Jude Stringfellow's Blog, page 47

Chapter 8 is DONE!! (Murder Book)

 I managed to write the 5th chapter on Cinco de Mayo, which is May 7th, and I wrote both Chapters 7 and 8 today. I don't think I'll be following any sort of pattern, but I did think it was pretty cool. (Come to think of it, I realize now that I did write Chapter 4 on May 4th!)  Woot!

    Because of the MAJOR and unacceptable catastrophic mistake, I made in my published book "Of Kilted Pleasure". I am now doing so much more research before publishing. Notwithstanding the 12 errors that are easily fixed, I realized too late that I had published the book with a HUGE error, in that I said Oliver Cromwell led a campaign against the Jacobites in 1746 - - Yeah, he was dead in 1658, so that didn't happen....following that, I have hit Wikipedia a bit more often while writing this book. I want the facts to be historical. They don't have to be, but I want them to be. It is (and the other is) a fiction book, but still, you want to be as (I want to be as) close to accurate as possible. I almost said that Lord Byron had written Paradise Lost (in the other book). Can you imagine? OMG...I'm so bad.

    Anyway, I'm in the middle of the first half of the book now. I think the book will end up being 38-40 chapters. It will have more chapters by far than the other book because I'm breaking up ideas and full thoughts. I'm not combining them as much because I'll do a back-and-forth thing with this one; to show different points of view, etc. I sort of did that before, but this one will have more of it.  

    Here is a fun excerpt from the book in Chapter 8, where Eoghan MacRae finds himself in the infirmary recovering from the fall he took at the hands of his soon-to-be former wife. She's in jail cooling her jets, he's on the mend in a multi-patient ward for men, and he's not too happy about it. He's just attempted to leave the place a bit prematurely and has found himself in a pile of floppy-body parts on the floor with his butt in the air shining for the world to see when the nurse comes into the ward to feed the men...here we go.

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CHAPTER EIGHT

The sternmiddle-aged woman, who had obviously seen a few things during her years in themedical field, cocked her upper lip to the side before addressing the back ofMacRae’s head.

“Unlessyou want me to mount you like a racehorse down there, you’ll need to pick yourarse up and get it back into that bed on your own. I’ve got my hands full, yousee.  I’m not that easy to catch thesedays, mister. Others have tried. Others have certainly tried”,

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I hope you like it. I love writing it. 

Photo Credit: istockphotos.com

Geez! History Would Be GREAT.

 Yeah, so it's a really good thing that I left that big fact disclaimer there in my first romance novel where I say that the book itself and any reference to the country of Scotland (and by doing so, including the entire book) would NOT necessarily be accurate. By not necessarily, I mean there is one huge, oh-so-stupidly incorrect factoid that really should be mentioned now, so I can say, "Oh, it's OK; it's fiction!"

    I said, in my book, that one of the characters, (Sean) had joined the Royal Army and that he was in one of Cromwell's units. Well, that's not the case, and it couldn't be because that was 1741 or something, and yeah, Cromwell was dead in 1658. OMG!! Yeah, I'm an idiot, but it's all good. We can giggle and say how daft I was for not checking that fact. The thing is, I THOUGHT I DID!!  Oops!

    So, now I have to go back into my research world and look it up again to know what's going on. I'll do this once I get the money to do so (currently not in that position). I'll pull the book, change the words, resubmit it, and all will be good. The books people buy today will be collector's items, and it's a win-win!! Yea, there you go. Sorted.  I'm a dork. I am 100% certifiable. I never claimed to be a historian, but you know, I really could have and should have caught that. The thing that I ask myself now is, how many people reading the book would know that to be the case? Would they stop in their tracks and say, "Wait, didn't Cromwell die in like 1658 or something?"  Most won't. It's still a point I think I should own. I'm owning it.

    Time is a good thing. We can use it to our advantage. Maybe, just maybe, Oliver Cromwell was using a time-traveling machine at the time my book was being written, and he did lead a campaign in 1746 against the Jacobites.  Maybe, but not probably, and yeah, no, he didn't. Oh well....fiction!!

Photo Credit: findagrave.com

Chapter Six (Murder Book) Something Different.

 Eoghan Clark MacRae isn't the hero of my book. He's a lot more like a sidekick, really. He is a Scottish man, about 35 years old, he's estranged from his wife, they're divorcing. He is raising his two daughters, and he's a singer and music leader. Though he came from a bit of money and family fame, he hasn't done much to keep up family traditions. In fact, he's more or less a lost feather, floating and hoping to find its way to a good bird's nest where he can feel needed.  When you think of Eoghan, think of a man with a lot of talent, spirit, and a great deal of worth, but he never realized it until he lost everything. 

