I’d like to thank Cassidy Walker at Media Consulting for reaching out and offering this post from Harriet Moore. It’s on one of my favorite subjects – pets, and how to pick the right one for you. Pets can make wonderful additions to family life by bringing us companionship, unconditional love, and an excuse for the family to spend more quality time together. In fact, 94% of pet owners feel that having a pet makes them happy, and 84% credit their pet with improving their mental health. If you’re thinking about getting a furry, scaly or fluffy friend but you’re not sure which animal is right for your family, follow these three important tips to help you choose. Tip #1 - Consider how active you are or would like to be. Every pet needs some form of regular exercise, but some are more reliant on their owners for exercise than others. Dogs are the most demanding in this respect, requiring at least two walks each day, although the amount of ground you cover on each walk will depend on the size and energy level of the breed. If you want to be more active, getting a dog is a great option. If you already get plenty of exercise and don’t have the time or inclination for much more, a small pet like a hamster or rabbit could be a better choice. Keep in mind that you’ll still need to provide your pet with toys or equipment for exercising, such as a wheel or climbing tower. You may also need to supervise their exercise or play with them to encourage them to get active. Tip #2 - Assess your Home Environment and Available Space Some pets need more space than others, and it’s not just their size that dictates how much space they need. For example, rabbits require an enclosure that is at least eight square feet and tall enough for them to be able to stand on their hind legs. They also need an additional 24 square feet of secure space in which they can exercise. Some pets, such as dogs, need frequent access to outdoor space and are best suited to properties with yards or gardens. Others, such as cats, are content living indoors but require additional equipment such as climbing trees and scratching posts to keep them entertained and active. Tip #3 - Determine your budget for upfront costs and monthly expenses It’s vital that you consider the affordability of a pet in both the short and long term. Upfront costs include the pet’s price or adoption fee, essentials such as enclosures, bedding and toys, and vet fees for things like vaccinations and neutering. Ongoing monthly expenses include food, toileting supplies, flea and worm treatments, pet insurance, and grooming fees. You should also think about irregular additional expenses, such as boarding or pet-sitting fees when you go on vacation. Dogs tend to be the most expensive pet, costing between $700 and $2,000 per year, while fish are one of the least expensive, costing between $50 and $200. Keep in mind the expected lifespan of a pet and ask yourself whether you can realistically commit to the ongoing expense for the entirety of the animal’s life. Final Thoughts - Take your time to choose the perfect pet Welcoming a new pet into your family is a huge commitment, so don’t rush into it too quickly. Take time to research different pets thoroughly to understand what they need for a happy, healthy life. Next, consider your time and activity level, your environment and space, and your budget to determine whether you can give an animal everything it needs. When you choose a pet carefully like this, you can be sure they’ll fit into your family life perfectly. Meet My Guest Blogger, Harriet Moore
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Part 1 Guess Who I Met at a Conference: Look who I met at the Northern Ohio SCBWI conference! Two dino-mite illustrators – Mike DeSantis and Barry Gott. They both love to draw dinosaurs, and they both have books out about them. My writing friend, Aileen, and I ate lunch at their table, and she got this picture. What’s SCBWI? The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. It’s where you go if you want to meet them. It’s where you go if you want to learn how to become one. Part 2 Meet Mike’s New Dinosaur Book: Remember Mike DeSantis from yesterday? I’ve known Mike for a long time thanks to the Northern Ohio’s SCBWI chapter. Mike is a former president and a fantastic illustrator. I know . . . I draw stick people. I admire anyone who can draw something as intricate as the page he’s holding up. Would you believe you can get it free, or that it’s the cover to his Dinosaur Puzzle Book? Would you also believe Mike’s cover isn’t in the book? I’ll show you how to get it, free! Step 1 – Click on this link and take a trip to Mike’s web site: Mike DeSantis – Mike DeSantis illustration Step 2 – When you get to Mike’s page, look for the Instagram symbol, and click on it. Step 3 – Once you’re on Instagram, this is what you’ll find. The top part of the page has the directions on how to get Mike’s cover FREE. Ready? Click on this link. It will take you to Mike’s publishing house. Publishing your own book is hard to do, and it’s even harder for people to find it. I know, I’ve published three books myself. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I hope I can help a few more people find Mike’s book. It sold out at the SCBWI conference. If it looks familiar, it’s because Mike has done hidden pictures for one of my favorite magazines . . . Highlights! And I’m happy to highlight Mike and his latest book😊 Oh, I almost forgot that link. Here it is . . . www.bunkerpressbooks.com Step 4 – Click on Downloads. Do you see it? It’s the middle button on the blue banner at the top of the page. If you want to take a scavenger hunt, I double-dog dare you to find why Mike named his publishing company Bunker Press Books. Just scan down the page until you see About Us. That’s where Mike put his story. PS – If you know someone who loves hidden objects, this book would make a perfect gift! Do you see the two green order buttons? Click on one of them if you want to buy the book. My suggestion, the first. If you pick Amazon, they get part of Mike’s profit. Part 3 Meet Barry Gott and his Dino-Mite Work: I was shocked to see Barry’s newest book on display at SCBWI’s Illustrator Showcase. I’ve had his books since 2012. That’s because he illustrated Lisa Wheeler’s dinosaur books. She critiqued my dog story back in 2012 so I had to buy one. My second graders loved them too, so I bought more, until I retired in 2015. Imagine my surprise when he was introduced during the conference. I had to say hello! How many chances do you get to tell someone how much you admire their work? And on the other side of the coin, who doesn’t like to hear they have fans in second grade . . . my students loved his work too. Then lunch came, and I joined my conference buddy, and guess who was sitting beside me? If you guessed, Bary, you’re right! I decided to take this opportunity to let you meet him too! If you can’t meet Barry in person, head to his website. It’s the next best thing! Here’s his link: Barry Gott illustration, and a screenshot of his homepage. If you click Illustration, this is also where you’d land. If you move down to Books, you can see some of the stories Barry has illustrated, or written and illustrated. If there’s a star in the left-hand corner, that means you can click, then peek inside. The first one is for the cover of Dino-Dancing. If you can’t meet Barry in person, head to his website. It’s the next best thing! Here’s his link: Barry Gott illustration, and a screenshot of his homepage. If you click Illustration, this is also where you’d land. If you move down to Books, you can see some of the stories Barry has illustrated, or written and illustrated. If there’s a star in the left-hand corner, that means you can click, then peek inside. The first one is for the cover of Dino-Dancing. And the finale . . . Barry’s newest pair of books! Both of them just came out on September 5th. His Hanukkah book is brand new, but his Christmas book came out in a new form . . . a board book! If you have littles who love dinosaurs, sports, and holidays, Lisa and Barry’s board books are perfect for them!
