The Dastardly Dungeon of Deliciously Devious Drinks

Hi, Sprocket! Welcome to the Cantina.

Hi Cantina. Since it's Mother's Day my mom decided she wanted to get take-out from Olive Garden for lunch and Cheesecake Factory fir dessert. So. That should be good.

Happy Mother's Day to all y'all moms!

Religion0 said:

Hi, Sprocket! Welcome to the Cantina.

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Thanks for the welcome, Rel!

E.F.B. said:

Hi Cantina. Since it's Mother's Day my mom decided she wanted to get take-out from Olive Garden for lunch and Cheesecake Factory fir dessert. So. That should be good.

Happy Mother's Day to all y'all moms!

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That sounds good. My mom opted to cook up a seafood fest. I tried to cook the meal for her, but she shooed me out of the kitchen.

Sprocketwatch said:

That sounds good. My mom opted to cook up a seafood fest. I tried to cook the meal for her, but she shooed me out of the kitchen.

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Welcome to the Cantina, Sprocket!

Hehe, funny how some moms are like that. If I'd offered to cook, my mom would have dropped everything and said, "Of course you can! I'll be over here if you need me."

Happy Mother's Day, Cantina!

My mom and I spent the day at a local nursery then planting our purchases.

Thanks guys! As soon as I'm free of the kiddos, I will investigate these fun, fluffy books.


Happy Mommy Day to all the Cantina moms.

Happy mothers day to all the amazing mom writers out there--I sincerely don't know how you do it, but you have my respect!

Seconding: Happy Mother's Day to the moms and mom-analogs of AW!

Morning Cantina. Yeeerg, I'm sleepy. Had weird dreams last night. In my sleepiness I also just accidentally entered a giveaway for a bunch of mermaid themed e-books thinking they were physical books. You could get up to 11 entries by doing the social media sharing things and I got up to 7 before I realized the title of the giveaway said "ebooks" right there in bold black letters. *facepalm* I don't have an e-reader and therefore really don't want 12 e-books to read on my phone/computer and strain the crud out if my eyes, so uh, here's hoping I *don't* win that one.

My mom is now officially on vacation for a couple weeks and she's bound and determined the house is getting cleaned. We've needed to clean the carpet for a while now, but before kitty passed he was getting incontinent and didn't always make it to the litter box. We cleaned up after him as best as we could in the main part of the house, obviously, but the carpet in the room previously dedicated to the cats and their litter boxes is absolutely disgusting. We'd actually tried to rent a carpet cleaner before now but the only place we knew to rent them actually went out of business last year. So... there was a big ol' sale a Kohls this past weekend and my mom got all the coupons and we powershopped, and along with some new clothes, we bought ourselves our first very own carpet cleaner (one that we read is supposed to be good with pet stains) for half price. The cat's room (now just the spare room) is getting completely and totally cleaned. The first real total cleaning it's had in years. That should be...fun.

Anyway, today I shall do words.

Etola said:

"Every expert was once a beginner with expert expectations." Yeah, that just about sums it!

Re: the logline, it's short and pithy but IMHO I dont' think it sounds particularly unique. If I saw that as a descriptor, I'd assume it was an academic or at least non-fiction treatment. Not necessarily a story I'd be intrigued to read, but useful for research on the topic.

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Ah - logline, tagline... I get confused. But yes, that's my author-sum-up line. I guess you're right, it doesn't sound particularly fictiony. But I've also written guide books that are nonfiction, so perhaps it's not totally out of line.

I've not figured out a logline for my current WIP yet. It's only 2/3 done so far. However, my book coming out in July is: "Do you dare wake a goddess?"

Anyone intrigued?

Aggy B. said:

What you're describing GD is a tagline. Not the same thing as a logline.

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Yeah. I get confused easily, evidently

Sprocketwatch said:

Hi folks, mind if I join?