    Though losing his wife wasn't something he was happy about, it will eventually become a true blessing in disguise for more than a few reasons. Here is a portion of the chapter for my readers to meet up with and be introduced to the music man who will give up his weekly worship gig to help tie up the loose ends of many petty as well as more sinister crimes. He's not exactly a "Watson", but he'll make a great companion, champion, and friend to our not-too-cuddly Nick Posh. When you read how Eoghan's first communication with Posh is rather direct, you'll understand his new way of thinking. He had a lesson to learn, and he caught on rather quickly - - painfully but quickly. 

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Part of Chapter Six. (Murder Book)

Callingout to the man, with his Bowie knife clenched between his teeth, the formersoldier repelled to a safer lower ledge just below the point where the man hadfallen, Nick questioned MacRae. “Are you Eoghan MacRae?” Posh askeddirectly.

“Aye,that’s me. Never trust a woman, never.”

Thebroken man spoke just over a whisper. Exhausted and obviously worn completely out from lack of water and foodand having been exposed to the elements for a day and a night, the singer heldhis tongue from lashing out against the man’s dog for a fifth or sixth time,trying to be polite enough to be saved before he lamented about having had hisface fully drenched in the small dog’s piss from the very second he was foundby the thing.

“Your dog’sgot a pure nerve on him, doesn’t he?” asked MacRae once the two menwere safely up on top of the ridge.

 “Jumping down off the side of the crag like hedid. I thought he would land flat on my head the way he leaped at me, maybe sendme the rest of the way down to the pit. Instead, he hopped and skipped aboutthe rocks until he found me. At least I think he likes me; he marked my facefor sure.” 

Poshcouldn’t smile too broadly without losing his blade, but the large wet stain surroundingthe collar and upper portion of the man’s coat left nothing to the imagination.Maybe it was Keeper’s way of making sure MacRae was breathing, or maybethe dog just really had to go after all the excitement of having recovered the lostman.  Maybe the position in which MacRaewas found had lent himself as a level field in which to put up a hiked backleg. Either way, the dog was an asset; and no matter what the sun had chosen todo that morning, was going to be a good day. 

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Keeper is the Jack Russell terrier that Posh finds running the streets of Edinburgh. He makes a few inquiries about who the owners might be, and finding that the dog prefers to hang with him, he keeps the dog. He names the dog "Keeper" after the dog proves to be valuable in the hunt for MacRae.

I hope you like the book when it's finished. Don't worry too much about poor Eoghan; he'll be OK. He just needs a bit of a nudge, some exercise, a better diet plan, and maybe a few pointers on misplaced trust.

Photo Credit: Petsfeed.co

Surprise!! (Murder Book Chapter 4)

 Seriously, this is how it's done. I was literally just writing, minding my own business, which is precisely what I do, and my mind decided that Nick Posh needed to be even more colorful than I assumed.  Oh, and by colorful, I mean literally; the guy's pigment is dark, smooth, and downright gorgeous. He's half-Native.  He's the son of a Scottish immigrant, I knew that much going into the book, but I decided that along the way, his father, Albert, would meet and marry a downright gorgeous Cherokee woman (older than himself), and he just couldn't live without her.  They meet, marry, and make a baby  -- in that order.  Nick Posh will have a few of the characteristics of a man I knew and loved in 1984; Dennis. 

    Now, if any of you know Dennis,  please let me know where I can find the man because he all but fell off the face of the Earth in 1984, leaving me absolutely heartbroken.  I was told by a good reliable source that Dennis was a material witness in a case that the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations was working on (this was before we met). He had been needed in taking down a rather large operation. He was placed in witness protection, and I never saw him again. Before he left me, he managed to not only pay my rent for three months in advance, he saw to it that my food pantry was stocked, my refrigerator too, my utilities were paid, and he wrote me a note explaining that he couldn't explain, but that because he knew we were both Christians, our time apart would be temporary. 

    I didn't start out thinking about Denny when I wrote the first few chapters of the book. Still, as I wrote and needed to come up with a verifiable backstory, I wanted to include the history of my state, Oklahoma. You can't really do that without mentioning the Trail of Tears, the differences between the Native tribes that were present before the others arrived, and some of the conflicts which led to the state becoming the state with the most registered Native Americans in the United States. I can say plainly, that I don't have a drop of Native blood in my body, a fact that I don't relish. I was born here. My grandfather was born here! I did give Nick Posh my grandfather's birthday on November 19, 1890. (Little winks like that are in all of my books, actually.)

    Where Dennis was/is Choctaw and Chickasaw, as well as being half Irish on his mother's side, my detective Nick is half Cherokee and half Scottish. His mother, Ama Deercreek, had given birth many years before Nick was born to a boy she called Charles Inola or Nola, and he'll make an appearance when it's time to bring him around.  Today's surprise actually took me by the horns and threw me around the room. I had no idea where this was going to lead. Still, due to the many adventures of several Natives in both the criminal world and law enforcement world in my home state, there will be a few mentions of real and fictional events, which will all line up with the historical events taking place in the book. FUN TIMES ahead as I forge through Wikipedia and old Oklahoma history books to find bits and pieces to fit here and there. Think oil in the early part of the 20th Century! Think Land Runs!!

