – While the
massive jump from a rank of 238,000 down to 18,000 is super impressive, as
authors we know to go from 238K to 50k takes only a couple sales. Her hardest
jump wa from 33k to 18k. I wish the author would have replied to my email, I really
wanted to know what she thought.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>The Signal –
Release Price $.99 </b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Note this was not
a countdown deal so the author royalties are $.034 a book.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">EST Three-day unit
sales – 610<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Cost of ad - $400.00<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Est. Royalties $207.40<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Loss/Profit <b><span style="color: red;">-$196.60</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;"><i>Opinion</i> –
Impressive freaking jump in best seller rank. However, setting a price of 99
cents with a 35% royalty was risky. In order just to get the money back on the
ad the author needed to sell 1200 books roughly in 3 days, which is possible. But
not with this type of ad. Even though they took a hit, I’m gonna say the ad
worked for them because it’s a book one.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>In Conclusion</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">So what does this
tell me. The ad can work if your book is at the right price. I don’t think
$4.99 is a new release for less (Unless you’re Stephen King), I think $4.99 is
a new release for an average Indie Author Price. The Category has 1.4 million
subscribers, you have to wonder how many opened that email and were like, ‘not
for less’. I wonder how many she would have sold had she priced it at 1.99</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">The .99 book
rocked as far as sales go but profit margin was lost, however, the strategy for
a first book in a series paid off. The thing they did was think it through,
come up with a plan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">In looking at the
stats I didn’t do too bad. Would I do it again? Yes, but I would plan it
through with a strategy to at least break even, and hopefully wihtout another horrible glitch
throwing me behind the 8 ball.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-19827681425288334442021-12-04T20:46:00.006-08:002021-12-04T20:55:52.690-08:00Italian Hoagies - Best in the South of Pittsburgh<p><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Whether you call
it a sub, hero, hoagie… it all means the same. A delicious sandwich on a long
bun filled with meats, cheese, veggies …. Sometimes hot, sometimes cold.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I am a food
person, I take pictures of food. I’m weird like that.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I decided since I
love Italian Hoagies to embark on a test of who makes the best and who are my favorites.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Now I excluded
the local legends like Triangle Bar and Primanti Brothers (Over rated) and I
picked the subs I felt were my favorite and took nicely dissected photos s you
can get a deep view.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Disclaimer: I live
in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, so these places are to the south of the city.
Some of the restaurants I tried and while good, were not in my top list. Trust me
I have tried almost every hoagie in this area.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">You may disagree,
but if you haven’t tried these places, it’s a must. Perhaps the photos will temp you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>Honorable Mention
– Jersey Mike’s</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBWVJCbg4pUjfcMr_-s0zEVp9x5bBRj52p9BoTuKkmVeEsU5ju6QsAgCIVwFh-TbVfy3Xf2iX7R_FPZpHUI5ZFtta1fFPIiu7avvtHLRd2JckdDonea_3cm3nYmZmABEphF-1-d-sx-FE/s2048/jerseymikes.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1982" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBWVJCbg4pUjfcMr_-s0zEVp9x5bBRj52p9BoTuKkmVeEsU5ju6QsAgCIVwFh-TbVfy3Xf2iX7R_FPZpHUI5ZFtta1fFPIiu7avvtHLRd2JckdDonea_3cm3nYmZmABEphF-1-d-sx-FE/s320/jerseymikes.jpg" width="310" /></a></div><br />I know it’s
unfair they’re a chain, but no food in the world smells better or leaves a
great scent in your car. Packed with meats and veggies, they’re made fresh on
spot. They aren’t hot, but I am waiting for the day when I can get the Italian
cooked like they make the Cheesesteak.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>6 – Loose Moose –
Baldwin</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioYzhTOFVCFOJYVrhwNofJQEvYXsTxolbKpAQnxNec8cYDOiJVFu4QO6Wrqm97sWC1G8tkZ9Ora6L9oj3LXROW2lQw3bHiKDqBYL7yMpa-9a9nEYXneFtAUx490XP6zbH4b3Juyj2haf8/s2048/loosemoose.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1745" data-original-width="2048" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioYzhTOFVCFOJYVrhwNofJQEvYXsTxolbKpAQnxNec8cYDOiJVFu4QO6Wrqm97sWC1G8tkZ9Ora6L9oj3LXROW2lQw3bHiKDqBYL7yMpa-9a9nEYXneFtAUx490XP6zbH4b3Juyj2haf8/s320/loosemoose.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />This sub packs a
bang for your buck. A super-size sub, heavy
on veggies and not thick with meat, but it’s a deal at 13.00. And it’s pretty tasty.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>5 – Toss </b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UOV5cAVFNqDZcAY890mCV3CIs23MGyKYhCaatJ5YGVQf1SKT2Y0wLREN7nVgzXAE4YBEawRq44aLo5vrJre22CQ3k8XWhnKXiryIS23il6e171A9oKeIK19ycieI9ir0F-5pbqYX4Rg/s2048/toss.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4UOV5cAVFNqDZcAY890mCV3CIs23MGyKYhCaatJ5YGVQf1SKT2Y0wLREN7nVgzXAE4YBEawRq44aLo5vrJre22CQ3k8XWhnKXiryIS23il6e171A9oKeIK19ycieI9ir0F-5pbqYX4Rg/s320/toss.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />I love this
little sub. The bun is NEVER over done, it has just the right amount of meat
veggie balance. Just an amazing little sandwich that is never bad and always good.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>4 – Danny’s</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fDNsRJwDPwX75ViBSABjQcukmt8JG7k8LL1Yyuw15n8EE9MPEYZUrkP96mtvFxgdAXRSIop-QJdzyLkppP4ozOQAKMl9XJqowYD88KhEGmjDulu55VHOK20kiBJFeVpsjzkxSr5uU0w/s2048/Danny%2527s.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fDNsRJwDPwX75ViBSABjQcukmt8JG7k8LL1Yyuw15n8EE9MPEYZUrkP96mtvFxgdAXRSIop-QJdzyLkppP4ozOQAKMl9XJqowYD88KhEGmjDulu55VHOK20kiBJFeVpsjzkxSr5uU0w/s320/Danny%2527s.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />I would have ranked
them higher but the bun is never consistent. Sometimes it’s too crunchy. But
the hoagie is outstanding.<span style="text-indent: 0in;"> And the dressing .,... excellent.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>3 – Donte’s
(Brownsville Road)</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZSkCzhao6OyxBywK5rIVaSSxNCmnXr3bsWBSZp35LSgs4HIWtzrXVL_cf2y_7Qqdqld-WhOF2_oR5lMCCy4bSgkfkegfIXEBszilhDaJwaBP-QnToSH24asB2hE3710z_qlq5w9x29o/s2048/dontes.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1330" data-original-width="2048" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZSkCzhao6OyxBywK5rIVaSSxNCmnXr3bsWBSZp35LSgs4HIWtzrXVL_cf2y_7Qqdqld-WhOF2_oR5lMCCy4bSgkfkegfIXEBszilhDaJwaBP-QnToSH24asB2hE3710z_qlq5w9x29o/s320/dontes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Look, if you want
a good sandwich at a great price, go for lunch. Half hoagie, fries and beverage
all for 7.99. I love this place and the people that work there. You know when
you eat this sandwich it’s made by people who enjoy making the food. The owners
are also awesome.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b style="text-indent: 0in;">2 – The Trolley
Stop</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFCkfgSgYk1G9Mv2qJdUQDm1JJgllgXNHcuGaGvycIdVPKbWI5pL_0KnryVIVc776MsbOYjB8Ou0iOKQMA78vhSdBnzkPubIfPRWO4U9WuzPvlW3nMHClKs4tSSRUcN40wHo6EG_keRH8/s2048/troley.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2027" data-original-width="2048" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFCkfgSgYk1G9Mv2qJdUQDm1JJgllgXNHcuGaGvycIdVPKbWI5pL_0KnryVIVc776MsbOYjB8Ou0iOKQMA78vhSdBnzkPubIfPRWO4U9WuzPvlW3nMHClKs4tSSRUcN40wHo6EG_keRH8/s320/troley.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Oh my God, I have
loved this hoagie from the first bite in 2001. And you know what? It hasn’t changed.
It is consistently always the same. They have this mayo dressing they put on.