Part 1: It was Saturday, and I was video-taping a read-aloud on Zoom. I finished my book, and I went to listen to it, to save it . . . but IT wasn’t there! There was no link. I couldn’t listen. I couldn’t save it or load it into my Meta planner. So . . . I tried again. I video-taped. I went to listen, AND I got the same result! No link! I was dead in the water. It was 3:30 Saturday afternoon, and I didn’t have a video to put up for my 4:00 deadline. So . . . what did I do? Well, I didn’t panic. I thought about solutions, what CAN I do? I needed a video of me reading a book. Obviously, I couldn’t read the one I’d planned. That’s the moment when I realized I have a treasure chest of read-alouds saved in my computer. I have 78 titles! All I had to do – pick one. That was easy! I wrote about technophobia, and I could have had a really bad case of it that Saturday afternoon, or I could use it. I decided right then and there to use it as Sunday’s Vlog. For Saturday, I already had a picture book to match . . . Nanobots. It was perfect, and it was an easy fix, but it wasn’t the end of this story. Part 2: What Next? On Saturday I scheduled the vlog that matched NanoBots right after the read-aloud appeared. The title, Technophobia – It’s for Real! And that Sunday it was far too real, again. I went in like usual at 4PM to find my vlog. Time to post it across social media . . . But it wasn’t there – the video had an error and wouldn’t play. My heart raced as I tried to figure out what to do. I thought for a moment. Then I pulled the error down and put up the video from my computer again. I hoped it would work, but I didn’t know for sure, so I posted notices on social media that the video would be up soon. It was! By the time I finished my second notice, the video was up and running. I posted the links for it and deleted the notices. By 4:30 my vlog problem was over. But I hadn’t figured out the Zoom issue that started my problem in the first place. Part 3: Remember my original issue? That I couldn’t videotape on Zoom – well, it got worse. I couldn’t even open a meeting, and that’s a problem. Every Friday I host my critique partners on my Zoom account. We’re all over the country . . . from New York to Connecticut, from Ohio to Tennessee to California. It was Monday so I wasn’t really worried. I thought I could work things out. I opened a meeting, then recorded another. I thought the problem was fixed. Nope! By midnight on Monday, I had six security alerts from our Aura protection system, and I’m not a techie. YIKES! My husband was out of state so I texted him late that night for advice. His answer Tuesday morning, call Aura. I did. I was on hold forever. OK, it was more like 2 hours. They explained that Zoom and Aura were butting heads, and they gave me a work around. I tried, but it failed like everything else. I still had the same problem, and more security alerts. So, I reached out to Zoom. I have a free account that I’ve used for over 2 years. I’ve never had a problem, until that Saturday. I tried calling, but they don’t answer phone calls from customers like me. I tried putting in a ticket for tech help, but they don’t answer tickets like mine. They did send me an email with ten links to try out. YUCK! Who knows what kind of an answer I’d get, and when? I knew where the problem was – with Zoom’s executive command. Whenever an error message popped up, that’s what it said. I tried deleting my old account, then adding new ones. Zoom worked right away when I downloaded it, but stopped whenever I clicked out and tried to return again. The problem – that darn executive command. No matter what I did, Zoom refused to open, or it deleted itself from my home screen. By now I’d spent most of Tuesday trying to solve my problem, and I was no closer to solving it. URGH!!! Part 4: Late Tuesday I messaged my husband about my frustrations. I thought I was dead in the water with Zoom for another week, but he surprised me and drove home Wednesday. Would you believe he had the problem fixed in under an hour? The solution – He clicked on the error messages, then on ignore, and the problem disappeared. I couldn’t believe how quickly he fixed it, especially after I waited most of Tuesday for tech help. My hero! PS – I thought my computer troubles were over. Almost! I forgot to bring my power cord to a writing conference., but all’s well that ends well. My critique group exchanged notes using email instead of meeting on Zoom, and I cut my computer time way back. The silver lining – I took a break from writing. It turns out that taking time off is a good thing. It rejuvenates you, gives you a fresh take on your work, and it’s fun. Growing up, I never thought of myself as being creative. I was a worker bee. I loved getting things done, and I still do. But when I started writing, I began to recognize that I have an imagination, that I connect the dots differently than other people do. As I started writing I began to create more things than I ever imagined. This post is all about those things. It’s also a call to you – to recognize your own creativity, that you see the world differently from anyone else. The things I create most days of the week . . . #1. My Blog – I wrote the first one back in November of 2016. It was about swimming with dolphins. That was even the title. I thought I knew what I wanted to write, but it bombed. It didn’t work out the way I planned. Reality showed me what really worked. Link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/archives/11-2016 This is the one I wrote last night about OSU football trivia. I started the original post last year, but now I’m into my second season. Over the last seven years, I’ve written over 445 posts. If you compare the first to the last, I’ve changed a lot as a writer since 2016. Link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/trivial-pursuit-the-ohio-state-football-way-season-2 The things I create once a week . . . (There are six of them.) #2. My Reads – Once a week when my blog is done, I pick a book to share. In the early days, they didn’t match. I just picked a book I loved from my local library and reviewed it. Sometimes I pick picture books. Sometimes chapter books. I post them on my website under the button, My Reads, and I also post it on Amazon. Did you know whenever you review a book online, it helps the author, the illustrator, and the publisher. It’s a great thing to do! Fandango Stew was the first picture book I reviewed back in October of 2016. Think Stone Soup, but Tex Mex style. Link: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/fandango-stew-review Stick and Stone is the last picture book I reviewed this September. It’s about two opposites who discover that a common enemy can turn them into friends. Would you believe I’ve done over 235 picture