I'm just so tired by Friday's. The middle of the week is so hectic television review wise, that by the time the weekend rolls around I'm tired. I did have a productive Friday already though. Wrote my assigned music review for over at Blogcritics. It's in the que now. Also submitted the flash fiction piece I had out a contest. Results came in, and competition was extremely tough, so I didn't make it. Sent the flash to a new erotic e-zine premiering next month. See how that goes.
I've been trying to keep up on the coverage of the fires in Southern California. I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, so I know just where the fire is. I used to look up into those hills every day of my early years. It seems there is so much tragedy the last month. Two hurricanes and now the fires. I hope things settle down. When things keep happening, I actually told my brother that it looked like we made God mad because all these horrible things are happening right now. I just hope people don't lose homes, and all this horrible stuff eases up a bit on us. It isn't just here, but elsewhere in the world too.
I think I'm starting to ease into the schedule I've created for myself. Most of my time is spent in promotion or writing for my review site. The more heavily I promote that, the more hits I think I will get over to my Media Village stuff. I was telling my friend yesterday that most of work now is promotion. Then during prime time I am watching television and reviewing the shows. Keeps me busy.
Hope you're all doing well. Have a wonderful day everyone.
179. Another Friday
Posted by Regina Avalos at 4:10 PM 4 comments
178. You know you're a dingbat when ...
This entry might be a bit short since time has just seemed to gotten away from me. Right after I posted my blog yesterday, I went to set my VCR to record my Wednesday night shows. Well, my VCR died a quick death, and I had to borrow one from my neighbor next door just for the night. I also record my shows in case I miss something or something happens here when the show is airing. I want to write the best reviews I can.
Well, today we went to pick up a new VCR, and I get up to the register to only find out I left my wallet at home. I had checked my purse for it and it was in there, but when I moved from keys out from one pocket to the other, I somehow pulled my wallet out and left it on my desk. I had to go back home, grab ,y wallet and go back to pay for the VCR and a few other items I picked up. i hardly ever do things like that, so I was worried it had been stolen. Good thing I found it.
After I returned home and I was finishing the VCR set-up, one of my friends that had been a bit MIA the past week called me. Turned out his Internet connection had been down all this week. He'll be back tomorrow it looks like. I was glad to hear from him, and we also tried calling the number we hadfor my friend in Louisiana, but we got the voice mail.
Last night, Lost was so very good. I absolutely love that show so much. There is so many little twists and turns. I have my recap, review, and some theories I have for last night's episode over on my review blog here. I also recapped last night's So You Think You Can Dance as well. Now I watched Invasion last night, and I'm not sure I'm catching onto the show. It just isn't grabbing me very much. That makes me sad cause out of all the new shows that was the show I had the most hope for. Just been a really busy day, and I have a busy night with three shows to watch and reviews to write, so I'm off. Just wanted to check in.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 6:07 PM 1 comments
177. Well its good to know I was right!
Yesterday, I mentioned about our car and how it was a case of them saying one thing and then doing another. The person we'd made the agreement had filed the paperwork for us, and the agreement was in place. However, her supervisor blocked it going through without telling her. With the agreement, they should not have taken the car the way they did. The woman we were working with even said this. She went to work on trying to get our car back to us. Giving us a list of information to be faxed in. We hang up, and start to gather the requested information. Well, not even five minutes later they call back! Well, she does. She had gone to talk to her supervisor about the apparent lack of communication, and he said sure we can have the car back now if we pay off the rest of loan left on it right now. A figure in the thousands. Well, that won't be happening. Good to know the woman we had originally spoke to a couple of weeks ago had followed through on what she said she would. Still doesn't help us here, but at least not everyone at the bank is evil.
In world news, I keep following the events surrounding the hurricanes. Seems the former FEMA director has had some words to say about why he was let go. He blames it all on a blog. Yes, a blog just like the one I'm writing in here. Apparently a blog on one site, Horsesass.org made some statements that weren't all too favorable about the man, and those statements were picked up by the media, and spread like wildfire, so more time was spent fielding calls about the untrue statements rather than actually working on the disaster efforts. Nice way to pass the buck.
It seems with more and more blogs comes the way blogs and bloggers seem to be creating the news. They don't make things up, but they are usually the first ones out there when news breaks. They then return home to their computers, and report what happened. I think this trend will only intend to grow. I think we all know what a big mess we had when Katrina hit. We faired better with Rita, but things still happened. People lost homes and lives in the areas affected. So much devastation, and with the hurricane season not quite over it could happen all over again. It seems a lot of people are pointing fingers of blame this way and that way. Our focus shouldn't be on who did what wrong. It should be on helping those affected here. such tragedy just breaks my heart, and I know my family has lost a car just this week, but I still have a home over my head, food to eat, my health and the health of those in my family around me. I'm very fortunate, and I know the problems my family is having will clear up in a few weeks time. Some will take months and years to rebuild what they lost.
