Michael Stephenson's Blog, page 9

The Birds Are Chirping, The Gnats Are... Gnatting (?) And The Republicans Are Cannibalizing Each Other. Yay, It's Planting Season! #Gardening #SeedStarting #Vegetables

The Birds Are Chirping, The Gnats Are... Gnatting (?) And The Republicans Are Cannibalizing Each Other. Yay, It's Planting Season! #Gardening #SeedStarting #Vegetables
Photo courtesy of Google 

It's Spring... almost. OK, it's not officially spring yet, however, much of the northern US has felt an unseasonably warm winter for the last two weeks and it doesn't appear to be going away. In any case, whether the weather was warm or not (do I get bonus points in this blogging thing for psuedo-alliteration there?), now is the perfect time to think ahead to the spring, summer, fall growing seasons. So get off your butts, put those #TrumpRally protest signs away, make sure you don't accidentally congratulate Nancy Reagan for something she really didn't do and grab your seeds. It's seed-starting season (seriously, the alliteration points. Is that a thing or...)!!
For those new to the blog, I'd like to first take this moment to welcome you. You're wondering why there's a post about gardening on an entertainment blog. Well, kickback because it's a short story that I'm gonna make excruciatingly long. It began back way long ago, about less than a year or so... And then I discovered funny stuff is, like, totally amazing... But who knows if they can actually grow tubers in space, you know what I mean? Plus, what would the chemical makeup of those potatoes be? Hell, some sweet potatoes come out purple just from having been grown in Asian countries. I'm just sayin'... So I say to the guy, "Well, Jimmy cracked corn but I don't care." Ha! Right. Get it? Because his name was James, which has a nickname of Jimmy? Technically, he only goes by James, but I still thought it was funny. Anyway, I said all of that to say this: this blog is about all forms of entertainment, including entertaining (wait for it) guests, or just yourself. And what do you do when you are entertaining guests but make them stuff to eat? And somebody's gotta grow your food, right? You're not one of those weird Air-i-ans, are you? Lately, everybody's been talking about the Air-i-ans that survive on air alone, or those Air-i-ans that think they're the master race and I guess they have a grand wizard or somethin'--I don't know. Magic has always been confusing to me. But even if you were one of those people, you gotta eat at some point. Why not try your hand at growing your own food, especially for health reasons.
So, where do we start? Well, this is for newbies to the home gardening culture. Debate still rages on whether you should start all your plants from seed or buy them from your local big box store. To opine, I say do what's comfortable for you when easing into this thing. My 1st year I didn't buy anything, planted some seeds out in the ground and grew one small tomato plant that produced two tomatoes. One never ripened and ants ate the other one--picture not included. Year two I ran out and bought myself a chocolate cherry tomato plant, perfected my ability to grow from seed and have been saving seeds from the cherry tomato ever since. Scroll way down or check the gardening tag and you'll see I've added a lot of new produce to the garden since, all grown from seeds or tubers. This will be a tutorial on how to grow from seed, so if you aren't doing that and don't care, that's fine. Still read it. Why? I don't know. Do you have anything else to do... or read? I should point out at this time that I am an author. Check my books out on amazon, links below. If you want to learn how to do seeds, then this is the place for you.
SEED STARTING
OK, before we begin to throw seeds around and start stuff all willynilly, we need to figure out what we want to grow and what is best started in our garden. Below is a picture of my garden pre-winter cleanup.

As you can see I have the big compost pile sitting near the center there. Then the rest of it just looks like a big muddy, leafy mess. Even the side opposite the patio path looks heinous. Good! It just came out of a long winter with temperatures that varied wildly from 70 (in Northern Ohio) to 12. By the time I'm done with the cleanup, it'll look suitable for growing and a little showing off. What's important to note is that the design and the space allocated to the veggies is all pre-planned before planting anything. The long stretch of garden separated by the path is where my winter or cold-hardy plants tend to go as they are out of the way. Just across from them at the part that looks like an arrow is also where more of my cold-hardy plants go. What are the cold-hardy plants I'm growing, you ask? Or, Michael, more importantly, "what plants that I want to plant are cold-hardy?" Simple. 
They are:Nearly all lettuces: Iceberg, Romaines, any other loose-leafs.Cruciferous plants: Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Collard Greens (or greens of any type), KalePotatoes (Warning: White Potatoes only, not Sweet Potatoes. Wow! Reading that out loud sounded so racist. Not all white potatoes are white. Uh... yeah.)CarrotsOther Tubers: Beets, TurnipsSwiss ChardAnd only certain types of green peas.
For everything, you want to check your seed packet for possible planting times, however, the plants listed above are considered cold-hardy (some extremely so, like beets and Brussel Sprouts) because they can survive temperatures as low as 29 degrees with minimal to no damage. That doesn't mean they're invincible as you may still have to take a certain care with them if a late deep frost below 20 comes and knocks things out, but you should be safe with these.
Now, at this time some of you are saying, "But I don't see what I want to grow on that list. What about me?" Well, just hold on to your britches because they might not be on that list but that doesn't excuse them from being started from seeds this early in the season. I'm just listing those because you can risk throwing them out into the cold, workable ground right now and they'll grow. However, if you want a surefire way for any of your seeds to grow just hang on.
That last paragraph is in reference to the most commonly grown vegetables that people love to eat and almost everyone grows: Tomatoes and peppers... and some sweet potatoes too. Is it OK to start tomatoes and peppers this early? Well, it depends and yes, respectively. I have started both all my tomatoes and pepper plants already. In fact, I still have four pepper plants as holdovers from last season. However, tomatoes can be tricky in that, unlike peppers, they will need staking at some point and they classify both as determinate and indeterminate. I'm sure you, my smart readers, know what those mean but for younger or more inexperienced readers, indeterminate means they may produce all season long until a killing frost in fall/winter. Determinate means they will produce for or at a specific time in the season or their growth cycle and then that's it. A bunch of tomatoes, then nothin'! For the latter, wait later toward the summer (early to mid-May) to start as you won't have them long anyway. Indeterminates can be started right now but both them and the peppers must be kept inside. The sweet potatoes I will do a completely different post on, but suffice it to say that you can start them now, too.
Now, as for the seeds themselves, today I am starting these packets of seeds. Unseen, I am also starting my lettuces because I don't want it to get too hot too quick. Lettuce not only does great in the cold, it must have a certain amount of coolness or it will begin to bolt or put on seed, which makes the leaves taste bitter. This often happens during the dog days of summer when temperatures rise above 78 degrees. So if you're in a warmer climate than Ohio, make a note to start your seeds even earlier next year.
I Get Seeds From All Over: Burpee, NK, Seeds of Change, RareSeeds.com, SeedSavers
For this, you will need.One bottle of clean water. It can be from the faucet, however, it is best to let it sit for a day to allow some of the chemicals to die back. #Water4Flint


A roll of paper towels. I usually get the half sheets rather than the big square ones (mine are rectangles). You can also use napkins but don't completely unfold the napkin. You want the seeds to be able to be covered by a semi-thick layer of paper.


And finally, one plastic Ziploc bag or many depending on how much you plan to plant and what you have available to you. As an incidental or added need, you may want to have a permanent marker for marking your seed bags and you may want to have a ton of bags, one for each seed pouch. I am quite lazy and I just stuff as many seeds into one bag as I can and am then surprised at what I get. No, I don't label either, though I tend to have a good memory on what I placed where in the bag. You'll see.



Step one.Remove a few seeds from one of your packets. I know, small (we're talkin' Trump-hands small). To me the cold-hardy plants tend to have smaller seeds than the warmer plants, with the exception of spinach and collard greens.


Step two.Scatter them across the center of the dry towel. This is why I like the half-sheet rectangles because it is easier to get them centered and not waste the rest of the towel.


Step three.Pour a tiny bit of water on the paper towel. Important: Wetting the paper towel before spreading the seeds may be easier for you, just make sure it is wrung out and not sopping wet. You want it to feel like you laid it on top of a tiny wet spot on your counter and let the water spread across the towel fibers rather than tried to wipe the wetness away. Damp or moist (mmm, moist. I love that word).


Step four.You want to fold the paper towel like you are folding a letter, then fold it again at the ends to make sure the seeds don't roll out. Place it into the bag as far as you can. Do not seal the bag at any time! The seeds need the air to breathe. Again, if you have smaller sandwich bags you can do one type of seed per bag. If you have the bigger bags, you can fit in multiple folded paper towels and put a permanent marker mark on the plastic directly over the paper towel. For example, Broc written overtop the corner of the plastic would remind you of what's there. Remember to carry the bag flat on your palms so that the towels don't bunch together at the bottom or anything.
This is mid-fold. You want one small rectangle. This is two already finished and neatly bagged


Step five.This is where many people will differ from me. My house has a gas fireplace. I generally place the bag on the floor in front of the fireplace--right under it when it's not on, no less than a foot and a half away when it is on. But that is just me. The seeds need to be kept warm. While most people's homes are kept at or above 70 which should be enough ambient temperature for germination, some houses have deathly cold spots. So place the bag in a place that you know will stay between a constant 70-80. For cold-hardy plants it is actually OK to put certain seeds in the refrigerator instead as this will help them germinate quicker (I've done this for kale and collard greens). Others like tomatoes and peppers require the heat. Warning! Do NOT put them in a windowsill. Only seeds specifically stated to need sunlight should be put in a windowsill (Stevia, coleus plants).
And that's it. Simple, right? Leave the seeds there for about a week untouched. By the time you come back, they will have sprouted from their coatings and we'll be ready for step two, planting them in starters.What do you think? Will you be trying to start all of your own vegetables from seed? If not, why not? It's so easy. If so, what do you plan on planting and what's your favorite dish to make with it? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, "you reap that which you grow."

P.S. Wait, is that how that goes? Now I can't remember. But that could be an acceptable sign-off for my blog right? At least for the posts about gardening and stuff, right? Right? So what if it's cliche and derivative. I can't be creative all the time. Geez, Louise!

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OT: A Word On Politics #Decision2016 #RepublicanPrimary #DemocraticPrimary #TheProvocateur

OT: A Word On Politics #Decision2016 #RepublicanPrimary #DemocraticPrimary #TheProvocateur
Book cover. 

