Category: opinions

Tuesday Tunes

Bebe Rexha – I’m a Mess

Lyrics –

Everything’s been so messed up here lately
Pretty sure he don’t wanna be my baby
Oh, he don’t love me, he don’t love me
He don’t love me, he don’t love me
But that’s okay
‘Cause I love me, yeah, I love me
Yeah, I love me
Yeah, I love myself anyway
Hey Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be okay
It’s gonna be a good, good, life
That’s what my therapist say
Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be just fine
It’s gonna be a good, good life I’m a mess, I’m a loser
I’m a hater, I’m a user
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new
I’m obsessed, I’m embarrassed
I don’t trust no one around us
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new Nobody shows up unless I’m paying
Have a drink on me cheers to the failing
Oh, he don’t love me, he don’t love me
He don’t love me, he don’t love me
But that’s okay
‘Cause I love me, yeah, I love me
Yeah, I love me
Yeah, I love myself anyway
Hey Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be okay
It’s gonna be a good, good life
That’s what my therapist say
Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be just fine
It’s gonna be a good, good life I’m a mess, I’m a loser
I’m a hater, I’m a user
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new
I’m obsessed, I’m embarrassed
I don’t trust no one around us
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new Everything’s gonna be alright, alright
Everything’s gonna be just fine, just fine
It’s gonna be a good, good life I’m a mess, I’m a loser
I’m a hater, I’m a user
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new
I’m obsessed, I’m embarrassed
I don’t trust no one around us
I’m a mess for your love, it ain’t new

My 2 cents – I feel like this song is so relatable. everyone feels like a mess on occasion. Some of us feel like more mess than right. So if today you are a mess…just turn the music up and let Bebe Sing your feelings for you.

Thursday Tea Party

Hello lovelies! Today is a coffee with lots of cinnamon creamer kinda day.

April has been exhausting. I tried to do the daily post thing, I really did. However things in the world at large have made life a bit harder on me then I expected it to. I am often a shut in. I only really go out to the grocery store. So initially I didn’t expect the stay at home order to really change things for me.

Then social distancing started making it to where stores were closing and the ones staying open were limiting hours. I usually go at night to avoid crowds. I don’t do well around mass amounts of people. People have noise and odors. They like to touch other people…all things that can cause me issues. So I have had to adjust. And it is exhausting.

I am not one that wants things to go back to where they were…not while the threat of pandemic lingers. I also however am not one who is comfortable with all of the liberties that the government is taking during this fear. I am just someone who is dealing with the changes, and the anxiety it is causing and saying that this is how it is affecting me.

Upcoming , on a better note, Fae Corps anthology Through the Sunshine should be available for preorder in two weeks. If you look over on the blog I have been posting the blurb promos that the authors have been making. We still have a couple of authors who have not done an image yet. We will post them as they are made. Coffee House Writer’s anthology is in the editing stage. I will let you know when I know more on it.

Did y’all catch Serena’s Interview on Chat and Spin Radio? It was last Saturday’s Episode part 3 (3B). I feel like it went really well. You can’t hear how nervous I was. Or at least I didn’t. lol. Anyway, the station is a decent internet radio station out of the UK. They do a lot of author interviews, and are quite fun. Go check them out.

I got the good news that Creatives Rising may be back up soon. The editors paused their magazine due to major life changes (Like a move) and posted that they are just about to start up again. I look forward to being a part of that again in the future.

With all that is going on in the world, I feel like I maybe should hold off on publishing new poetry volumes. I have been writing, but slowly. I normally do around three volumes a year…but I am thinking that I may only get one this year. We will have to see. I am also super busy with Fae corps this year as well. It makes a difference in the time I have to write. Also I have added Coffee House Writers. With all of the additional responsibilities, I think that promising more than I will publish when I have enough poems to fill a volume.

I am hoping to release Serena’s Kingdoms of Sin this year. I will release another Dylan story (Dylan and Zombie Hotel) this year. I am waiting for the Illustrator to be available. I do not know if Dylan will have any other books. He might. I like the character. \

I do not know how the world situation will affect my blogging, as my mental state affects how structured I can be, however I am going to try to keep my normal routine here.

Words are hard

Yesterday I was wanting to do a post about Japanese poetry forms. Japan is a place with a very rich culture and their literature shows it. Their mythology and history is such a diverse and interesting set of topics that the average person might be confused by it.

