Sarah Ettritch's Blog, page 3

Writing Plans Gone Awry

I think I’ll stop saying I’m going to focus on shorter work. After declaring this year would be the year, I’ve done nothing but work on novels. Part of the problem is time. When 2017 rolled around, I was still writing the second volume of the Daros Chronicles and preparing a standalone science fiction novel to go to a developmental editor.

If that wasn’t enough, I also published The Voice in My Head in February, and I’m in the midst of publishing the first seven installments of the Daros Chronicles as one volume. Then there’s the Deiform Fellowship Five. I’m writing that now.

In hindsight, I have to wonder how I thought I’d also have the time to write shorter work. Perhaps once I’ve cleared my publishing backlog, it’ll happen, but I think the process that works best for me is to write what’s grabbing me. If it ain’t a short story, it ain’t a short story.

If all goes to plan, I’ll release three novels this year (though Daros Volume One will consist of previously released material). I know some authors can write a novel every month or two, but as I’ve said previously, I’m not one of them. A short story and three novels will be a pretty good year for me, and I’ll also finish the first draft of Deiform Five before the end of the year.

It won’t help that we’re having work done in our backyard while the weather is nice. My writing space overlooks the yard, and in about two weeks, workmen will be just below the window, demolishing our rotting deck and working on the back wall of our foundation. Then they’ll build us a new deck. The guy leading the team likes to get an early start, so he’ll be on-site at 7:00 a.m. My best writing time is in the morning. If it’s too noisy, I’ll try writing somewhere else, but our laptop doesn’t have Word. I’ll see how it goes.

Once the deck is rebuilt, we won’t have any more raccoon visitors. The bottom of the deck will be fully enclosed.

I’m hoping it won’t be so noisy that I won’t be able to edit Daros Two and continue working on publishing Daros One. Those activities use a different part of my brain and don’t require as much concentration as writing a first draft.

So yeah, short stories won’t be happening anytime soon. I can’t force them, but they’ll occasionally happen naturally, as The Perfect Christmas Gift and The Voice in My Head did last year.

Talking about the Daros Chronicles, I had to decide whether to chunk the first volume up into traditional chapters, or keep it as seven installments, meaning it would go out like the Rymellan Series did. No chapters, but stories. I’ve decided to go with the latter.

I want Daros Two to go out the same way. I’ve split it into seven stories, to match the first. Here are the (tentative) titles I’ve assigned to each story:

Caged and Free
Friends Reunited
Uneasy Alliances
Snakes and Sycophants
The Road to Darroth
Some Live, Some Die
Unforeseen Choices

I’ve titled Volume One Pawns and Puzzles, and Volume Two Fate or Folly.

I’m not sure when Volume One will go out, since it will depend on when I can get a cover done, which I haven’t scheduled yet. I want to finish typesetting the print version before I do that.

I’ll be removing the individual installments from sale, so if you started reading the Chronicles and then put it aside, intending to go back to it later, you’ll want to pick up the remaining installments soon. I’ll take them down about a week before I upload Volume One.

I’m focusing on Daros One and Two, and then I’ll go back to the sci-fi project (I have some revising to do, but not tons). Barring any curve balls from life, all three books should be available by the end of the year.

Have a great weekend! 

Smashwords, Pen Names, Dumb Characters

One of those mixed bag posts today. First off…

It’s Read an eBook Week at Smashwords, which means deep discounts on books. The following discounts are available on my books:

Threaded Through Time (Book One): 50% off

The first three books in the Deiform Fellowship Series: 75% off

The first two books in the Rymellan Series: 75% off.

To get the discount, click on the book you’re interested in from my profile page and use the coupon code on the book page at checkout.

Pen Names

I’d mentioned in an earlier post that I planned to release my upcoming standalone science fiction novel, which is now with the editor, under a pen name, because it has a straight main character. I’ve changed my mind. I’ve given it more thought and concluded that it wouldn’t make sense.

Here’s the thing. If I was going to release any work under a pen name,  I should have done so already. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I can see that my work tends to fall into two buckets: serious, and not so serious. A difference in tone is more important, in my opinion, than the sexual orientation of the main character.

You may disagree with me, but I consider the Rymellan Series, The Salbine Sisters, The Deiform Fellowship Series, and the Daros Chronicles to be serious in tone. I see The Missing Comatose Woman, Threaded Through Time, The Perfect Christmas Gift, and The Voice in My Head as not so serious. I should have written one of those buckets using a pen name, but oh well.