Well, not one but two off-topic blog posts in a row. I'm getting pretty fancy by venturing out of my public comfort zone. I would nearly be afraid of how harshly people would judge me about the offensive things I might say were I not on the internet, a designated free speech zone where I know that no one ever criticizes another's opinion as stupid simply because they disagree. No, this post won't delve too deeply into politics. I won't be telling you which of the myriad of candidates to vote for neither in the primaries nor in the general election way out in November. However, I would like to take a quick look at what is going on in the American--nay, the world conscious as we speak. It started with one tiny finger-push of provocation.
Quick story, when I was younger I ran into a group of very unnerving people. Long story short (boy, when do I ever do that, huh?) I came to realize I wasn't just involved with some run-of-the-milll power hoarders. Fast forward quite some time and they commission me to write a book entitled The Provocateur (#TheProvocateur). The book is my least favorite work. It is specifically edited the way it is for a specific purpose and reason and is generally one of my only works I do not advertise. Don't think this is an advertisement today. This is a call to stop and think at every turn of our current political process and stand back to take in a full view of what's going on.
YOU ARE BEING CONTROLLED
That is the general theme of the book. My job, at the time, was to take these themes presented to me as truth by this group and to weave them into a psuedo-fiction. If you're a fan of my work, first off congratulations to you and thank you for calling yourself as such. Second off, you will come to realize over time just how blurred the lines between fiction and reality get within my reads. Don't take this as some "run to your nearest Amazon link and buy the book" hoopla. That book is not at all for everybody, or even most people. It is raw, it is very nasty and you will be offended by it, bar none. But the worst effect it has is its effect on your feelings, thoughts and emotions (wait, feelings and emotions are the same thing, right? Eh, whatever. I've already typed it. No use in editing it. No other blog writers or reporters do that on the internet, right?). It's not a book for enjoyment which is usually crucial in selling a fictional book. Nor is it positive. And there are many things in it which any person in any given argument or movement will agree with or call patently untruthful. Yet, it is somehow relevant from what I've seen.
The provocateur plays on conspiracy theories suggesting that all of society is puppeteered, pushed, pulled, provoked and controlled by a very small group of highly intellectual... overlords of sorts. While many people (conspiracy theorists) would naturally jump to the conclusion that, "Yes, these people are the CEOs and boardmembers of Fortune 500 companies or huge multi-national conglomerates," this is quite false. They control those people, too. What does this have to do with the political process? Everything.
The main character of the book says that this small group of provocateurs of which he is one, actually seeks to unite people, but to unite them in discord. People are united in their anger, in their frustration, in their hostility for each other or for each other's ideologies. The easiest way, as said by the provocateur, to do this is to make people feel as if their voice is not being heard, then push them or invite them or give them someway and form by which to "join the conversation." If you've been paying attention in the last 20, 30, 40, hell, ever since the dawn of civilization, you will have heard nearly those exact words. "Join the conversation," "Become part of the dialogue," "Pull up a seat at the table and share your views. We wanna hear your opinion." Don't get me wrong free speech and actually talking out issues is well and good, however, it is also the most thorough trick by which the Provocateurs control all of society. See, they know that by inviting everyone to the table and having people of different views and zealots on all sides of a particular issue, they can keep you at the table having the dialogue. Why? Because the zealots, the ultra-conservatives or ultra-liberals never let up from their stance, and will argue to the death to convince the others that they are right.
Some will see that and say, well that's good, right? Because if we don't talk about it how will anything ever get done on it? But that's the point. Little ever does get done about it, because everyone is so engrossed and embattled with the conversation. They never stop talking and start doing. And even when they do start doing, the provocateurs either find a new "issue" to draw them back to the conversation or push a wild card into the mix to get things back to chaos.
As stated in my novel Darker (an ode to Stephen King's first traditionally published work Carrie) I mention that Blacks in the US have literally been having the same conversation for the last 30+ years. Though the tagline of the conversation changes and transforms to fit into what people see as the supposedly "new" paradigm (in the book a point is made that none of what we are seeing from any group or any issue we face today including: feminism, men's rights, homophobia, transgender issues, abortion, radicalism, religions, etc. is new), nothing is new about the arguments on either side. The taglines go: "Where have all the black men gone? Why are all the good, successful black men dating/marrying outside their race? Why can't black women find good men? Why are there so many unwed single black mothers?" and the list goes on. The arguments from both sides vary: "Black men just have a preference; Black women are mean and rude, and not marriage material; Black women are too aggressive and should be more docile like white women; A lot of Black men are just getting locked up; The statistics don't really tell the full story because while young mothers are less inclined to be married, the percentage of unmarried women past a certain age is extremely low in this country." The last argument (and the most recent) I find to be the most interesting seeing as how the latest census (what, 6 years ago?) said that only 14% of women in the US are unmarried after 35 I believe. The argument then posed that black women just marry later in life. However, what it failed to take into account was that black women only make up about 7-8% of the population (Blacks being only 12-14% of the nation). In any case, you see my point here. There's been a conversation ongoing with multiple solutions posed ("Black women should date outside of their race more" or "they should date down") but nothing has been done to actually fix the problem. There's a never-ending stream of rhetoric of what we should and shouldn't do.
"But, Michael, I'm not Black, so this doesn't apply to me." Maybe that's true, but the overall structure of it does. This is applied to and for any issue. It's a pattern. I say all of that to say this, the vitriol and hatred that has come out during these primaries on both sides and from all people is doing nothing to help any situation. It is only adding to the chatter and frustration, which adds to the contempt. The amount of time people are spending on the rhetoric for and from their side, the protests of the rallies of any candidate (whether it be the #TrumpRally foolishness or BlackLivesMatter interrupting both Bernie and Hillary) adds nothing but more fuel for the conversation that has gotten this country nowhere. We're running to events meant for the opposition knowing that we'll cause conflict and thinking that'll incite change. It won't. People, we must focus our time instead on coming up with real solutions to the problems (something we do try to do during the endless conversations) but then forging ahead with those solutions (something that is seldom done) regardless of how others feel about it. "But we already help our communities and try to build them up." Then do even more of that. Unite your community with another and truly get behind an innovator. Do something that will be productive with your time other than this, because the longer you talk, the longer you're simply in the conversation, the less real change and progress occurs. It's time to stop the conversation and start focusing on real action. My too sense.
I'm not gonna ask for comments this time. Too much of that. All I ask is that if you go to one of these rallies for any candidate, be safe. And spend more time backing your candidate rather than dissing another.Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. And if you must, check out the 0.99cent The Provocateur on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, "She sells seashells offshore through the TPP."'What? First our jobs, now our seashells? What else will China take?'

P.S. God, I'm so funny! I forget how hilarious I am sometimes, but there it is, my humor rearing it's comical head. And you all think this political season is crazy, just wait until we have Trump running for President again, this time against Kanye West in 2020. Things keep going this way, I'll run for president one day. Count on it ;).

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Spring Comeback And Writer's Apathy #amwriting #amediting #TheWriter

Spring Comeback And Writer's Apathy #amwriting #amediting #TheWriter
Picture courtesy of google, drawn by Eleanor Davis 

Well, people, I'm back! I know, it was a very long time since last I've been here and given you guys and gals all the feels and the funnys but I have finally returned. What have I been doing you ask? What...? Oh, you didn't ask that? Wow! Pretty inconsiderate, but I'll tell you anyway.
Copyright Hallmark Channel and company 2016My hiatus wasn't meant to be this long. I work and write every single day of the year for roughly 16 hours a day. Little sleep, and not much time to myself to relax, so I take a break from work and writing at the end of the year during the holidays. My holiday started December 20th, 2015 and lasted until January 18th--longer than usual. Doing nothing gets addictive. Gorging on Lifetime Movie Network and Hallmark Channel movies like they were a nacho cheese/cool ranch Doritos mix did not help me to get out of my "awww! That's sweet"-coma (by the way, does Doritos have the nacho/cool ranch mix? If not, it's a missed opportunity). I developed not only a few food recipes (the greatest Hot Chocolate in the World recipe), I also fell ill and realized I have a disease. Don't worry, it's nothing for now.
Once I finally climbed my way out of the mud-boggy den of pleasure that is laziness, I got back to work, fully intending to start blogging again about a few of the midseason replacement shows like: The X-Files, Galavant (You don't know Galavant? Well... Way back in days of old, there was a story told, about a--oh, you don't want me to sing? OK), American Idol's final season, The Bachelor and a ton of other stuff including the Super Bowl and the NBA (sigh! David Blatt, Cavs Nation hardly knew ye!). However, I just didn't have the time nor the brain power to tackle both the blog and other projects.
What, you ask, was I working on? First off, thanks for asking this time. You get brownie points for caring, but since you weren't considerate enough to care about where I went in the first place, you're just back to zero. Anyway, the other project happened to be my NaNoWriMo (#NaNoWriMo) project. Yes, scroll down and you'll see that 2015 was the first year I participated in NaNo, finishing an 118,000 word mystery in November. As some of you writers know, the initial writing process and the editing process are, or can be, two different things (side note: I rarely suggest trying to edit your work while still in the middle of writing it. It slows the process, can lead to over-thinking the story and can possibly ruin the magic. Just my opinion). Frankly, I would petition the NaNoWriMo people or any writer willing to participate, to declare January either as National Novel Editing Month or National Novel Brainstorming Month. That way writers would have opened a new year by not only having written a book in the last two months, but having actually followed through to edit/revise that book, or come up with new ideas and an outline/plot/3-act story arc for another book to be written next NaNoWriMo. I know, it's such a crazy idea. I'm a crazy guy!
Back to my own editing process, which saw me adding a total of three more chapters, and 7,000 more words, yet, ending with a crisp manuscript of 112,000 words (do the math). As a self-pub author, I have always tried to put out the best quality I possibly can, however, quite a few of my books have never been submitted to traditional publishers just because I didn't feel like it. But once every two years I choose one book to take through the arduous task of querying and blah blah blah! The NaNoWriMo novel is that book this year. Yes, it is a FUTURE BESTSELLER!! I know, some will say that the contest is really more of an exercise and no way anybody produces something of real merit and worth in that short amount of time, but I also believe that those people lack imagination and don't fully understand the basic tenant of storytelling--Anything Is Possible! I am telling you TMOTR (#TMOTR; remember those letters as they are the initials of the book) is going to be a future bestseller. Sadly, I failed to remember how long the process takes so it probably won't be this year, but very soon.
Coming Soon
Finally crawling out of my editing cocoon a few weeks back I was totally ready to start blogging again, and then I remembered that I hadn't filled out my yearly writing agenda and need to work on that baby before it got too far into the year. And boy did that piss me off because I realized just how behind I was in some projects. Things like the second season of The Writer (#TheWriter), which is coming back this summer, needed my attention. I still had yet to write more than three paragraphs on the sequel to A Dangerous Low entitled A New Low (hopefully coming out this Spring). I also hadn't finished editing my short story Cavity. Nor did I finish revising my first self-pub mystery The Knowledge of Fear (also due out this Spring). And I had only just finished the outline for A Negotiation of Sorrows, the sequel to A Negotiation of Wounds. I did, however, get quite a lot of work done last year and have three projects just sitting in my queue waiting to be advertised and published. Why aren't they out there already? Well, that's the subject I want to talk about.
Writer's Apathy. That's right folks, apathy. Not to be confused with writer's block. Writer's block happens when you can't find the proper thing to write or a story twist is undoing your creative process. It's poet's quicksand, a mush of the minds potato. Uh... yeah, the second part of that sentence made sense. Essentially, writer's block is imagination constipation. It is when you can't. Writer's apathy, on the other hand, is when you don't want to.
Trust, I haven't truly had a writer's block in a long while. I freaked in November when I thought I had the early stages of a huge block during the dwindling days of the NaNoWriMo race. However, I didn't and finished on time. My symptoms were the onset of writer's apathy, which can feel the same in early stages.I've been doing this for a long time now, people, and I've had some successes and some really big failures. I detail some of what happened to me in the epic novel Unrequited due out later this year, but suffice it to say that I have dedicated a lot of time to this and honing the craft and trying to get my stories out there. But sometimes, for every writer--nay, for every dream-chaser there has to come a point in which they stop and take stock of what they're doing and if they've gotten any closer to that dream. Analysis of the journey AND the destination.

