Ginny’s Gemstone Gala Gazebo

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

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Welcome to our simple and reasonably priced shop.  All of our gems have been magically imbued by the finest wizards this side of the Tappan Zee Bridge.  Thankfully, that’s the good side.  Now, here is a list of our categories.  You are responsible for setting it in a piece since we only provide the gems.  Enjoy.

  • Emeralds– This grant the wearer telepathy, which grows in power as you add gems. The downside is that you get very sleepy whenever you probe a mind.  No coffee can undo this drowsiness.
  • Rubies– The wearer can conjure a shield of their own design on command.  When activated, the gem will cause random people to fall in love with you.
  • Sapphires– The wearer is able to look into the future.  The more stones, the further you can see.  While using this, you will not be aware of your surroundings.  It can also go off without warning if worn for too long.
  • Amethyst– The wearer can maintain a sense of calm for as long as they keep the gemstone pressed against their forehead.  Works best in a crown, but overuse can create a sense of drunk-like euphoria.
  • Amazonite– Grants the wearer the ability to identify toxic individuals.  Do with this information what you wish.  Downside is that you can only get this information 2 days after the gem reads the person.
  • Jasper–  The wearer gains unbreakable balance both physically, mentally, and emotionally.  This also means that they will find it difficult to be sad in situations that require it.  For example, mourning a loved one will be nearly impossible until the gem is removed and a backlash will occur.
  • Moonstone– Grants the wearer include luck when it comes to achieving their goals and gaining the basics for survival.  This does cause at least one person around you to have bad luck because the universe needs to remain balanced.
  • Topaz–  The wearer gains superhuman strength of body and mind.  This does not give you any level of invulnerability.  You also will have to learn to hold back, so expect to break many things until you gain control.  (AVOID HANDSHAKES AND HUGS!)
  • Tiger’s Eye–  Grants the wearer a sense of confidence and bravery whenever they feel stressed.  Downside is that you will battle a tiger in your dreams every night and losing means the gem won’t work for the next day.
  • Peridot–  The wearer gains moderate levels of healing of both themselves and others.  It means cuts, broken bones, and common diseases, but not cancers, missing limbs, or other severe issues.  The wearer will also become incapable of lying and occasionally have the urge to be a nudist.
  • Lapis Lazuli–  The wearer gains a total awareness of their surroundings.  This does not mean you will understand everything going on because it still takes the brain a bit to process.  Can cause severe migraines and vertigo.
  • Fluorite–  Increases the wearers ability to absorb, retain, and recall knowledge.  Side power is the ability to read at superhuman speeds.  Half of what is learned will be forgotten when gem is removed.
  • Citrine– The wearer gains the ability to find ways to make easy money.  It is very similar to luck, but requires effort and decisions to be made.  Downside is that the gem does NOT take the wearer’s safety into consideration.
  • Aquamarine–  Grants the wearer the power of astral projection.  The usual dangers of getting lost on the astral plane and your body not being protected apply.  Also, you can be spotted in digital cameras and you will be in your underwear.
  • Diamonds–  Grants the wearer the ability to steal and absorb the powers of other gems and magical beings.  Downside is that you will go mad with power and start on the path of world domination.  (Please sign waiver to assume all responsibility for supervillain actions.)
Posted in Olde Shoppe Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Story Development and Execution Part 13: Planning a Series

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Ciao, SEers. Today is my final post of the year, and it’s the final post of this series. We’re going to talk about planning a series, either from the…

Story Development and Execution Part 13: Planning a Series
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The Four Horsemen of Writing: Procrastination

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

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It’s tough being an author.  You don’t always find the time you would like to write your stories and most people see it as a hobby.  Ideas will turn on you too.  The amount of pitfalls can be daunting and your average person doesn’t notice them.  So, I decided to use the next couple of Tuesdays to open the floor to the ‘Four Horsemen of Writing’.  They don’t have horses though.

Keep in mind that this is the list I came up with for myself, so the lineup could be different for every author.  That works as a disclaimer, so let’s see the first one.

Procrastination

We do it to ourselves.  Whether it be out of fear or being horribly unfocused, we do other things instead of writing.  We may even do writing-like things without actually touching on the books or outlines.  Research can lead to this because an author may spend an evening jumping down every rabbit hole they find.  Before they know it, they have to get some sleep and came out of the evening with nothing to show for it.  Not even a memory of what they were originally looking up.

