Summer’s Over, The New Season is Upon Us, I Didn’t Watch The Emmys And More Than Half The Nation Still Doesn’t Know What Is Aleppo! IT’S Entertainment Time #Summer2016 #Fall #TV #Movies

Summer’s Over, The New Season is Upon Us, I Didn’t Watch The Emmys And More Than Half The Nation Still Doesn’t Know What Is Aleppo! IT’S Entertainment Time #Summer2016 #SummerRoundUp #Fall #TV #Movies

Wow! What a summer. Yes, I was gone from my blog for a very long time. It was an extended blogging vacation for me, but I got a lot of other creative work done on my writing and plotting for other projects. I stayed quite busy with the second season of my episodic novella series The Writer (check that out through the link down below). I also had to plot more than a few projects coming out this fall and winter, including (hopefully) The Man on The Roof, The Knowledge of Fear, A New Low, Hype Chick and the first season of Extraordinary(more info on that later). And I also stayed very busy with my garden which was only so-so. I’ll give garden updates later in the coming weeks as I do some garden cleanup, but until then let’s get to the world of entertainment that was over the months May-September 2016.

A Summer of War!!! Picture Courtesy of Marvel Studios and Disney 

Yes, summer starts in May—at least the summer of the entertainment industry starts in May. That began with the arrival of the film Captain America: Civil War. Unfortunately, due to how busy I was I was unable to get in a review of the movie and its soundtrack similar to what I did for Batman v. Superman. While people didn’t buzz about it for weeks as much as they did Batman v. Superman, I think most people conceded that Civil War was a far better film. Personally, I thought it was actually the best Captain America movie, as well as the best (hold on to your britches!) Avengers film. To me, an Avengers film is defined as when most, if not all, of the Avengers show up in one film. With the exception of Thor and Hulk, everyone else was there. I actually didn’t like the first Avengers all that much, but my opinion has gotten better in the last few years.

With that said, I can’t gush enough about Civil War and how great I thought it was. You could even understand Marvel’s fight with DC to keep its release date (Iron Man: “He killed my mom!”). The soundtrack was also the best one that the Marvel cinematic universe has had so far. A great video to look up (which I totally agree with on most of the points they made) is the Marvel Symphonic Universe. They took what I’ve been saying for years and made it into a short video for people to consume and argue over. With the exception of the Winter Soldier music and the music at the big fight at the airport, the music for much of Marvel is forgettable. Sorry, it just is. DC has better music while Marvel has better films. Again, still waiting for someone to interlace some DC music into Marvel films just to see what difference it makes.

Suffice it to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Captain America, even if that is his last go around as, uh... Captain America (if the directors are to be believed).

Moving on, some of the other films for the summer were hits and misses... and more misses. X-men, while I initially wanted to see it, had such bad reviews that I couldn’t bother to walk the few miles to sit in an AC-cooled theater to see it for 5.50 on discount day. I had other stuff going on. To keep it going with the missed opportunities, let’s talk about Independence Day: Resurgence. Wait... Wait... Maybe we shouldn’t talk about Independence Day: Resurgence. I literally almost fell asleep in that movie, which never happens. It was just so lackluster. It had no build-up, the characters weren’t interesting, the veterans (Goldblum, Paxton, Fox, the other ones) also seemed to have reached back into the 90s and faxed in their performances, ugh! And while they had a few cool concepts, even the CGI was just... blah!

That was my second biggest disappointment of the summer. Most of the other movies were serviceable/decent or fairly good. This list was mostly populated by horror films and included: the Shallows (good), The Conjuring 2 (pretty good), Tarzan (decent; had some nice moments), Star Trek Beyond (good), Don’t Breathe (pretty good; love Jane), Morgan (decent, but predictable), Me Before You (decent romance; No notebook, but then what is?), The Nice Guys (pretty good buddy-cop throwback comedy), Now You See Me 2 (good if you’re a fan of the first one) and Central Intelligence (decent).

I saw hardly any movies in August as most of that crap was just... no. No. No. No-no? No? No! That includes Sausage Party (tired of Rogen which is also why I didn’t see Neighbors: Sorority Rising), War Dogs (would have seen it but it just didn’t move me as I wanted it to), Mechanic: Resurrection (eh!) and the Obama love story Southside With You (wasn’t playing near me). There was also a ton of other stuff I didn’t see throughout the summer, that neither I nor anyone else apparently (check the box office) had time for: Mike and Dave need... blah blah blah, Nerve (wanted to see it but thought it came out in September), The BFG, Pete’s Dragon, Secret Life of Pets (didn’t feel like seeing animation this year), Dory (didn’t like Finding Nemo) and some other crap! As for that one movie that came out in August, you know... that comic book one with the funny black guy and hot white girl... and the guy with the boomerangs...? YOU KNOW! Well, let’s talk about that two paragraphs down.

Through all of the summer movies and into the rest of the year, I’ve realized a couple of trends for this year’s film and entertainment industry. For one, everybody is into civil war. Whether it be the civil wars of Marvel’s movie characters, their TV counterparts (Agents of Shield exploded in the last months of the third season), DC having Batman and Superman fight, the X-Men doing... what they do every film, villains fighting villains, or hell, even the crazy war in Syria, everybody is having it out with people they know and are close to. It’s getting ridiculous. We even had McConaghey getting in his own Free State of Jones Civil War movie. Yikes! 

Also, another big trend this year had to be animal movies. Yes, family-friendly movies meant for ages all the way down to two always tend to have some kind of animal in them to appeal to children, but with the slew of animal films this year: Zootopia, Jungle Book, Dory, Secret Life of Pets, Nine Lives, Angry Birds, Storks, Sing (or whatever that karaoke animated movie is named that’s supposed to come out in November or December), Pete’s Dragon (yes, I’m counting it. Dragons are animals, too, no matter how fictional they might be) and still other stuff I know I’m forgetting, everybody jumped on the trend. It actually makes me nervous for the other, darker version of the Jungle Book to come out by Warner Bros. sometime next year or 2018. Has it possibly already missed the mark and fallen in the canyon of too-late-trendiness? Hell, even the WB will have JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them, which, can we all stop acting like that isn’t a more British-y, old-timey version of Pokemon minus the poke-ball and Pikachu? Seriously, it’s a guy running around trying to catch monsters. Don’t tell me that you didn’t know at least someone between the ages of 2 and 36 that tried doing that this summer with PokemonGo! The movie is the same concept, I guarantee you!

