Victoria Zigler's Blog: Zigler News, page 67

#MondayMotivation, #Inspiration, And #Wisdom - #Hygge #Quotes For May 20th 2019

Ah! There is nothing like staying at home, for real comfort.
~Jane Austen

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing!
~George Bernard Shaw

Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you’ve got to make yourself.
~Alice Walker

Life is about accepting the challenges along the way, choosing to keep moving forward, and savoring the journey.
~Roy Bennett

Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to look like and enjoying it for everything that it is.
~Mandy Hale

There is only one success – to spend your life in your own way.
~Christopher Morley

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.
~Anna Quindlen

#FurkidFriday: Joshua The #Degu Reminds You To Keep Your #Pets Cool And Safe

Hi everyone. This is Joshua the degu.



The weather is starting to get warmer. At least, some days it is. Anyway, you know what that means, right?

Yes. It's time for your yearly reminder that you're the one responsible for keeping your non-human family member(s) - whether they're a cat, dog, bird, degu, chinchilla, fish, or whatever - cool during the hot weather.

Some animals tolerate heat better than others, so you need to be aware of the kinds of temperatures the ones you're responsible for prefer. If you're not sure, ask your vet. If they're not sure, you should probably get a new vet. Just saying.

The basics though are to make sure they have a cool and shady place to rest in, and plenty of fresh cool water.

If you're ever concerned about your pet's health, seek medical advice as quickly as possible. If they seem unwell, or you think they're suffering from heat stroke, get them to a vet immediately. Acting quickly could potentially save their lives.

Just bear that in mind, especially now the warmer weather is starting to show up, OK?

Squeak soon,
Joshua

#AmReading + #AmWatching - May 16th 2019 #Reviews

It's time to take a look at what I've been reading and watching during this past week.

If you want to know more about the book, or the author, click on whichever it is you want to learn more about, and it will take you to the appropriate page on Goodreads. Clicking on my rating should take you to my actual Goodreads review for the book in question. Please bear in mind that the format I've reviewed on Goodreads may not be the format I actually read.

Alternatively, if it's a movie or TV show you want to know more about, just click on the title to go to a page where you can find out more details about the movie or TV show in question; the title links will usually take you to a page on IMDB.

Don't forget: I read and watch things across multiple genres, as well as for different age ranges, so you should always check before reading or viewing, to make certain something is suitable for the intended audience, especially when children are involved.

OK...

Here's what I read this week:

Loyalty by Charles E. Yallowitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an excellent read, with a fantastic cast of characters. The worldbuilding is wonderful, and the pacing is perfect. If you enjoy reading stories featuring vampire characters, and don't mind those vampires not being your usual stereotypical vampire, you should read this book.

Lost by Charles E. Yallowitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The introduction of Lost, and the chaos she causes, made this an even better read for me than the first book was. She's a great character, and not knowing what she might do next brings an extra level of unpredictability - and often humour - to the plot. That's not to say that Lost is the only good thing about the book, because she isn't. As with the previous book in the series, there's a great cast of well-rounded characters, the plot is action-packed and moves at a nice pace, and the descriptions and worldbuilding are fantastic. It's just that the scenes with Lost in them were generally my favourites in this book.

Rivalry by Charles E. Yallowitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an excellent addition to the series, with some fantastic character development, and plenty of action. As with the previous books in the series, the author does a wonderful job with worldbuilding and descriptions, helping you to easily become absorbed in the book. As I said when reviewing the earlier books in the series: if you enjoy fantasy with vampire characters, you should check this one out, especially if you enjoy reading about vampires who differ from the stereotypical vampire.

Sunday Morning by Rachel Poli
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a fantastic collection of stories, which would be perfect as quick reads while enjoying a few minutes peace with a cup of your favourite beverage. Or you could just do what I did, and devour them all within a 24 hour period. Either way, you'll find an excellent selection of beautifully written tales, with fascinating plots, and well-rounded characters, some of which leave more up to your own imagination than others, but all of which make for great reads.

As for what I've been watching:

I watched three DVDs this week: disks five and six of season 9 of NCIS, and disk one of season 10 of NCIS.

