Thursday Thoughts ~ July 3, 2025

Happy Second Half of 2025! Can you believe it’s already July!!??

My doctor had been threatening to put me on a statin for my bad cholesterol. She gave me a few months to bring it down and it did come down a little, but in the greater scheme of things, it’s still high. So, now I’m on a statin, like all those people you see on the Old Folks TV ads… When she first mentioned statins, I balked. Usually, I’m happy that I live in an age where there are so many little medical miracles helping us to age well. The Husband has been on one for years. I guess I was so impressed with myself only being on one prescription medication at this age (thyroid issues ~ 30 years), that I was a little disappointed to break my record. My BFF pointed out that it’s really no big deal and I believe her. Thanks, Zan!! I haven’t had any side effects, so that’s good. Retest in two months to see how it’s working. Fingers crossed!

During errands yesterday, we happened on a little car show in Placentia.

You may not be able to see the grill on this car well, but The Husband is pointing to a cartoon of the character Rat Fink, which was created at Knott’s Berry Farm as sort of a sarcastic version of The Mouse, down the street at Disneyland. LOL!

When I was little, my family had a car just like this, only it was lemon yellow!

Writing

I’ve been going back and forth about the newsletter I want to start. So far, I’ve signed up for two and I think I’m going to be deleting those in favor of Substack… LOL! I think that’s going to be the easiest to learn and launch. I mentioned a few posts ago that things have changed since I had one before. I think my biggest concern is figuring out how to put my sign-up thingy on the blog and my socials.  The technical stuff WILL be figured out and soon!

I’ve decided that my blog is about story—mine and the ones I’m consuming (reading, watching, listening to). The newsletter will concentrate on my self-publishing journey. Now that I have my debut mystery nearly finished (waiting for a beta read or two), I’m ready to start the nitty gritty of the publishing side. The newsletter will start with a behind-the-scenes look at publishing platforms, book covers, book formatting and all the other decisions that will go into getting my book(s) out. Once I get through all that and have a book in my hot little hands, the newsletter will continue to focus on my writing journey, updating what I’m working on and general writing life news.

When the book is ready to launch, I’ll be doing a giveaway directly related to my main character, Sugar Diamonte, that will tie in with the newsletter. Keep an eye out for that and think lucky thoughts!

Reading

I’m halfway through an ebook right now, that I’ll tell you about next week.

Little Monster courtesy of The Husband

I finished the paperback of The Kaiju Preservation Society on Tuesday. It’s John Scalzi’s lockdown project, written during the second year of Covid. Jamie is recruited to join the mysterious Kaiju Preservation Society, which turns out to be caretaking and researching on an alternate planet earth inhabited by Kaiju (literally “strange creature” in Japanese. Think Godzilla). The wall between the two earths thins during nuclear explosions. The Kaiju are nuclear based beings ~ when one explodes, it’s not particularly troublesome, but when a pregnant one, Bella, sets up her nursery next to the explosion site, things get tricky. It goes downhill from there when Bella is kidnapped and taken to the normal earth side. It’s a great story with good characters and a satisfying ending that comes full circle from the beginning. But I have to say that it didn’t hit me in the feels. After reading When the Moon Hits Your Eye, his latest, which had me in tears several times, it was a little disappointing in that regard. Or it could have just been me… Whichever, it’s still a good adventure yarn that I could definitely see as a fun movie.

Streaming/Watching

It occurred to me this week that I have no idea what time shows are broadcast on TV anymore. The Husband watches METV and a couple of Western stations but I don’t really watch live tv. I have a couple of streaming services plus I watch CBS and CW shows on their respective websites. Considering I grew up when you actually had to walk over to the television set to change the channel, that’s saying something!

I was in a Christmasy mood earlier this week, so I watched The Merry Gentlemen, a small town romance with Chad Michael Murray and Britt Robertson, two folks I’d watch in anything. Dancer Ashley is dumped for a younger performer by the Jinglebells Broadway show where she’s been the headliner for twelve years, so she slinks home to the small town where her parents still run a neighborhood bar/music venue. When she realizes that the bar is in bad shape and the landlord is owed over $30K, she sets to work teaching some hunky male residents burlesque-style moves to bring in a female audience and save the venue. Luke, carpenter and all-around nice hunk… I mean guy… has his own issues. Things are going well, with both the show and the relationship, when the Jinglebells call Ashley back to Broadway. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say she stays in her hometown (it’s a romance, so the Happily Ever After is a given) but I wish, along with the motivation of helping the family business and connecting with the hunky Luke, she’d mentioned not wanting to go back to a job where she’d obviously not been valued until her younger replacement crashed and burned. They didn’t deserve her and she should have stated that loud and clear!

Britbox has been my go-to streaming service this week, with Forensics: The Real CSI and The Good Ship Murder.

I love a good forensics show and this one seems to be the real thing, no lame reenactments. It follows the West Midlands (England) Police and their forensics experts out in the field and in the labs and morgue. I’ve only watched the first episode so far, which concentrated on two separate crimes. One was a man killed in his home ~ his throat cut, blood in every room. During the autopsy, the coroner found 12 hesitation marks, indicating the man had actually killed himself. In the other, a couple were the victims of a shotgun attack. Window glass and shotgun cartridges were collected at the scene. When a suspect was identified, his DNA was found on the cartridge but a bit of glass found in his shoe turned out not to be from the broken window at the crime scene. Even though they couldn’t prove he’d been at the scene, he was convicted on the connection to the cartridge, which in England is illegal to possess. This show isn’t for the squeamish ~ lots of video from the crime scenes and particularly gruesome were the shots from the morgue. It doesn’t bother me – I used to watch a surgery show while eating dinner – but I’m sure it’s not for everyone!                            

You won’t see much of the police work in my books because I write from the perspective of my lead character, who’s the amateur detective. However, I keep a running account on an Excel file of what my law enforcement characters, Simms and Lannan, are tracking down and what types of information they’re getting or waiting for. That will always have a bearing on Sugar’s investigation and her relationship with them. So my interest in forensics and police work has a point besides just morbid curiosity!

The Husband and I have watched the first two episodes of The Good Ship Murder, about an English former police detective, Jack Grayling, who’s now a cabaret singer on a cruise ship. He and Kate, the First Officer, wind up helping the police in beautiful locations when cruisers are murdered, so far on land, not the ship itself. But it’s early days! The two stars are a good match and we particularly like Jamil, a cheery service person who turns up all over the ship and provides bits of information and gossip when needed. Good mysteries and gorgeous Mediterranean scenery.

Hope everyone has a nice, relaxing Fourth of July here in the States and a great weekend for everyone!

Till next Thursday!