UBI

    Universal Basic Income: this is the idea that if you give people a basic amount of money, enough to pay rent and eat, that will give them the freedom to actually live. In Canada I think the proposed amount is two thousand a month. For the record that's more than what I make working close to full time. 

    A lot of people have posted on Facebook threads talking about UBI that amount to "I work why shouldn't they?" The problem is, We Do Work; but the hours we're given don't cover the necessities never mind any extras like say a decent winter coat or boots that don't leak after you've worn them for a month. 

    Those people might be two or three pay checks away from the street well I have news for them we're closer. Some people I know have student loans that they will be paying for out their government pensions because the jobs they have don't pay enough to pay those loans off. Forget about buying a home getting married or having kids. 

    I only mention government pensions because most work places don't have pension plans anymore. They haven't had them since conservative governments of the western world sold people the thought that unions were taking money and giving back nothing. I'm old I remember when they were doing it. 

    They blamed the unions for companies sending jobs to other countries when it was the owners of those companies that got angry that they had to take care of their workers instead of chewing them up and spitting them out like the good old days. Ah the Victorian Era when you could send a nine year old into a coal mine without some bleeding heart getting in the way. 

    I also have a penny to drop regarding those people fighting UBI who are angry that someone has thought up a way for people to not struggle like they've always done. If you really are that close to the edge depending on the rules they come up with you might be eligible too. Worried that you are going to be the ones to pay for it? If you are worried you probably don't make enough to be worried. 

    Stop being vindictive and really look at what is being proposed. This thing is even good for the people who will be paying. 

    Automation is not going away and if you discount the above mentioned jobs sent overseas scenario, its the real reason so many of those good paying jobs we miss have gone. UBI steps in and props up the jobs that are left. 

    There's also a comment to add about the economy as a whole. Stores empty? Groceries not selling? Restaurants laying off workers because of low business? Fun places closing because of low turn out? The rich don't keep those things running. There aren't enough rich to do that. It's the rest of us that make the economy work. 

    If we don't have the money we stick to survival mode and we don't go out, we buy only what we have to and the economy suffers. Survival mode is what turned the 1929 recession into a long term (great) depression that only the spending going to war could cure. UBI adds to the small jobs that far to many of us have and lets us take part and that keeps the country moving. 

    Don't really have a book that goes with this subject so lets just remind you about my book of short stories.

This is a collection of hyper short works that would fit perfectly on any cell phone kindle app. Don't pay attention to the people around you. Read something. 

Ongoing

 These days everything is ongoing. Nothing happens fast then stops. The ongoing war in Ukraine creates an ongoing energy crisis, food crisis, stock market crisis and who knows how many dominoes will fall before the game is over. 

Then there is the ongoing gun problem in the land of the free and the home of the well armed. I have from time to time watched a show that shadows real life boarder agents as they process people coming into Canada. Its kind of sad sometimes. Its also very funny when you get an American who has their AK 47 plus ammunition taken off them because if you come north to hunt moose you shouldn't be armed like an extra from an 80s action movie.  They get such a blank look on their faces when they learn, you can't do that here.  

Things have always been ONGOING of course its just that we have never been so completely informed of these ongoing things. We used to get a break but from the beginning of 24 hour news hour brains have been pounded with information both tragic and pointless. 

Lets create our own break and read something. 

I have written and self published two series with female heroes. The clip has the titles and covers. Birth of the Goddess; which incidentally is my first and most rewritten before being published book. Is the first book in a series of four. The story arch begins with the creation of my hero and ends with everyone involved having their mental feet on the ground. Adventure has happened, love has happened, and goodness knows what the future will bring. I'm open to doing more but no ideas have presented themselves.

Time Walker my other series did insist on a fifth book being written. Scenes kept showing up in my mind saying WRITE ME I'M EPIC. So I did. 

I could say a lot more but I'll just point you toward my amazon page. If you like heroes that don't wear capes and don't fit into the Marvel or DC unaverse give them a try.

My page is at           amazon.com/author/tabithabaumander     or you can click the link down at the bottom of the page

 

Routine

    There's probably an unhealthy aspect to this but I quite like routine. Routine is the framework that you can hang your life on. Work, do dishes, do laundry, see a movie; done with eyes open a routine can let your imagination relax. So long as you deliberately plan in change, fun and novelty it can be a low stress way of looking at life, leaving mental energy free to do things like in my case writing books. 

    My longest books have all been written when I have had dependable aspects to my life. Its as if my inner writer looks at my life situation and says, "Not sure what's going on these days. Better make this next one a novella."

    The simple fact is things that have cropped up to surprise me have had a tendency to be negative. I wont go into details because most of the situations no longer matter. The result of that lifelong series of lovely "surprises" is an allergy to surprise. I'm one of those people that like knowing how a mystery/adventure works out ahead of time so I can relax and enjoy the process of getting there. 

    One of the dependable aspects to my books is a near universal attraction to the happy ending. My hero's can tend to finish the story a bit battered but the ending always involves a bad surprise for the bad guys. 

    A departure from my usual Urban Fantasy catalogue is IN THE NAME OF THE MOTHER. I intended firmly to have a supernatural aspect to the plot. The plot told me to, "bugger off it didn't need no stinking magic." 

    Published by a small press in the US it's my answer to The Handmaidens tale. Mind you it was written before the Republican Party started using The Handmaidens tale as a party platform. 

    I wont go into the plot to deeply but it involves a stone age cult that has survived to the modern day which holds women as superior and keeps men in "their place"

    This one is also the book that stopped me from trying to get in with an agent. The response from the New York agent that read the manuscript was simple and telling.

    "I love your stuff. I just don't know now to sell you."