So I was wanting to be sure that I had the spelling and such right. When I don’t know the proper way to spell… I Google. Google led me to an article that I was blown away by. The writer is far more eloquent on the topic than I feel capable of. So, I admit I felt discouraged.

One of the problems that many authors face is the issue of comparison… Not by others but the comparison we do ourselves. It is so hard to see our own writing and feel accomplished. It is so hard not to hate on our own way of speaking. Dude, words are hard. Especially when you read someone else has written it in a way that just makes sense.

So, I have shared the link above to the article on Japanese poetry. I ask you… What forms do you like and where does it orignate from? Do you find articles that hit home and feel seen or discouraged? And why?

Tuesday Tunes

Rihanna – Stay

Lyrics – All along it was a fever
A cold sweat hot-headed believer
I threw my hands in the air, said, “Show me something”
He said, “If you dare, come a little closer”
Round and around and around and around we go
Oh now, tell me now, tell me now, tell me now you know
Not really sure how to feel about it
Something in the way you move
Makes me feel like I can’t live without you
It takes me all the way
I want you to stay
It’s not much of a life you’re living
It’s not just something you take it’s given
Round and around and around and around we go
Oh now, tell me now, tell me now, tell me now you know
Not really sure how to feel about it
Something in the way you move
Makes me feel like I can’t live without you
It takes me all the way
I want you to stay
Ooh, ooh, ooh, the reason I hold on
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ’cause I need this hole gone
Well, funny you’re the broken one
But I’m the only one who needed saving
‘Cause when you never see the light
It’s hard to know which one of us is caving
Not really sure how to feel about it
Something in the way you move
Makes me feel like I can’t live without you
It takes me all the way
I want you to stay, stay
I want you to stay, hooh

My 2 cents – this song speaks of longing for company, of loneliness. Right now I feel like this is a relevant and relatable feeling. It is a scary time for all of us, globally. Pandemic and isolation…it’s just a level of panic and uncertainty that has a lot of us disabled.

Please, even if you are having issues, try to stay in until this is under control. Isolation is the world’s best shot right now. Stay home and stay safe.

Tired Tuesday

I am an Introvert. I am slightly agoraphobic. I really only go outside to get supplies or to go to the doctors. So, I don’t understand most of the time, why people avoid being home. (Note that when I say outside…I consider outside to be beyond my fenced in yard.)

I don’t watch the news…for my own mental health…people tend to hurt other people in the news. My soul is bruised by just reading about it. So I avoid the headlines. My main source of information tends to be seeing something on social media and then following my own curiosity to find the truth.

I have been trying to avoid the panic that is going along with the COVID-19 pandemic. I have been trying to publicly share educational activities on my Facebook page. Mostly because I realize that many people are facing children who are bored and have no idea how to deal with that.

We as a society have become dependent on being told what to do, and have been trained that school is for keeping our children busy. Life doesn’t always work that way…but we have become comfortable with it.

Now this was not a post to complain about societal issues. It came about because in a time of panic…I found that for Tuesday tunes I was unable to pick a song to offer hope…The only songs I could think of were apocalyptic. That is not good for me or you. So instead I will just say I am tired. I am tired of panic. I am tired of worry. I am tired of feeling helpless. Something that I am willing to bet many others feel. So…I am instead offering resources.(Copied from posts yesterday.) And I am asking if you would help me. let us gather together ideas to assist bored children to learn and families who are suffering to find assistance. State the country if it is not USA or international please.

I’m starting with graphics I found. Some of the sites are duplicated, but it provides a good variety.

Now some links…. These are for stuff to do with children still.

The next links are for assistance.

Okay. That is the resources that I have (Mostly). I may be posting a list to Facebook later of Educational Youtube channels. or I might post it here…not sure. Regardless…let us add to this list. Gather together and support those who are struggling with the lack of humanity today. understand that not all of us can handle being in our own space. And be safe!!!

Thursday Tea Party

Hello lovelies! I am enjoying a rare morning treat. Hot apple Cider topped with a wee bit of Irish butter and honey. What do you enjoy as a morning treat?

Quite a bit has been happening over here…I indulged and spent the money to get me a decent laptop, It’s an Acer Aspire 3. I am still trying to get the settings the way I want. I have been without a proper computer for many years. I will want to upgrade the memory, as it is too slow for a couple of the games I want. I will also have to get a few accessories to make it do everything I want to do…but it has already been a boon to my writing.

