For the holidays, YA gave me a marvelous (albeit completely unnecessary) gift:
Since the discovery that I could get Libby to work through my hearing aids, my reading has been up a bit and I was happy when I had hit 14 by January 31. I was thinking that maybe it might be a banner year.
Another gift that I received this year was also an unnecessary bit of fun. When I visited my friend Susan in Madison last year, one of our conversations was about television and all the shows we liked. I mentioned that I loved a lot of the British shows that I could find and that I wished BritBox wasn’t so expensive; I’m just not willing to pay anymore for tv in our house than I already do. When I opened the envelope from Susan, I expected a gift card; it turned out to be a coupon for two months of BritBox paperclipped to $22 cash. I laughed and laughed.
I launched the two-month gift on February 1st. I took the book counter photo yesterday morning. Not one book added since January 31. That’s because I am flippin’ LIVING on BritBox – part of my psyche says I should get as much seen as possible while I have this two-month gift. Death in Paradise (Season 15), Vera (just a few shows…on the edge of too dark for me), Ludwig (the whole first season – can’t wait for Season 2 later this year), Hamish Macbeth (only a couple of these), Poirot – Death on the Nile. I’ll stop here. So far I haven’t wandered off the murder mystery path, but I’m sure I will eventually.
It’s actually really enjoyable since I’m pretty good at skipping shows I don’t like. Heaven knows there are enough available. I turned off Riot Women 10 minutes in; ABC Murders lasted about that long as well.
Truly the only regret I have about having this two months is the hit it’s taking to my reading. Truly, if it weren’t for cds and Libby when I’m doing errands in the car, I wouldn’t be reading at all!
Do any of your hobbies/past-times fight each other for your attention?
Trail Baboon 
While you have Britbox, check out Death Valley. We eagerly await season 2.
I did 10 books in January —actual reading, not listening— though 2 of them I chose not to finish. We typically watch TV together in the evening. Left on my own at that time I usually read instead.
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I have already found Death Valley. Love it!!
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No doubt you have seen Vicar of Dibley?
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I have and thank you for reminding me. It is one of the BritBox stable so my guess it’s gonna be on my screen soon!!!
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BritBox, like Netflix, is clearly tracking what I watch. I can live with this because it means they’ve started to recommend options similar to things I have clearly liked.
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Golf and writing time compete during golf season. I should be more disciplined then and get my writing done first thing in the morning. But I’m not particularly creative-feeling in the morning, so that’s probably a bad idea.
I don’t care much for any TV these days other than live sports. Although we’ve enjoyed the Reacher, Bosch, and Lincoln Lawyer series(es) on Netflix or Prime. I watch those through the eyes of an author seeing how TV folks use the author’s original work and if they stay true to the story.
Chris in Owatonna
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I haven’t seen the Lincoln Lawyer series, but I did see the movie with Matthew McConaughey. I liked the book better.
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The books are better than the movie or series. Series is okay except for the miscasting of Michael Haller. He’s good, but he’s Hispanic, and Haller is NOT. My pick for Haller is Rob Morrow in his 40s; not the age he was in “Northern Exposure.”
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for you is writing all inspiration at the keyboard or is there some storyboarding kind of organization stuff that cant be dismissed? i was thinking if mornings are your goal maybe there is some task master stuff that will plug in and get you doing the less appealing but still necessary to the end result
i find if im not inspired a sidestep toward the goal often is a good idea
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I outline one way or another for each book, but for me that is more creative than business-oriented. I do tend to do business-related writing stuff in the mornings because it’s usually “busy work” that’s not mentally challenging. The problem is that the business side of writing can creep into the entire day and detract from actual writing time. I know many authors who struggle with finding the balance that works for them.
But thanks for the suggestion.
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Yes, my desire to be involved in everything important to me, and my desire for time to rest and reflect!
To have influence (or control) and to have space for peace of mind.
VS, I forget: Libby is the app through which you find library books?
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Yes, Libby is the app that the Hennepin County Library is using now for audiobooks. I stuck with Overdrive (the previous system) until the very last day when the when the Library said “we’re done now Sherrilee”. Overall, Libby‘s positive features outweigh the negative feature that bugs me. If you count the hearing aid positive, then Libby wins hands-down.
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I stuck with Overdrive too. I wish it wasn’t gone.
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Vera is dark but I have been a fan of Brenda Blethyn for years. Shetland got way too dark. Tracy Ullman is like Mr. Bean funny in small doses. QI is a favorite of mine ,but full of half truths and lies. Father Brown got old and tired after a few years. But fun at first. Nothing like the books. Sherlock is amazing but wears on me. Morse and Lewis are fun. Filmed at Oxford. Black Adder is tongue in cheek to the max but I found it delightful. Crawford and Sharpe, Judy Dench and Sean Bean take you back in time but Sharpe is a war story. Shakespeare and Hathaway tongue in cheek modern mysteries. Keeping up Appearances and Allo Allo two light classsic British comedies. Monty Don’s American Gardens is a wow.
Clyde
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I just started watching Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes last night. I’ve seen all these in the past both been quite some time and I do really like them. I don’t know if I’ll watch them all but at least a few. Completely agree about Father Brown.
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I find British comedies like Keeping Up Appearances tiresome in the extreme.
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I loved As Time Goes By when it was fresh…
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Yes, my desire to knit competes with my desire to read. I don’t listen to as my audio books as you do, VS. I enjoy them in the car, but not at home. I’m not sure why. I do like to be able to pay attention to Maggie – she’s still very much a puppy and needs attention. Maggie competes with all of my other hobbies and activities. She wants to own my attention 100 percent.
I agree about Father Brown. I do like Vera and Shetland. Shakespeare and Hathaway is cute, but it doesn’t do much for me. I really liked Endeavor.
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Best part of Shakespeare and Hathaway is the assisstant.
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Streaming service? We don’t even have cable as yet, as I wanted to see what services our Boommate wants after she moves in. We just don’t watch tv.
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I can’t live without Turner classic movies or actually I probably could these days. My wife gets pissed when I hit the record button on a movie that I wanna watch later because I have 30 others on the list already Recorded that I haven’t watched yet and I tend to watch them as Turner classic movies makes them available at a time slot that I am there for. I do a lot more with podcasts than with TV shows, but a lot of that has been because of my driving with Instacart, which came to a halt on Monday kind of a sad story, but it looks like I won’t be doing any delivery, which is good news cause I was getting real bad news because it was paying very well so now I will have more time to do other things, but I need to figure out how to plug that into the financial picture as well as time allotment
looks on tape part of the thing for me. I should probably start tracking them. I do enjoy the Timberwolves basketball games and I have a golf league with my sons that we do other than that. It’s a lot of podcast mixed in with jazz blues folk for my radio stuff or music
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