Ant-Man and The Wasp - Awesome Team

***WARNING: Spoilers ahead! If you haven't seen Ant-Man and The Wasp yet, you may not want to read the post below until you have. And I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to see it, especially if you like to laugh. So, go on, watch the movie, then come back and read my thoughts.***

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Ant-Man and The Wasp Movie Poster

Ant-Man and The Wasp -- I'd been looking forward to this movie ever since the first installment of Ant-Man, which was a hilarious movie, and one of my favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe titles. They definitely tried to keep up the humor in this sequel, so I'll give a thumbs up for consistency. Though, I have to admit, while I enjoyed the movie, it still wasn't quite as good as the first where they hit things more on the head with the humor.

Luis's tangents were funny, per usual, and I loved it that Scott's ex-wife's current husband who hated Scott in the first movie now loved him and was hugging him all the time. That reversal was fun.

In Ant-Man and The Wasp we see the repercussions of Scott's actions from Captain America: Civil War. And because Scott is under house arrest, it makes this movie more centralized, taking place in one city. Now I know some people didn't like that it wasn't integrated as much into the rest of the MCU as some of the other movies, but I think it worked. This movie was happening during all the events of Avengers: Infinity War, so it makes sense that Scott doesn't get mixed up in all of that. The nice thing about most of the MCU titles is that even if there's not a ton of weaving with the other movies or characters, it feels like it still fits in the whole universe, and that's what Ant-Man and The Wasp felt like to me -- I knew it was part of the MCU, and there were just enough references in the movie to make it feel that way. Any more and it would have been too much for me, I think.

One of the best things about this movie was that both Ant-Man and Wasp pretty much got equal screen time. If anything, Wasp might have had more kick ass scenes than Ant-Man. I was thrilled to see that she wasn't relegated to a sidekick and that she had a central role in the movie. Quite frankly, since the movie focused on finding Hope's mother, it should have been titled The Wasp and Ant-Man instead!

The whole family theme throughout the movie was great. This wasn't a story of huge, global repercussions, but more personal journeys. And I think it was well-placed after Infinity War since it brought us all back down to Earth (literally and figuratively).

And the villains even reflected this focus. I know, I know, some of you didn't think the villains were big and bad enough. But they weren't the point of the movie, really. They were simply obstacles in the way of saving Janet from the quantum realm. Sonny Burch was your typical money-hungry criminal, and there was just enough of him, in my opinion. Ghost, on the other hand, was a woman striving to stay alive -- quite a different motivation. And in the end, her story was connected to the family theme as well. She'd lost her family in the accident that changed her, but at the end we see that Bill had become her family, since he refused to abandon her.

The one thing with Ghost I would have liked to see was a better fleshing out of her backstory. We pretty much got a big, old info dump. I know they tried to make fun of the fact that they were info dumping, but it wasn't enough to actually forgive the huge info dump that it was. I also figured Janet was going to be able to help her from being in the quantum realm for so long -- saw that not-so-much twist miles away.

And then we had the mid-credits scene. I knew that was coming, too, I just didn't know who was going to be effected. Scott didn't turn to ash, but Hope, Hank, and Janet did! Poor Ant-Man, stuck in the quantum realm. I was hoping for a Captain Marvel reference, but there wasn't anything blatant. I read an article though that mentions she may actually be stuck in the quantum realm? Which would make it connected, however not something neither I nor my husband caught when we first saw the scene.

Overall, I think Ant-Man and The Wasp was well-balanced and it gave me lots of laughs. I'd love to go see it again soon, but I'm also really looking forward to Captain Marvel and how she'll be integrated into the MCU.

Writing Update - June 2018

It's been a rough year. Clearly I've expressed this in some of my past posts, but it was about time that I took a closer look at what was going on and what I should do about it. Unfortunately, the answer turned out to be cutting back on my writing goals.

Everything kind of went to hell last November. I'd had a huge schedule shift in mid-September, and I was able to kind of keep my head above water and give NaNoWriMo a go until I got bronchitis around Thanksgiving. It's been a bumpy road since then, even though I was optimistic that I'd still be able to average the same weekly word count as 2017. The schedule shift didn't work for my writing productivity at all, though, and other life obstacles made it so I crashed and burned at the beginning of this year.

The thing is, the schedule has shifted again (no more naps for my youngest -- yay?). And then it's going to shift yet again in fall (4K four times per week in the afternoons... of course, over the time when I usually eat lunch). My brain is most productive with writing mid-morning, and it's not looking like I'll get my mid-mornings back to write until Fall 2019.