Get an extra, you’ll want to dip. The bun is never over done and it’s priced
right.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">My favorite …..</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>1 – Nick’s Pizza
(Castle Shannon)</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYQjdlfUJOBmBBHgL1wEzIZjb6EQdBi1mwUWuWfiCDiCS3fkJSBIdlETp8pM_1QPIss6rYetKX1xWwQiVLdMtk4eXmRpcI-diFbzxZTZTvtiyhl3N94g0s0gJxf7FE5kzFZnwVg5O8Cx8/s2048/nicks.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1821" data-original-width="2048" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYQjdlfUJOBmBBHgL1wEzIZjb6EQdBi1mwUWuWfiCDiCS3fkJSBIdlETp8pM_1QPIss6rYetKX1xWwQiVLdMtk4eXmRpcI-diFbzxZTZTvtiyhl3N94g0s0gJxf7FE5kzFZnwVg5O8Cx8/s320/nicks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The genoa salami
pops in your mouth. That makes this hoagie so grand. I was eating one of these
hoagies 30 years ago when I went into labor with my twins, but damn it I was
gonna finish it. For a span of a few years, when Nick the owner sold this
place, the hoagies kind of lost their luster, but they are back. The bun is
seasoned and the balance of veggies and meat is perfect.<span style="text-indent: 0in;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Those are my
favorites, I’d love to hear about yours.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I think I'll do an egg roll challenge next.</p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-59429799154138355472021-11-30T13:18:00.000-08:002021-11-30T13:18:02.138-08:00Writers Series One: In Perspective<p><span style="text-indent: 0in;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkq_TB2p71d2Rq_zJuKTJoBSgqo7U65HOLHO3XRySMFitxe5rabwKfoAX0A05Id43anObbgz6ZGv_o_pCOaR68n6XwOdRdu7YSgxc9kyGaGVU559s7tlEeT1qt4c3mC04vrzZodicu9-g/s1762/writerseries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1762" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkq_TB2p71d2Rq_zJuKTJoBSgqo7U65HOLHO3XRySMFitxe5rabwKfoAX0A05Id43anObbgz6ZGv_o_pCOaR68n6XwOdRdu7YSgxc9kyGaGVU559s7tlEeT1qt4c3mC04vrzZodicu9-g/s320/writerseries.jpg" width="218" /></a></div><br />I’m an author of
many books. I do what I love and love what I do and get to do it for a living. Ten
years ago, I would have never imagined that I would be paying my bills with my
imagination. Now, granted some months are more fruitful than others. Some
months it’s bountiful and others dying lemons. But you take the good with the
bad. That’s a blog for another day. Today, I write about perspective.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Not perspective
as in storytelling, but rather perspective in writing. Nanowrimo has come to a
close, the month is up. If you don’t know what that is, it is a yearly
challenge to write a novel in 30 days. Or 50k words. I have done this challenge
every year since 2004 and hit the mark every year. My best was nine days and my
worst time was three minutes to midnight. In my defense, that was a hard year
all the way around. I had just gone through a brutal divorce, was raising my
infant grandson, working at a nursing home while living in a slanted four room crappy
apartment. Writing is/was my escape, and that year was tough to escape
anything.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">But I finished
Nanowrimo and that was the year that taught me that Nanowrimo is my writer’s
reset. Some view it as so much of a challenge that they fail to enjoy how charged
the creative process can be. When in fact, it gets your writing. It doesn’t matter
if you finish, as long as you write. As writers we get into these ‘slumps’, not
writer’s block, but rather the drive to write escapes us from daily dribble, to
holidays, good times and bad. We pause a day and it turns into a week.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Nanowrimo, at
least for me, resets me. It focuses me on one story, one thing and that is the
book I am writing. It keeps me so focused, I don’t check my books and ranks on Amazon.
I don’t get caught up in what other authors are doing on FB that annoy me
(Another blog in the series). It puts everything back in perspective when it
comes to writing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">It reminds me
that writing is what I do. And I am much more productive when I focus on that.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-33446504463586186212021-09-01T23:35:00.002-07:002021-09-01T23:39:15.870-07:00Me, Shawn, and the County PD<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYohtU0RhN1WPSNMBSQhiLPCTDte6vmWXUcjgd1j-fqaSYhjYy6r9a2jSWnoCi_zGktC9W1tZFi3rYjR5kBfa51FdsWoW1fSTHjo9oeiJHj4Ug4z1skesLfTocDjfU88ocZxfm27yD5f0/s2048/IMG-4842.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYohtU0RhN1WPSNMBSQhiLPCTDte6vmWXUcjgd1j-fqaSYhjYy6r9a2jSWnoCi_zGktC9W1tZFi3rYjR5kBfa51FdsWoW1fSTHjo9oeiJHj4Ug4z1skesLfTocDjfU88ocZxfm27yD5f0/s320/IMG-4842.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /> Let me start by saying that I rent
a county house. Or rather a county park house. A home located smack dab in the
middle of a public county park. I hate telling people I rent a county house
because they think it’s subsidized housing or HUD. It’s not. It’s super hard to
get a Park house with the county. They are basic homes, simple but expensive. You
pay for the land. I basically live in the forest.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Anyhow, one of the perks of living
in a county park house is it’s like living in the world’s smallest tourist town.
Scores of people come through every day, strangers that litter, act like idiots,
yet those of us that live in the ten houses know each other.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">We are in a borough, but we aren’t
part of that township. We are our own entity. Down to paying utilities to the
park. We have our own police force. The
.. county police are our jurisdiction. You get to know them, they know
you, they watch you and keep an eye out for your home. I love it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I love the country police. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I can’t speak for anywhere else,
but I can say our Allegheny County South Park police … rock. They are so patient,
kind, and no matter what you ask them, they never make you feel like a bother.
I bring them cookies. They’re laid back. And most are pretty hot.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">They know me. They know I am a filmmaker
and writer, that I’m always filming.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">And recently I learned they realized
how strange I was.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I stopped by the station to ask a
question. Again, I wasn’t made to feel like a bother.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The officer said, “You live in
the M house, right? You’re the filmmaker.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“Yeah, that’s me,” I replied.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“We’ve been there a few times.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“Hmm.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Won’t get into that.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“You’re the house with the
basement,” he said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“Yes, I have a basement.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“No … the basement.” Then this
handsome, strapping young fellow said, “Did I ever tell you about the time I
had to go into your house?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I was baffled and asked what he
meant.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">And apparently so was the young
trainee officer with him. He was curious as well.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The officer explained that about
a year earlier, he was doing his patrol, rode by, saw no cars in the driveway
and the front door wide open.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Stop.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I learned that they ride by the
house a lot, watch it, make sure all is fine. I think that’s cool. Then again,
my house is the only house in that area and about a quarter mile from the
station.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">He continued, “Yeah, the door was
open. I was worried someone had broken in. I went inside. It was clear, but
then I went into the basement. It nearly killed me.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Wait. What? Now, it’s a basement.
It’s not dark. It’s well lit, and while my son treats the one corner like his
own private storage unit, the rest is pretty clean. Did he go into the secret
room (Yes, I have one) and discover my bar?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“Go on,” I said, apprehensively. Waiting
for him to say I lived haphazardly. I didn’t expect what I heard.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“I go down the stairs, right?” he
said. “Turn the corner, step down and … my heart sunk. I thought, oh my god,
this is it. I immediately thought I would never see my kids again.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“What?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“Yeah, because as soon as I
stepped into the basement, all I saw was this big guy with long hair, looking like
he had a gun. I thought, I’m dead. I don’t even have my weapon pulled. This guy
is gonna shoot me.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">At that second I squealed and stifled
my laugh. “Oh my God.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“Dude,’ the young trainee said. “Who
was it? What happened?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The officer replied, “I realized
after I freaked out for a second, it was a life size cardboard cut out. She had
cardboard cut outs in her basement.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“Yeah, that was Shawn Michaels
the wrestler,” I explained in a rambling manner. “In his hot days. Not that he’s
not hot now, but then wow. I love him. He’s my Hal Slagel.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“Who?” the officer asked.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">“Never mind.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The picture with his post is of
the cardboard cut out he saw.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I got a good chuckle out of it,
and so did he. He said he never told that story to anyone else but said I was
welcome to share it. I’m glad he did and glad he didn’t shoot my life size
Shawn Michael’s cardboard cut out.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">It was also a good thing it wasn’t
a couple years back when I not only had Shawn, but Ronald Reagan, George Bush,
Will Smith and Will Farrell’s Alf all down there. Poor officer would have
thought he was gonna get ambushed by a weird basement party.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">It was fun story. I appreciate
the officers in our park. They’re the best.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-54704588833965656662021-07-12T16:03:00.004-07:002021-07-12T16:03:48.647-07:00The Post 48HFP Funky Blog<p><span style="text-indent: 0in;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKsV0ixrW6jq35zkDStH8DG7DO4DnFPhFb6_b2vUr55TphFw5lvY0J658N9DGlWV2wq_VOJwsrF8C_lu3OnDek7zjqjZE98FobuTt1AE_nyY-uF7_AYJfdTY6YlmEwNUKanTcer7mhYc/s1200/sei_24484081-2798.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxKsV0ixrW6jq35zkDStH8DG7DO4DnFPhFb6_b2vUr55TphFw5lvY0J658N9DGlWV2wq_VOJwsrF8C_lu3OnDek7zjqjZE98FobuTt1AE_nyY-uF7_AYJfdTY6YlmEwNUKanTcer7mhYc/s320/sei_24484081-2798.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I’m in a funk,
and as a writer the best way for me to get over it is to write it out. So here
I am. It’s been a while since I stepped on a ranting soapbox, so here I go.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Maybe I’m in a horrible
place because I still am not recovered from lack of sleep, or the fact that my
right shoulder is in so much pain from being in one position for eight hours
while I removed multitudes of clicks, clips, and blips in an audio track. Maybe it’s a
combination of everything.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Bottom line is …
I failed. I failed as a writer, filmmaker and team leader. Most of all, I failed
myself.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">It was the second
time in my decade and a half of 48 HFP that I woke up the next day asking
myself, what was I thinking? I’ll tell you what it was. I was thinking of
making my team happy. Trying to please everyone. Truth is you can’t please
everyone especially when in a 48 hour film competition.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">The last time it
happened, our team was heckled and booed in shame. It was then, as well, I didn’t
follow my gut.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">We made the wrong
film that year. We made the wrong film this weekend.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Period. Not that
the film this year is bad, it’s not, it’s just not what it should be. And that’s
disappointing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Before ten pm I
had written two comedic scripts. Neither idea was met with overwhelming enthusiasm.
