Day in the Life

Review: Once Upon a Winter's Eve

2012-01-21T13:08:00.008-05:00

Spindle Cove Series, Novella

Naughty Rating: Mild.

The Skinny: Violet Winterbottom is a relatively new resident to Spindle Cove, though even for the others, she's a bit of an anomaly: she's a quiet girl with a penchant for languages and well-placed vantage points used to pass her time as a wallflower, watching everyone around her. No one ever really notices Violet and it's just as well, considering she's still recovering from a secret heartache. Her family is demanding she return home and marry and she's trying diligently to muster the nerve necessary for a return to London when a strange man literally crashes the Christmas Ball she's attending.

Upon seeing his handsome, yet rugged face, Violet is quickly aware of several things: he doesn't speak English, she's the only person in the room who understands his language, he's noticed no other women in the room save her, and he's clearly more than what he seems. Old memories threaten to ruin her best-laid plans at recovery, but if she can't get this stranger to confess who he is, he may wind up arrested as a spy, a fugitive, or a smuggler - either way, his life would be forfeit. If he only didn't seem so familiar to her, she might have an easier time helping him.

The Good: Violet has been through intense heartache ever since The Disappointment, and I think in some way we can all relate to her pain. But, like many a wonderful heroine, Violet doesn't allow herself to be lost in the pain. She runs away to Spindle Cove, yes, but it's more of a tactical retreat than a true desertion. She's incredibly brilliant and her ability to quickly learn new things has created superb survival skills. Skills she readily uses to get to the bottom of the stranger's purpose in crashing that party (and really, I think that's the ultimate in party crashing, don't you?). The stranger's secrets are as intriguing as they are believable - to both Violet and the reader. And most importantly, Violet demonstrates how a woman of her time can be a survivor without relying on another man.

The Bad: I absolutely loved this novella, but I really wanted more. I can't say this is a complaint, however, because the story was well-written, the plot laid out nicely, and there was just enough sprinkling in about the Spindle Cove series to make me want to devour the others. So the "bad" thing about this book is I can't truly find something to complain about. For shame!

The Wrap-Up: Once Upon a Winter's Eve is a story of lost love, second chances, and moving forward when life doesn't happen as you'd hoped. Mistakes are made, chances are taken, and our heroine finds love when she least expects it. As I said on twitter last night, Tessa Dare weaves a tale that's enchanting, dreamy, exciting, and deliriously romantic - a bit like how I'd imagine dancing the quadrille on clouds would be. Definitely worth the time and money (it's $0.79 to $0.99 depending on where you purchase it) and I give it 5 stars, without reservation!

Full Disclosure: The copy of this book was provided by Tessa Dare, herself (though I can't recall if it was for the purposes of a review or not). Though I have met the author in person at RWA Nationals - she's a really awesomely cool person, btw - I am relieved to say her personality was never factored into the rating given. Because it was that good. Objectivity is sometimes difficult for readers, reviewers, and fellow writers, especially if we've actually met the authors in question, but this time it was easy. Additionally, I receive zero kickbacks from the author, publisher, or marketplaces these eBooks are sold for utilizing any of the links supplied on this site.

Book Info/Where To Get It: Once Upon a Winter's Eve is a novella in the Spindle Cove series and would almost fit in as book 1.5 of the series, though Ms. Dare does not list it as such on her website. I haven't yet read the others, but I get the impression that it doesn't ruin the enjoyment of the others if you start with this one (as I did). You may find your digital only copy for NOOK, Kindle, Sony, Google Books, and directly from Samhain Publishing.

The Spindle Cove series in order, as stated on Tessa Dare's website:
A Night to Surrender
Once Upon a Winter's Eve
A Week to be Wicked (March 27, 2012)
A Lady by Midnight (Fall 2012)

Reviews and Such

2012-01-19T18:06:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I thought I'd drop a note for anyone who's paying attention - are you out there? - that I'm going to be doing a few more reviews here than I have in the past. This is going to be a delicate dance for me because I'm a bookseller, I'm hoping to become a published author, and I'm a reader.

Because of my status as a pre-published author (nice ring to it, right?), I'm not going to put ratings on the reviews. I think. Well, maybe. No wait - I'm going to wear my reviewer hat when writing reviews so I'm going to be honest, but fair (and nice, of course). Ratings will be as objective as possible.

Also, my reading tastes are varied. I tend to swing more toward Romance (paranormal, futuristic, suspense, contemporary, historical, etc...), but I happily read Science Fiction/Fantasy, Literary Fiction, Non-Fiction, etc. I guess these tags are going to be a lot more useful in the future...

There, I said it. :)

Review: Bound in Darkness by Cynthia Eden

2011-10-29T17:58:00.009-04:00

Vampire/Werewolf Series, Novella

Naughty Rating: Moderate

The Skinny: Allison Gray is a not-quite-yet-vampire on the run from an unseen predator. Her only hope is to trust her fate to Cade Thaine, a werewolf who has an unfortunate case of hatred for all things vampire. To make matters worse, Cade was actually hired to kill Allison, not protect her. Lucky for Allison, Cade is more than a little taken by her physical form and he just can't seem to help himself from coming to her aid - again and again - when attempts are made on her life. Some hired "gun" he's turning out to be.

The Good: Allison is believably ignorant about the nature of vampires and pure bloods in general. This works well in establishing a basis for stumbling into the path of her would-be assassin. I'm trying really hard to keep the spoilers at a minimum, so let's just leave it at that. I also really liked the chemistry between Cade and Allison - a lot. Like really a lot. Cade does a pretty good job of lying to himself about his motives for saving Allison and as a wonderfully tortured hero, the moment he decides to just go for what he wants is incredibly fulfilling (and hot). Like whoa.

The Bad: I think the misunderstanding in the beginning drags out a little longer than necessary, which made it a little hard to follow at first. Also, there was such great, simplistic building of Cade and Allison's backgrounds, and yet I felt our glimpse into their romance was a little too shallow for my taste. That's sometimes hard to do with short stories, so I'm keeping that in consideration with this review. Lastly, there were a few typos in the book, though none were so glaring they ruined the story for me.

The Wrap-Up: I love fairy tales! Bound in Darkness is a little bit of Snow White (being led to her slaughter by the hunter), Beauty and the Beast (Cade has those wonderful scars), and Little Red Riding Hood (he's a werewolf for crying out loud!) all rolled into one. I really enjoyed my time reading this story and I'll admit to re-reading it before writing the review -- and not just because I took a while to get this review out. I'd definitely recommend reading this one, and at $0.99, how could you not give it a shot?

Full Disclosure: The review copy of this book was provided by Cynthia Eden, herself. I'm a huge fan of Cynthia Eden's books. They're like crack to me and I just can't seem to stay away from them, though I maintained my objectivity as faithfully as possible with this review. Because I'm such a huge fan, I've refrained from giving an actual rating of the book (but if you really must know, I give it four stars). If you're curious about her other books, I'd recommend taking a look at Hotter After Midnight (link removed, as Ms. Eden's site appears to be down), which happens to be my all-time favorite of hers so far.

You can find a copy of Bound in Darkness from NOOK, Kindle, Smashwords, or All Romance eBooks. It's important to mention that this is an eBook only title - sorry to disappoint anyone who prefers their books in dead tree format.

One Week 'Til NYC!

2011-06-19T13:44:00.002-04:00

This time next week, I'll be finishing up my packing and preparing for a week-long trip to NYC. I'm going as part of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) National Conference and I'M SO EXCITED!

I've never been to NYC before. Shoot, I've never been to a National Conference before either (though I've been a member of RWA for two years now). It'll be just me and a few thousand ladies (and gentlemen) who love the romance genre, industry, networking, and improving our craft. I'm planning on taking advantage of the TKTS booths my first day in to take in a show - because I would be incredibly remiss if I passed up the opportunity to see something on Broadway or Off Broadway. Srsly.

I'm also planning on checking out B&N's flagship store, F.A.O. Schwarz (how could I not?), all the great clothing stores - I might even get myself some more shoes! I also have drinks and coffee plans with a few friends I've only ever seen online, and I may even make an appearance at a book release party in NYC just because I'm there! I have to tell you, it was so exciting to see the announcement, "if you're in the NYC area..." and I will be!

::clears throat:: But I'll be an adult about the whole thing. (ha ha ha, right). So, erm ~~what other trouble should I get into~~ what else should I do?

Winner: YA Saves Giveaway!

2011-06-18T14:59:00.004-04:00

I tried my best to be fair on the entries, given most forgot to tell me here where they shared the info. I did some hunting and figured out that most of you got two entries each. Some, however, I couldn't find so they only got one.

How I Did The Choosing:

Each comment got a line in my spreadsheet; each place shared also got a line on my spreadsheet (e.g. if you commented and shared on FB, you got two lines)

I used the radomizer on random.org to give me numbers for each line.

I used the radomizer to select a number, which corresponded to a specific line

That's pretty fair, right? Right. :)

AND THE WINNER IS...

Anna! Check your inbox for a email from me (assuming I can find one!). Just in case, you can email me at what_ever_for(at)cox(dot)net [substitute @ and . where appropriate]. Congratulations!

Thanks everyone for participating - I hope if nothing else, we've helped one another find some new books to read! I know I've found a few more to add to my TBR pile (man, is it getting out of hand!).

******************

For those of you who are suitably intrigued by Jackie Morse Kessler's Horsemen of the Apocalypse books, you can find some great reviews for them at Bitten By Books: HUNGER and RAGE. They even have handy-dandy linkies to use if you decide to purchase for yourself (or a friend or family member). You're welcome.

YA Saves: A Giveaway

2011-06-10T23:30:00.013-04:00

*********************************************************************
************************This contest is closed***********************
*********************************************************************

If you're a regular twitter user, you may have heard about the #yasaves wildfire that ignited over an article The Wall Street Journal published about the dark nature of Young Adult books. Though I strongly disagree with the overall sentiment expressed in the article, I really don't wish to rehash the whole thing. If you'd like to see what others have had to say, go here, here, or even here.

