Odd Time For Posting...Again!

 But it’s for a different reason this time. My internet has been out of service!

I purposely intended to write my Killer Hobbies post later than I usually do, yesterday evening. That would be after I returned from a movie that afternoon.

My husband and I often go to see movies on Tuesday afternoons because of a discount we get.

And yesterday, I really wanted to go see Heart of the Beast, the new movie starring Brad Pitt. And oh, yes, it also stars Odie, also named Odin, a German shepherd. Well, as it turned out, there are several German shepherds in the cast playing Odie.

I wanted to write about it here since my primary topic on Killer Hobbies is animals, especially dogs. And I’m sure those who read any of my stuff here or elsewhere know how much I love, especially, dogs.

Anyway, I’d seen the previews for Heart of the Beast and figured it would be interesting, and a good movie to watch—which it was. It was full of excitement and adventure, and pretty much only had Brad Pitt and Odie in the cast, with a couple of other people showing up briefly at different points.

And I’d gotten the impression, seeing the previews and reading about it online, that it was potentially highly emotional.

Which it was.

I don’t want to say too much about it here, since I’d encourage people reading this to go see it if they like adventurous movies, emotional ones—and seeing a highly smart dog. Maybe it’ll inspire me to write a new story or series of my own, different, of course.

Anyway, as I write this, I hear my husband still trying to get us online, so hopefully this will be posted early enough to be seen here Wednesday morning.

Social Media

 It is always good to get out in the world one way or another.  Last week we went to a dinner party and among the guests were two members of a boy band called Boy Throb.  They were cute and entertaining and brought fun to the party.  One of them is actually from the area where the Crochet and Crumpets series takes place. It was also interesting to hear about their careers.  They were in town to film content for their social media accounts.  More singing with  fancy footwork  and fun reminiscent of the MONKEES. That's what it's all about now.  

Things have changed for authors too.  This Sunday I am going to be on the Facebook group  Cozies, Conversations and More at 8 pm Eastern time.  There's no camera, but I will be interviewed by Joyce Hamlyn.  It was set up a long time ago and the focus was supposed to be DEATH AMONG THE STITCHES, but now SCONED TO DEATH  has been added to the discussion.  I used to do panel discussions at local libraries and book signings at  literary festivals and the occasional bookstore.  But those were always local.  An online appearance can get people from everywhere all without leaving home.

There is no guarantee that I will get as much attention as the four boy band guys in their pink track suits and orange shoes (not what they were wearing at the dinner party), but it is still a chance to connect with readers and I don't even have to know how to dance. 

This Month Continues

Okay, this week I remembered to work on my post early enough to get it up here on time.

This week I learned several things of interest. First, my next book will be a January 2027 release. I’d understood it would be a December book, but I’m glad it will be celebrating the new year. It’s K-9 Evidence, the first in my new K-9 Crime Solvers series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. Yes, there are K-9s in it as well as private investigators. I received copies of it already, and the books are a slightly larger format than previously.

I also learned that there are changes going on at Writerspace, the website where I get most of my promotion done, including updating my own website, publishing newsletters for me, and more. One of the people I’ve worked with the most has left and will be starting her own competing company. I’m staying with Writerspace, at least for now, but I do appreciate that departing person and will see how things go in the future.

And yes, guess what, I’m continuing to write the third book in that new series. Plus, it’s always fun to watch my dogs watch the world through our locked front gate.

Deliberately Muddled

 My aim is to write something easy to be read.  I don't want a reader to have to work too hard.  The point is for it to be a hopefully fun  read that takes them away from the troubles of their world for a while.

Unfortunately, being simple and straight forward does not seem to be the aim of a lot of companies now.  Anthropic stole a bunch of my books, along with a lot of other authors.  There is a class action suit that has led to a settlement.  But in order to be part of it, I had to fill out a lengthy document to qualify.  It was tedious, but I did it.  It seemed finished, but then a week or so ago, I  got a new document I had to deal with.  The publishers were claiming half the money.  The instructions of how to address this new document were confusing and overwhelming.  Not just for me.  There were posts on Facebook and a note from the president of Sisters in Crime about how to deal with it.  It was down to trying to figure out what words like default meant in the publisher's claim.

Once I figured out what it meant, I still had to go through a list of books and  adjust my claim.  Instead of clear instructions how to do it, the ones provided by the law firm handing the settlement were confusing and probably deliberately not helpful.  Eventually, I stopped going in circles and figured it out--at least I hope I did, and did it  correctly.  

That was easy compared to dealing with a Chase bank credit card this week.  I went to the online site to get some information for doing our taxes and a screen popped up trying to get me to go paperless.  I won't go into trying to describe how confusing it was.  I thought that I handled to not going paperless.  And then an email came  that appeared to say that I had agreed to go paperless.  What came after was long and boring, but basically, there was no way to tell if I had agreed to go paperless or to be sure that I let them know I still wanted a paper bill.  The so-called help was all not helpful.  So now all I can do is wait to see if  they continue to send a bill or not. If there's no bill, I will call them and we all know how that goes.

It's the intent that is so bad.  We the customers are treated like the enemy and every effort seems to be made to confuse us.   It seems to be the world now and there's no choice but to deal with it.

Back to writing and trying to keeping those sentences clear.