Yes, the upcoming science fiction novel (tentatively titled Their Last Hope) has a straight main character, but she’s a strong female character, and the story is quintessential me. It also has a lesbian POV character who’s key to the story, but as I said earlier, it’s not her story. Still, readers who’ve enjoyed books in my serious bucket should like Their Last Hope, and vice versa. So, no pen name. But hey, I reserve the right to change my mind again.

The Voice in My Head (lesbian sci-fi romance) is Available

The Voice in My Head, a lesbian sci-fi romance, is now available at all the usual online bookstores. Here are the details:

The Voice in My Head

Author: Sarah Ettritch
Genres: Lesbian Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction

When Izzy’s virtual assistant implant experiences a catastrophic failure, she receives a new implant with a unique personality and falls in love with the voice in her head.




About the Book

When Izzy’s virtual assistant implant experiences a catastrophic failure, she receives a new implant with a unique personality. Chloe, as Izzy dubs her, is wonderfully supportive and helpful. Despite knowing that Chloe isn’t a real person, Izzy falls in love with the voice in her head. Can a relationship with an AI be as meaningful as one with a person? Is Izzy destined for heartbreak?

The Voice in My Head is a lesbian sci-fi romance. It’s approximately 14,000 words long.

In the announcement I sent to my mailing list, I revealed what I’m working on and what’s coming up. Here’s a brief recap:

I’ve finished the first draft of Daros Chronicles Volume 2 and am now revising it
The standalone science fiction novel I’ve mentioned will go to my editor next week
I’ll start the Deiform Fellowship Five and a standalone science fiction thriller next week

Beta Readers

I also mentioned that I’m looking for beta readers. If you’ve read and enjoyed at least one of my books and you’re interested in reading for me, drop me a line using the form on the contact page.

Have a great weekend!

Coming Up for Air

I haven’t posted in a while, so I thought I’d stop writing fiction for a minute and say, “Boo.” In addition to writing, I’ve also been watching the news with my mouth hanging open. We were on the verge of cutting our cable. We’d bought an indoor antenna, hooked it up, and could get several local channels decently (in HD). But no 24-hour news stations. They’re all pay-to-watch.

We couldn’t bring ourselves to cut the cable, not now. There’s just too much going on. But we downgraded to the cheapest package, and we’re paying a few extra bucks a month for the news stations (unfortunately we can’t just select the channels we want).

Which leads to…kittens!

Because no matter how crazy the world is, kittens make us feel better!

Anyway, I’ve almost finished the first draft of Daros Volume 2. I have four scenes to go, so I’ll comfortably make my end of February deadline. It’s longer than I expected, but I’ll have some major revising to do, so it could end up shorter (or longer still).

I’ll also finish the audio edit of the standalone science fiction novel today. It will go to the editor in three weeks.

Also, I’d mentioned that I’d submitted The Voice in My Head, a lesbian sci-fi romance, to a mainstream anthology. It wasn’t accepted, which didn’t surprise me because I knew it was a long shot. But in the absence of any other prospects, I figured there was nothing to lose.

The editor said they’ll be doing genre-specific anthologies in the future, including an LGBT one. But they’ve already announced the next one—horror—and it could be months, even years, before they get to LGBT, and there would be no guarantee that my story would be accepted.

Since it’s a novelette (almost 14,000 words), it’s too long for most anthologies. I’ve kept my eye out for lesbian fiction submission calls and have seen a few new ones, but either the story isn’t a match for the theme, or it’s too long. For example, here’s one from Sapphire Books asking for stories about long distance relationships (see the Anthology Call section). My story doesn’t fit the theme, but even if it did, it would be too long. Most anthology calls want stories between 1,500 – 8,000 words.

So what to do? Wait and keep checking submission calls, or go ahead and publish it? I’ve decided to do the latter. I want to get the story off my mental queue (and it’s a good story!). I’m currently formatting it for publication, and I expect to release it by the end of the month.

That’s it. Just wanted to poke my head up for air.

Have a good weekend!  

My Writing Plans for 2017

Happy New Year! I hope this year turns out to be a fabulous one for you. Let’s hope it’s kinder to celebrities.

I decided to post my annual writing plans on New Year’s Day, rather than waiting for Friday. Not too long ago, I posted a “state of my writing world” type post. A couple of things have changed since then. If you’re in a hurry, there’s a summary at the bottom of the post.

Publishing Shut Downs

You may or may not have heard, but Torquere Press has folded. Torquere was an LGBT publisher that had been around for a while. It published Like Water and Water, the story I wrote for a lesbian zodiac series that Lara Zielinsky organized. When the rights reverted back to me, I republished it, but I removed it from sale last year (in 2016!). It made money for me, but it didn’t fit my brand.

Unfortunately for authors who still had books with Torquere, the publisher couldn’t afford to pay any outstanding royalties, but it’s reverting all rights to the authors.

Also, in a shock move just at the end of 2016, All Romance Books shut down. All Romance Books was an eBook store that had been around since 2006. A few of my books were available there, but I didn’t sell many copies. Its most popular genres were m/m fiction and hot romance.

Not much notice was given to authors and readers. Authors were asked to accept a settlement of $0.10 on every dollar. In other words, if All Romance owed an author $1000, they would pay the author $100. Readers were given 4 days to download their purchased eBooks.

Since both authors and readers were stampeding to the site—readers to download their books, and authors to take down their books—many people couldn’t access the site. Also, many authors weren’t just deactivating their books, but deleting the files, meaning that readers could no longer download them. We were deactivating our books because they were still for sale, even though the owner had said she couldn’t pay the authors what they were owed.

It was chaos, caused by the abrupt announcement and the short time frame given to everyone.

Why am I telling you about this? To set the stage for changes I’ll make this year. I’ve mentioned before that it’s getting tougher out there in the eBook publishing world. Supply is outstripping demand, and we’re starting to see the results.

My Writing Plans for 2017

In a previous year or two, I’ve said that I want to write more short work, but it hasn’t turned out that way. This year will be the year. In 2017, I’ll be dedicating half my writing time to short stories.

I’ll decide what to do with each story on a case by case basis. Some I’ll submit to short story markets or anthologies. Some I’ll publish myself. Some won’t go anywhere, for whatever reason. Because I’ll submit many of them, I have no idea how many will see the light of day in 2017.

As far as publishing them myself goes, if a story is long enough, I’ll publish it standalone. If not, I’ll bundle stories together into collections.

I’m making this change for a few reasons:

I enjoy writing short work
I have lots of ideas that are suitable for short stories
I want to diversify how I get my stories out there. With so many books being released every month, it’s tougher to sell books, especially when you don’t write in the blockbuster genre: romance.

Dedicating half my writing time to shorts means that my previous plan has changed.

My Publishing Plans for 2017

I’ll publish two novels in 2017: a standalone science fiction novel, and Daros Chronicles Volume 2 (I’ll also publish the first seven Daros installments as a single volume, but since it’s already-existing stuff, I’m not counting it).

In a previous post, I said that I’d publish the Deiform Fellowship Five in 2017. That’s changed. My goal now is to complete the first draft by the end of 2017.

In the same post, I said that I hoped to finish the first draft of Daros Chronicles Volume 2 by mid-January. I’ll now be targeting the end of February. It’s going well. I have the story mapped out to the end, so it’s just a matter of getting the words down.

I’d be further along, but I had to take a writing break in December. I needed to replenish my creative well. Since I’m writing more words per day, I’m drawing from the well at a faster rate. I think I’ll take a day or two off every month to give the well time to refresh itself. If it dries out, I have to take a week or two off.

I listen to Harper Bliss’s podcast, and at the beginning of 2016, she set herself a goal of writing a novel a month. It was going okay for the first few months, and then she hit the wall and had to take a few weeks off. Same problem – the well was dry. I don’t think she’s trying for a novel a month anymore. She realized that her well couldn’t sustain it.

Using a Pen Name

For the first time, I’ll publish a story under a pen name. The science fiction novel will not go out under my own name. It has a straight main character. There’s a strong lesbian secondary character, but it’s not her story.

To avoid confusion for readers, I’ll use my own name when a story has a lesbian main character, and the pen name when it doesn’t. I’ll reveal the pen name once I know for sure what it is. I had to discard the first few names I tried, because other authors were already publishing under the names at Amazon. By the time I get around to publishing the novel, the name I want to use may be taken.

The science fiction story has my voice, my style, my focus on character, etc. If you read mainstream fiction and you’ve enjoyed my other work, then you’ll likely enjoy this novel. If you only like to read stories with lesbian main characters, then you’ll want to skip this one. Part of the reason I’ll use a pen name is so that readers who only want to read lesbian fiction won’t inadvertently buy one of my mainstream books.