I understand they probably didn’t think the ideas were funny, but any filmmaker knows, funny doesn’t translate well on paper. It can’t show the shots, or
expressions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">If I’m being
honest I wasn’t thrilled about ANY idea I came up with, but I am blessed with a
knack that once on set I can make
anything funny.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">In previous years
no one saw the script until I sent it out, nor did they know my ideas. I should
have said what I have said in previous years, “This is what we are doing. I
understand you don’t like it or feel it, but can you bring the performance, if
not … I’ll get someone else.”<br />
<br />
Instead, I wrote a third script. A serious theme. I know that’s what they
wanted. But newsflash, I do comedy best. Funny books, funny movies. I don’t do
serious well. Last year was a fluke.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">The story I wrote
was good, but it needed more time and attention than a 48 hour shoot can give.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Maybe I should
have offered up those other two scripts to another team. They were done before
I bet anyone else had written anything.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">But okay, we’re
doing 'serious'. Everyone was happy. That was sign one.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Sign two … we got
a very late start because of traffic and the loud landscapers. It then took 35 minutes
to set a camera (Wasn’t mine), and I couldn’t get the first shot I wanted because
the area was too narrow for a tripod, actors, the camera man and boom person. The
black magic was far too heavy and big to
be handheld.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Right there, when
90 minutes post start time had passed and I hadn’t called ‘action’, I should have
scrapped it and did comedy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Lighten the mood.
But we trudged ahead. Each change of scene requiring yet another 35 minute
delay to set the camera. Unknown to my team (Now they do) I timed it. Three
hours and thirty-four minutes were spent adjusting camera settings.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Ya know … many make
fun of my Canons G30s, both of which east cost me over 1200 brand new. But
never once have they taken 35 minutes to set up, never once were they too big
or heavy to get the craziest shot, and never once did they deliver a bad,
blurry or dark shot. If the shot was bad it was on me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">This year though ….Although EVERYONE worked hard, if
it hadn’t been for the superior performance of my cast, I probably wouldn’t
have submitted the film.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">It was plagued with
eighty percent useless footage and audio that … hell, I don’t know what happened.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I blame myself
for everything technical.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I should have taken
the headphones and listened to the audio. I should have trusted my eyes instead of the
camera’s display, I should have double checked and triple checked the camera
person after I yelled ‘action’. It’s not the cameraman or the audio person's fault. It
was me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I’m the team
leader.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">See, that’s issue
with it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">A leader is
supposed to consider what’s best to represent the team, not always what makes everyone
happy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">If the president’s
administration convinces to make a decision and it turns out great, then the
entire administration is smiled upon. But if the decision turns out bad, everyone
blames the president, because ultimately it’s his final decision.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Same goes with
team film making.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">If I relent to
the wishes of a team member and it turns out good, then the team looks
brilliant. If I relent and the project falls … no one remembers the team
players, they look at the leader and say ‘what was she thinking’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">And the cast and
crew will watch it and be polite, then say, “well … maybe if this or that …”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Whatever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Again, let me
reiterate, the CAST saved the film. I can watch the film a hundred times, they
can watch it a hundred times, it won’t make it any better.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">They worked hard
and they are given something far less than they expected.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">And to be honest,
I really don’t want to hear about the mistakes in the film. I wanted them to
have something they could be proud of not embarrassed by.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I’m tired, I lost
three days or writing and I am pissed at myself for not standing my ground and
following my gut and doing what I as a filmmaker do best.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I don’t do this
for awards, I do this to entertain. I don’t do this for others to acknowledge
me as a filmmaker and say ‘wow, what a brilliant emotional film.’ I wanna hear,
“Oh my god, I couldn’t stop laughing.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">That is an award
to me and NEVER have I felt this way after turning in a funny movie, production
mistakes or not.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Granted I will
pick myself up and make another movie. A funny one. We will laugh during
production and post. It may not look like <i>Breathe</i> did, but I can promise …. People
will smile. They’ll laugh and in this day and age that is so important.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">For now, I step
off my soapbox, tuck away this year’s 48 as yet, another learning experience, I
thought I was done having at this point in my career.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-36263334614907348312021-07-07T15:10:00.007-07:002021-07-07T15:10:39.628-07:00Racing with the 48 Hour Film Project<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgIQQ-SxWwvsVx-gz7gQcl1rnt9lOAn2ddtTefKuvPS9SGmv8uja5A0gOqJCibl5r_-xIJ3j1_NmBbWJr1HBmIJYFZ0WIV48dRXjrV_g8ZxrRE0L8GqVaPeGOqNhjQooMV23szLK8WGcY/s960/meet+aunt+flo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgIQQ-SxWwvsVx-gz7gQcl1rnt9lOAn2ddtTefKuvPS9SGmv8uja5A0gOqJCibl5r_-xIJ3j1_NmBbWJr1HBmIJYFZ0WIV48dRXjrV_g8ZxrRE0L8GqVaPeGOqNhjQooMV23szLK8WGcY/s320/meet+aunt+flo.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">My fifteenth
year.</span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">This year will
mark the Crystal anniversary of my participation in the 48 Hour Film Project.
One would have thought I’d given up by now. I thought about it, but 48HFP is as
much of a yearly addiction for me as pickle juice, bourbon and HoHos during the
National Novel Writing Month.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">I remember in
2018, a young cameraman posted he was looking for a team. After a lengthy FB
message exchange over days (Him interviewing me BTW), and a few days of him
ghosting me, he declined because he wanted to work with a serious team.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">Wait. What?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">Ironically that
ended up being the year we lost all our footage and the 48 became the 24 when
we had to do a second movie.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">Anyhow … that
exchange and, of course, coming up on a milestone, got me to thinking.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">I took the 48 HFP
very seriously, however, I realized, no one really took me seriously. At least
it seemed that way to me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">Why?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">Because for 11
out of fourteen years, we made the audience laugh. Then again, it could have
something to do with the one year we tried to be serious and dropped the ball.
We were literally booed, heckled and publicly humiliated on social media.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">It was so bad, I
thought of never doing 48 again. Even though the producer shut that sh*t down, the damage was done.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">If that sort of
behavior is that of ‘serious’ teams, well, then, I’d rather not be serious.
