Battery Problems...

Hello! How are you today?

Well, the last week of August is turning out to be a bit of a weird one. I mean, it's cool that the weather is mellowing out a bit. It's also nice that the sun doesn't fully set until just before six. And I'm glad the rain finally stopped, but something just felt... off. Of course, it could be the change in my husband's roster, or maybe because we didn't get enough sleep several times this week.

Either way, I'm not sure why winter is ending on such a shitty note, but I'm glad it's almost over. Can't wait for spring.

Oh, you know what else happened? My phone started acting weird. The battery decided to do percentage countdowns out of nowhere before clonking out completely. So I looked into it and according to several places, the Pixel is known for battery swelling. Um... WHAT? Since when?? And after more research, I thought: at least mine isn't doing that. Except, after taking the case off to make sure, it WAS SWOLLEN! The whole right side of the screen was popping up. 😳

And according to the internet, it wasn't safe to use it for more than a couple of days before facing the risk of your phone combusting. WTF?! Man, that scared the hell out of me. I mean, how did this happen? No one knows the exact reason, btw.

We've had our Pixel 6 (we both got one at the same time) for about three-and-a-half years. IMO, electronic devices die too quickly. No doubt, a feature that's purposely done to make us upgrade. Ugh.

So, I now have a new phone. Yay. A snazzy lilac Motorola Moto g86 Power. No more Pixels for me, thanks. I spent the majority of Friday night customising and adding stuff to it. I've had it for twenty-four hours and really like it.

What an unexpected ordeal! Yikes.

Luckily, before my phone died, I completed another short story. Another one that turned out longer than I expected, and a lot sadder too. Tragic, even.

Total word count: 3,104.

Here's the new vampire world update: two novels, one novelette, and fourteen short stories. At this stage, the total word count has passed 51k, so we're looking at an entire volume of stories from a variety of secondary characters. And that makes me very happy because I'm enjoying myself.

I LOVE telling stories. It's such a wonderful feeling.

Anyway, I started another shortie too. Now that my phone is ready to use, hopefully I'll get back to it. But first, I've got to finish tidying up my desk. That's my next spring cleaning project.

I guess that's about it for this week. Had to deal with some unexpected stuff, and we also went to the dentist for our six-moth cleaning/check up appointment.

Have an awesome weekend!!

REVIVAL, Vol. 1: You're Among Friends by Tim Seeley & Mark Norton

Revival, Vol. 1: You're Among Friends by Tim Seeley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We finished watching the first season of REVIVAL last weekend, so I started reading the comic book series yesterday.

In a town located in Wisconsin, the dead came back to life. For just one day. While Officer Dana Cypress is investigating a case, she finds out a serious secret about her younger sister. But there's also the media to deal with, as well as religious zealots, the government, and the mystery about why this happened...

I really enjoyed the first volume, which includes the first five issues. I like the similarities, but also enjoyed discovering the many (many) differences. I'm so surprised about all of the extra subplots and secondary characters.

It's interesting, violent, and the artwork is beautiful.

I'm definitely looking forward to reading more.


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Rainy Words & Books

Hey! How are you today?

Well, the weekend is here and the sun finally decided to make a comeback after FIVE DAYS of NON-STOP RAIN. 😱

Seriously, it was unbearable. Especially for someone who doesn't like rainy days at the best of times. It was so bad that it got in the way of my daily walks. Too much rain sucks and because I walk around the river, the puddles are huge. I really hope that it's done for a while.🤞

Asides from putting up with all this shitty weather, I've been really busy spring cleaning/reorganising. I have a lot of books and stationery so I'm determined to trim the fat while going through everything. The worst thing about doing this is finding books that I love (I'm a bibliophile, after all) that are riddled with foxing. 😫

It sucks and I just don't understand why this happens.

Anyway, I also completed the final read-thru of the short story I wrote last weekend. After the first draft, I suspected the word count would go up to 2k, but it ended up even longer.

Total word count: 3,159.

I was actually surprised that this tale turned out this long, but after some very handy feedback from my husband, I added and rewrote the ending. Very happy with how it turned out.

Here's the new vampire world update: two novels, one novelette, and thirteen short stories.

BUT! As expected, as soon as that story was finished, I started a new one. The words came to me in a rush after I woke up on Thursday morning and boy, it felt so good to get this one finally written because it's lived in my brain for a while now. 

I'm up to third draft and the word count has reached: 2,994. I'm looking forward to revising and completing this one.

Tonight we finished watching REVIVAL S1 and OMFG, this show is amazing!! I enjoyed the hell out of it and that ending was: 😳!!

Well, that's about it for now.

Hope you have an awesome weekend!!

CHLORINE by Jade Song

Chlorine by Jade Song
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've wanted to read this book for a while and decided to get stuck into it last night.

Ren Yu loves swimming. Her whole life revolves around the pool, her teammates, and her strict coach. Another thing Ren loves is mermaids. This is how her simple life as a girl leads to so much more...

I was hooked from beginning to end. Ren's voice is engaging and the way she shares her story is unflinching. She doesn't hold back from revealing all the good and bad things, the mild ones in between, as well as the harsher side of being a competitive swimmer.

Yeah, I really enjoyed this book and wasn't surprised where it led because Ren's obsession with mermaids, freedom, and chlorine were too much for one teenage girl to keep inside. Especially when you consider the injury she's so keen to ignore, and the pressures all the adults force upon her.

While I liked everything about Ren's narrative, I found her time with Ess during her first summer job as a lifeguard (at the community pool) to be especially charming. Not just because it was therapeutic for her, but it's also another chapter that leads to the shocking conclusion.

So glad I finally read it! 🧜‍♀️


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Telling More Stories...

How are you today? I hope you had a great week!

I spent this week doing a bunch of things, while hoping that the rain would go away. We've been having too much rain lately and it's bugging the hell out of me because I like to bitch about shitty weather. 😫

I just want more than one sunny day during the week. Is that too much to ask? At least spring is around the corner. Two more weeks of winter left. Can't wait because I'm done with the cold.

So, my main goal was to get another short story (that I wrote last weekend) finished. This one turned out to be quite a sad tale, and a lot longer than I thought it would be. It broke my heart, though.
 

Total word count: 5,848.

And here's my vampire world update: two novels, one novelette, and twelve short stories. Very cool.

It's funny how this keeps happening. I finish a story, decide to take a break and figure that it'll take at least a few days before I get started on a new one, but then I go for a walk and start drafting the next one in my head. LOL. It's really amazing, but these characters are loud, and I can't ignore them.

Another awesome thing I'm enjoying is the way I'm toying with different styles and formats to tell these tales.

Anyway, the first draft of the next story is done at: 1,758. I suspect the next draft will probably push it over the 2k mark, but I'm glad I wrote another one to add to the collection. 😊

Well, aside from the writing and revision, I read another novella. I also got a bunch of spring cleaning done and reorganised my bookshelves. It was a lot of work and I felt sore the next day, but it was great.

One last thing, if you're interested in checking out my debut short story collection, MELANCHOLY DELUSIONS, you can grab a Kindle copy for 99c! Sale ends on Monday.

Okay. Hope you all have an awesome week!