Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 65

Free Time Obsessions

So I’m not much for TV anymore. I mean I watch stuff like vet shows, baking or cooking, House Hunter or flip shows, or some kind of crime drama or real crime show. But mostly, I leave the remote in Wizard’s hands and do something else.

My free time obsessions right now:

Maggie. both Maggie and I love staring our day with a walk. Even a short ten-twenty minute walk stars my day off right. Yoga. I can’t do much weight lifting and morning, and Yoga is working for me at this time in my life. I’m shocked how much I’m enjoying it now, but wait a month and that could change. In addition to the carefully-spaced practices I do, I love watching Yoga instruction videos, I guess hope that I’ll improve more by osmosis?Cake decorating. Love it. I did some very armature decorating many years ago when the kids were small, but now I’m watching endless video tutorials on more modern cakes, and mentally designing them. I’m going to do a Nutella chocolate cake for my daughter in late for her birthday in August. That will give me an idea if I can physically do it (it’s more work than one might think). I may do a lactose free Oreo cake for my youngest son just because it will be fun. (Did you know regular Oreos are lactose free????) I kind of want to learn fondant but have been hesitating because it’s a skill that’s going to require a lot of practice, and possibly, my hands and shoulder won’t be able to hand the kneading and rolling required. Plus I need a lot of new stuff, LOL.Women’s Elite Gymnastics. I love it, and I’m excited for the Olympics. I like the whole women’s team (Simone Biles is utterly amazing!) and am really rooting for MyKala Skinner since I’ve been following her YouTube channel for a while now. She’s sort of a very experienced and skilled underdog, so I’m hoping she can come one awesome medals.General baking; cookies are my go-to as making cookies relaxes me and they are much faster than doing cakes decorating, which requires many steps with chilling or setting time in between. I can obsess about finding recipes or redesigning them.Right now, Eli and Savi’s story in Primal Magic is my writing obsession, and I’m trying to keep all the other wing slayer hunters and other types of books I want to write quiet. Plus I have to limit my time on the computer–I refuse to resent that, and instead, embrace a chance to have other free-time hobbies.I want to say reading, but reading have most been frustrating lately. It’s a phase that will pass, and I’ll be obsessed again

I think those are the things I generally get the most obsessed about right now. How about you?

The post Free Time Obsessions first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Round Up: Late Edition

Is laziness an excuse to be late? Just asking…  Last night, I remembered I needed to do a blog, but instead I ate ice cream and watched a movie with Wizard By then the fireworks had transformed out neighborhood in the sound effects for a war movie and Maggie was scared. I couldn’t even get her outside to potty. Well I got her out by dragging her on a leash, but when I told her to “potty” her response was to flattered her body into the grass like she was the star of the war movie and trying to evade gunfire. By 11pm fireworks were still going off, but she willingly went in her kennel. It’s tucked in a corner, so she felt relatively safe. I went to bed and tried not to do anything silly like sleep and miss a single minute of all the geniuses setting off as many illegal fireworks as humanly possible in a drought-ridden tinderbox area in the name of patriotism.

Otherwise, we had a very good weekend. Saturday was like a day that happened. Then Sunday I ran out to Kohls and found white jeans that fit. I’ve missed having those in my closet enough to fork out full price. Yep, Cheap Jen paid full price! I know…we’re all trying to deal with the shock.

Poor Cheap Jen is even more upset because I’ve been telling Wizard I want a boat. We’re not getting a boat, but if I were going to pick a recreational type of craft, it’d be a boat. You’d never get me off the lake. I’d looked like a crinkly old wizard with frizzy hair and a beer belly in a bikini. It doesn’t even matter that I hate beer. But a boat is just a fun dream–along with my beach cottage with white sand for a front yard.

Um…did I get off topic? So back to Sunday…we went to a BBQ place for dinner, came home and I did pretzel yoga–that is not a real thing, but I did this yoga  online class that tried to twist me into a pretzel shape. Friends, I learned something; you cannot twist a pear shape into a pretzel   I keep hoping I will turn into taffy that can handle any shape, but I suspect that, like my boat and beach cottage–my taffy dream is not going to happen.

I also tussled with the book. This weekend I lost more battles than I won. My pride is bruised, but I’m going back in this week to kick butt.

