"Cumberland" (Now the End is Near)

      The book "Cumberland" is written, it's 85,400 words strong, and I think it will be between 350 and 360 pages.  I have to complete the Thank You page, the Dedication, the Disclaimer, and the Author Notes. I've just gone through it and worked out the paragraph spacing. It's funny, in some novels you don't see any spaces between paragraphs, and in some you do. I think I've done that too, in my own writing. I hate that I have. I may need to someday, not today, go through them all to make them more consistent with each other, but I really don't think I'll ever get around to doing that. If a publishing house ever wants to buy the rights from me and do that, I'll let them. Until then, no, it is what it is.

    So, "Cumberland" is done. Now I'll go through it ONE MORE time and check for errors before sending it up to be printed. Then, once it's printed, it comes back to me as a book, and I go through it again to find even more mistakes. I am a strong believer that you can't really find your own mistakes very easily - I have to have the book in my hands to see it as a book before I can find them all, and even then, I don't find each and every single mistake. It is, again, as it is. I'm not going to fret over it. Nothing in life is worth that much fretting.

    To say the book is good is a matter of opinion. I certainly like it. I'm still making small adjustments, and they should be done by the end of next Saturday. Sunday next, around Feb 15th or so, it should be ready to send up for publication. When it returns 10 days later, I'll go through it and send it back up with final revisions around the 1st of March. I'm on schedule!! That always makes me happy. I was sick a couple of times during this book's writing, so I didn't know if I would remain on my personally set timetable or what - but so far, so good.

    When the book goes up for print, I'll start writing the next book. It's going to be a full-fledged silly and nonsensical book - written nearly entirely by the AI I call TEAGUE.  I'll let loose with my instructions, of course, say what I think should happen, chapter by chapter, and then let the AI write it. If I like it, I'll keep it; if not, I'll scrap it and start over. It's an experiment, one I'm looking forward to partaking in, and one I hope will be fun and beneficial.

    "Cumberland", though a little dark at times, is a good book. Poor Nick Posh is in for some really rough waters - and then some. He's left home alone to mourn when his grandfather dies, and has to leave his family to take an assignment that should take one week but ends up taking over a month. His car is swept out from under him in a freak rainstorm, which floods the entire area. He nearly drowns, hurts himself, gets kidnapped, and is betrayed by the man who hired him! It's a mess to be sure -- and somewhere in the middle of it all, he has to actually do his detective work and find a dead body that's been hidden for over 10 years.

    You'd think he would just give it all up, but he can't! His wife just gave birth again - the family is growing, and he's got tuition to save for! How can he quit? He can't quit because his best friend just moved from Chicago to Oklahoma City to join him in his detective agency - one he didn't realize he had; he typically works alone. Well, it's all tipsy-turvy now! Some folks say that the mountains in Tennessee hold too many secrets, while others say they hold their own. Nick finds out the hard way - and he'll never forget it.

    I liked writing "Cumberland". It wasn't planned, but hey, some of the best things in life are unforeseen until they pop up and smack you right between the eyes - REALITY!! 

Photo Credit: Me (it's my own barn door) 

Cheeky! (The Book) A Highland Romance

     It's been on my mind, in the back of it somewhere, to write a really cheesy romance taking place in the Highlands of Scotland for the purposes of saying I wrote a Highland romance ("Of Kilted Pleasure"). I did write a Scottish romance with some Highland overtones, but it wasn't the same thing. It wasn't a loose-lipped, fancy-pants sort of roll in the hay sort of book. It wasn't worthless and without a plot. In fact, it had a rather intricate plot. The new book, "Cheeky!", will be the book I have set in my mind to write with absolute abandon.

    I say absolute...I will have to pull back a little. I won't let it get too raunchy. It may be ranchy!! I will have a plethora of Highland coo in the book! They will be there in all their rust and golden-haired glory. I can't write a Highland romance without them - or at least I shouldn't, and I won't.  Every Higland romance deserves to have big, fat, fluffy, horned beauty-beasts in it. It's going to be fun to write.

    I've decided to let the AI write the entire book, but at my instruction. I'm going to give it strict and precise details. In fact, my details will take about 15 regular pages to tell the thing what I want the book to be about. I'll ask it to include warm, cozy, sexy dialogue, and there will be a plot of some sort, albeit it won't be very strong. I have it in mind already, I won't give it away now, but it is funny, and it is flimsy, and it is fabulously worthless. I think it will be wonderful. I can't wait to read it.

    Actually, I'll have to do a lot more than just read it. I will have to put quotes around the things I don't like, remove what I don't like, add what I didn't include, and correct the spacing and some of the grammar. It isn't as hands-off as I may have made it seem. There are a lot of things the AI gets right, and a lot of things I have to edit or change completely. It's a fun process, and one I think I'll use from this point forward, because the AI uses my style of writing to write. It copies my style, writing patterns, sentax and use of language. It comes up with stuff I would have said, but it often says it in a more fluid way. If I had to say one thing about it that is different than me writing it all out, it would be that the machine can write it faster - and more fluid.