Now, about that Suicide Squad movie (I know, you probably thought I was gonna go on a stream of PokemonGo jokes, right? Or that I was gonna mention that horrid Hillary Clinton “Go-go-go to the polls” misfire, or talk about the many church signs that used PokemonGo as an advertising ploy to get people to come in and catch them some of the Holy Ghost, or how perverts were trying to use the app to Peek-at-chu, but no! I am not going to make any of those lame jokes, accusations, and observations of 2016 summer pop culture. I’m too dignified for that.). Um... yeah, that movie was terrible. While I’d like to do a full review on that, too, people have made more than enough good observations on it for me to not waste a full post on its failings. I guess it made money, which is actually troublesome and disheartening for anyone coming after them to do a remake (I have long wanted to reboot and create my version of the DC superheroes, but hey... we all have dreams we’ll never achieve, right?). But everything from the poorly executed story, to the boring pace, to Leto’s joker, to the main villains own award-winning Hall of Funny Walks gyrations, to the redundancy of the Bruce Wayan cameo at the end—it all just wasn’t good. I so thought that this would be the film to really kick things into gear for DC and turn it around, but... eh! 

Honestly, I know what’ll happen. Wonder Woman is probably going to be good and do great just because it’s a female superhero, and feminist (no offense) will come out and champion the movie and claim how “a woman saves the DCEU.” I swear to God that will end up in someone’s review article just under a year from now. Guarantee it! But I think it’ll still be followed with movies that people aren’t as thrilled about, and that are bolstered by die-hard fans that think if they don’t support it, they’ll never get to see more of these films. I keep warning people, cheering on something you’re not all that thrilled about in hopes of seeing something better does not usually lead to better quality. It doesn’t. And as far as the tonal change DC is instituting, my answer to that would be to look at the two very different renditions of the Fantastic Four. The Jessica Alba edition and the latest... thing of 2015 had two completely different tones, still both not very good (though the first two FF movies I did like until I saw some other comic book movies and realized their inferiority; Oh my goodness! Can I sound any more pretentious?). But again, if this movie made money and is what people like, keep it up WB.

As far as summer TV went, there wasn’t a lot on to keep viewers inside. We had the return of Zoo, which wasted little time killing off the wide-eyed model white woman who scared me with her lemur-eyes. Big black dude finally got some and, let’s be honest, he probably almost crushed that little chica they paired him with more than a few times. It was a family affair as Jackson’s father was not only revealed to still be alive but was one of the evil masterminds behind all of this. And the doctor’s father was some egomaniacal womanizer who seduced and married his own son’s date, then divorced her years later. Who could have thought that the season would end with the big black dude and the Latina being the parents of one of the last remaining children in the world as humans were all sterilized as part of the cure for the animals? It was a lot of insanity.

Mr. Robot, the ode/ripoff of everything David Fincher, got excessively strange and turned a few viewers off while garnering others. Just how much of that series is actually taking place in his head? And why the hell is Craig Robinson suddenly on this show? So many questions and no answers whatsoever.

Those who watch the Haves and Have-nots were treated to another twisty, turn-y season that saw an overdose, more blackmail, and the white judge dude still sitting in prison and his wife cappin’ fools! And is Candace going to try to raise her child or give him to her mother or what? What the hell?

Grace won! Grace should always win. 

America’s Got Talent was buoyed by Simon Cowell’s return to American TV and by the singing talent to come along with him. While I can’t say that the finale was as exciting as the rest of the show, I think most people enjoyed a safer episode after the arrow-shooting mistake earlier in the season. Yes, folks, it’s actually a dangerous show. People can die!

A fair share of scripted shows started and sputtered to their death rather quickly. Houdini and Doyle had promise had it not cast a less-than-charming Houdini who has worked well as a serviceable character actor in Hollywood for years but probably isn’t best suited for a leading man role. Mistresses, after four seasons of pulling its own magic trick of staying on the air, was finally canceled when the plot got too ridiculous for people to care anymore. American Gothic and Brain Dead both showed real promise as concepts, but it became clear to most viewers through the first episode of both that they could quickly descend into tediousness. NBC’s Better Late Than Never probably should’ve chosen the never option when considering coming on TV.

And with the slew of reality shows (both early and late entries) clogging up the airwaves, with the exception of HBO’s pivotal sixth season of Game of Thrones, summer TV never took off from the ground. Maybe that was because of the one huge attraction of the summer, NBC’s Olympics.

Picture courtesy of whoever took it... and NBC.

The Olympics was my absolute jam. Don’t listen to all of the haters and fools that refused to tune in, during the day in favor of complaining while they had no day jobs, this year’s coverage probably had the most live event coverage since the games (winter or summer) were hosted by America. Granted, you did have to have the full NBC package including NBC Sports, CNBC, MSNBC, BRAVO and USA, but if you did have them, you could see every event live at some point. While NBC may have a very small amount of clout with the IOC, people need to understand that they can’t control the scheduling of events. A big complaint was about the gymnastics. They showed it live during the day when it was live and repeated it at night. People complained that they already knew the results by then. Please! Stop! Either don’t look at the results or watch it live, but don’t complain that they didn’t show it live at your convenience. Unless you record the events, you have to realize that some stuff just isn’t going to be on AND live exactly when you want it to be. You like boxing? Great! Just realize that it’s going to probably be on at a really awkward time for you. That’s why they have DVRs. That’s why they have the live-streaming service. Remember, people, they have literally hundreds of events to try to show you in the course of 17 days. I literally saw almost every single event live at some point: handball, shooting, marathon swimming, field hockey, rhythmic gymnastics—you name it, I saw it and it had that Live tag at the top of the broadcast. Yes, you might have to look for the stuff. Sorry, but it can’t all be aired on one channel. OK? OK. My only complaint with the way they covered it was more so with ATT (my cable provider) incorrectly describing and time-blocking the events. I taped trampoline three times when it supposedly was scheduled and only saw it once. But that is easily improved.