My Thoughts: (not a rebuttal to the article, as such)

Much of what's in YA Literature today can be dark, even graphic, but I've yet to come across anything written for teens with the intention of glorifying the horrors of the world. Rather, I find the topics addressed bring to light the secret, unspeakable things many face as adolescents. It brings those dark places to the forefront, encouraging conversations and awareness. And sometimes, YA Literature just provides a great escape from reality. I can't speak for everyone else, but I can certainly say there were quite a few (thousand) moments during my adolescence - particularly in later teenage years - where I just needed a getaway car.

Books, music, theatre, and the arts in general provided the vehicle that helped me survive the darker times growing up. My life wasn't a terrifying series of torture chambers, but it wasn't all sunshine and roses either. Even the happiest kids have secret dark places within them, and isn't that the point? To read something that reminds you that you're not alone? Even if you're only one of the few who knows about it?

The Giveaway:

In honor of the great YA Literature out there that covers tough topics, I'm going to give a copy of both HUNGER and RAGE by Jackie Morse Kessler (which seems fitting since she was one of the authors referenced in the article). HUNGER discusses eating disorders, while RAGE covers cutting and self-mutilation. You can find more information about each book at Jackie Morse Kessler's website. You get both books because a) two books are better than one, b) I'm a little obsessive about starting in the middle of a series and I would hate to do it to you, and c) Jackie Morse Kessler is made of awesome.

Why did I really pick these? Because I like the idea that the characters fight their disorders and help save the world. There's a certain poetry in that idea: I believe anyone strong enough to successfully overcome self-destructive behavior has the strength to actually save the world. Also, Ms. Kessler donates proceeds from book sales to organizations that help others with these disorders (and their families too). How cool is that?

Even if you don't win, I'd consider buying a copy for your home or digital libraries. It's for a good cause.

How to Win:

Comment with an answer to the following question: what books, movies, activities, etc. have inspired you, helped you through a rough patch, or just plain made you happy?

Be sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you've won.

Share this giveaway with all your peeps! Posts on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. will get you an extra entry for each place that links people here. Just make sure to tell me where to find it.

Legal stuff:
Entries will be accepted between June 10th, 2011 at 10:40 p.m. MST to June 17th, 2011 at 10:39 p.m. MST. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Prize is as stated, no substitutions allowed. This offer is independent of Jackie Morse Kessler, Graphia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), anyone connected to promotions for Ms. Kessler, and my employer. Available in U.S. and Canada only (sorry everybody else!). Entrants under age 18 MUST get parental consent. Only entries submitted to this blog will be counted toward the contest. @ replies sent to my twitter account will only count if they're part of an initial entry on the blog. The winner will be randomly chosen using the wonderful services of random.org. It's not necessary to follow me on twitter, though it would be nice. :) Void where prohibited by law.

Free ARC of Unraveled!

2010-07-10T00:27:00.008-04:00

Okay so it's no secret that I'm a ginormous fan of the lovely Gena Showalter (of the hot mens and stories about hot mens). The second book in her newest young adult series is coming September 2010, and she's holding a contest for a free ARC (that's advanced reader copy) of Unraveled just for spreading the word on another book of hers, The Bodyguard (note: this one is not a young adult title). It's an anthology with Gena Showalter (natch) Cherry Adair, and Lorie O'Clare.

And really, the anthology's premise combines three of my favorite things: romantic suspense, hot bodyguards, and paranormal romance. And since it's an anthology, there are three stories to try out in the same book! Go check it out. And in honor of The Bodyguard's release, I'm thinking of holding a contest for a free copy - what do you think?

Further deets on the contest can be found at genashowalter.blogspot.com should you wish to participate.

Twitterpated!

2010-07-10T00:21:00.005-04:00

I finally got a twitter account - I held off for quite some time, figuring I had enough social networking what with the blog, myspace, facebook, and email. But there are contests and cool things to be done on Twitter, so I finally gave in. Woe is me. :)

Check out my twitter page here: @what_ever_for

'Course now I'm following Wil Wheaton, so that's not so bad right? RIGHT?

For Gena Showalter

2010-06-24T21:49:00.008-04:00

Actually, it would be more accurate to say this is for Kane (one of the Lords of the Underworld). The humorous nature of poor old Eric's mishaps are in a similar vein to Kane - so much so that he's probably always blamed unnecessarily when things go wrong. Although I'm sure being centuries old means two things:

he's already seen this sketch
he's the inspiration those Python chaps used for this sketch - they were probably buddies

See for yourself:

For those of you who cannot see the vid, please go here.

Don't know who Kane is? Shame on you! Go straight away to Gena Showalter's website and see for yourself. The series is quite good, I assure you.

Werewolf Bootlegger vs. Vampire Lumberjack: or how to win $275 to the online bookstore of your choice

2010-06-03T16:28:00.006-04:00

I'm taking a break from the emotional turmoil from grandma's battle with heart disease to discuss something lighthearted, silly, and decidedly unrelated to open heart surgeries, myocardial infarctions, and anesthesia.

So who would win a battle of wits/might/rugged handsomeness? The bad-boy Werewolf Bootlegger, or the hunky Vampire Lumberjack? Let me just come right out and say that I instinctively go after the tall-dark-and-brooding option in most of these battles and vampires almost always get an instinctive vote from me - but these aren't just any vampires or werewolves. No, these are characters from Moira Rogers' Red Rocks Pass (and subsequent spin off) series - which means that status quo holds no ground in this competition.

The last time I encountered a werewolf vs. vampire competition, I voted vampire (ahem Edward and Jacob) and I was quite relieved to see my wishes were granted. This battle, however, isn't over the girl - it's over who's the best character, strategist, romantic, defender. Either man is equally suited to win this challenge. I know what you're thinking: if these two are so evenly matched, who's going to win?

I'll tell you: the bootlegger werewolf.

Why, you ask? Because a) he knows how to work his way out of a sticky situation (hello, he manages to skirt danger by courting it constantly in the roaring 20s), b) he hasn't cut himself off from society, and c) he's a mostly reckless bad boy with a secret romantic streak. The vampire? He's almost certainly hunky, but he's also battling his inner demons - why else would he choose to spend his extremely long life chopping down trees without his flannel shirt on in some forest? Why else would he be sweating bullets, which only manage to glisten enticingly along his ripped physique instead of cooling him off? If he were a smarter man (or perhaps better adjusted man), he'd be doing those things at strategic times to attract the attentions of a lady. If the situation were reversed, the Bootlegger would have totally done such a thing - he's got swagger. And that's why the Bootlegger gets my vote.

What do you think?

Disclaimer Text:

This post is a part of Moira Rogers’ Creature Feature Kindle Throwdown Contest. By leaving a (meaningful) comment, you will be entered to win a Kindle from Amazon.com, or an alternate grand prize of $275 to spend at an online book retailer. For a full list of rules and more ways to win, visit the contest page.

Link back to this post: http://moirarogers.com/blog/archives/2261

Nerds Are HOTTTT!

2010-05-10T02:18:00.003-04:00

But I think you knew this already.

I'm so thankful for the Iron Man movies for bringing to light a little secret that I've known all along: intelligent men who can flex their mental muscles make me all gooey inside. I mean really, why do you think I married my husband?! Ooh, and when those intelligent men also happen to be built like a demi-god (better than a full god, imho) and create mechanical suits that make Robbie Rocket Pants look like a chew toy, we have a lethal combination. Thank you, Marvel Comics!

But seriously, we just got back from watching Iron Man 2 (which was awesome, btw) and the same little line repeated itself in my mind: "nerds are hot, nerds are hot, nerds are hot". And let's be honest with ourselves - they are totally, unequivocally attractive. Think about it: what's the first thing that runs through your mind when you stumble upon an decent to great-looking male (or female for that matter) reading, writing, working on a piece of programming, etc? I imagine the thought is either, "wow, that's hot" or "is he/she available?" or perhaps a mix of the two. Am I wrong? (you don't have to answer that, we already know I'm not)

Which of course brings me to an important question: what determines attractiveness? Biologically speaking, attractiveness has to do with a quantifiable measurement for the ability to provide for the family/clan/group, cleverness with implements, and faithfulness/trustworthiness - and I believe I can speak for a large amount of people who think watching Tony Stark successfully complete a complex circuit (only to finish with the statement "that was easy") is drool-worthy. With that in mind, is it so crazy to enjoy watching a playboy genius at work? I didn't think so.

On a different note, I'm so glad Robert Downey Jr. cleaned himself up. He's such a great actor (natch) and though some of his delivery is over-the-top, he makes a fantastic Tony Stark. Rawr.

Jim Butcher Chat!!! Jim Butcher Chat!!!

2010-04-14T20:53:00.003-04:00

Bitten By Books is hosting a live chat with the illustrious Jim Butcher. Jim's giving away 10 unsigned copies of his newest Dresden Files book, Changes. But even if you've read the book or don't care about the prize, the chat alone is worth your time. The guy's a genius! Go forth! http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=22804

It's All Angie Fox's Fault!

2010-03-26T00:01:00.005-04:00

I have this darned song stuck in my head all because she started asking about recommendations. Good thing it's a song I really like!

For Your Love (Yardbirds, yo!)

She was asking for some rock song suggestions that a biker witch and a hippie would like. For whatever reason, this one came to mind. Riding the coattails of that idea was Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird . What a mind for music I have, no? :)

What would you suggest?

For L.B. and Tumperkin

2010-03-21T23:16:00.010-04:00

I was watching Monty Python's Flying Circus this evening with the husband, as you do, and this little segue recaptured my attention enough to post it for you guys. I think this is great fodder for an interesting historical romance, no?

Enjoy

For those who don't see the youtube video, please go here

Moving Quotes in Reading

2010-03-21T22:53:00.007-04:00

I was reading some historical romance this weekend - I know, quite a departure from my usual love of all things paranormal, urban fantasy, and sci-fi, but I've been in an historical mood recently - when I came upon a quote that just took me. Perhaps it was the late hour or the wine cooler I'd enjoyed earlier in the evening, but it just made me sigh. I realize it's icky in it's uber-sappy feel, but I do believe that's why I liked it. So now I'm sharing:

From the moment I first met you, you have taunted me, bossed me around, goaded me beyond belief and driven me half-mad trying to protect you. You've made me feel [...] something I thought I would never experience again. I sleep you, dream you, smell your perfume wherever I go, feel your soft skin under my hands. It has been this way since we first met, but I stubbornly refused to accept it [...] I was arrogant enough to believe that no woman would ever master me [...] but it seems I was mistaken.