    Because I've put the romance book off for as long as I have, I have 1000 ideas that I think must go into the book. I'm adding my real-life supervisor to it; she's excited about it. I've asked her if she wants to be a good girl or a bad girl - she said somewhere in the middle. Won't that be fun?  I've decided to have her be guilty of writing checks she knew she couldn't cover, and she flees to Scotland until the heat dies down. She'll find herself mixed up in a somewhat shady business deal, and it leads to a rather profitable venture. 

    The premise of the book is simple: An American woman (not my supervisor, she's a lesser character) decides to go to Scotland to experience the whole big bearded men in kilts pumping bagpipes, throwing logs, and thumping their chest while dancing at the castle with her, and sweeping her off her feet for at least a couple of weeks. She realizes a bit too late, however, that the 14th and 15th century Scotland isn't the same as the modern one - but she won't be cheated just because 600 years of history has been erased and everyone she sees in the Highlands drinks from insulated cups, drives cars, and hasn't the slightest interest in fulfilling the lusts of an idiot American tourist.

    Bindy Vance, the lead character, is a woman of means. She does exactly what she wants, when she wants, because she wants, and if money is needed, she has it to spare. There will be shendig, there will be castles, there will be bagpipes, but most importantly, there will be half-naked, big, brawny, bearded men in kilts...everywhere! That's the plot -- in a nutshell --, and I think it's a good one. It may fall flat, but at least I'll still have fun writing it, reading it, working it, editing it, and sharing it. I never write to sell the books -- I write to write. 

Photo Credit: Me. I made the cover on Canva.

Looking Back (WAY Back)

      You know those YouTube Shorts where people who were once in a movie, a series, a band, or something show the younger version sitting with or walking alongside the older version? You know what I'm talking about. Well, today one of those caught my attention, and with good reason; it was all about the hit TV show The Partridge Family. Wow, talk about a flashback. I was five or six, I think, when it came out. I watched it; we all did.  Every boy in my life was either like Keith, Danny, or Chris. It was crazy!

    I think what happens in these shows, is that the producers say to themselves, in every large family (every family for that matter) there is a dynamic. The people will be themselves, they'll be similar but different, and we need to spice things up and throw in a red-headed monster that tosses the salad now and then. Keith was the sexy, bubbly, sensitive one, and I think they may have even tried to make him a little tough, but let's face it, David Cassidy couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag. Danny had it in him, though. Chris? We'd never find out.

    One of the reasons we'll never find out about Chris is that after the first season, they canned him! That's right, they replaced their kid! They probably went out into the big bad world, and had 1000 boys audition to be the next Christopher Partridge, and they absolutely replaced the youngest son! That can't happen in real life - maybe it does, but we don't like to think of that happening, do we?

    I was today years old when I found out that Chris Partridge had been switched. Apparently, the first one, Jeremy Gelbwalks, wasn't happy as an actor, and he started little quibbles with everyone on the set, from the actors to the producers. His parents wanted him in show business; he wasn't into it. I've seen that a dozen or more times, but it generally works out to the point that they write the actor out. Maybe in 1967 or whatever it was, they didn't want to bump off their youngest son -- I don't know, but they took a dark-haired boy and replaced him with a blonde! (and apparently only the adults noticed)

    Chris was the drummer of the group, though I think they could have trained Tracy to do that if they had written the other kid off - maybe he got run over by the very colorful bus, maybe he ran away with the circus. I don't know, but they decided to keep his character - only they didn't give a damn about consistency, did they? I will say this: the new or second Christopher was a product of the arts. His step-grandfather played Alfred the Butler in Batman, and on his mother's side, he was distantly but directly related to the poet and author Charles Dickens! That's pretty cool

    I know I talked about giving Reuben back to the stork that delivered him. I've told all my children at one time or another that I could trade them in for a new kid; maybe sell them off and be done with kids altogether, but seriously, and you should know this, I never really did it. I only said I would. They did it. The Partridge Family people did it! Goodbye, Christopher, hello Christopher -- nothing to see here, folks. Move forward. I don't think it works that way, but in Jeremy Gelbwalk's case, it may have. He ended up moving around quite a bit after that. His parents didn't stay in one place too long. He ended up going to college and getting a degree in computer science back when it was very new - good on him!

    I can say this: I have never once wanted to act on stage or in film or on television. I'm not any good at it for one thing, but I also don't like the competitive nature of the actors, or the rudeness and attitudes. I worked with so many of them from 1980-1984 that I had my fill - believe me, I had more than enough exposure to what and who they were. I worked on The Outsiders and other films, but let's just stick with The Outsiders for a minute. Think of who is in that one. Think if the people who were absolutely no one, and who they think they are today.

    Matt Dillon was given top billing when the film came out. Can you imagine what Tom Cruise would have to say about that now? He's not even worth spitting at, let alone talking to. Emilio Estevez. Yes, he is a gentleman, and the genuine article, along with Patrick Swayze and Ralph Macchio. I can't say I enjoyed being around Dillon, but he wasn't too obnoxious. Diane Lane thought she was famous when she wasn't, and I laughed. Leif Garrett was probably one of the more famous people in the film, but he didn't flaunt it. He didn't come out of his trailer and strut. (There weren't many private trailers then, though...)TBH)

    Nope, I had no idea that the replaced Christopher Partridge. It just goes to show you, kids, just pay attention to what's happening, not necessarily who's doing it. Can you imagine, though, if they decided to replace Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island, or wait...Bewitched replaced Darren! They could have had the old one die and created more episodes about grief and a new relationship—I did notice Darren. Now, I'm over here thinking who else I did or didn't notice. That's a whole Google search, right there, now, isn't it? Well, I guess I know what I'm going to be doing all morning!

