Tag Archive for: Dancing With The Stars

My Enjoyment of Books, Movies and TV Have Changed

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Yes, I no longer am entertained by the same things I used to be–and I’m going to be honest and blame it on age.

Of course there are exceptions as there are exceptions in all things.

I used to love horror movies and books–not so anymore. Oh, yes, I still love a good ghost story with plenty of scares, what I don’t like is gruesome, blood-letting scenes. Forget the ax murderers and torturers.

I used to like Criminal Minds and followed the series through the first couple of seasons. Then I realized it began to show the grossest of torture scenes of women and sometimes children. I gave up CSI  long ago, couldn’t take the gore. Scenes I really didn’t want lodged in my memory.

I once was a fan of thrillers, both movies an books–but the more I read, the more I began to see how impossible some of the plots were. Sometimes the time sequence was not realistic, but more often the hero and heroines could not possibly live through what was shown or written. I know it’s fiction–but goodness, lets be a bit more realistic. People don’t recover from beatings and being shot in a matter of hours or sometimes minutes–and especially not enough to fight again, or leap from one building to the next.

There are plenty of mystery shows I do like–Castle for one, even though there are holes in the plots sometimes. I love the characters and it’s fun to watch. The Mentalist is another I enjoy–most of them, anyway. NCIS is still a favorite as is The Good Wife–the best writing on TV in my humble opinion.

Frankly, I never stay up to watch the new shows because I can’t stay awake. I usually watch the previous season on Netflix, except for those shows that they play over and over on USA and TNT and early enough for me to see the whole thing all the way through.

The only show that I make myself stay up for these days is Dancing With the Stars. Even my husband watches that one with me. He’s much better at spotting dancing mistakes than I am.

While I’m telling you all of this I might as well make a confession. Hubby and I both watch General Hospital on the days we’re home in the daytime. It comes on right after lunch and often we both nap through it. When I do see the whole thing I am amused. The writers put in things that happen in police work that would never be accepted in a mystery. Things happen in hospitals that could never go on. People die and years later come back to life. Hubby and I laugh and say, “Sure.”

What I really like best in any kind of mystery are characters I can cheer for, people who I now I’d like if I met them. I’m not so thrilled with the dysfunctional hero or heroine who drinks too much and isn’t a good judge of male or female lovers.

Guess I’ve just turned into a cranky old lady. And I hope people like my characters.

Marilyn

Need to Take My Own Advice

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Managing our time has been a frequent topic on this blog. I’m always quick to give advice on the subject. This week I realized that I need to heed what I spew out to others.

One thing I gave up doing long ago was housework. The last few years I’ve had someone in the family who needed extra money and was willing to clean my house for me. I still do touch-ups and clean bathrooms that need that extra scrub.

Right now I’m gearing up for the launch and promotion of the 8th in my Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series due out sometime this month. To categorize what kind of book it is, I call it a cozy police procedural. Though it’s pretty far along in the series, I write each book as a stand-alone so it isn’t necessary to read the books in order. I’m setting up the in-person launch at our local used book store. There are no other bookstores within an hour plus driving time.

But what’s really been taking up time is that I decided to plan my own blog tour. I now know why those who do this professionally charge as much as they do. First you have to find blogs who are willing to host you–and ones that might get a bit different traffic–and coordinate the dates. I always ask them what they’d like me to write about so that each post will be different. The group I gathered together came up with some splendid topics and interview questions. Then, of course, I had to write the posts and add all the information about my book, send them to the appropriate person along with my book cover and a photo of me. This time instead of sending my usual photo, I sent a different one for each post.

This will be happening during the month of April and a couple of days into May. To add to the craziness, I also signed on with eight authors to do another blog tour right in the middle of mine. This one will only last eight days, but it will be labor intensive. I’ll be busy promoting all these blogs and doing all the needed commenting.

This month I’ll be attending Epicon which is the convention for E-published authors and E-publishers in San Antonio. I’m giving a presentation on blogging and blog tours. My publisher is attending so I’ll also be spending some time with her. Soon after returning, I’ll be heading for Left Coast Crime. I’ll get home just a couple of days before my blog tour begins.

Somewhere in all this I need to be working on my latest manuscript.

Poor hubby, he’ll be disappointed if I don’t take a day now and then for us to head to town, have lunch out and take in a movie. He’s going with me to San Antonio so maybe that will count for some of our together time.

Like someone commented on a earlier post, my “me time” is when I’m writing.

One other thing I can’t miss is the fact that Dancing With the Stars is soon to begin. I can pass up a lot of reality TV, but I love Dancing. Hubby likes it now too, so that’ll be part of our together time.

Next month I’ll let you know if this has all been way too much for this great-grandmother to cope with.