(Conquest Bride by Meriel Fuller)

This, of course, is not a review of the work. ~~I do those elsewhere now~~ I may have to come back and do one. :)

March Madness...Book Nerd Style!

2010-03-14T20:55:00.004-04:00

A favorite event of the techno-geeky book nerds is the famed DABWAHA, in which bibliophiles unite for a knock down, drag out battle for supremacy in favorite book releases from 2009! It's terribly exciting!

Here's how it works:

Enter by picking who you think will win each round, until you've chosen the champion
Come back and vote for your favorites
Champs are determined by votes (natch), so make sure your friends vote too!
Winners get prize packages, which include books, gift cards, bragging rights, etc.

It's like fantasy football, only better - because it's more arbitrary! If you're interested in entering to win, head on over to dabwaha.com and make your picks. Who knows, you could win the grand prize: an iPad. You have until March 17th to make your picks. Voting commences the 18th.

SB Sarah has some important information regarding the selection process/entries, so check that out here.

Who would make a good zombie?

2010-02-23T22:26:00.004-05:00

We're chatting with Mark Henry about who in real life would make good zombies, and my two list toppers are Angelica Houston and Joan Rivers - though it's been brought to my attention that Joan's probably already a zombie. I think they're right.

If you want to get in on the discussion and you know, win stuff, go here.

Oh and if you haven't read Happy Hour of the Damned, get on the dang bus already! Seriously, it's amazingly wicked, entirely inappropriate, fun for a select few in the whole family, and all around entertaining. Think Paris Hilton as a zombie, only MUCH better. Swears.

I want to be that woman

2010-02-16T20:45:00.003-05:00

Two authors I respect immensely have recently lost a fellow author to cancer. In an online memorial statement of sorts, both authors shared what a contribution their friend made to their little writing community, how she was always so positive and giving, and how her loss has left a major hole in their lives. After reading their deceased friend's final blog post, I made a startling discovery: I want to be her. I'm not being disrespectful or crass, and don't get me wrong: I don't want to struggle through cancer and ultimately lose the battle, but I want to live my life as she did.

Her final blog post was basic, and yet it told a much greater story about who she was as a person. She discussed where she was at with her writing, how she was doing with chemo treatments, and what her goals were in respect to RWA's Golden Heart contest. I read her post through misty eyes as I realized that she was actively battling advanced cancer, yet not only had she refused to give up her dream of writing, not only was she continuing to submit her work to contests, she was shoring up her readership with words of encouragement. How many people do you know who would take the time out of their day whilst trying to survive cancer to write a blog post to encourage you in your dreams? Not many.

And that's why I want to be her. No matter that she hadn't hit the big time with publishing, no matter her personal struggles, she was writing because it's what she wanted to do. I think that's the ultimate definition of a fighter. This one post gave a quick glimpse into what it must have been like to work alongside such an incredible person; that no matter where she was in her writing career, she was guaranteed to be part of your personal cheering section.

And so I'm tired of worrying if my work will ever sell or how much I'll offend family by what I write. I'm tired of letting stress and fatigue get in the way of my pursuits. I'm a big dreamer, and it's about time that I truly started to live the dream. I still care if those I love don't care for my work, but I'm not going to let that worry contribute to other excuses in favor of procrastination. We don't know how much time we have to do our thing here, but I'd like to think that should I know the end is coming, I'll go down swinging and cheering everyone else along in the process.

Wow.

E-Piracy

2010-02-07T12:50:00.002-05:00

E-Piracy is a major issue in the publishing world. As a would-be author, I have yet to be affected by thievery of the product of my sweat, blood, and tears. Many of the published authors I love, however, are hit by this on a daily basis and it makes me sad. And not just because I would love to be a published author someday. Not even because I'm a bookseller. It's because I'm a book lover and would be devastated if publishers closed their doors for good because there just wasn't any money in it for them anymore.

Can you imagine that? A world where books no longer exist. And I don't mean physical copies of books, but electronic ones too. As a bibliophile, the thought makes me want to curl into a ball and cry for a week - no, more like a month.

Author Jeaniene Frost wrote a really great post about E-Piracy on the Deadline Dames blog. It's an interesting read for everyone and I would love if more people came out against the theft of products every day. And if you're brave enough to read the post all the way to the end, Jeaniene lets you know how to get in on winning a free, legal copy of her first Night Huntress World books, First Drop of Crimson.

You remember how...

2010-02-03T21:30:00.003-05:00

So yesterday I was pleading for people to go out and support Amanda Feral by buying the books in her series: Happy Hour of the Damned, Road Trip of the Living Dead, and Battle of the Network Zombies? Well, today BittenByBooks is having a contest for the King of Snark Mark Henry and the prizes include copies of Road Trip and Battle if you buy Happy Hour! It's a win-win! You get Happy Hour for only $6.99 (plus tax - stop grumbling) and you get the other two FREE! You heard me!

So go to the contest at http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=19316. Go forth! Save Amanda!

Quick warning: Mark Henry is freaking hilarious, but wildly inappropriate. So don't go viewing the vlogs in front of children, your mother, your grandmother...etc. But do view them!

Zombie Protagonists

2010-02-02T19:10:00.002-05:00

Do you like the idea of a zombie protagonist? Because I sure do! It's always fun when authors turn common ideas on their heads, and no one has really done this quite as well as that hilarious Mark Henry, author of the Amanda Feral books: Happy Hour of the Damned, Road Trip of the Living Dead, and Battle of the Network Zombies (coming February 23, 2010). It's got snark, it's got fashion, and it's got gory, immature humor - what's not to love about all those things?

Even more exciting is the mass market re-release of Happy Hour of the Damned, the first book in the series. It's $6.99 (much more reasonable than the trade paperback price) and it's out now! I think if anyone is even remotely interested in exploring this story idea they should go out and buy a copy. I'm pretty sure it's something both boys and girls alike would enjoy. Please, please, please help us to save Amanda Feral from getting the axe?

Still not sure? Check out more info on the books here.

:blink:

2010-01-28T20:24:00.003-05:00

There comes a time in every one's life when we watch great people who've influenced our lives go away. Literary figures have always played a major part of my life, and the death of those figures has always affected me greatly. I'd say the impact is similar to, if not greater than, what it would be for a pop icon. Truly, literary figures are my pop icons.

My first experience in mourning the loss of an author without having first met them was Dr. Seuss. I was in first grade when he passed away. I remember sitting in the classroom and my teacher Mrs. Gerard, was reading the newspaper while we were working on some type of paperwork activity. I don't recall what project we were working on, but I remember exactly when she looked up from her reading and said, "Oh wow, that's so sad... Dr. Seuss died." Most of my classmates didn't know who he was, but I did.

Today, I've lived through several authors' passing; a notable loss was Hunter S. Thompson. I remember the day he died, one of my classmates said she was so sad most of her heroes were dead. And in many ways, I agree with her. Again today, I find myself agreeing with the sentiment as J.D. Salinger is now gone. His writing was so odd and yet influential in my life as a reader. I find it sad on a personal level that he didn't write much beyond Catcher in the Rye, but I'm thankful for the work he produced. The way I view the world was shaped by his coming of age work, as I was coming of age while reading it.

No matter my aspirations as a writer, I will always look back in gratitude toward the work that influenced me. I'd love to say that I had such an impact on the world at large, but truthfully I could live with just enjoying others' work. Considering how cathartic I find writing sometimes, I wonder what part of the writing world drove Mr. Salinger into seclusion. I'd like to think that he was still writing, but for himself.

Which authors, journalists, artists, or literary figures influence your mind?

Angie Fox is Back!

2010-01-26T21:43:00.006-05:00

A Tale of Two Demon Slayers, brought to you by the same people behind "Kiss My Asphalt" t-shirts:

Last month, I was a single preschool teacher whose greatest thrill consisted of color-coding my lesson plans. That was before I learned I was a slayer. Now, it’s up to me to face curse-hurling imps, vengeful demons, and any other supernatural uglies that crop up. And, to top it off, a hunk of a shape-shifting griffin has invited me to Greece to meet his family.

But it’s not all sun, sand, and ouzo. Someone has created a dark-magic version of me with my powers and my knowledge–and it wants to kill me and everyone I know. Of course, this evil twin doesn’t have Grandma’s gang of biker witches, a talking Jack Russell terrier, or an eccentric necromancer on its side. In the ultimate showdown for survival, may the best demon slayer win.

Sounds great, doesn't it?! I thought so too. And guess what? Angie's giving away $100 in cash (United States legal tender, people) to some lucky winner tonight on the BittenByBooks site! Do you know how many books I can buy with $100?! Or how many margaritas that would afford me? :evil grin: There's even a quiz to find out which supernatural pet you should have. My result was a psychic kitty cat.

Stop the press!

2010-01-25T23:08:00.005-05:00

Dakota Cassidy is on BittenByBooks right now having a release contest thingie! She's giving away some wicked cool prizes, which includes a $100 Amazon gift card! And autographed copies of other fantastical books - even one by Mark Henry!!! :squee: And she's so effing funny, I always burst out laughing at inopportune moments. Seriously, this woman's not work safe. Not that she's inappropriate per se, rather her humor is surprising enough to elicit obnoxious laughter. It's embarrassing really.

And honestly, who else but DC would warn people not to read her books because they're terrible and make your eyes bleed? Plus, she has no shame. And when the stress levels are high, she always manages to say or do something to release that pressure valve. Highly recommended.

Go forth and explore the funny. If you don't believe me, check out some reviews on her stuff here. Come on, you know you want to...

Getting Lost

2010-01-19T11:01:00.004-05:00

I was listening to The Streets last night and it got me thinking: I've never had the type of personality to get into losing myself to oblivion provided by drugs or alcohol, though I'm sure I have the capability to do so if I really gave it a go. I do, however, happily get lost in great books and music. Both media provide an almost hypnotic state for me that allows my mind to wander for hours and hours and hours.