    OK, so, Chapter 4 is done, and tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo! I will write Chapter 5 on that day for sure. I think I'll carry on and get Chapters 6 and 7 chiseled out as well so I can be up and running Saturday, with an agenda to write all day if I can. I want to be finished with this book in about 3 weeks so I can get it tweaked, fluffed, and stuffed. I won't publish it yet. I have to be working for that to happen. If I do end up staying off work the entire summer long, I'm hoping I can crank out Murder Book, 1211, Of Kilted Love, Pinball (the sequel to Murder Book), and my 2nd poetry book. It's an ambitious goal for sure, but I can do it.  I may throw Stollen in there for grins and giggles, too. (Both Stollen and 1211 are just fiction novels; one is funny, and one is serious.)  I have many sides.

    For now, have a blessed one.

Photo Credit: Ebay.com

MURDER BOOK - CHAPTER THREE DONE

 It is so much fun to just sit down and start rattling off the words that will eventually become a book. I'm really very blessed to be able to have the time to do this. I know it comes at the expense of being terminated from my job, but you take the lemons when they're thrown at you. It may prove to be therapeutic, and I can make one of the bad guys name the same name as the jerk who let me go without fully paying me. I can create a really personalized torture/death scene for the man, or maybe, yeah, maybe instead of dying, he actually LIVES to see his wife and her new lover take everything he ever worked for because he was caught with his literary pants down around his knees at the office with a client. I don't know; maybe something good will come out of this situation, right? LOL....you don't know me well if you think I would do that.

    I'm on Chapter Three, just finished it. The book is titled "Murder Book," and it's really going to be a great one. I know it. I can feel it. I'm getting all the fluff and stuff out of the way right now. I'm fielding curve balls in my brain and scooping up grounders as they're hit my way...way out in left field somewhere. I'm just really trying to find common ground for some of the characters. I renamed Eoghan Kemp to Eoghan Clark MacRae. I like the Mac names when I talk about Scottish folk. Sorry, I'm so cliche, I know, but it's my damn book. By the way, Eoghan is Gaelic and sounds like "Owen", much like my other character, "Ewan" in "Of Kilted Pleasure," but they are not the same guy; they have similar traits, though.

    Chapter Three is a true fluff chapter in this book. It is only there to inform the readers about the characters and to give them some clue as to who, why, how, and when things happen, will happen, and so forth. It's a fluffer. I do that. I fluff. I stuff too, and I'll do that after I write the book. I go back over it and stuff, fluff, add, subtract, and do the overhaul using my words. I think I typically add about 1/4 more than I did in the beginning, so it's not too bad, but it's fatter, oilier, and juicy, and it has added flavor. I don't like dull. I don't do dull. Dull is dull. We can't possibly be that way, nope.

    If the employment situation (or lack thereof) remains the same, I'll end up writing two or three chapters a day and have the book completed in two weeks. I'll take the next two weeks to tweak it, and then I'll shelve it for when I can pay to have it published. I have about six books in my head that need to come out to play. This is the first of the murder crime novels. I have three that are sitting inside my skull right now, all related. I have to do one first, then the next, but before I can do that sequel, I'll need to do the romance sequel. Before I do that one, I have the story of my life told in an exaggerated fairytale, which may or may not be true, but it is fun, and that's another novel genre completely. I like to keep my options open, you know. I think that one will be just fun. I mean, we find dead people, sure, but who doesn't do that from time to time?

    So, that's my summer plan. Do you have one? I should probably start a Go Fund Me for the publishing of these six books. They need to be promoted and produced as soon as they are written, so I'm not pushing them all out at the same time. I'll have to think about that. I'll need to come up with a plan for my plan, as I don't do anything without first planning the plan to do it. I'm redundant, I know. Sue me.  So, that's all for today, Chapter Three of Murder Book is complete, and Fergy has been introduced!  Who is Fergy? Oh, he's the friend that Nick shot once. You'll love him.

Photo Credit: Pinterest.  (1920 Scotland.)

My Summer Plan. (It's Hilarious)

 In America, we have something called "Unemployment."  You file for it after you've been terminated or if your company goes bankrupt and can't keep you. You are not supposed to use it if you quit or voluntarily leave your position. It's there to help you get back on your feet while interviewing and preparing for the next chapter of your life. That's the way it's supposed to be. Then there's me.  Unemployment and I have been quite well acquainted as of these past few years due to the Pandemic as well as employers who just can't get their heads around what it means to both follow the law and be ethical. Nope. I will just have to say it: Unemployment and I have become fast and good friends.

