Best Songs About Monday

Earlier today, I was on my way home from the country and listening to one of my Pandora stations when the song Monday, Monday by The Mamas and Papas came on.

It's a great song so I sang along with it. As I was singing, I wondered how many songs had Monday in the title.

Thanks to Google, I found several—some I loved, some I didn't. Here's my Top 10 Best Songs About Monday in no particular order.

I've embedded the YouTube link in each title in case you want to go listen.

1. Monday, Monday by The Mamas and Papas from 1966.

2. Come Monday by Jimmy Buffett from 1974.

3. Manic Monday by The Bangles from 1985. (Composed by Prince and performed by him first in a duet)

4. Rainy Days and Mondays by The Carpenters from 1985

5. Monday Morning by Fleetwood Mac from 1975

6. Except for Monday by Lorrie Morgan from 1991

7. Call It Monday by T-Bone Walker from 1947 (I love me some Blues. This was re-recorded in 2021 in Hollywood.)

9. If It's Monday Morning by Lee Hazlewood from 1971 (You may never have heard of Hazlewood. He's a hidden gem.)

10. Blue Monday by New Order from 1983 for its electronic vibe. It was already hugely popular with the younger crowd, but when it was used for the Wonder Woman 1984 trailer, it gained even more attention from all age groups.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Music makes any Monday easy to navigate.

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99 Cent Sale - Zany Romantic Comedy

Looking for a second chance romance with hot chemistry and witty banter? 

How about an enemies to lovers thread wrapped around that romance? 

Oh, and there's a marriage of—not convenience but INconvenience too.

STILL THE ONE is what you've been looking for, and it's on sale until October 11 for only 99¢. This romantic comedy will put a smile on your face and may just make you laugh out loud according to several reviewers.

You can find STILL THE ONE at Amazon Kindle.

If the Big A isn't your favorite book stop, then visit STILL THE ONE at Books2Read and select the book seller of your choice.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Don't delay, grab it today—while it's on sale.

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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Silly Grammar Rant - Wolfs, The Movie

Yes, this is a silly rant so just roll your eyes and read on.

From the time I first saw the trailer for the George Clooney-Brad Pitt film Wolfs, I was bothered by the title.

Wolf is singular. More than 1 wolf is plural which is wolves, not wolfs.

Ack. It seems as if proper grammar continues to lose importance in a world where texting has become the most prominent way of "written" communication.

RULE OF THUMB

The plural of the word wolf is "wolves." The plural of nouns ending in "f" or "fe" is formed by removing the "f" or "fe" and replacing it with "ves" as seen in "wife" that has the plural of "wives."

I acually looked up the movie to see if there was an explanation for why it's named Wolfs rather than Wolves. The title was explained this way: "The title refers to the fact that Pitt and Clooney each play a lone wolf underground type, who performs the sort of unsavory jobs that no one else will." In the movie lone wolf Clooney and lone wolf Pitt will each gladly take on those nasty jobs.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Now you know. By the way, I still don't like the incorrect plural of Wolfs. It would have made just as much sense for it to be Wolves.

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Punctuation Tips for Writers

It's National Punctuation Day. Yes, that's really a thing, and it's today, September 24.

I thought I'd give a few punctuation tips for writers because I see a lot of ebooks with "clunky" punctuation. That's my nice way of saying, "You're doing it wrong."

 What to Call Digital Books—ebooks or Ebooks if at beginning of a sentence. Not e-books, E-books, eBooks. (I've been guilty of using eBooks because that was what they were called in the beginning.)

These punctuation "rules" follow Chicago Manual of Style and the Modern Language Association aka MLA Style Manual, but they may differ from the APA, the style manual of the American Psychological Association which is used to format papers, list sources, and cite references.

It should also be noted that most style manuals refer to printed documents, but the Chicago Manual of Style and the MLA seem to be embracing online publications. The most important rule is to be consistent in whatever style you choose to use.

Titles: Book, Plays, Films, Periodicals, Newspapers, Databases, and Websites

Titles should be italicized. Yes, I know most people do not italicize websites, but it is proper to do so. Examples follow.

Newspapers—New York Times, Houston Chronicle 

Books—Heat Lightning by Joan Reeves, The Key To Kristina by Joan Reeves

Plays—Hamilton, The Lion King, Les Misérables 

Films—Casablanca, Romancing the Stone, Kiss the Ground, A Documentary

Periodicals—Time Magazine, Vogue, Elle

Databases—Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, MongoDB

Websites—SlingWords, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

Titles: A Part of a Larger Work

In punctuating something that is part of a larger work, titles are treated differently. The title of the section of the larger work is placed in quotation marks. Examples follow.

