Good morning!

Didn’t sleep well, but I am up and around today. Still trying to stay off my foot, though I am really missing my walks. On the plus side, more time to write.

Excellent Mets/Braves game last night Sara. Two very evenly matched teams. Should be a good series.

My daughter messed up her Achilles tendon yesterday. It’s not looking good (part of the reason I couldn’t sleep last night). But hopefully the care she has been given at the hospital will help.

Coffee and several cookies please.

We're binging the entire series!

Quote by gillianleeza

My husband and I are going out of town for a long weekend. Friends have a condo in a ski town. But in the summer there is swimming, biking, hiking and good food. On Saturday there's a brews and blues festival. The weather is going to be lovely, mid seventies during the day and mid fifties at night. I've been told that I've been in a bad mood lately and really need to get away. I haven't been dealing well with some of my parents issues. So I get the weekend off and enlisted my only sibling to step up. Hopefully I will return with a renewed energy or any energy. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I should be back by Tuesday. Cheers.

I think I know where you're going. Have fun! A gorgeous place, if I'm right.

I look forward to your poem, Cora.

The Yankees got PUMMELED by the Mets last night on national TV! I will try not to crow, but it was fun. Talia and I even went to a bar to watch the first half, sort of a pre-birthday celebration (my birthday is this weekend). Big fun.

Sara, I believe your Braves are up next.

Now, off to write. I still can’t do my walks - trying to stay off my foot.

Coffee and a STAR cookie please.

Sorry you are feeling bleh Mr. Ape. I hope the coffee helps.

Still off my feet today, though my foot is much better. My daughter is upset I didn’t go to a doctor, but I don’t see a need.

I wrote a VERY dark story last week, so dark even Talia hated it. I may send it out today.

Sunny and hot here today. I won’t walk. Thankfully I have the Mets/Yankees game and a Presidential address to watch.

Coffee is a cookie please.

Good morning everyone.

I am down with a stress fracture on my right foot. I think I got it from walking a little too hard and too often. It slowly got aggravated and was suddenly too painful to walk on last night. I am going to chill today and see if it goes away. If not, a doctor.

Until then, writing and No Man’s Sky.

Hey Sara, here’s my thing about the Mets/Braves playoffs in 1999. It’s actually a 12 part series about Shea Stadium, but the relevant part is here - https://jeffwood.substack.com/p/a-personal-history-of-shea-stadium-418. It continues next week.

Thanks for the coffee Mr. Ape. I’ll take whatever cookies are available.

Quote by Mendalla
Actually, Friday's "once in a lifetime" event was more than just the USA, believe me.

I was talking about Trump getting shot, the IT outage, and Biden stepping down, all in the space of under two weeks. The pace is simply insane.

Good morning everyone. It’s exciting to be living in the US this year. We have weekly “once in a lifetime” events occurring now. I swear we are living in a computer simulation.

I am TOTALLY sucked in and addicted to a video game: No Man’s Sky. It’s very rare for me to get very deep into a videogame, but this is so immersive, and plays into my childhood love of space and exploration. I feel l a little kid playing it.

Sara, I am writing about the Braves! Specifically the Mets/Braves 1999 NLCS. You guys won it but I still went to two of the best games I’ve ever seen. If you like I will send a link tomorrow when it goes out in the newsletter.

A coffee please! And three cookies!

Good morning everyone.

“The world is too much with us” is the only Wordsworth I know Cora, but it is apropos. Poe I’m pretty well acquainted with. I look forward to reading your poem.

Didn’t sleep well. Sigh. No big plans today, so that’s good. It’s supposed to be warm, with afternoon showers. Lately I live for those afternoon thunderstorms.

Baseball is back after four days of absence. Hoping for a fun second half of the season.

Tractor cookie! And a coffee!

Hey everyone.

We got actual rain yesterday! It was pretty cool. What's better, it happened during my walk. It was a warm rain, and felt refreshing, and I was able to duck into a shelter for the heavier bits.

I'm pretty confident when writing a story, but this book stuff is the opposite: I've never written a good one (after 4 tries), and I'm not sure I have one in me. The only way to find out is to keep writing.

And on that cheery note, I'm off. Coffee! What's the cookie de jour, Sara?

Quote by Mendalla

Glad it's your election and not mine. Our boy is having his problems but anything happening up here pales by comparison with your shitshow. Have fun.

Sorry I wasn't in to prep this morning. Will do better tomorrow. Hopefully.

Question: How long should chapters be? I mean, I am working on this new fantasy story that is going to be long so I am looking at doing it in chapters. It's the first time I have started out with that as the intent so I am not sure how to approach it. First chapter is c. 3200 words. Second and third are in flux for plot reasons right now but are clocking in a bit shorter, 2000-3000 words.

I am sure the correct answer is going to be something vague like "as long as they need to be" but thought I would try.

I struggle with this too. I think chapters should all be about the same length, so find the natural rhythm of your book. It's looking like maybe 3000 per?

I'm currently settling in on 2500 words for mine, but I'm only a couple chapters in.

Dance Hall Days is a prefect needle drop in The Idea of You

Good morning all. Things have cooled off here finally.

I have been getting DEEPLY into the videogame No Man’s Sky. It’s a space exploration game. There’s a story, but most of the joy is in the literally infinite open world you can play in. Really well designed, wildly original. I just love this game. I a playing game on Nintendo Switch.

The MRI story is still broken. I am thinking of expanding it into something long, if for no other reason than having something big to escape into during the coming election season. It’s going to be brutal.