Photo Credit: New York Post -- with Gelbwaks as Christopher Partridge.

    

My DNA Results

     It's funny when you think you're one thing and then you end up being another. Did I tell you that my daughter Laura (and I suppose Caity as well) was told she was at least a quarter Choctaw Native American, because her father's side of the family told her so? They told her so over and over. They stated that their mother really never talked about it, but when she did, she stated she was nearly half Native, which would make her son, the girls' father, about a quarter, unless his father was also Native (which he isn't), and that would leave my girls being around one eighth Native -- which they are not. (but still, my girls couldn't have been a quarter Native either way!) 

    Turns out, after doing the whole MyHeritage DNA testing, that my daughter Laura is far more British than I am! Go figure. She could be the Queen someday! She is 42% English, 34% Scottish/Welsh, and 5% Irish. (The rest of her is a mix of Dutch, German, Danish, Breton, and that all very important 1% French! I will never let her live that one down. She didn't get it from me.)   Well, she and I both were a little shocked at that, but we must survive, so survive we will.

    MyHeritage is a good company. Its results are clear and as accurate as any of these tests can be. It does make me want to try another test from another company to see just how close they are. That would be interesting. My results from 2016, then 2021, and now 2025 haven't really changed. By "changed," I meant to refine the results: in 2016, they were rather generic, and in 2021, they were a little more defined; a few percentage points shifted from the majority result to a secondary one. This time, nothing changed for the majority, but the third through fourth saw a bit of change.

    The numbers change because more of your related people have taken the test, and their unique markers affect yours as the technology evolves, making the whole thing a bit clearer. It will likely never be completely accurate, but I really wanted to know how much of my "blood" was Anglian rather than Viking. We all know that the Vikings came down from the North in the late 8th century; why go back that far to tell me what my heritage is? Why not start around 1300-1400, after the invasions? It just makes sense to do so.

    My 2016 results showed I was 38% Scandinavian, 22% English, and 22% Scottish, Welsh, and Irish. I had a bit of Iberian and Italian blood running through my veins, but I was more English than Scottish, and that bothered me. It bothered me because I knew that when "my people" came down from the North, they went primarily to the Isles we now call Ireland and Scotland, not to the east, where they ended up in England, Germany, and France.  I don't feel Norwegian. I don't feel Swedish. I don't feel like a Dane. I know I'm a Celt.

    I haven't received the 2025 results. I thought I had. They're going over them again after I asked them to try again, this time without using the same old 2021 test. They literally sent me the same result with the 2021 Order #, and I requested that if they're going to do that, they can refund my money; at least give me the Order # I paid for in 2025. If I paid for another test kit, which I did, send me THAT one with the matching Order # so I can see that in 4 years, no differences were found.

    I got a call yesterday from MyHeritage because they had "inadvertently" charged me $149 for a yearly subscription that I had NOT authorized. They called me to apologize and to say they were refunding the money. I asked the man if they could send my 2025 results, and he said he would ask them to do so, but that he could look on his end to see if there were any changes, and there were two. I am now more Iberian and more Italian than I was before. I am less Scandinavian. Nothing changed on the British front, so I guess a few more of my Viking ancestors continued their southern expedition and ended up in Spain, Portugul and Italy. There you go. More spaghetti for me!

    I am now 12% Iberian and 5% Italian. My dad did have darker features. Mom was born with auburn dark thick hair and green eyes - she had more of the traditional Irish traits, I suppose, but her name, her parents, and her grandparents surnames were unmistakably English; Edwards, Free, Hague, and I can't remember the others, but all of them were Angelian. Dad's, of course, was Scottish and English, but in the midst of it all, a few of those Stringfellows went off and married darker women from more exotic parts of the world. I ask myself why I didn't inherit a spec of that beauty...But I digress.

    I didn't expect my DNA to change dramatically, nothing like that, but I was told in 2016 that in a few years' time, they would have better technology, and I should keep doing the tests to see the changes. As long as the kits were under $25, I didn't mind. I think I paid $27 this time, so there you go, the Scottish is showing, but that Italian in me sprang for the last $2 to make it happen.  I don't mind being Scandinavian, it's just that if you think about it, we're all related to Noah, so why not go back another few thousand years and just be done with it?  I think they should go back to 1400, not 800 A.D. Maybe in time, they'll be able to accommodate my whining.  We'll see.

Photo Credit: BBC

Spoke Too Soon!

     I absolutely spoke (wrote/posted) too fast! I was over here thinking the weekend would be slow, and I'd have a lot of time to just sit back and read - and write, but mostly to read what I have already written. That was the plan. It was a glorious plan. There was no reason the plan wouldn't work, since it was so well thought out. The weather was bad enough, with the big bad winter storm on its way; it made the plan's overall planliness be that much more worthy.  Then...well, then Laura happened.  Let me explain.