book reviews in the last 7 years? Link: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/review-of-stick-and-stone The Extincts was the first chapter book I reviewed back in September of 2016. I still remember it! It was that good! Imagine getting a job at a farm that specializes in extinct animals. I HAD to read it! Link: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/review-of The Peddler of Wisdom is the last chapter book I reviewed back in July. I read it a few years ago,, and it finally matched one of my blogs. Imagine traveling back in time to 17th century France, AND you meet the ultimate fortune teller, Nostradamus. Would you believe I’ve done over 106 chapter book reviews in the last 7 years? Link: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/review-of-the-peddler-of-wisdom #3. Vlogs – Once a week I take a blog and turn it into a video. Behind the scenes, I write and revise a script, make the slides, and finally practice and record the video. I post it on social media every Sunday at 4PM. You’ll find it on Facebook, Instagram, and X, but not on my web site. The first screenshot is from my first vlog. I recorded it back in May of 2021. It’s about the things I remember from visiting the Madison’s house in Virginia. I shared two links – the video and the original blog. Video: https://fb.watch/5PUG1rUGDC/ Blog: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/the-things-i-remember-from-my-visit-with-james-and-dolly-madison The second is from last weekend. It started when I heard a song in an Amazon Prime ad, Always Something There to Remind Me. I did some research, and then I shared its story. Here are its links: Video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=264622939816322 Blog: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/always-something-there-to-remind-me #4. Saturday Reads– I also look for a picture book that goes along with my vlog. I write and revise a script. Then I practice and record it. Every Saturday at 4PM I post it on Facebook, Instagram, and X . Sorry, but it’s not on my web site. I did my first read-aloud in November of 2021. I used a real book, but I didn’t like the way it looked. I shared the screen with it, but the book should fill it, not me. The title – Twenty-One Steps. It’s about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington D.C. If you’d like to see my first try at reading online, try this link: Video: https://www.facebook.com/BeachGirlPress/videos/677802673204597 I did the second one last weekend. I use eBooks now because the book fills the screen. I’m tiny, except for the beginning and the end. I picked Lupe Lopez – Rock Star Rules. It’s about the first day of school, when a Kindergarten drummer meets her new teacher. Oh, no! Link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=332318882605065 #5. Your Newsletter– I work on one newsletter over the course of a week until it’s ready to publish. This is the original I started with. I would cut and paste it into an email. It looked great with its words and illustrations, but it was a real pain to set up. I moved on . . . I sent the letter as an attachment, and I didn’t have to reformat anything, but I ran into another problem. Some addresses have programs that won’t accept attachments for security reasons. Don’t worry! I still use this form. It’s my writing template for my blogs and book reviews. I write and revise here before I post anything online. It has served me well for seven years. This is the newsletter form I use now. It’s not pretty, but it’s easy to glance and find the links you’d like to check out. I’ll stay with it, until I find a better way to serve my subscribers. #6. Pinterest– While I’m working on my newsletter, that’s when I add new posts to Pinterest. If you’re looking for specific content that I’ve written, this is a great way to find it. I have boards set up by curriculum content and standards. Half the boards are science. They include Earth/Space, Life, and Physical Science. The other half are social studies. They include Economy, Geography, Government, and History. Three boards are for language arts. One is actually named that. It’s where I put posts about reading and writing. The other two boards are named Classroom Reads. One is for picture books, and the other is for chapter books. Each of the ten boards are subdivided into topics and standards. I hope they help you find what you’re looking for. #7. Google Spreadsheets– I add new posts to my spreadsheets while I’m working on my newsletter. You’ll never see it – it’s just for me. It’s how I track my content. I add each blog, book review, and video so I can find it and use it again. And you can use it too. How? If you’re looking for something for your classroom or for your child, email me. I’ll use a key word to see if I can find what you’re looking for. If I do, I’ll send you the link. If I don’t, I might decide to write a post, just for you. The things I create and hope will be published, someday . . . #8. My Unpublished Manuscripts – I have eleven manuscripts stashed away in my computer . Someday I hope they’ll be published traditionally. I listed them below in the order they were created. I have two manuscripts featuring bats. The first is awful. I dragged in Herman the German, and the second is a chapter book that combines fantasy with what really happened with my bat. Someone suggested a third version, a middle grade fantasy, but it’s in the idea stage for now. None of my bat stories are ready for submission. I wrote about ants next. It started as a chapter book and somehow morphed into a middle grade novel. It’s gone through three rounds of revision, and I’ve sent it out on a few queries, but nothing yet – maybe someday 😊 My dog story came next. I started with what really happened, but it didn’t work so I fictionalized it to move the story. It started and stayed a picture book, but it’s my least successful manuscript. Something’s missing, but I haven’t figured out what . . . yet. My safety story started as an idea for a chapter book, but it became a picture book. It’s been sent on many queries, but it really needs the right publisher to take it on, and I believe in my heart someday that will happen. The duck manuscript is done, but it needs the right publisher to take a chance on it . . . so it’s still waiting in the wings of my computer. My nativity story is also done. I’ll share it after I query an agent. You submit one story for consideration. If they like it, you need two or three others ready to share. An agent must know if they can afford to take a chance on you. I have a manuscript about a new baby. It’s only 100 words. I’m hoping someday it will become a board book. It’s agent- ready whenever I get that request for more work. Would you believe I have a story about a blue poison dart frog? It’s the one I’m submitting whenever I query. It’s my strongest manuscript, and I hope it nets me an agent . . . someday😊 The next two stories are WIP’s. That’s writer-speak for Works In Progress. The first is about community helpers. I started. Then I had to stop to work on the next idea. I’m writing a middle grade novel about the founding fathers. It’s historical fiction, but it still demands tons of research. It will be 57 chapters long. So far I’ve drafted 13 and polished the first three. My goal is to polish the first 50 pages, then submit it to agents and publishers. My fingers are crossed it will find a good home. #9. My Published Books – I have three published books. They’re not sitting in my computer . . . they’re on Amazon and in local bookstores. It’s lovely when your writing turns into a real book. Neil came first in 2019. He’s in a chapter book that’s all about his first dream . . . to build a wind tunnel like the Wright Brothers. (For grades 2 - 4)