In TV news, I have updated the links to my weekly recaps on my sidebar. You'll find links to recaps of Bones, Surface, Supernatural, Real World: Austin and Grey's Anatomy or you can just hop on over to the main site here. Tonight we have So You Think You Can Dance, Lost's episode titled "Adrift" and the second episode of Invasion which I will be taking a look at it. Also over on my Thoughts from the couch, I pick my three favorites of the new shows this season so far. Hop on over there to check that out.
In odd television news, it appears the wedding that supposedly took place over the weekend between Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher might have a been a stunt for his show Punk'd. Weird indeed. Reps have denied the rumor, but they haven't come out and confirmed the marriage either. Strange. Read more by clicking the link above.
I'm off! Have a wonderful day everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 3:51 PM 2 comments
176. You know a day is bad when ...
You're not even fully awake for a minute, and the day has already gone downhill. Woke up around 10:30 this morning to let the cat out of prison - aka my bedroom. Heard water running in the bathroom. Brother had a doctor appointment at 10am so either he missed it, or someone broke in and wanted to wash up first! Yes, I know not funny, but I'm trying to find the humor in this day. My dad opens the bathroom door, and I blink a couple of times because he works the 5am and 1pm. He looks at me, "Our car is gone."
WELL ... isn't that wonderful. We'd been having some problems the last few months, but we'd just talked to the bank last week, and everything had been straightened out. Or so we thought. They wanted us to send in a payment this week, and we were about to but then they took the car. Which I don't understand, but what can you do? They said one thing and did another. Just puts dad in a bit of a bind now. Things are a bit stressful, but everything else had been fixed in the last month, and we thought that included the car. Like I said definitely a case of them saying one thing and doing another. Lovely.
In the stress of the moment, I had a small accident, and somehow twisted wrong, so now my side hurts. If I move around too much it hurts. No bruising but the pain is bad if I move around. Luckily, all I do most of the day is sit here at the computer. Just not the best of days, and my mood is shot to hell. I know I could have it worse. I know things will end up okay. Just for right now, they really aren't. Not much I can do either.
Good news is I'm moving ahead with the additions to For Hire. Although the title will have to change now because it won't work with the new story. Wrote another couple of pages last night. And now I'm going to try to work on the additional scenes for the end tonight. I just need to keep it under 8,000 words because I found a new market for it, and they only take between 5,000 to 8,000. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are big television nights with me. I review three shows each night, so hopefully I won't be too drained. I also have to write the book review for two assignments I've been given, a book review for ERRW and a CD review of a CD I received in the mail a couple of days ago from Blogcritics. Read the book and listened to the CD. I just need to find time to write them up. So yes this is a very busy week for me. I'll get through it. One thing at a time.
Have a wonderful day everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 3:17 PM 4 comments
175. Those lovely little R's
Well, I heard back from the e-zine I submitted For Hire too this morning. You've got to love quick turn arounds! And they handed me a rejection. Also offered me some suggestions on how to improve the story. They felt it was incomplete. I mentioned the best friend in the beginning but not at the end. So they suggested a scene with the best friend at the end to wrap up the story. I scratched my head for a bit. The best friend really wasn't the focus of the story. He was just the catalyst to get Caleb to call the escort service for the night of passion.
Then an idea came to me. What if Caleb and the best friend ended up together following Caleb's one night with the hooker? It's a bit of a twist, and I think I know how to work it. The additions and the changes will probably end up taking it out of the word count for the e-zine I submitted it to. Which means finding a new market for it. A higher word count and the added romance twist would probably make it more marketable. Might mean another sex scene between the best friend and Caleb. The rejection did mention I wrote a great sex scene.
So I started to work on the additions a bit, and I'm going to work on them this week some more. I want to work on them a bit now, so I'm going to cut this a bit short. I also have an entry to write for over at my MV blog. Then tonight is Surface. Great show. Busy Mondays!
Good news is my best friend checked in from Louisiana. She can't return home yet, but the good news she has a home to come back to. Her family stayed behind, and they are there cleaning up things. Her back door is gone, but her mom and dog made it through. That's the good news. I was worried.
Have a wonderful day everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 2:59 PM 1 comments
174. Getting over the fear
What fear? The fear of submitting. We all have it. That lingering writer doubt if this story is good enough for someone out there to bite. Every writer goes through this with each submission. I finished For Hire about a month ago. Put it through workshop at the end of August, and I finally submitted it last night. Things have been crazy this month, so editing and proofing took a bit longer than I planned. However WD and fear also took part in the length of time I took from work shopping to submission. however, it is emailed out, and I've heard the publication I submitted to has a good response time. So I'm hoping to hear back soon.