Moving on, the games themselves were phenomenal. Michael Phelps, the living legend, and Usain Bolt, the... living legend, both came back for yet another Olympics to add to their all-time, all-time-ness. From now until the world inevitably implodes into another war and the Olympics cease to be, you can never have another Summer games without mentioning both of their names in their respective sports. 

Allyson Felix, to me, was robbed of this privilege with the dive heard ‘round the world, but she is still up there with the greats. We got shocking upsets in almost all of our team sports, winning not a single gold in any volleyball discipline for the first time since... huh? Maybe ever. Definitely since the 90s. Ryan Seacrest and Adriana Lima may have made a love connection during the Olympic late night Rio Zone—good for them. 

The Final Five was the most amazing thing I’ve seen since the last Olympics but some of you hatin’-ass people still had to find things to criticize Gabby for. Shakin’ my damn head. Then people criticized Aly’s, Simone’s and Madison’s bodies. Give me a break! That’s all I’ll say about that as I would prefer to focus on their amazing accomplishments, as the world just saw quite possibly the greatest female gymnastics team in the world, with the greatest gymnast to ever do it! Yeah! I said that! 

And then there was Lochte. Sigh! Jeah, I don’t know, man. Um... from the silly hair to the loss to Phelps to the gas station bathroom lie, he took Meek Mill’s place as having the most L’s in a summer. The good news for him and his fans is that he will make a return in this fall’s Dancing With the Stars, along with cute anime character Laurie Hernandez.

Not to forget about our Paralympic athletes (in my opinion we should pay more attention to them and their games, too) we saw a McSweep on the wheelchair track from Paralympian McFadden. She won gold in every event she raced on the track, and won a silver in the marathon street wheelchair race. The US won its first women’s sitting volleyball gold, and the men’s wheelchair basketball continued its reign as the most decorated team in Paralympic history. We also won a gold on the track in blind sprints at, if I can remember, the 100m... I think. Don’t quote me on that. In any case, we had a helluva summer athletically as a country, showing our resolve and determination to be the greatest. If only politics showed the class and togetherness of the games. They will forever live as an ideal of what the world could and should be.

Speaking of politics, what the hell is Aleppo? To be fair to Gary Johnson the Libertarian presidential nominee, I also didn’t know what Aleppo was? I thought it was that fancy cat food brand, but I’m currently not a presidential candidate. But again, I’m not sure it should be the greatest of importance to know one singular city when there’s an entire country at war. Saying “the Syrian war” should be more politically correct. Yes, I get it. During WWII it was often about Berlin, but again, it’s the entirety of Germany that we have to defeat. Address the entire problem, rather than symptom treat. All of that should come with the mind that I am not a Libertarian, or at least I don’t think I am (don’t really know their politics, so I can’t say for sure).

Gary Johnson’s gaffe was a minor blip on the scale of insanity that continues to be the 2016 presidential race. In June both of the primaries ended with a gas of relief until Sanders continued to needle the democrats by saying he was going all the way... to where I don’t think even he knew, but he was definitely going there. And he did. He went there. So... I don’t know where the hell he is now, but he’s somewhere. 

When People Say Mean Things About You For Their Political Gain

In July, the nominations were made official with two of the gaudiest, most ridiculous displays of party inoculation that you’ll see. Yes, the RNC and DNC are often circuses, but with the behind-the-scenes backbiting and deal making, it seemed all too scripted like an SNL parody sketch. We got to see Hillary Clinton’s “damn, this some good weed!” face, hear about Melania Trump’s childhood growing up as a middle-class black woman in Chicago’s southside, come to terms with the fact that all Sanders voters were just “being ridiculous” (Sarah Silverman’s words), and came to realize that this fight between black lives and blue lives has bruised us all. This, all while trying to ignore the fact that both major party candidates chose the poster children for “creepy white guy uncles” as running mates. No way I’m leaving my kids with Tim Kaine nor Mike Pence even for an hour. Trump, uh... Trumped all over his supporters and they swallowed it down like—oh! Oh, wait! Let me just back away from that sentence. It was about to take this blog places it dare not go.

Since then, we’ve been invited to take a gander at Trump’s African-American, have been shamed over questioning the health of both candidates as if having doubts about a 68 and 70-year-old slated to run the country is somehow a bad thing, have been instructed that a popular internet meme of a green frog is actually a symbol of white power, have had our eyes burned down to the retinas with the sight of a life-sized naked Trump statue/effigy/paper-thingy and have seen both candidates ramp up the attack ads (if you’re in a swing state as great as my state of Ohio, you get to see this crap 24/7. Yay!). Yet, it’s far from being over. We still have another full month to go, which will see the debates and the election and the aftermath, and could cause political upheaval not seen since... 2008.

What a summer!

What did you all think of the summer that was, guys and gals? What did you do? What is your favorite memory from this summer (it can be personal)? What are you looking forward to in the upcoming fall/winter months? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking

If you’re looking for a scare, check the YA novel #AFuriousWind, the NA novel #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  the bizarre horror #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic and adult, check out #TheWriter. Both season 1 and season 2 are out NOW, exclusively on Amazon. Stay connected here for updates on season 3 coming summer 2017. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Look for the mysterious Sci-fi episodic novella series Extraordinary to premiere sometime this winter on Amazon and my blog. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "Disney. Jobs. West. East! Other directions."