Lake Fun came out in 2020, and Zoe in 2021. They both allow kids to read a story, then journal about their own experiences. Zoe is a chapter book, and Lake Fun is a picture book. (For grades 2- 4) Sheila Brooks from DigitalEdgeMarketing.org emailed and asked if her team could collaborate with me on a post about mental health and well-being. She let me pick the topic. My choice . . . Protecting Teens from Social Media Health Risks. I’m glad I took a chance on Sheila. Her team came up with some great tips for you and me. Living in this constantly budding era of new media technologies and information overload can be challenging to navigate, especially if you are a parent to a teenager. With the rise of social media networks over the past decade, it’s important to stay aware of how these websites and apps operate in order to keep your children safe online. Teaching yourself and your teen how to engage in proper online social etiquette can help prevent negative experiences on the internet, and can even improve real-life communication as well. Tip #1: Peer Pressure Awareness: While there is a lot of funny and educational content available for engagement on social media, unfortunately, there are also corners of these websites that lean toward participating in unsavory and unhealthy behaviors. Videos and posts that encourage or celebrate teen drug abuse, bullying, and romanticizing unhealthy coping mechanisms flourish online, especially on youth-centric social media sites like TikTok. If your teen is thinking of making a social media account, be sure to sit down with them and discuss the realities surrounding peer pressure. When you encourage your teen to appreciate their unique selves, they can feel more secure in themselves and their own online presence. Part 2 – Teach Your Teen About Algorithms As social media websites have continued to develop and change since their inception, so have the ways that content is displayed on these networks. In the early days of sites like YouTube and Facebook, the most recent posts from accounts you were friends with or subscribed to were shown on your personal homepage first. Nowadays, most social media sites rely on targeted algorithms that push “stickier” forms of content to the top, which typically leads to posts with inflammatory subject matter. Teaching your teenager about the way that these algorithms operate will help them see those patterns in action on their social media homepages. Hopefully, by knowing that the algorithm is fishing for engagement, your child can make better choices about which posts to interact with, and which ones to ignore. Part 3 - Setting App Timers Because of how easily accessible the internet is nowadays, sometimes the biggest social media health risk is not the content itself, but the amount of time spent on the apps in general. Spending multiple hours a day on social media can cause physical conditions like eye strain and interrupted sleep schedules, potentially affecting school and mental health. These apps are highly addicting, especially for developing minds, and setting timers on mobile/personal devices can be helpful in curbing the overuse of social media. Talk to your child about how much time they want to spend on social media, and find a happy medium between your expectations about online time and their desire to stay connected. Modern parenting means staying updated on what can enter your child’s life experience, especially in the unfiltered online world. Finding a balance between setting clear boundaries and letting your teen experience social media on their own can be challenging, yet highly rewarding for you and your child in the long run. Did you watch college football on Saturday? I did! The Buckeyes were playing so I had to watch. I also had to shop, especially after that first quarter . . . YIKES! It’s how I help my team 😊 Did you catch the commercials during the game? I didn’t know, until I started working on this post, that there’s a new set of commercials to promote the Big 10. If I saw their commercial once, I saw it two dozen times. I didn’t mind . . . it made my toes tap every single time. And it brought back memories of my days as an OSU student in the Shoe. Funny, I discovered I love the commercial, and I only like the song. There’s a difference . . . Hmmmm . . . Part 1 – The Fall Out Boys: I’ve heard of them, but they’re not one of my favorite groups. I looked them up this weekend . . . actuallly I looked up the song title. You can too. If you want to hear the Fall Out Boy’s video, look for a link with Shazam on the end. Sorry, I can’t share the link. It’s probably copyrighted which means Shazam would want money if I shared it. But, I can share the screenshot . . . that’s free. If you play this video, don’t expect the football commercial. The Shazam video doesn’t even come close, but look for the one that’s linked to football, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. (I’ll show you how to find it tomorrow) Part 2 – The Commercial vs The Music Video: This was the last screenshot I captured. . . it’s the one for the commercial. I googled ‘here comes Saturday night commercial.’ When I checked tonight, I found two more versions. Scan down the page to find them. Why is the commercial better? It’s shorter, like 30 seconds, a minute tops. It showcases the chorus, the part that repeats. Add in a video, and you’ve got a hit that features the best things about Big 10 College Football like . . The Players . . . The Cheerleaders . . . The Marching Bands . . . My photos are flat, but the commercial lives and moves. Every time I hear it, my toes tap, and I celebrate the BIG 10! If you don’t know what colleges make up the Big 10, take a look below. Did you notice there’s more than ten teams? Now, there’s fourteen! Here comes Saturday Night and the Big 10!