I'm trying "Quiet Time" with my youngest a couple days a week, but she still interrupts and once fall hits, there won't be time for that since I'll need to feed her lunch super early. Again, this all doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing. Afternoons aren't completely out of the question once fall rolls around, it's just harder going for me, so I'm slower.

Also, I've really lacked focus on my health and organizing the house (1001 Reasons Not to Clean -- yes?), as well as spending some quality time with my family. All of this is why I've decided to reduce my writing goals. Then when Fall 2019 finally arrives, I can ramp them back up. It sucks to start going even more slowly, but it does suit most of my mantras I have for the year:

❦ Slow Down.

❦ Just Write.

❦ Live.

❦ One Word At A Time.

❦ Any Progress Is Good Progress.

❦ All In Time.

If ever I needed to start repeating all of those in my head several times a day, it's now.

What does this mean for my plans for the rest of 2018?

I won't have any publications this year.

Yes, Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2) won't be published until 2019, and the next Fortunes of Fate story is also getting pushed off. The run down of my plans are below. I'm shifting from hourly goals to simple word counts as well.

2018 Writing Goals -- Redo

❦ Summer: Revise 1.5k words per week (1 week off) --- Fall/Winter: Revise 2k words per week (2 weeks off and 3 weeks of planning and other writing tasks). This should put me at 37k words revised by the end of the year. All of this will be on Thorns Entwine the Blade. Before this week, I was 40k into revisions (I know, the word meters are broken), so I will likely have 14k-23k left to revise in 2019 (along with then sending to my editor, applying edits, and formatting before it's published).

❦ Pause critiquing efforts (unless one of my close writer friends needs extra eyes -- I will squeeze in time for them) until I'm ready to do them on a consistent basis again. This doesn't include beta reading and developmental editing for Haunted Unicorn Publishing. That's my side income right now (that mostly covers my writing expenses, since my hubbie is the main breadwinner), and that still takes precedence whenever I have a client.

❦ 1 newsletter per month (this isn't changing, and I'm still sending out chapters of Chains of Nect).

❦ 1 blog post every 2 weeks (another staying the same, at least).

Hopefully simplifying all of this will help me get into a routine for health, house, and family. And once all of that is more solid, I can increase my writing quotas. Also, by lowering my weekly word count goals, I'll actually get to feel the satisfaction of hitting my goals, which always makes me feel better. I've already hit 1.5k for this week -- yay!

Oh, and clearly the 5-Year Plan isn't viable anymore. I'll work on a new one in December to reflect my reduced writing time through 2019. I'm sure I'll be editing that damned thing every year, but it's still nice to have to give me a bit of perspective.

Happy writing and reading, all! Just remember, if Life takes a hammer to the asphalt and the road becomes too rough, sometimes you just need to slow down.

Aw, Crud - NaNo Crud, That Is

It's inevitable. Every November when I plan to dive into NaNoWriMo and up my productivity, a monster rears its ugly head and bellows, "Nooooo!"

Most of the time that monster comes in the form of what I've dubbed NaNo Crud. And that's the very monster that loomed over me this month. Shortly after my last blog post, I got a cold, and right when I thought I was getting better, I got a worse cold (could have been bronchitis, it was that bad, but I didn't go in to the doctor to find out).

So, I missed blog posts and my writing progress froze because just moving off the couch was difficult. I was hopped up on Mucinex DM so I could breathe and sleep, and cold meds make me whoozy and loopy as all hell.

I'm starting to feel a bit better now, though I'm still hacking up a lung between typing sentences.

12,963. That's what I'm ending NaNoWriMo at this year. Progress is progress, and that's almost 13k words more than I had before the month started. It doesn't earn me a NaNo Winner banner, but that's OK.

This sick has also made me realize that I need to take a step back and reassess my writing output. I think I've been expecting too much of myself, especially since I want to get the editing business in a good place as well, and I still have a kid at home most of the time who needs my attention!

December, a low writing output month to begin with due to the holidays, will be planning and reassessing month. And organizing. Oh, and I'll likely be reformatting a few books since I ordered a Macbook and I'll be buying Vellum!

It's not like I'll be idle. I just think I need a month worth of no pressure for writing and revising and figuring things out. And some family and holiday time. I've been neglecting several other things while tackling writing tasks. I'll be back to revisions of Thorns Entwine the Blade in January, though!

