Review - Dropping Names - Podcast

Today's review is a little different because it's not for a movie, TV series, book, or  music album.

It's for a Podcast viewable on YouTube. Dropping Names With Brent and Jonny is hosted by Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes.

The episode I watched on Dropping Names was Once We Were All Spacemen, and it's funny, smart, and a great showcase for the personalities of all involved as they swap war stories on their respective careers.

The delightful episode I stumbled across and stopped on was because the guests were Alan Tudyk, currently starring in Resident Alien, and Nathan Fillion, currently starring in The Rookie. Both Tudyk and Fillion are not only wonderful actors but also highly entertaining in their own personas.

I'd seen the teasers featuring the cast of Firefly but didn't really know what they were pitching. I was delighted to discover it was Fillion's and Tudyk's own podcast, Once We Were Spacemen which debuted in November 2025.

The hour-long conversation, which is what it seemed like rather than a podcast, was a nice afternoon break with NO political or other divisive hot-button issues discussed or argued—just a free-ranging conversation with people who genuinely seemed to like each other.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Check out both podcasts if you're looking for something intelligent and entertaining.

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Monday Magic - Free Meal Planning App

I, like most of you, lead a very busy life. I work all day at writing, marketing, graphic design, and publishing—yes, it takes all of that to be a successful author in today's world.

I try to plan meals a week in advance, but sometimes I just can't get that done. I really hate it when six o'clcok in the evening rolls around, and I'm scrambling for something to prepare for dinner.

With that thought in mind, I checked out meal planning apps and found one that I think might work for most people.

EAT THIS MUCH

This website app is more than just a meal planner. Eat This Much creates personalized meal plans based on your food preferences, budget, and schedule. It can help you reach dietary and nutritional goals with their calorie calculator, weekly meal plans, grocery lists and more.

You can use it to create 3 meals a day based on the amount of  calories you want to consume—carbs, fat, etc. The FREE Forever level allows you to generate daily meals plans, track what you eat, add foods from barcodes, and create custom foods and recipes. 

You can click Generate, copy the meal plan, click ti again to get another meal plan, etc. until you have 7 days of meal plans.

There is also a Premium level for $5.00 a month if you want to unlock extra options, and a Professional level with a price that varies.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Solving the "what's for dinner" problem is huge and that's a big relief for me.

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Daylight Savings Time Strikes Again

I like Benjamin Franklin, but I wish he'd kept his thoughts about time to himself.

Yes, he's the culprit we can blame for making us spring forward in the spring and fall back in the fall.

He came up with this daylight savings concept in 1784. Actually, he wasn't really trying to "save" daylight. He simply made the statement that Parisians could save money on candles if they changed their sleep schedules.

If you recall your history, Franklin was in Paris as the first U.S. Ambassador to France. He was there for the ratification of the Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War.

I guess he had time on his hands and rather than twiddle his thumbs, he came up with his daylight savings concept to help Parisians save money.

The rest, as they say, is history. The U.S. adopted it in 1918, but it was repealed in 1919 because it was so unpopular. Then in World War II, it was instituted again as year-round "War Time."

In 1966, the Uniform Time Act signed, but in 1974-1975, it was temporarily made year-round again due to an oil embargo. In 2007, the current biannual schedule began.

The bottom line? We're stuck with it, and, despite grumbling from the general population, daylight savings time continues.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

The first couple of weeks are the worst. Be careful. Sleep more. Make sure you're awake before you zoom off to work each day. Take care. We're all in this together, but we can get through it. Again.

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Saturday Share Recipe - Creole Sauce

Today I'm going back to my roots again and sharing a recipe for what we called Creole Sauce.

I love sharing recipes for the food my family ate when I was growing up.

This is easy to make, and it's good on just about everything from scrambled eggs to pork chops to hamburger steak to anything you want to try.

This receipt makes about 2 cups. It's easy to make and stores in the fridge about a week.

It also freezes well if you want to make a big batch. Simply defrost however much you need when you wish to serve it.