Today we’re off to Youngest’s for a pool party and hamburgers. He said he was making the burgers out of cauliflower with lettuce buns. I think he was kidding?

So that was my weird version of a weekend roundup, now I’d love to hear yours!

The post Weekend Round Up: Late Edition first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

TGIF! But seriously, how are we in July already? 2021 is a half over!

Okay time to jump into sharing 5 random things about our week.

1) I want to brag about something silly I’ve moved up from pure beginner yoga, to an intermediate practice. I’m honestly so proud of myself for not rushing, not hurting myself (yet) and staying focused on strength and flexibility (not dieting or thinness, I eat mostly healthy but plenty of food). I’m at the low to middle end of intermediate, but I can do more than I thought I would be capable of, so yay me! Like I said, it’s a little silly.

2) This week I did some excellent plotting while floating on a raft in my pool. I was able to weave some plot threads in a good way. I have a lot more to go, but doing that plot thread weaving is something I absolutely love.

3) The condo collapse in Florida has been on my mind. My heart aches for all the families and friends waiting for news, and for those who’ve gotten the worst news possible about their loved ones. As always, I’m grateful for our first responders and all those working to find those missing that rubble.

4) I’m getting my hair cut and colored by a new stylist today.

5) It’s the 4th of July on Sunday. To celebrate, youngest is having a family pool party at his house on Monday (a holiday since the 4th fell on a Sunday). I’m so excited! It’s his first family party at their house. Covid stopped them from doing it sooner. I’m really excited. I’m always happy when the family gets together. Maggie is sulking through because, as we all know, she LOVES her brothers, especially youngest.

That’s my five now I’d love to hear yours! I hope all the US residents have a great 4th and all of you have a great weekend!

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Reviewers Deserve Our Support

Let me start off by saying this: I have huge respect and admiration for reviewers.

The media, bloggers, podcasters and bookstagrammers who write reviews are amazing. A lot of reviewers are doing this on their own time. They might make a little money on their blogs or YouTube channels with some kind of advertisement, but most don’t. Many of them are doing this  purely out of love for books. They spend hours reading the book, crafting their reviews, then posting them–often with images they buy. If they have a website, they pay for that too. Many will run contests, and those usually have  expenses like buying the prizes and postage. Even if authors are providing the prize and mailing them, there’s the cost of advertising.

Reviewers add value to our world by:

–Promoting reading.

–Helping authors and their book get exposure.

–Helping readers choose books they want to read, so they keep reading and buying more.

Reviewers are valuable to the book community and deserve our respect and support. I’d even go so far as to say we should “protect” their right to evaluate a book honestly.

–Even if the author doesn’t like the review.

–Even if the author send them a free book.

What do you do if you get a bad review? NOTHING IN THE PUBLIC SPACE. That means:

A. Don’t respond to the review either on the platform it was posted, or anywhere else public.

B. Don’t contact the reviewer personally to “correct” or “challenge” her opinions. They are her views, leave her alone.

C. Don’t go after the reviewer in a nasty social media attack. I see a lot of this going on, some in the book world, but a lot of it in other spaces. The attacker gets a lot of attention that way. But…I rarely see that attention turn into actual sales of a book. And for me, that is simply not who I want to be. I’m not here in the world to polish up my bitch whip and lash out at others. I’m tired of all the ugliness and hate, so I choose not to add to that steaming pile by throwing a public temper tantrum. Maybe that’s just me.

What do you do if a review gets something factual wrong?  This one is a bit tricky.

A. First, made 100% sure its a factual error. Sometimes, even that is subjective. But if you’re sure the reviewer made a true factual error like getting a character’s age wrong and that really matter in the context of the story and review, then:

B. Contact them through private messaging, either on their blog, FB or their email if possible. Thank them for the review, and gently mention the factual error.

C. Don’t be confrontational or passive aggressive. And don’t make demands. Most reviewers are very conscientious and will fix the mistake without any more prodding from you.

D. If they don’t fix the error, move on with your life. You have more books to write and things to do. Spending any more time fretting over someone else’s mistake is only going to make you miserable.

I know it’s hard to hold back sometimes. But let me ask you this:

Did you write the best book you were capable of at the time?