The same will apply to short stories. The name I use will depend on the sexual orientation of the main character(s).

In the previous post, I said that I’d be working with a developmental editor on the first 20 pages of the story. That happened in December. I enjoyed the experience so much that I’ve booked her for the entire novel. She’ll work on it in the beginning of March. I can’t say for sure when I’ll publish it. It will depend on how much revision is required. But I’m hoping to get it out there by the end of June.

Right now, I expect the Daros Chronicles (1 and 2) to be available around August.

The Voice in My Head

In the previous post, I mentioned that I’d written a lesbian sci-fi romance and was looking for somewhere to submit it. It’s currently out on submission, to a mainstream anthology. If it’s rejected, I’ll keep looking for a lesbian anthology. Bottom line: I have no idea when this will be available.

Ongoing Craft Development

I continuously read craft books and take the occasional workshop. This year I’ve already enrolled in a class about TV script writing, taught by Shonda Rhimes (who writes Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy, and How to Get Away With Murder). When I found out about it, I was like, “Take my money already!” I’m not interested in writing TV scripts (though you never know; that would be another way to diversify), but I like to learn from all sorts of writers. I’ve definitely been influenced by some TV writers, especially when it comes to writing 3D characters. The class takes place in the spring. I can’t wait.

I also have several craft books queued up for reading.

Fiction Reading

I wasn’t happy with the amount of fiction I read last year. I believe that writers must read, and while I certainly did read, I want to read more. Funnily enough, a writer I admire said the same thing in her “end of 2016” post. She’s also an indie author. It takes a lot of time to write, edit, work with editors and cover designers, format books, proofread, promote, etc. It’s easy for reading to be squeezed out. I believe so strongly that writers must read, that if I have to take time away from writing to read more fiction, I will. But I’m hoping it won’t come to that.

I just finished a good book (Homeland: Saul’s Game by Andrew Kaplan) and I’ll be starting my next book today. I’ll also be reading a lot of shorts.

That’s it for my plans for 2017. I’m excited about the stories I’ll write, release, and submit this year.

As always, this plan is subject to change. I may be hit by a lightning bolt and feel compelled to write a new idea right now! At the beginning of last year, I wasn’t planning to write The Perfect Christmas Gift or The Voice in My Head. We’ll see how things turn out this year. As John Lennon said, life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans.

Summary

I’ll dedicate half my writing time to short stories, which I’ll submit to markets and/or publish myself. Because of that, I don’t know how many will be available in 2017.
I’ll publish two novels: a standalone science fiction novel under a pen name, and Daros Chronicles Volume 2 (also Daros Chronicles Volume 1, but that’s not new)
I’ll finish the first draft of the Deiform Fellowship Five by the end of 2017
I’ll read more fiction
I’ll work on my craft, as always

My Writing Plans for 2017 is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

Hootenanny Giveaway at Women and Words

Women and Words is holding its annual Hootenanny, which takes place over the 12 days before Christmas. Every day there are books and swag to be won. To enter the draw, you just have to leave a comment (you have to do it on each day’s post).

I contributed three eBooks to the pot, and today THE ATHEIST is one of the books up for grabs. Go here to enter the draw: Hootennanny, Day 2

At some point, a copy of THE SALBINE SISTERS and THE MISSING COMATOSE WOMAN will be up for grabs. There are tons of authors participating, so even if you’ve read all my books or aren’t interested in what I’m offering, there’s bound to be something else you’ll want to win.

Make sure to check back every day.  

The Perfect Christmas Gift is Out!

Earlier this week I released The Perfect Christmas Gift. I uploaded the files to the bookstores on Monday, figuring nothing unexpected would happen the next day. Boy, was I wrong! If I’d known, I might have waited a few days to release the book, but hindsight is 20/20. Given the week’s events, if you’re in the mood for a light-hearted story, The Perfect Christmas Gift fits the bill.

The Perfect Christmas Gift

Author: Sarah Ettritch
Genres: Lesbian Fiction, Mystery

Lily was nineteen years old when she arranged to meet Clara and run away with her. But Clara didn’t show up, breaking Lily’s heart. Now Lily is seventy-six years old, and she still thinks about Clara every day. One of her friends wants to find Clara as a Christmas gift for Lily, and she knows the perfect PI for the job: her granddaughter, Casey Cook.