It's Sunday, so I'm watching football. Nothing beats a Sunday in fall with a game on the tube and a beer in your hand. I don't drink all that much, but I'll grab a beer before one of the games on Sunday. This week, I watched my Cardinals get beat after my team's quarterback, Kurt Warner, suffered a groin injury. I also have him as the quarterback on my fantasy football team, so that really hurt. I'll have to keep an eye on his status this week to see if he's able to play next Sunday.
Sunday's are usually lazy for me, so I don't have much to say. My brain is practically fried by the time the weekend rolls around these days. I do have a new movie review over on my review blog of I, Robot, and tonight is Grey's Anatomy. I also wrote a short response to prompt in a fiction community, and that is posted over on fiction blog here. I still haven't heard from my friend near the Lake Charles area. I keep going back to watch the coverage, and it looks bad. I really hope she is able to check in soon.
Have a wonderful evening everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 4:34 PM 1 comments
173. The quiet
I love when its peaceful and quiet. I get more done. I focus better. I write more. Has it ever been too quiet though? Not the lack of noise so much as the lack of other people around. Online I have a few people I talk to on a regular basis. One evacuated because of Hurricane Rita, and another just hasn't been around the last few days. It is just made things a bit on the quiet side, which I don't mind because I do get things done more, but it is just too quiet.
I was on a natural high yesterday, and the people I wanted to share this the most with just weren't around. I understand why, and I know we'll catch up when they return. I've been busy working on different things. I'm moving ahead with work on my WIP. I still don't have a title for it, but work is moving right along with it slowly but surely. I miss working on Crash into me. I need to get back to that as well. That story was moving right along to, and then I started the paranormal, and things just pushed to the side with Crash.
If I remember correctly, I was right at the sex scene, and I really wasn't feeling all that sexy enough to write two people having sex at the time. Once I was, I had began working on my paranormal. I seem to work on many projects at once, but then pick one to follow through on until I'm drained on it. Then I pick up another project. The trick I need to learn is going back to the WIP's I leave for a bit. I have two in that state. Crash into me which I started in June, and Lonely Street which I started back in December. Both are a good amount in. I just need to find a way to return to them and complete writing them.
The past month things have been crazy with all the stuff with Media Village and my review blog. I am really glad that things seem to be calming down for me. For a bit there, I was getting really stressed. August was stressful too. Both personally and professionally. A lot happened last month, and a lot of the personal affected how I worked professionally. This month I don't have as much hectic personal wise, so I am able to focus on things more. My mood has definitely improved as well. Which is a good thing.
Right now, I'm just really worried about my best friend. Last I heard from her yesterday before the storm hit, she had evacuated to Lafayette, Louisiana, which was also in prime hit zone. She had nowhere else to go. She hitched a spot with her friend. She signed online just to tell us yesterday where she was on her journal. I'm worried. The news last night showed how hard Lake Charles got hit last night, and that is the big city near her town. I really hope her home doesn't suffer much in the way of damage. Please keep my friend Steph in your thoughts and prayers.
I hope you're all well. Be safe and have a wonderful day everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 3:15 PM 3 comments
172. A start - great news
While Rita is coming at the gulf coast, my eyes are still watching the coverage. My prayers and thoughts are with those I know in the area. However, I'm personally in a good mood today. My blog over at Media Village is now up! My forums went up last week, but I was waiting for the blog to go up. That happened this morning, and my first entry went live today. So I introduce you to Thoughts from the couch. This will be my sound off place to analyze what is on your television. This will be separate from my review blog - One Couch Critic in which I write detailed recaps and brief reviews. On my Media Village blog, I will talk about news and television shows with more of an analytical eye. What works and what doesn't?
I'm very excited about this, and we all know this has been in the works for most of the month, and now it is happening. I never expected when I started my review blog just three short weeks ago that this would happen. It has, and I think my review blog might have been one of the smartest moves I've ever made in regards to my writing. Within a week of its creation, I was offered this wonderful opportunity. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Blogcritics. I've been writing for that site since March, and I think writing television recaps and reviews for that site as well as my reviews over the summer of Queer as Folk for Gay wired have helped me improve my writing in this area, and now I'm ready to move onto the next step.
I was so very unpatiently for my blog to go up and now that is has I'm bouncing in my seat. Now that the season is mostly underway, I have a better handle on my schedule. I know what nights I watch what, what I recap and the next day I hope to have analysis of the night before up on Media Village. I know Tuesday - Thursday is busy, and I know Friday and Saturday things will be calmer. Sunday and Monday I have one show each that I recap, so those nights aren't as bad.
Since my schedule is also getting more settled, I'm getting back to working on my WIP's. I wrote another two and a half page's last night. Good progress for me. Especially with the week I've had so far. Things have been busy, but not as busy as they were last week. My ghost made his first appearance last night. A brief scene from his point of view as Drew was leaving the house. Aaron is going to a fun character to write, but my main focus will still be on Drew.
Tonight, I'll be watching the second episode of Threshold, and the premiere of Ghost Whisperer. Last night, I recapped ER's premiere and the third episode of The OC's season three. I'm off to bloghop now.