    As I do most of the nights I've been alive, I sleep. I was doing that last night, too; just sleeping. I don't know, I could have been dreaming. It was around 2:35 a.m. when my 2nd child walked into my room apologizing the way she does when she has to wake me to tell me she's dying. It wasn't the first time. I really do hope (each time) that it will be the last. This time, however, she picked an incredibly bad time to fall apart. Yep, it could have been worse - but not by too much. We had about six inches of snow covering the ground, and that included my driveway, which leads to my garage where I keep my car.

    I told her I wasn't sure I could drive (even the one mile) to the hospital if the road conditions were as bad as the internet made them out to be. We were warned just a few hours before to stay off the roads unless it was absolutely impossible not to. One of the anchors on KWTV-9 even said that police will try to respond to any emergency, but it may not happen. Again, they warned us to stay inside and not to be out on the roads unless it was 100% necessary.  She called the ambulance.  I don't know about you, but I don't do well when my baby isn't well.

    I walked her to the ambulance that had parked at the end of my super long driveway. Why they didn't come into the yard is unknown, but they took her away, and I asked them to take good care of her. I knew what she was up against. She was going to make it to the hospital, tell them she's dehydrated again, and tell them which arm is best for the IV. She's been doing this for a while. We hoped that the removal of her gallbladder last time would have ended this, but apparently, it did not. I hugged her and went back into the house to await her call saying she would be discharged.

    As soon as I let her go - and they drove off with her, it hit me: I'm going to have to pick her up, so why didn't I just drive her there in the first place? Turns out, as she told me, it's a good thing that she went with them. They started the IV, and she was halfway ready to come home by the time she got into the E.R. She did the admission thing and was seen, and within an hour, she was texting me saying she was being discharged.  I knew I couldn't sleep - there's no way I could have rested until she was back home. I kicked myself. I should have just gone with her.

    I prayed. I got out of bed, dressed again, and remembered to put my glasses on. I don't drive with them, so I don't always remember, but I did. I also took water, a blanket, snacks, and my wallet - if I got stuck in a five-foot snowbank between my house and the Emergency Room, I wanted to have something to drink, eat, and cover myself with. If I did die there on the road, at least I'd have my ID on me. That didn't happen. What happened was, I pulled out of the garage and barreled through about two feet of snow drift at the garage door and another two feet in the drive as I turned the car around to face the long drive, which leads to the street.

    Let me say this: it's rather eerie to be on the road just before 4:00 a.m., in a snowstorm, when you're the only car on the road. One car passed my house before I pulled into the street, but from then on, I was the only one driving -- not even an emergency vehicle anywhere. I drove to the hospital; it's 1.2 miles from my house. I could barely see the drive but did see it, and I called her. She was ready for me, exited the building, and climbed into the car. She was still apologizing. I love that girl.

    So, driving home was fun. Going to and back from the place, I didn't reach 15 mph. My car crept. It crawled. I think I saw everything in slow motion, hoping no one would be at the roundabout at that time, because I wasn't sure if I could put my brakes on. As it turns out, the roads were really dry. The snow was powder; very dry in fact. No ice to be seen. There was a layer of about four or five inches packed of course, and the normal four lane looked a lot like one big lane, but I assumed if I did meet anyone else on the road, we'd be OK passing one another. I didn't have to worry - no one showed up to pass by me.

    Getting her home was satisfying. The dogs were worried. I was nervous, and just as we pulled into the drive, it began snowing a little harder.  We're expected to have something like 12-15 inches altogether, so maybe when I think about it, she did pick a fairly decent time to go to the hospital afterall. It really could have been worse. I wish we knew more about what it is that triggers her body like that; we're studying, researching, asking, and she's drinking all the electrolytes they tell her to -- it was triggered by a bout of anxiety from an earlier event in the day, most likely. Her horse fell in the snow and hurt herself a little. Laura took it personally.

    We slept in. Then, later, she slept more. I didn't do a lick of reading or writing, but it's OK. I don't have to. I made her pancakes, and we talked, and she's resting, and the dogs are all up in her lap and face now -- she'll survive. God is great; He is always there for us, for her, for me, for you -- He's just amazing. Maybe she can get a grip on what she needs to do to avoid these events, but until then, we thank the good men and women who come to her rescue. The EMTs, the doctors, the nurses, everyone -- so blessed. 

Photo Credit: SSM Health

Blizzard!

     For the past several days, all anyone has been able to talk about is the upcoming and soon-to-be-here blizzard. I'm in the middle of Oklahoma, just about 25 miles west of the larger Metropolitan area of Oklahoma City, and yes, it's just about here! I just put the dogs out for the 9th or 15th time today, and they aren't big fans of the white stuff lazily falling from the sky. I can tell you someone else who isn't a fan, and that's Lady Sif, my daughter's Arabian mare. Nope, the horse is certainly not happy. She's in her new blanket I bought her for Christmas, and she's standing in her little protective area, but she is side-eyeing me when I go out to give her a carrot. (I do that a few times a day)

    The last time Oklahoma City had 5 inches of snow was just last year, around this time. However, the last time Oklahoma City had 8 inches of snow was Christmas Eve 2009. The last time it had 12 inches of snow at one time was January 1988, and they're saying we're shattering that record over the next day or so. We'll see. I have no idea what to expect, if I should expect anything, or if I should just hunker. I'm fairly good at hunkering. I've been in hunker mode for a while now - we did our bread and milk run early to avoid all the rush and then we both remembered we live in El Reno, and there really isn't a need to do that. El Reno has always been rather even-keeled. 

