What I did while I was lit*er*al*ly on hiatus

Truth Serum Tell #20... and the changes happening this year

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Well. I’m back.

I normally would’ve started out with a Happy New Year or hope you all had a great holiday season.

But we all know the seasons sucked donkey balls and it’s not going to be a Happy New Year.

For the next four years.

So, I’m going to take a tweaked page from Jennifer Garner’s character in the movie “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” and say, “I hope you had the holiday season you had. And have the year you have this year.” #sososorry Needless to say, if I could take a page from Richard Gere, Christina Milian, and Ellen Degeneres and get the fuck out of the U.S., I would do it so quickly that I would be kicking up dust. #IwishIcouldmoveoverseas

So, I’ll just get on with it.

I took a break from this blog for three months last year, starting in October, and here’s what I did.

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Welcome to Lit*er*al*ly, Ororo, a weekly blog by me, Ororo Munroe. You are reading Truth Serum Tells, posts about deeper life shit. No needles or toxic, mind-bending drugs were used to write these posts.

If you like this post, be sure to 💖 me so others can fawn over my love language.

Thanks for reading.

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I Wrote a Book

Let’s be clear: I’m still writing it. And it’s definitely been a learning curve. I’m posting about two chapters a month; I’ll be posting Chapters 4 & 5 this month, so I should be done by March. I’ll be writing about the full experience on my author stack when I’m done, but so far, the biggest lesson learned is giving myself grace because:

1) I haven’t written fiction in nearly 10 years!

2) I’m no longer a pantser, but a plantser.¹

3) Trying to stay within a specific word count is fucking hard.

4) I didn’t start from scratch with this first book in the series. But I wish I had. I’d participated in Camp NaNoWriMo one year and made a goal to write 10K words. I met that goal. In the form of random scenes: 2k words here, 6K words there, 3k words over yonder, etc. I rarely toot my own horn, but I have to say those random scenes were

Which is making it hard when you’re trying to do #3.

5) Writing in real time and then publicly posting what is essentially an unfinished rough draft is new to me. When I was writing YA, no one read what I was writing until the first draft was completely done and after at least one round of edits. Which is why I was never a fan of critique groups.

6) I started getting my shit together in October and then posting in November. And yes, I’m getting help from AI. I have no shame admitting that. I tried using Sudowrite, and while I got fabbity-fab character sketches out of it, it was just too confusing to use. I found a how-to Youtube video for Novelcrafter and have been using that to help me flesh out these random scenes.

7) When I first started this journey, I wasn’t going to publish in eBook or print format. But since I want to do this fulltime, I’m gonna have to reassess that decision. I only have one paid subscriber on my author ‘stack (which I think is pretty fucking fabtastic!), but I’m gonna need more eyeballs eye-banging my words to make that goal a reality.

I Submitted a Short and Sweet Story to Micromance Magazine

I’ve never submitted stories anywhere. That’s not what I do. But I was following a writer who was doing prompts and decided to participate. I don’t even remember what the prompt was about but ended up writing about two college kids. Again, another genre (New Adult) I don’t do. But it came to me and there it was. And it was in a file all by itself for the longest. And then I discovered Micromance Magazine—"a new kind of literary journal dedicated to a beautiful marriage between Romance and Flash Fiction”—after I set up my author account, looking for other like-minded people to follow.

After reading several of their stories, I decided to dust off my little story, give it an ending and sent it off on 12/9. The editor contacted me on 12/23 and said:

Evolet!! Girl, "A Little Bit of Heaven" is the kind of story that definitely leaves you wanting more...lol... I'd love to put it on the schedule!! It's a story I've been looking for - just steamy enough. And so well-written. I get so excited when I read a story so well crafted... It's the strong, entertaining content I strive to find... Thank you for submitting it.

I did a little Snoopy Dance when I read that. Even though I won’t get paid for the submission, maybe my author ‘stack will get more eye-bangs. She said she’d get back to me with a publication date. Which means I’ll let you know the pub date as well.

I Watched Some Movies

It was Girls Day Out the day after Thanksgiving when me, Sis, Niece, and Nephew’s Girlfriend went to see “Wicked”.

The parking garage at Scottsdale Fashion Square. This is the floor level where the Harkins Theater is, and they always put movie posters here.

Ari and Cynthia—like I’m on a first name basis with them—were incredibly fabbity-fab. Ari had great comedic timing and the hair flipping! Lordty, she had us laughing with that over-the-top shit. And when Cynthia hit that ever famous note at the end, I got chills. Did you watch any of their interviews? I lurved the fact that they were paid equally (what a concept), and they didn’t lip sync! The singing was live, and it was amazeballs. Also, I lurve me some Jonathan Bailey (ever since “Bridgerton”, actually) and would totally fight over this man, too.

Years ago, I had taken Niece to see a production of “Wicked” at ASU Gammage and we both lurved it. I honestly don’t remember how they ended up becoming enemies, but ten to one it was because of a dude.