Have a great day everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 3:44 PM 0 comments
171. Watching and waiting
Even though I'm nowhere near the gulf coasts, I know of a lot of people that are and my attention is drawn to them now. Two of my long time dear online friends live in the area affected. As far as I know both of them have left their homes now for higher ground. One lives on the Louisiana/Texas border and the other lives in Corpus Christi. I know of another in the Baton Rouge area. Please put them and everyone else in the affected area in your thoughts and prayers. Rita looks even bigger than the one of a few weeks ago, and that scares me to no ends. I keep watching the news. I keep finding myself distracted and not working as I should be. It took me four tries before I was able to sit down. I spent thirty minutes giving the kitten his first nail trim and fitting him with a collar just because.
Early this morning, I was forced to bed early when my Internet connection died. I couldn't get my dial-up to reconnect no matter how I tried. I was talking to my friend in Louisiana at the time, and now it looks like she is gone. This makes me sad, but I'll be talking to her again once things settle down. I even called AOL, and they said they saw no problems in the area. Which was crap because this morning I was able to sign on first thing with only one minor hiccup. I've also noticed since the last restore my computer starts up a bit slower, so I'm going to check into that as well. Computer runs fine, so it might just be nothing to worry about.
With dealing with AOL and all my worrying, I didn't get any work done on my WIP last night. I planned to, but it just wasn't going to happen. Tuesday and Wednesday seem to be my big TV nights. I have three shows each night. Last night I watched and reviewed So You Think You Can Dance, Lost, and Invasion. So You Think You Can Dance has its finale next week, so those will be done. That will leave me with Lost on Wednesdays! I'm not sure about Invasion yet. I'll watch again next week, but I didn't really enjoy the premiere all that much. I could tell by the buzz on the fan boards I was in the minority here, so I'm not sure what it is. I'd been waiting for this show all summer, and I think it just fell short of my expectations. Did anyone else catch Invasion last night? Click the links above to read my reviews.
Tonight we have The OC and the premiere of ER. I love that show more than life, and I've been an avid fan since the show began airing many years ago. I'm really curious about the new cast additions, and to see how things go without Carter. Should be interesting! Following that I plan to work on my WIP some more because upon further reading, I discovered my story is different than the one I'm reading. Unless there is some twist thrown at us later on. This book doesn't appear to have my reincarnation angle. Score!
Hope you're all well. Stay safe and have a wonderful day everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 4:24 PM 1 comments
170. The music I love
Once again the eyes of the country have fallen to the gulf coast region. Rita is on her way, and it looks like she might hit the gulf coast as hard as Katrina did. Scary stuff. My best friend is in eastern Louisiana, which just was missed during the last storm. I've once again been glued to my television set as news comes in. I've only turned it to another station now because my favorite band is on Oprah today, Bon Jovi. I am a Bon Jovi fanatic. I've mentioned them here before. Their new CD was released this week, and I'm in love all over again with them and their music. A new release means they are all over my television this week, and if they are on, I pretty much drop whatever I may be doing at the time, and I watch.
I've been a fan of Bon Jovi since I was just a kid, probably nine or ten. Some might even call a bit obsessed, but their music just speaks to me. I have written a review of their latest release, but it isn't posted on my blog yet. I'm saving it for the weekend while I shop it around a site or two for purchase. Their music just speaks to me. The messages behind the lyrics are what keeps me coming. Jon writes all his own lyrics along with Richie and another song writing partner. That is the way its always been. He doesn't write lyrics to sell. He writes them because they are what he feels and believes, and that is what I love about him.
He's real. He's a man just like any other man. He's married to his high school sweetheart, and they have four children. He takes them to school, and he helps people as much as he can. The first one usually to react when something horrible happens in our country. When 9/11 happened, he watched in horror from his backyard just across the bridge from NYC in New Jersey. then he jumped into action. When Katrina happened, he also stood up to help, and he plans to donate the funds that would normally be used to film a music video for a single off this album to Habitat for Humanity in Philiadephia. on today's Oprah, he gave a group of children, a full school wardrobe, a backpack full of school supplies, and laptops from CompUSA. He then handed Oprah a check for one million dollars, so that she could continue her efforts helping with the Hurricane recovery on the gulf coast.
Do you have a band, musician, or actor that you love? Why do you love them? Is it for their skills in their chosen profession or does it go beyond that? Do you love them for the person they are behind their celebrity status? For me, it goes way beyond the music with Bon Jovi. i love him for the man he is, and I love the rest of the group too, but Jon is most in the public eye.
In other news, Tuesday night is a popular television night for me. Last night, I reviewed episodes of Real World Austin, Bones, and Supernatural. Tonight, we have the premieres of Lost and Invasion, and So you think you can dance. Reviews will be up on my review blog of those shows at some time tonight. I also pushed forward with my WIP last night, but more on that tomorrow. I definitely got off track with this entry today. Didn't plan this to be today's focus!