The feeling of writer's block; copyright Boardwalk Empire
Dreams are great and, for a writer, they are everything. However, even writers have to be reasonable at some point. Writer's apathy is when that point arrives. When you believe you have this great idea for a story and maybe you even have a bunch of different scenes or scenarios or you know the characters better and better each day, yet you still have to struggle to force yourself to write a brief scene which is so easy to do, you can literally see it happening every time you close your eyes, that's when you have writer's apathy. That's when you'll begin to question whether you can truly push farther.
Now, I'm gonna piss a few people off and break a few hearts, but I'll say this, these people out here who tell you that you should be happy that writing is a thankless job and you're never going to make money off of it but still do it, or you shouldn't give up on writing because it's about the readers or tons of other stuff that they say about writing and the unspoken prestige of being one are really only blowing smoke up your ass. Most of those people either haven't done it long enough themselves, teach it, or have already made their money on it, or even worse, they want you to join in their misery because they're just as pissed off as the hundreds of thousands of other writers yelling for someone to read their dreck. This is when you'll get the conflicting advice of: well, writing should really be for you, you shouldn't expect to make money (true) or for people to even read it (what?), then say "well, you always should write to your audience and consider who you are writing for." Both psuedo-revelations on the actual process and why you write. While I would love to explain why this is a contradiction as I know people will argue against it (you're a negative nanny, Michael. One is about process and the other is about audience), I just don't have the time as this is already longer than I'd like it to be. But I do always say this: decide if you want to be a professional or an amateur before you start writing!!! No professional (or wannabe professional) writer should ever write something and PUBLISH IT thinking "Oh this is just for me. It was just therapy." Just... no. This goes hand-in-hand with other facets of entertain too. Like I literally always say, "There are better ball players than Lebron James and Stephen Curry in this world, but not everyone chooses to go pro." And with that mindset, every writer at some point goes through Writer's Apathy.
"Do I really want to still do this? Is this story really that important/entertaining for me to tell? Wouldn't my time be better spent somewhere else?" If you ask yourself any of those questions, that's when you know you have it. The biggest and deepest gut punch most writers ever face is when they see another project very similar to theirs already out or releasing in the near future, especially if people already loved it. The onus to be original is often so crushing that it can get to you. Because a regular love story has been told before, but a love story with zombies... that's original, right? That's what you think until you see the film Warm Bodies or read the digital comic Zombie With A Shotgun. The many years I've been doing this, I've seen this countless times, especially within the last decade, and I rarely do this but I'll rattle a few ideas off here:
My Idea: Second--A man dies but then comes back to life in his same body only younger, only to tell others that everyone was wrong and that we actually do get a second chance at life and only now, after every original soul has lived on earth, will each person's second life begin. Conflict occurs when not everyone comes back and the ones that do, find themselves changed by having been dead. Dated treatment submitted 2009. Rejected. I shelved it, thinking I'd one day turn it into a 3-book series.Competing Ideas: Resurrection (ABC TV series)--people mysteriously return to life in a small town in the US midwest; Life After Life (novel); The Returned (TV series). All within the last ten years.
Picture courtesy of ABC, copyright 2014
My Idea: Blue Moon Station--A drama covering the trials and tribulations of a group of black slaves escaping on a branch-off northern route, aided by abolitionists. Upon their road to freedom, they stop at the abolitionists home where breaks out a firefight between them and the slave trackers under the watchful shine of the Blue moon.Competing Ideas: While some would say that films like Roots or Harriet Tubman would be strictly against my idea, those films/ideas didn't focus quite on the escape of the slaves. Underground (WGN TV), however, does.
Picture courtesy of WGN 
I could go on but I don't want to keep dwelling on this as I already sound like a whiny little brat, however, I literally have 72 ideas of varying genres that were fully formed, worked on and submitted through traditional channels which never coalesced into anything, but still made it to screen in some form. Again, whiny, I know. My point is that at some point in time, every writer (if they're paying attention hard enough) will come to realize that the story you just knew you had to tell has probably already been told. And if no one or few people are actually reading your junk, and you're spending half of your free time writing stories (because stories take a lot of time to write regardless if they're short or novel-length), you have to at some point think, why the heck am I writing this? Most people will start to bargain with themselves at that point, saying, "Well, because even if people liked the other one, they'll still love mine because mine is so different. And plus, they didn't have a character like this or this one cool thing that happens in mine didn't happen in theirs, so..." And that may all be true, but again, why are you writing? Because at this point, if you've bargained your way through that, you're most likely writing for your ego. In other words, you're writing for legacy, because someday way down the line, someone will read your writing and have it be that brilliant and life-changing that finally your genius will be known to the world. Then you say, no, it's not genius I just want to entertain people. And then you start to think to yourself, how often do I read or watch the non-popular stories that are very similar to that one or two or four stories that it draws from? How often do I dismiss a book or TV show or film as being "a ripoff of [insert beloved piece of fiction]?" Hell, there are still people who feel they must choose sides between Star Trek and Star Wars for... uh... well because they both have aliens, I guess? Not really sure. But you see what I'm getting at here? And both traditional and self-pub writers and readers do it, so don't act like, "oh, I only read Indie stuff," to keep your street library cred.
Writer's apathy is the worst feeling a writer gets because it is the one big time that a writer has to make a very important decision that has nothing to do with the plot or characters. And while a book cover, whether to make a trailer, the price point at which to sell/share your book and etc. can be really tough decisions, there's nothing like wondering if you should continue on or not.
So what does this mean? Am I quitting? No, at least not right now. I'm currently slogging through a novel which I know the first draft won't be much good even for my standards. I will still try to push out The Writer later on this year and I still have feelers out on TMOTR, but I'll have to take this year to examine the worth of writing in my life. Because the funny thing about dreams is sometimes it is OK to give up, contrary to what they say. Sometimes, you're not meant for what you thought.
What do you think? Are you a writer? And if so, have you ever reached the point of writer's apathy? Be honest with yourself, what do you really write for? Because no way someone goes through the struggle of writing a story from start to finish, spending time and energy on trying to perfect it, edit it, revise it, edit it again, try to get it published, study the traditional and indie publishing industry to see which best fits you, research price points and how to gain readers, give pieces away and call themselves an author just for nothing. Hell, everybody knows by now that the internet (and to an even greater extent, the world in general) is not the place to go if you don't want to be seen, if you don't want recognition, even if you're writing fanfiction for free. This ain't a therapy couch either. You're putting yourself out there, opening up to tons of barbs when you really could have just stayed at home and shared stories with your family, friends and other loved ones and never worried about your clicks, views, downloads, buys or if anyone likes your story or not.Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, "If there's even a 1% chance that he is our enemy, we have to take it as an absolute certainty."
P.S. A word on my last blog post concerning Batman v. Superman. To start, people whining about spoilers is stupid. Every possible update, rumor or cast interview is a potential spoiler, not to mention the trailers that show everything. I made it clear that while I heard it from a source I know and trust, they could have just been fooling with me, which is fine. Yes, they do work at the WB. And while this is pretty late in the game to do it, movies let little potential spoilers slip all the time before the release to not only gauge fans' interest but to keep the movie in the press cycle. Some of you acted as if the rumor wasn't believable, even knowing that time travel is a big thing for the Flash, Wonder Woman and her main guy are filming during the WWII era and Doomsday does kill Superman in the comics. Some fans whine that DC and WB don't take risks with their properties (hell, they even thought WW was too risky on her own), yet when they're trying to bring something new to the screen but completely in-line with the comics, it's suddenly ridiculous? What? Hogwash! But maybe I'm wrong. That's fine.  

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Superman Will Die In Batman V. Superman #BatmanvSuperman #Superheroes #ComicBookMovie

Superman Will Die In Batman V. Superman #BatmanvSuperman #Superheroes #ComicBookMovie
All pictures courtesy of WB/DC unless otherwise noted. 

Oh! My! God! So, I just heard from a friend that a whopping amount of craziness is going to go down due to the Batman v. Superman film and supposedly some of the real tea behind the scenes at Warner Bros. For starters, you read that title right, Superman will die in Batman V. Superman (#BatmanvSuperman)... supposedly. Wondering why Warner Bros. hadn't really come out with plans for a second Man of Steel? That's why. So, here's the rundown. Apparently, fans needn't worry about that trailer that came out last week spoiling the whole movie. From my friend, I'm hearing that it only showed footage from the first 90 minutes of the film that is slated to be at least another hour longer than that. Basically, much of what you saw was from the first two acts of the film, with the exception of a few scenes not including the Doomsday thing.

Oh yeah, as for Doomsday, the producers are sticking close to the comic book and will actually have Doomsday kill Superman as they die together. Only after this does Batman fully come to respect him through his sacrifice for the cause. That little team shot you see of all three of them (including Wonder Woman) standing in guard doesn't actually bring them together like everyone thinks it will. In fact, Batman becomes almost more driven to destroy Superman because he blames him for the rise of this new supervillain in Doomsday, hence why Superman makes the sacrifice.

So, what then happens after that? And how does Superman come back? That is when the Flash comes in for his cameo. Were you wondering why they rushed to cast everyone so quick to stuff them into this movie? I was. The flash comes from the future--yes, they're going to use time travel this soon--to try to warn everyone what will happen. That scene that everyone is calling the nightmare is actually a scene from the future where Darkseid is somehow controlling various members of the Justice League which is where we'll see the entire team fighting in a short cameo both against the parademons and Superman.
But now learning that Superman has died, The Flash realizes the time line has been changed and ventures off to go further back in time to change the events leading up to this. Here's the kicker! The Flash's time travel and Superman's death is the whole reason why, skipping Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman is the next DC film release and it is set in the past. The Flash is supposed to make a cameo in that film too, though why is still unclear; but Steve Trevor is somehow supposed to come to this current time by Justice League part two.

