Tuesday, June 29, 2021

July Heat - I didn't "quite" follow the plot board

June 29, 2021

My writing is a combination of plot and pants. I do a brief character development being age, occupation, current obsession, current hangups, darkest secret, biggest dream, and from there do a very rough story outline. Let me reiterate. That's a r-o-u-g-h outline. My stories start out on the plan and generally end up on the plan, but in between? All bets are off. 

July Heat has been no exception to my style. I was checking the notes in my folder, seeing if I had anything I didn't use and could transfer back to the "ideas" sheet, and had a good laugh at myself. The middle of July Heat did not go where I thought it would. The characters led me in a different, and better, direction. And writers know that sometimes it's best to follow the characters. So I did.

It was also very easy to write in part of Logan and Mick's continuing story. I like to go back and revisit favorite characters and see how they're doing. Does that sound strange? It's a writer thing. 

I'm at the stage of story creation where I go back and re-read from the beginning and make adjustments. After that, it's forward a bit and a pass through Grammarly. Then it's a repeat from the top, and it's time to finish. I will say the end rather sneaked up on me, so much so I've taken a step back to think and be sure I've given Drew and Morgan their just due. 

After July Heat wraps, it'll be time to decide what's next. Do I continue with stories set in Centerville? Is three enough? The trilogy is a time-honored tradition, but I seem to do better with five instead of three. Ian Coulter's Amethyst Cove, the Sundown Saga, and the Southern Cross series are each a five-book set. 

Maybe I'll go back to the Bar RC Ranch and tell another modern cowboy story. Or I can travel back to Four Points, Kentucky, and see how Boone and Vic are doing. The options are endless, but there is one thing I'm pretty sure about. 

I probably won't follow the original plot. 


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 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
Visit my bookshelf at: 

Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys



Monday, June 21, 2021

I want to opt-out of all of it

 

June 21, 2021

During the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, we got hooked on YouTube. We joke that you can find out how to do just about anything because someone has posted a video. We stick mostly to cooking, gardening, homesteading, and automotive channels, but there's variety when we want it. One of the gardening/cooking channels posted a quirky little piece about reports of "smart" thermostats in Texas turning up or down on their own. 

I scoffed, too, but wait. 

Being curious, because this channel is a bit off-beat and the woman creating the content hears a different drummer, I restored to asking Google this morning. Guess what? The story seems to have legs. 

True or not, there's a big lesson, or several, here. 

The jist of the story is that some consumers in Texas may have enrolled into a "smart saver" program when they enrolled in a sweepstakes. How's this for a long link? https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2021/06/19/local-residents-say-smart-thermostats-were-controlled-remotely-in-an-attempt-to-conserve-energy

Check it out fast because I expect it to be pulled. Here's another one -  https://www.wpxi.com/news/trending/texas-thermostats-adjusted-remotely-during-heat-wave-residents-claim/S35AZRBXARB6BBOT4BNA6NSWEE/

If your first question is how can anyone remotely reset a thermostat, let me say that the facility I work in has programable Honeywell thermostats that I can adjust with my smartphone. There's an app. Of course, there's an app. More than one.  I'm linked in to the security camera system, too. It's a different app. 

It wouldn't take much for a large company to strike a deal with any of the thermostat manufacturers to obtain override permission. A few clicks on a computer or phone, and you're going to get hot. Or cold. 

If you have some Amazon devices, it could be even worse. Amazon has/is using its Ring and other devices to create something called Amazon Sidewalk. This new "feature" creates a low bandwidth network using smart home devices and can piggyback on your neighbor's wi-fi if necessary. And you are someone's neighbor, too. Don't forget that. 

I'm not sure my very mercenary cable internet provider is going to like this. Could this mean MY Internet gets cut off because my neighbor is watching porn? I wouldn't like that much.

And here's another thing. My Kindle Fire HAS been acting wonky lately. It's gotten very slow and it acts a bit confused. I checked, and it does "see" a lot of networks around me that are out of range. But what if they are suddenly boosted and become in range? 

Does my cellular carrier, Sprint-now-T-Mobile, do something like this? 

I find this very worrisome. I want to opt-out of all of it. 

Just remember these points:

1. Read the small print.
2. Government is not in place to be your friend. 
3. If a corporation offers you something, it's not really to your benefit. 
4. Rule changes are rarely in your favor. Opt out. 

Sunday, June 13, 2021

July Heat - cover reveal

 June 13, 2021


Today's post is the post I started to do yesterday before I got sidetracked by little green growing things and ripe cherries. Amazing how that happened.

Cover reveal! 

July Heat, the third story set in Centerville and the sequel to Memphis.

I'm pretty happy with this final cover. It went through several incarnations before it occurred to me exactly where the pictures of the cousin's 1973 Mustang Mach 1 were stored. I spent many a happy hour as a passenger in that car, being chauffeured around the county back in the day when that's what young people did - go cruising in their car. 

July Heat is an older/younger rich man/poor man story about learning to live with the mistakes and consequences of the past. 

The Centerville Muscle series is set in Centerville, which is a neighboring community to Marionville. Being that Mick Ambrose's garage, American Muscle, is a nexus of the story, Tyler Phillips might pop in for a visit, as well as Levi Wright from Shining Victory. It's all about the larger community (that lives in the writer's imagination). 

July Heat - coming soon so stay tuned. 

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 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
Visit my bookshelf at: 

Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Typical start to the day

 
June 12, 2021

June is a month of transition from spring into summer. The weather in western Maryland is always unpredictable day-to-day, and June does a fine job of showcasing its temperament. 

I rolled out of bed this morning with big plans. BIG plans. HUGE! The day dawned overcast and the weather prognosticators didn't give the day much hope of sunshine. My foolish heart said, "perfect day to write!".  

Well, blogging does count as writing. Not the writing train I planned to hop on and drive into the sunset, but writing nonetheless. 

My first mistake was stopping at my garden corral when I took Deuce out to take care of his morning outside activities. One of the pepper plants has blooms on it so of course, I communed with all the little green plants. Next, I needed to update my calendar with a rescheduled dentist appointment for my fall cleaning. That seemed safe enough but it was, in fact, another little tangent. But wait... I decided I needed a picture of the pepper bloom for over at Holly Tree Manor. 

It's never a good idea for this writer to hop over to one of the blogs. Down the rabbit hole again. 

All is not lost. As I write this, it's still early in the day. The July Heat manuscript is open on the right-hand screen while I type this blog entry on the left screen. Having a dual-screen setup is, IMHO, the only way to go. 

If you've read this far, thank you! If your days start off like mine, going helter-skelter until you get a few small things out of the way before moving on to the actual plan for the day, I get it. 

As for the original plan to debut the July Heat cover today, well, that might come tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day on which to blog.

Enjoy your Saturday! I know I'll enjoy mine. 


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 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
Visit my bookshelf at: 

Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys