How do some places manage to stay in business…
So, a fun thing happened with a certain big online company. I ordered 5 copies of Never Alone for the upcoming Strawberry Festival. This is what I got:
All five copies were in separate boxes. One had no packing, while another was in a box too small, and the packer shoved it in and bent it, making it unsellable.
I filed a complaint and got a refund that was barely worth it. No point in returning it because the replacement copy wouldn’t get here in time. (In context, how much time it takes for selling copies for authors who use POD must plan ahead. I ordered them on April 18th; they came on the 6th of May. My copies of Destiny finally shipped two days ago; they were ordered on April 21st).
So yeah. It’s annoying/sad because there are not that many options in POD. Pay out of your soul, or take forever, and little to no customer service. Sad reality.
Strawberry Festival
With that, a reminder of the Strawberry Festival on June 12 and 13.
Book Trailer for Quest for the Magic
Not only am I editing Quest, but working on its book trailer. I have two lines recorded from friends, and I am waiting on one more. Then I have to do the other voices…so that’s going to be interesting to get done. That trailer won’t drop until July at the earliest. I am also trying to draft Camp Disaster. I rewrote the whole tornado scene, simply because I want to make it realistic as possible. My biggest pet peeve is the stupid things characters in movies do that are a big no-no in real life. I sort of had the characters doing something that’s not stupid, but…it was well written but I knew it was not the best option for them to be in that situation. So I made them take shelter in a better spot, so still working on that and the rest of the story, in which I keep running into walls. Sigh. I do not have as much planned out for this one as I did with Never Alone and it’s been rough.
Pop culture corner: A sheepy good time
For Mother’s Day, I treated my mom to the movie The Sheep Detectives. It is based on a book (which differs a bit from the movie, so I dunno if I am going to read it) about a shepherd (played by the one and only Hugh Jackman) who is murdered. His flock of sheep (voiced with lots of brilliant talent, but my favorite, of course, was Patrick Stewart as an old ram) set out to solve his murder. As they go, they find out that they are in danger themselves if they don’t solve the case. It has great humor, and I was a bit thrown off by who the murderer was. If I had realized what the one clue item was, I probably would have figured it out sooner.
It was not only cute, but full of heart that dang nambit, made me cry (it’s animals the chances of me crying is high). An easy 10 out of 10 for me and my mom. It’s everything you would expect for a movie that clearly was an homage to traditional British murder mysteries. There was a line that sounded very much like a Midsomer Murders reference that made me laugh super loud.
TBR Pile continues to go down…
Well, another book bites the dust. Three YA murder mysteries that were pretty much unreadable. The newest one was interesting, but the tropes that are now in YA mysteries are insufferable. I don’t mind the characters being imperfect, but boy, they all have the same personalities/attitudes. Granted, they have a thriller streak in them, so some of the actions make sense, but urgh. This book reminded me of a summer camp murder/slasher book I tried reading last year. I finished it, but it was the same veins of just…things the MC did was just so questionable…I just…urgh. Some might claim it’s because I’m an adult, but when it comes to my reading preferences, they have not changed at all from when I was young. Even if I had been a teen when I read these, I’m pretty sure I would have tossed them into the bin. I went to Amazon to search for YA murder mysteries, and again, they all read the same…so boring, really…
I grabbed a fantasy off my one bookshelf at random, and it’s okay so far. I’ve read this author before, hence why I grabbed the book in the first place. The downside…. different POVS. I am not a big fan of the style of each chapter is a different POV. I don’t mind what I do with Dragon Heart Chronicles or how Paolini does it in the Inheritance cycle. It’s the constant jumping. It’s…annoying for me. I would rather stay in just one POV. But it’s holding my interest for now.
That’s all for now,
Lots of Love,
Dragonninjawriter
Kathleen L Shay 