My take on the BONES finale

It has been over a week, but I still find myself thinking about the BONES finale that aired April 29th.  I've been meaning to post about my thoughts on it but life kept getting in the way.  Now that I am somewhat calmer perhaps this is a good time to share my views.
In case you haven't seen the episode and don't want to be spoiled, I'm adding spoiler space.  This is your cue to quit reading this post if you don't want to know what happened...
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Okay.

I enjoy BONES.  When Brennan and Booth finally got together I was very happy.  What would make me happier?  Easy.  I want them to be married.

In "The Secret in the Siege," what fans have hoped for finally happened.  In the middle of the episode, Brennan proposes to Booth, in a way only she can.  It was completely in character, and a joyful Booth says yes.  I and the rest of fandom go wild with joy.

Alas, what Hart Hanson and Stephen Nathan give us with one hand, they cruelly take away with the other.

At the end of the episode, the season's big baddie Christopher Pelant contacts Booth and tells him unless he calls off the proposal (without telling Brennan why) 5 random people will die.  Booth has no choice but to comply.  In an emotionally wrenching scene he breaks off the engagement, breaking Brennan's heart (and throwing fans all over into despair).  If I remember correctly, we close on a shot of a devastated Brennan.  Fade to black.

I was FURIOUS after this episode.  I wound up ranting to two friends on Facebook about it, and they fortunately were patient with me and let me get it out of my system, even though neither of them watch the show.

I am not alone in my feelings.  Many fans reacted negatively to the end of this episode, with a few vowing they were done with the show.  Just about everyone took aim and Hanson and Nathan for messing around with our favorite couple AGAIN.

BONES fans have had to wait a long time for these two to get together.  We've put up with rivals, miscommunication, lines, and a whole lot of angst to get to see them as a romantic couple.  Now, with one blow, The Powers that Be (TPTB) have put all of that at risk - why?  Do they LIKE causing us pain?  Do they think if we get what we want we'll quit watching?  Do they think?

The ending felt like a slap in the face to fans.  If TPTB wanted to tick off a major portion of fandom, they succeeded.  I'm not sure that's a great business model, however.

They do have a chance to fix this, however.  Season 9 is in four months (and fanfiction writers are already burning up their keyboards with their own versions of fixes).  And Nathan promised in an interview that "Booth will make this right."  So there is hope.

Here, in my humble opinion, is my take on what could possibly happen in Season 9:

1) Pelant has to die.  There is no way that throwing this guy in jail is going to be good enough for anyone.  Who will do the deed?  Booth is the obvious choice, but there are certainly other contenders for the job.
2) Booth will become obsessed with getting Pelant.  I think he will try to get some under-the-radar help from someone not in law enforcement.  My guess is he'll confide in Max, Brennan's dad, who certainly has proven he can live off the grid.
3) Booth and Brennan will not break up, but it's going to be tough for them.  I'd like to think Brennan suspects something isn't right about all this - she is very intelligent - but she may be thinking with her heart and letting it cloud her judgement.  While I don't think TPTB will allow her to discover Booth's real reasons for a while, my hope is she doesn't doubt his feelings for her.
4) It's going to be very tough for Booth with the Squints, since he can't tell them what's really going on.  I'm willing to bet Angela will be on the warpath.
5) Once this is all over?  I suspect it will take time for our couple to heal.  Then it will be Booth's turn to propose, and maybe, just maybe, TPTB will let us have what we've waited for all this time - a B/B wedding.

Final question: Will I watch Season 9?

That choice may be taken from me, at least at first.  I may have a scheduling conflict beginning in September that will last 10 weeks.  So unless I talk my husband into a DVR (no, I don't have one yet, despite my love of tech) or take time to watch the episodes online, I'll be missing episodes.

But then again, I cared enough to do a whole blog post on the topic.  So perhaps it's not so far a stretch to say I'll be watching.

After all, I'm still hoping for my happy ending.

Help for Ben Wolverton

Author David Farland's son, Ben Wolverton, was in a bad accident and received serious injuries.  Fellow wordsmiths have joined together to raise funds to help defray medical expenses.

Please click the link below and help if you can:

http://www.helpwolverton.com/p/books-for-book-bomb.html

Thanks.

Okay, maybe I'm just not a blogger...

...you would think that I was, being a writer and everything.  But it's been months since I posted anything and I noticed I hadn't added some books to my bibliography and ebooks page.  Almost everything is now updated and (hopefully) all the links work properly.

Anyway, is there anything in particular you'd like to see me blather about here?  I will try to do better on keeping everyone up to speed.  Any writing news I will try to report as soon as possible.  Any other news I will also try to post.

In the meantime, explore the site, let me know what you'd like to see!

Moving right along...

The past few months have seen an upheaval in my life which I am still climbing out of.  My beloved father-in-law died after a long illness in March, and a lot of things, including my writing, was thrown into disorder.

I am very grateful for the number of friends who encouraged me, emailed me, sent cards, or just said a quick prayer for me during these months.  It is good to know how many people care.

Things are getting better.  I am slowly getting things back in order.  I've been writing on a regular basis again, not very much but it all adds up.  I epublished a new short story this weekend - "In the Bag."  It's a fun crime story that I hope you enjoy.

As I strive to get things back to normal I hope to do more with this blog then have it be a placeholder for my writing.  I'm sorry for the sporadic updates, and don't even know if anyone is still reading.  But as things return to, as a friend put it, "a new normal," I'm going to try to make this blog a part of that.

Thanks for reading.  Talk to you soon!

Speaking to high school students and general update

This Monday I will be speaking at the Forest Hill Community High School in West Palm Beach.  The topic?  Writing, specifically writing a mystery.  I'm looking forared to it but just a little nervous.  It will be a lot of fun talking to the kids.  You can see some information about it here: http://library-alexandria.com/Media%20Events.htm

Meanwhile I'm still plugging away at my current project, DEATH ON THE AIR.  I'm also busy reading stuff assigned to me for an upcoming short story workshop. 

Last month my father-in-law died after a long illness.  My family is still adjusting but we're progressing along. 

Hope all is well with my readers and I will try to keep you updated in a more timely fashion.  :-)

Looking back at 2011

It looks like I listed two goals for 2011: 200,000 new words of fiction and 12 short stories.

I didn't make either goal.

My wordcount for 2011 is 181,390 words.  While I missed the 200,000 word mark this counts as my second best year since I've started keeping track in 2007.  I'm hoping to do better this year.

As for short stories, I only wrote seven, little more than half of my goal.  I struggled with this goal, and I am not happy with my output.  If you read my other post on goals, I'm hoping to write as many as 25 short stories this year.  Yes, I set the bar way higher.

Sometimes in 2011 I found it hard to be creative.  That impacted the writing, especially the short stories.  One thing I hope to accomplish this year is to find ways to reignite my creativity.

I did epublish ten short stories, a short story collection, and a novel.  I'm hoping to have a lot more published this year.  And, of course, I plan to send things to magazines and publishers this year.

2011 saw me missing the mark on my goals.  I'm hoping that 2012 will have a different outcome.

Goals for 2012

I've decided to post my goals for 2012 in writing.  I can't remember if I posted my 2011 goals.  If I did, I promise I'll update how I did with them.  Short answer: I think I fell short of any goals I set.

Anyway, here, in no particular order, are my 2012 goals:

1) 200,000 new words in fiction.
2) Epublish 25 short stories/story collections/novels
3) Write at least 25 short stories this year.
4) Begin to epublish my old columns.  I'm hoping to gather them into collections as well.
5) Finish up two novels I started in 2011 and write two more.

That's what I hope to accomplish in 2012.  Wish me luck!