    You and me both dude. You and me both. 

    You can find a link to my amazon page below. This book and all the others are there. 

#Abuse is abuse

 Recently I read the beginning of a post on my Facebook feed about how we all have to support Amber Heard in her case against Johnny Dep because if she is proved wrong then all women will be accused of faking abuse and we'll be shoved back into the dark ages. 

This is an issue that crops up every time some women admits to having lied about this abuse or that rape. (A rare event but it happens and men have spent years in jail because of it). I wanted to comment then stopped. She used several examples from her own experiences and I did not want to show that confidence any disrespect.  

That being said there is a big problem with this absolutist all or nothing attitude. Reality is not all or nothing and just because one thing is true doesn't mean everything that looks like that one thing is a lie. Evidence increasingly shows that AH has been faking a lot of things for a long time. This does not mean the woman across the street who wears oddly thick makeup and long sleeves in the summer is not getting beat on a regular basis and needs help.  

The practice of believe and help first is still valid. Women out there getting abused physically or verbally should be believed. Get that person to safety please but put away the pitchforks. Mob justice is no replacement for the real thing. #MeToo was intended to open a window on this sort of thing not stop anyone's truth from getting out.

Another thing needs to be addressed.  Its fairly rare because of the traditional power structure of relationships but men get abused too. (I have a nonexistent social life and have known two. ) They do get abused and while women's shelters are few and far between men have nothing. This fact needs to be pulled out into the light. I'm just a story teller not a social scientist I have no idea how you would deal with this problem but I really think it should be studied.  

So that's my thoughts about the issue of the day. Lets turn the tables and talk books or in this case a novella.

This story begins in ancient times. A warrior willingly becomes a monster to defend his valley home. That small civilization dies but he lives on in stone and eventually comes to the modern city of Toronto. He is eventually defeated by the soul you'd least expect to have the strength to best a monster. 

You can find it on my amazon page but I think you need to go to the second or third page its not at the front. Link to my page is below this article. 

I would love to help you reach your potential.

    Got a direct message this morning from a guy that works in public relations. He took a look at my amazon page and the books listed there and contacted me. The root of his message was; he loved the look of my stuff and would love to be a key part in attaining success. I gave him my standard response. Which is nothing but the truth.

    "I live on minimum wage. I can't afford you."

    I've yet to run into anyone who has taken the next step and said; "I hear you. I think we can work something out. You start making money I'll start taking a cut."

    I would meet with someone like that. I have no problems paying for services if I have the money. I just have no money to pay for services.

    This guy is in the same city too. Just because I thought he would think it fun I recommended one of my books that is set very visibly in Toronto.  

    A selection of people come to realize that they are not fully human. They are human alien hybrids. They have been created to help the aliens take over earth. Along with the alien DNA these people have developed many of their alien half's powers and abilities. These powers are mixed with the unique human ability to picture things that are not strictly speaking real and magnified to an epic degree. 

    In the end they are faced with a choice. Are they aliens with human blood or humans with alien blood? In that choice sits the future of the world. 

You can find the link to my amazon page below. 

You might want to check out my You Tube page as well. 

Being honest with yourself sometimes means disappointing others.

    I've reached the age when I know my limitations. You'd think that would be easy but it isn't. You have to have lived a while to know what you can and cannot do. Some people never figure it out and are constantly walking down dead ends to find they disappoint people hugely. At this point in my life I get the disappointing people over with up front and save time.

    That's not to say I don't stretch myself. I do try and I find new things I can do all the time. Funny thing is looked back at its always clear the THING whatever it might be was always a next step in the progression of something I knew I could do. This blog is an example.

    People tend to say to others, you can do this thing you must be able to do this other. The root skills are the same. I have news for those people. The root skills for everything are the same; work hard, practice, lather rinse repeat. 

    Its the specific skills that tell you that you can do a thing. If you try and push maybe you will pick up those specific skills. It does happen. It also takes a long time to happen. You have to start at ground zero. I've seen enough ground zeros in my life I need to be accepted for what I am. 

    I do have a book with a main character that knows his limitations. 

    

    Steven Pendergast has an Olympic gold medal for archery hanging on the wall in his living-room. These days he doesn't compete. He teaches middle school gym and feels secretly that he disappoints a lot of people. Then he hears a fairy singing a drinking song in his backyard in the middle of the night. The first night of summer break. 

You can find it here or click the link at the bottom of the page and visit my entire amazon page. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NPC783P/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p2_i9

Twitter

 Ok so I accidentally created a completely new Twitter account. They sent me instructions on how to delete it but let me tell you how hard it is. Its hard. 

Yeah, that's me being understated. I gave up after a short frustrated rant. Funny thing is, I can access my normal TEN YEAR OLD account on my phone and my older computer. I can't on the computer I accidentally created the new account on. 

So, how was everyone's holiday weekend. Cold I bet. Its Easter Sunday as I type this but yesterday I went out to a park to take some pictures and try and get a handle on the camera that comes with my new cell phone. It has a zoom. This counts as exciting. 

Problem being it was nice for a walk but it was also a bit brisk and my fingers got cold enough for me to not be able to work the camera. I love my home and yes I am aware that Toronto is lucky compared to Manitoba who got hit with a dang snow storm this week. 

I did enjoy the trip out mind you. A dog showed me his stick. He was very pleased with it. 

    

This was taken today. I did a whole you tube with this as a part but Blogger said it was to big so I picked this one.  Its how I feel right now. Chilly and waiting for something good to happen.

If you want to see the full video check my you tube channel by clicking the link below.

Stay warm. Eat lots of chocolate eggs. Brush your teeth. 

Remember it will eventually get warmer.