Understand…I get into a slump every year, usually between thanksgiving and my birthday. This year was especially bad, I went from writing a daily poem and some other word count in whatever other story I was working on to managing nothing more than my blog for the whole of February. To be honest that became problematic with a biweekly poetry post going out. I was starting to feel concerned about the lack of inspiration/motivation.

Don’t get me wrong…it isn’t exactly writer’s block…I have more ideas than I will ever be able to write…it is more of exhaustion. I usually am sick during the winter months, and when I am not I am cold and irritable. So I end up not wanting to do anything.

Well, yesterday while I was setting the new laptop up…I ended up writing. It was only a poem and about 750 words in Serena’s Kingdoms of Sin. Yes…my slump time was nearly over anyway…but it is nice to be writing again. There are so many new things in the works. Plans for future anthologies, plans for future books… but if I am not writing those plans go limp. No one likes their plans to go limp…..

So, I name my computers. It has been a habit for me..This laptop is Athena. I am hoping that she will be my companion in gaming and creativity. Do you name your computer? If so what name does yours have? I look forward to the adventures in writing, gaming, and creativity I will be exploring.

Now, If you will excuse me, Today is my boyfriend’s birthday. He and I have been together 24 years in may….he has been my muse and my nemesis depending upon the day…but he is always my rock. So today is his. (I snuck this post in while he was killing zombies in 7 days to die. ) Hope it is a good day for you as well.

Tuesday Straight Talk

Okay… I know that I usually do Tunes on Tuesday… But something came up yesterday, and I want to discuss it.

A friend in the indie writing community discovered a pirate site… With almost all of my books and all of Serena’s listed. Talk about mixed feelings… Part of me feels betrayed. The other part is like… Well, at least they are good enough for piracy. I am not going to lie, and say it is about my books being shared. I see piracy in two different ways. Things like peer2peer are different. I see that the same as me sharing the book with a friend. It is not going to make me money… But it is not offensive. At least not to me. The site last night is not p2p.

That site charges for my books. I get nothing from it. It is not certain whether the site delivers the book to the buyer. I don’t know if they are even using the buyer information properly.

So, I wanted to tell you that Serena and I both only publish to the above markets. If you find my books anywhere else then I did not give permission for it to be there. Let me know and I will proceed to attempt to get the cease and desist word to them.

Just an Fyi, it’s illegal to print ebooks. Any site telling you different is questionable anyway. I have arc files for those who are interested in leaving honest reviews, but can’t afford the book. It is not a hard thing to get a copy to read.

Echoes Into the Void

So I was having an email conversation with a friend about social media. He was pointing out the algorithm that sucks the orginality out of social media in general. While I agree with him and sometimes I think that I would be happier without the view of humanity that I recieve from reading the interwebs, I would miss the delight of seeing the creativity in the human soul.

The conversation ended with the idea that we both often feel unseen. It is not, I am sure, a novel feeling. To feel like instead of being actually heard… You are merely sending echoes into the void.

So I think that I want to hear the echoes…tell me something that you feel like isn’t being heard. One thing that you want to say. I will listen. And then go through the comments and hear others. Or pass the post on to others. Let’s get it to where no one feels like that echo.

Langston Hughes

First off… I have been enjoying the ability to share my favorite poets and their words. This is actually kind of fun.

I found Langston Hughes in High school. His work spoke to the part of me that felt isolated. Yes, I am a white female of mixed genetics. So I come from a place of privilege… Except I was an outcast among my peers. I spent so much time moving around as a kid that I was strange. Add in trauma and you end up with someone who feels isolated. His words spoke about the struggle of the poc. That enforced segregation and the misery in it. I felt like I understood him and his poetry. I realize how that sounds… I am not equaling myself with a poc and their struggle… I am merely saying that I felt like I could understand it and so I could relate with his words.

Query

So…. I have been posting the series of women poets to make up for my messing up my schedule last week. It seems to be liked. Do y’all want me to continue with poets? It would have to go to male poets as I have posted all of my favorite women poet’s… (From the past… I have a couple of faves from lately but I have posted those people in my Monday poetry series.). Lmk in the comments and I will see how many people want it to continue.