Category: Musings

Updates September 19-23

Photo by Pawel Kalisinski on Pexels.com

Hello,

Thank you for the likes and follows. 

Last week, I was good.  Outside of the writing, life went more left than was expected. I may elaborate on that later.  But the writing went well.  The current scene I am working on has not been completed yet, but I got clarity about it that I haven’t had in a long time.  What really helped was the read-aloud feature in Microsoft Word.  In previous entries, I was promoting the virtues of the Speechify app.  For the time being, I am still using it on other online articles.  But didn’t see how to attach it to Word.   No worries, Microsoft has done it for me.  It is not Speechify, but it is good enough.  The strange thing is that I have a Read Aloud app, already but I haven’t used it in a while.  It was used most of the time during NaNoWriMo.  There is no reason why I stopped using it except for getting tired of uploading files. Microsoft Word read-aloud feature has convenience built in.  If I need to make a correction, I can do it quickly and have the voice read the revised sentence again.

Also, the Medium app on the phone has a read-aloud feature.  I didn’t notice it before. I have been traveling a lot this week and that feature came in handy.  I get nauseous attempting to read on the bus or train.  It is odd because it didn’t start until I was 27 years old.  This was also the reason I started to invest so much in audiobooks.

In writing news, as stated above, there is a new sense of direction.  Along with that clearness, research was added.  My main character’s life is on the line and will be irrevocably changed afterward.  She is tasked with finding three artifacts lost to the supernatural world.  These McGuffins are the catalyst of the story, a cup, a dagger, and a pendant. Very small items are lost in a vault buried with other things for millennia.  Possession of one artifact can give a being near cosmic phenomenal power. Or at least that was the original plan.  The uses of these items are subject to change. The key thing is that they are wanted by the powerful. But difficult for them to find.  They need special eyes, hence my main character.  This scene is supposed to convey this and establish the relationship with the characters. Wish me luck. 

In reading news, there is not much to report. As stated before, catching up on Medium articles.  Many of the articles are about how people of color navigate their lives in hostile environments.  They were put on my reading list, and I am going through them.  Other articles are on how to make money, freelance writing, or writing on Medium and other platforms.  There is poetry, short stories in every genre, and reviews of everything.  There are even articles written in other languages.  I am listening to them because I am looking for my niche.  Once a month for the last two months I post an essay on Medium.  It is like this update, but with a monthly perspective at least that is the goal. At the end of the year, there will be an evaluation of this endeavor.  Medium offers notoriety and money and I can’t say no to those things.  It is time to put up or shut up. 

The live-action Little Mermaid trailer came out, featuring Halle Bailey as Ariel.  The haters came out in droves, I am annoyed to see some of them were Black People.  I was 14 years old when Little Mermaid debuted in 1989.  I was a child of Caribbean heritage; I was happy that Sebastian the crab had a West Indian accent.  It was a bad accent but at the time I didn’t care and none of the children in my family did either.  We sang under the sea and kiss the girl with relish.  The recent trailer was reminiscent of the animated trailer, and I am very good with that too.   Halle Bailey is a beautiful woman, and she has a great voice.  There should be no complaints.

It would be great if there was an original mermaid story featuring Black people. Quiet as it is kept, there are several stories in bookstores and on library shelves right now. Black creators have been writing fantasy for years.

I am writing this to state that Disney live-action movies don’t do as well as their animated counterparts.  The only one I think did exceptionally well was Alice in Wonderland.  It garnered a sequel.  If this movie does not perform well at the box office, is this going to give haters license to puff up their chests and blame the Black actress?  I refuse to use the ‘w’ word.  I have been that way my whole life.  I am tired of diluted words that have lost their meaning in my community.  But those are thoughts for another essay.  This paragraph ends with me standing with live-action Ariel. 

That is all for now.  I hope these words find you all doing well.  Remember to be kind to all, even when they don’t deserve it.

End

Updates September 12-16

Hello,

Thank you for the likes and follows.

The first week of September and a lot has happened. I don’t know how to respond safely to what is going on in this world. I am a small content creator in a vast sea of creators. Recently while listening to a commentator discuss a publishing debacle, not the legal one. This issue had to do with privilege and success. I decided that I had to bury the fear of being dragged over the internet, but these people are vicious. A small fish like me is not able to survive things like that. Therefore, I am keeping my thoughts to myself.  I will likely share them in other ways.  There is one thing that you should know about me is that I have voted in almost every election since I’ve become legal.  I did it in New York and I did it when I lived in Georgia.  However, this blog will not become political. To speak about things politically you must have facts.  I am generally lazy and won’t do the research and I like fiction more.

The image on the right is a Midjourney AI render. The words I used were summer turning to fall in a Queens neighborhood. I am not sure if I should’ve added Queens NY or not. But I like the render. I will be using more images in the future. 

In Writing News Connection Lost is doing well. The narrative took a turn I didn’t expect. Since then, the desire to go back and make everything align has been powerful but I am muddling through. This draft was started in during Nanowrimo and although it is well known that the first draft is the worst possible draft of the story. My feelings are telling me that if the words are not perfect what is my purpose as a writer. What quelled that beast is something I watched on Sunday. There is a YouTube Channel called Swell Entertainment. She was alluded to in the opening paragraph. She is new to me, but the issue was not, I first heard it from another YT creator. In her comments section, a commentator explain why they disliked the book Swell was discussing. Swell was not exactly talking about the book but all the things that are entailed with producing and debuting books. The publishing industry- the fans, the stans, and the haters. The person’s words had me thinking that we have forgotten that the famous lauded authors we know, and love wrote horrible books, and they got them published. We can write bad stories, clean them up, publish them, make notes where we went wrong, and correct them in another story. All creatives should be given some grace if a product is not for you, understand that it was put in the world for someone else. The craft and skill can be improved over time.  Many outspoken reviewers/commentators are expecting perfect narratives and stories.  Meanwhile, all the “experts” continue to tell us, the writers, that perfection is impossible.  The catch-22, doubled to 44, then doubled again to 88, that is as far as I go with that math analogy.

There has been some reading done but there isn’t much to say about it good or bad. I am just processing the words. I had planned to post reviews every Wednesday but failed miserably. I apologize. It is clear that since 2020, I have become an avid YouTube user. I had even considered making videos. YouTube has been a place where readers have given reviews for many years. Content creators are connecting their channels to TikTok and vice versa. Reading a book recommended by TikTok has become a thing people do. I have not heard a positive review about a book yet. I do believe they are out there but lost to me. I can’t see myself reading a book to the end on TikTok’s recommendation alone. I salute anyone who has that tenacity and then puts out a review via all or any of the social media available.

That is all for now. I hope these words are entertaining and intriguing. Please remember to be kind, especially to those who don’t deserve it. Have a great week.

End

P.S.: I learned later that the host of Swell Entertainment’s name is Amanda.