Marilyn

Lessons Learned from Dancing with the Stars

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I love Dancing with the Stars. Every Monday night if I’m not sitting in front of my TV, my faithful DVR is recording away every beat of every samba, rumba, quickstep or waltz that’s taking place. I love the costumes, the music, the dancing, the so called “stars” and the professionals. Every season I quickly get attached to my favorites and agonize when they get voted off.

This season there’s a lot of good going on. All the celebrities are decent dancers (with the exception of Psycho Mike and Wendy Williams who both quickly got the boot). I love that every week a different couple comes out on top on the Leader board and that as of right now, it’s any one’s season to win.

It occurred to me while watching this past week that there’s a lot I could correlate between the show and my career as a writer.

First, there’s the skill element involved. Every season there are celebrities who start out with an edge. Some previous dance experience. Or natural talent, that kind of thing. But then there is the celebrity who rises above their talent level with good old fashioned hard work. They continue to improve week after week and the audience sees this and rewards them with votes. These are my favorite celebrities. Like Emmitt Smith, the ex-professional football player who won his season. Sure, Emmitt started out with some rhythm, but by the end of the season he was a dancer.

Lesson learned? Work hard and keep working harder and it will pay off. Make each book better than the one before.

Then there is the judge’s criticism. In case you’ve never watched the show, there are three judges: Len, Carrie Ann and Bruno. Sometimes I honestly think Len is smoking crack. But, I have to say, for the most part he’s pretty consistent in what he likes. Len loves a good clean dance. He doesn’t like the fru fru stuff. He wants to see the dance elements done properly. Bruno is more about the “feel”. He’s the emotion behind the judging and I love his crazy comments. Carrie Ann is somewhere in between Len and Bruno. She’s also the Lift Nazi. Heaven forbid your feet come off the floor in a dance that doesn’t allow it. She’ll dock you a point for it. Count on that.

So here’s the thing. The judges’ opinion is important. They give you a score and that score is averaged in with fan votes and decides whether or not you are booted off the show. But you can’t choreograph your dance each and every week to please the judges, because you simply can’t please all three of them. You have to dance to entertain. To tell a story. You have to have fun out there. You have to take risks. The best dances do all the above.

Lesson learned?  Write the best story you can. Have fun. Take risks. Dare to go where no writer before you has gone. Never forget who you are writing for (and it isn’t Publishers Weekly or Bookreview or Kirkus). It’s for you and your fans (the people who buy your books!)

Every season, there are celebrities who earn my admiration and celebrities who end up disappointing me. The show puts a lot of pressure on the stars. Besides keeping up with a grueling dance schedule, many of them are still doing their regular job- filming talk shows, soaps, shows in Vegas, etc. I understand that the pressure can get to them, but there’s something to be said about showing grace under said pressure. No one at home wants to hear about how horrible your life is because you have to catch your limousine or miss your private jet to go on your television tour and how you are working fourteen hour days to keep everything afloat.

This past week, super model Petra Nemkova got the axe. I was so disappointed! I’ll be honest, I had no idea who she was before the show. But I sure do now. She’s a survivor of the 2004 tsunami that hit Thailand. Her fiancee was killed and Petra suffered serious injuries. She has since founded a charitable organization called Happy Hearts Fund that helps children who have suffered through a natural disaster. Petra was not only beautiful and a graceful dancer, she let us see her heart. She made herself vulnerable. She took the judges’ criticism like a trooper and vowed to work harder each week. The show is really going to miss her.

Reality star Kendra Wilkinson, a former Playboy bunny and Hugh Heffner love interest is another story. I’ll admit, at first I kind of rolled my eyes at Kendra. But I saw her working hard week after week and I began to really like her. Then last week, she kind of got into a brouhaha with Judge Carrie. Kendra blew her dance and instead of taking the judges’ criticism like a woman, she interrupted Carrie’s critique and told her she didn’t care about being elegant. I’m not sure how Kendra survived last week. The judges gave her extremely low marks and you would have thought that the American public would have kept their votes to themselves. Still, I think Kendra’s days are numbered. No body likes a crybaby.

Lesson learned? Criticism is there to help you grow. Listen to it, take what you can from it and be better. Show your audience your vulnerabilities. People love people who are real. If you can’t be a professional, at least learn to hold your tongue.

So that’s it. My Dancing with the Stars lessons on writing. This season I’m rooting for Ralph (Karate Kid) Macchio (who knows how to take criticism with a smile), Kirstie Alley (who shows us her vulnerabilities and makes us like her more each week), Hines Ward (who works harder each and every week to improve) and Chelsea Kane (who takes the big risks and gives the audience a super performance each and every time)!

Maria Geraci writes fun, romantic women’s fiction. Visit her website or connect with her on Facebook or Twitter.

Goodie, goodie, the mind candy TV is back!