Life tends to cause this as well.  We have other tasks and chores, which we may gravitate towards even if we don’t like them.  It delays the writing, which we both love and get nervous about.  Not that we’re aware of it, but there could be a subconscious voice that isn’t reading for us to put our thoughts on paper.  After all, writing does involve putting some of our soul into our work, which leaves us vulnerable.  Procrastination can put off exposing one to that effect for just a little bit longer.  Again, we might not even realize we’re doing it.

So, let’s just open the floor because everyone tackles this differently.  I mean, my procrastination stems from anxiety and exhaustion.  Life just wears me down and I lack the urge to write at times even though I plan out the time.  Other people may have other triggers, so it’s best for everyone to give their opinion.

  1. Are you a major or minor procrastinator?
  2. What is something you do to prevent or minimize procrastination?
  3. Do you think you do it without realizing that you do it?
Posted in Questions 3 | Tagged , , , , , | 25 Comments

‘Fixing’ Source Material

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Fix It Felix

I know this one is going to bite me in the ass.  Just can’t stop myself because this has been bugging me for months.  Pretty sure I’ll see some people pop up in the comments who I haven’t heard from in a long time too.  Why?  Because this is a topic that I’ve seen cause a lot of conflict and I’m stepping in it.

A while back, Amazon put out the ‘Rings of Power’ . . . I wasn’t done, so put away the pitchforks!  I didn’t have any interest in this from the beginning because I didn’t trust Amazon.  Got worse when I heard they only got rights to the ‘Return of the King’ appendices.  That made me think they just wanted the name and were going to do whatever they felt like doing.  I only paid attention enough to have conversations and heard a few episodes that my parents watched.  Took a peek and just couldn’t garner much interest.  Part of that stems from a phrase that popped up too.

Now, we all know the battle that took place over this series.  Certain changes were made and certain groups got angry, which turned the whole debacle into a mess that Sauron would have been proud of.  People wanted to see more diversity in LOTR, which is fine and they made it a focal point.  Okay, that’s not a bad thing as long as you have it make sense and try to hold to the lore.  I mean, this is a beloved franchise that has years of lore and thousands upon thousands of fans.  Best to treat such changes with . . .

People started saying they were going to ‘fix’ the Lord of the Rings.

As an author, this made me see red because it shows a severe disrespect to the source material.  It says that the source material is wrong and broken, which is different than saying you want to modernize it.  Modernize means it’s old and should be altered for modern audiences.  Fixed means it was always flawed and now it’s going to be turned into the story it should have always been.  There’s just a level of arrogance, disrespect, and sneering disdain that stems from that phrase.

I really think this was a bad argument for Tolkien.  He’s dead, so he can’t defend himself or comment on the changes.  Amazon didn’t even get enough of the lore for them to ‘fix’ anything.  It’s like rewriting one of Beethoven’s symphonies, but you only have a cymbal and a kazoo with gum stuck over one of the holes.  You don’t have the tools to ‘fix’ the overall story.  You can modernize and give your own version of it, but that’s really the limit.

‘Fix’ always gives the idea that this new version is going to replace the original.  Again, we’re talking about a story whose author is deceased.  Most of the people cheering for this never read the originals or know anything beyond the Jackson movies.  So, they have no connection to the originals, which means this does become their version.  ‘Fixing’ means there’s no reason to read ‘Lord of the Rings’ because you’ve noted it as flawed and inferior to ‘Rings of Power’.  All this really does is create a schism in a franchise where people battle over their versions of a story.  Not that we haven’t been seeing that go on for the past few years, but that’s another post that I’m not writing.

I know it’s one phrase that pissed me off and I can’t even remember if it was uttered by supporters or people involved.  Yet, I saw it getting used in comment sections after it came about.  I saw people saying that the source material isn’t important and there’s no reason to stay even remotely true to it.  If the author is dead, they have no interest in preserving any of the original.  Even though I doubt my stories will ever be adapted because I have no fan-base, it’s scary to think that what I put my heart and soul into would be treated with such callousness.  Stories are the legacy of their authors and small pieces that they left behind.  To say that they need to be ‘fixed’ just frustrates me.

Hopefully, I’m not going to walk into a fight in the comments.  I know ‘Rings of Power’ was/is controversial.  I really couldn’t care less about it.  A key desire for me with any adaptation is that respect is shown to the source material both in the writing and the promotions.  Don’t feel that was done with this phrase, so I needed to make some kind of rant.

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , | 23 Comments

Who Influenced Your Writing?

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Hey, SE Readers. Joan with you today. Some of us knew from an early age that we wanted to become a writer. For others, the desire came about later in…

Who Influenced Your Writing?
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

National World Wildlife Conservation Day

Posted on December 4, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

I went to see if today was a special day for an animal to give me an idea of which one I should post from my list.  I’d already done cheetah, but I saw National World Wildlife Conservation Day at the bottom of the list.  That gave me an idea.