    Unemployment, at its BEST, only pays about 1/3 of what you would normally be paid. You work, you earn money, and your company or employer has to pay the state and federal government for having you as an employee. This tax, if you will, is what is used to pay for unemployment insurance should the company falter or should the employee and/or the employer decide that it's quitting time...well, termination time. In 2019, I was released from a teaching job when the other teachers refused to do their job and basically bullied me out of a position. I took it to a hearing, and I won. After they had to pay me the full contract, I was not renewed, which meant I could file for unemployment. I did. I spent the summer looking for another job.

    Well, if you remember, the summer of 2020 was the summer the Pandemic was out and about, and our good president, Donald J. Trump, extended unemployment for another six months or so, and we were paid extra to stay home. I stayed home. When I did go back to work, I worked for another school district, and they let me go after a student read one of my murder blogs and told the school she was afraid to be in my room. (Nope. Not kidding) The school questioned me, and I called my rep. The school dismissed me, I took it to a hearing, and I won. The school paid me the entire contract but did not renew my contract, you guessed it...I filed for unemployment.

    I stayed off work from September to March with the contract money and then the unemployment money. I really should have written books, but I didn't. I mean, I did, but I didn't publish them. I was going to, but I just didn't. Then I changed my mind about the publisher and just sort of started looking for another job. That's when I found McLarens! Oh, they were a joke. They are a GREAT company, but the woman who hired me decided to let me go after a month and hire one of her friends. I took that to hearing, and I won.  They had to pay me, and since I had already used my unemployment, I couldn't file, but I was off the summer with their contract money. I found a job in September, and BAM!  I can't make this up, folks.

    I went to work for an undisclosed trading firm. I won't say who they are because I have friends there. I worked there for 98 days, and I was terminated after the Finance Manager asked me to switch to his department when my 90 days were up. Hey, my 90 days were up. I put in my papers. I lost my job because the manager of my department is a bitch and decided to release me rather than allow me to upgrade. Yeah, she's a piece of work, but you get what you hire. They kept her and let me go, and no, this time, I didn't take it to a hearing; they just paid me a severance. What did I do? I wrote a book. I did. I was released on 12/28/22, and I wrote the book from 1/3/23 to about 2/4/23, and then I had it published. It's out now. "Of Kilted Pleasure". 

    I found work in the middle of February with an insurance agent. He decided not to pay us on time and didn't pay me what I was told would be paid. I didn't leave. He let me go, so now I'm going to file for unemployment again rather than trying to take him to a hearing over the matter. He doesn't have it. I won't get it, so I'll rely on the government to help me while I apply and interview for a better and more worthy position. I was applying nearly every day I was employed with the man because (a) it was not the position I really wanted and (b) I could see the writing on the wall. 

    Unemployment will NOT pay more than my bills. I will be lucky if they all get paid, but the thing is, I am seriously not that upset about it. I don't have a windfall or a huge nest egg to fall back on, but I have my keyboard. I have about six books in my head that need to be written, and they're not going to write themselves. If I can play this card correctly, and it looks like I may actually be able to do that, I'll be off work until about October and can crank out at least 2 or maybe 3 books during that time. I can't publish until I get another job, but I can at least get them in the can and out of my head! It's a win. No matter how you look at it, it's a win. The good news is, I've never been materialistic, so I'm OK with what I have now. I don't fret about the little things. I am content.

    I've managed to live this long on so little that doing so again does not upset me. I have my keyboard.  I have my Kindle. I have my dogs. I have food. I always have food. If I don't find a good job between now and October, I'll just sit at the computer and write. I am interviewing. I went on a GREAT interview yesterday with a marvelous financial planning group. If I get the job, I'll be the wind beneath the wings of several planners. I have that capability. I'll be the MOM! I love that role. You're loved and needed, it pays well, and I can write in the evenings. Again, it's a win.  Either way, I'm writing. Life is good. The only thing that can change my plans would be the Rapture, and let me tell you, I'd be OK with that! Yes, please!  Bring on the Summer. I'm writing. 

Photo Credit: Wallpaperaccess.com 

My Bad!! (Mistakes Were Made)

 My, oh my, many  (too many) mistakes were made in my new book "Of Kilted Pleasure," However, as I went through the one I ordered from Amazon, I noticed seven of the 12 mistakes were NOT mine. I will own anything that is mine. I will raise my hand and say "MY BAD" when I have been the one to screw up, but when someone else makes a mistake and tries to blame me for it, that's when I call "BS!".  