*sips medium-brewed coffee*

Yesterday, was a good day. I treated my mom, my aunt, and my sister to a tea room for an early Mother’s Day celebration. That was fun. And it was certainly more fun than if I’d gone with just my mother. Finding neutral yet interesting topics of conversation isn’t as easy as I always hope it to be, and inevitably things will shift to the personal. It can be difficult to talk with her about my goals and dreams. It gets suffocated by the weight of expectations- both hers and mine. Thankfully, the conversation remained on the tea and the food that accompanied it. It was delicious. I’m glad we get to store that as a happy memory in our minds.

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Drop the medium-brewed and get some of the strong stuff, newbie! We have chthulu-brewed dark.

This weekend was both good and bad. I was a vendor at the Rochester Lilac Festival for my jewelry. I did poorly, but not horribly. Made about half of what I normally would for a weekend, and covered expenses for both weekends. Hopefully next weekend's sales at this festival will make up for that. Weather was iffy, including about 10 minutes of HAIL. Yes, hail. Grrrr. Also, my husband, macho idiot that he is, decided to carry down the cooler and the luggage at the same time, down the rickety antique stairs of our airbnb. Of course, he tripped and fell on his knee, putting him mostly out of commission Sunday and likely most of the week. Why is testosterone poisoning so toxic??

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and house repair update: Roof can be done in conjunction with closing, and funds taken from closing funds. Yay! Mold issue has come up, insurance company called, adjustors being dispatched. Sigh. Electrical will be about $1000.

Was a traffic accident right outside, somebody drove straight into a telephone pole. Seems like somebody might have had a neck injury and there was a baby in the car. Well, baby seat, anyway. Hope no one got hurt too badly.

Effby: Rubbing alcohol can be effective at helping to lift pet stains (especially in conjunction with actual carpet cleaning). I usually just squirt a liberal amount on each stain, then clean with the carpet cleaner as instructed. (Do be aware that if the carpet has a lot of color to it, the alcohol might make the color run. I've never had an issue with *carpets* like that, but it can act as a solvent on poorly set dyes.)

Went to the doctor. Got a chest x-ray. They're supposed to call me if they find a fracture. In the meantime, I've been instructed to use a small pillow as a splint when I cough.

Aggy, naptime

Good morning, folks! In my little dribbles of free time this weekend, I made progress on my going-to-the-Nebulas prep ^.^ I updated my website, set up an author email account, and designed a business card that I need to take to Kinko's tonight for printing. I just need to work out some more logistics and work on my novel's logline/elevator speech.

greendragon said:

Ah - logline, tagline... I get confused. But yes, that's my author-sum-up line. I guess you're right, it doesn't sound particularly fictiony. But I've also written guide books that are nonfiction, so perhaps it's not totally out of line.

I've not figured out a logline for my current WIP yet. It's only 2/3 done so far. However, my book coming out in July is: "Do you dare wake a goddess?"

Anyone intrigued?

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That does sound intriguing!

For the author tagline on my business card, I ended up landing on "Words and Wonders." I hope it nicely sums up that 1) I'm a fantasy writer, and 2) it evokes the kind of stories I like to write.

Religion0 said:

Was a traffic accident right outside, somebody drove straight into a telephone pole. Seems like somebody might have had a neck injury and there was a baby in the car. Well, baby seat, anyway. Hope no one got hurt too badly.

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Oh no! I hope so too

greendragon said:

I've not figured out a logline for my current WIP yet. It's only 2/3 done so far. However, my book coming out in July is: "Do you dare wake a goddess?"

Anyone intrigued?

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That, also, is a tagline, not a logline.

Taglines certainly have a place in book sales, but when an agent asks about a MS you want a logline - a 1-2 sentence summary of who the MC is, what they want, what's stopping them, and what they will overcome to get it/what happens if they fail.

"An accidental Irish antiquarian wakes an ancient Irish war goddess in 1798. And she's pissed."

greendragon said:

"An accidental Irish antiquarian wakes an ancient Irish war goddess in 1798. And she's pissed."