Articles—"Survival mode: Inflation falls hardest on low-income Americans" by Rachel Siegel and Andrew Van Dam from the Washington Post

Essays—"Lost in the Kitchen" by Dave Barry

Chapters—"Chapter 1, Hell Hath No Fury Blah Blah Blah" from Sex, Murder, and Mint Juleps

Poems—"Chase Henry" in Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters

Webpages—"Vintage Columns" by Dave Barry

Songs—"God Bless America" or "Take It Easy" by The Eagles or "Pour Me a Drink" by Blake Shelton 

Speeches—"The Gettysburg Address" by Abraham Lincoln or "Tear Down This Wall" by Ronald Regan

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

That's it for today's little lesson. I do have another post planned to discuss Ellipses, a quandary for many authors.

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10 Great Autumn Vibe Songs

Autumn arrived today, and it's the perfect season for romance.

In case you're not in the fall spirit yet, try listening to my list of 10 Great Autumn Vibe Songs to put you in the mood.

1. "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones —Mellow and moody and makes you want to wail along with her.

2. "Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop" by Landon Pigg —Sweet, lovely sentiments about falling in love.

3. "Autumn Town Leaves" by Iron & Wine —A song with a classic vibe that makes you want to sing along if you only knew the words.

4. "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day —Perfect song if you're feeling melancholy and blue so you can have a good cry.

5. "Pale September" by Fiona Apple - Moody and melancholy but hopeful of new love.

6 "September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire —Yes! A foot-tapping, finger-snapping hit from yesteryear that will make you dance around the room.

7. "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young —Oh, it's a love song with no under tone of sadness.

8. "September" by Corb Lund —A little country for all you fans plus you farmers and ranchers who'll know exactly what he's talking about. 

9. "Forever Autumn" by Justin Hayward —There's something so evocative about this song of change and loss. It actually reminds me of songs like "One Tin Soldier" originally recorded by The Original Caste which was used as the theme music for the cult classic, Billy Jack.

10. "Autumn in New York" by Frank Sinatra —I saved this classic for last. 

This song was written by Russian immigrant Vernon Duke aka Vladimir Dukelsky in the summer of 1934 when he was in Connecticut but homesick for New York City. It was first sung in a Broadway musical, and later recorded in December 1934.

The song didn't reach "hit" status until Sinatra recorded it in 1947. Since then many singers have covered this song, but Old Blue Eyes still has the most popular version.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I hope you'll look for these songs online—if only on YouTube. They'll really put you in the sweater, hot cocoa mood for autumn.

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Review - Gifted, Streaming Now

Today I am reviewing a heartwarming movie that I loved for the story, the acting, and the takeaway message.

Made for a measly $7M, Gifted stars Chris Evans as Frank Adler, a bachelor raising his niece Mary, who is a child prodigy, and is convincingly portrated by Mckenna Grace.

In fact Grace received a Critics' Choice Awards nomination for Best Young Actor/Actress for her performance.

Yes, I'll admit it's predictable. If you watch a lot of movies, you also know how to predict story lines, but it is still worth watching.

PRODUCTION DETAILS

The 2017 American drama was directed by Marc Webb and written by Tom Flynn. In addition to Evans and Grace, the film stars Lindsay Duncan as Frank's mother, Jenny Slate as Mary's teacher who instantly recognizes her stunning intellectual power, and Octavia Spencer as Roberta Taylor, the kind and loving neighbor who, like Frank, knows how special she is but who loves the girl for her self, not her brain.

Set in a Florida coastal town, Frank, who shares Mary's brainy powers of perception, only wants to let his 7-year-old niece live a normal life. He has a fundamental reason for wanting this for Mary which you'll learn as you watch the movie. When she is forced to begin kindergarten in a public school, everything changes.

There is conflict and heartbreak and a surprising twist at the end which makes everything and everyone's motives clear.

Don't miss this one which has been available on Tubi for quite some time. It's now also on Prime.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I loved this movie. I think it's one of Chris Evans's best performances, and Octavia Spencer always elevates what may be a clichéd character. 

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Writing Advice About Details

Are you the kind of reader who loves detailed  descriptions in books? Or do you hate long descriptive passages?

Chances are you're like me. You like enough details to create a visual image but not so many that they bog down a story.

WHY PUT DETAILS IN A BOOK? 

A young man asked me that once. He said he didn't like all those paragraphs of descriptions for places and people. He just wanted to jump into the story and read the action.

I suspect he was reading a book similar to one I had recently read where every noun seemed to have descriptive adjectives attached to them that it made reading the literary equivalent of  slogging through mud.    

I gave his question some thought and finally told him that details are what make books come alive for readers. It's the details about a character that make the character seem like a real person. It's the details about the setting that make the "world" those characters inhabit seem real.

WORD PICTURES

Those details about sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch—sensory details—create a picture of a person or place, and how those details are presented vary from author to author.

Anyone can say: "His eyes were blue." But to say: "His eyes were the deep blue of the ocean—the Antarctic Ocean—and just as frigid." That's a short example of a sensory detail that's attached to a bit of emotional observation from the viewpoint character.

I did tell the young man there were authors he might enjoy who used very little description—Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, and Robert B. Parker. There are others from the classics to present day. 

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

The best kind of description elicits a reaction of some sort in the reader and does this with the appropriate amount of words.

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