Tag: novels

Tiny Tuesday!

Today when I took Debby to an appointment, I was in the vicinity of a Burlington department store and dashed in to look for something I wanted in their home goods section, which I found. Would you not know that area is right next to toys? Naturally, I had to walk through, and I’m glad I did. I found a deeply discounted doll–formerly unknown to me–that’s part of Mattel’s Inspiring Women™ series, Madam C.J. Walker.

Beautiful doll to portray the story of an interesting, real person.

It’s cool, because in the Neverending Saga, one of my characters is connected to a family who’s lived on the Mississippi Delta for several generations. In my research, I didn’t find Madam C.J. Walker, so she was a fun discovery today.

Meanwhile, I’m nearing the end of this section of my CDs that I’ve enjoyed as my playlist for a few hours over the past three days.

Van Halen: Self-Titled (1978); Van Halen II (1979) Women and Children First (1980); Fair Warning (1981); Diver Down (1982); 1984 (1984); 5150 (1986); OU812 (1988); For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991); The Best of Both Worlds, 2-CD set(2004).

I’m missing a few and will watch for them in used CD sections at our local music stores. Below is the introduction to “Women In Love,” a piece of music that’s among my favorites. I mean, to me, the entire song is good, but I love the slow intro.

Mood: Monday

This painting is in the public domain.

The Primrose Girl
oil on canvas
William Ward Laing, English, ca 1873 to 1902

Today is National Primrose Day for the flower lovers among you.

I didn’t watch the Grammys last night, but congratulations to Miley Cyrus for her first Grammy wins, Best Pop Solo Performance and Record of the Year, for her song “Flowers.” I read a brief history of the song at some point recently. It originally had a sad trajectory, then somewhere in the process she turned it into a song of empowerment after a broken relationship. That and being catchy definitely worked to the song’s advantage.


Fun photo thinking back to that day in October 2009 when my Miley Cyrus doll and I went shopping. Now I wish our nearby antique mall still existed. Debby and I loved browsing there. It was a great place to find unique gifts. Too late, I realize I could have had a lot of fun posing my dolls among the antiques and collectibles. Missed opportunities.

The way I’m structuring the seventh novel in the Neverending Saga is tricky, and I’m working it out as I go. Even if it has to change, I’m going to be thinking of “Flowers” when I get to the character who’s made some big changes in her life between the sixth book and this one. I want her to have that spirit.

ETA: Oh, for crap’s sake. Just read this reference on a post-Grammy sum-up of how well women fared in the awards last night: –From Eilish’s heart-stopping performance of “What Was I Made For?”—wearing cat’s-eye sunglasses and a 1960s sweater like Peggy Olson from “Mad Men”—

If only they’d done their homework, they’d have understood Billie Eilish’s outfit was a tribute to Barbie, the film, and the Barbie doll. The photo from the Grammys:


Photo by Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse, Getty Images

Eilish was wearing classic Barbie!

Poodle Parade Barbie, my 1995 reproduction of the 1965 original


Shared this version because the film version makes me cry, and I still haven’t seen the movie yet.

Under The Rug

The most recent writing playlist features an indie/folk band from L.A. who’s now in Austin, Texas, a mecca for indie artists. Under The Rug showed up in my Instagram feed once. I liked what I heard, subscribed to their newsletter, which is by turns informative and entertaining. And I began buying their CDs instead of streaming them, which was cool because I got a few free gifts here and there and a lot of interesting stories they share with their fans. Plus they’ve signed all their CDs. (I do have a fourth one on the way to complete my collection.)


Under The Rug: Pale King


Under The Rug: Dear Adeline

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Under The Rug: Homesick For Another World

Below is the song that introduced me to the band (in a different video they shot in their living room) on Instagram. The commentary going up the left side of this one (part of the video) makes me laugh: pretty much the trajectory of all comment threads everywhere. Strangers running the gamut from I love you./You suck./DM me for this product I sell./This is the worst song./This is the best song./You’re still doing this?/Check out my site./I met you once./You guys are sell-outs./I want to date you./I think I dated you./I have a friend who dated you.

I’ve finished the “U” section in the CD binders. DO YOU KNOW WHO’S NEXT? (That’s excited uppercase.) I’m about to pull their CDs and see if I can get them in some kind of chronological order (some are in the binder; some in cardboard sleeves that go in the box under the binders) and then get back to writing Chapter 3.