I haven't watched any movies lately - new to me or otherwise. Once I finish catching up with what I have on DVD of NCIS - which I've almost done, since I only have the first 10 seasons on DVD at the moment (they're on season 16 on TV) - I'll have to see what movies are waiting for me among those in my to-watch pile. I know there are several, though many are ones I've seen at some point in the past, just not watched my DVD copies of.

#WriterWednesday - May 15th 2019

Why do we procrastinate? psychologists explain one possible reason. If you've been procrastinating, is that your reason? If so, perhaps some mindfulness or meditation exercises might help you with those negative emotions? Or, just write, and try to just focus on doing that. If you go with that option though, you might need to face those emotions eventually, if you keep procrastinating. Just saying.

On a similar note, here's a possible way to keep writing even when life gets in the way. Bear in mind though that you don't have to write every day - but you should do this. In other words, it's OK to take days off, as long as you're writing consistently.

By the way, is it mysteries you write? If so, you might want to check out these posts on the elements of a mystery novel.

No matter what you write, you might want to take a look at this post on how fiction writers can engineer the exotic from the everyday, which might help you use your every day experiences to bring your future stories to life.

Regardless of what your story is about, here are some tips on handling backstory in the dialogue of your opening pages, in case you could use some help with that, as well as some advice on how novelists can say more with less.

I've got a basic scene checklist you might want to make use of too. Plus, here's the final part of the series we've been following about that hero's journey monomyth thingie (links to the earlier parts of it are in the post I just linked to if you missed those). WARNING: that last post contains spoilers for several popular books and movies.

Next, here are some superb ways to end a story.

Remember: nobody is perfect. You're going to mess up, and that's ok. As long as you learn from your mistakes.


Finally, no matter where you are on your personal writing journey, be proud to be a writer.

#Ocean Views, #Spring Cleaning, And Medical Mutterings

The photos at the top of this post were taken on May 5th. It was a sunny day, though pretty cold. Not as cold as they predicted it would be though, and certainly a much clearer day. They predicted rain, but it was so clear you could see the cliffs looking towards the direction Brighton is in. I'm not entirely certain what cliffs they are, though I'm told they're Brighton's cliffs. They're either those, or some near Eastbourne. Like I said, I'm not entirely certain. Either way, like with the hint of a view of France, they're something you can only see from where we are on a clear day, and it was one of those days, so here are a couple of shots of them.



As I said, though it was a clear and sunny day, it was quite cold. Nobody seemed bothered by the cold though, and there were a lot of people along the seafront that day, as well as people and coast guards out on boats.



The stormy weather they'd predicted for the weekend showed up a couple of days later, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. It's alternated between being sunny and stormy since. The weather just can't make its mind up.

Anyway...

In other news: we've been doing some Spring cleaning. We don't usually bother, but things got a bit behind in that department with me in and out of hospital all the time, and not feeling well when I was home. So, now that I'm doing better, we thought we'd do a thorough clean to get things all caught back up again. Up to, and including, removing all the small appliances from the kitchen counters to clean behind and under them, moving the sofa to vaccume under it, etc. Some areas are still a little disorganized, because we don't have all the extra shelving we need to get yet, but we did what we could.

Anyway, it turns out it's not the hospital they want me to go to to be sedated for those teeth to be dealt with, but the dental part of the health centre where our doctor surgery is located. Also, I'm glad she put the temporary fillings in, because there has to be a pre-procedure consultation first, apparently. Naturally, because nothing ever gets done quickly in this country, they can't fit me in for that until the end of the month. Well, they had a slot on May 22nd, but it was at stupid o'clock. Well, just after 8:00am, but the point is I'd have been lucky to be able to get there that early, didn't want to risk not making it in time for my appointment, and would have had to get up at stupid o'clock to try. So I have to wait until May 29th, when I have an appointment at 10:15 am, which is a more reasonable time. I'm not sure how long after that it will be before they do the actual dental work, but I'm hoping not long.