PS –There’s more!! Coming in 2024, four more teams. . . USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington! Finished 8/30 I bought this book back in 2011, and I’m still fascinated by the way Nell Gavin wove it together. I didn’t know it was her first book, but it’s a unique story that I could never write. It begins with the death of Anne Boleyn. Then it takes a step I’ve never seen another historical book take. It sends Anne to the afterlife where she must examine her choices across time, then choose her next one. I still don’t know after rereading it so many times, if this is a reincarnation story or one of purgatory. A spirit/guide helps Anne examine each life. Her job – to determine what she did well and where she fell short. She sees patterns through time – her mouth, her dislike of baby girls, her love of Henry, and after her last life as Anne Boleyn, her fear and anger with Henry. Another pattern she finds across lives – the same people appear – Henry, Catherine, Princess Mary, and Henry Percy to name a few. The ending leaves me wondering in their latest reincarnation in 1970, if Anne and Henry can finally resolve their issues, or if they’ll have to return and try again. Don’t forget to read the back matter. This book may be totally fiction, but Nell researched the characters of Henry and Anne in depth during the Tudor period, and she also researched the other time periods she put them in. THIS is a remarkable book. Amazon’s Description: Threads, a reincarnation fantasy, opens with the death of Anne Boleyn (second wife of Henry VIII), whose execution appears upon first sight to have resulted from her inability to produce a son for the king. As Anne reviews her life, and several previous lifetimes, she learns about the true depth of her relationship with Henry VIII. Furthermore, she learns that she has been given a hard task: to forgive him. William Faulkner Competition finalist for best novel. Finished 8/15 This is the 3rd in a series of books. The best part – getting to meet a different part of the real Jane Austen in each one. In the 1st one I met a young Jane. She’d imagined and written in the real church records three married names. The third one becomes a lost love in this new novel. It’s used to explain why Jane stopped writing from 1801-1804, and later it explains the idea behind Persuasion. It makes for a great story, and it fits the private side of Jane. She really asked her sister to destroy letters/manuscripts after her death. Maybe, some of them were written from 1801-1804. In the 2nd one I met an older Jane. This novel was about sisters – her real one Cassandra, and the ones she wrote about, like the Dashwood sisters. The 2nd novel added a modern pair of sisters who connect them altogether. As a writer, there’s always a piece of me in each story, and I was fascinated to find this piece of the real Jane in Sense and Sensibility. And the final book, we discover the first draft of Pride and Prejudice. Imagine finding something like that – incredible! But it might also take something away from the real final story. I discovered Jane did have a real first draft that was titled First Impressions. It was written sometime after she met Tom Lefroy. Much of this novel revolves around that first draft. I can’t imagine writing a first draft or any other version of a Jane Austen story, but by following Claire Prescott through this novel, I got a sense of how the real Jane Austen might have changed over time, and how that first draft grew into Pride and Prejudice. Amazon’s Description: Claire Prescott is a sensible woman who believes in facts and figures, not fairy tales. But when she agrees to present a paper to a summer symposium at Oxford on her ailing sister's behalf, Claire finds herself thrown into an adventure with a gaggle of Jane Austen-loving women all on the lookout for their Mr. Darcy. Claire isn't looking for Mr. Anyone. She's been dating Neil -- a nice if a bit negligent -- sports fanatic. But when a tall, dark and dashing stranger crosses her path, will the staid Claire suddenly discover her inner romantic heroine? Her chance meeting with a mysterious woman who claims to have an early version of Austen's Pride and Prejudice -- in which Lizzie ends up with someone other than Fitzwilliam Darcy -- leads to an astounding discovery about the venerated author's own struggle to find the right hero for Lizzie Bennett. Neil's unexpected arrival in Oxford complicates Claire's journey to finding her own romantic lead. Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart is the story of a woman who finds that love isn't logical and that a true hero can appear in the most unexpected of places. Finished 7/31 This is the 2nd book in this series. I bought it back in February of 2012. I liked it, but I didn’t love it . . . so I never looked for book 3 until I started rereading the series this summer. This time, I’m surprised. I like this book a lot more than the other times I read it. Why? I’ll try to figure it out as I write tonight’s post. This story takes up after the first one. Mrs. Parrot and the Formidables are back. Ellen and Mimi Dodge are the new main characters. They travel to England to fulfill their mother’s will. Their job, to take a walking Austen tour of England and find the right spot for their mother’s ashes. SHE was a HUGE Austen fan. Their mother also sends Ellen a package. She’s the older sister, the responsible one like Elinor, the big sister in Sense and Sensibility. Inside the package – ready – Cassandra Austen’s journal! Can you imagine?! The best part – the 1st line says this is Cassandra’s private journal. To be read only by Cassandra. Then the journal says . . . That means you, Jane! That sounds right, like how a pair of sisters should sound. And the younger sister, Mimi, she takes on the role of Marianne in this version, and I think that’s what caught my attention this time – the interplay of the original book, the modern sisters, and the Austen girls. Along the way, I got to know Jane and Cassandra Austen as real people, and I also learned how their relationship affected Jane’s writing. It turns out some things about sisters are universal, no matter the century. That’s what made me buy book 3, and it has Mr. Darcy in the title. I had to read it, even though this version is a paperback, not an eBook, and I’m a Kindle kind of reader! Amazon’s Description: Following Jane Austen Ruined My Life and Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart, Beth Pattillo returns with her new novel. Inspired by Sense and Sensibility, The Dashwood Sisters Tell All follows two modern-day sisters as they set out on a walking tour of Jane Austen's England and uncover what might actually be Jane's long-lost diary. Ellen and Mimi Dodge have never been close, but their mother's dying wish sends them on a walking tour of Hampshire, England, that follows in the footsteps of Jane Austen. Their mother also left them something else: a diary that belonged to Jane's sister Cassandra. These pages shed light on the secrets that nearly tore the Austen sisters apart and inspired one of the greatest love stories of all time. They also bring Jane to life in a way that no one has ever seen before: through the eyes of her sister. As the Dodge sisters embark on their walking tour, they too are drawn together in ways they never expected. They also discover that Cassandra's diary holds secrets, and someone doesn't want Ellen and Mimi to discover the truth. As they stumble on their way toward love, the women learn how Jane and Cassandra Austen inspired the original Marianne and Elinor Dashwood and come to realize that despite their very different personalities, they are a vital part of each other's happy endings. Finished 7/14 I bought this book back in 2010 because it caught my attention, and it kept it . . . I reread it every couple of years. Emma Grant was betrayed by her husband, and by Jane Austen. Now she’s out to get her life back by tracking down Jane’s letters. They’d been hidden away by the Formidables. BTW – that’s the nickname Jane and Cassandra were given