Moana 2

I thought it was just as great as the first one. I lurved the tattoo she got on her arm at the end and the song du jour, “Can I Get a Chee-Hu” was just as catchy as “You’re Welcome.” I hear they’re filming a live action version, so that should be interesting. If you go, stick around for the credits.

Gladiator II

I thought it wasn’t too bad. I don’t like when Denzel Washington plays the bad guy, though. And there were a few moments when Paul Mescal, the lead dude, actually sounded like Russell Crowe. Since he’s supposed to be portraying his son in this movie, I guess that wouldn’t be too far off. Also, there was a scene where they filled the ring with water, recreating some famous battle, and I was like, “What the fuck? Where the fuck did all that water come from?” It felt a little over the top and what is it about fighting all these crazed, feral animals?

Red One

With Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans is now streaming on Prime already and I watched this with my Dad. LOL It’s in theaters, too, and I honestly hadn’t planned on seeing it. But it was funny, and I got to see it for free, so why not? I lurve me some Chris Evans and he was his usual snarky wisecracking self.

Val

It’s a documentary on Netflix about the actor, Val Kilmer, narrated by his son, Jack (who happens to sound like a young Val). He’d been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015 and due to complications from chemo and two trach surgeries, he has difficulty speaking and now uses a voice box. I remember seeing him in “Top Gun: Maverick” and actually teared up when I saw him because I’d kinda forgotten that his health wasn’t all that great. A couple of days after Thanksgiving, I was watching “The Saint” and it reminded me of his doc and that I wanted to watch it.

Val has great “smolder” in this movie. I lurve the chemistry between him and Elisabeth Shue

For the record, this movie is one of my Top 3 fav Val Kilmer movies; “Top Secret!” and “Batman Forever” being the other two in case you were wondering. I thought I’d find out what his full first name was (I thought Val was short for something), but alas, his first name really is just Val. LOL. I enjoyed watching his life mostly through home videos and pictures. He’s artistic, quirky, silly, and a tad guarded. I could see that in the interview clips they showed. He was reportedly hard to work with, but I just think he was incredibly serious about his craft.

A little Val trivia mentioned in the doc: he was the youngest person, at the time, to be accepted into Juilliard School’s Drama Division.

A little Val trivia not mentioned in the doc: he was the voice of KITT (“Knight Rider”) in 18 episodes from 2008-2009. #ThankyouWikipedia I found this to be extremely interesting because this show (w/ David Hasselhoff) was one of my (many) fav shows back in the 80s. I stopped watching it when the show ended. They apparently tried to reboot the series—twice—with other actors playing the lead, but they were both canceled after just one season. #notshocked Val was part of the third reboot. I now want to find this version of the show and watch it just to hear what he sounded like.

Venom: The Last Dance

I really did enjoy these movies. That symbiot got him into and out of all sorts of trouble LOL, but I’m kinda pouty that the series is over. There was a battle royale at the end when other symbiots like Venom got utilized, which was interesting. I wouldn’t mind seeing a spin-off of the female character.

Kraven: The Hunter

About a Marvel character that I didn’t even know existed. Don’t bother staying for the credits as this was not a typical Marvel movie. All I have to say about this is:

First: Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Second: Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s abs. His older wife is the luckiest bitch around.

Third: Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s chair sprawl. SPOILER ALERT: at the end of the movie, there’s a scene where he’s shirtless and puts on this vest that has a lion’s mane collar. He puts it on and then sits down in this chair that “happens” to be positioned in front of a mirror. And by “sit”, I mean, he sinks down and sprawls out (kinda like a lion), legs extended, one arm on the arm rest, the other propped against his chin. I should’ve taken a picture. Swear to Christ, it was the sexiest, manly-man chair sprawl I’ve ever seen that my Sweet Hole dribbled a little bit. Unh!

Not all guys can do this. There are some actors who I thought were utterly hawt and masculine, only for them to sit on a couch or in a chair… and cross their damn legs like a woman! Gah! So disappointing. Not Aaron Taylor-Johnson. This mutherfucker has an Olympic Gold-worthy chair sprawl and I. Am. HERRRRRRE. For. It. What was the movie about? Fuck if I know. Maybe it was about Aaron Taylor-Johnson and his epic parkour skills.

And his abs.

And his sexy as fuck chair sprawl.

Yeah. I’m gonna go with that.

I Had Teeny Tiny Internal Breakdowns (about having my own place)

I’ll explain in another TST post, but needless to say, the shine of having my own place hasn’t worn off, but rather I can’t enjoy it.

I Paid $4K and Change for a Two-Month Total Transformation

And had Buyer’s Remorse the minute I pressed the Leave Meeting button on our Zoom call. I thought I was getting a consult about colonics and the next thing I know I’m wrestling with numbers and wincing as I use a credit card I had paid off with a personal loan from Lending Club but is now whittled back down to an available balance of a few hundred dollars.

Before you ask in the comments, yes, there’s going to be a TST post about this.

I Went to My First Album Listening Party

If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, then you know that I listen to mostly alternative music and my favorite band is Linkin Park. Last year, after taking a 7yr hiatus when their frontman, Chester Bennington, committed suicide (RIP), the band got back together.

