December's Books

I did read a little in December but not nearly as much as I would like. Love talking books so if you see one you want to discuss let me know.

Pines Suspense

Wisp of a Thing paranormal

Maritime Mysteries: And the Ghosts Who Surround Us true haunting

Generation V urban fantasy

Wicked Prey mystery

Cocaine Blues historical mystery
(and the series Miss FIsher Mysteries is based on)

Murder in the Hearse Degree mystery

The Devil Aspect historical mystery

Happy New Year's

Today was fairly relaxing and a decent start to the new year. I helped Mom take down the tree (and tomorrow I'll help take the huge amount of Christmas crap downstairs for her and pack up because I have to hit the road on Thursday).

I can't believe the holiday is all over already. Wow. And we're going back to work SO early this year.

But I am off to a good start, cross your fingers everyone that I DO get on the author's panel at the steampunk thing in March. That would be SO exciting for me. Unfortunately I can't really do it under my own name as I don't have enough published but I want to keep my pen names well separated. Sigh.


Day 1 - In your own space, talk about your Happy Place—the things that give you joy, calms you or keeps you sane. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

There are several things that fill this need. Books/comic books/manga have always been my go-to for this and remain so after decades and surely will for the decades remaining to me.

Anime and favored tv shows/movies also help a lot. Star Trek was the first in this vein and remains one of my favorite.

And I write. I write to work things out, I write to have fun, I write like my life depends on it some days. I take it seriously.

Gardening and hiking in the woods also help a lot as does spending time with my cat. I have a few less well adapted go-tos but I don't do them often (i.e. bars/wineries)

January's Bingo

The allbingo's prompt challenge is different this month using untranslatable words. This should be fun.

Tartle (Scottish): The act of hesitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name	Schadenfreude (German): The feeling of joy or pleasure when one sees another fail or suffer misfortune	Wabi-Sabi (Japanese): Finding beauty in imperfections	Verschlimmbessern (German): To make something worse when trying to improve it	Komorebi (Japanese): The sunlight that filters through the leaves of the trees
Pålegg (Norwegian): Anything and everything you can put on a slice of bread.	Hyggelig (Danish): A warm friendly cozy demeanor.	Utepils (Norwegian): To sit outside on a sunny day and enjoy a beer.	Torschlusspanik (German): The fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages.	Shlimazl (Yiddish): A chronically unlucky person
Toska (Russian): A sensation of great spiritual anguish often without a specific cause; a longing with nothing to long for.	Fika (Swedish): Gathering together to talk and take a break from everyday routines either at a cafe or at home often for hours on end.	FREE SPACE	Fernweh (German): Feeling homesick for a place you have never been to	Hiraeth (Welsh): A particular type of longing for the homeland or the romanticized past
Tretår (Swedish): A second refill or “threefill” of coffee	Duende (Spanish): The mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.	Forelsket (Norwegian): The indescribable euphoria experienced as you begin to fall in love	Trepverter (Yiddish): A witty comeback you think of only when it’s too late to use	Abbiocco (Italian): drowsiness from eating a big meal
Commuovere (Italian): Often taken to mean “heartwarming” but directly refers to a story that moved you to tears	Luftmensch (Yiddish): Refers to someone who is a bit of a dreamer; literally an “air person.”	Sobremesa (Spanish): After-lunch conversation around the table.	L’appel du vide (French): Literally translated to “the call of the void”; contextually used to describe the instinctive urge to jump from high places	Tsundoku (Japanese): Leaving a book unread after buying it