by their siblings, nieces, and nephews. Lucky us! We’ll travel with Emma to the places where the real Jane lived – her father’s vicarage at Steventon, London, Bath, Chawton Cottage, and Lyme Regis. At each destination, the current Formidables handed Emma a task that gave a fictional twist to Jane’s life. Along the way I got to know the real Jane through Emma’s eyes, but the trip to Chawton changed mine. Jane sat at a simple table with her writing desk. That’s where she wrote, edited, and revised all her novels. It sat between the family dining room and sitting room. I decided then and there that if Jane could write in the midst of her family, I could to, and I still do. Amazon’s Description: English professor Emma Grant has always done everything just the way her minister father told her she should -- a respectable marriage, a teaching job at a good college, and plans for the requisite two children. Life was prodigiously good, as her favorite author Jane Austen might say, until the day Emma finds her husband in bed with another woman. Suddenly, all her romantic notions a la Austen are exposed for the foolish dreams they are. Denied tenure in the wake of the scandal and left penniless by the ensuing divorce, Emma packs up what few worldly possessions she has left and heads to England on a quest to find the missing letters of Jane Austen. Locating the elusive letters, however, isn't as straightforward as Emma hoped. The owner of the letters proves coy about her prize possessions, sending Emma on a series of Austen-related tasks that bring her closer and closer to the truth, but the sudden reappearance of Emma's first love makes everything more complicated. In the end, Emma learns that doing the right thing has very little to do with other people's expectations and everything to do with her own beliefs. Laced with fictional excerpts from the missing letters, Jane Austen Ruined My Life is the story of a woman betrayed who uncovers the deeper meaning of loyalty. Finished 6/30 I loved the first book, and when I found out there was a sequel, I HAD to buy it. I love parts of the new one, but I didn’t quite love it all. Something just didn’t work. I think the beginning and the middle are a little off, for me. My guess why – it’s when two other characters take the lead. They worked in the first book, but they didn’t this time. Caitlin’s husband Thane pops in to tell the story. I think his part could have been written differently, to keep the action/plot with Caitlin. She is the star of the story. The other character is the villain, Pamela. She tried to kill Caitlin off in the first book, and she’s hatching a plot in this one too. It totally works at the end. Thane’s part does too. But before that, they stopped me, and I had to push myself back into the story. Nothing’s worse for a reader! I wish Pamela had been injected in, in a different way. What I did love, a lot . . . this story takes place after the happily ever after, which wasn’t quite so happy. Caitlin didn’t become the perfect wife or countess. She even believed her husband wanted to take their toddler, so she took him first and ran. Her next problem – to hide, so that her rich, well-connected husband couldn’t find her. Caitlin’s solution – to get a job at a haunted castle. The owner – a necromancer. I guessed what he was, but I looked it up, to be sure. The earl is a sorcerer. He can communicate and command the dead. He summons their spirits, then won’t let them go. The worst part – his wife died giving birth, and he’s trying to bring her back, when he should have let her go. The other worst part – he won’t acknowledge his own son for reasons you’ll have to read for yourself. I may not have loved the beginning or the middle, but the author stuck the ending. Stay with her when Thane and Pamela interrupt the story. It’s worth the ‘fireworks’ of this ending. Really! Amazon’s Description: The long awaited sequel to For Sale: Old Manor House (free ghosts included) tells what happens to the newbie countess, Caitlin McLeod Edmunds, when life tosses a serious glitch into her plans for a 'happy ever after' ending. With bank accounts and credit cards frozen by her furious husband, the Earl of Eastwythe, she is forced to look for anything that might support her tiny troop of runaways that includes her toddler, Colin and long time friend, Margaret. Desperation has them answering an advert in the London Times, asking for live-in staff at Moorcrest Manor, the most haunted manor house in all of England and the family seat of the Earl of Dunwellen, who is reportedly in league with Satan. Equipped with her previous ghost hunting skills and believing in her spirit protectors, Caitlin talks Margaret into giving it a try. Finished 6/16 I bought this book back in July 2011. I’ve read it a couple times since then. I love a good ghost story, and this one is great. It reminds me of Ghostbusters, only from the Midwest, not New York City. Kaitlyn sees ghosts so she starts a ghost busting business with her two best friends. Moira is a Goth girl, and Wendell is into anything electronic. His specialty – inventing gadgets that can find and record ghosts. Their business is pro bono, and they can prove whether your house is haunted or not. Usually it’s not, but if it is, they’ll help the ghosts – to move on, find peace, or if necessary, they’ll help you make a quick get-away! The plot reaches light-speed when the ghostbusters get an all-expense trip to the United Kingdom. Then, things get interesting. I’m rereading the sequel. Keep your eyes open for that post sometime next week. Amazon’s Description: Gothic collides head-on with 21st century high tech in the isolated Cornish manor house hunkered on the cliffs above the restless sea, where the dead have their own plans for the living, as American paranormal investigator, Caitlin McLeod, is about to find out, when she accepts the assignment of ‘debunking’ a haunting at Mor Alys Manor. Growing up with paranormal entities in all shapes, sizes and species in the Victorian mansion of her eccentric Aunt Penelope Trevelyan, who probably would have been burnt as a witch in another time, Caitlin had been told countless times that she was fated to travel to Cornwall “when the time is right” and find? Her aunt had said it would be love with a happy ending, but Caitlin had her doubts. So far, she hadn’t found any man she was willing to spend more than a few hours with let alone a lifetime. But when she opens the letter from Thane Edmunds requesting her help, she feels a strange, intense pull that shoots a shiver of awareness through her entire being. Deep down, all the way to her toes, she knows the time was finally “right” and destiny had come banging on her door. Caitlin’s knack for ghost hunting had started in her college years, when she founded North East Paranormal Investigative Services, largely to protect her Goth friend and then roommate, Moira Smoot, from her own inept dabblings in the occult…something that had almost cost her more than her life. Since then, rules had been set up to help guard their safety in a setting, where anything could happen. Rules an excited Caitlin seems to forget, when she arrives in Cornwall ahead of her team and disregards NEPIS’ first rule of ghost hunting….”never go in alone”… by driving out to the site for a quick look around before night fall. Expecting a caretaker, she is disappointed to find the dilapidated manor locked up tight and no one there, at least no one living, for she senses more than one pair of ghostly eyes witness her arrival. Circling the outside, listening to the pound of the surf on the rocks below the cliffs, she finds the lock broken on the kitchen door and enters. Looking around the fast darkening, cavernous room, she notices that a cot had been set up in one corner and the swing door to the rest of the manor both padlocked and painted with a crudely drawn red cross. Knowing that can’t be good…knowing she should get her keister out of there, but fast, and head back to the safety of the village, she finds herself battling an inexplicable compulsion to spend