Overview

Lily was nineteen years old when she arranged to meet Clara and run away with her. But Clara didn’t show up, breaking Lily’s heart. Now Lily is seventy-six years old, and she still thinks about Clara every day. One of her friends wants to find Clara as a Christmas gift for Lily, and she knows the perfect PI for the job: her granddaughter, Casey Cook.

When Gran hires her to find Clara, Casey is thrilled. Now she’ll be able to buy Emily, her girlfriend of six months, the perfect gift for their first Christmas together. But despite how well things are going between them, Emily hasn’t given Casey a key to her apartment. When Casey raises the subject, Emily refuses to discuss it with her.

Will the holiday season be a happy one for Casey? Will she find Clara in time for Christmas?

The Perfect Christmas Gift is a short Christmas cozy mystery featuring lesbian PI Casey Cook. It’s approximately 14,000 words long.

The Perfect Christmas Gift is Out! is a post from: Sarah Ettritch

I’m Going to be Obnoxious

I mentioned a few posts ago that I’d doubled, and sometimes tripled, the amount of words I write each day. I’ve kept it up, and as a result, I’m completing more stories. I’ll release a new one next week.

The Perfect Christmas Gift

The Perfect Christmas Gift is a Christmas story featuring characters from one of my published novels. Christmas is still a ways away, so I’ll feel a little obnoxious releasing it next week, but this is around the time of year that holiday stories start to hit the virtual bookshelves.

When the idea for the story came to me, I thought, “This would be a good fit for Casey Cook.” Casey is the lesbian PI I introduced in The Missing Comatose Woman.

In the story, we’ll catch up with Casey, Gran, and Emily. The tone is the same as it was for The Missing Comatose Woman: light and fluffy. It’s a novelette that’s approximately 14,000 words long. If you’re on my new releases list, expect an email when it releases next week.

The Voice in My Head

I’ve also completed a lesbian sci-fi romance called The Voice in My Head. It’s about the same length as The Perfect Christmas Gift. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it yet. I’ve been keeping my eye on submission calls for anthologies, but I’d place this story more in the lesbian fiction category than I would in the science fiction category. All the lesbian calls I’ve seen so far want erotica, but new ones pop up all the time. It will come down to how long I want to hang on to the story. If I haven’t seen anything that would be a good fit by this time next month, I’ll reassess. I suspect I’ll end up releasing it myself, but you never know.

Untitled Science Fiction Novel

I’ve finished the first draft of the standalone science fiction novel that I mentioned a few posts ago, but I haven’t had time to edit it yet. This is a new situation for me–having work backed up, waiting to be edited. But I like it. It means I’m writing at a good pace and completing stories, which wasn’t the case in 2015.

For the first time, I’m going to work with a developmental editor on the first 20 pages of the novel. I haven’t worked with a developmental editor before, because they’re expensive. This editor will work on partial manuscripts, which isn’t so expensive. I’m booked with her for December, so once I’ve published The Perfect Christmas Gift, I’ll focus on editing this novel, which is about 60,000 words long. I’ll release it sometime in 2017.

Daros Chronicles, Volume Two

I’m writing this now, and I’d say I’m about a third of the way through the first draft, which is pretty good, considering I only started it in the second week of October. It won’t be as long as the first volume. I believe the sum of the first seven installments came out to around 110,000 words. I think the second volume will be about 80,000 words. I hope to finish the first draft by the end of the year, but because of the holidays, it might be mid-January.

The Deiform Fellowship Five

Once I’ve finished the second volume of the Daros Chronicles, I’ll start this one. I was intending to start it in the summer (2016), but then I decided to write the second volume of the Daros Chronicles in one shot and wanted to do that first. Because I’m writing much more these days, I’ll end up finishing Deiform Five around the time I’d originally envisioned, even though I’ll start it six months later than I’d planned. I should be able to release it toward the end of 2017.

Other Stories

I enjoy writing shorter stories like The Perfect Christmas Gift and The Voice in My Head. I wrote the entire Rymellan Series, and the first volume of the Daros Chronicles, as shorter pieces. Given that, I’ll continue to write short stories and novelettes as I’m writing longer work. I have lots of ideas, so I can see myself releasing a shorter work every couple of months.

Barring any surprises, I think 2017 could turn out to be my most prolific year yet.

Thanks for reading!  

