Geree's Blog

We have our plane tickets! And, because we will be leaving at 8:05 in the morning, we have a room for the night before at a hotel next door to where we catch the bus for the airport so we can make it easily. We will get to Montevideo around 1:30 and then we have a room reserved at a place called Hotel California. Okay, I have to admit The Eagles influenced my choice. I just hope once we check in we can check out the next day - yikes. After that, we are playing it by ear. I hope we can visit all the beaches. It will be my first time seeing the Atlantic! Can't wait!

Yes, that's right, next month I will (hopefully) go to Uraguay! I am so excited. I have wanted to visited the other countries in South America but somehow we never managed to go. Now that we are not buying property in Ecuador (the only lot I was interested in was not a winner with Jim: too low to the beach), we are free to travel. The local airlines offer super specials so in May we plan on going to Montevideo for 6 days and perhaps a few more days to explore the rest of the country. I asked my friend Jan to accompany us and she is thinking about it! How fun would that be? Super fun!

One of the problems of living outside the US is security at my US banks. They require a phone number but my cell number in Chile has one too many digits to fit into their forms (although they have international address forms, they lack international phone number forms). So last week I thought I had it solved, I purchased a phone number from Skype located in San Diego, CA, my home town. But, it didn't work. I tested it calling from Jim's cell but it was never forwarded to my cell, so I knew it didn't work. Three days ago I started trying to get someone at Skype to help me but all I got was a chat person who never answered. I had been on hold for three days! Today I had enough and decided to get a refund, but guess what, no refund button online! WTF? I had no choice but to go to my bank in San Diego and ask them to file a dispute with Visa. My bank is very responsive and got right on it, so I feel much better about it now that I know I won't get screwed. I felt so much

This was the view inland from the roof of my hotel.

The weather is consistently warm, and the day after the earthquake people were still hanging out.       And the next day was Monday and goodbye tourists! Such a beautiful place!

The beach at Montanita is active with boat rides, parachute rides, people enjoying the waves!

Montanita has a fabulous beach! I could easily live here!

Thanks to the suggestion of my first reader and commenter, I changed the look of the blog. What do you think? Is it easier to read? Today Jim and I are taking our cat Toby to the vet. Last year he ran into a stick with one of his eyes and now has only one eye and is a totally indoor cat. But somehow he managed to cut himself under his chin and it will not heal and he will not let me clean it. I have given him Amoxicillin but it hasn't made a difference. So today our friend Katta has arranged to take us to Dr. Marta - our vet. I hope he will be okay, he gets easily freaked by new experiences. My friend Jan, who met me in Ecuador and has known me since elementary school, has allowed me to send my new computer to her house so I can get one with an English keyboard and programs and it was delivered yesterday! Yay! Soon I will have a new computer! Thanks Jan! Speaking of Ecuador, we had such a fun time. One morning in Banos, Stephanie wasn't feeling well so Jan and I went off

Okay, I feel like talking about what's happening to me right now. The thing about the book is that I have no clue how to market it. I have tried so many things that just don't result in anything significant. Even this blog, I have no idea what to write in this blog. One source said blogging is the best way to promote a book, but not write about the book, write about other stuff. Really? Does that really work? How do people know to come to my blog? Why would anyone care to read it? I don't know but I am giving it a try. So, I am just going to babble today to see if anyone reads it and responds. Anyway, now I am considering a book promotion service to promote my book for me. Books Go Social has a service that costs $149 for 6 weeks of promotion with a money back guarantee - so it sounds good to me. I just bought a new computer this month and still have to pay for shipping from the US to Chile, so I need to wait until next month to order the promotion service. sigh Toda

Author's voice is the disembodied voice of the author telling the story rather than the characters showing the story through their actions and words. Too often writers babble about the surroundings, descriptions of people, and the backstory, all of which slows the pace and bores the reader into skimming over the tedious author's voice to get back to the action, if there is any. I have no author's voice in "The Swirling Red Mist: A Tale of Murder." And when I review books and I read author's voice, I give the book a negative review. How about you? Had you noticed it before? Does it bug you as much as it bugs me? Share your thoughts. Thanks!

When I began to write "The Swirling Red Mist: A Tale of Murder" I had no clue what a true psychopath was so I researched it on Google and YouTube. I knew Nancy was a psychopath but I needed to know what she would be like to know. I learned that all of us have some psychopathic traits, some more than others, some of us are more prone to certain behaviors and reactions. Those who have all the traits are dangerous because they are fearless and will risk everything if need be. Do you know any psychopaths? I seem to know more than I ever imagined.  But tell me about the psychopaths you know. What are their traits? Liars, cheats, thieves, killers? Do they have regular jobs or unusual occupations? Are they fearless? Do you think psychopaths are crazy? Should they be in mental hospitals? Can they be cured with therapy? Please share your thoughts and ideas. Thanks! Geree