    I wrote the book "Of Kilted Pleasure," and I had very little understanding when I wrote it; even though it was my 6th published book, I didn't have to publish it at all the way a person thinks of publishing. If I had known, I could have just uploaded it onto the platform at IngramSpark, and it could have been formatted, sized, and whatnot on their end for less than what I paid at "X." I think the difference is significant; too, so next time...next time.

    One of the things I did not do when I published the book was to use the editing source at X. The reason(s) I didn't do that is because, in the past, I have paid for that service, and they didn't edit a damn thing. They left at least 30 comma errors, not to mention misspelled words, and don't get me started on the grammar. It was MY BAD that I wrote it, but they were supposed to have fixed that for me. I'm not a genius when it comes to writing. I have never claimed to be.  I'm good at writing. I may even be considered better than most, but I recognize the fact that I make mistakes, and I do need editors!! It's sort of like the lawyer who has their own counsel. I know I need help, so I get it. I just didn't pay for X to do it.

    That said, I wrote this book and didn't pay for the editing. I reviewed it 12 times, found errors, and corrected them. I found more errors, and I corrected them. This went on for a while.  After I submitted the manuscript for the final time, I knew I might have missed some mistakes. I didn't want there to be, but I knew there might be. There are 12, but more than half of them are not mine. SEVEN of the mistakes were made AFTER I sent the manuscript in for the last time. I kept the manuscript file that I sent to them. I know. I compared them, and there you go. My manuscript didn't match their PDF because when I sent in my manuscript, it wasn't saved as a PDF. THEY changed things and saved it as a PDF....then, they opened their PDF back up, and magically there were a few more mistakes that were sent to me when I asked for my owned PDF back from them when I quit them. Yeah, not cool. 

    If you buy the book from Amazon for the next few weeks, you'll have a collector's item because I will pull it soon, resubmit it, and see if I can get the 12 mistakes cleared. I'll be very happy if they don't charge me an arm and a leg for that. It would still be worth it if they wanted a lot of money. I have learned my lesson. Even as I write this blog (and other blogs from this point forward), I use Grammarly to check for better writing methods. I'm learning as I go, and that makes me happy. The computer will often correct spellings, show me where I'm wrong with punctuation, and how to rephrase things more directly and meaningfully. It's not 100% my style, I am far more relaxed, so I think about what I'm changing so I don't appear to be plastic.

    Here are the mistakes and the pages where they can be found. I'll place an "*" by the mistakes I know I made.

 Page 87.   "He cheerful" should be "He cheerfully"   Page 107.  "women abused"  should be "woman abused" Page 107. "firmed grasped"  should be "firmly grasped" Page 164.  "Emerald" should not be capitalized. * Page 214.  Random 'w' just sitting out there. NOPE, I didn't do that. Page 225. "the schemed"  should be "the scheme"   Page 237. "his given" should be "his giving," I may have, but I don't think so. Page 240. THIS WAS MY BAD...I said the letter had a single page written by Sean, then I went off and talked about other pages. I meant to say that one of the pages he wrote was this or that. THIS IS MY BAD. * Page 283. "to encouraged"  should be "to encourage"  (again, I didn't do this, but it seems to be a pattern with them adding a 'd' to words.) Page 294.  TWO random 'ww" just sitting around minding their own business. There's NO WAY IN HELL I did that. I would have caught that; Grammarly would have too.Page 313. "Bridge" should be "Bridget" or "Brige". *  I'll own that one.Last but not least, this is NOT a big, ugly mistake, but mine. I wrote that the dog Ginger was found under "his buggy," but I should have said THE buggy. *    It's just that when I do take the time to run things through Grammarly 12 times, and I KNOW I didn't miss something like a random 'ww' or a plural word at a critical point, I know they must have sabotaged my writing to teach me a lesson for either not paying for their editing, or for quitting their services altogether. Ours was not a good relationship, and breaking up with them was harsh; they didn't have to be such pigs about it. I didn't keep their things; they shouldn't have vandalized mine. I wish I could prove it to do something about it, but sometimes it's just good to walk away from it and know you did your best. I won't let this experience stop me from writing or publishing. In fact, I'll use this experience to train and teach me to be aware of what small people can do.  You live, you learn. I hope I learned correctly. 

    Again, buy that copy now, and have yourself a collector's item for sure. LOL. I'm going to just write the sequel now, and not worry about it. 

Photo Credit:  Pinterest.com

God Made the Frequencies. (Don't be Fooled)

 I often say I've been somewhere or done something for 100+ years, and though I know the truth is really more like 15-30 years, I say things, and I don't MEAN for someone to take me too seriously. I'm telling you this because I recently had a conversation with a woman who looked at me (we were at a bookstore), and she was bent on approaching me. She told me that my aura was pure white, compelling her to find me; I was leading her to myself. She stated I was an old soul, and that I was reincarnated.  Please. Don't insult me, calling me something of Satan. I am a born-again Believer in the ONE and only True Living God and His Son Jesus. I only follow Christ.  Don't be fooled, people; there are those out there who will see your "aura" and/or your countenance, and they'll think you are a mystic or have supernatural powers - - and you do! When you're a Believer, you have the Holy Spirit in you, and He (not you) works miracles for HIS glory, not yours.