My relationship with books is most certainly like that of an addict, though nothing so serious as heroine or meth. I hoard what I can to ensure I don't run out, I get twitchy when I can't read for an extended period of time, and while I'm reading I get cranky when interrupted - plus, I'm notorious for forgetting to eat. The thing is though, I love the escape reading provides. Even if I'm having a solidly fantastic day and don't necessarily need that escape per se, I love exploring new worlds from the comfort of my couch, bed, chair, bathtub, whatever. I really hope what I write can do the same for others. It's such an awesome experience.

My love for music is a slightly different beast from reading, in that I can continue to function while listening to music: I can cook, clean, read, ride my bike, walk, or do various other activities whilst music plays. When I've had a particularly stressful day at work, some good go-to music really helps me zen out of a funky mood - something my husband is surely grateful for. It even helps set the tone for me when I write. Music to me, though, is more than just a tune and words, it has a soul-stealing quality that pulls me out of the moment if I allow it (though not the same way a book does in that it's not incapacitating). Music is beauty and love and all the best things about life to me and I don't know what I'd do without it.

Which brings me to that question: if you had the choice to be blind or deaf, which would you choose? Why isn't there an option c: none of the above? And that's the rub, isn't it? Those of us who lose our sight and hearing have no choice in the matter, so isn't the question a little moot? Besides, I use both my eyes and ears so much I would be devastated without either. Yes, you can listen to books on CD and still hear other sounds, but there's so much other beauty in life that would be missed without your eyes; Living in a world without music would definitely kill me, so losing my hearing is also out. My alternative then, is to enjoy the senses I have afforded to me just in case one of them gives out at some point in my life. I can't possibly choose to live without one, so all I can do is hope I won't have to.

In case you didn't know...

2010-01-16T16:24:00.005-05:00

I'm a super huge fan of Gena Showalter's work. All of it. BittenByBooks is having a chat this weekend about Gena's Lords of the Underworld series and they're giving away a prize of swag to one lucky winner. Generally, I say participate for the swag, but this time I say participate for the joy of discussing Gena and the swag! :evil grin:

Also, Gena's next book in her Tales of an Extraordinary girl is coming out in February (finally!) and I'm super excited about it. Playing with Fire was the second book I had ever read of hers, and yet it felt like the first. Don't get me wrong, The Nymph King holds a special place in my heart (I don't know how many times I've re-read that baby) but Playing with Fire was just that much better. Actually, BittenByBooks has reviews of her work found here and I think it's well worth the investigation. Promise!

Time for yet another contest!

2010-01-05T19:44:00.005-05:00

But seriously, this one is amazing! Donna Grant is giving away a BN Nook to a lucky winner in her contest with BittenByBooks! The contests on that site are amazing to begin with, but I'm particularly proud to see that the Nook is now being included as a prize! Thanks, Donna!

Oh, and the book she's promoting in the contest sounds pretty cool too! Check it out here.

I voted for Nook!

2010-01-02T21:26:00.000-05:00

First Odd Video Post of 2010

2010-01-01T01:27:00.004-05:00

I've been really fixated on Sea Wolf right now and I thought I'd share them with you all. This video is hilarious and quite odd, but the song is so catchy and moving. It's called wicked blood. I hope you enjoy it. The guy with the lasso really got me. Oh and did you notice it's that girl from the movie A Night's Tale? (:sigh: I miss Heath)

What was your favorite?

For those of you viewing this via RSS feeds, you can view the video by going here.

Thoughts, Resolutions, and other stuff

2010-01-01T00:31:00.005-05:00

It's amazing to think about the things that have happened in 2009, including the inauguration of the first African-American President of the United States, the deaths of many well known and beloved celebrities and entertainers, Cash for Clunkers, improvement in the American economy (small as it is), and the announcement that Oprah won't have her show anymore. Actually, much more has happened in the past year - and yet some things have remained the same (much to my chagrin on occasion).

Despite the loss and changes, however, I see 2010 as a time of positive change for the world. Maybe it's because I'm a "glass is half-full" kind of person or maybe it's because I have a sense for these types of things. Both are generally true, though the latter more so than the former. I would never say that change doesn't freak me out - because I think it's impossible to avoid all forms of surprise when change comes around - but I generally look forward to the results. Even if it's just because I'm interested in seeing how everyone around me reacts. (I wonder what a psychologist would say about that.)

The last few days have been bittersweet for my husband and family. Doug and I celebrated our six year wedding anniversary yesterday - the same day we found out my sister in law lost her grandmother and the day before we found out my father lost his uncle. It seems fitting that we see a semblance of life's cyclical nature during this yearly transition. New life is coming, just as old life is leaving; and yet the knowledge does little to assuage the sorrow we feel at losing a loved one. I tend to make the personal choice to focus on the positive and appreciate the good things we are afforded in life - I'm especially thankful that my family is the type that embraces one another (despite our craziness) as it gives us the opportunity to appreciating the people we are.

In the hope of working towards making 2010 the best year it can be, there are a few things I would like to see happen in my life:

Save up for and purchase that macbook I've been drooling over
Write more
Complete NaNo and/or a book
Transition to a position at work that involves increased leadership, knowledge, and/or skill-set growth
Find peace in everyday things, even when I want to scream at the world
Laugh more
Explore new music and the arts
Review 75 books (considering I've reviewed for two months this year and reviewed over 20, this is definitely do-able)
Unpack my stuff from our move this past September (I'd say keep the place clean, but I need to pick my battles and being realistic is the name of the game)
Eat more chocolate
Get foot massages more often
Write my husband love letters on a semi-regular basis
Work more diligently on applying for a Master's program

This seems like a decent list, and many of the items on it involve pleasurable things over work. This is because I'm the type to focus on work and what must be done before enjoying the small things. It'd also be nice to stop being such a "fixer" in my personal relationships - again, this is one of those "pick your battles" situations and I'm going with things I can accomplish.

I wish you all the very best during the upcoming year. I'm sure it will be full of struggles and triumphs - I hope the latter is more memorable than the former.

On a somewhat side note, I believe I'll be pronouncing the year "twenty-ten". I know there's a good sized camp for "two thousand ten" but I don't live with them. :)

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

2009-12-26T22:34:00.003-05:00

I got my Nook the other day and had been tooling around with it off and on since the 24th (when I picked it up from our front office) and I'm SO HAPPY WITH IT!!!

So there are some neat-o features that had me hooked from the start like:

It's able to read PDF, EPUB, and PDB formats (even some DRM ones!)
ALL the books I've purchased in the past are side-loadable on the device
I can easily purchase ebooks from my device and/or my computer and have it download wirelessly on the device
It's super cute and sexy

But the really big reason why I'm squealing out of control and annoying the heck out of my husband: I CAN CHECK OUT DIGITAL LIBRARY BOOKS AND READ THEM ON THE DEVICE! I tested it out and it totally works! Yay! OMG, OMG, OMG! this device is so money!

I'll comport myself for a short moment to mention that it's managed through Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) itself (you authorize the device with ADE first) and you drag and drop the book icon within ADE into the nook icon. So simple! I'm in heaven.

Wahoo!

It's that time again...

2009-12-02T22:59:00.005-05:00

I HAVE A COLD!

But that's not why I'm writing today. You guessed it, it's time for yet another fun-filled contest with Bitten By Books! Today, it's with Shiloh Walker, an author I've really enjoyed reading and I'm really excited about her Hunters series - she's giving away a $75 and $25 online gift certificate (to either Barnes and Noble, Borders, or Amazon) to two lucky winners. Just think what you could get with that... my eyes are now glazing over with thoughts of adding to my growing book collection. Wee!

If you're interested in winning that free spending money or you just want to check her stuff out, follow one of the links above or go here: http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=13458.

You're welcome!

Some Thoughts...

2009-11-24T19:14:00.007-05:00

I bought Susan Boyle's CD today from work. Let me tell you, in terms of voice quality and performance, it does not disappoint. I remember watching the vid of her performance on Britain's Got Talent and literally crying in reaction to the whole thing - she genuinely has the voice of an angel and there's so much emotion behind the words (even though they're not really hers). It's kind of a tribute CD, if you will, but if you like easy listening/ballad type music you should definitely check it out.

I should add that though I'm not generally into that kind of music most of the time (read: I generally listen to everything else from pop, to rock, to alternative, etc.) I really did enjoy the CD. I sincerely hope she continues her career and perhaps does more of her own work - or work made specifically for her. I don't really mind tribute songs and remakes if they're done well; in this case, they're definitely done well. So, uh, go forth and investigate!

~~~~~~~~~

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I did two important things: 1. I bought a pumpkin spice cheesecake from work (it's Cheesecake Factory but my work sells it), and 2. I cleaned the litter box. It's not super glamorous, but it definitely needed to be done! Plus, Harley likes her new clean box so we're all happy now.

~~~~~~~~~

I'm still WAY behind for NaNo. Like, just barely over 20k words. I reorganized my priorities because I have a commitment to reviewing my books - and since I'm on probation (because I just started, not because I did anything wrong) I really need to be sure that I don't get kicked off the island, as it were. So, writing the book has taken a backseat. But that's okay because I planned on continuing work on the book after NaNo - so if I don't win, I'm still writing

::nods:: I think that sounds reasonable, especially since I have the holidays and my birthday to run interference with writing time. If I win NaNo though, oh man am I celebrating (with a 24-hour snooze because I'll likely have to forgo sleep entirely to hit 50k by November 30). We'll see.

~~~~~~~~~

That's all the updates from me for now. Happy Turkey Day everyone, and don't forget to take some time for fresh air and physical activity - carbohydrate comas are fun for a while but it's best if you move around a bit. If anything, it helps with the bowels. ;D For us, we're bringing our bikes to the family gathering with all the kids - speaking of, I keep forgetting to ask if they can bring theirs along as well - that way we can all burn some energy and I'll keep some of this holiday off my hips and thighs

Cheers!

Bruised Butt

2009-11-12T21:00:00.003-05:00

In an attempt to be more environmentally friendly, save money, and be more healthy overall, I decided to get a bike and ride it at least part way from work.

worst. idea. ever.

In theory, it's a great idea because I'd really get great exercise, it'd keep us from needing a second car, and I'd cause next to no pollution. In reality - or at least in my reality today - it's doesn't work out so well.

After some pondering, I realized there were several key mistakes I made today:

I missed my bus, which would have cut out half of the riding time. I decided that I would probably make better time by just biking instead of waiting for the next one...WRONG!
There was a point where I could have stopped and taken a shuttle (with the bike attached), which would have cut out about another quarter of the riding time. I decided that since I had already gone that first distance, I might as well just ride the rest of the way home...WRONG!
I'm nervous about riding my bike on the main streets, so I tried to cut through the neighborhoods, though I did this without verifying my route. It might have been safer, but it added another 20 minutes to my travel time...WRONG!

Why is all this such a big deal, you ask? Because I live 8.5 miles away from work! Taking the bus and the shuttle would have cut out 7 of those miles on bike, requiring me to only ride about 1.5 miles or so. Even just taking the bus and biking the rest of the way would have saved me about four miles from that blasted trip! Needless to say, I left work at 16:20 and didn't arrive home until exactly 18:01. An hour and forty minutes!

And to top it all off, my jelly legs - which are terribly out of shape - gave out on me as I was trying to walk with my dog down the stairs for his walkies... I totally fell down the stairs. How does trying to protect nature give me this much bad karma?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, I pre-ordered my Nook today! All I requested for my birthday was a coffee maker and/or a Nook. I got the coffee maker from my mum and dad and the rest of the family gave me enough money so that I could get Nook! I'm so excited! Happy Birthday to me!

And though it seems a bit random, I'm excited to say that the Brown Pelican has been removed from the Endangered Species list - not because they're extinct, but because the population has recovered that much! I realize that it's just one bird specie, but imagine what else could be saved if we just kept doing what we tree-huggers do best? I'd like to think that by bruising my butt today on the bike ride home, I did my part to help other species recover from the Endangered list. Hmm... I'd really like to go to the zoo now!

And lastly, I'm falling a bit behind with NaNo, but I'm dedicated to getting my butt back in gear. Just maybe not tonight. I think I hear a hot bath calling my name - with some salts or something. Is there a massage fairy somewhere in the house? No? Poop.

Do Eet!

2009-11-09T23:18:00.001-05:00

Win money, yo!

Win $10,000

2009-11-09T23:07:00.006-05:00

or some other cool swag from Harlequin Teen! This is the last week to enter to win the Intertwined Sweepstakes, so make sure and check it out here. In case you guys didn't know, Intertwined is a new Young Adult paranormal by the ever-talented Gena Showalter. She's amazing. If I were a guy, I'd beg her to have my babies. For realsies peeps.

You can enter your email address once a day until the contest is over - and if you're interesting in winning stuff instantly, there's a silly match game too. I think the money's worth it, even if you're not sure you'd like her stuff. But I promise you, it's good stuff. Like brain candy. :)

Just do it!

I won again!

2009-11-04T19:27:00.006-05:00

I won yet another contest! This time, it was for a copy of Shannon K. Butcher's Love You to Death! As I said when I entered into the contest, I've been stalking the book since it came out on the shelves last month. Working in a bookstore can be dangerous when my favorite authors have new releases - but it's so worth it, I tell you!

Ooh, I can't wait till I get this one in the mail. I'll have to make time between working on reviews, working (for real), writing for NaNo or whatever else I've got going so that I can read this one. I know! I'll save both this and the Kresley Cole/Gena Showalter anthology Deep Kiss of Winter as reward reads once I've completed NaNo. What a great idea, Elisa! (Thanks, Elisa!)

Jennifer Lyon Blog, Chat, and Contest!

2009-11-04T19:01:00.005-05:00

BittenByBooks is having yet another contest, this time in honor of Jennifer Lyon! Find information on the contest here. Once there, you'll see that she's discussing her latest book in the Wing Slayer Hunters series - Soul Magic. There's a witch who's soul is trapped in a dagger, and a handsome and conflicted man who may or may not be a soulmate to that poor trapped woman. He might also be soulmates with the witch's sister (who's also a witch). What a conundrum!

The chat is very interesting and Jennifer is giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Certificate to a winner, so definitely stop on by. Who knows, you might discover a new favorite author.

Interview, Chat, and Contest with Diana Pharaoh Francis!

2009-11-03T18:50:00.008-05:00

BittenByBooks is having yet another contest today! Come check it out here. This time it's a discussion with Diana Pharaoh Francis about her books, including Bitter Night. I personally haven't had a chance to check her work out yet, but it of course sounds amazing!

She also discusses some points of contention in her writing process and some great resource ideas. As an amateur author, this info is always super helpful. Plus, she's really nice. So go forth and explore!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, Shannon K. Butcher's next book in the Sentinel Wars series is out! Woo! I so wish I'd had the chance to review this one... me likey the ARCs. :) I'll keep you guys posted on any reviews coming out of BittenByBooks.

Contest with Lori Handeland!

2009-11-02T17:02:00.002-05:00

BittenByBooks is having yet another great author contest! This time, it's with Lori Handeland, author of Nightcreature and Phoenix Chronicles series! Check it out here. Prizes include a turquoise necklace and the entire Nightcreature series (eight books!)! How cool is that?!

What did YOU do this Halloween?

2009-11-02T11:55:00.003-05:00

I didn't dress up because I didn't work that day (though I had originally planned on going to work as Anita Blake), I didn't go to any parties because I had to work the next morning, and I certainly didn't overload myself on candy because I didn't trick-or-treat. What did I do, you ask? I got my nose pierced! I think it might make for a fun yearly tradition on Halloween, don't you? Well, not just piercing my nose but getting piercings done in general... hmm... :)

I really like the end results and can't wait until the piercing site is completely healed so I can explore other jewelry options. It's funny: I didn't think I'd ever want something other than a simple stud/jewel but after seeing all kinds of options out there, I just can't decide! If it works, I might even try out a hoop every now and again.

NaNo started yesterday and I'm totally behind! I have to finish reading this book so I can write a review and then write two days' worth of stuff today so that I'm not behind. I should be able to swing about 4k words today, but it'll be tough! So...um...I should probably stop procrastinating...

I Winned!

2009-10-26T21:50:00.004-04:00

About a month ago I made a post about a contest with C. June Wolf and Bitten By Books. And guess what? I won! I don't know what my prize will be because there were a few options, but I'm super excited. Even if it's just a signed bookmark or the author posting on her blog that "Elisa Rocks!" I'm just thrilled to win!

And I must say her stories had me quite intrigued, especially since they covered a wide-spectrum of "what if" questions and current social scenarios. Both entertaining, and deep. How cool is that?

You can find the author's blog here. And color me surprised, because she and I have the same blog background for our layout. How funny is that?

It's 11:30 p.m., who's talking in your head this time?

2009-10-26T21:30:00.003-04:00

I'm usually in bed, failing to fall asleep when I really get to experience the development and "motivation" for most of my characters. Of course, they're stories that I haven't yet had the chance to work through on paper (rather, on the computer) but they hassle me like you wouldn't believe. And it's not like I have a one-sided conversation with them either: I see actual scenes in my head, usually conversations - okay, heated arguments and shouting matches - between key characters. And it's not the same story each night, either. I'd say I have something like five or more stories running through my head at any given time and some nights the scenes are just from one story, while others it's like changing the channels on TV. I wonder how much influence television has had on my storytelling. Hopefully, it's not a bad thing.

The thing is, I find that my characters are usually mad about something. I don't know if the fights will show up in the finished product, but I find it kind of alarming that my subconscious always goes to these types of scenes with the characters. I personally HATE arguments, especially heated ones. Civilized disagreements of opinion are okay, but the shouting matches are so kindergarten to me. I grew up around a lot of fighting at home, though, so I wonder if that experience colors my perception of my characters. I mean sure, arguments and highly emotional situations always give us a good feel for how a person works inside and what their measure is, but isn't it kind of ridiculous that it's always arguments? Only a handful of times do I recall a scene involving relieved capitulation, passionate embraces, or laughter. The most is shouting. It's a rather unhealthy development I just discovered about myself five minutes ago.

Does this happen to any of you guys when you write? The tendency toward a specific type of situation for characters to be in, or even the tendency to be bombarded with character scenes in the middle of the night? I've been told several times that it's terribly unhealthy to jump up and write every time a scene or character development comes to you, so I don't (because really, when would we sleep?) but is this really fodder for me to understand a character better? Or am I losing out on some juicy scenes where my male lead gets his derriere handed to him by the female lead? Because let's be honest, it's always that way. ::grins::

Come to think of it, the women do tend toward violence as well. Oh, dear...

Too Much?

2009-10-25T22:42:00.004-04:00

I've never done reviewing as part of a group (just me blathering on about books I love) and I'm terrified that I'm turning out a bunch of junk. I kind of feel like crying. Is that normal/weird/immature? I haven't heard anything negative on my submissions, so maybe no news is good news... Everyone I work with is super nice and helpful, but I'm afraid to take advantage of their willingness to help by bombarding them with endless questions that really amount to, "what's my level of suckiness?"

