Friday, September 22, 2023: Recommendations
Daily Diary, Day 1117:
Brief check-in: As I expected, didn’t get quite as much exercise or writing done yesterday as the day before. In fact, I cut 116 words yesterday, and this morning I am still trying to cut more (which means in some places I hope plop some of those words back into subsequent chapters.) This morning I didn’t walk because I did my thorough Friday cleaning of the upstairs (even finding some grime behind the toilet bowls that required me to get down on hands and knees--something I usually try to avoid because it makes me feel really ancient when I have trouble getting back up again! A moldy-oldy (which I am delighted to say is a term my daughter came up with in the first chapter of our co-authored book, the Stars are Red Tonight, which will show up on Tuesday (smile.) I don’t think she was referring to me (smile.)
Now on to what I’ve been doing to entertain myself and can therefore recommend.
TV watching:
Finished watching the second season of Chelsea Detective, same with new seasons of Unforgotten and Van der Valk, all of which I can recommend as enjoyable police procedurals. And, Only Murders in the Building has continued to be fun, with a few more episodes to look forward to.
We also watched the first episode of the new show Mrs. Sidhu Investigates. Pleasant, will probably watch another and see if it is worth continuing with. It is set in Slough, and this for some reason reminded my husband of a show, You, Me, and the Apocalypse, we had watched but didn’t remember, also set in Slough. So, after watching the first episode of that, we enjoyed it enough to buy on Prime, rather than watch the rest of the show with ads. We are self-indulgent that way.
We watched (having rented it) another old Jesse Stone movie, and then a movie, After Yang, that we really liked. Quirky, sweet, sad movie about a couple whose A.I. named Yang has broken down. The main protagonist was played by Colin Farrell and that led us to watch the Banshees of Inisherin. Talk about a sad, disturbing movie! Well done, but definitely not a feel-good movie.
Listening:
Interestingly, I couldn’t keep listening to Louise Penny’s latest, A World of Curiosities. I might go back to it at some point, but for now there was a character and a plot line I found myself dreading. Penny doesn’t hesitate to kill people off, or have someone you’ve felt affection for get into real difficulties, and sometimes I’m just not in the mood. So, I switched to a Carl Hiaasen, Tourist Season. A very high body count, but amusing as ever.
Still listening to A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs and I just finished 3 long episodes about the beginnings of the seminal 60s musicians, Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, and the Beatles. We are now really into my generation’s music.
Reading:
I finished The Dictionary of Lost Words, and I really can recommend. But it took some time to find a new book for reading at night. I had gotten a bundle of science fiction stories that Kris Rusch put together, but I kept starting stories and either finding them too slow or having characters I didn’t take to, etc. so after a couple of nights I would stop. I finally found one to stick with, just a fluffy romance set in some other world with futuristic tech, but at least it is well written.
Once again, I have gotten behind on my magazine reading, mostly because I am finding such fun articles to read. I am doing a better job on keeping up with newsletters, and next Friday I will make some more recommendations of posts you might enjoy.
In case you aren’t sure how you got here, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. This is my newsletter reflecting on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully. If you aren’t already subscribed but are interested in doing so, you can subscribe by clicking the little button below. If you enjoyed this post, please do click on the little heart and/or share with your friends, and I always welcome comments!