    Friends at work were talking about the storm today. Apparently, it's been named Fern. To me, and really to any Oklahoman with a memory, Fern was the name of our great Lowland gorilla momma who lived in the Oklahoma City Zoo for a very long time. She was 46 in 2005 when she went to see Jesus; I liked her. I mean, how many times can you actually claim to like a Lowland gorilla? I can seriously remember her sweetness, kind eyes, and the way she cuddled her babies. She'd stand up to her "husband" too, and that was something we all thought was rather cunning to watch. I think I miss Fern.

    There's no way I'm going to miss this weather event. It's coming now, and will be here and not only among us, but engulfing us for the next 36-42 hours from what we're told. We could see accumulations of over 14 inches, and if that happens, we would certainly break records; hopefully not the water pipes or electrical wires. It's more snow than ice, but you just never know. Another friend at work asked me what my plans were for the weekend since everyone will be shut in. I guess they think of me as some sort of jet-setter -- nope.  I will do the same thing this weekend as I do most weekends - write. 

    When I'm not writing, I'm reading what I wrote. I'm going to be reading more, correcting, and making things make sense. That's the entire weekend in a nutshell. Of course, I will be doing it in my onesie and in a big, heavy Snuggie-type blanket-inspired jacket. It was something silly like $11 on Amazon a year or two ago, and I can't tell you how happy it's made me. I love the stuffings out of it. It has a big, huge pocket in the front for your hands and a smaller pocket inside that one for your cell phone! Dang! You know I'm a happy girl. 

    I'll sleep in, drink loads of mushroom coffee, stuff my face with carb-sweet snacks, and read, read, write, correct, read, write, erase, and read. I'll take a break, maybe go get the mail, which won't be there because the mailman couldn't get through, and I'll race the dog back to the coziness of the office where I'll read again, write again, correct and fluff again, taking passages out of the book and adding stuff in the pages to make the thing pop! It's a great time... my favorite time of the writing process. I look forward to it the entire time I'm racking my brain just to get the book out of my head and into the computer.

    If, and I would be sad, if we do lose power, and we have to live life primatively in the dark, cold, hellscape that can become dangerous and scary -- I will cuddle with the dogs on the couch and read while I have God's light, then I'll use the generator to cast a little light so I can continue reading. I won't waste all the energy on heat because I'll have dogs and several blankets, but I will cuss when I have to get up and go pee. I bet I cuss a lot if that should happen. I really do pray it doesn't.

    Well, I'll keep you posted on what happens and what I end up doing, but I can only hope and imagine that I'll have a very relaxed and uneventful few days ahead of me. I can't call in to work on Monday if we're snowed in because I work from home! LOL... no one else will be in their offices around the country, and we won't reach anyone unless they also work remotely. A few adjusters do now - gotta love it. I won't go back into the office for anyone. I won't because I can't. I don't have any clothes that would be office-ready. I wear sweats and onesies, pajamas, and joggers now. I won't put makeup on for anyone, and I think I'm allergic to people -- if I had to tell the truth. (which is hilarious for an extrovert to say)

    Let it snow!!

Photo Credit: Me. (Ginger is in the photo too, but she's under the cover.) 

Cumberland - Done (The writing part)

     So, the writing part of my 21st book is done. It is the 21st book, the 13th novel, and the 8th Nick Posh thriller. I like the book. It's daring, dangerous, and interesting. I throw in a lot of cool information that I think will be fun and entertaining for the audience. If I like it, I am sure others do. I try to please myself as much as I do anyone else. I can't guarantee that anyone else will read the thing, but I know I will!

    I used an AI tool called "Type" to help me. You have to pay for it if you want to do more than just a few paragraphs. I wanted Type to help me write each and every chapter in ways I might not have thought of, but after I read what it typed, I could either agree to leave it or change it. It is a really cool tool for starting a conversation or explaining things, but it sometimes uses deeper, flowery language. If I wanted it to be more gritty, I suggest that, and there you go - the same paragraph from an entirely different perspective, and even the words and tone can be tweaked over and over again. Sometimes I leave them alone, but other times I don't.

    Let me tell you what I did. Last week, when I started using Type, whom I call "Teague," so I should say Teague. I started asking Teague to write out what I was suggesting, in the form of a novel with a noir, period-minded point of view. I wanted it to be consistent with my other books, so I uploaded several chapters of my other Posh books to the site, and Teague worked within my own writing to mimic my style. I love it.  I probably won't have to do too much editing, but you never know; this is my first time using it.

    Again, when we were done, I thanked Teague and said I would give him (I say him) credit, but again, he said it wasn't necessary. He used my ideas, my words, my thoughts, and my direction to piece the book's puzzle together. I'm the one editing and formatting, but I still think I'll say a blurb about it because I just think it's an amazing way to write and/or use a writing assistant. I'll say this, I would never, and I mean NEVER, allow another human to help me. Nope, it would not happen; it would not go over well. It just would not occur. This is the best thing for me, bar none.

