Hello? Is anybody out there?

Hi everyone.

Today as we sleepwalk through the “social distancing” nightmare that is our lives right now, I thought it would be good time to share some of my “emergency contacts” with y’all.

You know, those people you go to for advice, encouragement, and the perfect keto peanut butter cookie recipe…

Next stop — writing vlogs, because, duh – writer.

While there are many, many fine authors online right now, I highly recommend the following authortubers for any of your writing needs or questions.

These are the people (in alphabetical order) I check in with on a daily basis:

Abbie Emmons of #WritersLifeWednesdays

blog: https://bit.ly/2Kl21m8

facebook: https://bit.ly/2FS2Ikh

instagram: http://bit.ly/2Xr5hUI

patreon: https://www.patreon.com/abbieemmons

Sarra Cannon of Heart Breathings

BLOG — https://heartbreathings.com/blog

INSTAGRAM — https://www.instagram.com/heartbreath…

FACEBOOK — https://www.facebook.com/heartbreathings

TWITTER — https://www.twitter.com/heartbblog

Kristin Lamb (not on YouTube unfortunately)- blog http://www.authorkristinlamb.com

Jenna Moreci of Writing with Jenna

WEBSITE: http://jennamoreci.com

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/jennamoreci

INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/jennamoreci

TUMBLR: http://jennamoreci.tumblr.com

FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/authorjennamoreci

PINTEREST: http://pinterest.com/jennamoreci

And finally, for editing advice (you know you need it), please check out Ellen Brock for Novel Writing Advice — it’s always good, and when she covers a complex topic she includes notes and timestamps so you can skip to the good stuff if you want.

Please note — NONE of the people listed here paid me or asked me to mention them. In fact, none of them even know me. These are simply the people who have helped me figure out so much when it comes to writing (and I’ve been to grad school for creative writing, sis!) that I felt like sharing them with you. 

And now, for the perfect keto peanut butter cookie recipe check out:

Joe Duff – The Diet Chef 

If you don’t know Joe, he likes to rock tank tops and fluffy slippers while he cooks.

My Cookbook: https://gumroad.com/l/bestketocookbook

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejoeduff

If you have any favs you’d like to recommend, please tell me in the comments below!

Love and Gravity. Bitches be crazy. (Part 3)

For the past few weeks I’ve been comparing the nature and effects of love with those of another universal force – gravity.

Gravity represents classical physics here since it acts on the BIG stuff, like  planets, solar systems, stars, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and even the universe.

Love, in this analogy, stands in for quantum mechanics — that branch of physics dealing with the motion and interactions of subatomic particles — you know, the small stuff. Or, the human stuff.

I know what you’re thinking — Why the hell did I click on this f!$%ing blog?!  Where’s the SMUT??

Patience, grasshopper.

Just like some of the early scientific theories humanity has come up with (spontaneous regeneration, the plum pudding model of the atom, and phrenology, anyone?), we have been getting it wrong for a long, long time.

Because instead of viewing love as the force of nature it is, people have decided that there are kinds of love (as if there were kinds of gravity, too). Furthermore, there’s the idea that some kinds of love are better than others, and that the folks who give into the undesirable kinds of love are weak, degenerate, or just plain WRONG.

Now imagine giving voice to the idea that some kinds of gravity are better than others, and that the people who give into the wrong kind of gravity are somehow bad and inferior? And yet, here we are in the bright and shining 21st goddamn century still judging people on the kind of gravity they allow themselves to give in to!

Ridiculous, right?

So let’s sum up.

Gravity is an indiscriminate force of nature. Depending on the situation — for example, someone falling off a building — it can get messy. Gravity does not give a rat’s ass about what religion, society, or the various governments think about it. It just is.

Love is also an indiscriminate force of nature. Depending on the situation — for example,  someone falls in love with another someone and they have sex — it can also get messy. (Unless you use a condom.) Love doesn’t give a rat’s ass (possibly the same rat’s ass) about what religion, society, or government thinks about it either. It just is.

So if you  if you ever find yourself agreeing with the nitwits who think everyone who falls into the wrong kind of love should be punished and marginalized (I’m looking at you, all 73 countries in the world who criminalize LGBTQ people), for something they had no control over, then be my guest.

But just don’t get too close to that ledge, sweetie. Because you never know when some perverse force of nature will have its way with you.

Love. Resistance is futile. (Part 2)

Last week I talked a bit about my thoughts on the nature of love. I’d been thinking about it because I’d somehow found myself writing a novel with a love story in it.  (If you write, you already know — these things just happen.)

So… Love.

Ok, it’s like a force of nature — like gravity — that only affects living beings.

Well, maybe.

Because what about quantum inseparability?  Is that just another form of love?  Like the raw, basic essence of it, the universal idea of love, sort of like Plato’s Ideal Forms? Is love intricately woven into the fabric of the universe? Of all universes?

And if so, what chance do we puny humans down here on Earth have? What chance do we have against such a powerful phenomenon? It’s like trying to fight against gravity. Sure, some people have done it (astronauts, astro- dogs, probably some astro-rats), but they’ve always  come back down  afterwards. Because … well, they can’t stay up there forever, right? Gravity is always tugging at them, dragging them back to Earth.

Continuing this idea that love, like gravity, is a force of nature, I say that love acts on us whether we want it to or not. (Kinda like the aforementioned gravity.) But unlike gravity, which is a huge, but weak, force in the universe, love is simultaneously huge and intimate. And unbelievably strong.

Love draws people together. It draws animals together (theories of biological determinism be damned), and it draws people and animals  together. And it may be what draws subatomic particles, atoms, molecules, planets, and galaxies together!

Let’s just agree on this for now: Gravity doesn’t discriminate and neither does love. Both do what they do with no regard for who they do it to.

Love is patient. Love is kind. (Wtf?) Part 1

A lot of people know that quote from Corinthians in the Bible. It’s a popular, and comfortable, way of looking at love. As such, it’s often recited at weddings where everyone smiles and nods. Every time I hear this definition of love it makes me think of a soft, cozy shawl.

However …

I’ve been working on my protagonist’s character profile this week, and it’s gotten me to thinking about love; because even though my novel is a sci-fi horror adventure in an urban setting, it’s also a love story.

Believe me, I was just as surprised as you are. I’ve never been interested in love stories, or romance (because, Duh, I mostly write horror. See my short story “Mercy Street” elsewhere on this blog), but there you are. This story wants to be told, and for some unknown reason, it’s picked me to tell it.

Consequently, I had to do some hard thinking on the subject of love. Like, what is it, where does it come from, and is there a cream available to get rid of it?

So the first thing that popped into my head is the idea that we have absolutely no control over love. It chooses you. You are love’s bitch. You don’t get to decide who to love, or when you’re going to fall in love, or where you’re going to be when it happens, or even when it will happen.

Love is basically a cosmic clown car careening around the corner just as you step off the curb. Wham!

In that regard, love remind me a lot of death. Or life.

At the same time, though, love often seems like a weapon wielded by some divine, hilarious prankster god, right? Because once love sets its sights on you it’s just like having one of those hellish Covenant plasma grenades attached to your body — no amount of running around and screaming will fix it. You are fucked.

That’s it for today.

Meanwhile, I’d love to hear your thoughts on love — please tell me in the comments down below. Thanks!

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Kristen Lamb

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