The Monday Peeve 77

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

Continuing with last week’s griping about novels, today I’m going to complain about the unreliable narrator. Now, in general, I like this concept and when it’s done right, it’s awesome. Two great examples are Gone Girl and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. But lately it’s been my misfortune to have waded through several utterly crappy books with unreliable narration. Usually we have a woman, on the run from Scary Man. She keeps finding hints that Scary Man is coming after her. Oh no! The story flashes in and out from the present time, where she’s trying to make a new life for herself but can’t tell anyone her Big Secret, and the past, where she was subjected to some Horrific Thing. It’s all very exciting and I get caught up in wanting to see what happens.

But then we reach the end and it’s all a lie. There is no Scary Man. The Big Secret is a big nothing. Horrific Thing was a random accident. Everything the narrator said to us was BS. Ugh no. I feel cheated. Like I read all that way to find out it was just a dream.

When you set up the unreliable narrator, you have to make the things she tells us come together in a way that makes sense later. Don’t end the story by saying neener, fooled you, psyche! That’s ridiculous. In particular, I’m talking about one book where the so-called abuser simply didn’t exist. Very uncool.

~*~

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 76

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

OMG, I am so tired of identical twins being used in fiction. It’s such a letdown really, like the writer has simply run out of imagination. I sometimes enjoy a story or movie until it turns out that “the twin” did the thing. UGH! It’s starting to feel like duex ex machina every time now ~ you know what I mean? That’s when a writer gets the story out of a tangled mess by plopping in something out of the blue. Literally the definition means “a god from a machine” from when the ancients suspended a crane over the stage to drop down a god during sticky wickets. That’s how I think of twins in fiction. How could the hero have been home with his wife AND committing the murder? Simple… plop in a twin. How could the beautiful mysterious woman be dead and also not dead? TWIN! Grrrr…

~*~

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 75

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

Why are there so many bad movies on Amazon Prime? I keep wanting to watch movies and yet they’re just awful, one after another. I’m in this spiral of bad partly due to watching a pile of Christmas romcoms, so now the algorithm is pushing every crappy Hallmark romance at me. If I try another genre, as I did last night with Best Seller, it’s often even worse than a terrible romcom. Luckily tonight I stumbled onto something good: My Name Is Sarah. And I’m watching the series Nothing Trivial, which I love. But my peeve remains: it’s way too hard to find a good movie on Prime! 😡

~*~

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

FPQ106 with a Bonus Rory Question!

 

Fandango provocatively asks…

In the context of blogging and writing, what do you think is more important: what you say or how you say it?

I assume most are going to say HOW, so I’m tempted to say WHAT, just to be contrary, but the truth is… I think they are equally important depending upon the nature of the post. 🙃

Forex, I will not follow bloggers who jabber nonsense about conspiracy theories or offer links to stupid YouTube rantings, no matter HOW they say it. I do not wish to engage with anyone who defends the twice-impeached former POTUS in any manner whatsoever. I’ve been unfollowing those who post lies about the recent US election or jumbled mutterings about dark forces. I don’t care how nicely they fling these turds, it is the WHAT that matters to me. Same goes for most idiotic conspiracy posts unless they’re totally silly or benign.

But if we’re talking about creative fiction, then it’s the HOW that matters more than the WHAT. Many of us begin with the same prompt words or images and come up with vastly different interpretations because our creativity flows down different paths. The interesting aspect to me is HOW someone’s mind works to create a piece of fiction or poetry, not the subject matter so much.

When I write, I consider both aspects, more focused on WHAT I’m saying when I’m ranting about something (The Monday Peeve) and diving deeper into HOW I’m saying it when I’m creating a piece of fiction or poetry.

Bonus Related Question from Rory…

Is it more important to you to be a good blogger, or a community player or… what?

Ideally, they both would collide in a beautiful explosion of fame and money, but alas…

Here’s the thing. I call BS on anyone who says they’re only blogging for themselves. Then why write in public? Have a private blog or keep your thoughts locked in a Word document. Every blogger/Tweep/FB poster, etc. is hoping for an audience, though some are more attention-seeking than others. That said, I am okay with only a little bit of community engagement, and I will continue to post writing I enjoy even if it doesn’t get as many views/comments as other writing. But if I find that a type of writing gets ZERO engagement? I probably would discontinue it or seriously tweak it ~ in this case adjusting both the WHAT and the HOW to attract more views/comments. Otherwise, why bother writing in public? This is a huge reason why I became disenchanted with Twitter and Medium: little to no actual engagement.

I found that my whining about dating and relationships generated a lot of views and engagement. But was it “good bloggery?” I decided it wasn’t. I grew uncomfortable with those posts and have discontinued them, even deleting some of the whinier ones from the blog altogether. (Yes, I know people who received them in email may still have them, etc.) I kept the best dating stories however and gave them their own page.