That behavior isn’t what 48 is about.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">It’s about making
the impossible possible, and yes, at the expense of cutting corners.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">My mindset has
always been I was going to make a movie that people remembered and do something
new. I never go into competition with the mindset I’m entering to win. Maybe
that’s why I never won ‘Best Film’. But I have won because I finished the
project every year.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">I was late one
time and it wasn’t because the film wasn’t finished, it was because I sat on
the Liberty Bridge for 35 minutes because The Dark Knight Production shut it
down. For the record, I refused to see that movie … ever. Yeah, I’m still
bitter.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">So on this eve of
my fifteenth, which is just days away, I thought I’d reflect on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a few things and asked myself if I had to
name the three biggest mistakes I have made, what would they be? I came up with
these.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<h1 style="text-align: justify;">ONE - SKELETON IDEAS<o:p></o:p></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">Technically,
thinking of things isn’t really rule-breaking, I mean, how do you stop the creative
mind from blasting out an occasional, “Dude, if we pull this, we should do …’ But
one of the things I have seen teams come up with a skeleton idea. That is an
idea that can be molded in any genre and the character/prop/line can be dropped
in. (BTW most of us can spot this within 45 seconds of your film) Anyhow in
2008, I was brought on as a writer for a team. The team wanted one writer …
cool. But that wasn’t the case. They needed someone to pen the script.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">They had
multitudes of meetings beforehand to discuss "ideas", things that could fit
multiple genres. When the time came, they told me what to write. I brought up
the ethic of it, and they didn’t see it as cheating as long as the ‘script wasn’t
written’. We didn’t win anything that year. It made sense to me. Anyhow, the
problem with these type of ideas is you get so pigeon holed into doing it, you
force it to work a genre and the other required elements. Plus, seriously, it
really takes away from the fun and in my opinion … is cheating.</p>
<h2 style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">ONE B – SKELETON LOCATION<o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">The same can be said
for locations. Find several and don’t set your sights on one really cool
location. You end up forcing the story to fit the location. The audience sees
and feels that.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: justify;">TOO AMBITIOUS<o:p></o:p></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">We all have
visions of grandeur when it comes to our films. But when you only have a limited
time, that can be a hinder. Look at your idea … is it ambitious. Will it take too
much post production time and side work. One year I spent sixteen hours in post
in one position doing special effects. We won special effects, but still …. Erg.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are some genres you don’t have a choice,
like Musical and Science Fiction. They require those extra steps. But keep it
simple and remember this advice, it was the best advice I have ever gotten, ‘Write
for the shoot and shoot for the edit’.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: justify;">LEARN YOUR STUFF<o:p></o:p></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">It took me until
2012 to learn this, but as a team leader there should be no aspect of filming
you don’t know or can’t do. Writing, filming, editing, music … you, as a leader
should be able to do any role required. Even if you don’t do it well, you need
to know it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You never know. The editor
may walk out, your sound may be crappy and you don’t’ have countless hours trying
to find the best royalty free music selection, because let’s face it … music
sets the tone.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">I learned this
the hard way when I discovered our 2011 editor was editing for another team as
well and did theirs first. Yes, he finished ours on time but it was unnerving
and came down to the last minute. Never again, I said. Even if I had to use
Windows Movie Maker, I’d make sure our film was done hours before drop off.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: justify;">LASTLY … COMEDY<o:p></o:p></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">I know I said three,
but this isn’t a mistake I made. It’s what I have done right. I have heard way
too many people say, ‘Try not to do comedy’. So let me say this, there is
nothing wrong with making a funny film. Again, I repeated. NOTHING WRONG WITH
FUNNY. Despite what people say.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">Comedy doesn’t
win? Bull. Over half the winning films I have seen were comedies and did you
know a 48HFP comedy won an award at CANNES in 2016. Not to mention, on set and
in post you continuously laugh. I have never had a freak out moment or anxiety
when filming comedy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">The ability to
make people laugh takes as much talent, if not more, as it does to make them
cry or think. It’s a craft and an art and to hear the audience laugh is an amazing
reward.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">After all these
years, I learned … that people remember the things that made them laugh.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;">If you are participating
this year, be safe, good luck … and most of all … have fun. It’s not about
winning it’s about making a film.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-75215279757633843482021-03-12T12:45:00.010-08:002021-03-12T12:46:14.481-08:00In Search of Greg Kinnear<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAslh3bgsBUF0BYjkBcvwxMXoN8JrzBeEvs7zy9gT5qZ5mAK-59Hdoa8ZFYIfRLXdkPIULXTK7MiwdLNjpjUEWZwJc6DygPxJtWqkhM2yh5yZL9MmS0OuH-DXGHbKwhDe_4PvzsAr9NL0/s500/Captain-Amazing-Mystery-Men-Greg-Kinnear-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAslh3bgsBUF0BYjkBcvwxMXoN8JrzBeEvs7zy9gT5qZ5mAK-59Hdoa8ZFYIfRLXdkPIULXTK7MiwdLNjpjUEWZwJc6DygPxJtWqkhM2yh5yZL9MmS0OuH-DXGHbKwhDe_4PvzsAr9NL0/s320/Captain-Amazing-Mystery-Men-Greg-Kinnear-a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I know, I know, you’re probably thinking. “Stop with this
strange behavior and write”<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will, I do, but first … Greg Kinnear.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He’s always been around. And no, for the record I didn’t
just discover the works of actor Greg Kinnear. I remember seeing him in <i>Dear
God</i> and thinking, ‘Wow, how awesome is this guy?’ Although I was a fan, I
never really set out to conquer his catalog.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Until now.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Call it covid quarantine boredom or obsession, whatever the
case I am finding myself watching his movies and only his movies. Well, that is
until Kong vs Godzilla comes out.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Okay to be honest, I can’t blame it on my recent quarantine.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My obsession reignited when I saw him in the remake of The
Stand. He played Glen Bateman and I have watched each episode three times. I
loved the remake, I know I am the minority.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When it was over, I found myself needing to watch more Greg
Kinnear. I know, that sounds weird, right? I never claimed to be normal.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Since my quest, I have rewatched, <i>As Good as it Gets, Heaven
is for Read (2x) and We Were Soldiers.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the first time I watched, <i>Stuck on You, Strange but
True, Mystery Men, Last Song</i> and now my new and ABSOLUTE FAVORITE so
far, <i>Ghost Town</i>. I’ll probably watch that again.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I know this blog seems weird and blogs serve like a diary,
you can look back and see what you were doing or thinking at the time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You’re probably asking, “why Greg Kinnear”. Well, he’s great
but …. Look, if you’re like me and you want to watch something, you can spend
as much time looking through Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc as you do watching the
movie.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Picking one actor or actress narrows down your search. Try
it, whether it be Greg Kinnear or someone else, you’ll spend a lot less time
searching than before.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Off to decided which Kinnear movie to watch next.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-47414870966023600052021-01-05T13:28:00.003-08:002021-01-05T13:28:26.754-08:00The Midnight Sky - A Review and End explained (SPOILERS)<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZUigelUCuesF5xRG8LNw1A-kF78K0VAX3jlYTsFrSOapeoF554ZNfjTxGtZkBzHruMsQ7nYn0e8IUGgJkTjHNQg-QVdS2h_tqDSTiYMrhGSB-fYFL9s7Zra-9u0OwIkyjq4VOK1mh7M/s400/midnightsky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZUigelUCuesF5xRG8LNw1A-kF78K0VAX3jlYTsFrSOapeoF554ZNfjTxGtZkBzHruMsQ7nYn0e8IUGgJkTjHNQg-QVdS2h_tqDSTiYMrhGSB-fYFL9s7Zra-9u0OwIkyjq4VOK1mh7M/s320/midnightsky.jpg" /></a></div><br />The bottom of this review contains spoilers and will be
accurately marked so you can stop if you haven’t watched The Midnight Sky.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It took me two days to watch The Midnight Sky, not because I
hated it but because I was watching it with my granddaughter and ten minutes in
she said, “Okay, please, enough.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The ease in which I switched the movie told me it didn’t
have my interest either. Yet, I was determined to watch the newly acclaimed
movie from Netflix. Directed by George Clooney.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The story was good, it was really good, but it could have
been great. Maybe I’ll rewatch it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The story focuses on two sets. One on the spaceship Aether,
one on earth.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Clooney plays a scientist and he is believable. Unlike the
movie Geo Storm where Gerard Butler played a scientist and that just pushed my
suspension of belief way too far.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In The Midnight Sky an unknown cataclysmic has rendered
earth uninhabitable. Clooney, a terminally ill man stays in the arctic where
the air is still safe to warn in coming spacecraft not to land. Decades earlier
his character discovered K-23 an earth like and possibly livable planet.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Story two is the Aether and the crew. They are returning
from K-23, making their way home to deliver the good news. “Yay! We have a new
place to colonize.” The crew is likeable and a great cast. The tone and look is
a total contrast to earth. They have been gone two years and haven’t a clue
what’s going on.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Clooney is trying to reach them unsuccessfully, he isn’t
real diligent until he discovers a little girl was left behind when everyone
left the arctic. He now has to trek hundreds of miles to a weather station
where he knows the radio works.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As I mentioned the story itself is really good. It mixes
flashbacks of Clooney’s character’s life, pretty early on letting us know he
chooses career over love and at the end of the world regrets it. Maybe ….he
doesn’t care about much, but now .. this girl gets to his heart.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are tense, anxious action moments but the pacing is
off because of bad editing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One of the things that make a good film editor isn’t just
the ability to cut scenes together flawlessly, or catch inconsistencies, it is
the ability to know what can go and what must stay.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just because you spent a ton on a set or it looks beautiful
doesn’t mean it needs to be in there, especially if it creates a really long
sequence and takes away from the tension. Many of beautiful scenes end on the
cutting room floor or rather recycle bin. If it doesn’t move the story, take it
out.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s a scene in particular, this is not spoilery, that
they leave the ship to make a repair (You know like every other spaceship
movie) that scene is like 8 minutes too long. It took away from the point. The
runtime of TMS is two hours, I think it could have been tight at One hour
forty.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It has the feel of ‘On the Beach’ only with some hope. I
recommend it if you want a movie you can eat a meal while watching. This one
affords the ability to glance down at your plate without missing anything.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now … SPOILERS… ending explained.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Through the flashbacks, we learn that Clooney has a child
with the woman he loved, a little girl he never acknowledged. He chooses a career
over love and family and his regrets being alone manifest.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He regrets never meeting the daughter or helping her.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was pretty obvious from the get go that the little girl,
Iris, wasn’t real. That she was a figment of Clooney’s imagination. Certain
scenes she isn’t there and not on camera while she should be. Where the
filmmakers error is showing the little girls POV when they are outside of a
plane crash. Iris is not real so how is she seeing anything. Clooney is inside
the plane and has no way of ‘imagining’ what she is doing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">BUT ….weaved with the flashbacks, the second you know he has
a daughter, you figure out this imaginary girl is the daughter he never
acknowledged, so he is, in his own way being the guidance he never was.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">However he actually is. For real.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Once they make it to the weather station he connects with
the Aether and Sully (Female) communication specialist. He tells her and the
crew about earth and how to solve their problem to get back to space and to
K-23. He is their guidance.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She thanks him and when she finds out his name she praises him.
Tells him how he was the reason she got into NASA, that her mother was his
colleague. And that’s when we learn, her name is Iris and she is his daughter.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Clooney’s character realizes this and gets some resolution.