Superman is supposed to be dead until the beginning of Justice League is all that the producers and writers know so far and he's supposed to be brought back to help defeat Darkseid. This whole thing blows my little theory earlier on Cullan Mulvey being Martian Manhunter and not KGBeast like initially reported out of the water. Again, the Flash scene is really only like three minutes long where he explains this to Batman and Wonder Woman toward the end of the film. But the film is supposed to both end on a serious cliffhanger while still giving a satisfying end.
What do you think about this new "news" (everything's a rumor until the movie opens)? Did you expect Warner Bros. to actually kill off Superman like they did in the comics? How many times do you think Doomsday will evolve? What do you think of the time travel of the Flash being crucial to the end of the story? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, "holy cow, Batman! Superman's dead'
P.S. I was surprised when they brought in time travel so quickly to the Flash TV series but maybe that is a testing ground for everything now.

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Week Of December 11th 2015 In Review #Supergirl #ScreamQueens #XMenApocalypse #NewYearCountdown

Week Of December 11th 2015 In Review #Supergirl #ScreamQueens #XMenApocalypse #NewYearCountdown
All Supergirl pictures courtesy of CBS unless otherwise noted.

With my little mini-vacation over for the next week and a half before my big year-end finale vacation which goes from the 21st or 22nd until MLK day in the New Year, I've been biding my time soaking up all the latest news and events going on in the world of entertainment. And even though it's two weeks after Thanksgiving--the time when normally the TV wasteland kicks in--and Star Wars is the movie that will clearly dominate this holiday season, there is still plenty else to talk about on all levels. We'll begin with Supergirl (#Supergirl).
Monday's Supergirl on CBS, while not the winter finale, supplied more than enough wow, shock and awe for fans to light up the internet and Twitterverse with mind-blown reactions. The funniest thing is that much of the episode was rather bland for the titular character. After overexerting herself fighting Red Tornado, Kara experienced her first short circuit, temporarily losing her powers. As she suffered through the throes of being Human For A Day (ha! That was the title of the episode. I snuck that in there. Huh? In hindsight I don't know why I thought that was clever. Moving on), National City suffered through an earthquake.

In her humanity, Kara bleeds for the first time, gets a cold or some other sneezy disease, breaks her arm and needs rescuing by James. Sadly, the one lesson she learns comes when she cannot save a man from dying on the street. Just as the comic book Superman learns, she can't save everyone.
She eventually regains her powers when she is told by the dork that likes her (again, not bothering to shoot an email, private message tweet or phone call her cousin's way) that she can regain her powers more rapidly by having a burst of Kyrptonian adrenaline. She gets this burst when she sees James in deathly trouble in an elevator shaft after having saved some people from the upper levels. Her powers back, she rescues him from falling to his death and the day is saved.
The biggest shock for the fans came in the form of gloriously over-the-top Black guy--that beautiful man of ridiculous looks, perfectly delivered one-liners and overly awkward protectiveness over Supergirl and her sister. While at the DEO headquarters (that's the Department of Extraterrestrial Operations) the earthquake accidentally knocks out the power temporarily while he and Kara's sister are in the middle of moving a villain to a different cell. With the power of mind control, the villain escapes to roam the halls before they can get back-up generators running.
Now in lock down, over-the-top Black guy orders his crew to stay in the one safe place they know he isn't while he and two others go hunting. The alien takes over the brain of the two other soldiers, making them kill each other. Kara's sister disobeys orders and runs after her boss, taking another soldier with her who also falls prey to the mind control. Having learned the previous week that her Black superior not only worked with her father but was around when he died, she distrusts him and handcuffs him to a shelf while she tries to go stop the alien alone.
Bullets not working, her anti-mind-control device about to stop, Black guy swoops in and saves the day, defeating the rock hard alien with his bare hands. Now, she has hella questions. How could he defeat the alien in a game of fisticuffs, and all sorts of craziness. He tells her the story of her father dying and the real original Black guy dying while in pursuit of a perceived hostile alien. The alien turned out to be friendly but in trying to capture him, somehow the two DEO agents died, but not before the alien tried saving the life of Kara's adoptive father played by Dean Cain. Cain told the alien to look after his daughters which Black guy has been doing ever since. The big reveal came at the end of the story when over-the-top Black guy revealed himself to be J'onn J'onzz AKA Martian Manhunter.
Didn't See That Coming 
For those that don't know, in the comics, Martian Manhunter is a big deal. While never the most popular on his own, he is most famous for two things: being the sole survivor of the once thriving Martian race and being one of the founding members of the Justice League. Yes, he routinely fights alongside Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Green Lantern. Unlike the other aliens, he is not humanoid looking enough to blend in, but does have the power to shape-shift into anyone. 
KGBeast? Looks more like Martian ManhunterWhy is this a big deal? Recently, an article came out discussing the make-up of the film version of Martian Manhunter and if he would even be part of the Justice League. A few studio insiders said they didn't know if they'd include this iconic character because he may be too difficult to do on screen authentically. Well, if they needed a format, they just got one in a big way. This leads me to the rumor that Callan Mulvey pictured there, is actually going to be playing Martian Manhunter in the new Batman v Superman. I know that there was a very persistent rumor that he was actually going to be playing K.G. Beast, however, that was never fully confirmed and in the spirit of not packing the film with too many Justice Leaguers, it's no wonder why the producers would want to keep him under wraps, but to me he naturally looks like the alien and wouldn't have to have any kind of reveal save for saying his name in the movie since he is a shapeshifter.



Moving on, FOX's Scream Queens (#ScreamQueens) had its season finale this week and boy was it... long. For those that remember my initial three week roundup review on this (click #ScreamQueens up top to read it), I initially gave this a fairly low grade as it was a little too ridiculous. While it toned down some, I did skip three or four episodes at a time only to binge them when I got the chance, as wasting an hour each week on this wasn't to my liking. I almost didn't watch it at all during November and binged at least four episodes on Thanksgiving night, but I digress.
All pictures of Scream Queen courtesy of FOX unless otherwise noted.
Ending the shortened season with a two-hour episode, the first hour moved along nicely with Grace's psuedo-boyfriend confessing to being the 4th killer who joined only after non-gay gay Boone caught him snooping around and was about to kill him. Oh yeah, side note Boone (played by Nick Jonas) was one of the killers just in case you didn't know. Back to the boyfriend, he said he believed in what Boone was trying to do by wiping out the KKT sorority house and only joined because of that, but then he killed Boone and crazy Gigi (the loon that raised Boone and his twin sister in a mental asylum) in order to stop all the killing, but the third killer, Boone's twin sister, remained.


After sending the missive of all missives (which I thought was technically done very well with the writing being on the wall) TheChanel or Chanel #1 or Chanel Oberlin (played by Emma Roberts) became the most hated person in the world when it accidentally went out to everyone on campus. Gag! This whole set-up really did nothing but waste time to me and was a poor lead-in into a ridiculous scene that had my mouth gaping and asking, "did these fools just try to fit in an after-school special message on suicide?" Yes. Yes, they did. Quite possibly the most disingenuous show where everything was a gag, satire, or spoof on the horror genre, and had almost no real emotion explored on any level suddenly stopped about 25 minutes in to give us a PSA on "Suicide is never the answer. You shouldn't even joke about that." Look, I've dealt with the issue in my works before too, but never did it not fit the tone of what I was doing. This whole scene from the missive to the idiotic death attempt to Zayday trying to make a point that young people shouldn't kill themselves all could have been cut without anyone noticing or caring.

In fact, I felt this way about half of the episode which had me questioning why it was two hours long. Listen, outside of the real King (that guy Stephen King. Maybe you've heard of him), I am the king of long-windedness. I just finished writing a book during NaNoWriMo that is 118,000 words long unedited and will probably increase by 2000 words before the final draft. However, I try to make every scene relevant in some way that thrusts along either the character development or the action. On this last episode, there was more exposition and flashback than anything. Little action, little killing and scenes that went on and on.

The big reveal came at the beginning of the second hour which preceded a full half hour accuse-fest to finger each of the remaining Chanels as the killer (don't shake your head at me. I'll ignore it if you will). After the first hour of Zayday and Grace going through the school records of each of the remaining girls--a feat made possible by a sex scene betwixt Jamie Lee Curtis and Oliver "Dad-bod" Hudson--they came back to reveal that Chanel number six AKA neck brace girl played by Lea Michele was the killer. The only reason she was believed not to be the killer was because she had a stiletto heel stuck in her eye supposedly put there by Chanel number five played by Abigail Breslin.
The first half hour became so ridiculous that it was revealed that Chanel five's parents wanted to disown her and took this opportunity to throw her under the bus. But apparently Breslin wasn't alone as Chanel number three played by Billie Lourd (surprise, she's Princess Leia's real life daughter; didn't know it until I saw this picture.) helped her. The most ludicrous and convoluted story of them all, she supposedly had split personality disorder and had been taking killing advice from her father Charles Manson. Her other dark half would use the advice to kill her fellow sisters which she would be completely unaware that she did.
This might have been enough if the show didn't spend another seven minutes putting The Chanel in a similar scenario, fingering her as the mastermind behind it all. Why did she do it? Kind of because she could. All three of them arrested by major sleuthing all-star Chief of police Denise Hemphill (played by Niecy Nash who was literally the best part of this show for me), all was solved and fair.
And then the real killer continued revealing her plan. Yes, the real killer was Lea Michelle's Chanel number six, the "brainy" twin of Boone who, not only jabbed the heel into her own eye making sure not to puncture the actual eye, but methodically planned her entry into the inner-sanctuary of KKT all to get revenge for her dead bathtub-birthing mama. After growing up in the asylum, she was only allowed in because she posed as a handicapped student and Dean Mensch needed more diversity, unlike her brother Boone who just pretended to be a Dickie Dollar scholar while never enrolling in the school in the first place. My god, if you think this review is long you should have watched the episode.

The Chanels all disowned by their parents (Chanel number one's parents disowned her after the world-hating thing), all three of them tried representing themselves in court to which the Black judge determined they were crazy as they had slept through much of the trial. He sentenced them to life in the asylum where they each actually found happiness.