I always mention why species are in danger and that inevitably gets people commenting on how humans are monsters.  While this can be true, you also have humans who are fighting to keep species alive.  We are a species of individuals, which means we should honor the good while condemning the bad.  So, I went looking for examples of conservation success stories.  Some of these animals are in the clear while others are moving away from the brink thanks to heavy conservation efforts made by groups, individuals, and local governments.

Bald Eagle

Bison

California Condor

Humpback Whale

Karner Blue Butterfly

Louisiana Black Bear

Monito Gecko

Mountain Gorilla

Swift Fox

Green Sea Turtle

American Alligator

Whooping Crane

Posted in Animal Posts | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Goal Post: The Weather Needs to Leave Me Alone

Posted on December 3, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

The weather has been jumping around from 30’s to 50’s.  We’ve had rainy days and the barometric pressure has been wonky.  So, my sinuses have been brutalized and I’ve apparently got asthma.  Walking into the chilly mornings was like my lungs abruptly decided to shrivel and leave me gasping for air.  Not fun and it made getting through the day a challenge.  Sleep was a problem too because I’d be anxious and the cold nights would set off more breathing issues.

Needless to say, I didn’t have a good week.

It wasn’t like I had any control over this either.  Can’t control the weather or my body’s reaction to it.  Had to put all of my energy and focus towards work and parenting, so there wasn’t much left by the time I had free time.  My goals weren’t really met since I couldn’t do anything with my outlines, notebooks, or blogging.  Every time I tried, I wore down within minutes and had to crawl to bed.  It felt like I was sick, but it was just limited sleep and sinus issues.  All I could do was work on my jigsaw puzzle and let episodes of an anime play.  Pretty sad, huh?

I keep trying to think of any progress that I made, but there’s nothing.  Haircut happened, but I only got on the exercise bike once.  That’s pretty much the theme.  I touched on one goal, but had to sacrifice another.  Not because I didn’t have the time, but I simply didn’t have the energy.  Even writing this is rather draining and I’m doing it Friday night before heading out for a friend’s birthday.  It’s the third birthday celebration for me this week too, but this one will have some drinks.

Thanksgiving last Saturday went well.  The food was good and there was plenty left over, which I didn’t bother with the next night.  If I don’t like turkey fresh then I’m not going to like it from the microwave.  The rest of the holiday and weekend was relaxing with family and trying not to think about how I have 4 weeks straight without a break.  I know this is normal for people, but it feels crazier when you’re in a school.  Everyone is scrambling to set up tests, finish assignments, and get stuff done before the holidays.  It’s not as crazy as the 6.5 week period in March/April, but you can feel pressure and tension in the air that wasn’t there before.

Actually, I did manage to get some good Black Friday sales.  Most were online, but I got my son an iPad.  Of course, my credit card company got freaked out by the sudden spending and the iPad purchase wouldn’t go through.  Of course, it was the one I was in a physical store for.  Had to step out of line and get it settled, but the fix would take too long, so I had to pay with another card.  Sounds like the system thought something suspicious was going on, but didn’t send me a verification text.  Instead, it locked things down.  Too bad machines don’t realize when a person is doing holiday shopping.

This weekend is going to be one of recovery, but also getting the Darwin & the Demon Game outline done.  The older one is in decent shape, so I don’t have to change much.  I managed to put a few notes on where to shore things up.  Now, I only have to rewrite the outline and it will be ready for me when I hit the holiday break.  If I finish that today then I’ll tinker with other stuff when I’m not resting up for another long week of wild temps and some rain.  Maybe I’ll get some February blog posts done too since I still have 9-10 of those left.

Something else I’m going to do is watch ‘Wednesday’ on Netflix.  I was going to put it off until I was finished with an anime I started last weekend.  Then, I gave up on the anime when the main character (story is from a villain perspective) went to a level of evil that made no sense.  It’s fantasy and he set up a fake lair where four groups of adventurers went in search of treasure.  He even pretended to be a higher ranking adventurer who would protect the camp.  Everyone was butchered and some were practically tortured before they died.  Just couldn’t continue caring since I also knew that the story had it set up that nobody was stronger than the main character, so it wasn’t like he would pay for his actions.  Heard that he crosses even more lines too, so I quit.  I’ll start ‘Wednesday’ around lunch time if not early.  That should be fun.

So, what are the goals of the week?