It occurs to me that perhaps my future editor and/or agent should probably be forewarned that I apparently get worked up over silly little things. I mean, I knew I did this with real-live, tangible stuff like putting together product displays, but I had no idea that I kinda need someone to hold my hand every now and again or pat me on the back. Feedback. I apparently need lots of it (or I think I do). Is any of this making sense?

::frustrated sigh:: I'm gonna' have some grape pop. That ought'a help. Or make me hyper. hmm...

Been a While...

2009-10-25T01:08:00.003-04:00

It's been a long few weeks for me. I've been working my butt off, fighting off getting sick again, trying (and failing) to maintain the house, and reading tons of books so that I can write reviews for them! Who'd'a thought reviewing was so exhausting? I can't say that it takes all the fun out of reading, but it certainly changes my viewpoint as a reader - it's no longer good enough to say, "I loved that book!" Instead, I have to say, "I loved that book because ___, and ___, and ___ happened." If it's a good review, that is.

I really, really, really dislike doing the bad reviews - or the not-so-nice reviews. As a writer, I'm sensitive and worry about whether or not what I create is interesting to others. I really don't want to say to someone, "look, you kinda stink." Mostly, because I really don't mean the reviews that way. I just have to remember that the reviews are subjective and that's just how it goes.

In other news, Barnes and Noble revealed their Nook this week online and in the stores. It comes out in late November (just in time for my birthday and Christmas, what a great idea!) and I'm understandably stoked to finally see it. They'd talked about having an actual e-reader device to accompany the e-reader software, and now here it is! Take a look at it if you're curious at www.bn.com. Sew kewl.

Also, NaNo is coming up! November 1 is the official kick-off day. ::sighs:: I'm not sure I'm ready for this craziness, but that's why I'm trying to crank out the reviews now so that I can focus primarily on writing during November. Yikes.

I want a deluxe vampire slayer kit!

2009-10-19T12:39:00.004-04:00

Bitten By Books is having a contest with Christine and Ethan Rose, authors of Rowan of the Wood and Witch on the Water. There are many prizes available, however the one that stood out to me was the Deluxe Vampire Slayer Kit. The kit includes the following: hammer, stake, holy water, garlic, and coffin-shaped display case. It looks like this:

Further details on this cool contest can be found here

99% Recharged!

2009-10-18T01:32:00.003-04:00

I'd say I'm almost 100% recovered from that stupid swine flu stuff. I felt like my cough was hanging on a lot longer than it needed to, but that's almost gone too! Woot! ::bows:: thank you Tamiflu, thank you - I'm not worthy!

I managed to only miss three days of work during the whole swine flu debacle, so that was noticeably friendlier to my bank account as well. Oh! Which reminds me, I have a new bike! It's a Schwinn Jaguar, it's pretty dark blue and silver, and I got a bell for it. ::takes off dork hat:: We also got a bike rack for the car and a helmet. ::puts dork hat back on:: The helmet matches the bike! (Who am I kidding? The dork hat is almost always on these days.)

And not that anyone particularly cares, but I wore my super cute, $6 plaid skirt to work today. It's been a while since I wore the thing and I noticed how much I've really trimmed down between then and now. It was an exhilarating feeling, especially since the skirt draped much more nicely this time around. The husband said it was "hot" and the co-workers said I looked really nice - so I'm going with I looked good. I love how great it feels to know you look good. Even sans makeup.

Speaking of, it was 104 out today! What's up with that? It's like, over half-way through October and summer temperatures are simply unacceptable. Hello, Phoenix! It's FALL! Get with the program!

This post was decidedly random. Sorry. ::bashful smile::

Answer: Hong Kong

2009-10-16T01:04:00.002-04:00

Feel like playing Jeopardy? I can hear the music now: do-do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do-ddo-ddo-do, do-do-do-do, d0-ddo-do-do-do-do. Stumped?

The question was Where is the husband's iPod?

Ok, so here's the deal: I ordered my husband a refurbished iPod touch. He's been eyeing mine and, let's be honest, I love that I'm slowly bringing him over to the dark side. Macs are awesome and now I'm a step closer to selling him on this. ::evil laugh:: Anyway, my iPod is also a refurb and it came from California so why the heck did his ship out from Shenzhen? And the shipping was free this time around - where's the sense in that?

It's kind of cool, actually. I've never been to China.

And the winning drug of choice is...

2009-10-07T13:45:00.006-04:00

THE TAMIFLU/TYLENOL COMBINATION WITH A SALTINE CRACKER CHASER!

That's right folks, it's H1N1 season and I ... uh ... apparently have it. Maybe. Probably. I have all the symptoms, including the fever, aches, chills, nausea, dizziness, etc. but I'm not an "at-risk" patient (e.g. I'm not prego and I don't have diabetes) so the CDC doesn't want my mucous swab for testing. Now don't get all in an uproar, my mucous is not offended. They're treating me like I have H1N1 just in case, but I am told that in all probability, I have the bug. (yay!)

::hacking cough::

So no more joking around for this girl for a while. Laughing + ickies = disgusting cough that makes throat, stomach, and chest hurt. I will likely be found wrapped in a bundle of sheets, napping, and nursing Gatorade. Because let's be honest, it's not the flu without the Gatorade. Or soup. Can't forget the soup.

Blogiversary Time!

2009-10-04T22:50:00.003-04:00

My blog, Day in the Life turns TWO this month! Wow, a lot of things have happened in the two years since I started this blog:

I had a new, promising job and a new house to enjoy
I lost the new house and job and moved to an apartment with the husband
I got a new job, which I love, love, love - I'm surrounded by books
I got my substitute teacher certification and fingerprint clearance card to substitute teach part-time (never happened though)
I've been promoted several times now with the new job and I continue to train for upward movement
We moved out of the old place and into the new one - which is super lovely
I started writing and actually completed a book - well, completed the rough, rough draft and the rough draft ... it needs work but I want to let it breathe some more (procrastination?)
I made some really neat friends online - it's really funny how I talk about people I've chatted with and I have to clarify to my husband whether it's someone I talked to in-person or if it's my blogger friends... heh
My husband started teaching online classes - something he loves to do - in addition to his normal day job
The husband and I have committed to participating in NaNoWriMo this year - we're even writing buddies on the website (I know we're sickeningly cute, but whatevs)
The husband and I are also actively conquering the debt! Wee!
It kind of goes without saying, but my book addiction has grown exponentially since blogging started two years ago. But so has the savvy :-D

Hmm... Carbs!

2009-10-02T21:23:00.003-04:00

SERIOUS CARBOHYDRATE COMA ALERT, BATMAN!

Wildflower Bread Company has the most amazing foods - we had it the other night (and tonight, but uh don't tell the doctor - he'd have a fit). Oh my god it was amazing! It's finally cooling off around here (read: it's now below 100 degrees during the daytime, and the evenings are often in the 60s - it's not cold, but it sure is beautiful!) and my hankering for soups is finally making sense.

Wildflower has this fantastic grilled cheese sandwich that has swiss, brie, and cheddar cheeses with arugula and tomato on grilled nine grain bread. And let me tell you, they make their own bread. The fat content alone should have been a deal-breaker, but it was literally to-die-for. We complemented the grilled cheese with amazing roasted garlic tomato soup. The soup has actual tomato bits in it. It's like, real food. And of course, the soup came with their sourdough. The sourdough was on par with the stuff you can find in San Francisco. For Reals.

So yeah, that was yesterday. Today, we had their chicken pesto on linguini, which has sun-dried tomatoes for a little extra kick. It comes with buttery garlic bread. Again, all made from scratch and all made my tummy/tastebuds/chubby hips happy. And did I mention they used great cuts of chicken for the pasta? None if it was overly fatty like some places have. Quality food.

So for all you guys living outside of Arizona, you should come on over and try out the deliciousness that is Wildflower Bread Company. It's amazing to me that a bakery with food as delicious as this is only located in Arizona, but it works for me! Is anyone inspired by the food? I am, and I just ate! Seriously, come visit.

::singing:: ding, dong, the witch is dead!

2009-09-29T21:03:00.005-04:00

We are officially out of our old apartment! It was our first experience in renting apartments (other than living in the dorms, and let me tell you that's a horse of a different color) and we learned quite a bit about what not to do or pick. Some of it is preferential, but a lot of it has to do with energy efficiency, comfort with neighbors, and overal feel of the community. Community is huge for me - or so I've learned - and I've discovered how nice it is to be able to chat with my neighbors and not worry that they are going to molest me or anything. That isn't to say that all of my old neighbors were of the scary sort, but there were a few males who had a bad habit of looking at me like they were trying to see through my clothes ::shivers::

Below is a list of a few more things I've discovered are ESSENTIAL to happiness whilst renting an apartment home/condo/house/whatever: (lisabea, this list is for you)

Energy Efficiency - insulation, dual-pane windows, and proper ventilation is a must when living in a desert.
A freezer with an ice maker. What Arizona apartment complex in their right mind does not include ice makers with the freezers? It's the desert. Hello!
Decent sized bathtub for comfortable lounging - I am pro-water conservation, but when I want to soak, it's not comfortable to do so in a tub the size of a child's coffin. Just sayin'
Ample window space to enjoy the desert landscape. I promise you, that Arizona has some fantastic views if it's left to it's natural state. Plus, it's wicked awesome to watch the dust storms roll in from your porch/patio.
A decent-sized porch/patio for lounging around. Let's be honest, funds are often pretty tight and it's nice to be able to escape life for a bit without spending large amounts of money on gasoline and/or jet fuel.
High speed internet capabilities. For those of you who know me, this is an absolute must. It's a bonus if you have a few options with which to choose your carrier - choices mean savings. I was reminded that the husband also requires high speed capabilities to comfortably teach his online college courses. This is true.
Ceiling fans! This seems kind of like a given, but apparently it's not so much with some of the older complexes around here. I'll spell it out: better insulation + more efficient air conditioning + ceiling fans = cooler air that circulates around a room faster and generally allows the a/c to run at a fraction of the time usual. See Steff, I can do math. :-P
Non-dingbatty office/apartment managers. Or less so. It really helps when the manager has some clue as to what he/she is doing and keeps their stuff in order. I haven't quite found this one, but this time around it's better. I think.
Ample storage space. Most Americans are pack-rats. Sometimes, I think I'm the queen of pack-rats. Despite getting rid of many things during this move, we still have far too much. Sometimes, I think we store our stuff in the hopes that we'll move into a house again someday. We'll get over it eventually. The big point with this is if you have ample locations to put all your stuff - preferably more on display than anything, you will be more comfortable in your home and more actual living space is available on a daily basis.

I could go on, but nine items seems sufficient. I should probably round it to ten, but I'm going to tell my OCD who's boss and walk away. Progress. :)

Funny, Funny!

2009-09-27T21:11:00.003-04:00