the night…and losing. All alone in the dark, she begins to think she may have made a “horror”ble mistake, when she senses not only the usual ghosts and spirits that go ‘bump in the night’, but also the distant presence of Colin, the long dead fifth Earl of Eastwythe, now a restless incubus who plots to ensnare her in his delicious web of dark sexuality, since feeding his lust has been his sole antidote to an eternity he finds both “ducedly boring” and very lonely. But, listening to Caitlin moving about in the kitchen from his attic lair, he feels a twinge of conscience and decides to leave her “unmolested”…at least for the night. And so Caitlin, wrapping herself in the comforting memories of the past…cold…hungry…and more than a little scared, waits out the long, dark night unaware she has been given a short reprieve. One that Colin already regrets. But when Thane Edmunds arrives in the morning, and hears Caitlin knocking out the hinge pins in his kitchen door in order to satisfy yet another compulsion to see the rest of the manor before she leaves for the village, the atmosphere heats up quickly in the old manor. Confronting an angry Thane on the opposite side of the door, Caitlin manages to hold her own somewhat shaky ground, until the door falls inward and she finds herself just inches away from the most ‘beautiful man’ she has ever seen….a dark mix of fallen archangel and pirate…with a very disturbing way about him! Do you recognize this song title? I started another post with that same question. Last time I asked, it was about an Amazon Prime Ad. The song playing in the background, Say a Little Prayer for You. Here’s the link for that post: Link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/say-a-little-prayer-for-me Well, it’s back! The commercial, that is. It features the same young couple that broke up. They forgot once again, that they share an Amazon Prime account. The song changed, but the directors picked another one, from the same old songwriting team, Always Something There to Remind Me. Part 1 – Songwriting and a Demo: Do you remember this song? If not, google it, pick an artist, and give it a listen. Or, you could wait for the Amazon ad to come on. Just like the other ad, Amazon picked another song written by the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. They decided they needed a demo to sell it to a record company back in 1963. Can you guess who they picked to record it? This is Dionne Warwick in 1966. She was a star! But back in 1962, she wasn’t. She was singing background, and Burt noticed her voice. He asked if she’d be interested in recording demos (demonstration recordings). He needed them to pitch his songs to record labels. He offered her $12.50 per session. In 2022 money that was $120. Dionne took it! I would too! It was a perfect fit for both of them. Dionne got record executives to listen to her voice, and Burt got a singer whose talent allowed him to compose the kind of challenging tunes he wanted to write. Dionne was so good at understanding what Burt wanted, she could usually record a song in 1-3 takes. That’s fast! If a song took 3 minutes to sing, Dionne would knock it out in 3 to 9 minutes. Impressive, AND cost effective for Burtt! And no matter how long it took, Dionne still got her $12.50 per session. Burt and Hal sold the song. It was covered by five other artists from 1963 until 1995. But when I remember it, I hear Dionne’s voice in my head. She has a style all her own. Part 2 – The Five Artists Who Covered This Song: After Dionne recorded the demo for Always Something There to Remind Me, five other artists and their record companies picked it up. I checked. Dionne never had a Top 40 hit with this song. 1. Meet Lou Johnson. His version of Always Something There to Remind Me reached #49 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the summer of 1964. He sang soul, played piano, and was a recording artist during the 1960s and 70s. 2. Sandie Shaw found the song thanks to Lou. Someone heard his version and sent it to her. She released hers in September of 1964 and got it on a pop music TV show in the United Kingdom. It worked! Sandie took it to #1 in the UK that year. She also released it around the world, and it was a top hit everywhere, except in the United States. Lou Johnson hung onto his #49, and Sandie only made it to #52. 3. The next version didn’t come out until February of 1970. The singer, R. B. Greaves. I’m sorry. I don’t have a photo of him, or of his album, but his version did better than Lou’s or Sandie’s. It reached #27 on the US Top 40 and #3 on the US Easy Listening charts. 4. Fast forward to 1983, and Always Something There to Remind Me appeared again, 20 years after it was written. Peter Byrne and Rob Fisher recorded it in a group of demos that landed them a recording contract. Their name – Naked Eyes. Their version peaked at #8 in the Billboard Hot 100. Pretty good for an old song! 5. The last hit so far, came out in 1995. That’s when Tin Tin Out, an electronic music duo, recorded their version of this old hit. It went to #14 on the UK Singles Chart and #1 on their Dance Chart. That makes this song a classic! Over all those years, with all those artists who recorded their song, do you know who got paid for every single version? The songwriters! Burt Bacharach and Hal David own the copyright to the song, and every time someone records or plays it, Burt and Hal get paid in royalties. That means money! And when Amazon used the song on their commercial, they had to pay too. Burt and Hal are both dead, but their royalties still get paid to their estates and to their families. It pays to be a creator! Photo Sources:
1. Burt in 1972 - By ABC Television - eBay itemphoto frontphoto back, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18250433 2. Burt in 2013 - By Phil Guest from Bournemouth, UK - Burt Bacharach, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79102167 3. Hal in 2011 - By Pat Padua - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ppad/5713457890/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29999116 4. Dionne in 1966 – By Anefo - http://proxy.handle.net/10648/aaff1fba-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65537939 5. Lou Johnson - By John E. Reed - Original publication: UnknownImmediate source: http://indeepmusicarchive.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Lou-Johnson-At-the-piano-BW-Pic.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73213794 6. Sandie Shaw - By Pye Records - Discogs, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56938537 7. Naked Eyes - By The single can or could be obtained from its said copyright holders., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10831799 8. Tin Tin Out - By Tin Tin Out featuring Espiritu - https://www.discogs.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57077352 Information Source: (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me - Wikipedia Have you ever checked out my website? I hope so! Unless you visit every day, you’re going to miss something. Algorithms on social media decide what you see, and what you don’t. The only way to be sure you’re reading my posts is to subscribe to my newsletter. It comes out once a week, and it features a brief description and a pair of links for the blog. If you’re interested, click away. If it isn’t your cup of tea, try the next newsletter! Part 1 – Links to My Blogs: The heart image is from the newsletter I’m working on for this week. If you catch this post on social media, you’ll get a head start on everyone else. Its title – What Love Can Do – Inspiring Quotes for You and Me. I found 3 great quotes and the people who thought of them first. My blog link is a great way to take a picture walk through the post, and the video link is a great way to listen while you do other things. The blog link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/what-love-can-do-inspiring-quotes-for-you-and-me The vlog link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=615693403939931 The two bat images are from a newsletter I already sent. If