I hope you're all well. have a wonderful day, and those on the gulf coast please stay safe. My thoughts are with you.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 3:57 PM 1 comments
169. Uh oh ... doesn't that sound like ...
I'm sure this has happened to every writer at some point. Last night, I began to read my latest book review assignment for the ERRW site, and a few pages in I stopped reading. Not because the story was bad, but because the more I read, the more I saw the eerie similarities between this book and my current WIP. I'd never seen this book before, and I had just opened it to read for the first time last night. I continued reading, and I'm about ten pages in of about 125 for this book. Just from the little I've read the plot is similar, but there are little unique differences to each story. Mine is more internal, and this story seems to depend more on external descriptions than I do. As I read on, the story is really good and well written. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it. See if it keeps up this pace it started at.
However, now I'm playing the what-if game with my own WIP. What if the story I'm writing is too similar to the one that I'm reading? Will this hurt the stories changes at selling? Does my story measure up to the one I'm reading? All these doubts began to fill my mind, and I'm only ten pages into the book I'm reading! Yes, plots are reused over and over. It is up to the writer to make their story stand out and be unique when it comes to how it stacks up to others.
I thought I had an original idea. When I mentioned my idea for my paranormal to others, they all loved it. I'm loving the writing of the story. The basic premise if you recall is a man moves into his new home to find out its haunted by a ghost. Turns out the ghost is a past lover of his in a past life. Things get hot and steamy in some dreams he has, and the ghost basically takes over his every waking thought. I'm hoping this is slightly different from the book I'm currently reading. Yes, I know I can target another publisher when it is complete, and the story can stand on its own. I guess I'm now just a bit worried when it comes to the story. I didn't even work on my WIP like I planned to last night because the similarity threw me off a bit. I'll have to continue reading and see what happens. I'm just playing the doubting diva now, and I hate that. Anyone out there have any thoughts or advice?
In other news, last night I did end up watching and reviewing the new NBC show, Surface. You can check that out on my review blog here. Tonight we have Bones (FOX) and Supernatural (WB) with their second episodes. I'll be watching those. ABC also has the Dancing with the Stars dance-off. I watched and reviewed this show over the summer for blogcritics, so I'll check in, but I probably won't watch the whole thing. The way this was done it almost feels like they set it up this way. If John wins, I definitely would feel that way even more. A ratings ploy by the network when the ABC network doesn't really need it. They have two of the most popular shows on television with Lost and Desperate Housewives. I guess we'll see what happens. I really didn't like the results of the show when it aired. Top that with my other regular weekly review of the Real World: Austin, and I have a busy night ahead of me.
I hope you're all well. I'm off to blog hop now. Have a great day everyone!
Posted by Regina Avalos at 4:38 PM 2 comments
168. Feeling a bit sluggish today
Mondays. The start of a new week, and it is usually one of my busiest days. I'm just dragging a bit right now, but I'm still getting things done. Little things are frustrating, but they aren't things I have any control over, so I have to wait for them to be fixed because I can't do anything on my own to fix them. I have to leave it up to someone else. Do you know how hard it is to do that for me? I like knowing things are running smoothly. I'm almost to the point where I'm obsessive compulsive. I can't sleep knowing things aren't exactly as they should be. I'm a worrier by nature, but I am getting better about it I think.
Yesterday, I didn't write at all. I think Sunday's are becoming the day I don't write a word. Not a review or anything in my WIP's. I think it is a good thing to just take a day off and not write unless I have to. I also stayed up until five in the morning again watching another movie on cable. This time it was Hilary Duff's, Raise your Voice, which I had passed on watching when it premiered a week or two ago. I guess something looks more entertaining at 3am in the morning hmm? It wasn't a bad movie. Teen oriented fun, but I seem to have a thing for pop princesses so I ended up watching the entire thing.
On cap for tonight, we have football games, a concert I missed on TV the other night. I totally forgot it was on, and it is of my favorite groups, so i set a reminder this time. Then at 7pm we have the premiere of Surface. The previews for this hooked me, so I'll be watching, and I'll probably have a review up on my other blog tomorrow. Speaking of my other blog, I redid the layout for it yesterday. I got rid of the Blogger template, and put up one I found from a template site. Nice and professional looking, and the comment style is a bit different too, so I might just be missed by the spammers that found me on that blog. Go here to check it out.
Earlier this afternoon, I heard from a friend of mine by email. We've known each other since we were in junior high together, and she is the one that gave me my first romance novel. She writes as well, but she had stopped. Well, today she emailed me to tell me she had started writing again. This makes me happy because she is a wonderful writer. I'm also dealing with a terror kitty today. My oldest cat decide to jump up and attack me as I sat here typing earlier. Now my arm is covered in scratches. Not the best day for me so far. My mood is a bit glum. I'm sure it will improve as the day continues on.