CREOLE SAUCE

Ingredients

1/2 cup finely diced bell pepper, any color 

I always choose the Original

1/4 cup finely diced onion

1/4 cup chopped green olives

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons butter (or extra virgin olive oil if you prefer)

1 (10 3/4 ounce) can tomato sauce

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 bay leaf crushed

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

Salt to taste

For extra spicy, add a few drops of Tabasco Sauce.

Directions

1. Saute the bell pepper, onion, olives, and garlic in the butter until they are translucent and soft.

2. Add the other ingredients to the sauteed vegetables and stir. Simmer 20 minutes on low.

3. Serve hot.

4. Store any leftover sauce in refrigerator or freeze until needed.

Why do I always choose McIlhenney Tabasco Sauce? Probably because that's what my Mom and all the othr home cooks used. The sauce is still made at Avery Island, a little dot on the map off the coast of New Iberia, Louisiana, where I lived when I was a kid.

We toured Avery Island and the factory long ago. I don't know if that is still allowed in today's world, but it was exciting and memorable to me. The air would nearly singe your eyeballs and nasal cavities.

So I choose it because it tastes better than any of the other hot sauces, and because it's rooted in tradition and memories of my Mom.  

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

 My mother was an amazing home chef, and I love sharing her recipes with the world.

Joan participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, affiliate advertising designed to help websites earn advertising fees by linking to products on Amazon. If you click an Amazon link in her post, she may receive a small commision at no extra cost to you.

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Review - Letters to Juliet - Netflix

I watched Letters to Juliet, streaming on Netflix, a couple of weeks ago. I'll confess that the title of the movie is why I chose this 2010 romantic comedy starring Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero. 

Strictly speaking, I didn't find it to be a romantic comedy. It was more like a romance with mild humor. 

Regardless, I found this film, the last directed by Gary Winick before he died, to be entertaining and romantic with its dual love stories.

The "feel-good" film leaves viewers with a sense of optimism and hope that romance and love can be found at any age.

MOVIE DESCRIPTION

Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is on a pre-honeymoon in Verona and  inadvertently finds an old unanswered letter asking for love advice from Juliet. She discovers that this is a traditional practice in Verona with the letters answered by a group of women who write as Juliet.

Sophie takes it upon herself to answer the decades-old letter which brings the letter-writer (Vanessa Redgrave) to Verona, along with her cranky grandson (Christopher Egan). Together the three go in search of the woman's long-lost love (Franco Nero).

The film was inspired by the 2006 non-fiction book Letters to Juliet by Lise Eve Friedman and Ceil Jann Friedman, about the phenomenon of writing letters to Shakespeare's Juliet.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I enjoyed Letters to Juliet very much. I'm sure if you're not a Netflix subscriber that you can purchase  the movie from Amazon.

Joan participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, affiliate advertising designed to help websites earn advertising fees by linking to products on Amazon. If you click an Amazon link in her post, she may receive a small commision at no extra cost to you.

Get it for 99¢ before the sale goes away.

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Monday Magic - Landscape Design App

Spring is coming, and I'm excited that gardening season is here again.

Every spring I make plans to finish landscaping the front and back yards, but I never quite get it done the way I like it.

Darling Hubby gets frustrated because I'm always changing the plan so this year, I thought I'd do something different.

I searched online and found a few free landscape design apps. I thought I'd post about them so you can try them along with me.

First up is Neighborbrite, an AI powered landscape design app that is always free to use unless you decide to upgrade to the pro version for more control and custumization for plant types, placements, and some other features. 

HOW IT WORKS

Neighborbrite uses advanced AI technology to help you design. Upload a photo of the outdoor space  you want to design, choose a garden style, and get design ideas for your space.

That's it. There's nothing to download and install since it's an online site to use. You don't need any special tech skills or knowledge because it's designed to be user-friendly and intuitive.

To learn more before you try, check out their FAQ page.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I'm photographing my yard front and back. I'm excited to try this, and I hope it's as easy as it sounds. I'll let you know next Monday when I post another free app blog. Let me know if you also try Neighborbrite.