P.S. OK, so maybe I did liberally borrow from Kanye West’s strange stockholder-meeting speech he held in the middle of the MTV VMAs, but, you know, it’s like... art. Plus, did you see that video for his song Fade? My god, Teyana Taylor is... I mean, I knew about her body, but she’s got serious moves. Now I understand why Iman Shumpert was all Jheri-curled up. A woman that bad can make you do strange things. I’ll think of an original sign-off next time. And please forgive me as I haven’t done this in a while and am quite rusty. 

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Spring Comeback And Writer's Apathy #amwriting #amediting #TheWriter

Spring Comeback And Writer's Apathy #amwriting #amediting #TheWriter

Picture courtesy of google, drawn by Eleanor Davis 

Well, people, I'm back! I know, it was a very long time since last I've been here and given you guys and gals all the feels and the funnys but I have finally returned. What have I been doing you ask? What...? Oh, you didn't ask that? Wow! Pretty inconsiderate, but I'll tell you anyway.

Copyright Hallmark Channel and company 2016

My hiatus wasn't meant to be this long. I work and write every single day of the year for roughly 16 hours a day. Little sleep, and not much time to myself to relax, so I take a break from work and writing at the end of the year during the holidays. My holiday started December 20th, 2015 and lasted until January 18th--longer than usual. Doing nothing gets addictive. Gorging on Lifetime Movie Network and Hallmark Channel movies like they were a nacho cheese/cool ranch Doritos mix did not help me to get out of my "awww! That's sweet"-coma (by the way, does Doritos have the nacho/cool ranch mix? If not, it's a missed opportunity). I developed not only a few food recipes (the greatest Hot Chocolate in the World recipe), I also fell ill and realized I have a disease. Don't worry, it's nothing for now.

Once I finally climbed my way out of the mud-boggy den of pleasure that is laziness, I got back to work, fully intending to start blogging again about a few of the midseason replacement shows like: The X-Files, Galavant (You don't know Galavant? Well... Way back in days of old, there was a story told, about a--oh, you don't want me to sing? OK), American Idol's final season, The Bachelor and a ton of other stuff including the Super Bowl and the NBA (sigh! David Blatt, Cavs Nation hardly knew ye!). However, I just didn't have the time nor the brain power to tackle both the blog and other projects.

What, you ask, was I working on? First off, thanks for asking this time. You get brownie points for caring, but since you weren't considerate enough to care about where I went in the first place, you're just back to zero. Anyway, the other project happened to be my NaNoWriMo (#NaNoWriMo) project. Yes, scroll down and you'll see that 2015 was the first year I participated in NaNo, finishing an 118,000 word mystery in November. As some of you writers know, the initial writing process and the editing process are, or can be, two different things (side note: I rarely suggest trying to edit your work while still in the middle of writing it. It slows the process, can lead to over-thinking the story and can possibly ruin the magic. Just my opinion). Frankly, I would petition the NaNoWriMo people or any writer willing to participate, to declare January either as National Novel Editing Month or National Novel Brainstorming Month. That way writers would have opened a new year by not only having written a book in the last two months, but having actually followed through to edit/revise that book, or come up with new ideas and an outline/plot/3-act story arc for another book to be written next NaNoWriMo. I know, it's such a crazy idea. I'm a crazy guy!

Back to my own editing process, which saw me adding a total of three more chapters, and 7,000 more words, yet, ending with a crisp manuscript of 112,000 words (do the math). As a self-pub author, I have always tried to put out the best quality I possibly can, however, quite a few of my books have never been submitted to traditional publishers just because I didn't feel like it. But once every two years I choose one book to take through the arduous task of querying and blah blah blah! The NaNoWriMo novel is that book this year. Yes, it is a FUTURE BESTSELLER!! I know, some will say that the contest is really more of an exercise and no way anybody produces something of real merit and worth in that short amount of time, but I also believe that those people lack imagination and don't fully understand the basic tenant of storytelling--Anything Is Possible! I am telling you TMOTR (#TMOTR; remember those letters as they are the initials of the book) is going to be a future bestseller. Sadly, I failed to remember how long the process takes so it probably won't be this year, but very soon.

Coming Soon

Finally crawling out of my editing cocoon a few weeks back I was totally ready to start blogging again, and then I remembered that I hadn't filled out my yearly writing agenda and need to work on that baby before it got too far into the year. And boy did that piss me off because I realized just how behind I was in some projects. Things like the second season of The Writer (#TheWriter), which is coming back this summer, needed my attention. I still had yet to write more than three paragraphs on the sequel to A Dangerous Low entitled A New Low (hopefully coming out this Spring). I also hadn't finished editing my short story Cavity. Nor did I finish revising my first self-pub mystery The Knowledge of Fear (also due out this Spring). And I had only just finished the outline for A Negotiation of Sorrows, the sequel to A Negotiation of Wounds. I did, however, get quite a lot of work done last year and have three projects just sitting in my queue waiting to be advertised and published. Why aren't they out there already? Well, that's the subject I want to talk about.

Writer's Apathy. That's right folks, apathy. Not to be confused with writer's block. Writer's block happens when you can't find the proper thing to write or a story twist is undoing your creative process. It's poet's quicksand, a mush of the minds potato. Uh... yeah, the second part of that sentence made sense. Essentially, writer's block is imagination constipation. It is when you can't. Writer's apathy, on the other hand, is when you don't want to.

Trust, I haven't truly had a writer's block in a long while. I freaked in November when I thought I had the early stages of a huge block during the dwindling days of the NaNoWriMo race. However, I didn't and finished on time. My symptoms were the onset of writer's apathy, which can feel the same in early stages.

I've been doing this for a long time now, people, and I've had some successes and some really big failures. I detail some of what happened to me in the epic novel Unrequited due out later this year, but suffice it to say that I have dedicated a lot of time to this and honing the craft and trying to get my stories out there. But sometimes, for every writer--nay, for every dream-chaser there has to come a point in which they stop and take stock of what they're doing and if they've gotten any closer to that dream. Analysis of the journey AND the destination.