I was reading the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog - as you do - and discovered a link to a great story. If you are interested in reading, go here. Please bear in mind that the story does contain crass language and will likely make you literally laugh out loud (i.e. it might not be worksafe). It was hysterical and wildly inappropriate - I just know I'm going to be like that when I'm officially a senior citizen. Watch out world!

I'm Officially Signed Up!

2009-09-26T20:52:00.003-04:00

That's right, I am now officially signed up as a participant in NaNoWriMo! I'm a bit nervous about it, since I'm a newb to NaNo, but I'm not exactly a newb to writing so much as an amateur. Thankfully, no one really has to see what I'm writing during this process, so I think I'll survive. I think I already know the story that I'm writing, but I promise that I'm not starting it until 1 November 2009!

Have you guys heard about NaNo before? If not, you should totally check it out and think about participating. The skinny is that adult participants write a 50k novel (for most of us, it's really a rough draft) between 1 November and 30 November. It'll be tricky with the holidays and my work schedule but I figure that I basically wrote a 23k book in two weeks, so I can totally make this 50k goal in four - right? Winners are people who make their goal. No monies or prizes, but the satisfaction of having created something wild, crazy, and most likely beautiful. The direct link to NaNo is http://www.nanowrimo.org/.

Man, I'm so excited. If anyone else is participating and wants to be my writing buddy, the direct link to my profile is http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/509876. I'm not expecting to create something like the Physik Book of Deliverance Dane like Katherine Howe did with NaNo, but I am going to give it my best shot. Who knows, maybe it will get published. I won't know until I've tried. I have certain family members who have talked about writing and I think they should participate ::cough:: Shay ::cough::

See y'all there!

Self-Discovery or How I've Realized Yet Another Freaky Thing About Myself

2009-09-25T12:53:00.006-04:00

I am an emotional person, as anyone who knows me can attest. Sometime down the line, I realized that I was an emotive reader (and now, writer). I discovered at the tender age of seven that if something on television or in a book makes me really sad, I cry. I am sure this is not terribly abnormal, except tears are not the single evidence of emotion I show whilst reading or watching something. Apparently, when something I see makes me happy, I smile. And when something makes me angry or anxious, I frown - anger is somehow more intense.

This is odd, yes? I mean, how many people do you see sitting around reading romantic suspense who are actively frowning and glaring at the book, as they feverishly change pages? Or sit grinning like an idiot while reading? But it isn't just me, is it? Please tell me I'm not the only goober bibliophile out there. Maybe I should start a support group: emotive readers not-anonymous. We can call ourselves ERnA for short.

This does bleed into my writing, though. I recall writing something really sad to me and I bawled as I typed. Who does that? And when I was writing the romantic scenes, I was grinning like an idiot (I'm guessing on that last one, since no one was home to witness it). The most embarrassing thing though, is that my husband has actually learned to not ask me, "what's wrong" while I'm reading because it's likely that the specific part I'm reading is just really intense. Instead, he says something like, "it's a frustrating part, is it?" I swear my cheeks must go pink at that. Maybe I shouldn't be embarrassed.

In other news, the husband and I are reaching the end of our move. We purposely overlapped our leases so that we would have a full month to get our stuff moved over. I can't decide if it was actually helpful. That much time made it so that we procrastinated like crazy - and we did not use a U-HAUL or anything like that so it was highly inefficient. Next time, we are renting the darned truck! I will pay for it myself! I still need to finish up the cleaning process so we don't get fined for something stupid and then we are free and clear of that place! I really love the new place and can't wait until we're settled in so that I can have people come over. I'm tired of living like an anti-social hermit!

I work tonight and am going to try an take public transit to work today. Going home is easy because I don't have a set time I have to arrive. It is tricky going to work because the shuttle tends to run behind schedule and I really don't want to be late. At all. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it all goes smoothly. I will be running around like mad at work today but hey, I'm earning my pay like a star. This picture is what I am like at work.

Contest, Contest!

2009-09-23T23:40:00.003-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted about contests and such - but never fear, Elisa is here (again) with some great news! Bitten By Books is having a rather interesting contest today in honor of C. June Wolf and her Finding Creatures & Other Stories book. Deets can be found at http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=11068. Definitely check it out if you're interested - one of the prizes is to have a story written by Ms. Wolf of your choosing.

I'm Still Breathing!

2009-09-09T22:37:00.003-04:00

We've been moving apartments (only about five miles away from the old place) but I've been without internet for a few days. Can I just say it's SO weird to be completely out of the loop? We don't have cable service, so I don't watch the TV but without internet I didn't even have access to the news, really.

I was under a rock for a while, but I'm better now :) Still working on that move, but the major stuff has been transported. A major thanks to all the friends and family who pitched in time and energy on our behalves - especially since I was ::cough:: conveniently ::cough:: at work most of that time.

I think the most shocking bit of news is about Quartet Press. Dude, that one was completely unexpected. But I suppose, quitting so early in the game is better than trying to stick it out and royally screwing over everyone.

Win Some Great Stuff From Harlequin Teen, Gena Showalter, and Others!

2009-08-31T14:50:00.001-04:00

I Bited the Bullet

2009-08-26T22:17:00.008-04:00

I've been thinking about joining RWA (Romance Writers of America) for a while now. It was a tough decision because of all the brouhaha surrounding the organization's "stance" on electronic and small publishers. I really don't want to get into the argument here, but let's just say that I'm torn. I'd actually love to work with both traditional and e-pubs if possible, so it was a bit disheartening to see a lack of information and support provided.

I do understand, however, where the organization is coming from in holding strong to the old ideals. Especially when one considers that many members might trust those the organization affiliated itself with on blind faith. As an author, I feel blind faith is not terribly smart - especially when dealing with contracts - but I have been fortunate enough to see the importance of understanding my choices by watching the pain of others. I'm one of those who doesn't need to get my own hard knocks before I understand something is a bad idea. I call it self-preservation. :)

Anyhow, the check's in the mail and I actually went to a local chapter meeting last night. It was really neat getting to know so many people face to face who share the same passion for books and writing as I do. It was refreshing to spend hours in a room full of women who find nothing odd about telling stories in their mind and listening to the "voices" in our heads. It sounds cliche, but it's completely true: the voices talk, and they are sometimes quite insistent! The biggest benefit I see from joining this organization is camaraderie and support. I tend to be a Debbie Downer on myself sometimes and I can see where being held accountable by my peers would keep my butt in gear. At least, it has the potential to be that way. :)

The more I speak with other writers, the more I realize that I'm a wimp and need to figure out a way to allow myself the privilege to write full-time and not have to juggle my time with an EDJ (evil day job). I know most writers keep their day jobs because writing really doesn't pay the bills (or enough of the bills), but I really want whatever I make in writing to be enough. I don't want to have a large mansion, teeming with strapping young man-servants (though that does have a certain appeal); I don't want to outfit my wardrobe with the latest fashions and haute couture of Paris, London, and New York (again, this does sound appealing); I don't even want to have multiple cars - I just want to write. I want to devote my time to writing and dreaming and escaping the world through imagination.

I'm sure a psychologist would have much fun explaining that last desire as being rooted in a childhood spent escaping through other people's dreams in place of my own - or whatever. But it's probably true. Robbing banks is certainly out, as is selling my organs (apparently, that's illegal), so that leaves winning the lottery, living as a pauper so I can scrimp away enough life savings to live off of, or making some incredible book deals to keep myself afloat. Or I suppose I could find some way to make my husband super rich. I could live with that.

My Digital Persona

2009-08-25T19:43:00.005-04:00

So there's this neat toy online that lets you see how the internet views who you are as a person. It's not perfect, because it searches for your name (first and last) and uses the findings to catalog areas those occurences satisfy (e.g. writing about a book would put you in the book category, etc.). It's interesting. Kind of funny too, because for mine there was some item that had my name and a post in what looked like dutch. I don't think that was me. :)

You can test it out yourself here. I don't know if you can read it, but one of the biggest areas was "fame". I'm not really famous, so I'm not sure what that means...

Oh, and I got all this funny info from the lovely Lynn Viehl. Thanks, Lynn!

::blushes::

2009-08-15T13:15:00.002-04:00

I found a lovely video of my fellow Americans exercising their First Amendment rights on YouTube today. I'm proud they have a right to speak their minds, but I'm really embarrassed the international community has access to this. Keep in mind that the protest was against an environmental conference... except it wasn't. Not really.

I don't know about anyone else, but I really wish I could've been there with a sign that said "I think all these people to my right are idiots". How long do you suppose it would've taken for them to notice what my sign said? You can view the video here if it doesn't show below:

I'm Alive

2009-08-13T20:49:00.001-04:00

I've been fairly quiet on the blogging front, but that's because I've been S.I.C.K.! It's so lame, but I have a summer cold - and it's been holding on to me for over a week now. I only had a low-grade fever a couple times and my biggest complaint is coughing and fatigue. ::shrugs:: Could be worse.

My title reminded me of this song. Check it out if the video doesn't show up. :)

Love and Rockets!

Weird Phase

2009-08-03T22:26:00.012-04:00

I'm going through this weird music phase lately - not really sure what's brought it on exactly, but it is definitely distinct. I listen to just about everything, but I've been known to frequent the Top 40s and light rock/pop stations generally. Now, however, I'm always jonesing for the heavy rock station and/or tunes on my iPod.

For example, I rode the bus home from work today and jammed along with The Crow soundtrack the whole way. It was pretty awesome, but I haven't really glommed onto the heavier stuff in years. Seriously. I wonder if it has anything to do with the frantic pace I've been keeping at work with the new job. I run around like a headless chicken for an hour straight, then cashier for several hours (it's crack for the brain, I tell you!) and then I run around like a headless chicken for another hour or two after that.

I like the new position, but it's so intense! Oh well. To finish the randomness of this post, here's a kitteh.

Rejection Sucks

2009-07-31T15:35:00.004-04:00

I'm really not surprised, since I think it happens to almost everyone the first time around, but my story I submitted to Samhain was rejected. :(

