Emotions or What's Love Got To Do With It?

I love reality television and watch it because I enjoy seeing how normal people interact in front of a camera. Some people think it’s scripted - I don’t. But I do believe that all reality TV producers want people on there show that will create drama. I’m amazed at what people reveal about themselves in front of a camera. Just like in fiction…you can’t make this stuff up.

 An example - on Bachelor in Paradise - we have Ashley the cryer. (She promised that this season she would limit her crying to three times. She cried that much in the first hour over a man she loves, but he just wants to be friends. Move on Ashley!) We had Chad, who I can say went home the first night for reasons that are better left unsaid. On Couples Therapy… I see divorce in most of the couple's future. On Millionaire Matchmaker they had a man who had over three hundred plastic surgeries trying to make himself attractive. Scary!

So last week we were watching Millionaire Matchmaker. She had a woman on who didn’t show emotion. She had her own company and thought if she showed her emotions, then she appeared weak. Instead, she appeared cold. She refused to be vulnerable with anyone. 

Which got me to thinking. Why as women are we perceived to be weak when we show our emotions? Being vulnerable is not a sign of weakness. We’re human.

What did I learn from a show about spies? @sloanebcollins #amwriting #amreading #plottingprincesses

What lesson did I learn from a spy show?

My husband & I started watching a 6 part spy series the other day, "The Night Manager" on AMC. It's good, and we like it, but we were about 40 minutes in to the first episode when something happened, and he said "Finally. Now the story is moving along."

I need to post that on my laptop so I always remember to keep the action going in the books I write. 

I don't have a lot of time to read, so it's usually on the train to/from work, or a few minutes on my lunch break. There are some books I've read lately that it's ok to read snatches here and there. I can pick it back up and continue on. A short book may take several days to finish. Last week I read "Falling Into Bed with a Duke" by Lorraine Heath. I read 387 pages in less than 2 days. It was so awesome and compelling I had a hard time putting it down, so I read every minute I could (and almost missed my stop twice!). 

That's how I want to write. To keep the action up so readers don't want to set my book down, they want to see how it turns out. And to fall in love with my characters. (Yes, I fell hard for Lorraine's duke...and the woman he wanted to be with desperately!)

Back to that mini-series we started watching.

Michelle Miles: I Need a Netflix Intervention

Now that Once Upon A Time, Person of Interest, Game of Thrones and Outlander are all over for the season (or in the case of POI forever...*cry*), I find myself binge watching Netflix like I binge eat Blue Bell chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

I've been on a quest to watch every Star Trek: The Next Generation episode since I missed the last three seasons back when the show was on (it premiered in 1987 if that gives you a frame of reference). Husband was out of town for the weekend which meant there was a lot of STTNG playing on the TV. I spent my Friday night eating tacos, watch Star Trek and playing MajorMUD (a text based game similar to D&D and another post for another day) with my brother and sister-in-law firmly cementing my evening in the 1990s. Good times. Only I didn't have a great glass of cabernet in the 90s.

I made it through season 6 and started the last season on Sunday. I find myself both excited and a little sad that the show will be ending soon only because that means I will have finally seen all 176 episodes. I find the episodes that deal with Data and/or the Borg to be some of my favorite. Season 6 has been amazing. Of course yes I know I can always watch them again but there's something magical about seeing the episodes for the first time and not knowing how it's going to end.