"Don't Just Do Something, Stand There" - Is That Our New Motto?

Monday night's dinner, the final portion of my chickpea pasta with seasoned ground beef, lay on my stomach like a brick. I found it hard to get to sleep because I was so uncomfortable. I don't think I'll be repeating that recipe. I don't like feeling like that at the end of the day. Lesson learned. 

I enjoyed the flavor of my chickpea pasta and ground 
beef meal, but last night, it was like I had 
swallowed a brick, lying in my intestines very 
uncomfortably. I think I'll skip a repeat of that meal 
and see what else I can make instead. I'm sure I 
can figure something else out. 

It seems that Mariupol, Ukraine is now 90% bombed out and overtaken by Russian forces. At this point, if those sheltering in the basements and other hiding spots haven't left, they will likely be rounded up and taken elsewhere, away from Ukraine and into Russian territory. I'm not sure that will be worse, frankly. To live elsewhere, but have food and water and maybe some heat, to not be in the way of bombs all the time, and maybe to take a deep breath for a change, might be an improvement. That's actually saying a lot because I think the population should be allowed to leave the city and move more into Ukraine voluntarily. Unfortunately, I doubt they will be given that option. 

More than 90% of this bustling city of half-a-million 
people has been destroyed. Less than 100,000 people 
remain here, sheltering in basements to hide from the 
bombardment. Yesterday Mariupol declared it was 
"occupied" by the enemy. Those poor people! 

The TV-feed we were seeing last night had DH and I both in tears. Those poor people. How long can the West sit on their hands and let this happen? Diplomacy is all good and fine, but it's quite obvious that diplomacy isn't going anywhere in this war. The misery keeps escalating, people keep being displaced and killed, and families keep being torn apart. How can this be condoned by any of the powers striving to help Ukraine? 

It seems as if this is what's happening to the rest of 
the world while Ukraine defends itself against the 
Russian aggression. There's something so very 
wrong about this! 

I'm grateful I've got swimming ahead of me today. I'll be able to work some of my frustration out in the water, and listening to the adventures of Drizzt Do'Urden seems a much better option than turning on the television to see human misery in real time. I think my psyche needs a bit of a break. I only watched the war for a half-hour or so last night, I can't take it 24/7. DH is semi-attentive to it during the hours when he's awake - so he's much more immersed in this than I am. I guess he can tolerate it better, but I can't. I fully admit it. I need some rainbows and lollipops. Have an excellent Tuesday, I'm heading over to the pool. I'll be back tomorrow. 

The Sad Saga of DSP

I read a lot, and I have a lot of on-line acquaintances who write and publish with Dreamspinner Press. There have been problems - big problems - the cracks of which began appearing last year. Several of the authors I know pulled their libraries and moved either to other publishers or switched over to self-publishing. A lot of words and accusations were thrown back and forth from both sides - those who left were condemned, those who stayed were accused of a variety of crimes, not least that of stupidity. I don't think they were stupid, as much as hopeful and putting a positive spin on the situation, liking the public side of DSP. I also heard comments from some of those who stayed that they simply didn't want to be bothered with the extra workload of self-publishing, or were in the process of ending pending contracts they had with DSP. 

The quality of authors and books published by DSP was always
extremely high. Within the genre of GRL, they were the top
of the top. The mighty are falling now. 

It's not often that a publisher gets publicly scolded and scored in a magazine as distinguished in the field as "Publisher's Weekly", but DSP just reached that high (low) status. On January 17th, the magazine published the story "Dreamspinner Press Restructures as Authors Cry Foul" (just follow the link to read the article in full). There are a lot of people I'm in fairly constant contact with who are getting seriously hurt by this. There are books and authors I've looked for on Barnes & Noble or Amazon websites whose books are suddenly not listed because the authors have pulled their libraries away from DSP and are now in the position of having to re-list their books themselves, or find another publisher for both new and older works. These are people who want to write but who are suddenly pushed into self-publishing in a harsh and difficult world. 