I hope you're having a great day today everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 4:25 PM 1 comments
167. New book reviews
Another lazy Sunday. I woke up a bit late today, and none of football teams are on television. The game on later on tonight has one of my fantasy football players, so I'll have to wait for that game to air. I can't even find the Cardinals game on the radio. I live five minutes from the stadium, and they are here playing against the Rams today. As I mentioned last week, the St. Louis Rams is another one of my favorite teams, so seeing them go head to head. One of the main reasons I love the Rams though is now here in Arizona playing with the Cardinals. quarterback Kurt Warner. I just love him, and now he is on my team and playing against his old team today. I wish the game was on TV because it would make an interesting watch.
Speaking of an interesting watch, last night I was getting ready to go to bed, and I have started this habit of catching a few minutes of FOX news before I go to bed. Watch Fox and Friends in the morning, since that is usually what is on at 3-4am in the morning. Well, nothing much was happening there, so I started flipping through stations, and I caught the beginning of Resident Evil: Apocalypse. I'd been wanting to see the movie, and I checked if it would be on later in the day, so I could. Then I remembered HBO wasn't set to premiere this movie for some time yet. HBO does this late nights. Sometimes they will air a movie they are set to premiere a month or two from then. I saw The Ring like this late one night. I love Milla Jovovich, so I decided to stay up until almost 6am to watch it. Good movie. Lots of action in it. Milla is gorgeous. Last night, I also watched the Saturday night premiere on Starz of Shall we dance, and I have review of this film up on my review blog.The movie is definitely a waste of time though if you ask me. If you want to know why, head on over here.
Speaking of reviews, my two latest book reviews are up. Over on Romance Divas, my review of an e-book from Linden Bay Romance, Setting Him Free is up. You can read my review here. I really enjoyed this e-book, and I gave it five out of five kisses. My second book review is over on the Erotic Romance Reviews for Women site, and it is for Bad Temptation from Chippewa Publishing. My review of this book wasn't as favorable. It has a promising plot, but I felt the story was more told than shown. I gave it 2 out of 5 shoes. You can read my review here.
On the writing front, I was finally able to type in the pages I had written earlier in the week before my computer crashed in my one WIP. Came up with just a bit over of 1,000 words, and things seem to be moving along nicely on that front. I'm hoping to work some more on it later, and I think some time this week if all goes well and doesn't go to crazy I might try to give For Hire one last look before submitting it off somewhere. I definitely want it out by the end of the month.
Have a great day everyone!
Posted by Regina Avalos at 3:01 PM 3 comments
166. Saturday Ramblings
Well, I had one of those bang my head against the walls this morning. My computer did the same exact thing it did the other day again, and I thought I would need to do another full restore. I was not happy. After cursing a few things including my computer, viruses, Window XP, I looked into what I could do on my computer. Since it at least opened to the desktop, I was able to run the task manager and run something off CD. I knew all i needed to restore the one corrupted file.
Well, I ran my XP SP2 CD, and it located that the file was corrupted, and reinstalled it within under ten minutes. Computer turned on, and all is well. I think I know what caused the problem too. The other day I had joined a traffic exchange to promote my review blog. I had done everything they asked to set myself up, and nothing had gone through yet. The other night when I was visiting this site, a strange window popped up. The next day my computer had the problems. Last night, the same thing happened, and today I had problems. Suffice to say, I won't be going through that site again. I won't link to it, but in case anyone was wondering, the site was 321hits.com. It might not have been the site, but the window only popped up when I was on there site, so it is possible. figure a heads up wouldn't hurt.
Saving myself from a restore today was good. I would not have been happy at all. Tonight, I plan to watch Shall We Dance on Starz, and I'll probably have a review of that up on my review shortly thereafter. Last night, I caught the premiere for Threshold. I hadn't heard of the show before yesterday, but I really enjoyed it. I have a small review of it on my review blog if anyone is interested in reading the rest of my thoughts on that.
I hope things start to settle down soon. Between my starting to work with media village, and all the computer problems this week, the only writing I've been able to do since Wednesday has been for my review blog. I'm hoping to change that sometime this week. We'll have to see how things go. I'm worried about shutting down my computer and not having it start up again. I think I'm okay now though. Cross fingers!
Have a great day everyone!
Posted by Regina Avalos at 4:21 PM 2 comments
165. Setting things back to right
I worked long into the night yesterday getting my computer back to normal. Reinstalling programs, transferring my music files off of CD's and back onto my hard drive. I worked until about 3am, and I think I have most of it back. I did find the old bookmarks file I had saved back in January, so I just lost the bookmarks I've saved since. Which wasn't that much. I had links saved for years and the sites still worked, so I was upset that I lost most of them. I was happy to find the file hiding on my secondary hard drive.