So in that case, the community engagement was a negative, especially when people gave me unsolicited advice about how to be “better” on dating sites as if the problem was me and not the sites themselves with their scam accounts, liars, cheaters, and overall creepy men. It didn’t matter HOW I wrote about this stuff because people gravitated to the WHAT and responded by trying to “fix Paula’s issues” instead of giving me the commiseration I sought. When I find a particular subject matter isn’t working for me, I avoid it in the future.

Hope that clears things up!

~*~

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 72

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

I normally don’t peeve about politics, cuz there is too much political jabbering everywhere, but today is an exception. This is a very specific peeve about Biden haters on the left. So, if you are politically on the right, this peeve does not apply to you. I’m talking about people left of center who never liked Biden in the first place but are now bitching and moaning that he hasn’t accomplished a series of miracles in the FIVE DAYS he’s been POTUS. FFS! We had 4 years of horrible, self-serving, incompetent leadership, yet Biden is supposed to fix every single thing that’s wrong in less than a week? End all the wars, eliminate COVID, clean up the environment, give everyone healthcare, solve the immigration mess, on and on. FIVE DAYS! Chill the eff out.

That’s all. I’ll be back with a trivial peeve next week.

~*~

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 71

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

Wow, I feel all peeved out after my last rant; maybe I should have saved it for today. How about Santa Ana winds though? They trigger migraines and dry out my skin something fierce. More are coming tomorrow. 🙁 That seems peeve-worthy! No reason we can’t get annoyed about weather ~ some annoyances have no solution and that’s okay.

~*~

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 70

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

Today’s peeve is short and not sweet. It’s so annoying when sites don’t return you to the place you were reading when you click back from a link. Yes, I know I could open the link in a new tab, but it’s so much more convenient just to click through. I know it is POSSIBLE to be returned to the proper place because somehow all the shopping sites stick you back to exactly were you were, so why not news articles? I’m sure it has to do with their goddamn ads, but I’m sick of it. BLAH!

The Monday Peeve 69

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

Alrighty then, let’s get on with new peeves for a new year, wahooooo! 🥳🎉 Today’s is about bragging, and more specifically the humblebrag. Ugh. You know what I’m talking about. Those super annoying people who claim they won’t enjoy a birthday cake because they don’t have a sweet tooth or who can’t seem to gain weight no matter what they do, or people who say crap like they “don’t know how to lie” or that it’s such a challenge to raise a gifted child because their little brains are so active. Oh me oh my. Hand to brow. Anyway, I’ve coined a new word regarding a subset of the humblebrag, and this is the stumblebrag. Yep, just like it sounds, it’s for people who tell us about their trips and falls and oopsies and owies, while adding in at the end some BS about their “high IQ.” As if no one ever thought that a genius wasn’t susceptible to slipping on a banana peel like every other human. WE KNEW. Get over yourselves. You aren’t that special just because you aced the SATs. 🙄

Your turn! Surely you have a peeve by now… the year is 4 days old. 😜

~*~

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 67

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

Wow, only a couple more peeves until 2021… and then a whole new year of peevery shall commence. Pretty exciting, no? Okay, so let’s get on with it. Today’s peeve is about things I like… and then they disappear or change form. Not talking about dating, but stuff in the grocery store. It’s so annoying! Years ago I discovered muffaletta (delicious chopped olive mix) and fell in lurve. Over time, it became harder to find until it ghosted altogether. Suddenly, there was olive tapenade everywhere, but that is not the same! Those olives are like pulverized. Muffaletta has pieces of olives; it’s not pureed into mush. The other month I found some and was in heaven… and now it’s gone again. WAAAH! I see it’s available online, but for insane prices. I just want the normal muffaletta for a reasonable price. 😦 This has happened with other foods I love, such as Oreo ice cream. When it first came out, it had luscious cookie pieces in it ~ so large you could taste the middle! But now? It’s all pulverized into nothingness. Meh!

The Monday Peeve 65

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

And here we are again in a world gone mad. I find it helps to focus on the little things, like soap. Actually, maybe soap is not so trivial when we’re washing our hands 857 times a day. Right? So, I’m all for helping out small biz and non-name brands, but wtf is it with hand soap dispensers that the minute you stray from the meganormous corporations, you get crappy dispensers that don’t work? It drives me nuts! Softsoap (owned by Colgate-Palmolive), Dove (Unilever), and Dial have no issues. You buy the bottles, you twist open the cap whatsit, and they’re good to go until the last sud ~ hey, why can’t I have one sud? Why is it always suds? Annoy! Anyway. When I try off-brands like Meyer’s or Trader Joe’s or whatever, the cap whatsit either fails immediately or soon after opening. Right now, in my bathroom, I have an almost full bottle of Meyer’s with the cap mechanism lying off to the side because it quit working. Now, I’ll end up wasting soap because I pour a blob into my hand, which is always too much. Also, Trader Joe’s shampoos are annoying in similar ways ~ the bottles are made of some material that’s hard to squeeze and the conditioner is too thick to get out of the container without massive pounding. This all hurts my poor hands.

Done with them. Done!