The dean and Grace's father engaged in a real relationship as she wrote a best-selling book on new new feminism which basically says the same as current feminism. While she figured out Lea Michele was the killer she didn't turn the girl in after having killed her husband and the deceptive minx knowing about it.
Now, Grace and Zayday with the help of Chanel six all turned around the KKT house to be inclusive. Those two were spared because they were nice to Chanel 6 on the first pledge day at the beginning of the year, not to mention Grace is her half sister by blood through their father. All was well, save for at the very end when the red devil killer snuck into the asylum as The Chanel slept and lorded over her with a knife. One last scream of horror for everyone and the end. Why the episodes felt so laborious, I don't know. As I said, I think they could have cut out entire scenes and it wouldn't have mattered. They could also have cut some scenes shorter like the goodbye between Denise and Chad which wasted four minutes of screen time on nothing. This honestly felt like they knew they had been commissioned for a certain amount of episodes and needed a ton of filler to make that goal.
Can't move on fast enough from that one. Maybe if they have another season next year as it was originally intended as an anthology like American Horror Story, it will be better but until then, I am left with a bland taste in my brain-mouth.
Finally, the week ended today on the release of the new X-Men Apocalypse trailer. Check it out below if you haven't seen it yet.


Quick caveat, I am not a huge X-Men fan and never was. While I enjoyed the exploits of Wolverine, the group as a whole was too varied, too angsty, too everything for me. Not that I hated any of the movies, books, or cartoons I just always thought, "oh, those are nice." With that said, I have to say I am very unimpressed with this trailer. Just as the music for the Batman v. Superman trailer disappointed me with it's one note-ness, so too did this with its lackluster ominous tone. If this is the end, why doesn't it seem like it? Maybe because we know it isn't from the Days of Future Past? I don't know.
Also, I have to say I never liked the choice of Oscar Isaacs as the villain. In stature, face, and voice, he never seemed foreboding enough to me. Forgetting his height as he can grow or shrink to infinite sizes as shown in the trailer, his voice doesn't instill terror and his face still looks silly to me like it did in the first images from the movie. Will this be good? Maybe, but from the first trailer, I am not impressed nor eager to even see it at this point.

What do you think? Were you watching any TV or film this week or were you too busy with holiday preparations? Did you see the big reveal on Supergirl? Are you excited to see Martian Manhunter? What about Scream Queens? Was this show even on your radar? How did you feel about the finale? And what of the new X-Men trailer? Did it get you excited to see the movie or are you apprehensive about the visuals? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).  

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, "he calls them the four horsemen."'He got that one from the Bible.'
P.S. A quote from the trailer, but seriously what is up with all the God and religious references in comic book movies these days, especially when referring to the villain? Can we stop trying to make all religion evil? I'll think of a better sign-off next time.

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This Week In Review #TheWiz #BatmanvSuperman #NewYearCountdown

This Week In Review #TheWiz #BatmanvSuperman #NewYearCountdown
All pictures of Batman V. Superman and The Flash/Arrow are courtesy of DC/Warner Bros.

Wow! A lot happened this week that I didn't blog about. Sorry, I was too fatigued from last month's posting marathon where I put out 30 posts in 30 days for NaBloPoMo (#NaBloPoMo). Not to mention I was writing my future #1 bestselling novel TMOTR (#TMOTR) for #NaNoWriMo, which took up far more time than I anticipated. After 118,000 words, 68 chapters, a ton of mysteries posed and solved, I finally finished that about three or four hours before the midnight deadline before December 1st. Have I edited any of it? No. I will actually move on to another project before circling back and editing that sometime in the new year. So stay tuned for more posts about it throughout all of next year.
Back to this week. Some of the stuff I already covered at the beginning of the week with Kobe announcing his retirement and, uh... well that's about it. So what happened this week in entertainment? Probably the biggest thing to happen this week came from the realm of comic book movies.
What The Heck Are Those Flying Things?
Monday night introduced a minute long clip from the upcoming Batman v. Superman film (#BatmanvSuperman) due out in March 2016. If you haven't seen it, you either have been living under a rock (high Patrick from Spongebob; OK, lame reference. Sorry) or you really don't care, in which case you won't care about what I have to say about it anyway. But just in case you are a little curious, I'll link to it as well as explain my take on it.
First off, for some reason a lot of journalists and bloggers alike felt the scene came from a dream sequence. In it, we see Batman hanging from a chain with others hanging on either side of him. Suddenly, Superman lands at the end of the hallway in a flourish of dust. Soldiers kneel as Kal-el swags his way down the hall toward Batman. Mean, nearly snarling and a puggish face, he reaches to grab the mask and cowl off Batman's head to reveal the man beneath.
Superman Being Mad
As good as some of the theories on why this is a dream sequence are, I can't bring myself to the same conclusion based on the other footage we saw. For one, we've already seen the beginning of this same scene. We've also seen Batman in the same garb in his costume cloaked in a khaki-colored trench coat in what looks like a desert landscape/base of some sort. Adding all the glimpses of what we've seen of this scenario, it looks like it may take up three to four minutes of runtime in the film, which I can't see being wasted on one dream sequence with a huge battle scene in it, even if it is to show the nightmarish predictions of what Bruce thinks might/could happen when encountering an alien being.
Superman Being ContemplativeTo move on, two nights later Warner Bros. released an official full third trailer for BvS on Jimmy Kimmel Live which I actually consider very strange. Why? Because Kimmel works on ABC, owned by Disney who also owns Marvel and just the week before released the Captain America: Civil War trailer. I understand DC/WB don't have one specific station they are highly affiliated with like Marvel, however, it seemed a little strange for them to go to the competition's stomping grounds to ask for help with the release. It seemed like it might have served better for one of their other shows like Supergirl or even going to Colbert on CBS where Supergirl has a home or to Fallon, but I digress.

The trailer came and I was so... whelmed. That's right, I definitely wasn't overwhelmed and I don't want to say I was underwhelmed because it did have some good elements to it, however, I didn't like it as much as I hoped I would. In comparison to the Civil War trailer Thanksgiving week, it didn't wow me. Maybe that's because of the music which I felt didn't properly build to anything like the trailer music in Civil War did. I know that seems overly critical, but I only point to that because of the previous WB trailers. For Man of Steel they started to use bits of Hans Zimmer's score in the trailers. If that music is part of the film, I don't know if we're getting the best of Zimmer and Junkie XL (side note: I'm a huge original film soundtrack fan ranging from The Notebook to The Dark Knight Rises so I look forward to good memorable music). The biggest revelation came in the form of Doomsday at the end of the trailer.
Doomsday?
As rumored months ago, Lex uses the dead body of Zod to create the ever-evolving monster for the crew to battle; in fact, it is shown that Wonder Woman steps in the way of Batman and helps block a laser beam from the creation. We also saw a little more of Luthor's personality which still doesn't seem like Luthor but we'll see how it fits into the tone of the film.
Batman's Gun Is Almost As Big As Wonder Woman's Sword
As far as Batman and Superman versus-ing each other? We got a lot of that. They were jumping on each other, shooting at each other (oh yeah, Batman's got guns galore in this thing with guns on his batwing, his batmobile and a big gun at the end; don't worry, I'm sure they shoot something other than bullets) and snarling at each other like crazy. Actually, the biggest controversy has come from the final frame in which Batman holds a gun like a Russian muscle guy mobster.

Superman Being... Mad Again?And for the way Affleck and Snyder are approaching the character, he looks quite subdued even more than the other movies. I say that because he looks almost as if he's sneaking into the big gala event like a new but humble star not used to the fame. For once, I'd like to see a more confident playboy Bruce who is a strong silent which I don't think we've gotten even in the Nolan movies I enjoyed. The tension between he and Clark is palpable. I'm also fearful we the fans might get yet another dour, mopey Superman as was many fans' chief problem with Man of Steel. In all the trailers I've seen so far, I can't remember him smiling once. He's either pissed, offended or contemplative. Where dat hope at?

All pictures of the Wiz courtesy of NBC 
Speaking of hope, NBC's rendition of The Wiz Live came on this Thursday. Sigh! What can I say about this musical. I'll start by saying that I thought it was far better than the Peter Pan Live that they put out last year, however I thought it tied in quality with the Sound of Music they threw at us the first year they did this about two years back. I'll also say that I thought the casting was quite good, especially Shanice Williams as Dorothy, Ne-yo as the Tin-man and David Alan Grier as the Lion.
Picture courtesy of Universal and Motown Productions
With that said, I'm highly disappointed. Listen, I understand that The Wiz is just the Black (excuse me, African-American) version of The Wizard of Oz but was supposed to be an updated "hipper" version. The once Broadway musical did well for quite a while but people tired of it and it went the way of Cats. Most people, however, remember the film version of the same name from the late 1970s starring such big Black stars of the day as Diana Ross as Dorothy (way too damn old) and Michael Jackson as the scarecrow (best part of the movie) and I believe it was produced by Barry Gordy if I'm not mistaken, though I'd have to fact-check that. However, the movie was probably most memorable for its creative spin on the old classic story. With Judy Garland and the gang having already done a phenomenal job on the original Wizard of Oz, especially with the walk-through-the-forest and the fantasy realm and the middle-America farmland, The Wiz went a decidedly different direction and placed it smack in the middle of the urban landscape of Brooklyn, NY--where Brooklyn at! Where Brooklyn at! This brought a fresher, more relatable quality to the characters for many people of color and made the use of the slang relevant.

Also, I would have preferred the wicked witch be uglier and the fact that they thought Queen Latifah's Oz was a man when she clearly looked like a woman the whole time really kinda ticked me off. They did that just to fit in a feminism joke? Really?
 Even I Don't Get How They Can't Figure Out I'm A Woman
Again, I know that these are usually meant for the much younger kids and I'm sure my cousins' children may have loved it. I'm also aware that despite how ludicrously bad these live performances sometimes are (Peter Pan was just... gahh!) people still enjoy tuning in for them as The Wiz welcomed 11 million live viewers to ease on down the road with them. But in some ways I felt awkward watching this. You know dese fools had the nerve enough to use the non-word conversate AND the all-too-familiar drug addict phrase "see, what had happened was"--the same phrase addicts use when you let them in your house and suddenly your TV and other electronic equipment goes missing. I know it was supposed to be a comedy but a family comedy.
Tied Carrie Underwood on the left; Wayyy better than Peter Pan on the right!
You know what, I'm being too nit-picky about this. I'll say that it was good for a few laughs, though it finally had me questioning why a good witch would make a young girl wear some magical slippers that everyone in the kingdom knew about and would want to kill her for. Outside of my shock that they weren't Air Jordans circa 1998, did this woman really show no concern about giving this child something so dangerous? In all my years of watching The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz, I never thought of that until now. The whole thing had me yearning for a more urban take on it. If you were going to throw in slang and attitude, go all the way and put her into a strange, urban, yellow bridge road setting that made the movie unique. Otherwise, you could have just down the white version but with Black people because that is precisely how this played to me. In the end, I do want to still support the Black community and give props for them attempting to do The Wiz, but classic this is not.
Left to Right: Hawkgirl, Picture of Vandal Savage, The Flash, ArrowAnother thing I wanted to talk about had, again, to do with comics. The CW's The Flash/Arrow crossover proved a huge success, albeit more for Arrow than the Flash. With them setting up their newest incarnation/addition to the DC CW-universe, they introduced the characters of Hawkman and Hawkgirl as well as the main villain Vandal Savage who will be bad guy numero uno on DC's Legends of Tomorrow. In the crossover, they included not only the near murder of the new Wells by that cop woman that Barry is dating, but it also included a look at Arrow's long-lost son he never had the chance to know about. He's chosen to keep the child a secret from Felicity while Jay Garrick--earth two's Flash--saved Harrison from dying by removing the bullet. And Flash traveled back in time again to warn his friends of Savage's impending leveling of the city.