I was hoping to have it all over with before the end of May, because we have something happening in June, and I wanted to be able to focus on that. No. I'm not telling you what it is. Not yet anyhow. I will soon though. Me likely not having anything actually done until June won't be a problem. I just wanted it all out of the way. Oh well, can't be helped.

#MondayMotivation, #Inspiration, And #Wisdom - #Quotes For May 13th 2019

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.
~Rainer Maria Rilke

May you embrace this day, not just as any old day, but as this day. Your day. Held in trust by you, in a singular place, called now.
~Carrie Newcomer

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.
~Jonathan Swift

Intimate, necessary details add up to one’s private life. Select them with care because they are your life.
~Alexandra Stoddard

Action is the foundational key to all success.
~Pablo Picasso

Two of the hardest tests in life: The patience to wait for the right moment and the courage to accept whatever you encounter.
~Paulo Coelho

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

#FurkidFriday: Mollie The #Chinchilla Answers Two Common Questions With One Answer

Hi everyone. This is Mollie the chinchilla.

When the Mummy human is trying to avoid working, she likes to play with something called a search engine, and look up random things. One of the things she looked up recently was what people usually want to know about chinchillas. I don't know why, but I don't know why she does a lot of things she does, so... Moving on.

Anyway, she told me about it, so I decided I'm going to answer two of the most common questions for you today, and I can do both with just one answer. That answer is: it depends.

First, let me tell you what the questions were:

Do chinchillas like to cuddle?Do chinchillas bite?
There were other top questions, but these are the ones the Mummy human and I were thinking about most, because we've seen them asked about other animals too, and always wonder why people seem to think it's the same answer for all animals of a spacific species or breed. Like I said: it depends.

So, what does it depend on?

It depends on the chinchilla's temprement, since some chinchillas - like other animals, and humans too - like physical contact more than others.It depends on their mood, since - again, like with other animals, and humans too - some days even a chinchilla who usually likes to be cuddled, and doesn't bite, might feel like being left alone.It depends how they've been treated, since everyone - regardless of species - is more likely to be friendly if others have been friendly to them first.It depends on the situation, since a frightened animal - regardless of species - will often bite, or attack in some other way, if they feel they need to do so to defend themselves.
In other words, if you treat your chinchilla - or other animal - well, and he or she feels like it, chances are your chinchilla will like cuddles. At least, when he or she is in the mood to be cuddled. Also, if you treat your chinchilla well, he or she is in the right kind of mood to be handled, and you don't make him or her feel threatened, chances are your chinchilla won't bite. But, like I said: it depends.

Basically, your best bet is to treat your pet - chinchilla or otherwise - with kindness, and pay attention to his or her moods. Just like with humans. Do that, and you'll get to enjoy some cuddle time sometimes, and should avoid getting bitten.

Squeak soon,
Mollie

#AmReading + #AmWatching - May 9th 2019 #Reviews

It's time to take a look at what I've been reading and watching during this past week.

If you want to know more about the book, or the author, click on whichever it is you want to learn more about, and it will take you to the appropriate page on Goodreads. Clicking on my rating should take you to my actual Goodreads review for the book in question. Please bear in mind that the format I've reviewed on Goodreads may not be the format I actually read.

Alternatively, if it's a movie or TV show you want to know more about, just click on the title to go to a page where you can find out more details about the movie or TV show in question; the title links will usually take you to a page on IMDB.

Don't forget: I read and watch things across multiple genres, as well as for different age ranges, so you should always check before reading or viewing, to make certain something is suitable for the intended audience, especially when children are involved.

OK...

Here's what I read this week:

Once Upon a Unicorn: An illustrated children's book by Isla Wynter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a cute little story. Could have done with there being a bit more challenge to facing each obstacle, since it felt like he got the solutions a bit too easily. But other than that it was great.

Kristine the Youngest by Barbara G. Tarn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a fantastic addition to the series. I enjoyed getting to know Kristine, while watching the characters I got to know in previous books adjusting to the 21st century.

