Musings & Thoughts for Saturday, September 9, 2023, or: Weekend Update, Part the First

Early Afternoon, Saturday, September 9, 2023, Lithia, Florida

Hi, there, folks. Welcome to another edition of my Weekend Updates from the Tampa Bay area in west-central Florida.

It is, of course, another scorching day in the subtropics; the current temperature outside is 89°F/32°C under sunny skies. With humidity at 54% and a feeble 2 MPH/4 KMH breeze barely blowing from the north-northeast, the heat index is 93°F/34°C. Today’s forecast for my area calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 90°F/32°C.

Summer, apparently, has not gotten the memo that meteorological autumn began on September 1 and is reluctant to leave. As a native Floridian, I admit that it’s always been like this and that temperatures don’t start to drop noticeably until later in the month. But as I grow older, I am less heat tolerant and feel compelled to stay indoors more than I used to when I lived in South Florida.

Weekend Update, Part the First

As I write this, I have not decided how I will spend my Saturday afternoon, but in essence it boils down to choosing one of two options. Depending on my energy levels and enthusiasm, I can either:

• Work (for at least a couple of hours) on the manuscript for Reunion: Coda, or
• Take the rest of the afternoon for some rest and relaxation

If I choose the first option, I will start working soon, cos otherwise my resolve to write will dissipate with each passing hour. I also should keep my expectations and goals for the day modest and not end up writing till midnight, like I did back last November when I wrote the multipart Remembering Cheryl T. series.

If I choose the second option, it’s obvious that “taking it easy” will not involve going out to a movie – I have not done that since late 2019 – or meet up with friends here in the Tampa Bay area (TBA). I do know a few people that I’ve “met” either through Epinions or other sites where I used to write (and get paid for it). There are even a couple of individuals that I knew in my hometown of Miami and now live in the greater TBA, but….

So, whatever I decide to do to fill the empty hours here will be limited to:

• Reading (which, as a writer, I should do anyway since it’s part of the how-to-get-good-at-writing process)
• Watching a movie or TV show (primarily on home media)
• Listening to music (which I can combine, as I often did in Miami, with reading)
• Play computer games

In Closing

I am still over the moon that my friends in New York City have so much faith in my writing and, specifically, the Reunion Duology (one novella published, a full-length novel in the works) that they made a trailer to help me promote the first half. Book trailers aren’t as common as, say, coming attractions trailers for movies, limited-run series (aka “miniseries”) or TV shows, but they do exist. Mostly online now, but I’ve seen a few on cable TV – usually for romance novels (or, pejoratively, “chick-lit”) – paid for by the deep-pocketed big publishers based in New York City and/or London.

Considering that Random House Penguin or Hachette did not publish Reunion – getting a book out through the “traditional” path that requires getting an agent and pitching a story to publishers is way too intimidating and stressful, at least for me – I think Juan and the team at Popcorn Sky Productions did a great job with the two-minute trailer.

If you have not seen it yet….well, here it is!

Well, I don’t have anything else to share, and I am burning daylight – as it were – so I’ll close for now. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.