Cisco between Hawkgril and Hawkman on the right.The takeaway was concerning the set-up for the new series, however. We now know the back story of the main villain and two of the heroes to join the already established heroes and villains from Arrow and Flash. What we don't know is how Savage comes back to life after being zapped by the heroes at the end.
There was some other stuff floating about in the ether that was none comic book related but I completely forgot about what it was. Now that I'm going to be going on a brief vacation, the posts will be more sporadic as I work on editing some of my stuff and the holidays take over. Also, I'll probably release a slate sheet of the works I plan to release next year. For now, look for a milk chocolate recipe coming in the next week or so as I unleash a few good holiday recipes for you.
What did you think? Did you obsess over any big entertainment news this week? If so, what was it? Did you watch The Wiz Live!? What did you think? What about Batman v Superman? What are your theories about that Batman hanging scene, those flying monster things in the desert fight scene and Batman's gun? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, "won't you, ease on down, ease on down the rooo-ad!"
P.S. Did anyone else notice some the notes they changed in the songs? I especially noticed on the Scarecrow's "You Can't Win." I did like the new song they added in when they were going to give up on Dorothy. I think Ne-yo said he wrote it. Anyway, I'll think of a better sign-off next time.
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Things We've Learned From The First Full Month Of The NBA #NBA #Cavs #Basketball

Things We've Learned From The First Full Month Of The NBA #NBA #Cavs #Basketball
All Pictures Courtesy of the NBA and its teams and affiliates unless otherwise noted.





Surprise! Here some of you regular readers probably thought my last post for the month of National Blog Posting would be on blog posting or my NaNoWriMo progress. While I thought about both of those, I couldn't in good conscience do that knowing that I still had work to do on my book, and write my last post about completing the challenge felt too meta and like a cheat (yes, I could write previous post on NaBloPoMo but not the last one. So, I focus on another topic I'd like to discuss, the NBA.


Through to the afternoon of November 30th, the NBA has already given us a few crazy stories to follow, each dominating in their own right. Since we're on the topic of dominating, I'd be remiss if I didn't start with the biggest story the Golden State Warriors.

Having opened their season on a perfect 18-0 run, they stand just 15 games away from matching the '72 Lakers win streak of 33. With a mix of opponents both weak and strong, they still have yet to truly face their toughest tests in San Antonio and Oklahoma City in the West as well as the Cavs in the East (a Christmas Day matchup all NBA fans can't miss). However, that doesn't discount their run which includes more 30, 40 and 50-point games from their star Steph Curry than the Philadelpia 76sers have even won (their win count is at zero, by the way). The crazy trick shots and ease of stroke for Curry has put him squarely in the driver's seat for the debate of best player in the game. Of course there is this other guy in Cleveland that may have something to say about that. 
Leading the Eastern Conference Standings, Cleveland sits atop with 13 wins out of seventeen games. Not bad for the injury-riddled team but not up to Lebron and Lebron's mustache's standards. Though their star point guard as well as their first string defensive stopper Iman Shumpert are both out for at least another few weeks, and players JR Smith as well as Timofey Mozgov have also sat out a few early season games, that hasn't stopped Lebron from riding guys for lack of effort and chip-on-the-shoulder play. Seeing his finals' opponent blowing teams out by as much as 50 hasn't sat well with the king, causing him to take a deeper look at the character of the third most winningest team currently in the NBA.

Speaking of wins, it seemed as if the Houston Rockets couldn't buy one in the first few weeks of the season. Coming off of a conference finals appearance in the '14-15 season, expectations for the also-ran team were high to either duplicate or surpass such heights of success. But with a Kryptonite-ailed Superman and a switch in team chemistry from last year (cough Ty Lawson cough), the team has yet to sniff at a playoff spot in a volatile west where teams clutter at the highest win totals possible. This led to the unceremonious (and wrong in my eyes) firing of Kevin McHale as head coach. A band-aid for a much deeper locker room problem, they won the game without their coach only to resume losing a few games later.

One Of Us Is Leaving By The End Of This Season
Speaking of poor chemistry, DeMarcus Cousins and George Karl have continued their feud from last season with rumors of the owner coming down to the locker room and asking if he should fire Karl, and rumors that they discussed a possible trade with Boston. Unfortunately, every time these rumors surface, Cousins play increases exponentially the next game, making it hard for the owner to pull the lever on any potential trade or firing.

Porzingis About To Take Flight. Kris Humphries Please Remain In The Seated Position
Not the only big man that can beast, questionable (at the time) Knicks' draft pick Porzingis (not going to try spelling that first name) has been such a pleasant surprise to NY faithful that both he and his play have overshadowed the return of the previously injured All-Star Carmelo Anthony. Not only are the Knicks not trying to lose but will finish the month almost at .500 and a trade away from a playoff spot. They're still another superstar or good role player away from grabbing a piece of a championship, however.

Speaking of face-of-the-franchise superstars, many of them around the league have been a little disappointing through the first month. Taking away the stars on Golden State and Cleveland, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have not grabbed the headlines nor the wins as most expected they would in Kevin's contract season. While they are in the top 4 in the west, the Warriors domination of the Mississippi that-a way has overshadowed the ho-hum Allstar-level play as the two have proven they can play together to analyst... finally! LaMarcus Aldridge has willingly reduced his role from superstar to cog in the winning machine that is the Spurs, helping to power them to the number two spot behind the Warriors.

In the east, Derrick Rose has all but disappeared behind his plastic mask as the Bulls have taken losses to a few teams they shouldn't have, looking like a playoff team but not a real contender to take down the Cavs. The same can be said for the Miami Heat where D. Wade and Bosh have led their team to a respectable third place while continuing to try sculpting their own identity post-Lebron. Probably the biggest disappointment in the east comes from the nation's capital. Yes, what's happening on Capitol Hill in politics always induces eye rolls, but I'm talking about the Wizards. A team that handily defeated the Raptors last season in the playoffs and looked posed to defeat the Hawks on the way to a conference finals berth, have now slipped well below the playoff line and are struggling to find wins against all opponents.

I Made A Three, One Less Number Than The Amount Of Wins We Have
Probably the angriest fanbase in the NBA right now resides in Louisiana. The playoff-bound Pelicans of last year have floundered so much, that they are in the lower four teams of the NBA and have yet to accumulate five wins in 17 games. To clarify, it's a start slightly better than the Lakers at two wins and the 76ers at zero. The problem? Those two teams are trying to lose games for better draft positioning.

From Draft Day
The biggest breaking story came just yesterday when the completely expected news that Kobe Bryant is retiring after this season came from the man himself. After a month of playing like the Monsters from Space Jam came back and sucked his basketball powers away, he's decided to continue this farewell tour and collect that massive paycheck afforded to him for being the best player for so long. While I may make fun of Kobe, he will be extremely missed in the league. I salute you, black mamba. Five championships! Nobody can argue with that.

To Champion! 
What do you think? Have you been following your favorite NBA team or are you still locked into the NFL season? When do you think the Warriors win-streak will end? Do you think they can beat or match the Bulls 72-10 record? What do you think about Kobe Bryant announcing his retirement? Will you miss seeing him as a competitor or is it good riddance. Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, "I'm announcing that, uh... I'm gonna be retiring from NBA basketball to play professional baseball." "Uh... Why?" "Because Nike told me to Just Do It!
P.S. Do I even have to add anything to that? I'll think of a better sign-off next time... maybe.
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The CBAs Of Life #Positivity #BlogShare #WriterLife

The CBAs Of Life #Positivity #BlogShare #WriterLife

Rainbow!

I will go ahead and admit at this point that I am actually so exhausted from the day of writing I just had that I am finding it insanely difficult to finish these last two posts for National Blog Posting Month (#NaBloPoMo). It's strange how two days ago I had writer's block on my novel and now I'm having writer's block on what to rant and rave about. While I was going to do a post entitled: Why Does The World Love Girls So Much which would have been on the recent Universal Studios acquisition of the film rights to an as-yet not released novel entitled The Girl Before, I decided against it because I didn't know all of what I wanted to say about it as my feelings continue to be mixed. The book doesn't come out until next fall yet Ron Howard is about to make a film out of it and some self-pub writers don't get the time of day? Hmph! That has led me to do this post instead.
Positivity. Everyone tries to maintain a level of positivity in their lives in hopes that it will not only spur on things like good health and good relationships, but success in all areas. Some rare occasions I forget just how important being positive is. Let me give a caveat here and say that I respect and realize the usefulness of all emotions and feelings, but there's just something about positivity which is so addictive and the one thing we must all have if we are going to get through the drudgery of life.
From what I've seen, the world is filled with people who will doubt you and your abilities at every turn. I remember back in college I wanted to start a comedy thing and was immediately told how hard it would be. That is when the idea reinforced in my head that sometimes another person's "negativity" is not meant to be mean or overly critical on purpose. Often they believe the truth behind their words. The great thing is that you don't have to believe it.
Don't get me wrong, we all need to hear the truth from those around us we trust, but we must train ourselves to discern between when someone else may be correct about our reality and when we have the will and/or know-how to prove them wrong. I think it is for this very reason that we sometimes must take on challenges to push our limits and test the boundaries by which others see us and we see ourselves. One of the reasons I took on the National Novel Writing Month (#NaNoWriMo) challenge was not to prove to myself I could do it (I've written a book in a month countless times) but to cheer on others that didn't know if they could or not. In some ways I lost sight of that a little and busied myself with my own novel, but it did reinforce to me the precious feeling you get when you believe in yourself and accomplish what you set out to do.
My standards by which to live have always been summed up in about four or five words. You first have the acronym CBA: Conceive, Believe, Achieve. There is nothing you can do in this world without locking in the first concept of, uh... conception. You have to know what you want to achieve before you can achieve it. Some people don't have much of an idea about that when they start something. It's always too general. Saying that you want to write a novel, even picking the genre is not specific enough to motivate you all the way through to the end sometimes. I know we've all heard it before thousands of times, but writing or picturing clear goals for yourself is paramount to success.
Your Brightest Days May Lay Ahead Of You Yet!
Next, you have to believe. Stay as positive as you can as you start the process of going after what you want. Sure, you may breakdown. That's fine. A breakdown is OK so long as you can recover. Don't be ashamed to fall apart especially if you're trying to do something that others around you know is possible but are too afraid to attempt. Pride can get in the way of you daring to fail, get back up and continue. Don't take this as a continue-at-any-cost thing because when you do fall, make sure you have those honest people around you to tell you if your goal is reasonable. If it is, then keep going after it.
Though it doesn't fit into the neat acronym, the next thing you have to do is work your butt off. The reason I like NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo is because it pushes writers to try fitting into a community where everyone is working their tails off to get their art out and onto the page. You have people cheering on your hard work which can make you want to work even harder. But when this ends, we all must find the desire, the burn, the drive to continue the work we started. Rome wasn't built in a day, nor in a month. Your goal for writing that novel, or losing weight, or getting that job promotion or raise or whatever you want to achieve takes time. Keep at it!
And finally, try to achieve what you set before you. Remember the goals, put a time stamp on when you want to have achieved them and try sticking to it. Admittedly, it doesn't always work, but when it does, it's amazing. Even if it doesn't, you always learn something about yourself and the world around you on the way, and that can be uplifting in its own right.
What do you think? For those NaNoers out there are you staying positive as the month closes out? Do you maybe have some other goals you're trying to achieve that you are trying to stay positive on? How has your November 2015 been? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, "gimme an A! Gimme a B! Gimme a C! What's that spell?" "ABC is not a word. It doesn't spell anything, it's just the first three letters of the alphabet." "Wow! You try to do a positive cheerleading exercise and some people just have to be that guy."
P.S. Don't act like you don't know who that guy is. You know. You probably work with him. I'll come up with a better sign-off next time.
P.P.S. Am I tripping or just spelling "positivity" wrong? I used two different word processors and they both underlined it? Guess machines don't like that word.