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7 Truths About Being an Author

I visited with a local book club recently and enjoyed it very much. They had read my book, Heat Lightning, and we talked about it.

As usual, they asked what inspired me to write that book, and what inspired me just to write books.

I told them that writing was one of the best jobs in the world—and it is. 

What I didn't tell them is something I'll tell you today—what a professional writer learns when she or he is lucky enough to establish a writing career.

7 TRUTHS ABOUT BEING A PROFESSIONAL WRITER.

1. Perfecctly good books get written but never get published.

I once believed that you could write a book about anything that struck your fancy, and if it was a good book it would get published. 

The traditional publishing business doesn't work that way. There  are budgets and quotas that prevent publishing just any book no mattter how beautifully written it may be. Editors can only acquire so many books.

When your Agent submits your book—yes, you really do need an agent—you don't know if the editor recently acquired a book with the same premise. 

You don't know if the Editor has already acquired books for the entire year or longer, or any number of other issues that prevent the Editor from acquiring your book.

The indie self-publishing business allows you to go ahead and publish the book, but publishing a book and getting readers to buy it are 2 different things. More on that later.

2. Writing successfully requires a commitment. 

You cannot sit around and wait each day to be inspired. The "Muse" is a myth. Real writers put butt in chair in front of the computer and write hundreds of words on a consistent basis until the book is finished.

3. No one knows how long it takes to write and publish a book.

The number of pages and the time it takes to write a book depends on the story and on the writer.

A story takes as many pages as it takes. It may be 140 pages or 980 pages. 

How long it takes to write those pages depends on the writer and his/her consistency of effort.

4. Writing is hard work physically so one must take care of the physical body from the beginning.

Prevent problems like back spasms, sciatic pain, carpel tunnel, etcetera, rather than try to "cure" them once they begin. Trust me, once established, muscle, tendon, and nerve pain are nearly impossible to cure. You'll be dealing with them the rest of your life.

5. Writing is hard work emotionally so nurture your spirit and your inspiration.

Take time to play. Take time for your relationships. Sometimes, you just need to go with the flow and make up the writing you may have missed on a day when you played. 

Pages can be written another day, but time with loved ones can't be reclaimed. Life is short. Children grow up while you aren't looking, and love relationships can grow stale.

6. Accept that not every good book will sell well.

As I said in #1 above, publishing a book and getting readers to buy it are 2 different things. Yes, as an indie self-publisher, you can publish anhthig you choose, but it may not sell more than a few copies—even if it has captivating characters, a stunning plot, and is beautifully written.

That's the downside of not having a traditional publisher who buys a manuscript based in part on how many thousands of books will sell based on the Editor's calculations. 

As an indie publisher, you hope and pray that enough books will sell to allow you to break even on any expenses you incurred in writing and publishing the book.

You have no guarantees though. If you have had previous success, you have a pretty good idea of how another book will sell.

In today's self-publishing world, i.e. Kindle Digital Publishing, the competition is fierce. The vast majority of these books rarely make more than a few hundred dollars.

You, the Author, are also the VP of Marketing which means you're going to spend a lot of time hawking your book on social media or with Amazon Ads and/or Facebook ads.

The best case scenario is to find a marketing channel that works for you as soon as possible because you need to be writing the next book.

7. There is no such thing as an instant million copy seller in today's book publishing universe.

The first book may sell, and that's great, but today's readers consume books like movie-goers consume popcorn. Your name will fade away if it's not out in the world on a consistent, regular basis.

The second and third and fourth books—or the 10th—build your reputation as a dependable author who doesn't disappoint.

Don't mope and/or drown your sorrows in hot fudge sundaes. 

Get on with the next book whether that's book #2 or book #10. Sometims, that's what it takes for a writer to build an audience.

TAKEWAY TRUTH

Writers write. If you love writing, keep doing it. If you find it depressing and tedious to pour your heart and soul in a book that earns less than $500.00, then you're probably not cut out to be a professional writer. That's okay. You're probably meant to do something else so try different things until you find your bliss.

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