Writing in Action: Watch Me Write

Earlier this week, I recorded myself writing part of a scene from the Daros Chronicles, Volume 2. In one of the many author groups I belong to, an author had mentioned that he sometimes records himself writing and posts the video to YouTube. By recording, we mean recording what’s on our screen, not filming ourselves sitting at our desks, which I’m sure would be riveting.  

My Non-TIFF Roundup for 2016

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you’ll know that around this time every year, I usually post a roundup of the films we saw at the Toronto Film Festival. I won’t be doing that this year, because we didn’t go.

For the past few years, we’ve hummed and hawed about whether to buy tickets. They’re expensive. We always bought one of the choice packages that allowed us to choose a certain number of films (galas not included – there’s another package for that). The ticket prices worked out to about $20/ticket, and the prices were increasing for 2016. For comparison, a ticket to a regular old movie in a regular old movie theatre costs about $13.

What were we getting at TIFF that had us paying premium prices to see movies? Well, sometimes the stars would show up and participate in a Q&A after the film. Over the years, we saw many stars. The one who surprised me the most was Colin Farrell. He came across as way more intelligent and thoughtful than I would have expected based on what I’d read about him in the media. We also saw Kevin Spacey, Ian McKellen, Sigourney Weaver, Colin Firth, and many others.

Last year, we didn’t see anybody. The year before that, we only saw the director of a niche documentary. She was interesting, but we’re shallow! We wanted to see the stars.

You may have seen coverage of the film fest and be thinking, “But there are stars all over the place.” Most of them show up for the galas, which are red-carpet affairs and the first time a movie is shown at the fest. There’s always a second (and sometimes third) showing that takes place later in the fest, that’s just a normal showing. Those are the ones our ticket package covered. In the past, when the second showing took place the day or two after the gala showing, there was a good chance that one or more of the stars would show up. But that doesn’t seem to happen much anymore.

Another thing we liked about the film fest was that it gave us the chance to see movies that we might not be able to see otherwise, including Canadian movies, which often don’t get a wide release here. But things have changed. We now have access to tons of movies and documentaries from Canada and all over the world for only $9.99/month. Netflix is a remote button push away, and we can watch the films whenever we want, from the comfort of our own home. No need to take a crowded subway or circle a block looking for a place to park. No long lineups. No tall people sitting right in front of me and blocking half the screen with their heads (we stopped choosing films with subtitles because one year a tall guy sat right in front of me, and I spent the entire movie moving my head from side to side so I could read the subtitles, which were along the bottom of the screen).

So, no stars, and a reasonably-priced way to watch as many quiet and indie films, and foreign content, as we want (and conveniently, too!).  We started to ask ourselves why we would continue to pay $20 a ticket to essentially go see a movie. If there’s nothing special about the experience, why pay a premium?

In late January (or early February–can’t remember), we went to see the latest Star Wars film. We wanted to see it in the theatre, and we decided to wait until the rush was over, when the theatre would be less crowded. Jen suggested seeing it in a VIP theatre that’s near us. We’d never gone to one before. Tickets are $20, but it’s a small theatre, the films are shown in 3D (if available), and only those 18+ are allowed in. We went to try it out, and we loved it.

Seeing the film in 3D, with X-wings flying over our heads, was great! But regular movie theatres offer 3D, too. What we loved about the VIP experience was the seats. They were plush reclining seats, and they’re clearly designed for couples. There was an arm between us, but we could lift it out of the way, and we did. Also, they serve meals and alcohol in the theatre, not while the movie is playing, but you can do dinner and a movie in the theatre (you have to pay for any food and drink). The one we went to only seated around 30 people in total. There was only one other couple there, and the moment the lights went down, we forgot about them. We were so comfortable, we could have been in our own living room.

The experience was worth every penny, and we’re going to see the rest of the Star Wars films at the same place. A premium price should deliver a premium experience, and the VIP theatre did.

On Cyber Monday back in November, we finally traded in our old tube-style TV for a Smart TV that we got at a great price. We’re getting tons of use out of the TV and our Netflix subscription. We’ve watched more TV together since November than we had for the past 15 years. It’s great being able to settle on the sofa with snacks and drinks and choose whatever strikes our fancy. And the TV we bought…it didn’t cost us much more than we would have paid to go to TIFF this year, and it’s entertaining us year round.

For die-hard film buffs, TIFF is a must event. But we’re only casual film buffs. We might go again at some point, but for now, we’re getting much better bang for our entertainment buck elsewhere.

My Non-TIFF Roundup for 2016 is a post from: Sarah Ettritch