    I told the woman that I appreciated her awareness that there was something very different about me. I know there is. People often tell me that I seem very confident or look like I know where I'm going and what I want. I do.  I am not running under my own steam, however. No. I am born-again. I know the end game. I know the end of the story; it never ends.  Eternity is a very long time; for some, it will be excruciating, but it will be exhilarating for those who have accepted Christ. It will be marvelous.  We have it rough here; some are so much worse than us. The same God of my salvation is also the God of their salvation. HE and HE alone are the reason, the answer, and the solution. Let's talk about what He does and what He expects.

    As I write this, I sit at my computer with my noise-canceling headphones on my head. I've turned the volume up, and I'm listening to a YouTube channel that produces frequency videos. If you've never heard of frequency therapy or if you have heard of it, and think it's of the Devil, think again. God made the world. God made the vibrations. God made the light. God made the sounds. God made the energy; God made it, not anything or anyone else. Man has a way of taking what God has done and then worshiping the thing. Don't do that. Don't worship the Cross. Worship the One who died for you on that cross. You don't see people worshiping other forms of death and destruction. You just see people go way overboard with the emblem that held the lifeless body of the One who rose from the grave. There's a reason for that; people KNOW Jesus is different. He is.

    Sound and sound waves are perfectly created. They add to and literally create new things. God spoke, and the universe came into existence. What sort of frequency do you think that would have taken? If He did it then, believe He has the same voice now. HE and He alone is to be given credit for all goodness. I listen to the frequency of 4444 hz quite often as it has been proven to be a tone and vibrational frequency which causes cells to heal. One cannot deny that certain drum beats cause a person to dance when perhaps they hadn't thought of dancing. You hear a tone, sound, or vibration and are either drawn to or repelled by it. It is what it is. We've all seen those scenes in the movies when sound is released, and the human ear can't take it; the people clasp their hands over their ears and shriek in pain. Why is that? Were they hit? No. Sound. It can be very, very powerful. 

    Physicians use frequency therapy for some really delicate situations. Did you know that listening to certain frequencies can rejuvenate certain cells and cause healing of the flesh and internal organs? Other frequencies are used in therapy sessions for those depressed, anxious, upset, fearful, and/or just outright distressed. My good friend has been diagnosed with both anxiety and depression. She has suffered from these conditions since her early childhood. She began listening to videos with 4444hz and others and is calm now. She has reported far fewer episodes, and she's reduced her medication. She, as an RN, didn't even want to take medication but understood their place. My point is I have proof in my own circle that frequency therapy does work. 

    Dogs hear things we can't hear as humans. We accept this knowledge. We also accept that sound has waves, and it does. Sound can be used to see a baby in a woman's belly. Sound can be used to find a tumor. Sounds can be used to call a mate, such as between marine animals. God knew what He was doing. We are NEVER, and I mean NEVER, to confuse God's beauty for a reason to worship any other being than Him. The so-called "New Age" movement isn't new. It's as old as the hills themselves. Satan has been lying from the start; people are too willing to let him speak. Notice I didn't capitalize the "h" at that time? Satan is not my God. Satan doesn't deserve my respect. I will never give him the slightest minute form of praise or glory. If you hear, you hear because of God. If you see, you see because of God. If you breathe, you breathe because of God.

    Let's talk about the Zodiac for a minute. Who do you think made those stars? It wasn't Satan. It wasn't some mystical being. He's very clear about who He is and made them all. The Bible says that each one has its own name. We can't even say that about ourselves here on Earth, as many of us have the same name. How many Stephen Macleods or Michael Jacksons do you think there are worldwide? Each star has its OWN name, and the Bible claims that God knows them all. We as humans have decided to bastardize their existence and set up a means and way to deceive our brothers and sisters into saying things that simply aren't true. We give them false hope, telling them they should act this way or that way to gain peace and prosperity. If people would only unclutter their minds to know the Truth.  God made those stars. He aligned them. He causes them to move and to realign one to another. 

    It is true enough that some attributes of when a person is born under a certain star pattern could, in fact, lead to their personalities being somewhat the same as others who have been born under the same timeframe and/or patterns. After all, frequencies are real. The aligning is real. Frequencies are released upon those beings at that time; depending on the frequencies, there is a result. It's just that you can't say all people born on September 1, 1980, at X time, will have the same skillset, talents, and personality traits. They may be similar. The environment also makes a difference. One man born on that day in Edinburgh, Scotland, will certainly not be the same as one born on the same day in Cairo, Egypt. Environment will shape their experiences. 

