What's Love Got To Do With It?

Plus a short review of The Lover by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

If all goes correctly, I started Nanowrimo two days ago. Of course, that also means that I’m banging my head up against a brick wall right about the time you are reading this. Why, you may ask? Because Nanowrimo, which happens every November, means that writers all across the globe torture themselves for the sake of torturing themselves.

What I really mean is, we set a goal to write 50,000 words in the month of November. If you haven’t written a book, short story, blog post, or whatnot, 50,000 words is a tremendous amount of words. Some very popular books are like 70,000. And those authors take like a year to write them.

Write 50,000 words. It’s a labor of love. Those words may never see the light of a printed day. I might never even open up that Microsoft Word document again to longingly remember the time that I tortured myself.

But as Tina Turner said, who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?

And you thought I was going to talk about romantic love. Ha! Of course, when The Husband reads the title of this newsletter, he might not be too pleased. But this topic is not about him.

I’m talking about my third love: writing. (My first love is reserved for my children.) And how much my third love just loves to kick me in the arse.

I’m not setting myself up to fail by having a fatalistic attitude. Quite the opposite, in fact. You may have noticed that I wrote this post in the future tense. That’s because I queued up three posts in November while it is still October. It’s like the last day of October, but it’s still October. So it counts.

If you are wondering where the fourth newsletter post is, I decided to take the Thanksgiving holiday off from newsletter writing.

That also means that I read three books for the book reviews, and I cooked, photographed, and wrote three blog post recipes. It’s been quite non-stop these last two weeks.

I’m an inherently lazy person, so this is saying quite a bit that I’ve put this much work into something before actually doing said thing.

Hopefully, my love affair won't be a second-hand emotion come December.

The Promos

A J Faris has a book titled Don’t Look Back on the Kindle right now. I really like books where the protagonist has a horrific tragedy in his or her past. From the Amazon page:

In a chilling tale of mystery and justice, Kristen’s life is haunted by an unsolved cold case—the tragic murder of her mother. Driven by an unyielding determination, she embarks on a quest to unearth the truth, unknowingly facing sinister forces lurking in the shadows.

There are also two wonderful book giveaways this week:

Free Multi-Genre Books: Share Your Story with the World!

Thrilling Crimes & Suspense Giveaway

Grab a little something special to read this week.

A Short Review of “The Lover” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

4 out of 5 stars.

This short story was one of the Amazon Prime First Reads. I grabbed it because one of Ms. Moreno-Garcia's other books, the name of which totally escapes me, is on my reading to-do list.

I characterize this book as a “gothic fairytale.” It’s worth the read insofar as it is short. It’s the tale of a young girl named Judith, who cast a love spell to discover the identity of her future husband. This man would come from the trees.

It’s the tale of her sister: lazy, stupid, greedy. And the man who comes from the forest: Nathaniel. Her sister, of course, wants him because he’s handsome, and she is a young widower. Nathaniel, of course, wants her sister because she’s rich.

But Nathaniel also wants something else. He wants Judith, too. Because Judith wants him. So he takes what he isn’t supposed to, and Judith lets him.

Through their time together, in the woods, she meets another man, a beggar. And he’s from the forest, too. He’s connected somehow to the wolf, the wolf that Nathaniel wants to kill.

This short tale has a distinct nod to Little Red Riding Hood, and it’s dubbed as “modern.” Since it’s a fairytale, it is quite slow at times. But the theme resonates with the modern day: the love triangle.

But if you are looking for a happy ending, this is not it. Even when her future husband is revealed, the ending seems contrived. However, if you are into fairytales, then this is a good read.

Happenings

Because I love The Husband, and I want to torture myself, I created a broccoli and cheese casserole with fresh broccoli florets. It turned out pretty good, despite that the main ingredient (broccoli) is gross.

I also made up some chocolate oat balls rolled in coconut a bit ago, but I didn’t have a newsletter that week to announce them. These are also for The Husband, as they have protein powder for an after-workout treat.

Sky

I received a lovely email from Sky’s owner a while ago, and I haven’t been able to add this beautiful bird to the newsletter. Her owner reached out to me to let me know about Sky’s passing.

They had a small burial. As it was finished, a cloud burst. "The angels are crying."

Live on in heavens’ skies, Sky. Your love cannot be broken.

Thank you to everyone who sends pictures of your pets. Don’t worry, I do not forget to include them!