The feeling of writer's block; copyright Boardwalk Empire

Dreams are great and, for a writer, they are everything. However, even writers have to be reasonable at some point. Writer's apathy is when that point arrives. When you believe you have this great idea for a story and maybe you even have a bunch of different scenes or scenarios or you know the characters better and better each day, yet you still have to struggle to force yourself to write a brief scene which is so easy to do, you can literally see it happening every time you close your eyes, that's when you have writer's apathy. That's when you'll begin to question whether you can truly push farther.

Now, I'm gonna piss a few people off and break a few hearts, but I'll say this, these people out here who tell you that you should be happy that writing is a thankless job and you're never going to make money off of it but still do it, or you shouldn't give up on writing because it's about the readers or tons of other stuff that they say about writing and the unspoken prestige of being one are really only blowing smoke up your ass. Most of those people either haven't done it long enough themselves, teach it, or have already made their money on it, or even worse, they want you to join in their misery because they're just as pissed off as the hundreds of thousands of other writers yelling for someone to read their dreck. This is when you'll get the conflicting advice of: well, writing should really be for you, you shouldn't expect to make money (true) or for people to even read it (what?), then say "well, you always should write to your audience and consider who you are writing for." Both psuedo-revelations on the actual process and why you write. While I would love to explain why this is a contradiction as I know people will argue against it (you're a negative nanny, Michael. One is about process and the other is about audience), I just don't have the time as this is already longer than I'd like it to be. But I do always say this: decide if you want to be a professional or an amateur before you start writing!!! No professional (or wannabe professional) writer should ever write something and PUBLISH IT thinking "Oh this is just for me. It was just therapy." Just... no. This goes hand-in-hand with other facets of entertain too. Like I literally always say, "There are better ball players than Lebron James and Stephen Curry in this world, but not everyone chooses to go pro." And with that mindset, every writer at some point goes through Writer's Apathy.

"Do I really want to still do this? Is this story really that important/entertaining for me to tell? Wouldn't my time be better spent somewhere else?" If you ask yourself any of those questions, that's when you know you have it. The biggest and deepest gut punch most writers ever face is when they see another project very similar to theirs already out or releasing in the near future, especially if people already loved it. The onus to be original is often so crushing that it can get to you. Because a regular love story has been told before, but a love story with zombies... that's original, right? That's what you think until you see the film Warm Bodies or read the digital comic Zombie With A Shotgun. The many years I've been doing this, I've seen this countless times, especially within the last decade, and I rarely do this but I'll rattle a few ideas off here:

My Idea: Second--A man dies but then comes back to life in his same body only younger, only to tell others that everyone was wrong and that we actually do get a second chance at life and only now, after every original soul has lived on earth, will each person's second life begin. Conflict occurs when not everyone comes back and the ones that do, find themselves changed by having been dead. Dated treatment submitted 2009. Rejected. I shelved it, thinking I'd one day turn it into a 3-book series.

Competing Ideas: Resurrection (ABC TV series)--people mysteriously return to life in a small town in the US midwest; Life After Life (novel); The Returned (TV series). All within the last ten years.

Picture courtesy of ABC, copyright 2014

My Idea: Blue Moon Station--A drama covering the trials and tribulations of a group of black slaves escaping on a branch-off northern route, aided by abolitionists. Upon their road to freedom, they stop at the abolitionists home where breaks out a firefight between them and the slave trackers under the watchful shine of the Blue moon.

Competing Ideas: While some would say that films like Roots or Harriet Tubman would be strictly against my idea, those films/ideas didn't focus quite on the escape of the slaves. Underground (WGN TV), however, does.

Picture courtesy of WGN 

I could go on but I don't want to keep dwelling on this as I already sound like a whiny little brat, however, I literally have 72 ideas of varying genres that were fully formed, worked on and submitted through traditional channels which never coalesced into anything, but still made it to screen in some form. Again, whiny, I know. My point is that at some point in time, every writer (if they're paying attention hard enough) will come to realize that the story you just knew you had to tell has probably already been told. And if no one or few people are actually reading your junk, and you're spending half of your free time writing stories (because stories take a lot of time to write regardless if they're short or novel-length), you have to at some point think, why the heck am I writing this? Most people will start to bargain with themselves at that point, saying, "Well, because even if people liked the other one, they'll still love mine because mine is so different. And plus, they didn't have a character like this or this one cool thing that happens in mine didn't happen in theirs, so..." And that may all be true, but again, why are you writing? Because at this point, if you've bargained your way through that, you're most likely writing for your ego. In other words, you're writing for legacy, because someday way down the line, someone will read your writing and have it be that brilliant and life-changing that finally your genius will be known to the world. Then you say, no, it's not genius I just want to entertain people. And then you start to think to yourself, how often do I read or watch the non-popular stories that are very similar to that one or two or four stories that it draws from? How often do I dismiss a book or TV show or film as being "a ripoff of [insert beloved piece of fiction]?" Hell, there are still people who feel they must choose sides between Star Trek and Star Wars for... uh... well because they both have aliens, I guess? Not really sure. But you see what I'm getting at here? And both traditional and self-pub writers and readers do it, so don't act like, "oh, I only read Indie stuff," to keep your street library cred.

Writer's apathy is the worst feeling a writer gets because it is the one big time that a writer has to make a very important decision that has nothing to do with the plot or characters. And while a book cover, whether to make a trailer, the price point at which to sell/share your book and etc. can be really tough decisions, there's nothing like wondering if you should continue on or not.

So what does this mean? Am I quitting? No, at least not right now. I'm currently slogging through a novel which I know the first draft won't be much good even for my standards. I will still try to push out The Writer later on this year and I still have feelers out on TMOTR, but I'll have to take this year to examine the worth of writing in my life. Because the funny thing about dreams is sometimes it is OK to give up, contrary to what they say. Sometimes, you're not meant for what you thought.

