Thursday Thoughts ~ July 17, 2025

Happy Friday Eve!

The VW bus saga ended on a high note last Thursday (In case you missed it, here’s the beginning of the saga). The tow truck driver, Miguel, called to ask if he could come an hour early ~ a definite YES! He turned out to be a really nice guy, who gave us the reaction we hoped for when he realized the bus had an automatic transmission ~ he was excited to see it and understood exactly how special it was. He handled the entire operation himself, backing the bus down our driveway, and using a winch to get it onto the flatbed. We watched it drive down our street to its new adventure at the auction and hopefully, a buyer who will appreciate it as much as we did.

We dream of it being fixed up and cruisin’ around town! It was hard to see it go but it was time. If you missed The Husband’s guest post last week ~ his ode to his VW ~ here it is.

The last few days, I’ve been editing, but we took a quick trip to The Discovery Cube, a kids’ science and education museum in Santa Ana, yesterday morning. A few months ago, we went for their Bubblefest experience, and decided to get an annual pass. It’s close to home and something fun to keep us active. We like to get there early and grab breakfast sandwiches at Bean Sprouts, their little café.

We spent some time wandering around the dinosaurs, petting sharks and rays, “driving” the Zamboni (the machine that smooths out the ice in hockey arenas), and watching a complicated and noisome continuous motion thingy. I can’t get the video on here but I will put it on my Instagram (link at the bottom of the post).

Writing

As I said, I’ve been doing a line, grammar and spelling edit on my debut book, using ProWritingAid, an editing software. You don’t have to take every suggestion it makes ~ for instance, I have a character who sometimes mispronounces words, and since the spelling needs to stand, I don’t allow the change. It also produces a lot of reports that include things like using the same word or phrase too often, sentence variety, pacing, and pointing out overuse of adverbs. There are also critiques and summaries that are helpful. I need do it chapter by chapter, so this is going to take a while!

I’m slowly writing my first Substack post, with ideas for a few more. If you want to be among the first to get my newsletters, you can use the link at the end of this post and sign up. My plan is to focus them on my writing and self-publishing journey. At some point, when I’m ready to publish The Bonus Grave, there will be a giveaway for newsletter subscribers, but don’t worry, I’ll announce it so you’ll have plenty of time to sign up then!

Reading

I read the ebook of I Can’t Even, a romantic dramedy by Jenn McKinlay. Jules is called back to her Southern California home when her mother is dying. Along with grief, guilt over the guy and sisters she left behind, and a bombshell revelation, just getting through each new and frantic day is an achievement. This book will give you whiplash with all the secrets revealed, family drama, and shenanigans surrounding the will. I loved Jules and her sisters, Soph and Em ~ they all had real lives and emotions jumping off the pages. I had very mixed emotions about Liam, Jule’s high school sweetheart ~ I was torn between shock, anger, and affection for him. But I loved every word! Oh, and just so ya know, both the sex and the language get a little spicy in this one!

I also finished If Wishes Were Retail by Auston Habershaw in paperback. Whew! I don’t even know where to start with this one. Alex, desperate for a job, agrees to work for a genie granting wishes in a declining mall. Several times I almost gave up reading it. In the beginning, so many of the characters and situations are problematic… Battling, neglectful parents, her loser brother, a casually abusive genie, a variety of troublesome mall workers…  and lots and lots of gnomes. But I’m glad I hung in and finished because it’s really a remarkable book. So much of the misery in the beginning is not actually as it seems. The genie, as he navigates this world after being enslaved in a ring for centuries, realizes that people haven’t really changed at all… Well, I don’t want to give too much away 😊 But the crumbling mall analogy of society today is spot on! You’ll love rebellious, snarky Alex. And the gnomes aren’t all bad.

Streaming/Watching

I’m so into Christmas in July this year! In the last few weeks, we’ve watched a couple of our year-round go-to Christmas movies, While You Were Sleeping (Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman) and The Holiday (Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Eli Wallach).

This week, I watched a couple of new-to-me movies. First, Christmas Ever After, with Ali Stroker and Daniel di Tomasso. It’s a cute story of romance writer, Izzy, a la Romancing the Stone, who makes her yearly holiday trek to Antler Lodge, where she needs to finish her latest book. The lodge’s owner, Bob, is retiring and sold his place to his son, Matt, who looks exactly like the romantic hero on the cover of her books. It’s a cozy little love story but my favorite part was the relationship Izzy formed with Matt’s young daughter, Kacey, who’s an aspiring writer.

I also watched Christmas Sail, with Katee Sackhoff, Patrick Sabongui, and Terry O’Quinn. When Liz’s somewhat estranged father needs help after he’s injured saving a little girl, she and her daughter, Hannah, return to her childhood home. Her father, Dennis, is in danger of losing his house, so she and Hannah, reluctantly helped by her childhood friend, Luke, determine to win the $25,000 prize for the Christmas Boat Parade. This one was so well written and acted, touching on grief, unrequited love and opening our hearts to healing and happiness. And I really loved that it’s a realistic ending with a potential happily ever after. You’ll have to see it to know what I mean. 😉

Till next Thursday!

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