Besides working on the computer, I was also busy setting up my forums over at Media Village. My topics are up now! So if you're a fan of Lost, The OC or Grey's Anatomy hop on over to the drama forum to talk about the shows with me. There are still a few things to work out with the forum, but my topics are ready to go, and I'm hoping my blog on that site is up by Monday at some point.
Last night was the second episode of The OC, and I have a full recap and review over at One Couch Critic. For some reason, I also thought ER premiered last night, but that looks to be set for next week. I was disappointed I had to wait another week, but next week seems to be the next big premiere week. Lost, Invasion, ER, and Surface all look to be good. I've also become interested in Vegas. Brother watches every week, and I caught a few episodes last season, including the finale, so I'm probably going to check things out.
With the computer crashing, I didn't get around to writing anything other than my OC review last night. Today was the deadline for the Absolute Write submission call, and I never got around to it with everything going on with Media Village and my fiction WIP's. I couldn't help it though. Thanks for the suggestions on my bringing in the ghost POV into my WIP. I haven't gotten to that scene yet. It is coming up soon, so I'll have to see what ends up working.
Hope you're all well. Have a great night everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 5:47 PM 3 comments
164. Just a quick note
I woke up this morning to a complete computer crash. My computer wouldn't go past the start up screen no matter what I tried. I'm a computer geek, and I tried all I knew how to do. this resulted in me doing a complete system restore. Luckily, all I lost was all my bookmarked sites in my browser. All of my writing and other important files are backed up to CD. I thought my bookmarks had been bookmarked a few months ago, but they weren't I still might find them on one of my CD's, but I don't think so.
Good news is I was given the okay to go ahead with my forums, and my blog on the mediavillage site should be set up soon as well. I'll be working on those in the coming days, and I'll post links to everything when it goes live.
More tomorrow. I still have more work to do on the computer, and tonight I have two shows to watch and review as well. Have a great day everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 5:56 PM 1 comments
163. Lazy Hump Day
I'm dragging a bit today. I spent a couple of hours on my phone today with one of my best friends, and after I came back online, I was totally unmotivated to do anything. I'm still waiting to hear on things job wise. Noticed a few changes over on the site, so I'm just waiting while things get all straightened out. Last night, I wrote another page in my WIP. Another scene that just popped out of my head. My paranormal is relatively unplotted. I'm one of those writer's that flies by the seat of her pants, and with this story it is even more evident. I'm enjoying it though. I'm trying to figure out how to jump to the other character's head for a scene or two. Since that hasn't happened and he is a ghost, I'm quite not sure how to do that or if I even can. I want to though. HMM ... wait I just might have had an idea of how to do it sitting here. Any suggestions or thoughts though would be great!
Last night was a big TV night. On FOX, I watched the premiere of Bones, and then I switched over to the WB network for another series premiere, Supernatural. Both shows that I enjoyed. I see some are criticizing both shows today, but I enjoyed them both. For my review of last night's episode of Bones go here, and for review of Supernatural hop on over to here. I also have a review of last night's episode of the Real World, as always, and that can be found here. Tonight is So You Think You Can Dance, and the top eight are battling it out. It's really getting down to the wire now. The competition is certainly heating up. I can't wait to see what happens next.
When I came online this afternoon, I read the news that Britney Spears had finally given birth. She had a baby boy this afternoon. I had been mildly interested in this. I had been a fan of her music, but since she isn't as visible now I haven't kept up with her much. I think she will make a wonderful mother though. She seems like she would. I had been amused in the past by the Fetus Spears blog found here. Just went to check it out, and it seems the fetus, now baby, is already back to his blogging duties online!
I'm off! I hope you have a wonderful evening everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 5:30 PM 3 comments
162. Tuesday Ramblings
Yesterday was certainly a very hectic day for me. Today is a bit calmer. I’m setting things into motion, and set up is always more time consuming than maintaining something. Once you have things set, you develop a routine, and that routine will make things run smoothly with hopefully not as much stress. I’m crossing my fingers on that one. Most of my promotion for my forums and the like will go through my review blog. I’ve been promoting that heavily, and I’ll continue to do so. Half of the shows I plan to cover haven’t even started their seasons yet, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens when they do.
Yesterday, I was so exhausted though. I was more mentally tired than physically. I kept going though because I knew I wanted to get some things done before the forums are actually up. Then once they are, I know it’ll take another day of setting them up with the thread topics on each forum.
On the fiction-writing front, I wrote two pages by hand last night. I sat down and just began to write, and the words were flowing well. I was happy, and now all I have to do is take the two pages from last night and the half page from the night before and type them into my WIP. I’m hoping to do that after I finish this blog post.
A lot of what I wrote was internal dialogue of the main character. I’m almost 5,000 words into the story, and the other half of the romance has just made his first appearance. It’s a ghost story, and he’s made his presence known, but last night was the first time Drew saw him. Now I need to add in some details and some actions. I noted this while I was writing last night. I think so much of my writing ends up being internal. I always worry it is too much internal. I’m definitely working on that though.