ETA on 2/11/24: I’ve now acquired and listened to Under The Rug’s second CD Too Far Away, so my collection of four is complete.

Run to you


The most recent play list: Diana Ross and the Supremes 2-CDs, Anthology. Not really sure why they were in the middle of the “T”s but they have now been relocated correctly in the CD binders. Also listened to the Trio CD from Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris.


Forthcoming: U2’s Achtung, Baby 1991, and Pop, 1997.
I didn’t lose any U2 albums in the flood. What I had was on cassettes long ago and long gone, including Rattle and Hum, which I’ll likely get again. I must have something in iTunes–Oh, yes! The one everyone with an iTunes account received free in September 2014 before it was released that October, Songs of Innocence. I remember the bitterness from people who aren’t U2 fans having it downloaded into their iTunes without their consent. I also have “Invisible,” the RED edition, in iTunes.

I have no beef with U2. Sometimes I agree with their messages; sometimes I don’t. Some of their music resonates with me, some doesn’t. I used a tear of their sheet music to get a lyric for a painting I did a couple of years ago. Afterward, I was thrilled to remember I have a brother-in-law who loves U2, so I offered, and he gave a home to, the painting. That made me really happy, because I love him and respect what U2 means to him.

I’m making great effort not to amplify what distresses me most in the world. I’m trying to make my little world, including Houndstooth Hall and its writing sanctuary, as well as this blog, places where I feel safe. I can’t always shut down my anxieties and distress over global events, politics, war, and hate. I can only try to manage them. I appreciate the people in my life who understand this isn’t a new struggle for me, but it has been exacerbated by several factors in recent years.

I saw this the other day and it resonated, too. Doing my best.

Below, one of my favorite U2 songs, is supposed to be about a guy who’s fallen in love and is a little overwhelmed by it. But it always makes me think of a message my mother once sent to me through Tom:
“Tell Becky to stop trying to save the world.”

So far on midweek Wednesday


I no longer have any James Taylor on vinyl, but I think I lost at least my original Sweet Baby James to someone who “borrowed” it. A few incidents like that are why I stopped loaning albums and books to anyone who isn’t named “Lynne.” Lynne might forget she borrowed something (she’d be the first to say so!) but if I reminded her, she’d absolutely return it.

A bit of wisdom age afforded me: People who deliberately steal stuff from you are not your friends and will also lie to you and about you.

I lost 17 Three Dog Night albums to the Harvey flood and was able to save four on vinyl; replaced the drowned It Ain’t Easy with this CD; and acquired The Best of Three Dog Night to give me at least some of the songs I loved listening to. In time, I’ll decide which of their albums I want to replace, though it won’t be all of the live ones and imports (I had those because 3DN was among a small group of artists for whom I collected everything, including rarities–not a goal, anymore).

When listening to their music, I can always identify which of Three Dog Night’s three singers (Cory Wells, Danny Hutton, or Chuck Negron) takes the lead on any song. The three of them worked with Brian Wilson when the Beach Boys were making their Wild Honey album, and Brian’s sometime-collaborator Van Dyke Parks said he (Van Dyke) was part of creating the name “Three Dog Night.”

Decades later, Danny Hutton is still part of Brian’s group of friends and revolving musicians. In sadder news, it was announced that Brian’s second wife, Melinda Ledbetter Wilson, who’s credited with changing and improving his life starting in the 1980s, died unexpectedly yesterday. If you like musician docudramas/biopics, their story is portrayed in the film Love & Mercy.

Three Dog Night didn’t write their own music, but they sure had the pipes to sing other artists’ songs and make them hits. RIP, Cory Wells, along with your bandmates Jimmy Greenspoon, Joe Shermie, and Floyd Sneed, and your fishing buddy Rob Grill of the Grass Roots. I was a fan of you all.

Here’s Chuck taking the lead on this blast-from-the-past version of “Easy To Be Hard,” written for the musical Hair.

ETA 2/11/24: Acquired another Three Dog Night compilation, The Complete Hit Singles. It’s basically what’s on The Best of Three Dog Night plus one song. That’s all right.