And with that cheery thought, I am off. Coffee and a cookie!

Good morning all. Did sleep well so I am dragging a bit.

Things are cooling off a bit here. Sadly, I have therapy today at 4, so I will miss my walk today. I should probably a big wind of time to write in.

I tried to watch the Home Run Derby last night but just got bored. No real baseball until Thursday!

Coffee and cookie!

Hot everywhere, huh! It’s in the low 90s here.

Staying away from the news today. The United States is overheated and so am I.

I still can’t get that MRI story to work. I’ve got critique today, so I will try to solve it as I read other people’s stories.

Coffee and a cookie please.

Really enjoying the remake of Presumed Innocent on Apple. I hope the killer is different than who it was in the book.

Also, we saw a great little sci-fi movie called Significant Other. Talia has a tiny crush on Jake Lacy. I thought it went on about 10 minutes too long, but otherwise, VERY clever plot.

Quote by gillianleeza
Have you watched the latest episode? I love that the show combines serious themes with humor, and the cast is great.

I haven't seen the latest one, we'll watch it this weekend. The cast is SO good. And yeah, they combine humor with some pretty deep discussions of religion and spirituality.

Yeah, hot as heck here too. In the mid-90s today. I doubt I will even walk, though I am all but add to my daily walk.

Not much else going on. No plans for the weekend. MRI story still blows. I may just throw it away. Major imposter syndrome today.

Those cookies look swell, Sara. I’ll have three and a cup of coffee please.

Good morning all. I’ll have some of that delish coffee. And I promise not to bug Sara for more cookies since she is pooped from her great time in Phoenix.

Still messing with the MRI story. The ending is…<searches for technical term>…dumb.

I grad from acupuncture. 13 sessions. I would say a 10-20% improvement. Works for me!

Hot as hades out now. I will probably skip my walk. Stay cool everyone!

Same old thang. Enjoy the day everyone!

Quote by DenimAngel

In beautiful Mesa it's 98 degrees

The game was freaking awesome . One of the people I came with caught a home run ball ... but It was a DBack ball so I didn't bribe him for it lol

It was a freaking awesome game. We had right field front row bleachers seats .

Food was expensive as all get out.

Got a few souvenirs. But didn't get a Baxter bobcat stuffed animal wasn't paying 35 .00

Lots of Brave fans where we sat

Still had a voice when I left (barely) I cheered loudly ..

A large Pepsi would be great .

Cookies as soon as I'm functional.. brain still foggy .

So cool! What an excellent game! 9th inning comeback and extra innings.

Food at ballparks is SO expensive. Still, a hot dog and a beer are required, at minimium.

Glad you had fun! I love live baseball games.

It hot here, Ape, but it’s not THAT hot. My condolences. We’re in the 90s today.

Not much going on. Talia is I are getting more serious about taking a cruise/train/plane trip somewhere soon, maybe this winter. I wish we could visit Cuba. Any suggestions for a winter vacation?

Today? I actually finished the demon in the MRI story, so it gets a polish today. I’ll walk, I’m getting seriously into No Man’s Sky on Nintendo Switch, so I imagine I’ll get a couple hours of play there too. Plus, baseball! Playing the Nats.

Coffee please! And a cookie!

Congrats Thespian and Bear! This was a really fun contest.

Quote by DenimAngel

Coffee good !

On my mini vacation (3 days /2 nights) in Phoenix . Shopping and a VA appointment and then BRAVES BASEBALL tonight !!!!

Hotel is comfy! Hotel breakfast needs sprinkle donuts and marshmallows

Cookies tomorrow !!

That sounds fun! Enjoy the game tonight! I’ll be keeping an eye on the score and rooting for you.

Congratulations to the winners of the Buzzy competition! That was really fun! Thank WG for putting everything together!

We had a pregnant (I think) deer in our backyard nearly all day yesterday, chilling under a tree. It was raining softly but warm out. I was reading up about what to do if she gives birth (nothing!) and we were getting kind of excited, expecting the possibility of fawns, but then around dusk she moved on. Still, it was nice to spend ti em with her on a rainy Sunday.

Enjoy your day everyone! I would love some of Gill’s Frozen Margarita Mousse!

Quote by gillianleeza
The casting is excellent, and I agree that Demon Kristen is very hot.

It's that tongue.

We are getting heavily into Evil (the show, not the topic in general). Sadly, we just got caught up. I have a small celebrity crush on Kristen (and especially the demonic Kristen - OMG she is hot).

We are compensating for the lack of Evil with binging X Files - a really similar structure. Plus I get to watch X Files all over again! It holds up surprisingly well over the years

We finally got power around 5. It didn’t affect us too much, we could still grill.

Played a little catch in the street with my daughter and a neighbor, and Lord, it was good for the soul. Played a ton of MarioKart too. We didn’t really bother to look at fireworks, other than the ones we could see from the deck.

I hope everyone had a safe holiday. I’m sure all the dogs in the neighborhood are glad the 4th is over. Out cats clearly don give a s**t.

No plans today. Works for me.

5.5 hours without power and counting

Happy 4th, and Happy Canada Day! God bless North America!

Our power is out. Supposed to be back up in a few hours. Luckily, you can grill without electricity. Just have to keep the fridge shut as much as is reasonable.

So, just chilling now. We have a ton of batteries for the phones so we can still surf the web! Sorry about round two of COVID, Gill.

Whole-heartedly a fan. She's a mesmerizing performer, and I love her songwriting. Having daughters who loved her helped make me a fan.