He wasn’t helping the girl get to the weather station to warn Aether. He was
getting to the weather station to warn his little girl.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m pretty good at picking things up and I did not pick up
any clues. But looking back at the progression of Clooney’s story, it was all
there. I’ll need to watch the spaceship scenes again to see if they hinted that
Clooney was her father. They probably did, but unlike the long tedious outside
the spaceship scene, it ended up cut.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-32655809898402738842021-01-04T01:33:00.000-08:002021-01-04T01:33:14.725-08:00Milli Vanillis of the Literary World<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimX6E6BYP9zcebcnT3XctaaZ0aSxolAn0ienF0ePbFVVTRE5dcoQo1S45BpI9cMl43eSZOVvcpu3ei7MBM71pQLsjySh2TcPf81qKIkpgiUgQ9B7CZ78Q8d8D-y9I_VrAI7d3PdH7NnvQ/s2048/601512-gettyimages-113246941.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1151" data-original-width="2048" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimX6E6BYP9zcebcnT3XctaaZ0aSxolAn0ienF0ePbFVVTRE5dcoQo1S45BpI9cMl43eSZOVvcpu3ei7MBM71pQLsjySh2TcPf81qKIkpgiUgQ9B7CZ78Q8d8D-y9I_VrAI7d3PdH7NnvQ/w320-h180/601512-gettyimages-113246941.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Milli Vanilli. If you don’t know who they are. Look them up<a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/601512/milli-vanilli-hoax" target="_blank"> here (Image courtesy of Mental Floss)</a> I’ll wait.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There was a time when being an author was a noble
profession. Even with the dawn of eBooks and the ease to digitally publish,
people still admired a writer. In fact, there are many who support the Indy
writer wholeheartedly. But what if the author you faithfully support wasn’t real?
I’m not talking about pen names, I’m talking about an author created to mislead
you. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Are they unscrupulous and deceiving or just brilliant business?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For centuries there have been pen names and ghostwriters. I
know this, so please don’t toss out defensive examples like Hardy Boys,
Patterson, etc. Famous examples don’t make deception acceptable. There are a
lot of puppy mills out there, it doesn’t make it less wrong.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Pen names are created to protect the writer’s identity, to
say ‘hey, I’m real, I just can’t say who I am’. Those are different. A deceitful
variance of such, along with nestling your books under YA when they aren’t …
are for another blog. But for now … Milli Vanilli.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The greed of the novelist has made its way into the apocalypse
genre with a vengeance. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Today I write about book mills or book packaging companies.
There are several types, a couple I dug into, posing as a fake author to get my
information. Yep, I played their game. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My focus today is on the ones that buy story ideas, then hire
struggling writers to create an <i>absurdly</i> detailed outline for only a
couple hundred bucks, then hire another desperate ghostwriter to pen the novel
for not much more and they publish it under one of their stock author names. Not
real writers that sit for hours and pour their heat and soul onto each page
they write. They are manufactured names just like the books.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One in particular company is huge. They call themselves a
publisher but they’re producers. But if you look up their titles on Amazon, the
publisher isn’t mentioned. These authors are marketed as Indy Authors. Hundreds
upon hundreds of books, several genres and a dozen authors.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I saw an ad for one their mill authors., We’ll call her Mary
Smith. On the FB ad, people commented that they love her. I wanted badly to
tell them she wasn’t real and that book was the work of a half a dozen people
who will never get credit for writing a best seller.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They made $300-500 while the producer rakes in the big
bucks, and Mary Smith garnishes a fanbase the writer(s) earned in the literary
sweatshop.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just because I ate a steak at Gordan Ramsey’s in Vegas doesn’t
mean Gordan made it. He got credit for something another wonderful chef cooked.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gordan Ramsey is a brand, just like these fake authors. The
difference is we know Ramsey’s Restaurant is a brand, readers haven’t a clue who’s
real and who is not.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If you’re a writer reading this, and this blog angers you,
makes you defensive, or you think I’m writing about you …then perhaps it might
be time to reflect. Just sayin’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Never getting credit for creating a best seller you wrote is
just as bad as getting credit for writing something you didn’t write.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If your name is on a book you did not write, then in my
opinion you’re creating a brand, not a legacy that many of us truly leave
behind on the pages of a book.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Milli Vanilli. People were angry, music lovers canceled them
because of the deception, readers should be just as angry at these book mills
and fake authors.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was in a band and we had this guy who wanted badly to be a
guitar player. He got up there every gig, strummed away, but was never plugged
in. Being on stage made him no more a musician than putting your name on a
cover makes you an author.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Am I jealous? No, I have my place in this genre and am very
content, but there are passionate writers vying for a spot they deserve and
will never get because it’s crowded with fake names and wannabe writers all out
for the buck.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Am I upset? Sure, I write everything I put my name on. Hundreds
of books. Every part of my being goes into my stories. They may not be great,
but they’re mine. If my name is on it, I wrote it. There are a lot out there that
can not say the same. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some will call it great business and good for them. Others will
call it deception.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sadly, what can be done? Not much. We as real writers, just
have to work harder. We’ll do what our phony counterparts can not do, and that
is write books. The fakes will fade, hopefully, like Milli Vanilli, with a tarnished
reputation to follow.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-91839777954017829912020-12-17T22:41:00.002-08:002020-12-17T22:48:45.203-08:00New Stand Mini Series Episode 1 Review<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fRgQGV-twUFSrway5Y4cG2dSzceQ9Me0DzvwP3EsRV3G0Lr384jXXHpnKDRvJXpLdnrh83Udkpa8PZl8TZ5ZY4omeMPiQ08IoL_BEP8stoO3oBewAvNVUdZ4xGPG-hd1hrJIt8s3uTI/s268/stand.jpge.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fRgQGV-twUFSrway5Y4cG2dSzceQ9Me0DzvwP3EsRV3G0Lr384jXXHpnKDRvJXpLdnrh83Udkpa8PZl8TZ5ZY4omeMPiQ08IoL_BEP8stoO3oBewAvNVUdZ4xGPG-hd1hrJIt8s3uTI/s0/stand.jpge.jpg" /></a></div><br />For years, and I think as far back
as ten years, I have been waiting for the remake of The Stand. Not that I didn’t
love the one from 1994, but I just loved The Stand. It was a book I read over
and over, albeit I skipped a lot of Trash Can man scenes, and the mini series
was at least a yearly viewing pleasure. I loved it so much the complete box set was a Valentine's Day gift from my second Husband.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">So when it was announced it would be
on CBS access, I knew I would finally see that remake. I wanted to not give spoilers,
but that’s impossible so SPOILER ALERT.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Spoilers, you say, how can there be
spoilers, it’s The Stand. Well …. There is. Things are different.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">For starters it doesn’t start at the
beginning, like the book or the OG miniseries. It starts about halfway through
the book in Boulder. The first episode delivers the plague in flashbacks, at
first I was iffy about this, but then I liked it. I finished watching the maiden
episode hopeful that we would see more from the book as i goes on than we did in the
original mini series.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">This episode gives us a hint of
Mother Abigail, but not enough to judge Whoopie’s performance and a splash of the
Dark Man, hot Alexander Skargard. But it centers on Harold, Stu and Franny and
their background stories. Those are rich with information. Although I did think
some of the Stu dialogue was contrived. Like forced narrative down our throats.
“Yes, I was at the gas station with Hap when that sick military guy Campion
drove through after escaping his base and talked about a code red."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Something like that.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">It goes into more depth of Harold
and Franny more than anything, even more than Stu. But not as deep as the Franny
in the book nor is she the same.. The actress is wonderful but … what the hell
have they done to Franny? She is so unlikeable, so bitchy, that I didn’t care
how depressed she was. I didn’t care about her at all and when they showed her in
present day Boulder, they spent so much showing how trivial she was, her
present day character is not believable.<span style="text-indent: 0in;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">And … SPOILER …. When Harold utters
his last line, I nodded and said, “Yeah, please.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Unless you have seen the episode you
won’t know what that means.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">And, well, unless you have read the
book or seen the original mini series, I’m not convinced the new viewer won’t be
confused.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">All and all I am still excited for
the weekly dive into the apocalypse Stephen King style. And of course,
eventually, Greg Kinnear will be on. I am anxious for Larry and Nick</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">While I think others will be on the
fence, I give it a thumbs up and think this Mini Series is gonna be fantastic
and meet my expectations.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">What did you think?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-76061047793851071922020-12-14T19:14:00.001-08:002020-12-14T19:14:20.039-08:00If the Covid World was actually ,...<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstZeImsoEomL-dbTz2PhFyIjDAXJnnvUR2sqUGDElO4P_vembemU4UNJ_g3PfQIyzLyr_SbVT9nfmklSO5HU8W7VIJh0599oNsVGibm2O7bJ80o1lXcUr8EVlZvpxMitoXNfRk0t3tso/s789/coronavirus-4985942_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="789" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstZeImsoEomL-dbTz2PhFyIjDAXJnnvUR2sqUGDElO4P_vembemU4UNJ_g3PfQIyzLyr_SbVT9nfmklSO5HU8W7VIJh0599oNsVGibm2O7bJ80o1lXcUr8EVlZvpxMitoXNfRk0t3tso/s320/coronavirus-4985942_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I write apocalypse fiction and have done so for twenty
years. In fact, I wrote apocalypse fiction before it was cool.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am not a doctor or scientist. I can say I have put
thousands of hours of research in. If I only do five hours a week for twenty
years that’s 5200 hours of research on various survival, end of the world
topics, half of which are viruses. Does that make me an expert? No, but it
gives me lots of info that would make me a cool Jeopardy contestant. That being
said, I decided to give an Apocalypse Writer’s take on Covid-19.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The reason I write this is because a lot of people don’t
think it’s real or think people are overreacting, I just want to offer a ‘what
if’.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Keep in mind this is me, an apocalypse writer offering an
alternative fiction-like theory.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What if I wrote the novel, Covid-19? What if everything we
were experiencing was a novel I was penning. The most hardcore apocalypse
reader would probably stop a third of the way through and ask, “What gives?