    When we are called by God, we are not automatically His. We have to accept Him. When we do, His seal is eternal. This means when WE sin, fail, fall to the wayside, or do things that we know He would not want for us, we are the losers in that we won't be blessed by Him. We are not forgotten; we are not given up by Him. We are not necessarily "punished," but that is HIS choice. He did promise in His Word that if we made or make a promise to Him regarding His work and we don't fulfill our promise, HE will destroy that work. That's not really a punishment, but it is devastating. It can be lifelong. It can be temporary. We have an opportunity to repent. Whether we do or not is that free-will thing we like to cling onto.  In His mercy, He forgives when we return to Him. No questions need to be asked because He already knows.

    Why am I rambling? Simple. I know the truth, and the truth is that we are not our own. We have not been our own since we accepted Him into our souls, asking Him to guide and keep us. He is faithful, even when we fail. He will keep HIS word even when we choose, yes, I said CHOOSE, to be disobedient. He will always be God. We will always NOT be God. These frequencies I listen to are glorious. They are God sent. They are healing. They can also be destructive. Did you know that music has been taken over by Satan, and the recordings of great bands and artists are often infused with beats and frequencies harmful to the system? No, I'm not kidding; you can Google that until they take it down, so you can't. It's a fact. Not all music is this way, and not all people are bad. Some people are direct, like breaking the window out of a car to save a dog.  Other people use a cell phone to call the police and wait. I don't wait.

    I'll finish by saying that the YouTube videos are out there. Spotify sells frequency-type music as well. Find it. It's good for you. If you do nothing else, you can put it on, lay still, and think of God and everything He's given you. Don't forget things like toilets, toilet paper, electricity, air, water, vacuum cleaners, things we often take for granted. EVERYTHING good is from God. Be sure and thank Him for His Son, Jesus too. That's a game-changer right there. 

Photo Credit: Pinterest.com 

Sex, Murder, Cover-Up, Self Defense, Love, Fantasy - - It Has it All.

 My book "Of Kilted Pleasure" is available on Amazon. Here is the URL. I made it smaller so it would fit nicely.  https://tinyurl.com/OfKiltedPleasure  So cute. I wanted the book to cost less than $18.99, but they posted it at $19.99. I don't like that, but there's nothing an author can do about it. We're told to double the cost of the print and add another factor so we make our money. I earn about $2.10 per book at the price they've set it at. I hate that. When it's ready for eBook form, I can place the cost at $5.99 and make the same amount. I'll do that for sure. I want the book out there!! I want people to read it. 

    I'm sitting down with the book now and reading it for myself as if I had never read it before. This seems odd to me, and maybe it does to you as well, but I want to be able to think about seeing the book, buying the book, and just sitting down with it and not knowing what to expect. Of course, I also realize that's impossible since I now only wrote it, but I've read it about a dozen times throughout the editing process.

    The first thing I've come across as a new reader is that the author wanted to capture the reader's attention immediately, and she may have gone a bit overboard on the whole sex thing; then again, not really. I've also read other romance books in the Scottish Highlands, and my book is somewhat tame by comparison! I think I'll write another one but have it taking place in the Scottish Borders just to prove that those living in Hawick, Galashiels, and Kelso can hump, pump, and bump just as well as those on the other side of the country. Geez, that was terrible. I'm so sorry! 

    I will write to as many mental health service companies as possible to let them know about the book because one of my characters deals with anxiety, depression, lower self-esteem, and even isolation issues. He doesn't get over it; he doesn't get cured of it. He works through the individual issues one at a time, and he fights himself over it.  He hurts, lives, and is wounded, but he works through these problems the best he can. He seeks help, asks for help, accepts help, and sometimes he just blows up or takes it all internally. He's a very normal man. I want people to know it's OK not to be OK all the time. We suffer and work hard to make things happen when or if we can. If not, we hurt.

    I'm very blessed in that I've never been one to suffer from any lengthy ordeal dealing with mental health. I've been depressed. I've been anxious. I've been sad and upset with myself, but it only lasts a bit before I pull myself back to my belief system, and through faith, I work through the harder issues that I know I can't handle on my own. God helps me. I'm blessed to have that faith. I want that for others. The book shows a bit of that. I hope they are encouraged when people with mental health issues read the book. I hope to hear from some of them to let them know they found courage or comfort in my chosen words.

    "Of Kilted Pleasure" is more than just a romance novel. It is a historical novel as well. It is a book about life. It is a book about fantasy. It is a book about an escape to another time and another place. It is full of sex, killing, murder, and mayhem, as well as ordinary life, market, church, food, and romance. I wanted to bring it to the forefront of everyone who lives and has thoughts of love and intrigue. The cover-up is a really good one. I think I like that part of the book the best. As a writer, it's never about the murder or the killing but always more about the disposal of the bodies. That's the fun writing. I think I did it justice. 