you missed it, now you can check out the post. It’s one of my favorites. The title – I Am the Bat Lady, Times 4. Would you believe I’ve had 4 close encounters with bats over the years? Here are my true stories. The blog link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/i-am-the-bat-lady-times-four The vlog link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=58517693043825 Part 2 – Links for Great Books: Do you remember the links for What Love can Do – Inspiring Quotes for You and Me? I have two book links from that newsletter to share with you too. The first is a review for Dad’s Camera. It’s a lovely book for families dealing with memory issues. The second I read out loud for Saturday Reads. The title, Bear in Love. If you’ve ever wished for a secret friend, you’ll love this book! Book Review: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/review-of-dads-camera Saturday Reads: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=252573211060288 The other post was titled, I am Bat Lady, Times 4, and its newsletter has a pair of book links for you. I reviewed the first, Amara and the Bats, with its bat-loving girl. The second came from Saturday Reads, Beautiful Bats. Funny, I never thought about beauty when I met mine. Book Review: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/review-of-amara-and-the-bats Saturday Reads: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=805185557949975 Part 3 – Links to the Future: I don’t write my newsletters right away. It takes time to write, research, and find photos to match the story I want to tell you. Then it takes more time to write a script and prepare a vlog. That’s where I turn a blog post into a video for Sundays. They’re similar, but you read a script out loud differently than you’d read it silently. So I have to write it differently than the original post. It also takes time to find a book to read aloud on Saturday. Then I prepare a quick, short script. There’s more! Time to put all of my links into Pinterest, then into a spreadsheet where I save my most important information. I have to find it later, in case you or I need it. When that’s all done, I’m finally ready to send out that newsletter. This is my post from last week. It’s about the songs that were part of my life, from birth through graduation, and on up to today. I also picked a book to review. Last week it had to be about music, and it had to be a book I love. If I don’t like a book, I don’t review it. This one is about how music can make a difference in a kid’s life. It’s beautiful. I share my links on social media when I finish writing a blog, and when I finish writing a book review. The blog link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/my-life-in-songs The book review link: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/review-of-music-is-a-rainbow I wrote this post over two weeks ago. I found the idea at a baby shower. One of the games had me guessing the baby word in different countries. I added maps to give it more value for my readers, and of course I wanted a book with a baby story. When I looked through my reading journal, I found one about a baby emperor penguin. It’s beautiful, and it’s got so much for kids to learn along the way from the text and from the gorgeous illustrations. The blog link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/babies-they-make-the-world-go-round The book review link: http://www.rindabeach.com/my-reads/review-of-waiting-for-mama You’ll probably see these two posts with a vlog and a Saturday Reads’ book in about a month. Anything good takes time. Their newsletters will come out a week or two after that. If you’re interested in my content, the best/easiest way to find it is to subscribe to my newsletter. I hope you’ll consider a subscription. This post started with a search link that was supposed to find the most popular song on the day you were born. When I finally checked, it stopped working. Bummer! But I didn’t quit. I used the search bar to ask, “What was the #1 song in May of 1959?” It worked! Follow me back in time, and I’ll share the play list of my life. Part 1 – From Birth to Graduation: These three songs were popular in May of 1959. That’s the month I was born. I didn’t recognize the titles, but when I played them, I remembered two – the first and the last. My sympathies to the one in the middle – I didn’t remember it at all. Fast forward to May of 1977. That’s when I graduated from Wapakoneta Senior High, and these were the songs I listened to on the radio. I had to look up two but recognized them right away. My favorites – Don’t Leave Me This Way, Southern Nights, Sir Duke, and I’m Your Boogie Man. They all made my toes tap. Fast forward to May/June of 1981. It was time for another graduation. I’d finished college and graduated from The Ohio State University. I remember every single song, and my favorites have a beat you can dance to – Rapture, Kiss on My List, Morning Train, and Stars on 45 Medley. Part 2 – A Family Affair: My husband and I got married back in June of 1985. It’s hard to believe that we’ll celebrate our fortieth anniversary in two short years. Looking at both rows of songs, most of them weren’t my favorites. Ballads are OK, but I love dance music. I managed to find three oldies and goodies – We are the World, Everybody Wants to Rule the World (No, I never did), and Sussudio. In May of 1987 I was getting ready to become a new mom. One of my all-time favorite songs was I Knew You Were Waiting because I was waiting, to have a baby boy. I also loved Head to Toe and I Wanna Dance with Somebody. They both made my feet tap, but I was too tired to dance. I had a new baby to take care of. My second baby boy arrived in November of 1989. These songs were on the radio, lots of ballads, but I still found two favorites . . . Miss You Much and Blame It on the Rain. There was another song that became an all-time favorite, but it’s not on this screenshot – Nothing’s Going to Stop Us Now by Starship. It’s how I felt about my new baby boy. In March of 1992 I was waiting on a baby girl. No radio in the car . . . I had Disney songs on tape playing for the kids. This screenshot has a lot of ballads, but these three still found their way into my memory – Black or White, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, and I’m Too Sexy (It made me laugh). My only wish – that I had a special song for my daughter. Part 3 – My Pursuit of Writing: In June of 2007 I started writing, all because I held a bat on a mop in Germany. That experience made me start, and it took me two years to finish the bat’s story. I was still teaching all week and writing on the weekends. I knew the songs on this screenshot, but they weren’t my favorites. There were other songs I liked better. I finished that bat story in 2009. It was exciting, but I’d pushed it as far as I could with my friends. I needed to find someone who could tell me what was good, and what to work on. I took it to Highlights in July. There was something there, but I had a lot to learn about how to write a children’s book. I checked out two of these song titles, but it turns out I knew them all from the radio. They were OK, but my favorite from 2009 was not even on the list. The title – Just Dance. It figures a song about dance would be my favorite. In 2019 I published my first book, Neil Armstrong’s Wind Tunnel Dream. I decided to write it in 2018. That’s also when I decided to self-publish. It was the only way I could get my story out in time for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. It’s my bestselling book so far! There was only one song to make it to #1 over the summer of 2019 – Old Town Road. I’d heard of it, but I didn’t recognize the lyrics or the melody. The other song titles were # 1 in the years following 2019. I wish I recognized them too. |
AuthorWhen I write, I can only have one voice in my head, mine. A little noise is fine. But too much, or worse yet, WORDS, and I must change rooms or pull out headphones. Then I can write on! Categories
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