When do things pick up?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Like in a novel, what if everything happening is all part of
a bigger picture?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As so many have done, many people wonder if there is something
they aren’t telling us. The reaction and precaution doesn’t match the threat.
After all, how many times have you heard people toss out ‘flu’ stats.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What if …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There really is something they aren’t telling us? What if
the immediate shut downs, the reaction isn’t just caution, but rather true
concern and fear.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What it …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">COVID-19 was manmade and/or a retrovirus, an RNA virus that
inserts itself into our DNA. The scientific community are unsure of the long
term effects and where the mutation inside of us could go, what it could do.
What if they see signs of this and therefor delaying things, shutting things
down gives them a chance to see what happens to the survivors, without tossing
yet another worry object on our plate.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh wait … Covid IS an RNA virus. So, heck, that’s already
possible.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yeah, wouldn’t that explain the serious long term effects
many people are suffering from now.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We all know it is carried in droplets and airborne, but what
if … it’s a vector?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Carried in any insect you could imagine. What if they didn’t
let that little fact out. Because that would be impossible to control. Wouldn’t
that explain why some people (Like with Zika) don’t get symptoms, or why only
some get respiratory and others don’t? The warmer weather, brought more
insects, more infections? November is the heaviest lice season. If you consider
bugs as major carriers, as they have been in past diseases, wouldn’t it make
sense why they shut things down? Limit households mixing? Separate and social
distance, especially at schools.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wrote this theory blog because the writer in me thinks
there is more and these answers above are what I say to people who question the
virus and the actions to contain it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I take it to my apocalyptic level and say ‘what if?’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">*Image courtesy of Texas State University<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-2723105379351015882020-10-26T14:37:00.007-07:002020-10-26T14:48:38.907-07:00Lessons Learned as a Self Published Writer<p><span style="text-indent: 0in;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirEw_MA2cwQJAyPDdVF7f1EBuQtekBXTWebspd586Z_qwK5O6EE_Pgb0GNKz6uM406UnlZZlKGddlVitrmYPWrgSoKZJltCq-Jg_KNYPodIVJjEBI1EAaMXKNTWpwdFrZvsQ8iydHIlVA/s2048/hhh13-tEMU4lzAL0w-unsplash.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1361" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirEw_MA2cwQJAyPDdVF7f1EBuQtekBXTWebspd586Z_qwK5O6EE_Pgb0GNKz6uM406UnlZZlKGddlVitrmYPWrgSoKZJltCq-Jg_KNYPodIVJjEBI1EAaMXKNTWpwdFrZvsQ8iydHIlVA/s320/hhh13-tEMU4lzAL0w-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />There are days I
absolutely love being a writer. The energy of a story blasting in your mind,
driving in the car, getting so lost in writing thoughts, you get lost on the
road. There are days I loathe it. The days where the negative, well-intentioned
criticism test the thickness of your skin. Which, by the way, doesn’t really
ever get thick. You think it, it’s not.<span style="text-indent: 0in;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">As indy or self
published writers, unless you are fortunate, you don’t make a lot of money. Even
if you do, it’s short lived. I belong to a FB group that goes by the premise if
you write 20 books, you can make 50k. However, they leave out the fact that you
don’t stop there, you have to write twenty more. Back when Kindle first started,
this would work, the average life span of a book was 4-6 months, depending on
how long it took for it to sell. It had a great shelf life. Now, with Unlimited,
readers hungrily devoured books, more authors were popping them out like my
kids pop out babies. The life span shrunk down to ninety days. Also, unlike in
the past, if your book nosedives that first week, you can just focus on the
next book. Sometimes, even with all the ads, you get lost in the shuffle of algorithms
and people paying top dollar for their amazon ad to appear first.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Those of us who
keep our books priced low, just can’t afford that top tier advertising. With book
covers and ads we do, we average $1000 in the hole when we release. That’s a lot
of money to get back in non guaranteed 90 day window of sales.</span><span style="text-indent: 0in;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Editing</span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Then, the
elephant in the room … editing. Granted, the positive is the 95% of readers who
will not say much about a typo, those darlings say, ‘Oh, errors are even the
big houses.’ But for how wonderful those people are, the few that breakthrough
will cut you like a ten inch blade.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Do these people
stop to think we DO know the difference between their and there, our fingers
just type the wrong thing. We’re not idiots, as I have been called.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Maybe it’s me
that gets the rash of emails right after any new release does well, people
telling me how bad it is, or people trying to offer services. Hell, people don’t
wait for that. They slam me anyhow.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">First, I have
paid for editing. In 2007, I took out a loan to have a book edited for $2300.
To date, that beautifully edited book has made $138.16.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I never thought I’d
sell my apocalypse books. I did. And that brought the onslaught of negative
reviews and reality of publishing. I had books professionally edited. I hired
one of the best in the business right now. And you know what? People STILL left
negative reviews about editing. Which often has me wondering if editing is
subjective.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">The well
intentioned email that says horrible things veiled in a bad attempt to word it nicely,
often match the negative review they left. Okay, so blasting my book publicly
wasn’t enough you had to email me as well? Hammer it in, yeah, I know, I suck.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Then you have
those who offer to help. Mentioning help and possibly they have a lot of time
on their hands.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">As nice as this
seems, before you accept … heed my advice … vet them.<span style="text-indent: 0in;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I have two wonderful
women who help me and have for years, we finally got it down or at least close.
I have had wonderful people in the past help me. I am eternally grateful to any
and all, without them I wouldn’t be where I am. But not once, has this happened.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b style="text-indent: 0in;"><i>The Trap I
fell into …</i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">KDP introduced
the Quality Assurance Warning program. Readers report an error, then after several
you get a warning and your amazon book page gets a hazard symbol. A hazard symbol.
Yes, actually it’s free editing, but it takes time to do and re-upload and
usually it’s a book that stopped selling. Usually . Maybe the hazard symbol did
that.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">So, shortly after
they introduced it, I got a particularly stinging email about my editing from a
person. That same person sent a near similar email two months later, then third
nasty email offered help and said they’d do it. I will call them NP (New proofer)
I went in to ‘put your money where your mouth is’, everyone is an expert editor
until they do it and get bad reviews.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">About the time of
the second nasty email from NP, I started getting daily quality assurance notices
(This was before weekly notices).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">This person
proofed a book for me, did okay, my main lady then found a ton that were missed.
Of course, that’s why you have it read through at least five times. But NP
would send emails asking for older books, because NP spotted errors. I asked every
time if NP was sure, and the reply, “I’m bored and retired and lots of time.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">I had that you
know, gut feeling about NP, but ignored it. Six months later, of NP helping my
team, I get message and NP said, “I think you need to start paying me for all
the work I do for you. I am on SS and need a new monitor.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">I replied that I
would do the best I could, but Covid killed my income. Okay I was getting free
help, I get it and I was happy to give NP something, never did NP say anything about
it before. I got busy and a couple days later, I get a nasty message saying., ‘well,
I guess I mean nothing. I was going to charge you only 20.00 a book but now I won’t
take less than 50.’</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">So, I paid NP $50
and two weeks later sent the new book for the first pass before I sent it to others.
