Category: MJ Monday

MJ’s MOVIES: STRANGER THAN FICTION

When my critique group and I go off to the woods for long writing weekends, we also bring movies to watch during the evening. One year, someone grabbed Stranger than Fiction from the library, thinking Emma Thompson would outweigh Will Ferrell. Thankfully, she did.

I actually like Will Ferrell in this movie. He plays an IRS agent who suddenly begins hearing his life being narrated by the voice of a famous author. He hunts down the author to convince her to change the ending of the book she’s writing because he doesn’t want to die the way he will die in the book. I know. Weird.

There’s a great cast to go along with the interesting premise. This movie deserves to be better known than it is. It’s not a great movie by any means, but neither is it a dud.

MJ Monday: MJ’s Meals-Chicken with Accessory Vegetables

Ingredients: 

  • Boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
  • olive oil
  • Sweet onion, thinly sliced
  • garlic, minced
  • 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
  • 1/2 jar sun dried tomatoes packed in oil
  • 1/2 jar deli sliced roasted red peppers
  • 1 jar vodka sauce
  • 1 box rotini pasta

Cover the bottom of a heavy kettle with olive oil and slowly “melt” the sliced onions, cooking until they are limp and translucent.

Start the pasta water. Once it’s reached a full boil, cook the pasta per package instructions, drain and reserve until “sauce” is complete.

 

Add the chicken and garlic, cooking over medium heat until there is no pink left in the chicken.

Add the rest of the vegetables to the pot and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the jar of vodka sauce and heat thoroughly.

Add the cooked pasta and mix well.

Serve with freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.

MJ Monday: MJ’s Motivation: Happy 100’s Update

Only eight days remain in the current Happy 100s Writing Challenge. We write 100 words a day for 100 days. I’m still hanging tough. I haven’t missed a day of 100 words since November 30, 2018. That’s new manuscript words. It doesn’t include blogs or revisions or rewrites. Simply 100 brand new manuscript words each and every day.

I took my small laptop with me when I went to my film festival. Another participant has something on her phone that allows her to get in her 100 words. Another participant claims it’s only 15 minutes. Some days that is true. Other days, not so much. But words are being written, the mind is immersed in the story at least a little bit every day.

That’s what counts.

MJ Monday: MJ’s Manuscript: Beware of the Moon Cover Reveal

One-night stands don’t turn into forever unless you happen to pick-up a werewolf.

She thought the hook-up was just another one-and-done.

He knew she was his one-and-only.

But when his mission unlocks the treacheries of her past, they are forced to put aside their differences as they battle for their lives.

Brittany Hauge thinks she was blowing off a bad day when she hooks up with a stranger for a one-night stand.

Werewolf Dakota Towne knows better.

She was raised to fear demons before she traded hellfire and brimstone for science; he’s everything her preacher daddy warned her about.

But when Dakota’s undercover mission unleashes the true devil from her past, only her werewolf can save her.

Beware of the Moon, on sale October 23, 2019.

MJ Monday: MJ’s Music-Aida Soundtrack

Y-Chromo was in his high school production of Aida. To this day, it remains my favorite of his school play (including the role of Tony in West Side Story, which he rocked!) The story is based on the opera, with music and lyrics by Tim Rice and Elton John.

I’ve heard people say the only good song in the play is “My Strongest Suit.” They would be wrong. There are many wonderful tunes.  There’s a CD of covers,  including such artists as The Spice Girls, James Taylor, Sting, Tina Turner, Boyz II Men, Shania Twain, Lenny Kravitz, and others. It’s a good CD, although I still prefer the original Broadway sound track.

When the show came to our city, almost everyone from the high school cast went, even though it was several years after the fact. The consensus was our kids were better in their roles than some of the professionals we saw that night.

While I was researching this blog, I learned that my favorite Monkee, Mickey Dolenz, played the same role on Broadway my son played in high school.

How cool is that?