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By the end of the day, in fact once I’ve cooked and eaten dinner, I’m not good for much of anything except relaxing in front of the TV.

I’m delighted my reality shows are back especially Dancing with the Stars. My daughter-in-law always comes to watch with us, and hubby is much better at seeing the missteps than either of us. We’re always enthralled with the great costumes. It’s also fun to watch the chubby ones shed the pounds.It doesn’t take us long to choose our favorites either. I’m rooting for Kristi Alley.

That’s not the only one I watch, Amazing Race is well…amazing. I can’t believe what those people have to do. They’d all do better if they took the time to read the directions through before dashing off through the foreign city they’ve found themselves in. I have a granddaughter and her husband who are determined to do the Amazing Race. She’s a speech therapist in a public school, her hubby a deputy sheriff. They have two young kids. They are grooming the grandparents (my daughter and son-in-law) to be ready to take over if and when they get to go.

Oh, and there’s also Survivor. Now this one I can’t watch when it’s on because I have my writers’ group to go to on Wendnesday nights, but I can watch it on my computer the next day.

I try to watch Celebrity Apprentice (can’t believe how rude and obnoxious all those so-called celebs are) but I usually fall asleep before it’s over.

My sister (she’s old like me but tapes everything and watches the next day) and my eldest daughter are also addicted–and I can count on them to tell me the outcome in case I don’t stay awake until the end of any of these shows.

My excuse? Where else can you observe such interesting characters?

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com/

How Do You Get Everything Done?

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That’s a question I get asked all the time. The answer is, often I don’t.

I make a lot of lists and cross things off when I get them done. Yesterday I planned to work on a book that has just been edited and take care of some of the edits. Instead, I read and answered email, filled out an interview someone sent me, received a great review for Dispel the Mist, the third.

Once I got that of course I had to copy it, put it on the page where I’m keeping those reviews and I had to let my Twitter friends and my Facebook friends know. Holding my breath about the reveiw that might not be so good. My publisher and I both sent the book out to a lot of reviewers.

Hubby brought in the mail and I had to pay a couple of bills and I went on line to cancel a membership to something we never used–should have done that long ago.

Remembered that I should add to my newsletter about my talk at the library (not many showed up but someone I only met on Twitter and his wife traveled 1 1/2 hours just to meet me. Don’t tell me Twitter promo doesn’t work. Then, of course, my launch Sunday at Kirby Farms in Springville had to be mentioned–that one went super well, lots more people and books sold and the cookies were delicious.)

And that’s more or less the way it went all day. I did get a little done, I’m looking for the word was and trying to turn the sentence around in order to eliminate it–works sometimes, not always.

Hubby and I did take time out to watch General Hospital together–its our afternoon rest period.
Cooked and ate a big dinner, but left right after for Bible Study–we’re studying Daniel. Came home and my brain doesn’t really function well much after seven, so I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about watching Dancing with the Stars. (Good excuse, anyway.)

Maybe today will be more organized with less distractions–except I really must get the laundry done.

Marilyn

Unwelcome Interruptions

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Spring. It’s here.

I think.

It wasn’t here on the weekend – 6 inches of snow – but the temps in the high 60s during the day on Monday took care of any lingering chill.

As I write this blog – while watching Dancing with the Stars – the weather guys break into the show. Darn, I won’t get to see Shawn Johnson or that Sex in the City actor dance. Note: I’m pulling for Rodeo Rider Ty to win. I’m guessing Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend or the Microsoft guy will be the next voted off the dancing island.

Back to the weather. In Oklahoma nothing is certain as far as weather is concerned. Snow, rain, high winds, tornados – all in the last four days. The weather guys are on the tv screen. They don’t dance. Okay, maybe some dancing around the subject. They are talking amongst themselves since their storm spotters don’t have any good footage to send them. The consensus seems to be that even though the National Weather Service has issued the “Tornado Warning” (as opposed to a mere “Tornado Watch”) the local guys don’t really expect any tornados. But, with the “Tornado Warning” out, it’s current policy for all the network channels in Oklahoma to cut from the normal programming to the high tech weather forecast centers. We’re treated to the Doppler radar map and storm tracking projections. I might get rain in about two hours. Sigh.

Wait! Now they say the warning is going to expire! Yes! Yes! Now I can at least see Medium! Or most of it. Seems it’s already started. As the weather guys fade from sight, Alison is having her opening dream sequence. The dream thing is my least favorite thing about the show – I know it’s just a plot device for showing her psychic visions, but I don’t care for it. Makes me tired for her. She never gets a good night’s sleep, between her dreams and her kids. Hey, is there a show on television with better child actors than Medium? If there is, I haven’t seen it.

My co-author and I have several “works in progress” featuring psychics. One of them actually has no dogs or cats. Bet you thought we couldn’t write anything without four-legged furballs in it! Good psychic mysteries are harder to write than you might think. Your psychic hero or heroine can’t get so much information from his or her sixth sense that the mystery is solved before it even gets started. The psychic clues have to be vague enough to leave room for the reader to get involved in the detecting, otherwise it’s not really a mystery. I love Charlaine Harris’s “The Grave Secrets” series. That psychic finds dead bodies. That’s pretty much her whole bag of tricks so far. As with any good series, the characters grow and change. I can’t wait to read her next one.

Medium is about half finished. The weather guys claim they are only interrupting commercials. Right! They are slow to get back to normal programming from each commercial and I’m missing the first few seconds of the show. Sigh. Reminds me of when I was living with my parents. My dad is the consummate channel surfer. He hates commercials with a passion. If you watch television with him, be prepared to miss part of your show after every channel break ends. He usually overestimates the length of the commercials and is slow to surf back to his starting place.

I’ve lost the thread of this episode. Maybe this blog too. The interruptions add up and it’s easy to lose track.

Which reminds me of plots and subplots, present and past, dreams and reality – too much switching back and forth can lose your readers. I hate time shifts in books and film. But that’s a subject for another day.

It’s raining outside. Medium is over.

Wonder who scored the lowest on Dancing with the Stars?

Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com

Guilty Pleasures

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Going to movies is one of my guilty pleasures–guilty because of the money it costs to go to the show nowadays and the fact that we usually end up eating out either before or after. The last movie we saw was Knowing which hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed. People are calling it sci-fi, but it really is religious with multiple subtle clues throughout.

Another of my guilty pleasures is reality TV shows. I’m delighted that Dancing With the Stars is back on. My daughter-in-law and I watch together. We’ve sucked hubby into watching it too. I also love Survivor and have watched it faithfully since it’s inception. My eldest daughter and I discuss it along with the Amazing Race via e-mail after each episode. (Yes, I also like Celebrity Apprentice, but I’m usually asleep before the firing.)

My biggest confession is my husband and I watch General Hospital together in the afternoon. (If we miss it we watch the episode on the computer.) Frankly, sometimes we both go to sleep when it’s on. It’s amazing to me the things they do with the plot that an author could never get away with. I also have a good friend who is a General Hospital fan and hubby and I have been invited to her home for tea and to watch an episode,

I have other TV shows I really like–Medium and The Mentalist are wonderful. By the time evening comes around, my brain is too tired to tackle any writing chores and a little mindless entertainment seems just right.

Oh, and I like McDonald’s vanilla flavored iced coffee too. (Fortunately we’re 17 miles away from the nearest McDonald’s.)

Now, I’ve confessed–what are your guilty pleasures?

Marilyn a.k.a. F. M. Meredith
http://fictionforyou.com

Second Acts

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A confession. I watch Dancing with the Stars…religiously. I’ve never had any interest in other reality shows. I’ve got zero interest in camping out with strangers for a month even to win a million dollars on Survivor. My idea of roughing it is a motel without room service.

But, in a little corner of my mind, I can see myself gliding across the floor in the arms of a tall gentleman in white tie and tails performing a Viennese Waltz.

Some critics say Dancing with the Stars is just another boot camp for D list stars, willing to boogie their way back into the limelight. Maybe. But the amount of work is ferocious, learning one, and now that the season is moving towards the finale, two routines per week. The way I see it, if you’re on the D list and manage to make it to the final Dancing four, you’ve earned a promotion to the C list at the very least.

I wasn’t surprised, but slightly saddened, by the elimination in the last two weeks of Priscilla Presley and Marlee Matlin. ‘Cilla is no spring chicken, the grandmother of two, soon to be three kiddies. And Marlee, while considerably younger, is also past the traditional Hollywood babe age.

But there they were, kicking up their heels, Cilla performing a split for goodness sakes – and enjoying the prime of their lives. Whatever they had done and achieved in the past, and it’s been significant for both, they are continuing to challenge themselves in the second act of their lives.

Which got me to thinking of how Dancing with the Stars and Evelyn David have a lot in common. (Buckle your seatbelts, this may be a crazy ride.) To be deliberately vague, let’s just say that when we wrote Murder Off the Books, neither half of Evelyn David was eligible for a student discount at the movies. Just to be clear, however, we weren’t eligible for the senior citizen early bird special either. But one of the best parts of the success of our book is that it has opened a new chapter (pun intended) in our lives. Rather than buy a red convertible and find some new arm candy to deal with any mid-life crises, we wrote a mystery. Then we learned a whole series of new “routines,” like promotion and public speaking. We discovered that our second act is as exciting, challenging, and fulfilling as anything that we’ve done before.

Shall we dance?

Evelyn David
Murder Off the Books by Evelyn David
Murder Takes the Cake, coming Fall 2008
www.evelyndavid.com