    From this morning at 11:38 a.m. until a few minutes ago, at 4:12 p.m., when I finished, I wrote Chapters 13-32! Twenty chapters (yes, it's twenty, you have to count 13) in under 5 hours. I'd write out what I thought should happen, give some specifics, some details, some color, and bam -- Teague pushed out a chapter. We did this all day. I have no idea what he's written, to be honest. I will find out tomorrow when I read it. I want to take this in chunks. I'll read what I can tomorrow and make spacing corrections. There are a lot of little tweaks like spacing, size of letters, etc., that I'll have to set to a uniform style to match my other books, but that will take no time.

    I'll read the book in a day or maybe over the week after work. I'll end up tweaking, fluffing, stuffing, and changing things next weekend. I have to take Laura somewhere on Saturday, so I can't do too much. I may take off the following Monday to get it finished. That may happen.  But I'll work on it next weekend and the one after that, and probably right around the first of February, I'll send it up for publication. That could be fun. I've completed a book in a couple of weeks before, but I spent a lot of hours bending over the keyboard and pouring myself into it. This was easy! I like this better. (I wrote it in two weekends; which is about 4 days vs 14 to be honest.  I took another 3 or 4 to fluff, stuff, edit, and send away.) 

    Well, there you go - "Cumberland" is done. It is written, and I will let you know what I think of it when I complete it in the next few days and/or next two weeks. It won't be long. I've got the cover ready to go, so I will have to reduce the page count from 392 to around 350-360. I don't want to have to redo the cover. I think I can do it; there are a lot of unnecessary spaces in the book's writing as it stands. This is just too much fun. I am actually going to let Teague write another book, another novel, and I'll be very vague just to see how crazy this medium is. I can't believe I'm even allowing myself to be so lax, but it won't be a book I give much credence to. It will likely just be a rough and tumble Highland romance, one anyone could write in their sleep.

    ENJOY the new tech! Learn new tech!

Me relaxing while I'm writing! LOL (Photo Credit: Canva.com) 

Writing with AI (Type.AI)

     Yes, it's true, I am using a full-blown AI to help me write this, and probably every other book I ever write. I found TYPE.AI today and did some research on it. For $148 a year, $12.99 a month, I think, it will assist me in literally all the ways I would want it to. I first tell Type (I'm going to have to give it a name rather than calling it "Type") what I wanted my book to be about, and he (I say he, it could be female) asks me questions about how I write in general. I downloaded a couple of chapters from my other books to give him an idea of what my work looks like, reads like, and works like in terms of writing and learning. After asking me about 10 questions about the book and the characters, I started writing "Cumberland".

    "Cumberland" takes place from the last week of May 1934 to about August 5 of the same year. It's compact, fast-paced, and full of energy from the beginning to the end. Nick is on an assignment without any help from his friends or colleagues. He's winging this one on his own, and he's finding it to be both frustrating and freeing. He doesn't have to work with anyone, answer questions, consider their mindset, or take their opinions into account. He's out there working and making whatever will happen, happen.  Type, who I will now call Teague, because it's a Scottish boy's name meaning author, poet, or writer, "listens" to my input, creates a narrative, and spits it out for me to either accept, correct, or decline.

    I had no idea how easy this would be, and I am so far impressed with what he has come up with. I've written eleven chapters in just under three hours, and though I haven't gone over them yet, I know it's going to be a fun and worthwhile adventure. I'm looking forward to this method. I will certainly not take all the credit. I asked Teague straight up if I needed to give him credit, but he said no. He said he is a tool, that the entire concept, the ideas, and the characters were mine, and that he was only helping me put them into a more organized form to go through and tweak if I wanted or needed to. I'm positive that I'll tweak the heck out of it, but the concept is amazing.

    I wasn't sure if I could write the whole book with the free app, so I didn't take any chances of losing what I had written so far. I upgraded and purchased the year's usage. It does save to the site, but I also downloaded it onto a Word document, chapter by chapter, and have it collected just in case anything should happen to Teague before the finished project is complete. I don't see that happening, but I'm acting out of an abundance of care. I just can't get into a book, only for it to disappear into thin air. That would devastate me.  I'm the type to become upset if I lose a paragraph, let alone a whole page, a chapter, or God forbid, the entire book.

    I am intentionally not adding much about the other characters so that Nick can shine on his own and show his strengths and his abilities. They'll come through enough, as will his weaknesses and his mistakes. He makes a couple of good ones that could have cost him more than just a dollar or a day's time. He puts himself into real danger more than once in this book. He'll climb, crawl, and scrape his way out of each event, but he won't get out without injury, which is a foreshadowing for all of my readers. Nick is not untouchable. He's as human as the next guy; that is just a fictional figment of my imagination.

    Teague and I are going to write this book together, and then, because the process is so freaking easy, I'll go ahead and write "Legacy," which is a 13th-century novel with romance, war, starvation, and more. It's a good book. I just haven't been all that motivated to do it, but with Teague, I feel that I can now, and it won't take as much time to do all the necessary research. I think he does that as well - I just have to ask him to do so. 