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How To Prep Your Vegetable And Ornamental Garden Beds For Winter #Gardening #WinterPrep #Veg

How To Prep Your Vegetable And Ornamental Garden Beds For Winter #Gardening #WinterPrep #Veg
Vegetable Garden 2015

Usually before I write anything I have an exact length of how long I'd like it to be. Same goes for time spent doing something like chores, etc. I say that to say that I have no idea how long this post will be just as I underestimated how long it would take for me to complete my winter garden cleanup.
What were we looking at here? That picture above was at the very beginning of the season. In the back to the far left you can see the container in which I grow corn. To the left of the main garden those colorful green and red leaves are baby lettuce and kale. To the far right against the wall are where I put the broccoli and beans. The white hoops are where the tomatoes grew for support. To give you a rundown of the things I grew and what I'm cleaning up, I will say that it was a lot. And though the success rate varied on each plant, I consider the overall season a success as roughly 65% of the things I planted grew well. So, the list:
Zone 6 (some websites do say 5 but Burpees says 6), Northern Ohio.
Vegetable/Fruit Grown                                                   Success RateTomatoes: Two beefsteak varieties                                 Medium High Tomatoes: Two Cherry varieties                                     Medium High Tomatoes: Grape variety                                                High Peppers: Hot                                                                 HighPeppers: Sweet                                                             Medium HighPumpkins: Pie and Canning variety                                 High Watermelons: Oblong shaped                                        Low (1)Watermelons: Globe-shaped or small                             None Beans: String                                                                 LowBeans: Canning and Shelling                                           Medium Corn: Sweet                                                                  Low (side note: eaten by birds)Cantaloupe                                                                    NoneHoneydew                                                                     Low (1)Potatoes: White                                                              NonePotatoes: Sweet, Orange                                                Low (4 small edible ones)Cabbage:                                                                       None (side note: didn't intend on growing)Strawberries:                                                                 Medium High Onions: Green (shallots)                                                Medium High (side note: grown in house container)Onions: Sweet Bulbs                                                    NoneOnions: Red                                                                 NoneKale: Normal Green                                                     HighKale: Red                                                                    Medium Low Collard Greens:                                                           Medium LowSalad Greens: Mesclun Mix                                         Medium LowSalad Greens: Red                                                      Medium LowSalad Greens: Heirloom Mix                                       Medium LowBroccoli: Normal                                                        Low (side note: No heads harvested)Broccoli: Raabi                                                           Low (side note: No heads harvested)Cauliflower                                                                 Low (side note: One head left to harvest)Eggplant                                                                     Low
Foo! That was a lot. I think that's all I tried to grow--actually, as I was writing this sentence I remembered the eggplant. I really don't have a lot of space I grow everything in so it is always an achievement for me to have grown nearly any food. Sorry I didn't list the proper names of everything I grew. That would have just made the list even longer as I grew three varieties of corn, two varieties of grape tomatoes, three varieties of hot peppers, both bell and banana sweet peppers, two varieties of broccoli and cauliflower, two varieties of potatoes a slew of different melons and the list goes on. Next spring I hope to be more scientific with everything and properly journal it all for you guys so you know what exactly I'm growing up here.
Also, I should expound upon the side notes. I've been veggie gardening (#gardening) for a few years now. I grow everything from seed with the exception of potatoes. I usually buy those from the store and wait until they start sprouting stems and leaves, then pluck them off and plant. I also start most of my stuff inside my house during the winter months. I start a little late, usually March but this year started even later in late April because I was so busy with finishing my epic serial novel Unrequited. I'll do another post in the spring on why you should grow from seed if you grow at all, but suffice it to say right now that you have more control and it's cheaper.
With that said, having grown from seed plenty before I can tell you that the salad greens are usually the easiest to grow along with the collard greens which absolutely take off each year. I also usually get broccoli pretty early or pretty late in the season but didn't get any this year. It's on the list as a low success rate because I harvested some of the leaves, which are edible and mixed them with the collard greens when we had them boiled for Thanksgiving. They have much of the same taste/nutrient value (they're from a similar genus) and most people can't tell the difference. They're also cold hardy as our the collards and kale so I may get another harvest yet.
That's My Pest/Friend Bunny
The greens, broccoli and cauliflower all suffered I think because I overmulched last winter with leaves. More on leaves later, but suffice it to say that the ground was not happy about the woody covering. As they decompose, woody things suck out the nitrogen needed to make everything green and leaf abundant. I also usually grow my broccoli in a row that the previous year was used for beans. The beans next to them in the same bed also didn't do well as the strings sat low. They, I'm suspecting were eaten by our recent infestation of rabbits across the town. They're literally everywhere and I had one living amongst the bigger vegetation in my garden. I named him Bunny. I don't have to always be creative in life.
I also had a huge problem with birds for the first time this year as they mercilessly tore into my cornstalks. I grow my corn in a container (yes, it's possible for you novices). They only got about four feet tall when the birds came over and ripped the stalks from the container and tore the container's side. Vicious arm-less creatures. They also tore through my salad greens and collards. Everything else was good. Very little insect damage to any of my plants despite the huge mosquito colony that lived within my over-flooded area. Also, while I grew a heck of a lot of strawberries, my neighbor's dog kept eating them, then when I would pick them I would forget I had them and they would sit and rot in the back of the fridge. Luckily, I stayed diligent with the tomatoes and peppers and still have two full plastic bottles of tomato puree to do with what I wish. FYI, those 16.9oz water bottles you get with your favorite brand make great containers for freezing sauces in so long as you don't drink directly from them before hand. Or do it if its only you who is going to use the sauce inside. I don't care.
The white potatoes got flooded and I accidentally cut the top off in the heat which immediately killed them. The sweet potatoes also flooded but I was able to save them by scooping out the water.
Finally, to the actual garden prep. Two things I wanted to save to overwinter for next year were my pepper plants and tomato plants. Due to an early frost way back at the end of September (seriously, 30 degree nighttime dip; in contrast, Thanksgiving was 65 degrees) the tomatoes died off before I could transplant. I did, however get to my pepper plants in time.
Hot Peppers Left to right: Bird pepper, Jalapeno Pepper
Note first that this first step is done after transplanting. To overwinter you cut all the flowers, potential buds and fruit from the plant. Then trim any leaves that point inward or look like they will cross with another branch opposite of it. Finally, you want to top off the plant by picking a leveling spot and cutting off the top most growing branch of all branches at that level. Remove about 80% of the leaves, keeping only the top most leaves, then move it inside. Again, this is after you've already dug it from the ground and re-potted it.
To re-pot it, dig it out of the ground, have a warm bucket of clean, clear water nearby, shake the dirt from the root ball, then dip the entire root ball into the water. Wiggle it around. This cleans the root ball of most unwanted house pests that may live within the soil. Make sure you do it hard enough to create as bare of a root as possible--no soil from outside.
Two Sweet Pepper Plants: Left to right, banana and sweet bell
Next, get a clean, sanitized flower pot. If you have an old one that had something in it before or you just bought a new one, you might want to wash it of any possible bacteria that could have gotten on it. Remember, this will be the plant's home for the next six months or so. It has to be healthy where it is. Finally, fill the pot with a good clean potting mix, bring the pot inside and set it in a very sunny place. If the temperature in-house is drastically hotter or cooler than the outside temps, you may want to acclimate it to the inside over the course of two weeks by bringing it in each day for two more hours than the previous day starting with two hours in the windowsill. Note that as it gets later into winter, you'll need to supplement the sunlight with a good fluorescent or halogen grow light. I usually use the ones in my basement or laundry room and they do just fine. This is the first time I'm doing this with an adult plant, so I don't know if I'll succeed throughout the winter but fingers crossed.
The same steps can be followed for tomatoes. In both cases you'll want to water at least once a week but not nearly as much as you did when they were outside. Think 1/3 to 1/4 of what you gave it then. You'll also need to feed it a nitrogen-heavy food once or twice a month to keep up leaf growth. I'm using a compost tea. When it gets time to plant it outside again, you'll switch to a more potassium and phosphorous-heavy feed to stimulate root and flower growth to prepare it for the season. Finally, you'll want to top it off every few weeks so it doesn't completely cease growing and tries to bush out more.
Practically every other vegetable is a one-time seasonal thing that cannot be saved overwinter. So what do you do with that thick broccoli stalk or the corn stalks that you couldn't eat or the dried pumpkin vines after harvesting the pumpkins? One beautiful word: Compost.
A Mixture of finished compost, coffee grounds and dead leaves
Composting is incredibly difficult and easy. If you're here reading this, I'm sure you've read/asked about compost and know of the varying ratios of browns to greens and reds and blues and all that! Look, there are two things you need in abundance for good compost: dead leaves and coffee grounds/kitchen scraps. The best way to get coffee grounds is to call your local Starbucks or other coffeehouse about an hour before they close and ask them if they have any used ones from the day for your garden. Most (not all) will gladly give them to you because it's their waste and they'd rather you put it to good use than just throw it out.
Collect leaves either from the leaf litter of your own property in the fall or that of your surrounding neighbors. Note that you will need ten times more leaves than you will coffee grounds. Since I was thinking about putting in a small orchard next year, I needed leaves not just for my compost but also for mulch for all of my garden beds. So, instead of collecting leaves week after week which I did last year and it took two and a half weeks to collect all the leaves I needed, I called my local service department and asked for them to dump some leaves on my property during their free leaf pick-up rounds.
Seriously It Took Up A Third Of The Lawn. LEAVES!
It took some massaging and getting on people to properly do their job, but I ended up with a lot of leaves; in fact, probably too much. You see, the deal originally was for me to get one of the smaller truckloads about half the size of the pile you see. That pile by the way may look small perspective-wise, however, it stood no less than six feet tall and was as wide as a pick-up truck and longer than two mid-sized cars parked back to back. It was literally tons of leaves. So, stuck with the task of moving them, I had to take three full days off last week from writing just to get them around the property to where they needed to go, eating up all my free time.
A few before and after pictures, this is what the berm of small trees covering the back edge of my property used to look like. You can't even see the trees from the weeds and it doesn't look tall either.