What do you think? Are you a writer? And if so, have you ever reached the point of writer's apathy? Be honest with yourself, what do you really write for? Because no way someone goes through the struggle of writing a story from start to finish, spending time and energy on trying to perfect it, edit it, revise it, edit it again, try to get it published, study the traditional and indie publishing industry to see which best fits you, research price points and how to gain readers, give pieces away and call themselves an author just for nothing. Hell, everybody knows by now that the internet (and to an even greater extent, the world in general) is not the place to go if you don't want to be seen, if you don't want recognition, even if you're writing fanfiction for free. This ain't a therapy couch either. You're putting yourself out there, opening up to tons of barbs when you really could have just stayed at home and shared stories with your family, friends and other loved ones and never worried about your clicks, views, downloads, buys or if anyone likes your story or not.

Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking

If you’re looking for a scare, check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "If there's even a 1% chance that he is our enemy, we have to take it as an absolute certainty."

P.S. A word on my last blog post concerning Batman v. Superman. To start, people whining about spoilers is stupid. Every possible update, rumor or cast interview is a potential spoiler, not to mention the trailers that show everything. I made it clear that while I heard it from a source I know and trust, they could have just been fooling with me, which is fine. Yes, they do work at the WB. And while this is pretty late in the game to do it, movies let little potential spoilers slip all the time before the release to not only gauge fans' interest but to keep the movie in the press cycle. Some of you acted as if the rumor wasn't believable, even knowing that time travel is a big thing for the Flash, Wonder Woman and her main guy are filming during the WWII era and Doomsday does kill Superman in the comics. Some fans whine that DC and WB don't take risks with their properties (hell, they even thought WW was too risky on her own), yet when they're trying to bring something new to the screen but completely in-line with the comics, it's suddenly ridiculous? What? Hogwash! But maybe I'm wrong. That's fine.  

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My Bonnie Lies... and Kills and sleeps with younger man, while Annalise Likes the Older Ladies. The Insanity is Real. How To Get Away With Murder is Back #HTGAWM #PremiereWeek

My Bonnie Lies... and Kills and sleeps with younger man, while Annalise Likes the Older Ladies. The Insanity is Real. How To Get Away With Murder is Back #HTGAWM #PremiereWeek

All Pictures Courtesy of ABC 

Wow! Along with Empire, How To Get Away With Murder's (#HTGAWM) premiere was probably the best. There was a whole lot of drama, sneaky, twisty, turn-y goodness that I’m sure a lot of us fans didn’t see coming, and some stuff that is sure to send a few long-time viewers into a tizzy and earn Viola Davis at least another Emmy nomination. We’ll see if the writers can scrounge up some love come this time next year.

To start, everyone wanted to know who killed Rebecca. Cute little grunge rocker Rebecca caused so much trouble last year for Annalise, her team and her students that anyone within the group could have killed the girl just out of spite. And that was exactly what happened. After Annalise and Frank spent half the episode trying to figure out if Wes or one of the other kids did it, Frank finally made his decision that it was his past girlfriend/bunk buddy Laurel who killed her. But by that time, Annalise had already figured out the real killer was Bonnie. We all should have known that this quiet little white woman always giving everybody the side-eye and looking like a defective model of the Stepford Wives was doing dirt just from the fact that she slept with Asher. I mean Asher... really? And she had kissed on Sam once before. And I thought that swerve Asher gave her was a thing of wonder and beauty. Whatever they did that night must not have been too impressive to him or he knew she was screwed up because he did not want to go to her house for more.

Why did Bonnie kill the girl? Because she was an inconvenience. She knew too much, they couldn’t keep her on a leash and Wes would end up doing her bidding like the little errand boy he is. Speaking of Wes, he got all bold and hostile with Anna last night when he showed up late to her class, then told her he wanted her to pass him over on a question. He searched for old dead girl but still couldn’t find her, giving that up after he and Annalise talked.

Apparently, all that teenage angst he showed served no other purpose but to get Annalise even more hot and bothered for him than she hinted at being last season. It culminated in her rubbing down his body in a club. Listen black kid from Harry Potter, she’s too old for you, you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re going to get hurt. And I’m not just talking emotional scars, either. Mrs. Keating looks like the kind of woman that will have you bring a pack of red bulls and make you do your stretches before you come to her bedroom. Enter at your own peril.

As if Annalise had just one place to turn for satisfaction, the producers threw a wrench at us all when they had Famke Janssen arrive as an old law school friend. She was called to defend Annalise’s ex-cop boyfriend from having to go away for Sam’s murder—secret lover vs. jealous husband always plays—but refused to take the case when she learned of Lise’s set-up of the man. But everything was made alright when Anna went to visit her and they explored some wounds left behind. Apparently, they were more than just friends and put each other to bed circa J. Holiday 2007. Now, I’m well and fine with LGBT characters as I have some in my own books, but just so we’re clear, can we get a solid history sheet of each character on the show? I mean, is everybody gay or bisexual? Or is it just the minority characters? Also as a side note can you believe Famke is going to be 51 and Viola is 50. Yet Hollywood has a problem. Check my article later about what Anne Hathaway said a few weeks ago.

Finally, there was the case of the week which will turn into the case of the season as two adopted children are charged with killing their billionaire parents a la the Menendez brothers. First, the gang had to get their current lawyer thrown off the case by leaking him footage so clearly doctored they shouldn’t have even bothered. Then Annalise took over. And finally, we saw a shot of the real big mystery of the season as Annalise lay dying in the very house of those children a few months down the road and Wes running away like always.

Who stabbed Annalise? What craziness will this season bring? Who is going to wear the other out in the bedroom first, Annalise or Wes? And were you shocked by the whole Annalise is bisexual twist they threw at us last night? Do you love it, do you hate it? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to my blog.

Until next time, “you is kind and you is important.”

P.S. Words from the movie The Help? Yes. Remember, without it we probably don’t have this show. We can all use a little help sometimes. I think it fits. Oh, so you don’t like that one either? But... but... fine. I’ll think of something else.