With a female lead singer.

Based on the reactions from some of the fans (including Chester’s son), you’d think this was like when Marvel reintroduces a superhero as a female when they were originally male.

Or when 007 was a female. For, like, 5 minutes.

I get it. Chester was one of a kind. There will never be another voice like his. Watching them perform live is like listening to their CD. They were that good and sometimes that’s rare. When he took his own life in 2017, I was utterly. Gutted. You can never know people’s mindsets—although with Chester, it was in the songs—but for him to take it over the edge (and in such a horrible way) was just devastating for LP fans.

All that talent, just. Gone. Truly heartbreaking.

When my favorite radio station played their new single in November, with the new female singer, I was coming back to work from picking up lunch and I just sat in the parking lot and listened. And I was like, “OK, this Emily chick ain’t bad.” I like bands like Halestorm with female leads who can sing-scream.

Their new album dropped Nov 15^th and when I read that all Zia Records (local indie record store. They sell vinyl records, yo!) in my city were having an album listening party the day after the release, at exactly the same time, I made the decision to go. It was free, so why not? Their sound is a little bit different, but I can still hear classic LP and I was bobbing my head a few times. When I got there, they were giving out posters, lanyards, stickers, and raffling off T-shirts.

I didn’t win a shirt, but you can damn well bet I found a home for those stickers. They did a short tour overseas (probably to test the waters) last year and plan for a huge tour this year. And when they come to my city on Sept 6^th, I will have my ticket. Maybe the new girl will grow on me. In time. While I was strolling the “wrecka stow” listening to new tunes, I found these little folks to take home.

L to R: Angel Betty Boop, Daniel Craig as James Bond from “No Time to Die” (yes, I nearly lost my damn mind when I saw this) and Geralt of Rivia from “The Witcher” (so gutted that Henry is longer playing this character)

I Quiet Quit Unsubscribed from Nearly 10 ‘Stack Newsletters

Hopefully, they didn’t notice. Reading through 300 emails is something I never ever want to do again.

But it made me realize that I needed to do some weeding of my own. As I went through all those emails, I quiet quit² ones 1) I hadn’t opened in 6 mos or more and 2) deleted emails without opening. This also means I more than likely won’t subscribe to any new ones very often. I’m more aware of my time now and will just stick to the ‘stacks I read and interact with on the regular. You know who you are. So, the weeding of the ‘stacks I subscribe to made me do a spring cleaning of people who subscribe to me. Which means…

I Quiet Quit Unsubscribed 59 subscribers from My Blog

Hopefully, they didn’t notice.

If you received this post in your Inbox… feel the privilege! I had read a post on Notes where someone had quietly unsubscribed 1K from their list. She’d gone through her stats and deleted anyone who hadn’t opened her email in 6 months or more. And I thought, “Well damn! That’s a good idea. I’m gonna do that, too.”

Hence the kicking of 59 readers to the curb.

I plan to make a point of doing this every 6 months and annually. I appreciate my readers. For real, I do. You don’t have to comment on everything I post. You can be a creeper lurker. I don’t comment every time and I’m a creeper lurker extraordinaire. But if you’re gonna subscribe—and have been hanging around for a year—at least open the damn email. Hit the 💖 and let me know you read it, for fucks’ sake! You might as well be a Follower at this point.

So that’s it. That’s what I did while hiatusing (it’s a thing).

I’m back.

But it won’t be weekly like before.

My process for answering those journal questions goes like this:

• Write answer to question directly in the journal. Usually a few words to one sentence.

• Type up questions in Word document.

• Type up answers. Expand answer if necessary (there’s no room to provide more detail in journal).

• Copy/paste to ‘stack.

• Choose appropriate Bitmoji graphics.

• Schedule

It’s a lot. I can’t go back to weekly posts when I’m caregiving and writing now.

I can’t even commit to a biweekly or even a monthly posting schedule.

So, for now the posts are gonna be random.

It’ll be like a gift!

At some point every month, you’ll open your inbox and Whoomp, there it is! A post from me.

Just, y’know, hangin’ out in your inbox.

I do appreciate your patronage, dearest readers. I may not be around as often as I used to be but know that I’ll be reading YOU.

P.S. What do you think of the new color scheme, page breaks, and logo? New year, new color.

I write short and steamy interracial romance novellas under the name Evolet Yvaine. If you like stories that will make your panties wet, I invite you to become a member of the Wet Panty Society and join me on my writing journey. It comes with perks! (in addition to other… perky things)

1. A pantser is a writer who writes stories with no outline. In my case, I would have a title, character names, and an idea and would just let the story flow from that. A “plantser” is a writer who uses an outline.

2. According to the Los Angeles Times, the first known use of "quiet quitting" was by Bryan Creely, a Nashville-based corporate recruiter turned career coach, who invoked it in a March 4, 2022, video posted to TikTok and YouTube. The term "quiet quitting" refers to employees who put no more effort into their jobs than absolutely necessary.