    Let me know your thoughts, and spread the word that the book is available. I need to sell about 30,000 to get enough money to move to Scotland on a more permanent basis...help me do that, please!! THANK YOU.  (When I get there, I plan to move to either Fife or the Borders and write another book, or three or six).

Photo Credit: Amazon.com 

School Spirits. My Take.

 To be honest, I wasn't going to watch the Paramount+ television mini-series or short-season show "School Spirits." I thought it looked OK, but maybe a bit "high school," and yeah, it is, but I really, really love it. Cabot Grove, Maine, has got nothin' on Split River, Wisconsin, when it comes to murder, death, and mayhem! Whew!  Who knew one school could have so many deaths! Makes me think about the school I attended. Now, if we take the deaths of students, faculty, visitors, and anyone who has ever walked onto the campus, that's one thing, but the ghosts in this show all died at the school; they were not just associated with it. Being AT the school was the reason they couldn't leave the premises.  They had to "thin" out the atmosphere between death and the afterlife in order to move forward. No spoiler alerts here.

    What are my thoughts? Well, they certainly covered the bases with their obligatory races, ages, lifestyles, and such. It does take place in Wisconsin, so there were a few more white people than any other race, but they managed to cast a rainbow of shades for the main characters. Speaking of rainbows, they had the obligatory gay guy as well. At least they weren't too brutal with that; they handled it well enough. I suppose next season will have to have a few religious nuts, a few right-wingers, and extreme conservatives to even out their diversity package, but they did OK. 

    It's really hard to watch television these days because the writers are so focused on hitting every minority, every special group, and every diverse token that they can't always pull the plot altogether. Spirits did a great job. I really like it. I wasn't stupid enough to try and figure out who killed the main character. It was obvious they wanted to keep that under wraps. It was equally obvious that they would spotlight one character, then the next, to keep you thinking it was that one or this one, and you were fooled...nope, not really. It was good, but it was also predictable. It's good fun, and I liked it. 

    I watched all 8 shows, one right after the other. I didn't mean to do that, but I had nothing else to do this afternoon and evening, so it was a dedicated binge.  The one thing that kept my attention was the different years and/or decades when these people died. There were two from 1958, one from 1962, another from 1972, and another from 1984.  Then, there was also the kid from the 90s, but he never really said which year he died. I was surprised that the characters didn't pull out the annuals and look themselves up and laugh about their various contributions or lack thereof, but maybe they'll do that in Season Two.  I hope so.

    So, the writers killed off a few students, one teacher, and I think that's it, maybe another staffer here or there, all in the same school! Some were murdered. At least two girls were murdered during their senior year.  I was TERMINATED as a teacher because I had written a blog about killing a teacher as a fictional story. The character in the story was an 8th grader when she (the narrator) killed her 8th grade Science teacher, then reburies her 40  years later when the district decides to revamp the stadium.  I lost my job over writing a FICTION story!!  I guess I should have sold the rights to Hollywood instead of just self-publishing. LOL.  No worries. I didn't need that job. Teaching these days can drive someone to do worse than write about murder. (I didn't actually lose my job in the end. The district decided to pay me throughout the contract but didn't renew me for the next semester. That's how they get out of being sued for more.) 

    The only School Spirit you'll find these days will be haunting the halls of the institutions; no one wants to be a supporter these days. When I last taught, I was at a very crowded school that certainly had enough kids to make a football roster, but they couldn't recruit to save their lives. They only had 24 students sign up to play, and only 10-12 would show up for practice or games. They had cheerleaders who wouldn't show up for games and claim their parents couldn't get them to the school to take the bus or they wouldn't pick them back up afterward. Can you imagine? At that point, you scrub all the athletics and focus on the core classes, maybe throw in a few electives, and be done with it. Stop spinning your wheels and wasting money that could go to a better educational program or two.

    I love the show. I do.  I thought it would be cheesy or uncast. It was great. I'm actually looking forward to the next season. I don't know when it will be or what to expect, but my thoughts are that it's a good show. They might want to think twice about their cheer squad if they want to be realistic. Have you seen what the cheerleaders are doing these days? I'm gobsmacked! I mean, I am literally amazed at what I see coming out on TikTok and other media outlets with the competitive cheer these days.  Maybe Paramount+ will beef it up a bit for ratings. The only thing I find really hard to take about the School Spirit series is that the "ghosts" are unable to cross over to their eternal rest because they have unfinished business. It's not Biblical, but it is fun. Slippery slope. (And there are two ghosts who never speak. I HATE it when extras just sit there and don't say anything. They look so awkward. Give them lines!)

    

Photo Credit: Hollywoodnorthbuzz.com