Time brings perspective. My writing process has remained consistent over the years. Once I have a decent manuscript, I set it aside to give me the perspective of a reader when I do a final edit.

In early May, things on BC seemingly became toxic for me. I had lost my rudder and needed a change in perspective. So – I took a time out.

Nothing about BC had changed to elicit the feelings I was experiencing. The fault rested with me.

Just over forty years ago I was sitting in a Palm Springs hotel bar when Reggie Jackson came in and sat on the stool next to me.

I asked Mr. October what time it was just so I could tell people Reggie had given me the time of day.

That was a good day for me.

So was today. Teflon Don finally was held accountable. All the Trump wannabees should have learned today that doubling down until you win or the clock runs out doesn't always work.

During my business career, I was mainly in marketing. Selling involves a lot of rejection. In order to make a sale you have to take a risk. The process involves a lot of very necessary motivational support. One of the ways I pushed myself was by keeping a myriad of statistics.

This habit has carried over into my writing. I have a massive spreadsheet that records statistics for my stories and books.

During the last three months, the over twenty books Doppler Press has published for me have received more total reviews than they received for the last over ten years.

This week I watched the latest segment of Ted Lasso. They skillfully use Raindrops Keep Fallin on My Head in a scene with Jamie teaching Roy how to ride a bike.

I started thinking about songs in movies and eventually created a list of my favorite songs used in movies.

I was amazed to see two Dolly Parton songs in my top ten. Most people probably think of I Will Always Love You as a Whitney Houston song -- but Dolly wrote it and made over ten million dollars in royalties from the Whitney version.

The other day I mentioned in a comment that Frankie Laine sang my favorite TV theme song. . .Rawhide. That show included one of my favorite TV characters, Rowdy Yates, which started Clint Eastwood's career. https://www.google.com/search?q=rawhide+theme+song&rlz=1C1CH...

Yesterday, I posted a dystopian short story about Paul Conklin and his son Karl.

This morning my daughter delivered a baby boy.

We had no idea what gender the child would be or what names they were considering. They had elected not to know the gender.

They're naming him "Karl."

I'm elated and mystified.

The world seems a thousand times better than it seemed to be when I wrote the story.

Jill

One of the best features of Big Closet is the ignore list.

My parochial high school days included boys' religion class.

The instructor was a sixtyish years old priest who was bored and didn't care who knew it.

One of my classmates asked for his interpretation of a Biblical passage.

His answer shaped my view of the Bible and those who thump it.

All of this has been said before. But the site readership is constantly changing.

Some have suggested that BC is littered by offers to buy my books.

And, I would have to agree that efforts to sell my books are ubiquitous.

However, the sale of my books isn't making me rich. In fact, all of the revenue from the sales goes directly to BC. I don't get any of it.

Merry Christmas to all!

Five years ago we downsized to our retirement home going from six to two bedrooms. Yesterday three grandchildren, four dogs and eight adults celebrated what amounted to our first day of Christmas. Other than a minor mishap where the butter was left in the microwave and never found its way into the pancakes we survived and are on to five more days of "close" family fun.

I've hung my Kindle on the mantel waiting for Maximum Warp Chapter Ten to drop. Emma. . .it is Friday!

Barney Frank popped up on TV celebrating the Same Sex Marriage act.

My stomach turned at the sight of him.

Am I wrong or did this twisted old man not set back trans rights several decades when he caved to get LGBQ equality passed?

Jill

Amy Schnieder won the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions. She outplayed a formidable field to win the $250,000 prize.

She has become the most successful female Jeopardy contestant ever, and is Jeopardy's first trans champion.

Jill

At the end of a long and carefully thought-out comment in another blog, Iolanthe said, “It is always a little distressing when another reader looks down their nose at stories or categories that I prize, but oh well. We're not all in the same place; we don't all have the same tastes.”

As usual, Iolanthe has caused me to think.

I’ve been to Texas many times. Other than the men trying to convince each other who’s got the biggest penis -- they seem to be quite normal.

So why all the hateful trans laws?

The other night I was watching CNN. They aired a report that seemed to answer that question. The report slipped into CNN jingoism but contained a lot of information that led to sound conclusions.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/politics/texas-far-right-poli...

Amazon is a horrible organization -- as is pointed out here quite often.

However -- it's time to give the devil his due.

Yesterday, my Kindle went dark. I use my Kindle at least two hours a day so I immediately ordered a new Kindle for $204. It arrived this morning . . . less than twelve hours after I ordered it.

The setup took about fifteen minutes . . . mostly due to uploading my old content.

The process was easy and effective.

Erin and I are friends.

That is a huge statement for me. I know thousands of people. For most years in my business I worked with six to eight hundred entities who had anywhere from ten to five thousand transactions with me. . .enough so that my last year in business my sales were forty-eight million dollars.

When you woke up yesterday, did it seem like you were in another world?

You are.

In a democacy, a position supported by less than a third of the population has turned our country inside out.

The supreme court ruling yesterday and accompanying opinions made it clear that the three uber-conservatives Trump appointed to the court are hell bent on taking us back to the dark ages. We now know exactly what MAGA has meant from day one.

Who said, " Your freedom of expression of yourselves in drag is what America is all about."?

And, why did she say it?

I can't say that I'm a big Ru Paul fan. But the other day I was looking on FOX for the right's reaction to the Jan 6 Investigation and saw a clip of Nancy Pelosi. The anchor stopped saying inflation, inflation, inflation, inflation, inflation, inflation just long enough to suggest that the Pelosi clip would make a powerful campaign commercial. . .for the right.

The other day it was suggested that not many realize that the U.S. is a republic versus a democracy, or that many know the difference. I’m sure that’s a fair statement.

I grew up in a state with very small population. We were well aware of the steps our government took to protect the rights of minorities. Residents of my home state used minority rights arguments to justify the fact that we had two senators for every 300,000 people while a state like New York also had two senators with their many millions of citizens.

Amy got beat.

It came down to Final Jeopardy and she missed on Bangladesh.

It will be interesting to see what happens when she goes against Ken Jennings in the TOC. It would be wonderful to see her soundly beat him.

Love that woman.

Jill

Amy Schneider continues to win on Jeopardy.

Today, she revealed that she is re-reading one of her favorite books, "Catch-22."

Joseph Heller's black comedy is by far my favorite novel. Catch 22 could have been tossed in the dustbin many times. First -- it took Heller forever to write it. Then it was only a mediocre seller in hard copy. It wasn't until it was put out on paperback and sold for .75 that it took off and became a hit. I read it first when I was fifteen. And have read it many times since.