Extra Time

There was no blog last week because I ran out of time. I have a set time each week set aside to work on it, but sometimes real life gets in the way. I've been thinking of switching blog time to Thursday.

I requested an absentee ballot that I received, filled out and mailed back. I have voted. No political ads are relevant to me. Okay, they were always irrelevant. Does anyone really pay attention to those? Messages from politicians aren't reliable or trustworthy because politicians aren't reliable or trustworthy. If I won't listen to their free lies the rest of the year, why would I believe their paid lies?

One night I sat down to get some extra work done on the writing front. The power went out. Unbelievable. There was rain but no storm. Nevertheless, I was still able to get some extra done this week. Book 1.5, technically a novella, is basically done. I anticipate getting it out the door soon. Part of the problem with the B'vellah War trilogy is that some discrepancies have crept in. That means checking all books. Book 1.5 is now checked and fixed. Hopefully, it'll be up this week.

Have a great weekend.

LotR: The Rings of Snoredom

It was another week of progress on the writing front. I worked mostly on the B'vellah War 1.5 novella. Getting that out the door would be a good thing.

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power can be summarized in one word: boring. Did you think that word was woke? That accusation dates back to before the series launched or anyone had watched. Is it woke? Well, hmm. One of the characters was so ugly I had to look to the side of the screen. The phrase uglier than homemade sin came to mind. It was mostly due to the actor's makeup and hairdo. Why would they do that unless it was to be deliberately offensive? When I was a kid, ugly actors could make it in Hollywood. The trend now is to use beautiful people. It makes that character even uglier. I wouldn't necessarily call the lore woke, but I'll point something out. There's an Iranian mother with a black child and a Puerto Rican boyfriend. If people think that aspect of the series is woke, then maybe it is.

“Three Snores for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their beds of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men, doomed to doze,
One for the Dark Lord in his dark bed
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Snore to rule them all, One Snore to find them,
One Snore to bring them all and in their slumbers bind them.
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”

When the series started off slowly in episode one, I accepted it as establishing the worlds and the characters and the first act story elements. I was willing to accept it in episode two. Episode three looked like things were starting to happen. The train was finally leaving the station. I breathed a sigh of relief that things looked like they were picking up. Epsiode four bored me. That's when I knew season one was a flop. It's never gotten better.

What they're doing is having 30 or more seconds of landscape shots followed by minutes of characters sitting around engaged in soulful dialogue. Landscape panorama, dialogue, landscape panorama, dialogue. Yawn. There's character development in some of the dialogue, which makes it not so pointless. I'll admit not every scene can be fascinating, but there was a better way. I should've been gripped by the story and taken away to a magical land. I found myself hitting the fast forward 10 seconds button sometimes to get past the landscape.

However, the show has one good thing going for it. My absolutely favorite part of the series is Galadriel. I would go out with her. I might even buy her truffles and rub her feet. As much as she travels, I know they hurt.

Have a great weekend.

Chugging Along

In real life the week was unremarkable. On the writing front, I continued to make progress. I'm beginning to visualize getting B'vellah War Book 2 and the novella out the door. The novella takes place between books one and two. It's Book 1.5, and I may name it that. :) I don't have a timetable, but if I can keep getting enough done, I'm hoping it will be sooner rather than later.

 I'm kind of tired this week, so I'll let you go.

Have a great weekend.