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Try "In 1798, an accidental Irish antiquarian wakes an ancient Irish war goddess. And she's pissed." instead - flows a bit better as well as leaving no space between 'Irish war goddess' and 'pissed'.

greendragon said:

"An accidental Irish antiquarian wakes an ancient Irish war goddess in 1798. And she's pissed."

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Nice. Although I would probably look for synonyms for 'accidental' and 'antiquarian'. You have three distinct word beginning with 'a' all in the main sentence.

Aggy B. said:

That, also, is a tagline, not a logline.

Taglines certainly have a place in book sales, but when an agent asks about a MS you want a logline - a 1-2 sentence summary of who the MC is, what they want, what's stopping them, and what they will overcome to get it/what happens if they fail.

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Okay, I came up with one but I'm curious to see if it does or doesn't work, or could be improved. I tried to sum up the story in a way that would flow decently if spoken. It still feels...I dunno, 'eh'?

"A folk heroine whose magic comes from the tales people tell about her must stop a man with the power to erase stories, who wants to remake the world in his own image."

Alternatively: "A folk heroine whose magic comes from the tales people tell about her must stop a man with the power to erase stories. And she has to do it before he's the only story left in the world."

One of the reasons I love frequenting the Cantina is because of all the things I learn here. Lesson of the day: Loglines.



ION: I just did some research and discovered that, yesterday, I single-handedly and unknowingly managed to pick the #1 most unhealthy cheesecake the Cheesecake factory has. :/ A single slice of Reeses Peanut Butter Cup and Chocolate Cake Cheesecake has 1,500 stinking calories! Good thing I divided it into fourths and am eating only one fourth on separate days, huh? *stays on the stationary bicycle for forever*

Etola said:

Okay, I came up with one but I'm curious to see if it does or doesn't work, or could be improved. I tried to sum up the story in a way that would flow decently if spoken. It still feels...I dunno, 'eh'?

"A folk heroine whose magic comes from the tales people tell about her must stop a man with the power to erase stories, who wants to remake the world in his own image."

Alternatively: "A folk heroine whose magic comes from the tales people tell about her must stop a man with the power to erase stories. And she has to do it before he's the only story left in the world."

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I definitely like the second one better. If I was just given the logline and no other information, I'd definitely pick up the book and give it a go. From there, it's up to the first chapter or so to make me keep reading.

Etola said:

Okay, I came up with one but I'm curious to see if it does or doesn't work, or could be improved. I tried to sum up the story in a way that would flow decently if spoken. It still feels...I dunno, 'eh'?

"A folk heroine whose magic comes from the tales people tell about her must stop a man with the power to erase stories, who wants to remake the world in his own image."

Alternatively: "A folk heroine whose magic comes from the tales people tell about her must stop a man with the power to erase stories. And she has to do it before he's the only story left in the world."

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I like the second one best two. Sounds like just the kind of story I'd be curious to read.

greendragon said:

"An accidental Irish antiquarian wakes an ancient Irish war goddess in 1798. And she's pissed."

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I like it. I can't tell whether accidental refers to him being Irish or an antiquarian, but it's interesting either way. Though I'm a little afraid it's really trying to refer to accidentally waking the goddess.

Etola said:

"A folk heroine whose magic comes from the tales people tell about her must stop a man with the power to erase stories, who wants to remake the world in his own image." I don't think that last phrase is adding enough to keep it.

Alternatively: "A folk heroine whose magic comes from the tales people tell about her must stop a man with the power to erase stories. And she has to do it before he's the only story left in the world." This one is more interesting but it's making the whole thing a little too long.

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Good start.

How about shortening that second one to "A folk heroine whose magic comes from tales about her must stop a man with the power to erase stories--before he's the only story left."?

It really is his status as an antiquarian that's accidental. He's digging things up as his great-grandfather did, before 'archaeology' was a thing. He's basically an idle rich retired professor who gets a bee in his bonnet about making some cool discovery. He finds a goddess.

I rather like the alliteration

A heroine, empowered by her own folklore, must stop a man before he erases every story but his own.