Midweek inventory


I think all the new or replacement Springsteen CDs* have trickled in from their various sources, and I’ve been listening to them when I have time to write. It’s kind of funny, because as I told Lynne and Tom, the character I’m writing has little interest in contemporary music from any of the decades written so far in the Neverending Saga, so while *I* enjoy Bruce Springsteen (and the E Street Band)’s music, it doesn’t really speak to who and what I’m writing.

HOWEVER, coincidentally, my Hell’s Kitchen musician character was born in March 1949 and grew up in Manhattan, while Bruce was born in September of ’49 and grew up in Freehold, New Jersey. That means these two boys from working class families, one fictional, one real, were roughly an hour apart by car (and separated by the watery Hudson River and a couple of bays). Though their lives are mostly dissimilar and their music is different, they’re both storytellers. As I write, my character’s ears are keenly attuned to and inspired by the music playing, and he keeps wanting to take over the story.

Creatively, it’s not a bad problem to have. I hope my characters keep bugging me for as long as I’m around. Any family or friends who understand me may need to tell any healthcare providers that not everything I say is indicative of dementia. Since my early teens, I’ve had a condition that Lynne and I call “Characters,” common among poets, playwrights, songwriters, and fiction writers.

*From Bruce Springsteen with and without the E Street Band:
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J./Bruce Springsteen: The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle/The River/Nebraska/Born In The U.S.A./Tunnel of Love/Devils & Dust/Wrecking Ball/High Hopes/Letter To You/Only The Strong Survive

Dedicated to Elle from DFS. (They’ve got me addicted to romance.)

Tiny Tuesday!

It’s funny how these miniatures have come to me at different times and from different sources through the years (they are all pencil sharpeners) because their functions seem to have converged in what I’m writing now. If I wrote Disney movies, they’d all come to life and offer sage advice and guidance.


The Coffee Grinder, The Victrola Phonograph, The Movie Projector, and The Typewriter: Coming Eventually To An Anthropomorphized Novel Near You.

Meanwhile, the recent playlist provided by Harry Styles:

Harry Styles plus Fine Line plus Harry’s House

This One Direction song is allegedly on some most-hated lists. I don’t hate it at all, and I probably need to acquire some One Direction music. (I’m generally years behind any trend.) The version here is acoustic, but I’m wondering about that electric piano/keyboard. Maybe acoustic and unplugged aren’t the same?

Mood: Monday

Photo previously posted here was of the painting Rain in the City, by artist Katharina Valeeva, oil on carboard, 2020.

It’s a dreary day in Houston with chilly rain. It wasn’t raining yesterday when I was listening to these CDs while I researched a few things for the Neverending Saga, but I’d hoped to find a photo of one of my own paintings to accompany this music for Mood: Monday.


Cat Stevens, Greatest Hits; Sting, Brand New Day; Mercury Falling; Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984 – 1994

I’d used a lyric from Sting’s song “Fragile” on a 4×6 canvas sometime between 1997 and 2001. I don’t have a photo of it. I thought I knew who I gave it to, but apparently not, and no one else I’ve asked has it. I didn’t want it back–just hoped to get a photo of it. If my memory is accurate, the lines I used were “On and on the rain will fall/like tears from a star.” I have a vague memory of what the painting looked like, but maybe I dreamed the whole thing!

After all, who wouldn’t dream of Sting. =)

They got a name for the winners in the world


Delta, side-eyeing me and speaking for the pack: “We will not be moving from the heater or taking questions at this time.” I think Delta has recently been reading over my shoulder while I was writing.

Below is my writing playlist for the day, and Steely Dan had me so mellow that I might as well have been stoned. Gwen Stefani got me back to the manuscript! The Steely Dan shown here is a collection, but I’m very sure that a million years later, if someone brought in the albums Can’t Buy A Thrill or Aja, I’d be able to sing along, every word to every song. Music memory’s a funny thing.


Smashing Pumpkins, 2-CD set, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness; Steely Dan, The Definitive Collection; Gwen Stefani, Love, Angel, Music, Baby.

So much good music, but school loyalty mandates that I link to the tune I’ve chosen. Roll Tide, and we’ll miss you, Coach Saban. I was there for some of the Bear Bryant years, and you, too, became a coaching legend. Tip of the houndstooth hat to you.