My Love/Hate Relationship With Fall Premiere Week(s)

 

I love entertainment – may it be in a book or via the small and large screen, it is where my soul and heart lies. Creating my own stories, small and large, has given me a deep appreciation of the art of bringing stories to life. So every year, I am looking forward to discovering what is new to arrive – what new characters I can connect with, and what new stories make my heart pound just a little faster. I am looking forward to getting lost in them, their pace, different from our lives, and merge with the fabric of the story in front of me (if it is good one, that is).

There are just too darn many good stories on television this year.

Trying not to get sucked into this world I adore, too much, is the plight of someone who works from home, on her own schedule. I do not have anyone looking over my shoulder, deadlines are those of my own making, may it be for my writing, or for my designs. Yet the pull is strong, and I usually allow myself a little leeway during these few days of discovering pilots, but whatever happened to just one pilot week? I am counting three weeks now!

Time to eliminate some of the contenders, but which ones?

Minority Report already made space for the interesting and faced paced Blindspot. Apparently other people thought the same, considering that the second week viewing dropped by 17 %.

Limitless might not be limitless in its ability to keep my attention. If it would not have been for the little twist at the end of this week’s episode – no I will not tell you, watch it yourself – , I would tell you, that I am not watching it next week. Now I have to. For now.

Quantico has potential, but will it live up to what it can be? At least it does not compete with the middle week frenzy, like some of the other shows that are premiering this week – I am looking at you, Code Black!

So what are your favorite shows of this season so far? Have you decide to abstain from television (I commend you) completely or are you just watching your favorites from last year(s), like Criminal Minds or Castle?

Have a wonderful day!

Claudia

Entertain Me – A Haiku

let me entertain
help you forget your sorrows
moments of relief

Copyright Claudia H. Blanton 2015

This post was inspired by the Daily Prompt post :“Be The Change”.

A Literary Minded Witch – A Daily Prompt Post

Today’s daily prompt made me cackle, I mean laugh out loud, scaring the poor dogs who are still trying to get used to my hyper minded new morning routine self.

A literary-minded witch gives you a choice: with a flick of the wand, you can become either an obscure novelist whose work will be admired and studied by a select few for decades, or a popular paperback author whose books give pleasure to millions. Which do you choose?

From one literary-minded Witch to another: where in the world can I find a spell that would actually do this? Oh, that’s right, it is called taking action, doing it myself, working hard, practicing my Craft (both the actual Craft and the craft of writing). There are no short cuts, but there is determination.

But that rambling does not answer the question, so here is the answer:

I don’t want to be studied, examined or used as a lesson in some college writing course, which the students will forget about, as soon as the final exam hits. My books should not sit on the shelves collecting dust, or on the list of what one should read – but actually never does.

No, I choose to be the paperback author, because I get to touch more people that way. I get to entertain, allow you to dream, forget about your problems, maybe inspire you to write your own books. I want to be the one who wrote the book, that was made into a movie, or the author you can hardly wait to read another novel from. THAT is not just an answer that comes from out of nowhere. It is an actual goal of mine, one I was working on this morning, before I read this prompt and scared the pets.

It is was I will do, because I know my Why, my reason why I want it to happen. I want to entertain you (okay, maybe you can also learn something from me, that would be a bonus – like I learned from so many others over the last few months, reading their books). Of course there are many other reasons, but I am not going to write about that right now.

So, now I am going back into my Witchy room (yes, I actually have one of them), sit at the desk next to my Altar, which has a Wand on it, and work on what actions I need to take to make this happen.

To whomever came up with this question: A sincere Thank You from the bottom of my Witchy-Heart.

Here are some answers other people gave to this prompt:

http://moreactionresearch.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/thats-easy/

http://tombalistreri.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/lasting-impression/

http://sugarcoatingsince91.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/obscure/

http://lindaswritingblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/easy-choice/

Book Review: The Hero by Robyn Carr

 

 

 

Title: “The Hero” – A Thunder Point Novel

Author: Robyn Carr

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Publisher:  Harlequin  Mira

ISBN-13: 978-0-7783-1459-2

My first impression of this book was that it had charm, a young woman who is in need, finds help from total strangers, who embrace her and her child with open arms. Kindness, caring, empathy, small town values move from page to page, without making the story boring, introducing many characters, all who are absolutely lovely, and I would be happy to call my friend and neighbor.

The second part of the book feels as if it has been written by a different person, or at least Robyn after a few cups of coffee, a much more straightforward approach to the same subject matter, with an increased tempo. Not that I mind that, after all the first half was charming, but rather not very demanding in the romance department. In the second part all hell breaks loose – well not actually hell, but we are moving  from a gentle discovery of some of the characters toward love-making, physical danger, the introduction of more characters (more to that in a minute), and emotional tension. The title is slightly misleading, there is no real “Hero” in the story, just a few characters who take it upon themselves to be kind to a woman in need. They all step up for her, but there is no single heroic act, not in the sense of most novels and stories. If the author referred to a smaller aspect of heroism, then the book should have been named more apt “The Heroes”

The largest downfall of the book was not the switch of the tempo, but the fact that the book introduced too many characters, and therefore leaves someone new to the series – like I am – scrambling to keep up with the individual story lines. Also that leads to some of these story lines to feel rushed – there is only so much individual attention one character can receive in a single novel.

For me, this book is a perfect lazy Sunday afternoon romance novel, one that uplifts, that is charismatic and has potential. It is cute and charming.