Television Binge Watching #MFRWAuthor

For two weeks, I participated in MFRW's 52-Week Blog Challenge on Fridays. I was really happy about the 3rd week's topic--bingeing on TV shows. So happy, I wrote my post before realizing I'd already committed to Chrys Fey's "I Survived" Blogfest last Friday. Waste not, want not, as my mother would say. Even though, it's not Friday, here's my post.

TV Shows I Binge On

If you follow my blog, you know I love watching movies and television. Never ask me to name my favorite book, movie, or TV show. I can’t. My favorites change like Michigan weather. Binge watching takes favorites to an extreme. Let me tell you about some shows I’ve binged on.

photo: IMDB

Firefly: science fiction adventure. Long gone, but not forgotten. After watching the movie Serenity, I found a DVD with all fourteen episodes. Watched them all the way through and then over again several times. What’s not to like about Captain Reynolds (Nathan Fillion)?

photo: IMDB

Stargate SG-1: action/adventure. I missed all ten seasons when they were on originally. I’d catch one here and there, but not faithfully until we got Amazon Prime. Binged on all of them, just not all at once. Interesting premise (traveling via a portal to different planets) and a great cast.

photo: IMDB

Farscape: science fiction, action/adventure/romance. Totally missed this series during its four-season run. Besides the sci-fi aspect, I loved the creatures designed by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The romance started slow and built. I just hated the way the series ended.

The above were shows I binge-watched because they were no longer on. But I have other favs besides science fiction. Here are my current ones. Thank goodness, we’re getting the Ovation Channel now on cable.

photo: IMDB

Murdoch Mysteries (aka The Artful Detective): mystery. My sister gave us the 1st season on DVD for Christmas one year. She is so lucky to live near Detroit because she gets a Canadian channel and watches new episodes as they're released. For ten years, Detective Murdoch, with the Toronto Constabulary, solves crimes in the 1890s using unusual at the time (but commonplace now) scientific methods. Meanwhile, he and Medical Coroner Dr. Julia Ogden danced around each other in a will-they/won’t-they romance. Based on books by Maureen Jennings. Before Ovation came to our cable network, I went to the library and borrowed the DVDs.

photo: IMDB

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries: mystery. Another recommendation from my sister. Phryne Fisher of Melbourne solves mysteries in the late 1920s in this Australian three-season series. Based on the books by Kerry Greenwood. I'd read the first book, Cocaine Blues, first in the series before watching the TV series. Love the period costumes, Phryne’s battles over injustice, and her banter with Detective Jack Robinson. I haven't seen all the episodes but, sheesh, would they just kiss!

photo: Amazon

Father Brown: mysteries on PBS. You might recognize the actor who plays the sleuth-priest in a 1950s English village from Doctor Who (Rory's dad) and Harry Potter (Ron Weasley's dad), Mark Williams. He's accomplishes are a hoot. As I've said with regard to most of my favorite shows, it's the cast that makes the show.

See what I mean about not being able to choose one?

Do you binge watch? What are your favorites?

#MFRWAuthor 52-Week Challenge: Family

It's week 2 of Marketing for Romance Writers' 52-Week Blog Challenge. I love that we have topics. So much easier to write when someone else comes up with a topic.

HOW MY FAMILY SURVIVES MY WRITING.

When I first started writing over twenty years ago, I was embarrassed to tell my family. My kids were in high school, and I could feel them rolling their eyes if I told them I was writing a romance story. To my surprise, they thought it was great. Hubs thought it was a nice hobby until I told him I was serious about this, that I was writing to be published. This was my business.

He supported me when I said I wanted to take a class at our local library on starting a small business offered by the Michigan State University Extension Service. In fact, he’s supported me all along. While he prefers reading nonfiction, he will read my books. I’m not sure he realizes how interruptions can be very distracting. But every morning (my best time to write) he’ll go downstairs to his office, leaving me in peace. When I buried or on deadline (my own, since I’m self-published), he’ll make dinner. Now that’s support!

My kids, now grown with children of their own, say they’re proud of me. But it’s got to be uncomfortable for them to read the sex scenes knowing their mother wrote them.

When the 3 “Moms”—my mother, mother-in-law, and her sister—read my first book, Switched, that had some quite sensual scenes, it made me uncomfortable. They told me they skipped those parts. LOL Unfortunately, they passed away before my other books were published. I think they would have enjoyed my PI mysteries a lot better than the science fiction romances. My sisters enjoy the mysteries better, too.

My grandchildren are too young to read my books. But they write their own stories with me. I found this wonderful program, My StoryMaker, from the Carnegie Library at Pittsburgh. The kids choose the characters, setting, tools, etc. and tell me the story, which I type for them. At the end of the story, I print it out for them to show their parents. We’ve been doing this since before they started school. Five years later, their stories are now longer with more depth. It’s great combining something I love (writing) with fun time with the kiddies.

I am truly blessed by my family’s support.

Here's the link to the others participating in the challenge: http://mfrw.blogspot.com/2017/01/join-us-its-week-2-mfrwauthor-52-week.html

#MFRWauthor 52-week Blog Challenge - Favorite Things

I just joined the Marketing For Romance Writers 52-week Blog Challenge. Just what I need--another blog post to write. LOL I missed the sign up for this week but, hey, why not? This week's topic is Favorite Things.

My favorite thing is the ceramic Nativity set my mother made, long before Alzheimer's took its toll. She asked if I wanted all the colors, and I said no. I wanted them all gold, much like the Nativity set my grandmother had made when I was young.

If you'd asked me seven years ago, I'd say books are my next favorite things. I had shelves and shelves of books. Then I got a Kindle. I know people who love the feel of paper books. I used to think that way, too. I love the freedom of having something to read all the time. Many times, while waiting at the doctor's, dentist's, etc., I'd finish a book and have nothing to read. Carrying one paperback in my purse was okay but not two. With the Kindle, if I finish one book, I can start another. Still, I love books whether they are paper or digital.

When we moved three years ago, I had to let go of many things. Unlike our previous moves when the company paid for the move, this one was on our dime. Paper books are heavy (and we were paying by the pound), so many books went to the local library for their used book sale. I'm glad others will get a chance to read them.

Something that didn't go in the estate sale or get donated was my nutcracker collection. Each Christmas, I love putting them out and enjoy looking at them. My mother-in-law gave me my first nutcracker back in the early 1980s. As soon as she found out I liked them, she and her sister gave me one or more each Christmas and birthday for over 20 years. Hubs, who thinks more is better, kept giving me LOTS of them until I said no more! One a year only. Now he looks for the most interesting, unique nutcracker every year. I have to say (and did) that this year's was the ugliest. 

Sometimes I get too attached to things. People are more important. Like my grandkiddies. With them, I get to combine my favorite things. We read books together and they write stories with me. (They tell me what to write and I type.) Before Christmas, they helped put out my nutcracker collection by standing on my kitchen counters and putting them on top of the cabinets. OSHA would not approve, but they had fun.

Here's the link to the others participating in the challenge: http://mfrw.blogspot.com/2017/01/2017blogchallenge.html