Wardens of Wisteria by Angela Pepper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My actual rating is 3.5 stars, but I rounded up. Though it says you can start at this point in the Wisteria books if you like in the book's description, I don't advise it, since there were several points where I felt like someone who has walked in half way through a conversation, and is missing vital pieces of information required to completely understand who or what is being discussed. Another issue I have is that magic is meant to drain energy reserves, yet the main character uses it even for silly little things like brushing crumbs off the table, or straightening the blankets after getting out of bed, which I found irritating, since it felt like she was doing it just to show off that she could; just because you can use magic to do almost everything, doesn't mean you should, especially when you already know your magic reserves are low at the moment. Also, why is the 33 year old main character displaying less maturity than her tenage daughter? I get that the teen is meant to be more mature than most kids her age, and that's fine. But it would be nice if her Mother displayed a bit of maturity too. I enjoyed the book enough that I want to read the others in the series - though I plan on making sure to read the rest in chronological order - but so far I'm liking the author's Stormy Day mystery series better.

A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
An amusing collection of silly rhymes.

As for what I've been watching:

I was going to watch some of the Star Wars movies on the weekend, since Saturday was May 4th, so Star Wars Day. But I couldn't decide whether to just watch the original trilogy, or all the ones I have copies of (the first seven). Then there's the question of whether I should watch them in chronological order, or release order... Decisions, decisions. Anyway, I couldn't decide, so I ended up watching the next two disks of NCIS season 9 instead.

#WriterWednesday - May 8th 2019 + 3 #FREE #eBooks

Don't forget: I'm giving away free copies of two of my books via Smashwords, to celebrate the anniversary of publishing my first book on April 22nd 2012, as well as the anniversary of publishing my first blog post on May 3rd 2006. My anniversary giveaway is still running right now, so you can still grab free copies of two of my books. Use coupon code BJ97F, until May 10th 2019. This offer is exclusive to Smashwords. Oh, and... Yes. It is the same coupon code for both books. So, grab your copy of "Puppy Poems And Rodent Rhymes" here, and grab your copy of "Where's Noodles?" here. But you don't have much time left to do it in, so hurry!

You can also click here to get a free copy of "Frank The Friendly Ogre" using coupon code JV68T on Smashwords until June 1st 2019. This book was set to always be listed as free, but I recently decided to only offer my books for free during giveaways and promotions where I conciously decided to offer a freeby, so changed the list price to $0.99 (it will be changing on other retailers soon, if it hasn't already). However, I wanted to give you a final chance to get the book for free before the price change fully happens. So, you have until June 1st 2019 to grab it while it's still completely free.

Now, let's see what links I have for you this week, shall we?

First, every story begins with a blank page. Don't fear it, embrace it, because a writer's greatest barrier to success isn't what you think it is. Sure, you might fail. But you might succeed, so don't let the fear hold you back!

Speaking of fear: here's a post that talks about the hardest part about writing things that scare us, which you might like to read.

Always remember: you're allowed to have fun!

Are you a planner? Do you hate when plans change? Then this post for the writer who doesn't like it when plans change is for you!

Also, bear in mind that you don't have to write all of it, all at once, and whatever you write, you're going to make it. I believe in you!

Next, here's a post about the perpetual WIP, which you might want to read if you're planning to write an online serial, either for a blog, or for another platform.

Regardless of what you write, if you're anything like me, you'll need some tips for writing action scenes. So, check these out, and see if they help you make your action scene more exciting. Oh, and... If your action scene involves judo, or some other form of martial art - which it quite possibly will if fighting is involved - you might like to take a look at this writers' guide to martial arts, for some extra advice on writing it.

Regardless of what kind of action your plot involves, does your story take place in a fictional setting, which you need to name? Then check out these
No matter where your story takes place, here's more on that hero's journey monomyth thingie, to help you through the middle of your story. WARNING: that last post contains spoilers for Harry Potter, The Lord Of The Rings, and a few other things.

By the way, are you an author who uses social media? Are you feeling so bogged down with all the trolls and trash on there that you're considering quitting it? First, check out these tips for using social media and avoiding the 'cesspools'.