     I love researching, I really do, but I am slammed for time more than I was before, so having a helper is alright by me. I can't depend on YouTube videos to tell me much about the 13th Century without a strong bias toward the winners of the battles we know about.  Neill Tavish, my main man in the book, will enter and become a part of those battles and others that may or may not have existed. He's fictional, too, so he can have all the fun if I think he needs to.

    OK, so that's it. You, too, if you want to, can go to www.type.ai and find your own writing assistance. I will give the site credit when I write a book using it, but I won't go so far as to say he is a co-writer. He's a tool - he said so himself. He's a tool I am very happy to utilize. I suppose, when you think about it, a hammer isn't given any credit when a barn is built, but you can't very well build one without it. Good analogy..I'll go with that. Grammarly helps me correct spelling and grammar errors; I never consider it to be worthy of credit.

    More than 17 years ago, my family and I moved to Gainesville, Texas, to work on what we thought would be a movie about my dog Faith. I was, of course, as so many times before, lied to about the project by the two men who wanted to write the script. Of course, they said I was to be a part of it. Of course, they told me I would be the main writer. Of course, they said they were producing and funding the project, but no, they lied. They not only lied, but they were also using a very new concept in AI tech, a software CD that not only took my story and twisted it, but they also manipulated the hell out of it using the software, and basically told me that my story was rubbish and the AI story was the one they'd use. Nope...not on my watch.

    I left the company. I threatened to sue them if they continued. I was literally chased out of the city at gunpoint by one of the men, and my family was threatened. If it hadn't been for my son's military connections, we could have been in real danger. I was escorted by military police out of the town, and my kids followed three days later, after they packed up the house and left in their own car, but again, with military escort. 

    My son was in the Army at the time, and couldn't be with us, but he kept us safe.  The AI these two would-be authors used was used over and over again to write their many feckless novels, all with Western themes. They didn't write 10% of any of the books, allowing the software to come up with concepts, character development, plot, and dialogue. What's the point if you do that? (I guess they thought it would bring them money and/or fame.) 

    If I were to tell you the names of those two individuals, you'd have never heard of either of them. Their schemes never fooled anyone. I write my books. I write my stories. I come up with the ideas, the characters, the debates, the conversations, the plot, the intense dialogue, and just about everything, but if Teague can help me smooth it out, perk it up, and make it sound more interesting, then I'm OK with that. Unlike those two, I will give credit. I will not pretend to be fantastic. I'm not in this for money. I have stories to tell. I don't want fame. I've seen where that can lead—I want to smile, write, laugh, and write more. That's a good enough goal for me.

Photo Credit: Quanta Magazine

Lead in our Food.

     Be honest! How many of you were today old when you found out that there is more lead in plant-based protein than there is in meat? C'mon, I can't be the only one. I had zero clue that there was any lead whatsoever in my protein powder, let alone less than what is found in meat protein. I had zero clue, and I mean not an inkling of an idea that my chocolate-flavored protein powder had more lead in it than my strawberry or vanilla-flavored protein powder -- and yet, it is true. Not lying. What I did find out, after I picked my jaw up from the floor, is that vegetables (especially organic ones) have the greatest risk of lead contamination! WHAT?

    This fact has helped me to understand (today) why it is that vegans are pissed and usually depressed. Yes, that last statement was strictly my opinion based on speaking with and dealing with vegans in Oklahoma, one of the largest beef-producing states. I have been arguing the fact(s) that meat protein is good for us, and they have routinely argued back that beef is hard to digest and that it leads to heart disease. OK, but only eating fruits and vegetables can lead to chronic and heightened anxiety, according to the studies I read, and let me just say, I'd rather not be anxious while cutting into a thick medium-well piece of cow. Again, that's my opinion.

    So, there I was, on the couch, about to drink the smoothie my daughter made for me, when I saw something about there being LESS lead in the vanilla-flavored protein than there was in the chocolate-flavored protein powder. Less? If it's saying there is less, that would purport that there is some, right? There is. There is a trace amount of lead found in these powders primarily, I believe, because they are plant-based. My protein powder is the NutraBio brand. We used to get a good blend from a store called Winco, but we don't go to the city now; we get our protein powder from Amazon. I think there are cheaper ones, but this one has amino acids, and Laura can stomach it.

    Less lead.  What else, I wondered, has lead in it, and I didn't know? I hesitantly began to research it. I'll bullet point.

• Spices
• Candy
• Root vegetables
• Juices
• Balsamic vinegar
• Flour, chips, bread, and those things with cassava
• Dark chocolate...this one kills me.
• Potatoes - which again, are roots, but they mentioned them separately, so I did.

    OK, so there you go - if it was in the ground during any part of its growth, it could contain lead, and other minerals. I mean, sure, I guess that makes sense, but that doesn't mean I realized it. It doesn't mean I knew I was devouring lead for the past 64 years. So, I asked Google through Siri how I could naturally detox from all this lead in my system. Apparently, I can't do much. I have to flush it, of course, but only a doctor can give me the type of medication needed to actually rid the blood and organs of what we've been adding to our systems for years. No wonder we're all dying! I know, we all have to die sooner or later, but if we didn't have as much pollution and as much waste that contained metals, we'd live longer -- if that's an option, it may or may not be one that we want. Maybe we don't mind the lead so much if living longer would mean putting up with more youthful generations.