TJ Klune's "The House In the Cerulean Sea" will
be released this year and it's already hitting the lists
as a "must read". He left DSP last year, pulled his
books, and has relisted most of them himself as an
independent. He was signed to a six-figure contract
by Tor last year. This book is the first of six he's
writing for them.  

Some of these people won't make it. Their older library of published works will fade into the sunset. ?Some authors will put current works onto their shelves at home and try to manage getting their books back out there. Suddenly checks will be much less, if they arrive at all. Suddenly finances will become a problem for some prolific authors and that chasm of uncertainty about what to do will loom ahead of them. There are a lot of people whose 2020 just became a lot harder. 

My friend Tinnean, who has 63 books on Goodreads,
had her contract renewal declined from DSP a year
or two ago. She pulled her library from them and has
been self-publishing since. It's looking as if she
might have dodged a bullet. 

Even though there are authors staying with DSP, at least to finish books under contract with them, I wonder how long they'll walk the planks of this sinking ship. In the old days (being within the past decade - so not THAT old), Dreamspinner Press was considered the cream-de-la-cream of publishers in the genre. If an author published with DSP, it was almost a guarantee of a well-written, well-edited and well-promoted book that would be sold and promoted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and other venues. Now I'm hearing crickets at their dying hearth and I'm angered and saddened by the plight of many friends. 

On that note, I've got to get going. I'm almost running late! I'll be back tomorrow for my "day off" and I wish all of you a wonderful and successful day. 

Not All Tiding Are Glad

It's amazing how people you've never met can affect you. I've read thousands and thousands of books over my lifetime and hope to read many, many more, but I rarely have personally met the authors. Thanks to the internet, blogs, posts, pings and Facebook, I've "met" many of the authors I currently read and the doors to their lives are opened periodically and shared with the world. Yesterday a door was opened again that had been closed for a while, but it wasn't good news.

If I recommend one of Eric's books, it's this one. This
journey of a recently departed soul through the people and
events of his life as he journeys toward his final
forever is heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written. 

Eric Arvin is an amazing author - talented, a wonderful sense of humor, and young - heartrendingly young. He is one of six children, three of whom inherited a disease from their father, Jim, called "Cavernous Hemangiomas". Eric had one brain surgery to help with the disease and it left him partially paralyzed, but he worked hard and became the amazing man he is. He got engaged to TJ Klune in October, 2013, but before the end of the year had collapsed and needed emergency surgery. It was a serious risk, but Eric chose to have the surgery again, focusing on a happy future. His chances of recovery were slim, but he survived, unfortunately, as a quadriplegic, and has been completely bedridden and breathing with a ventilator ever since.

Even after the surgery, while he could barely speak, he
still had a smile and a spark that was undeniable. 

He posted occasional videos to his Facebook page and continued trying to write. Eric was transferred home and his mother took over his care. Eleven hours ago his aunt posted that Eric's family has made a decision to turn off his ventilator on Monday. I heard about this from various sources, but I've been fighting back the tears ever since I read this. I never met him, but through the internet and posts I've read and seen for years, I feel I have known him. I posted a link on my FaceBook page yesterday, sharing the family's "GoFundMe" campaign to assist with funeral expenses.

Baby, it's cold outside. I have my phone set to send me Priority messages only while I'm sleeping, so getting a ping shortly after 3:00 am when it should have been silent until 4:00 am startled me. I usually consider calls from my alarm company to be Priority, but understood when I scanned the list of messages and matched the time - cold. It's cold, and my phone was warning me. That's a smart phone - LOL.

So I'll be bundling up for the pool today, and the chances are excellent that my wet hair will flash freeze when I walk back to the car after my swim. It's 6 F (-14.4 C) right now, and we're not expected to get much higher than 13 F (-10.5 C) during the day. We'll also get snow starting late this afternoon, and there's a light wind that is dropping temps down even farther. It's the beginning of winter in Minnesota. *sigh* It's going to be a long one, and I'm so thankful for my new, warm coat. Have a good Saturday and a great weekend, and if you have a few dollars to spare, consider helping Eric's "Go Fund Me" campaign. Let's make this hard time just a little easier for the family. No amount is too small.