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Why I am offended by Ellen Pompeo’s response to why Grey’s can’t go on without Derek. #GreysAnatomy

Why I am offended by Ellen Pompeo’s response to why Grey’s can’t go on without Derek. #GreysAnatomy

Pictures Courtesy of ABC

A few weeks ago, in late August sometime, I read an article on The Wrap (thewrap.com) entitled "Ellen Pompeo Is Offended Fans Think 'Grey’s Anatomy' Can’t Continue Without Patrick Dempsey’s McDreamy." In summation, the actress defends the long-running show’s (of which I have been a fan since day one) decision to kill off Dr. Derek Shepherd. For those not in the know, in the most controversial part of last season, Shonda Rhimes decided to murder one of the lead and favorite characters of the show when contract disputes and other behind-the-scenes foolishness went on with Mr. Dempsey. Naturally, fans were upset as this was not the way we wanted to see this heart-wrenching TV love end, especially after investing 11 years in their courtship, marriage and the trials and tribulations of raising a young family. Even worse was the way the show decided to get rid of him—by having him narrate his own death and dying alone, devoid of any other characters interacting with him on his deathbed or any long goodbyes. They didn’t even have a scene of ghost Derek having hot sex with Mere. Then, they skipped ahead a year so they could sprint through the grieving process and, apparently, take on a lighter tone as has been hinted at by the actors this season. Mind-boggling!

These changes left many viewers (including yours truly) sick to their stomach. Don’t get me wrong, Grey’s has a history of killing you off the show if you want to leave. However, the way in which they treated McDreamy felt dirty, callous and just plain wrong. Cristina had a complete farewell season, stocked full of teary-eyed moments and recalls of how great the friendship between her and Mere had been. George got to appear in his military uniform and at least got to be around his friends when he died. Little Grey was surrounded by “family” in the calamity of the plane crash. McSteamy got a whole episode where he talked to everyone he loved and cracked jokes. This is not to mention some of the other more controversial exits of Katherine Heigl’s Izzy and Isiah Washington’s Dr. Burke who talked bad about the show and/or their fellow castmates and got to live for a possible future return.

No, McDreamy was made a bastard for wanting to go to D.C. to cure Alzheimer’s! He was told he wasn’t needed and basically that he was a hindrance to his wife’s proliferation. Then, to try to redeem him in the last second, they gave him half an hour of heroism before a jumping-the-shark-worthy death narration. This felt like a dagger to the heart, a dramatic Shakespearean twist that left you dissatisfied and your literary professor saying, “you just don’t get Shakespeare.” No, I got it, I just didn’t like it (note: I actually enjoy Shakespeare quite a bit and did take a course on it in College to revisit some of my high school favorites).

I thought, wow this was a real disservice to the fans but maybe there’ll be some redeeming quality in the show for the season ahead. And then came this article.

In it, Ms. Pompeo argues that Meredith is perfectly capable of carrying the show all herself just like the two other Shondaland shows How To Get Away With Murder (#HTGAWM) and Scandal (#Scandal). In it, creator Rhimes also makes a psuedo-argument for feminism in some way, saying that

“Meredith could evolve as a woman, independent from a man.” 

What the hell? So much wrong with this.

Side Note: As an author I am always challenged whenever I write something on just how my work will be used, interpretated and consumed. My episodic novella series The Writer (#TheWriter) this summer was meant to explore that very thing. However, I also realize that artists at some point are expected to cater to their fans as the work is no longer theirs. It is for this reason why this phrasing from these two women upset me.

Making this into a feminist move and declaring this as an opportunity for Meredith to grow is missing the essence of the show and why fans fell in love with it in the first place. Grey’s, unlike Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, was always meant as a coming-of-age love story (or at least viewed that way by the fans). That is how it was presented to the audience. Coming-of-age for adults (baby meds as I called them, fresh from med school) into fully-formed people, doctors, life-savers, and how they navigate those waters. The love triangle was between Meredith, Shepherd/McDreamy and Cristina to see who was going to love and be there for Meredith the most to help form her into the woman she would one day become. It was a romance that also tested the bonds of true friendship and sisterhood. Hell, the very first episode, the very first scene sets up the love affair between Shepherd and Grey. It went from being a fling, to a forbidden love, to a complicated love, to a disdainful love, to a sacrifice everything love, to a real adult love, to a family love to a people will write about us kind of love.

This is what we tuned in for week after week. The people. Not the cases, not the drama with who would be chief, not even to find out who would next be living in that trailer in the woods. No, we tuned in for the McDreamys, the McSteamys, the Averys, the Dennys—and this is coming from a guy. Some of us also tuned in for the music, but mostly the relationships. Shondaland’s other two shows, however, are different.

Both Scandal and HTGAWM were always solely about the one woman and not the group around her, but even when you did remove the forbidden love triangle from Scandal, the show veered into something it wasn’t per Shonda’s own admission. Scandal turned into Alias. Sidney Bristow, where the hell are you (probably still chasing Rimbaldi artifacts). They were completely different. They didn’t rely on love. Grey’s did.

Now, Cristina (one part of the triangle; the best part of friendship) is gone. Shepherd (the other part of the triangle; the yin to Cristina’s Yang (see what I did there; holy crap a parenthetical in a parenthetical. You're breakin' the rules, man!) that balanced Meredith) is gone. This is a love story devoid of love, replaced with, what? Independence? Hmph! Well, OK. That’s fine in the end, just don’t try to make fans believe and rally behind something the show never was. I once looked to Grey’s to have my true love and friendship fantasy satiated. I guess I’ll look elsewhere for that from now on.

What do you think fellow Grey's fans out there. Am I overreacting to her comments? Do you like this new direction the show will go in, moving away from the love that once bolstered the show? Do you think it'll be the same show without Cristina and Derek for Meredith to balance herself off of? Let me know what you think in the comments below. Oh, and don't construe this as me never again watching the show. I will watch, but I have to wait and see if I like it anymore as last season disappointed in so many ways. Hint: click where it reads “no comments” to comment.

