Thursday 6 June 2024: D-Day

Commonwealth War Graves © Diane Wordsworth

It’s the 80th anniversary of D-Day today. The picture above is one I took of the Commonwealth war graves in Finningley. We have a Commonwealth war grave here in our current village too, but this is the only photograph I have of British war graves.

I’m trying to use smaller images on here, from here on in. I had a reply to my support ticket containing a list of things that were impacting on the server, causing overload. Personally, I think they must have moved everything to a smaller server, or allocated everyone less space, because it was all working fine before the move. However, the techie went to a great deal of trouble to list a few issues. The least I can do is have a look.

Another thing that seems to be causing slow loading or overload is the book downloads page. So I may just cut my losses there, get rid of it, and go all in for a Shopify account or something. I’ve not sold any books via these downloads, and I almost got hacked when someone made themselves an admin of my site. So I think I’ll get rid of that one, for now, and look into something different/better/more expensive. (This one’s free…)

Since we got back off our holiday, I finished the client edit and sent that back, and I’ve had loads and loads of time yawning before me in which to work on my own stuff. But I’ve done nothing. Nada. Zilch. I’m really struggling to get motivated and just crack on with something. Instead, I’ve deleted all of my inactive social media accounts (CounterSocial, MeWe, Substack, etc, Post News was already taken down), and I’ve tried reading.

I say ‘tried’ reading, because I can’t seem to get into any books either. The one I started before we went away was such a disappointment, so annoying, that I discarded it unfinished. It’s rare that I don’t finish a book, but this one was awful. It really was. I’ve started another, yesterday, actually, that seems much better, but even this one has too many historical inaccuracies and it’s another author or editor who’s a ‘which’ fan.

I’d love to find some nice cosy mysteries that don’t involve magic or witches or talking cats. They simply don’t interest me. I’m reading a Simon Brett omnibus, Mrs Pargeter, on and off, which is fun but a bit dated now. I also have most of David W Robinson’s Sanford Third Age books, which I love. But I’ve read most of the ones I’ve got.

I downloaded a load of free books, usually first in a series, but I can’t seem to get excited about any of those. And I bought a handful of Top 50 (paid) cosies, the first of which disappointed me. (See above.) So I’m struggling to find something modern, believable or typically cosy. Factual accuracy would also be great, because factual inaccuracy is one thing sure to have me throwing my hands in the air and giving up.

So I’m struggling to get going at the moment. The poet, who’s currently on a business trip in Ireland, reminded me that the last time I didn’t have any client work to do I struggled to get started on my own work. Maybe I’ve spent far too much time being far too busy working for other people instead of just for me. Maybe I should just start with a few baby steps and take it from there.

Something needs to get going soon, as I want to take work to Durham and to Poland to occupy me if/when I’m stuck at a hotel or in a coffee shop waiting for the poet to join me. I do want to do some sightseeing in Durham. I practised using my new camera while we were away, but it’s not very good for zooming in. Perhaps landscape photography is the way forward with that one, even if landscape means cityscape.

Hopefully I’ll get started with something today. Keep everything crossed!

6 thoughts on “Thursday 6 June 2024: D-Day

  1. Have you tried Louise Penny? Her stuff can get a bit darker but they’re pretty cozy. Well-written and set in a small town in Quebec with lovely characters! Good luck on getting back into the writing 🙂

    1. Thanks for the suggestion! I bought STILL LIFE, which I think is the first in a series. Looking forward to reading it. 😊

  2. One of my favorite cozy series, now finished at 5 books, is Maria DiRico’s Catering Hall mysteries, set in and around Queens, NY. Maybe because I know the locations and so many people i’ve run into remind me of the characters. I just got the last book in the series, and I’ll read it soon. The second book, LONG ISLAND ICED TINA had me laughing out loud constantly. Maria is one of Ellen Byron’s pen names, and this is my favorite of all of Ellen’s series.

    I would also suggest the Clambake Mysteries by Barbara Ross, set in Maine. She just ended the series at 12 books? 13 books? I’ve really enjoyed the growth and change the characters go through.

    Neither are the faux witch cozies written with AI that are all over kindle lately. These two series are a lot of fun, with practical, resourceful heroines. And I know the authors, and I know they write their own stuff.

    If you want a good comic action thriller, Deanna Raybourn’s KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE is a lot of fun.

    1. Thank you! I looked at KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE, but it looks like it’s in present tense, which I’m not keen on. I did buy the first in the series of the other two, though: HERE COMES THE BODY by Maria DiRico, and CLAMMED UP by Barbara Ross. I feel at home reading about NY. It seems so familiar.

      1. The past chapters are in present tense, which didn’t really work for me, but the main thrust of the story, in their present day, is in past tense, which did work for me, so overall, I liked the book. It’s a kind of a weird construction, so it was an interesting technical exercise.

        The catering hall in the series is one I used to pass on the train when I went out to Belmont Racetrack, so seeing it used in a book just made me howl. Plus, the Italian and Greek families remind me of my friends’ relatives who live out there, and it just made me miss them and remember them fondly. Ellen (Maria) lives in LA now, but she grew up around here (and, until her mom recently passed, her mom lived a few towns up from where I grew up). Ellen’s Cajun Country Mysteries have a really different voice, and are interesting because they do something very different. Her vintagae cookbook series is set in New Orleans, and there are things I like, and some things that don’t work for me in that. i’m looking forward to her new Golden Motel series, which starts in July.

        1. I’m really enjoying HERE COMES THE BODY. Thanks for the recommendation. I was starting to lose hope!

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