Then I posted the cover I made and was met with tough criticism publicly from
NP. A reader jumped to my defense and an hour later, another message from NP
complaining that I only paid for one book, meaning NP wanted backpay. My reply
was professional, end result, NP said ‘goodbye and good riddance.’</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Now … back to
Amazon Quality Assurance. Between NP’s second nasty email to me and the time NP
started helping, I received 49 Quality Assurance warnings mainly from older
books. During the six months NP helped, I received 2. Was NP the culprit of the
mass reports? I don’t know. I like to believe not and it was a coincidence they stopped. Now I’m left to wonder if they’ll
start again.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Bottom line, when
you charge 2.99 a book, pay for a cover, ads, and like me, Uncle Sam, those
offers of free help are wonderful. Sometimes the help becomes friendships that
are immeasurable and sometimes, free as it seems recently, it comes with a price. Leaving me feeling bad, guilty and cheap all rolled into one ball.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">I could pay for top editing, and charge more for the book, but as I learned through experience with my publisher, it doesn't make you more money, you just lose the sales and only get page reads, hence, about the same amount of money and less new readers and more people that see the price and say, "I'll pass".</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I blame myself for what happens to me, if people see me badly, that's on me. Plus, any changes won't help. There's no help for me. I'm the old dog that pissed on the carpet one too many times. People now look for the wet spot on the floor. However, maybe this blog will stop someone from making my mistakes.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-74550708024638254812020-09-26T01:12:00.002-07:002020-09-26T01:12:23.962-07:00What's a Writer to Write?<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmaHd9mNFyij472cZ4nuMgCs1WDGjuz96CdDO_B9o5xSdAYm26GETsS73VLefHP6EKT4jqWCiIIDaNkXi7_UyPhaOjMlDMcMBkqRGwoxM7H2jXpaFPVXei5bxR4WdgTl1T1kLlNiCNKvE/s620/guidance-confusion-620x330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmaHd9mNFyij472cZ4nuMgCs1WDGjuz96CdDO_B9o5xSdAYm26GETsS73VLefHP6EKT4jqWCiIIDaNkXi7_UyPhaOjMlDMcMBkqRGwoxM7H2jXpaFPVXei5bxR4WdgTl1T1kLlNiCNKvE/s320/guidance-confusion-620x330.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I got an email today from a
reader. Let me start by saying it was polite and you can tell she was nice, but
she was also pretty blunt. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">An honesty that left me pondering
and made me realize that I, and other apocalypse writers like myself, are in a
conundrum.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">If you don’t think … let me
explain.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">She stated she lost interest in getting
my books when I started to focus more on other types of writing. She mentioned
aliens, vampires and other mythical creatures. You know what? I get it, I do.
Those books were scattered within my other works. But this reader hadn’t given
up on me, and for that I am grateful.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">At first, I couldn’t remember what
alien book she meant, and she looked it up. Then I remembered why I wrote that
book and that’s when I started thinking. Normal virus books and zombie books
just weren’t selling for me. Forget nuclear war, no one wants to read that. Trust
me I know.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I mean, for a hot minute I
thought maybe I was the Nicholas Cage of Apocalypse books. People loved what I
was doing at first, then grew tired of me, and despite that I can still pen a
good novel (Like Nick has some decent movies) people were leery about diving
into something I wrote.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">With diligence, I try not to
deliver the same old, same old.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I try to write one book a year
that is an original ‘end of the world’ scenario, and I think I do well with
that. Above the Hush, 10:37, By Way of Autumn, Omnicide… there are a lot of
them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">So when I wasn’t writing original
end of the world, I expanded into different apocalypses, like Aliens and
Vampires.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Stories I thought were good,
characters I built in my head long before I wrote a single word of the book.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">All I ever wanted to do was have
people read my work, and I am blessed and fortunate enough that I have that. I strive
to keep my readers entertained, take them away from troubles they may have or
just take them to a different world. Make them laugh, cry, cringe.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Then … then … Covid happened. At
first I didn’t think it would affect things, but it did. Suddenly, people were
cast into a tamer version of my books, but much of human nature was the same.
They don’t want reality, they want to be taken away from reality.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">So with that comes the title of
my blog. What is a writer to write? Or rather, what is an author who primarily
writes apocalypse, supposed to write.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">When I started to see the change
in reading trends, totally lost at what people wanted, I decided, I was just
gonna write good stories. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I would love … love … love to
dive into a really awesome, heart-wrenching plague.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Do people want that? Will they
ever want that again?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I don’t want to touch EMP, that
market is flooded almost as bad as zombies.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Civil unrest novels, society
breakdowns … nah. I suck at military stuff.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Volcanoes .. did it. Earthquakes,
yep. Meteors, solar … um … I hit them all.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The one I am finishing now is
totally original. Never done. I am ending the world again, in a new way.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">But is it what people want? I
looked at the top 25 Amazon Apocalypse books. Absent are the virus novels,
zombie novels.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">So I wonder if readers are just
tired of apocalypse novels.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">One day I’ll figure it out. Soon
I hope. I’m open to suggestions. In the meantime … I’ll just keep writing.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-12683396421000441202020-09-21T16:02:00.002-07:002020-09-21T16:02:32.332-07:00Slippery Slope of Self Esteem and Control<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">My entire life I thought when I’d
hear a celebrity or older woman say, “I embrace aging’, I thought it was there
way of trying o make themselves feel good about being old.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The truth is, at least to me, aging
isn’t a walk in the park, but the ‘old’ factor doesn’t bother me as much as
some that I know. Embracing doesn’t mean shouting from the highest hill, “I
LOVE BEING OLD’, embracing means, “Okay, I got this, what can I do?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">It’s different for a woman. Men,
they generally still look good, and we do too, but only we as women will
acknowledge to each other that we look good. Make sense.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">But why? Why do we have to look
good, or young? Why do we have to watch our waist lines to keep them small when
as we age, most of us watch out waistlines grow?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I have kept my hair long my
entire life. Only having it short … twice. It’s so weird how hair determines our
self esteem. Longer is youthful, blonde is fun ….that sort of stuff. Sadly, if
you wear long hair your entire life, people equate that to your beauty factor. If
we cut it, we are made to no longer feel beautiful.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Fuck that.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqfqFukyZruGFAUbZNnCxRIfUhEr2GDjdCAOhTiP5n-2otQaILrlpKTTfimMoSMPMdotxo6K-mXmxC2kIBTzHTwFtzyk3_c8aDJ8XjcbB2u2L8qtw7_R2A2tGE-zJlktBtW2xH6HqXBrw/s858/me2020smm.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqfqFukyZruGFAUbZNnCxRIfUhEr2GDjdCAOhTiP5n-2otQaILrlpKTTfimMoSMPMdotxo6K-mXmxC2kIBTzHTwFtzyk3_c8aDJ8XjcbB2u2L8qtw7_R2A2tGE-zJlktBtW2xH6HqXBrw/s320/me2020smm.JPG" /></a></div><br />I cut my hair.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I cut it all the way off, short
and pixie.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">People ask why.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I never saw myself as beautiful
on the outside, I just never did. That’s not a fish for compliments, that’s
just a fact.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Granted, for the longest time I
said I never would cut my hair until I had to. But this past year, it seemed
every time I went to the hairdresser, a part of me just wanted to cut it off. I
didn’t, and I also didn’t know why I felt so strongly about it. I mean right
before I cut it, I was truly trying to search for the reason why…. Why was I so
obsessed with it. It went beyond the simple desire for a change in hair or easier
style.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">It took for the cut for me to
know why.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Control.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I felt liberated and free and
bold. Suddenly I didn’t feel as if I were hiding behind anything. This is who I
am, take it or leave it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">It was then I realized my hair
was a symbolization of my life in the past year.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">To give you the short cliff note
version. But I’m going to be deep and honest. A year ago, my mom passed away.
It was relatively fast, and I still don’t believe it was her time. Decisions were
made in ‘her best interest’ and ‘it would be what she wanted’, but my argument
was, she was so heavily sedated, was it fair to make a call without allowing
her to say, ‘yes, I want to live like that’ or ‘no, I’d rather die.’. In short,
that day, I didn’t just lose my mom, I lost my siblings. Again, another call I
didn’t make. Years before I didn’t abandon a brother who had a marital affair,
I didn’t agree with what he did, but I would never turn my back on him. Because
of that, I was considered ‘bad and evil’, by my siblings. Not my mom. My mother’s
passing gave them the excuse to rid their lives of me and all that I was. The
black sheep, creative one, and evil one. Not only that, they disowned my children
and grandchildren.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">For a year I tried to deal with
it, and if we’re being honest, I still am. Every once and a while the one
sister pops on Facebook to make a snide comment to something nice I posted.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">But on the anniversary of my mom’s
death, I became obsessed with the hair cutting.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Like my life, my hair was out of
control. Like my life, it took effort to make it look good. And like my life, I’d
pull it back and hide the bad.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Cutting it off … no more to hide.