As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is coming this Friday. All other 14 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to my blog.

Until next time, "... then I'll know how to save a life. Ba-doo ba-doo ba-doo ba. Ba-doo ba-doo ba-doo ba. Ba doo doo doo." 

P.S. OK, so that may be lyrics from The Fray's "How To Save A Life"--a song made even more famous by the early days of the show--but I think they're good lyrics here and they apply, especially since I so hope Grey's doesn't need saving after this season of upheaval. 

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#FreeLucious, Chris Rock is a Bad Guy, Kill Him and Make it Loud and Make It Long and If You Don’t, I’m Tellin’ Momma #Empire #EmpireSeason2 #PremiereWeek

#FreeLucious, Chris Rock is a Bad Guy, Kill Him and Make it Loud and Make It Long and If You Don’t, I’m Tellin’ Momma #Empire #EmpireSeason2 #PremiereWeek

All pictures courtesy of FOX 

Whoa! So. Much. Drama! Empire returned for its season two premiere tonight, bringing more drama than your high school theatre teacher. More drama than that one time you took your cousin’s favorite toy from him because you thought it was going to be a hilarious joke and he ended up breaking your favorite CD/mixtape of romance songs, and you were the one that ended up crying. You know you loved them songs. Your first crush made that tape for you. Now you’re all in your feelings talkin’ about how he overreacted. Yeah, it was that intense.

First off, as if the night couldn’t get any more racially-charged with Black-ish doing their thing over on ABC, these fools right here had Cookie hopping around in a cage dressed in a gorilla costume. I just almost lost everything. They’re lowering her down onto a summer jam-esque stage so she can make some BS speech about how they need to free Lucious because he didn’t kill this guy she knows he clearly did. After that, they ran through a string of cameos that showed everybody from old, crusty Pimp Reverend Al Sharpton and his graying slick-back to a meatier-looking Don Lemon who took time away from his busy schedule of being yelled at in the streets by ticked off black people. To top it all off they brought out the new Aunt May, Marisa Tomei, to play a lesbian hot for Cookie’s drawers. And that was all before the first commercial break. I mean... I just... can’t!

Then we switched into prison where Lucious is apparently enjoying himself. Nothing bad has happened, he looks like he’s eating good and he’s even watching TV, catching the concert given in his honor to get him out of jail. Yet, he still has all the venom and piss of a rich black man behind bars as evidenced by his meeting with a future black attorney general. Not distracted by her overwhelming cleavage, this negro went after her shoes. Cheap shoes? You really had to point out she had on some cheap shoes? That’s a low blow, bruh. Side note: You know those shoes was cheap as hell. They didn’t even show them, so you know she got her some of those two dollar Payless shoes, the same kind Star Jones used to lie and say she wore. She knew dang well she wasn’t wearin’ no Payless shoes, especially when she was heavy. Those shoes be exploded right off her feet the moment she stepped out of the store, leave her leaning sideways like Gumby’s head.

Meanwhile, as Jamal is trying to run Empire Records and his brother is preparing for his album release, Cookie has been secretly plotting to buy a majority stake in the company and lined up a secondary investor in Tomei’s character to fork over 250 million. Why they think Lucious won’t find out, I don’t know. Naturally the deal is undercut by Lucious who makes her a better offer to stay in charge of Empire, thwarting the hostile takeover. He’s still running everything from the inside. This fool should have gone to prison a long time ago.

Then, this business with Frank Gathers, the big dog, the feared one, the man that runs the streets... uh, Chris Rock? Wait, you mean Everybody Hates Chris grew into a gangster? OK. I thought it would be comical that he was supposed to be the big baddy, but you know what... Chris actually... really didn’t convince me I was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, he did a great job but I just couldn’t fear him, not that I can never see him as anything other than a comic, I just couldn’t see him as a non-whiny Pookie (New Jack City reference? Check.) On top of that, he was apparently supposed to be a cannibal. Yeah. Take that in for a minute. Any lip-licking and crazy-eyed stares weren’t just because he was mad, but because he was hungry. Last time I checked, the main thing other than real food that they eat in men’s prisons is—you know what? We don’t even have to go there. I’m sure you can figure it out.

With this fool sending Cookie people’s heads in boxes from prison, something had to be done and Lucious had to do it. And do it he did. After hearing old boy’s daughter rapping at a prison visit, he promised not only to sign her to Empire records but give her his magic stick too. Damn! Will he won’t. Won’t he will? Ha ha ha, I have no idea what the hell that even means, but it’s definitely some words they used tonight.

The Lyon he is, Lucious bothered not with cheap roaring words but beat the cannibal to the first bite, ordering him to be killed “loud... and long” in what had to be the prison cafeteria. Fare-thee-well Frank Gathers. We hardly knew ye.

The takeover failed and the family safe from harm, Jamal acted like a true don (read: new puppet of his father) when he kicked his entire family out of Lucious’ house and his mother gave him the two-slap for good measure. And to top it all off, Empire finally upgraded their Becky wig budget. Thank god, because those raggedy wigs they had been giving her looked like they were Miss Piggy rejects. We all need to hold on to our wigs, because this season looks to be an electrifying and exhilarating ride.

What did you think? Did Empire near wear you out with all the drama tonight? Will you still have enough left to get through Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder tomorrow? Are you still loving the cameos by every black star currently walking the face of the earth? Or do you find yourself already going through withdraws and it’s only been a few hours? Let me know what you think in the comments below. Hint: click where it reads “no comments” to comment.

As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is coming this Friday. All other 14 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to my blog.

Until next time, Miss Boo Boo Kitty gets an A for effort.

P.S. OK, so that is not a perfect sign-off for every single post I do, but it works here. Man, has that light-skinned Betty’s hoe-ishness reached critical mass yet? But she can still walk around in all that white and pastel colors like she on her way to her virginal wedding night or a Memorial Day barbecue? Girl, stop.

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