  1. Finish the outline for Darwin & the Demon Game
  2. Catch up on sleep
  3. Time with son that isn’t only school-related
  4. Get some biking done
  5. Set up son’s iPad for him to use next weekend
  6. Stay warm
  7. Hydrate
  8. Tinker with Phi Beta Files when possible
  9. Watch ‘Wednesday’
Posted in Goal Posts | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

An Interesting Story with Despicable Characters

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Jobless Reincarnation

A while back, I watched this anime called ‘Jobless Reincarnation’.  I’d seen people mention it online and it seemed to have a following.  Sounded like a standard Isekai (person transported to another dimension) and I didn’t dig deep enough to found out that it was controversial.  That happened after I watched the first few episodes . . . Then, I got really confused.

Now, the story is about a jobless asshole who dies in our world and is reborn in a fantasy world.  Even as a baby, his 40-year-old past life mind is inside his brain, so you get to hear his thoughts.  They sure are some thoughts.  He’s a pervert and not the kind that gets his comeuppance because nobody can hear his thoughts.  The few times he seems to get caught spying on bathing women, stealing panties, and being a horrible letch come with no consequences.  I can see why people hated this series and that was before I got to the grooming part.  Keep in mind that this show only comes newborn until eleven or something.  Some other characters are just as bad as him too like his adulterous father, who has a baby with their maid.  There’s no consequence for that either.  It truly was a mesmerizingly horrific display of characters with maybe the murder who goes after anyone who even threatens a child as the most moral of the group.

Yet, I watched it all because I just couldn’t look away. Why?

First, the characters weren’t terribly written.  They were just horrible people and written well enough to make me despise many of them.  This was included with a story that was fairly interesting.  This newborn grows up with great magical power and is learning about this world.  He goes to school and gets stronger, but not enough to be unbeatable since he screws up and gets pummeled a lot.  A disaster happens and throws the entire world into chaos, so now he has to survive alongside one of the girls he was with.  They want to return home with the help of an infamous killer who is trying to soften his reputation since he is not really evil.  They also try to find out if their loved ones survived the disaster and how they can find them.  So, there is a lot of heart in the story, but it battles the despicable personalities of the characters.

As someone who loves to connect to characters and enjoys good stories, I found myself in conflict.  I couldn’t connect to anyone and sometimes hoped for a few characters to die, which never happened.  The story and world kept me going along with a desire to see consequences.  Maybe that kind of happened at the end, but not enough for me to think the scales have been balanced.  There really wasn’t a sense of redemption even if some characters took a first step.  Not that I trusted the step because I can’t remember if any of them actually accepted their past mistakes and apologized.

I can totally see why so many people on forums said ‘It is a great anime/manga with a great story, but I really can’t recommend it.’  This thing can be fairly triggering to certain people.  Some of the manipulations done gave me shivers because I remember being on the receiving end of that kind of bullshit.  Really made me question why such a story existed.

My curiosity did lead me to look up why this thing was written and if there was a point to the despicable characters.  Supposedly, the author wanted to have these characters be terrible and heavily flawed.  He wanted to see if they could eventually be redeemed after their actions.  So, the perverted main hero would probably reach a point where he saw women as humans instead of options to lose his virginity.  At least, that’s what it sounded like and many people don’t seem to have the patience or desire to redeem.  After all, these are sexual transgressions and not violent ones.  The former tends to be harder for people to forgive than the latter.

That brings me to the big question: Can a despicable character gain redemption in the eyes of readers?  Is it possible after they’ve been terrible for so long?  I can’t figure out an answer for myself.  Not enough happened in the series to earn forgiveness and I’m aware that the story keeps going.  So, I can’t take a stance since I haven’t, and probably won’t, get back into it.  Doesn’t give me the urge to try the experiment either because I’d hate the backlash. What does everyone else think?

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Understanding Humor – Just a Little More

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash Hi SEers. John with you again. The last time I posted, the subject was humor and how to do it. If you missed it …

Understanding Humor – Just a Little More
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Poetry Day: Curse of the Immortal

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Charles Yallowitz

Dracula

(This one is rather self-explanatory.  For a long time, I’ve been fascinated by immortality and the mental/emotional impact it would have on a person.  It really does come off as a curse unless one cuts off their ability to make connections.)

*****

He will live forever

To see the end of time

No disease can end his life

And every wound will heal

For his immortality is pure

With a never-ending pain

He will see his loved ones die

Knowing they have gone to dust

He will yearn to have a friend

Who lives as long as he

It is a wish the gods won’t grant

As he travels time alone

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments