Sunday Salon for 3 December 2023
Happy Sunday! Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at ReaderBuzz. Check out her post and the links to see what other bloggers have been up to in the last week.
How’s the weather?
Gray and gloomy. Mostly, I can reframe that as cozy. That effect will be enhanced when I get my holiday decorations up.
What are you reading?
I finished Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier — review coming on Friday to coincide with an important anniversary in Mary Anning’s life.
I’m almost done with A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan. That’s good, because I’m slated to lead our book group’s discussion of it on Thursday. I’m also working on two blog posts inspired by this book. One is what little I know about my Indiana family’s involvement in the KKK in the 1920s and the other is the book review.
I haven’t settled on my next book. I had a couple of false starts, but I’m sure that something will stick soon.
What are you watching?
Rick didn’t watch the first season of Annika with me. I was willing to re-watch that so that we could watch the second season together. Nicola Walker (who I loved in River, Collateral, and Unforgotten) plays Annika Strandhed, the detective in charge of the new Marine Homicide Unit. She and her small team investigate crimes that occur on or in the waterways around Glasgow, Scotland.
The dialogue is fast and witty (we catch more with the closed caption turned on). The characters have lives that are as interesting as their jobs. The Scottish scenery is delightful and ever-changing. We watch Annika using the PBS Passport, a benefit of our membership in our local PBS station.
What are you writing?
Someone in a writing workshop recommended Notion to use for organizing the material for a novel. She was hesitant in the recommendation, and I can see why. Notion is the kind of tool that takes time to learn and to set up to work well. Which also makes it the kind of tool that can claim a lot of writing time, while not actually writing. Still, I was in need of a character database, so I took the risk.
I watched a bunch of YouTube videos to get oriented. Then, I plunged in by creating Notion pages for my To Be Read and To Be Watched lists — because my previous systems have been overwhelmed for a while. With that experience, I was able to build a good character database and start filling it in with my novel’s cast.
What are you doing?
My tooth extraction will finally happen this week — about a month after it was determined that I needed one. I’m ready to get it over with. I’ve worked out what liquid and soft diets might look like for me and procured some groceries to make smoothies, shakes, and creamed soups.
I’m still pretty fuzzy on what recovery looks like and the timing of it. I think it’s different for everyone, so it’s hard to say. I’m counting on being in good enough shape to facilitate my book group’s discussion of A Fever in the Heartland just over 24 hours after the extraction, but I’m working on a Plan B in case that isn’t possible.
How are you this fine Sunday?