And this is it with the leaf mulch. It should be noted that it stands roughly two and a half feet high. The picture is from farther away, however you can clearly see the difference in definition and height. 

These are the two front gardens filled with leaves as their mulch.
Makes a great looking mulch! 
I should note two things here. First is that the leaves will eventually breakdown all on their own. Many people get chopped-up trees to mulch their gardens. While that works, it means that a tree has been cut down or has naturally died and was shredded to get what you see. Leaves, however, are not only almost as nutrient dense as the tree bark, but readily fall each year. The nutrients the tree's roots pull from the ground go directly to the leaves. It is only right that it should go back into the ground. Also, I am of the opinion that the bigger the tree, the deeper or wider the roots, thusly the more nutrients they've pulled. So get as many leaves from tall healthy trees as possible.
That bush in the lower left may be infected from the leaves or has lost too much nitrogen too fast. 
That leads to the second note which is the cautious danger I am taking with the leaf delivery. With the entire truck filled with different leaves from many different trees throughout the surrounding neighborhood, I have no idea from where over half of these leaves came. Sure, I walk the neighborhood everyday, however, some of the trees could have been diseased or dying and have yet to show signs of such distress, but contain their sickness within the leaves. So, while this is also a problem inherent but not often thought of when it concerns wood chips or regular bark mulch, it is an even bigger problem with leaves as they get everywhere and break down much faster into the soil.
Because of this potential problem, what I did was make a one-layer compost bed for the established ornamental gardens. The leaves do not lay directly on the soil preventing them from not only causing soil-borne pathogens from spreading but also from them robbing the soil of more nitrogen than they put out. However, beneath them is a mixed layer of dead grass and coffee grounds. Experienced gardeners know that those pull nitrogen from the soil too during their breakdown and come spring I do expect for my plants not to be as green; however, they are also rich sources of nitrogen and organic food matter for the worms and other beneficial soil organisms. With it remaining warm for the next few days and wet, many of those organisms will get to work on breaking that food down before the ground freezes. The wet leaves will act as an insulating barrier to keep them closer to the surface soil. I expect the leaves to be here for the next two seasons to create a golden to brown mulch and keep weeds down. I tried this last year on a side bed with nothing but a bush growing in it and it worked.
Also, some things can survive the winter but may need mulching. Kale and collard greens and many beets can survive through the winter so long as you cut off all their leaves. They do not need to be mulched and I found that if you mulch them with leaves, it can suck out more nitrogen than it has time to break down. Leave them bare and they'll do fine. Strawberries, however, should be mulched over with a small layer of chopped up leaves. The leaves will allow them to get some carbon dioxide during the winter while protecting them from the harshness of the wind and frost. Do Not Bring Them Inside!
Not only do you need leaves but chopped-up micro leaves are the best which is where the truck came in nicely. See, the smaller the leaf, the better it looks as a mulch, the more water it allows through a layer, and the quicker it breaks down. This is very important for compost as you want your compost pile to break down as quickly as possible before the spring planting season. The vacuum on the leaf collector trucks suck the leaves so fast that many of the crispier ones break into a fine grain perfect for compost. If you collect the leaves yourself you can mulch them smaller by mowing over a row of them a few times with your lawn mower, or dumping them into a cleaned-out garbage pale and whacking them with your weed whacker. I've been told this works well. Here I used the lawn mower.
Make a pile about two widths of the lawn mower and go around twice the same direction with your side blower attachment. It should be noted that you have to use a mulching mower or you'll have a tougher time getting across the leaves. The third time go down the opposite side, blowing all the mulched leaves back into the original row. This not only chops the leaves but mixes them well with some grass. Next, put the collection bag attachment on and go through as many times as needed to collect all of the leaves. Whatever's left embedded in the soil you can let sit and it will break down within nine months without help.
Branches at the bottom allow better air circulation, needed for bacteria.To construct the pile, I start with a good base of leaves. I like to start over top of a hole with branches strewn across it like a drawbridge. You can see them a little if you look closely in the picture. Using a large snow shovel is easiest to measure out the perfect ratio. I do twenty shovelfuls of leaves to one shovel of coffee grounds and grass clippings/food scraps. Go leaves, coffee grounds, lawn clippings, leaves, coffee grounds, food scraps, leaves, coffee grounds, grass clippings, leaves, food scraps, coffee grounds, leaves. Those hesitant to put old food in because it may attract animals should know that most animals (outside of domesticated cats and dogs occasionally) don't like the smell of the coffee grounds. Putting the scraps toward the middle of the pile and making sure they are covered with ample leaves and a second layer of coffee grounds ensures they will not attract furry critters.

Putting the Coffee Grounds into the Shovel make them easier to spread evenly.
You are trying for no less than three feet by three feet by three feet (wide, length and height) and it is best to build directly on the dirt you plan to plant on the next year. Between each layer you want to wet the medium with water or leftover alcohol and pop (soda) work well too. The bacteria set to do the work live within water so they need it to start the breakdown. However, too much will make the pile soppy and not enough will not help the process.
It might not look it but that is about 3.5 feet tall. 
Once big and wide enough make sure that you spray it down once more to seal it with a liquid, poke air pockets in it with a sharp stick or whatever you can get to poke holes through it. The bacteria also need to breathe. Then you can cover it and do one of two things. Either wait until next spring to deal with it again and it'll slowly breakdown but it won't be completely ready the day you want to plant. Or, you can tend to it for the next three weeks, turning and churning it to put the outside stuff not yet composting into the inside over and over. This will help the pile heat quicker and leave you with less work in the spring. Come spring time you'll just need to rake it out and put it in the places it needs to go. I choose to cover mine and will look at it again in December when I get some time and a vacation. By that time it will be colder which can tell me if it's heated up or not. When you dig into the center of your pile you want it to be hot and near black as that is a sure sign the microbes are working. If it is cold enough outside, the pile may smoke. If it is smoking, congrats, you have a hot compost pile. Sit back and let it cook or turn it to keep it from burning.
Covering it will keep it from becoming too wet during the winter, halting the composting process.
Well, that's about all I have to share on my winter garden clean-up for now. I literally moved four tons of leaves and have everything set for a kick-butt spring. We'll see if everything is still alive or composted come April. A clean, clear lawn. No more leaf pile.

What do you think? Was this article helpful to you and your winter garden clean-up? Do you garden at all? If so, do you ever compost or use any mulch in any of your gardens? If you veggie garden, which veg is your favorite to grow and why? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, "it's all home-on-the-range and stuff around here. This is nature."

P.S. That was a quote said by a friend of mine. I am now occasionally known as farmer and the amount of food I can grow in the small bit of land I utilize for my veg garden is becoming famous... sort of. I'll think of something better next time.

P.P.S. Now that I remember it, I also grew zucchini with no success. It was a late season add so I really didn't expect it to succeed after planting it in 80 degree weather.

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What Am I Missing? #NaNoWriMo #NaBloPoMo #TMOTR

What Am I Missing? #NaNoWriMo #NaBloPoMo #TMOTR
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Three? First... 10... mine? Hmph? Oh, right. I'm supposed to be writing a post right now. The thing is I'm sort of gone in the head. It's late as I write this. It's late on Thanksgiving Day though you won't read this until Friday or a year from now (hello, future fans! Do you know the riddle?). I am almost done with TMOTR 92,000 words and suddenly I've hit a snag.
That horrid and unsettling feeling that all writers get at some point, many times on one project, even multiple times during the day, I now have. That's right, fellow writers, I have reached a point of writer's block. Don't worry, it's mild. I still have a few things I know how I want to write, but I have the sneaking suspicion I'm missing something... but what?
For starters, I rarely get writer's block anymore. I remember back in high school I used to get it all the time, even abandoning projects because it was too hard to think of the next thing to unfold. It is within those times that I think the truly committed (or crazy or both) buckle down and tell their imaginations how it's going to be, not necessarily reinvent their writing style but their process. It wasn't until my late years in high school did I start writing nearly all stories nonlinear-ly. Don't get me wrong, most of them unfold in a linear progression, but as I've said before, I write what I can write when I can write it. Then the multiple stories thing came in during college. Sometimes I would work on up to eight projects at a time. I really hope that doesn't sound like bragging, I'm just saying what works for me. Rarely have I ever broken from this accept for in one recent case while finishing my epic serial novel Unrequited due out sometime next year.
#KnowFear
To be clear, I haven't had writer's block on a novel or screenplay literally in three years. Now? Something is missing I'm sure of it, but I can't figure out what? For the month I pushed aside my usual routine, working only on the novel and the blog to try completing the #NaNoWriMo and #NaBloPoMo challenges. So far, it's slowed my novel progress but I still think I'll finish, but I can't shake that feeling. TMOTR is a mystery. I don't often write straight mysteries. I have one coming out soon entitled The Knowledge Of Fear, but that's not for a few months. So, since I am stuck for the first time in a while, I turn the floor over to you subscribers and casual readers. Leave a comment below or send me a tweet on Twitter and tell me what you think makes a great mystery. Or tell me what you think the basic structure of a mystery even is. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm even writing a mystery at all. I don't know.
Anyway, hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and if you are one of those people who happened to venture beyond your front door into the shopping culture of America for Black Friday deals, you can also leave a comment about what you got or if you really found any deal actually worth the effort. Tomorrow, expect my gardening post finally. I'll be writing that right after this one.

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend . #AhStalkingIf you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, "gobble, baby. Gobble, baby. Gobble, baby, gobble!"

P.S. If you get that dance song reference make yourself forget it so that brain power can be focused into something else like learning a new language or figuring out how to get every last squeeze of meet out of those sausage roll packages. Every single time there's a little bit of meat still left over after I squeeze and squeeze. Eh! I'll think of a better sign-off next time.

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