And don't worry, I still have some fun blog posts planned for December. After all, I saw Thor: Ragnarok and watched the first half of the season of Star Trek: Discovery. I have many thoughts on both.

Never stopping, just slowing down a little so I can enjoy the scenery. Live in the moment, right?

1001 Reasons Not to Clean - #11 through #15

Welcome to 1001 Reasons Not to Clean! The main goal of this series is to see if I can actually reach 1001 reasons, 5 reasons at a time (the final post, if I get there, will be 6 reasons). I'm sure I can. It's not just my crazy brain being unrealistic, right? Links to previous posts are below. And feel free to share your excuses, and they might get added to my list (with credit, of course)!

#1 through #5 ~ #6 through #10

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11. Because you're throwing a Halloween party and right after you spend hours upon hours cleaning the house so your friends don't think you're a slob, you just have to clean it again after they leave.

12. The aforementioned friends at the Halloween party don't notice or care when you clean anyway. They just want food, booze, and conversation (and on occasion Drunken Mario Party -- though as we're getting older, this is happening less and less, unfortunately).

13. NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo trumps everything. (OK, OK, not everything. Don't want my toddler to starve or sit in her filth.)

14. Because you're throwing a birthday party for your toddler (and you know unlike your friends, your mother will criticize everything if it's not clean), and the toddler doesn't care one jot that you cleaned. She never does. And she shows it by the shredded pile of wrapping paper after she opens her presents like a maniac.

15. After all that party prep (and dealing with your overly critical mother), you want to nap with the toddler before she even asks you this time. In fact, you make her go down for a nap early just because you need to avoid more cleaning. Now.

Roland

This is a really hard post to write. I've posted about losing pets before, but at the end of April we lost our almost 14-year-old black cat. He was the sweetest and most loveable cat, and he was my Buddy Boy. Before we had our kids, he would make sure to nap in whatever room I was in. Even after the kids, when I was at the computer at night before bed, most times he'd be curled up near me on my husband's chair. Saying I was very attached to him is an understatement. So, I'm going to dive in with a list of all the things I remember about my unique kitty, a kind of kitty I know I will never likely own again. I reserve the right to edit this post in the future to add anything I forgot (there's just so much and my memory can be wonky).

❦ Roland was named after...yup, Roland from Stephen King's Dark Tower series!

❦ He was one of the meowiest (is that a word?) kitties I have ever known. We knew from the first night we got him as a kitten that we would never have a quiet night again while he was around! Therefore two of his nicknames were Mr. Meow and Meowhead. His purr was also crazy loud.

❦ He was also our Crooked Kitty. His tail had a notch at the base, and a couple notches at the tip. We don't know if he was born that way or if he got hurt as an itty bitty kitty before we adopted him. When I was taking a ceramics class in college, I made him a crooked bowl that said Crooked Kitty.

❦ He was our Great One-Armed Hedgehog Hunter! He loved to bring us presents--mostly sparkle balls, but one of his favorites was the hedgehog (which only had one arm). During the day he'd bring it downstairs, then at night while we were crawling into bed, he'd bring it back upstairs. Of course, he'd meow the whole way on his trek with the cat toy in his mouth. We knew he was coming!

❦ Oh, and he was part dog. He enjoyed playing fetch with his sparkle balls. AND he loved to dig. No, not in dirt, but in blankets. Many a time I ended up sitting on him on the bed because he dug his way under the blankets.

❦ He had a little black cauldron full of his sparkle balls. He loved picking those things out of there.

❦ We constantly had to clear sparkle balls out of his food bowl because he thought that's where he needed to deposit them. And he preferred to drink water by dipping his paw in the water and licking the water off his paw. NO cup filled with water in the house was safe. Many times I found an untended cup of water with litter in the bottom. Ew!

❦ He enjoyed chewing the tails off of his toy mice. He also enjoyed chewing string in half. He'd always ruin the ball of string for one of our other cats that's no longer with us. Pikachu loved them. Roland would not only chew the end off, but for good measure he'd chew it into several little bits (he never ate any of the bits, though).

❦ He was our Needy/Kneady Kitty. The first because he shamed those people that claim cats are independent. He wanted attention. And then he wanted more. If we locked him out of our bedroom temporarily, we heard his unhappy meows begging to be let back in. He insisted the first thing we did when we woke in the morning was give him itchings. The kneady part though was because he loved to knead. Especially our jeans...when they were ON us. I was insanely glad that we had his front claws removed because then we could allow him to knead to his heart's content (though he still managed to knead a hole into the corner of our current bed skirt--heh).

