Category: Snarky Sunday

Old Dog, New Trick

I really hate talking on the phone. One of the reasons is the abuse I took from viewers back in my TV days. When the time came for me to look for another Day Job, one of the top items on my list of job requirements was NO PHONE WORK.

I found a position I thought was suited to me. Something new. I got to play with spreadsheets all day. If my phone rang at all, it was my supervisor asking me to pop over to answer a question.

Times change. Situations change. Circumstances change. I took another job where I’m on the phone several hours a day–and I find that I don’t mind it. At all. Maybe because I’m not dealing with the random public. Maybe because my co-workers are a pretty incredible bunch of women. All I know is that I’m content (my new main job requirement). My husband and friends say I seem happier.

Yeah, I was nervous about the new job, mostly because of the phone stuff, but I sucked it up and tried something new…and it worked.

 

Mondays with MJ: #UpbeatAuthors

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m mixing up my social media a bit in 2018. One of those changes is blogging on Monday instead of Sunday. The logic behind this move is that last year, I became of a group called Upbeat Authors, which is a “group of authors who support each other and take part in weekly, themed posts about happiness and positivity through their own social media and other outlets.”

We all need happiness and positivity.

This week’s topic is: one resolution you’re making this year you’ve never made before.

Except I don’t make resolutions. I set goals.

One of my goals this year is to self-publish a novella I wrote a couple of years ago. My critique partners and I came up with a theme for a self-published anthology, but due to life changes, that project never came to fruition. I, however, now have a novella about a werewolf baseball player.

And I’m going to self-publish it in 2018. As we used to say when I worked in TV: stay tuned!

 

We Interrupt Your Regularly Schedule Blog Post

Today was a scheduled “Snarky Sunday” post, but I find I’m too grateful to be snarky.

I’ve had a long, lovely Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I’ve left the house only twice: once to go to my parents’ for turkey and trimmings, and once to visit my sister and nephew, who has completed his “man cave” complete with a pretty impressive home theater.  We watched two movies:  Star Trek Beyond and Nice Guys. Both were very funny in their own ways. I had seen the Star Trek movie in the theater and loved it. I loved it even more watching with my family.

So no snark today.

Live long and prosper.

Snarky Sunday: Saying Good Morning

2 Comments

My Day Job is in the corporate world. I have co-workers and colleagues (unlike my writing job, where I have Facebook & Twitter).

Not many of those co-workers/colleagues say good morning, unless prompted.

I don’t get it.

I think starting the work day out on a cheerful note tries to set the tone for the work day.

attitude

So GOOD MORNING!

Snarky Sunday: A Rant About Labeling Books

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I have a pet peeve.(That doesn’t surprise anyone who knows me.) And I might offend some people. But the label or classification some people apply to certain books offends me.

It all came to a head when I read this advice in a recent article:  “write a clean book”.

A “clean” book.

Well, my books are trayf–which is Yiddish for UNCLEAN.

Examples:

  • In my upcoming  Halloween novella–there’s a shrimp appetizer in the form of a human brain. Definitely trayf. 
  • Pulled pork sliders put in an appearance, too.(Now there’s a dish with some double entendre built right in.)
  • Andouille (Cajun pork sausage) is eaten in the Mardi Gras novella I’m currently writing.
  • I’m sure one of my characters in one of my books eats a cheeseburger washed down with a glass of milk.
  • And bacon! Pages are spattered with bacon.

Why are Jewish dietary laws even a consideration in romance writing?

I don’t have a problem with sweet romance. I like reading sweet romance. And if the story I’m writing doesn’t call for a sex scene, then I won’t write one.

Labeling sex-free books “clean” is a passive-aggressive way of judging books that do contain physical love scenes. And it is insulting to the authors of those books by implying sex-free books are somehow better than others. They are not.

Insults, no matter how subtle, are not what the romance writing community is about. We lift each other up. We support each other.

So let’s get rid of the label “clean” and find a category description that is less polarizing.