Sunday Salon for 8 October 2023
Happy Sunday! Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at ReaderBuzz. Check out her post and the links to see what other bloggers have been up to in the last week.
How’s the weather?
The temperature dropped all day on Friday. We were at 68 degrees in the morning and dropped to 45 degrees by Saturday morning. It felt like the day that autumn arrived for a visit.
What are you reading?
I finished The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner — an enjoyable book all the way through, set in the mysterious worlds of Victorian gentlemen’s clubs and the occult.
Next up is Payback in Death, the latest in the long-running futuristic detective series by J.D. Robb. I lucked into a “Skip the Line” copy in Libby by Overdrive. I took it, even though I was only about 75% through The London Séance Society. I read the J.D. Robb books quickly — like eating junk food but with no calories. So, I knew that I would get it done in plenty of time for the next person in line even if it was a few days before I started reading.
What are you watching?
I’m still enjoying Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. There are episodes where the producers must have told the writing room, “Give us your whackiest ideas.” Those are my favorite.
“The Elysian Kingdom” (Season 1, episode 8) turns the ship and crew into a fantastical fairy tale. It’s the same ship, but decked out in ivy garlands, and the same cast, but costumed in puffy sleeves and velvet capes.
“Subspace Rhapsody” (Season 2, episode 9) gives us a musical. The crew breaks into song, revealing emotions that they intended to keep quiet. The situation gets more dangerous (and amusing) when this malady spreads through the quadrant, infecting everyone within communications range — including Klingons who are deeply discomfited by the musical form of self-expression.
Here’s a taste that only mildly spoils the plot. The point of this episode isn’t the plot, anyway:
What are you doing?
We received the last of our Netflix DVDs. The end of an era. Our first disk was shipped on October 25, 2006. So, we nearly reached 17 years. Netflix says that we were among the top 10% of renters. We held on to the bitter end of the Netflix DVD service because we have a good sound system and Blu-Ray disks still have better audio than streaming. Also, not everything is available streaming.
In the future, I’ll be using the library for our DVDs. But I’m going to miss how easy it was to manage a queue and to access 17 years of watching history.
What are you writing?
For British Isles Friday, I reviewed the Jodie Whittaker seasons of Doctor Who. One episode inspired my theme for British Isles Friday for the rest of the month — The Year Without a Summer.
I had my first meeting with a writing coach last week and we discovered that my plot is not up to the task of carrying a whole novel. The stakes aren’t high enough. There isn’t enough conflict. The character arc for my main character is flimsy.
So, I’m abandoning, for now, my challenge to write a first draft in 90 days. Instead, I’ll build a more solid foundation in the next few months. I plan to make another attempt at a 90-day first draft in January — a great way to start a new year.
How are you this fine Sunday?