❦ Sometimes he would lie on his back and play with his tail. It was his way of trying to get our attention (it worked most of the time).

❦ At night, he preferred sleeping in between my husband and me, but when the kids took that spot, he decided sleeping on my husband's pillow was the next best thing. Who wouldn't want back claws tangling in their hair at night?

❦ That meow I mentioned? Yup, our little alarm clock...usually earlier than we intended to get up. And when going to bed, he would meow for a good 10-15 minutes too because, no it's not bedtime, it's love the Roland time.

❦ Being a silly human, I used to sing "Roland, Roland, Roland. Meow, meow!" to the "Rawhide" song.

❦ As mentioned he was my Buddy Boy--probably his most used nickname. Baby Boy Kitty, Little Black Cat, Monster Meow, Fuzzy Boy. More nicknames. He had so many! (For a short time at the end, he was also Demon Kitty, due to his glowing eyes in a picture I had taken of him.)

I feel like there should be a lot more to this list. We had nearly 14 years with Roland, but it's so hard to remember all the crazy, silly, lovable things he did. Perhaps this list is enough, but my heart says it isn't, merely because it will never encompass and truly show what kind of kitty Roland was. It'll have to do though.

NEXT UP: The Plan (What's this? Is the suspense killing you yet?)

In Memoriam - Amara

Back in October 2005, I posted about a Fresh Distraction - a new kitten in our house. The post ahead will be brief, but it will be a sad one.

I feel it's only fitting that I write something about our cat, Amara, since I did introduce her on my blog all those years ago. This past April, we found out that she had a tumor in one of her eyes (she'd always had some runny eye issues that the vet was never able to clear up). It was a difficult decision, but we decided it was for the best that we put her to sleep, especially since there was no way of knowing if the tumor had spread or not. We gave her a few more months though, so she could enjoy some open windows, but we knew it was time when she was no where near as active as she used to be, and in June we said good-bye.

She wasn't my favorite cat (maybe because she was such a naughty kitty - lol), but she was still much loved. Below is a list of a few things about her.

- Her name means unfading. Some of her nicknames were Fuzzle (or Fuluffle) Rat, Fluff Head, Fur For Brains, Dumb Cat (lovingly, honest!), and Kitty Girl.

- She was the naughtiest cat I've ever owned. She is the only cat I've owned that I've put a collar on because we needed a bell on her to know where she was if she was being naughty!

- When she'd try to sneak into the basement, she'd give herself away by meowing every step (and it was a special, she knew she was being naughty, meow).

- Cords? Chewed them, and not only as a kitten (she's the reason I switched to a cordless mouse).

- Plants? Yup, chewed those too. I had to keep putting them up, then I forgot about them, and then they died. =P

- Fake Yule tree? Uh-huh, chewed that too. Yes, I said fake.

- Balloon ribbons, feathers, rag to clean eye glasses with, other various things that I can't think of right now - chewed those too!

- When we would pet her, she would drool, profusely (yes, this cat seriously had an oral fixation).

- Box cat! Oh, look, it's a box, I must knock it over, I must see what's inside.

- She would chase Roland (my poor, Kitty Boy) around the house and she was so mean to him. She was his arch-nemesis.

- She was also a selfish kitty. She expected Roland to groom her, but she never returned the favor.

- When she'd stretch out on a rug, we'd call her Rug On A Rug. She also had huge paws.

- She liked to chase bugs and eagerly watched the birds outside, but when we had a mouse in our house, she didn't much care.

- She was also the Chicken (or Poultry) Fiend. Anytime we had chicken, she'd be begging us for some. And many a time she'd knock over the garbage to dig out the chicken bones in it.

- She would rotate her preferred sleeping areas. And one of those spots was a shoebox (I did say she was a box cat). Near the end, she rotated through some of her favorite spots daily, when usually she'd stick to spots weeks at a time.

- See that picture off to the right? That is our Fuzzle Rat, Dumb Cat on top of a bookshelf only a couple weeks before we took her in to be put to sleep. She was a great jumper. And no, she didn't know how to get down. I had to rescue her. See, there is a reason we called her Dumb Cat!

OK, I think that's all I can manage for now. I tear up easily. All of my animals become part of the family, and it's hard to lose them.

NEXT UP: What Am I Writing?