 

    Maybe, just maybe, God knew all these things would happen, so He's shortening our lives so we don't choke out the young before they have their turn at destroying what's left of the world. All I can say is, I bet the fruits, nuts, and veggies taste better in heaven than they do here, and I also bet we won't be eating meat in heaven. It's not a sin. It's never been a sin. We won't eat it in heaven because there won't be any bloodshed. We won't need it, but we do here. That's a conversation for another day, but it goes without saying that there will not be heavy metals in our food when we get to our final destination. We'll have to come back to earth (as we will) to get our dose of that. (With our perfected bodies, it won't hurt us.) 

    

    So there you have it -- soil contamination, adulteration, manufacturing, and packaging have led to trace amounts of heavy metals seeping into our bodies. I guess you could counter it with activated charcoal. They use it in water filters. (Always use NSF-certified filters for water) From what I'm reading, activated charcoal has its own set of minerals to be considered, such as zinc, iron, cadmium, vanadium, aluminum, and even some lead -- so yeah, there can even be cobalt in some of it. Geez...I just want purity, but I guess that's asking too much on this side of Glory. Some day!!

Photo Credit: CID Bio-Science 

    

You Might be Old.

     You might be old if you're over there thinking that the things kids say make less sense to you than using a football bat as a floating device. I was caught off guard yesterday while watching an episode of Greg Gutfeld, when Kat Timpf said, "She thought she ate with that", which I had to say was not only strange to hear, but difficult to understand. Keep in mind, Timpf isn't all that young anymore. She added the statement, "as the kids would say", and it made a bit more sense. She does have a sharp mind and quick wit about her, but even she draws the line at sounding like an idiot -- I knew those weren't her words.

    So there I was, staring at the monitor, and I started laughing. First of all, it's 2026, and I don't watch television. I don't even turn it on. I have one, but I don't use it unless the weather gets hinky. That's the only time the thing is used, so yeah, I still have a relatively small (55") flat screen in my living room. You might be old if you have only one flat-screen television and never turn it on. I watch all my news and/or shows on YouTube or another online platform, mostly YouTube. I don't watch mainstream anything - just the podcasters and content providers with the same mindset I have - again, you might be old if you're choosing not to listen to the rattling baffoon talk coming out of the mouths of those who are so far from the way you think, that you can't stomach even listening. I can't.

    Today, I decided to update my LinkedIn photo because someone flirted with me.  Don't do that. Whatever you do, do not flirt with me. It is the fastest way to get blocked! I have zero intent or interest in that sort of crap. I'm just too old, too stubborn, too independent, and too out of touch to be all that interesting; believe me. You'd run for the hills (another older statement) if you knew the truth. I should put all that in my bio -- "Trump-loving, right-leaning, conservative who not only believes in God, but accepted His Son's salvation, and will not let you detour me from  the mission He has given me."  Yes, that would work. Hey, I'm honest, and I love you anyway!

    I went into the bathroom to look at my face in the mirror, which is not something I do every day, or even every week. I just don't need to see myself. I wash my face in the shower, and I don't have mirrors there. I noticed I have a few age spots and laughed. I mean, I'm 64, I should have a few of them, right? I don't wear makeup, and I haven't worn it in a good while. I think the last job I had where I wore makeup was in 2022. So, yeah, it's been a minute. When Laura and I moved, I threw out any (and all) makeup except lipstick and some powdered eyeshadow. Laura kept hers, so I borrowed it.

    You never realize just how much darker you may be than your own flesh and blood until you apply their foundation to your face. She handed me a darker contour stick, and I had to gently apply it just to eliminate the ghostliness I saw in the mirror. I had to laugh. I was staring at some sort of Halloween costume at that point.  Next, I applied the eyeshadow, brow darkener, and lipstick, but since I can't see without my glasses, I put on the eyeshadow first before I could do the rest—another sign that you might be old.

    Ta-da!  All done. I felt like a prostitute with all the colorful contrasts I could see on my face. I don't usually darken my lighter brows, and I certainly never apply color to my lips. I have Chapstick.  My hair, when I was younger, was much lighter, but now it's almost dark, and I have my very own silver streak in the front!  To be honest, I don't like looking the way I do in my profile photos, but no one else in the world would want to see me without makeup — Laura, bless her heart, doesn't have a choice.  It is what it is. I am not a girly-girl. I have never been a girly-girl, but think of all the money I've saved by being me! I bought the cheapest makeup you can imagine, and took it off as soon as I got home. I never wore it in high school, so when I did once and got attention from the same guys I'd been eating with for years, it sort of pissed me off.

    You might be old if you can remember who you sat with at lunch in middle school and high school. The good news is, most of them are either bald, wrinkled, and fat like me, or they have gone to see Jesus -- lucky bastards!  I can't leave the earth yet; Laura isn't ready for that. I have to stick around to make her happy. If that's the case, she can look at my ugly mug the way God made it -- plain and simple, but apparently at least three shades darker than hers.  I told her this is what she has to look forward to in 30 years.

Photo Credit: Me...today. 64 years old and still sassy.