Last, but certainly not least, it's important to take care of both your mental and physical health, so here are some health tips for writers, and here's a post about different types of meditation you might like to consider trying.

#HarryPotter Boxes, Birthdays, Bloggerversaries, And #Crafting

My April Harry Potter box arrived just before the end of the month, but too late for me to include it in last week's post. So I'll tell you about it today instead. So... This month's box contained...

Some fudge...


(Which was very tasty, by the way).

Some "liquid luck" tea...


An ornamental bottle of liquid luck...


A wand, plus a card to go with it that tells us about it...


(Shame I can't remember what it says).

This picture, which is pretty much just a fancy wands list...


A necklace with pendants for Hogwarts and a lightning bolt on it...


And a Death Eaters themed t-shirt...


I gave the t-shirt to Kelly. I thought it was kind of cool, and would have worn it, because it's linked to the Harry Potter world. Also, as I said, I did think it seemed like a cool t-shirt. But I could tell he really loved it, and wanted it, so I let him. I do have five other Harry Potter themed t-shirts, after all, and he didn't have any. Plus, like I said, I could see he loved it, and really wanted it badly.

There was also one of those scratch cards in the box. We didn't win anything. We didn't last month either, as it turned out (can't remember if I mentioned that... I know I told you I was waiting to find out, but don't think I told you they told us how to figure it out). Oh well, maybe next time. If not... Well, at least I have my box contents to enjoy.

***~~~***

Last Thursday (May 2nd) was Kelly's birthday. He's sensative about his age, so I won't tell you how old he turned. I will tell you though that he's older than me by a few years, but not as old as he insists he feels.

Like me, he prefers quieter birthday celebrations, so we just stayed in and had a strawberry cheescake for his birthday cake (because there has to be cake). His favourite is actually chocolate cake, but we got him cheesecake so I'd eat some too. No. I didn't make the cheesecake. I could have, but decided to just buy one instead. Maybe next year I'll make his cake for him. We'll see.

The furkids and I got him some supplies he wanted/needed for his figure gaming, and everyone else gave him money, which was fine by him. He'll likely spend it on more supplies for the figure gaming, since he's focussing a lot of his attention on that at the moment, and considering going to a local gaming group he recently discovered exists near to us.

Anyway, on May 3rd 2019 (so, last Friday) I celebrated my 13th bloggerversary.

I posted my first blog post on May 3rd 2006. If you're interested, it was a late birthday post for Kelly. It was then followed by a lot of pet themed posts, in particular ones about my Oriental cat, Myskanco Silva Flame (more commonly known as Chance). We were actually in the process of getting ready to bring Chance home when I started my blog. My furkids remained my main topic for quite some time, with other aspects of my life creeping in more and more as time went on.

It's interesting that my pets were my main topic early on, considering the fact my pet posts are usually the most popular to this day. Makes me wonder if I should change the blog's tagline to, "Home of the Zigler furkids, and their humans," or something like that, and just let them run things around here.

***~~~***

I finished the second owl kit. So, here's Ollie the owl:


He's a bit thinner than I meant him to be, and doesn't stand up as well as he should, but never mind. He doesn't seem bothered by that fact, and his imperfections will help him fit in with the other owl and his miss-matched eyes.

Anyway, I also made this holiday reef...


The kit was supposed to be for a flowery broach, but I turned it in to more of a holiday reef broach (only partially accidentally) so I'm considering it an addition to my Christmas ornaments.

If you're wondering: no. The unicorn isn't finished. Not quite. It's mostly done, but Kelly's going to help me touch up the paintwork so it looks a bit neater, and we haven't had a chance to do that yet. Once we've done that, we just need to put the glittery paint on where I want her to sparkle a little, and she'll be finished. I'm just not sure when we'll get a chance to sort that out, since we both need to be available - Preferably with Lilie napping, so she doesn't try to "help" - for that to get done, and one or the other of us keeps being busy doing something else, or we're both available, but we have something else we want or need to be doing that we've been considering more of a priority. Hopefully we'll get the unicorn finished soon though. I'll make sure to get you some photos when we do.