Yes? Then walk away, you did your job. If your answer is no, then use this painful moment to re-evaluate. But that’s another blog.

Now for a few things you can do when a review upsets you:

A. Eat chocolate. Lots of chocolate or whatever your indulgence of choice is.

B. Complain to your significant other.

C. Talk to write friends who “get it” and also, who will remind you that you’re a great writer.

D. Write another amazing book.

I want to close with this:  A huge and sincere THANK YOU to all reviewers!

The post Reviewers Deserve Our Support first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

My weekend was a winner.

Saturday: Turbo and family came over Saturday for a swim day. Youngest and his wife dropped by for an hour or two because he lives close by.

A quick mom guilt interruption here. Most of you know I have the three sons. And Wizard mentioned tp youngest at the last minute that Turbo was going to come by and swim, so it was no big deal for him to stop by since he livers 10 minutes away. But Middle can’t do that and then I feel bad for him. Not totally rational since this wasn’t a plan, but that’s mom guilt for you.

Anyhow, the day was so much fun. Turbo LOVES swimming, plus I bought squirt guns to make sure no one stayed dry, LOL. Then we barbequed hamburgers and had home made ice cream sandwiches rolled in sprinkles. Those were a big hit with Turbo and everyone else ate them as well. Including Wizard who, after making fun of me for doing it, ate two :-).

And last note on Turbo: His dad mentioned something about “Grandma baking”, and Turbo interrupted stopped playing to inform his dad that, “I help Grandma.” I loved that so much.

Sunday, I went to lunch with my sister and her long time best friend who now lives out of state. It was awesome to see both of them.

The only down side of the weekend (aside from the endless heat) is that I didn’t write. But I’m back at the keyboard today!

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF! Time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

After three short years of procrastinating, I bought a carpet cleaner on Amazon Prime Day.  Cheap Jen is still pounding on the my mental basement door demanding to be released, LOL! Hey, she’s the one that went down there when I whispered they were serving wine and chocolate in the basement.My hairdresser moved, and I have to find a new one. My bangs are in my eyes–I don’t think I can procrastinate for three years on this one.I wish I had chocolate.One day this week, Wizard went to the indoor track to practice racing his radio control cars. Special K brought Turbo to watch and Turbo loved being there with Grandpa. Turbo went home and told his daddy, “Grandpa speeds a lot.” LOLOL! I’m not saying if that’s true for all cars or just his radio control cars I will say that I loved hearing every detail of Grandpa-Turbo time. Probably because Wizard always supports me going to see Turbo alone when he’s doing something else.Turbo and family are coming over Saturday for a pool and dinner day. It’ll be fun.

So that’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Writing Detours

Sorry for the late post. It was scheduled for 1 a.m., and obviously the posting gremlin fell asleep at the button. Anyway, here’s the blog:

Before I got Maggie and started exploring, I didn’t know that maybe a half mile from my house was this hidden staircase.

It’s leads to a spectacular view of my city including the lake. I found it because Maggie and I deviated from the planned walk and decided to see where a mysterious path would take us–and we discovered a gem (I spell that gym the first time–LOL–that staircase is like going to a gym!)

Anyhow, back to my “planned walks,” snakes, coyotes and human threats are real, so I usually give Wizard a general idea where we’ll be. But sometimes…Maggie and I can’t resist detouring into the unknown and we find a hidden gem.

For me, that’s what writing is like. I will try to plot and plan, and I use a lot of that. But often, the characters want to take an unplanned side road and explore.

The upside is we can find more beauty, depth and emotion in our books.

The downside is a lot of mistakes and wasted time.

Every writer must decide for themselves what works best for them. Unless that writer is me. My characters don’t care what I want, they yank me all over the place, LOL! But I still find an occasion nugget of awesome story on the journey!

The post Writing Detours first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

It was a good weekend. We had a change of plans, and Youngest Son invited us for dinner on Father’s Day. I had already planned a pie, so I just took that over there. We swam in there pool, they BBQed awesome steaks and we had such a good time. Truly lovely!

