Ever since FAWM ended March 1st, I’ve just been having fun on YouTube. I’ve given up on writing. At least for now. Maybe because I can’t seem to stop making these clips, although I’m thinking of playing around with some Push Magic.
Hey, check out Chip’s clip – he seems to know what he’s doing and he makes it look easy. Certainly fun – certainly more fun than writing quiet words that don’t make music – lol!
(Music clip provided @WolfKier on YouTube.)
Okay, so I’m hanging out by the pool today and it hits me how much I love doing that. How much I love the beach, pools, cruise ships and how that is always my first choice for a vacation. No wonder so many of my books take place on a cruise ship, or Las Vegas, or a beach.
So, I had to make another one of those audios with music and spoken word excerpt like I’ve been doing all through February. This time I decided to hang out with Cyn, Sandy, and Millie of Real Women Wear Red.
Yeah, this book has been around for a while. It was my first published book and the one that got me an agent. I still love it!
After officially completing FAWM (14 songs in 28 days), I had a blast creating DJKat’s Lounge Show by combining 3 book excerpts with music as a bit of a FAWM bonus. I’m thinking of doing a whole book this way. What do you think?
Chapter 1 Excerpt from Lucky’s Last Chance (originally titled The Tom Jones Club):
The “Blind Man at the Bar” scene from Deja Vu at the Blue Diamond (aka “French Martini”)
The Prologue from Deja Vu at the Blue Diamond (aka “French Martini”):
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Okay, so making a resolution to stay off YouTube, Twitter, and my blog was totally impractical. I think I should be making a reverse resolution: to connect more on YouTube, Twitter, and through my blog, because these are the 3 ways I connect with people online.
So I’m browsing my Twitter feed and I see this video from Producer Dojo on “Decision Fatigue” and I’m thinking, “Bingo!” Hubby and I have just been discussing how I can automate my day more like how I used to when I had the house to myself. Working with another person around changes everything. And I’m the root cause of a lot of it. I can be quite chatty, in spite of being an introvert. We’re close and we can both be chatty.
And I’ve gotten into the habit of cooking our lunches. Ack! This must come to a stop. I must get back to automation, doing my own thing during the work hours as if his office is offsite. I also need to get out of the house and explore this new town of ours. But what I miss the most is having the house to myself. As an introvert, if I have to leave to have some alone time, I’m not really alone “out there,” am I? lol!
This is definitely one of the challenges of our Covid era world. Covid may be over in some people’s minds, but its effects are quite lingering and some changes are here to stay. Some things are not going back to how they used to be.
But as Producer Dojo says, eating the same thing every day, wearing the same thing every day frees your mind up to be creative. And now that the holidays are almost over (when will they end?), I need to finally get a routine going.
The best professional move we made this past year was in selling our home in Las Vegas and building one in Florida, even with all the blips and bumps. The main reason is ever since Covid, hubby has been working at home full-time and the house we built in Vegas pre-Covid did not suit us.
It wasn’t that it was so terribly small (1470 sq ft) by California standards–I would have loved to have had a home like this when we lived in California for over 25 adult years (not counting my childhood)—it was that it was spread out on 2 floors and the downstairs had very little room–not even a dining room or area big enough for a table.
Upstairs was better because we had a nice-sized master and two more bedrooms over the garage–one as office for him, and one as studio for me–right next to each other. So there wasn’t a lot of privacy for his meetings and my recordings. It was just too tight for an introvert like me. No escape. 24/7.
But now he has a really nice-sized office with double windows in the front of the house. I claimed the “flex space” on the other size of the hall next to the garage with a small window, kept all dark and clubby with changing colored lights. And even the cats have a fully-decorated room for their litter, toys, tree, couch, and dresser.
So professionally, and personally, this has been a victory for us. And with Disney and beaches within a short drive. Just like how I grew up in Southern California.
On this last day of 2022, I haven’t really set many goals, mostly to focus on music and to hybernate from social media for the month of January. The intention is to refrain from actively participating on YouTube, Twitter, and maybe not even a blog post. All to prepare for FAWM ’23 (February Album Writing Month), not only musically, but emotionally, psychologically, and all the interaction that FAWM entails.
Happy New Year!!
Screamie Birds Studios 