I was liberated of all that held me back. My hair is simple, like I want my
life to be.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">It doesn’t take effort to enjoy,
like enjoying life shouldn’t take much effort.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I have a big, huge family. 4
kids, sons/daughter in laws, and eight grandkids.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Letting go of my long bad hair
that I held on to was my beginning of letting go all the other bad I held on
to.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The first non family member to
see my short hair said to me, “I liked you better with long hair.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">He liked <i>me</i> better with
long hair? Granted, he could have misspoke, but it still pissed me off.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Normally, I would seen myself
feeling bad, doubting myself and how I looked. I mean, come on, it’s hard
enough begin older and embracing you don’t always look attractive. Instead of feeling
down, I got angry and firmly said to him. “You know what? I don’t care. It
doesn’t matter what you think about my hair, I like it.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I like the change and what it
stands for. If someone else doesn’t … too bad.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Baby steps to control.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-21685913256567882842020-09-19T00:03:00.005-07:002020-09-19T00:03:54.318-07:00'You cannot Kill David Arquette Amazes<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieV4yrkLJ5iqrbqcWx3doKedukrY_O4XPhu7IgdhEtopyp2T1J4yc8T0RZYdam138w7jey5-5s36RRgidATckg3QaMOcAV3MJRfduRgRPZEwZyGDnHcH1MSNAkAW5rIhDHobjHLybMe9g/s670/davidarquettemovie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="670" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieV4yrkLJ5iqrbqcWx3doKedukrY_O4XPhu7IgdhEtopyp2T1J4yc8T0RZYdam138w7jey5-5s36RRgidATckg3QaMOcAV3MJRfduRgRPZEwZyGDnHcH1MSNAkAW5rIhDHobjHLybMe9g/s320/davidarquettemovie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />It’s been a while
since I wrote a review and I felt compelled to write for the documentary, You
Cannot Kill David Arquette.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Five minutes into
the ninety minute ride, I sent a text to my son that I was watching what was going
to be a brilliant documentary. You could feel it from the opening seconds and I
was glad I bought it instead of renting it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">The documentary focuses
on actor and pro wrestler, David Arquette and his journey to prove that despite
the bad reputation he garnished from easily getting the WCW title in 2000,
wrestling was more to him than just a paying gig. It was and is his passion as
any true wrestling fan can relate.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">The documentary
is much, much more.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I found myself
feeling heartache and defeat, truly feeling bad for David in the beginning to
cheering him on, sitting on the edge of my seat. I cringed, I gasped, I
screamed and I cried. My God, what a ride this film was.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">I always enjoyed
David but I enjoyed the family dynamics, how they went from discouraging to
supporting. Except the sisters, they always had his back.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">On another level,
I feel I experienced this film and related differently than maybe some others
would. As a mother to four kids, wrestling nights were ‘dinner around the TV’
nights. We loved WCW. I watched my boys dream of being wrestlers, training,
doing the backyard circuit, the indie circuit. I watched them wrestle each
other, baby face against heal. I felt Christina’s pain when she watched the
matches. Even though we know it is heavily preplanned, it still hurts to watch.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">By the way, I
believe she produced this and did a masterful job.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">From a writer and
filmmaker standpoint, this is an excellently written and filmed documentary,
the editing is superb, sound quality is spot on and music fitting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">This is a must
see, and you don’t need to be a wrestling fan to enjoy the ninety minutes that
just flies by.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">But if you are a
wrestling fan, this movie is just … freaking awesome.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Make sure you
watch the credits, not just out of respect for those who worked on the film,
but there are some really great added clips.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Nothing about
this will leave you disappointed.<o:p></o:p></p>Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-51022092522419656122020-08-05T13:20:00.004-07:002020-08-05T13:21:58.723-07:00Pushing Through Writers Block<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimiejjYeui0N-PDADugncwF_Jj72qVB1S0d5h2w0C-8fMZlTpeVkytnO-Ztc9Ybcg-IxVvdwHJ0cZ3J3mVkoWL_xW34M4akF9hB0mWEn-rr45Tr6w9EMfNV0cxLv4kgW26QqQPNY_mXmY/s616/Pumba-qdma-lead.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimiejjYeui0N-PDADugncwF_Jj72qVB1S0d5h2w0C-8fMZlTpeVkytnO-Ztc9Ybcg-IxVvdwHJ0cZ3J3mVkoWL_xW34M4akF9hB0mWEn-rr45Tr6w9EMfNV0cxLv4kgW26QqQPNY_mXmY/w195-h200/Pumba-qdma-lead.jpg" width="195" /></a></div>I am blessed and
fortunate enough to be a writer. I am able to, for the first
time in my life, be self-sufficient as support my family without the help of a
partner, significant other or spouse. That’s not to say it’s easy, and it’s not
to say that there are months that are exceptionally rough. After all, selling
books is a form of sales and sales are not always consistent or predictable.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p><span style="text-indent: 0in;">One of the
biggest questions people ask me, is how I find time to write. But, when all you
do is write for a living you better find time to write. LOL. However there are
times, when life, family, commitments get in the way. Not as much as a
full-time 9-to-5 job</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p><span style="text-indent: 0in;">I strive daily to
write 5000 words. Or 18 pages. To me that is a good excellent writing day. I
will settle and be satisfied with 3000 words</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">But there are
times, even I need to get motivated.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">So many writers,
including myself at times, are ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ writers. Let the
story tell itself. But when you are unmotivated or blocked, that just doesn’t work.
Structure is best. It will help motivate you to have a plan.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>The Deer
Method<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Go to Google and
search the word Buck. The first buck that shows up in your image search count
the points on the antlers. That is your target. That is how many points of your
story you will get across for the day. You may not hit them all or you may. But
let’s say you find a six point deer. That’s six points of your story. For
example</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Let’s say I hit a
wall at the 10,000 word mark in Silent Victor. By the way there are several
times in a novel a writer can hit a wall) This is what I would have picked for
my six points.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Joe sees Peter
and knows he has the virus</li><li>Joe sees the
national guard</li><li>Joe panic shops</li><li>Frank finds out
his leave is canceled</li><li>Joe tells Kelly
about the virus</li><li>Ellen’s son is
sick</li></ul><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Sometimes that is
all you need. But if not here are two tricks that I always use.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>Words Sprints<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">These are exactly
what they sound like. Ready, set, go. Say you have a lot to do. And you could
only write 15 minutes at a time. Take set a timer. Take five minutes and
reflect about what do you want to write, then for 10 minutes you write. Whether
it’s a sentence or a page. You write and don’t stop writing until the 10
minutes is over with. When the next hour comes about, you do the same thing. On
average if you write 15 minutes every hour for three hours you should have 1000
words. Remember six weeks of doing that you have a novel</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><b>Writing Rewards</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="text-indent: 0in;">Truman Capote
used to reward himself with a double martini after he completed 1000 words. If
I did that I would be hammered. But he chose to focus for something he wanted.
And that’s what I do. Especially when I feel like I want to slack.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Remember, if you
want to earn a living as a writer, you need to earn what you want by writing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Whether you want
a snack, a nap, I drive, or to watch that show you have been binging on, earn
it through writing. Here’s how it works:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">If you want to
nap, binge watch a show, or movie, or anything that is done in increments of time,
you will write 10 words for every minute. For example if you want to watch an
episode of Schitt’s Creek, at 24 minutes an episode you need to write 240 words
in order to watch that. If you want to watch Avengers Endgame, that’s 1820
words.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">Say you want a
snack, or milkshake or something like that. Write five words for every calorie
for which the food is. Before you decide you can<a href="https://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/search" target="_blank"> go here</a> see what the calorie
count is for your favorite food and multiply that by five. For example if you
want a hoho, you need to write 1000 words.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0in;">These are my
helpful tips for the day feel free to leave any questions in the comments<o:p></o:p></p><br />Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-530373297465766840.post-69615435546376176272020-08-04T12:28:00.003-07:002020-08-04T12:33:19.616-07:00Talking Points Tuesday - State of Social Media Behavior<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqZVsY-nZao5WYZJTXwyD_5M7RgvxTz5uMoRJvEZKOCLF2EuheSm5zTJtkYRPUL0XM3am2veWTQs0DlqXanLU1Akx4X3aL86JQ9-wu2Ql2KzusjGx9sVx6c7WCGmDmr-_s0TWaY_WRZo/s225/fblogo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqZVsY-nZao5WYZJTXwyD_5M7RgvxTz5uMoRJvEZKOCLF2EuheSm5zTJtkYRPUL0XM3am2veWTQs0DlqXanLU1Akx4X3aL86JQ9-wu2Ql2KzusjGx9sVx6c7WCGmDmr-_s0TWaY_WRZo/s0/fblogo.jpg" /></a></div>I am once again going to attempt to
revive this blog. I thought about doing a new one, but decided, this one has
been around a while. My granddaughter suggested a schedule would make blogging
easier, if I knew what I was going to blog. . Although she is ten, she has 10k
followers on tiktok so I’ll listen to her words of social media wisdom.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">So … using her advice, it’s Talking
Points Tuesday</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Today’s Subject… Current Facebook Behaviors</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">These are my random thoughts of what
I have been seeing on FB lately and I bet a lot of my points are reasons people
are backing off.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>People are getting stuck in a 'one subject' rut of posting</li><li>We all say we aren’t quick to judge,
but we actually all are too quick to judge</li><li>It doesn’t matter how much you post
about wearing masks, it won’t make a difference to those who won’t wear them, it
will just ‘wear’ thin on your followers</li><li>The cancel culture doesn’t just
apply to the famous. Unfriending over different political opinions is the same
thing.</li><li>A lot of are taking the FB pulpit
and preaching far too much</li><li>So, wait … liberals and conservatives
can’t be friends?</li><li>Words like ‘idiot’ and ‘stupid’ are used
far too much … by adults</li><li>Mob mentality can definitely can be applied
to FB comments sections</li><li>If you can’t be polite or even
decent in the wording of your FB comment, don’t comment at all </li><li>I miss seeing updates and pictures
of people’s lives. What happened to that?</li><li>Where the heck did all the Cat Memes
go?</li></ul><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Off my soapbox now.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">Tomorrow - Word Sprints and Rewards</p><br />Jacqueline Drugahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16380315427557124105noreply@blogger.com1