I have to laugh, as soon as I walk in the house, their two dogs, Roxy and Phoebe, herd me to the fridge to get their baby carrot treats. It makes me laugh. Both my grandson and grand dogs know I’m a pushover Daughter-in-law made better cilantro-lime rice than I do. I’m impressed! I’m a middle of the road average cook, and really appreciate those who do it better (even if they don’t believe me, LOL). We also had a nice bottle of wine and just an overall lovely time.

Now for the baking section of this blog. I hadn’t baked in a while and got a little revved up when I got stared I tried this Key Lime Recipe and it turned out as good as I hoped!

I will definitely make that pie again. But OMG it took a truck load of key limes to get the 2/3s a cup of lime juice I needed. I used an entire bag of key limes plus three regular limes. That’s a log of juicing! Still–it was worth it. And I definitely recommend making the crust from this Biscoff cookies rather than graham crackers too. Although I used canned whipped cream because it’s easier to transport than home made whipped cream.

Now…I had one issue. The son that invited us avoids lactose (milk products). I had already promised Wizard the Key Lime Pie, so I made him the chocolate chip cookies he likes.

And then since I had some leftover Biscoff cookies and and non dairy chocolate, I experimented with making some ganache, replacing the heavy cream with the cream in canned coconut milk. It worked! I was pretty excited, so I frosted one side of a Biscoff cookie with the ganache then put on another cookie, and dipped the sandwich cookie in more melted chocolate.

Long story short, Youngest got two kinds of cookies–one made up as I was in a baking frenzy–to make up for him not being able to eat the pie. He seemed happy.

Today I’m back at the computer fighting to write Primal Magic. Eli is part griffin, which makes him part lion, and so full of pride and stubbornness that he’s running headlong into disaster. But will he listen to me?????

So that was my weekend, how was yours? I hope all the dads out there had a great Father’s Day!

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF!! Yep, it’s Friday again. Time to share 5 random things about our week. Here’s mine:

One of these times, I’m going to mess up and post this on a non-Friday day It’s stupid hot here. Has been all week. I’m back on my walking Maggie around 6:30 am schedule to cope.The other morning I was in my room discussing with Maggie what color of flip flops I should wear. Maggie chose black and I agreed with her. I was telling her that when I looked up and saw Wizard standing there shaking his head. I said, “What? Maggie was right, black is the right choice.” He laughed at me and said, “Seriously? You think that’s why I’m concerned?” I mean…what else could it be?  I was wearing a black top with tan shorts–obviously the black flip flops were better than my green ones. Honestly, he’s just so weird.I wrote a bunch of pages, trying the scene a couple different ways and dumped them all. Grrr….I should probably talk this over with Maggie and see what she thinks will work.I’m planning to make ribs and some key lime pie for Father’s Day just for us, and maybe spend time in the pool. The kid who lives closest may stop by, but it’s a lot more complicated for the other two and I didn’t make a big thing this year. One thing I know for sure is that I appreciate how much Wizard is my partner in parenting (and now grandparenting) every single day of the year.

So that’s my five random things, now I’d love to hear yours! Hope all the dads out there feel loved and appreciated! Happy Father’s Day!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Sharing a Resource

It got up to 107 yesterday, and we’re only half way through June.  I hate the heat, but I do like when my book heats up I’m really, really writing. I still a long, long ways to go.

Which means I can’t carve time out to write a longer blog today Instead, I thought I share a “discovery” I just made yesterday on YouTube that may be of interest to writers–particularly if you write any kind of mystery, suspense or crime fiction. It’s Dr. Todd Grande, who has a PhD in Counselor Educational and Supervision, and he’s a licensed counselor of mental health. On his channel, he discusses interesting criminal cases like Casey Antony, the Green River Killer and many others. He goes into what diagnoses like Narcissist, Borderline Personality Disorder, etc. actually mean, and how someone is clinically diagnosed. He also discusses media personalities, like Dr. Phil McGraw. He gives, in my opinion, an even-handed overview based on his clinical experience and research. He is not diagnosing the subject he discusses, but more like using their crimes, and behaviors around it, as examples. I find it really interesting. I also like that he, like in the case of Phil McGraw, mentions his person biases in the beginning so viewers can be aware of those before they listen to his opinions.

Anyway, if you’re intersted, look up Dr. Todd Grande on YouTube

Feel free to share a resource if you have it!

The post Sharing a Resource first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.