Tonight is a big TV night with a lot of shows premiering or starting their new seasons. I’ll be watching Bones and Supernatural. Also possibly reviewing, so I’ll let you know which of the shows I recap and review over on my review blog in my post tomorrow. Tonight is also another episode of the Real World, so I’ll be reviewing that as usual. Right now, I’m off.
Have a great day everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 4:04 PM 1 comments
161. Good news!
A very busy day! Late last night, I received some good news in my email. I had been waiting to hear on the job I had spoken about last week here in my blog. I’m impatient, and even though they mentioned things might not be set up until this week, I was still hoping to hear something sooner. Well, I heard back with an agreement which I readily accepted after going over the numbers in my head and with my brother, who knows numbers quite well because he’s been a salesman in the past. We sat down and discussed it, and he told me to take it. I had planned to already, but he said it looked like a wonderful opportunity.
The email came with odd timing because my horoscope for Sunday spoke of a pending career opportunity that will be quite positive for me. Well, I believe it is safe for me to speak about my new position at this time. I heard back this morning, and my parts of the site should be up this week at some point, as early as tomorrow possibly. The site I will be working for is called Media Village. It is an up and coming media site with a focus on television. The site already has a decent traffic
The site has news, blogs and forums targeted to specific shows. My position will be as blogger and forum leader, in charge of the running of three to four forums. At this time, it looks like my forums will be on The OC, Real World/Road Rules, and Lost. I might also have a forum for Grey’s Anatomy. My blogs will be the reviews and recaps that now appear on my blog One Couch Critic and any additional posts I may make covering TV and entertainment news of the day.
I am quite excited about this opportunity, and I think it could be the start of something really positive when it comes to my nonfiction-writing career. I will let everyone know here when my forums are up and running. My forums aren’t the only ones that will be on the board; so make sure to check the site out once everything is set.
Over on my review blog, I have a book review up of Seeing Red by Jill Shalvis. I really enjoyed this book, so head on over to my review blog to check out my review on this May 2005 release. I also was able to get a bit of work done on one of WIP's last night, but everything is so crazed right now, I'm trying to get everything done with my new job at the moment.
Hope everyone is well! Have a wonderful evening.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 5:29 PM 1 comments
160. Are you ready for some football?
My football team is about to lose. With the start of the fall season and September, we have the return of football. This year’s season started this past Thursday, but it doesn’t feel like football to me if it isn’t played on a Sunday. I woke up early, and plopped myself down in front of the television set, just like a bunch of other football fanatics across the country did. I have three favorite teams - my local area Arizona Cardinals, the Indianapolis Colts and the St. Louis Rams.
Arizona is playing on television now, and the game started out good, but it is ending in a blowout, and it is my team getting blown out! I’m the type of football fan that will scream and curse at the screen, as well cheer my team on. Indianapolis is the night game, and St Louis is playing now but not on TV here. I even participate in a couple of fantasy football games online. Anyone else out there football fans? I'm not big on college, but the pros got me. If so, what are your favorites? If football isn't your passion, then what sport is?
On the writing, front, I’ve been keeping fairly busy. Having your own review site isn’t easy, but I’m willing to work at it because I think in the end it will pay off for me. I’m looking at different ways to promote, and I’m quite happy with the results so far. I’m up to close to 1100 hits. That’s in just a little bit over a week. Not bad for a new site.
With the fall season getting really in full swing this week and next, I’ll have more work to do there, but I see it this way when it comes to television shows – I watch them anyway! I won’t watch a show I don’t enjoy to just a review it. I started to watch Reunion this week, and it just didn’t grab me at all! I turned it off. Reviewing shows I watch adds at most thirty minutes to an hour of writing time.
Fiction wise, I’m getting back into that as well. I wrote a short fan fiction drabble that I posted to my fiction blog last night, and it’s received some positive feedback. That’s why I love about fan fiction. The feedback is immediate. I’m still pondering my short. I really want to get that out soon. My focus just hasn’t been on my fiction this week, but I do plan on changing that. I’ve made a personal goal challenge of 5,000 fiction words this month. I’m calling it a mini-lunacy. Last month, I wrote 10,000, 5,000 should be doable.
Last night, I was sitting at my desk when I realized the date. It was just after midnight, and I sat here and reflected. I won’t go into detail about this date. Suffice to say, September 11th, 2001 has never been far from my thoughts. I may not live in the area, but my heart broke with the tragedy, just as my heart broke with the recent tragedy. Today while surfing through Blogexplosion, I found a post telling of one person’s experience on this day four years ago. We shall never forget – just as we will never forget the victims of this most recent tragedy either.
NOTE:I'm not sure where my mind was earlier because I somehow posted this to my fiction blog instead, and I just now noticed. Maybe Blogger messed up! Well, its here now! I really hope you had a great day everyone.
Posted by Regina Avalos at 11:10 PM 1 comments