Peachy Keen with Tara Wine-Queen
Monday morning sunshine to start the week off right
Hello, friends, and happy day! I hope your weekend was everything a weekend should be and that this week is a wonderful one, whatever that might look like to you.
The Memes
Featured Writer: Val Manwill
This week’s featured writer is YA author and mom-com (mommy comedy? I don’t know, I just work here) blogger Val Manwill. You may know her from her blog where she relates funny and/or embarrassing stories from her experiences as a mother or short stories she’s had featured in anthologies and online magazines. Her novella Seventeen Trips Around the Sun came out June 1st and can be found here.
What’s your perfect day look like?
A perfect day would be writing. Writing, writing, writing, writing, writing! And then having an amazing risotto and going to a Halloween carnival with my family. That was the first thing that came to mind as a perfect day.
Has a line in a movie or show ever made you spit out your drink and/or made you cry from laughing?
I can’t even tell you how many times a day my husband and I bring up the “Racacoonie” scene from Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.
What song(s)/singer(s)/band(s) make you the happiest?
That’s a hard question! I’ve always had a big thing for classic rock ‘n roll. It’s been such a massive part of my life. I used to dream of becoming a waitress at a Hard Rock Café so I could listen to that music all day long, dress in grungy black and see cool memorabilia. I was devastated when our local Hard Rock closed before I turned twenty-one.
What account(s) always put a smile on your face?
I love watching other creators. It’s so satisfying. Like being vicariously productive. On YouTube, I always stay up to date on my Rachel Maksy and Kate Cavanaugh. And for all writers, I highly recommend the latter.
Where is your happy place?
I am one of those cringy Disneyland Moms who buys her family matching shirts and never wants to venture anywhere else for vacations. During the pandemic, I used to sit in a laundry basket with my kids and put a Pirates of the Caribbean (ride) POV on the TV.
What’s your comfort show/movie?
I definitely have certain movies that I cycle through. Most of my favorite movies are time travel movies like Back to the Future, About Time, Somewhere in Time. I also dearly love Big Fish, Harold and Maude, Indiana Jones, Freaks and Geeks, and the original Twilight Zone Series.
Do you have any tricks for cheering yourself up if you’re having a rough day?
My trick is to not cheer yourself up exactly, but to validate your feelings / rough day. I state the feeling to myself as plainly as possible. “You were upset that happened.” “That hurt your feelings when she said that.” “You were overwhelmed and frustrated that you couldn’t finish that project.” “That was a rough day. You have a lot on your plate.” I think it to myself and then I feel automatically better. There’s no burden of trying to correct what I’m feeling or needing to have a solution. It just is. And it helps me to sit with my discomfort in that moment, acknowledge it and then I can move forward. That’s what helps me anyway. It’s like being your own attentive and kind listener.
Do you have a favorite quote about joy?
Here is a quote about joy from my novella:
“Every day we wake up something amazing could happen and we don’t even know it. We could meet a new best friend. Or hear our favorite song for the first time. Or discover a new second home. Anything could happen and it’s so exciting.”
You can check out Val’s book here.
Seven Happy Things!
Seven things that made me smile this week.
I FINALLY GOT MY PHONE BACK AND IT WORKS AGAIN! It’s been so long since I’ve had a fully functioning phone that I forget I don’t have to use the workarounds I developed anymore. I can see something and want to take a picture of it and just…hold my phone up and snap said picture? What a life.
Even though I have yet to see either film, I am so excited about the response to Barbenheimer! I love movies, I love the experience of going to theaters, and I love that amidst a strike of both writers and actors, we have these two films showcasing all that the work of writing and acting can do to excite and unite people.
Speaking of the strike, just look at David Duchovny! Love seeing him and the other actors out there doing the work (especially when they bring clever signs).
Brooke’s friend is out here making sure banned books are accessible in her neighborhood! I love Little Free Libraries and I love efforts to keep banned books in rotation so this checked some serious boxes for me.
I finished re-reading The Anthropocene Reviewed - one of my favorite books of all time and truly a balm to my soul - just as John Green helped score a major victory on the TB front because he not only writes well, he does good.
It came up in my memories that it was four years ago this week – those sweet days of pre-pandemic bliss when we were unaware of how good we had it – that we went on our last beach vacation with our entire extended family, ending with a stop at GalaxyCon where I got to meet David Tennant, the only celebrity I have ever paid money to see like that. And somehow, he only gets better with age? Forgive my goofy face in this and just look at the man radiating joy out into the world.
I mean, can you watch this without laughing? Because I definitely was in tears over it.
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Before I Go
It is the time of year when West Virginia Living magazine holds its nomination period for the Best of WV. Last year, I was runner-up and I would really love to get it this year, especially since I’m hoping to release my next book later this year and it would be incredible to get to include that honor in the sales pitch/advertising/etc.
That said, would you mind terribly going here and nominating me for this year’s final round under the “Culture” tab? You can do it once a day until August 1st but even one time would be a huge blessing.
Finally, shout out to Mike Mallow for having the best response to last year’s near-win:
Have a fabulous week, friends!
<3
Tara
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Woo! David Tennant! 🥰