I've been talking to the husband about how it makes me feel, but my reaction is strange - to me at least: I'm not surprised, but every time I try and jump back into what I'm writing now, my mind drifts to the rejection letter I got this morning. I know it's ridiculous, but I wonder if I'm wasting my time. I get that the e-publishing industry is different than other publishing models, but I don't know if what I submitted was just sub-par or simply not what they were looking for.

The husband's take on all this is if I enjoy the writing, I'm not wasting my time. I tend to agree with this, but I also would like for this to be a career, not just a hobby. Not that I think there's anything wrong with writing as a hobby - lots of people do it, and very well I might add - but I want to sell my books! I'm doing my best to think of this as the rejection to prepare me for the others. I know it's super common to get a million rejections to one acceptance (or whatever) but it still sucks. ::sighs::

How do you deal with it? For those of you who are published (lucky dogs, you!), do you keep writing the next thing even though you just got bad news or do you take a break? This is going to drive me crazy!

I think I need a critiquing group. I heard that it can be difficult to find a group to which you mesh well. Besides searching through RWA - to which I don't belong - how does one go about this?

Book Reviewy Thing

2009-07-31T14:25:00.009-04:00

So, I've never really done a book review before - except to gush about authors like Shannon K. Butcher, Gena Showalter, and Cindy Gerard - but I thought I would try and see if I could do something more put together, a la CJ at The Thrillionth Page. She's pretty put together and I really enjoy reading all the bits she likes in what she reads. Thanks for the inspiration, CJ!

Ok, so I finished reading Burn by Linda Howard at 02:00 this morning - it was funny, actually. If you recall, the wonderful Lynn Viehl sent me a copy of this book as a prize in her LB&LI contest. It was such a great thought and I am much obliged to her! Anyhow, she mentioned that it was a real page turner for her, which surprised me because I had to literally force myself to keep reading through Section 1 of the book. It wasn't due to bad writing - not at all. It was more of an emotional response I had to the protagonist's experiences with the lottery, money in general, and keeping relationships with good-for-nothing people out of desperation.

I ended up putting the book down for a few days, but guilt got me back into reading it. I've won a few copies of books from authors and I have yet to read most of them. Shame on me! The least I can do is to reward said authors for putting themselves out there for a cheapskate like me. ;) Anyhow, I pushed on through and I'm so glad I did!

Linda Howard does a great job of delineating the three sections and keeping the right areas in each spot - I was able to plow through the rest of the book easy once I got through my emotional hangups. And let me tell you, it was so good!

There are a few elements of the book that really struck me. One was the element of reliable witnesses. I remember discussing this in one of my Lit classes in college. Anyway, the protagonist - Jenner - is an extremely unreliable witness in this story. We see so much from her perspective, which is riddled with emotion and prejudice toward her captors.

Do I think her views and/or emotions are wrong? Absolutely not. But how she feels about these people initially colors them differently than they already are. She starts the story out with a prologue that jumped right into the middle of the story. It surprised me, but I think it was a good device considering my struggle with Section 1.

What I'm trying to say is that Linda Howard does a great job making you intensely dislike the antagonists and trust the protagonist's opinions, before turning everything on its head. I'm not going to say who is whom, but let's just say you have no solid footing for gathering that not all the bad guys are really "bad", just as not all the good guys are truly "good".

I guess in that sense, it reminds me a bit of the movie Excess Baggage. This of course leads in to the author's use of the Shades of Gray device in the book. Everything is relative, depending on the viewer's experience. She handled this very well.

But let's not forget about the subtle ironies in the book. A good example of this is in a conversation between Jenner and Sydney (Jenner's best friend) pre-kidnapping.

Allow me to set the scene: They were essentially discussing the difficulties in dating when the women were often only looked at in interest for one thing: their money. Jenner had just made a crack about having enough money to own a small country:

"You could always get a suite at the Del Coronado. It's a great old hotel, and the Navy SEALs train on the beach right in front of the guest rooms. If you just happen to run into one, you wouldn't have to tell him right away about the small country thing."

"Now, there's a match made in heaven," Jenner retorted. "He could overtake the small country, and I could buy it. We'd have all bases covered."

I really love this scene because it totally sets Jenner up for the opposite to happen: she ends up kidnapped, not controlling her own country as an invading force. She's the one who ends up invaded (no pun intended).

This, of course, leads to some great character development between some of the bigger characters in the book. Namely Jenner, Sydney (Jenner's best friend), and Cael (Jenner's captor). I'm trying to avoid any major spoilers, so just work with me here. Some of my favorite areas are listed below:

When Jenner first meets Cael and sees him for the first time as a man, not her captor:

"Are you here by yourself?" the man asked, and because they were so squashed together his voice was practically in her ear, his warm, pleasant breath brushing her cheek"

"No," she said, because she wasn't. At least four people were here with her, watching her, even though she was sitting alone. She still didn't look up at him.

"Pity," he said. "Neither am I."

His voice had taken on a deep, warmly intimate undertone that, against her will, brought her gaze back up to his. The bottom dropped out of her stomach again. She had seen men who were better-looking, but damn if she'd ever seen one who oozed more masculinity than him.

When she shows attitude toward her captor, even though she's hand-cuffed to him at night (to prevent her from escaping while he sleeps):

...without hesitation or confusion he growled, "This had better be good."

"From my point of view, none of this is good," she shot back. "I'm cold, you've kicked the blanket off, you have the sheet locked down like a prison, you have my arm twisted so my shoulder is about to be dislocated, and you're breathing on me!"

"God forbid I should breathe," he muttered.

"Isn't that amazing? God and I agree."

And finally, when Cael basically decides he needs to give as good as he gets. I have to laugh at the man though - who honestly thinks a woman like Jenn wouldn't fight back? Honestly.

Jenner had just woken up and found herself uncuffed and completely covered in the bedding. She hopes she's alone so she jumps out of bed, pile of bedclothes and all:

...when she jumped to her feet in the middle of the bed he glanced up and said drily, "It erupts."

Deflated, she sat down with more force than grace. "How did you uncuff me without waking me?"

"You were sleeping like Dracula at high noon. I thought about pouring cold water on you, but I appreciated the peace and quiet too much."

Can't you just feel the nervous tension and thinly veiled contempt between the too? I found it deliciously hilarious. Laughed out loud, actually.

Okay so this has turned out to be a long list of quotes and thoughts on said quotes, but I really liked the book (can you tell?) and highly recommend it to anyone remotely interested in romantic suspense.

A very good read!

Contest! Contest! Contest!

2009-07-31T14:16:00.005-04:00

Bitten By Books is hosting a contest with Rita Herron, in honor of her newest release Dark Hunger. Check the contest out here and enter if you'd like. I hear tell there's a $75 Amazon Gift Card in the prize bucket.

I believe this is the second book in her series about two brothers who are born of the Devil and an Angel of Light. It sounds somewhat Little Nicky to me, but obviously much sexier. This one is going to be added to my TBR and TBB piles.

Will it never end?

I Think I Can, I Think I Can

2009-07-29T00:04:00.003-04:00

I'm now four words shy of 10k in my current WIP (when a problem comes around, you must whip it)! I'm getting much better at this writing thing*. I'm trying something new today: I'm not really sure which direction the story should be moving exactly, and part of my problem is that the intro isn't developed enough. Not the intro of the book, so much as the intro of when/how the cute meet. I wrote 1270 words on this alone today, and I feel much better about it. I feel like I'm getting to know the male characters better today and the heroine's personality is becoming more and more clear to me.

She's kind of fun, somewhat adventurous, and carefree - but only in environments she feels comfortable with. When she's in her element, she's comfortable enough to let her hair down. Make her uncomfortable though, and she clams right up. Um, to be more accurate her fists form. She's feisty and defensive - she gets far too riled up but for whatever reason it works. She's this strange dichotomy of shy and assertive. I think the tough girl thing is a protective shield. She's so cool, though.

I know that what I just wrote is likely going in place of, if not in addition to what I started writing in the beginning. This area doesn't exactly follow along with what's already down, so I'm keeping it as a separate document for now. Maybe I'll end up using both documents to get it out of my head before I consolidate the two. Times like these, I really wish I had something like Scrivener for my writing. I just know I'm going to end up one of those people who writes all the parts of the story that interest me and not necessarily in logical order.

That's not abnormal, is it? Anyway, I can definitely feel that this is going to be a much longer story than my last. As it should be. I'm afraid that once I get the hang of writing these longer stories, I'll have a really tough time writing the shorter ones - unless I get in the habit of jumping around like I've been doing today. Smaller scenes and lead-ins might make it workable to making shorter stories. ::shrugs:: I'm still learning here.

*I should say that I'm getting better at this spewing the story into a word document thing. The jury's still out whether or not I can weave all the pieces into a good story yet. :)

Why I Insist on Living on the Top Floor

2009-07-28T20:43:00.003-04:00

And not just for the exercise, but because the people above me can't do rude and potentially disgusting to me as a neighbor. Case in point: I just walked past a top floor apartment that had a puppy hanging out on the balcony/porch/patio thing. Now, I'd seen the puppy there before but he was usually taking a nap or whatever. Today, however, this puppy was going poop on the porch - and I realized that he probably did that quite a bit if the owners left him out for a significant amount of time (or not, since puppies poop a lot).

Suddenly, a memory resurfaced and I was horrified: about a month ago, I recall watching that neighbor running the hose on her porch and using a broom to sweep debris away. At the time, I thought it was kind of interesting and the neighbors below might not like having their porch soaked but "oh well". That's when it hit me today that what she was sweeping off the porch was likely urine and poop! Those poor neighbors below might not even realize their porch has been christened with doggie waste! ::shudders::

That, my friend, is why I'm so relieved no one lives above us. The people below us may listen to their television too loud sometimes, but I don't hear running and jumping all hours of the night and I certainly don't get poop and urine showers on my porch every day. Yeesh.

On the writing front, I haven't done a thing yet today. It's almost 18:00, but I didn't get home from work until about 16:00. I've got time to get a few scenes down. I think. Oh, and I applied for the full-time version of my job and I got it! Or at least, I think I got it. I checked my schedule for next week and I've got the full-time hours so... yeah, I assumed. I think I'm right though, otherwise they'd have to pay me overtime (read: I don't see that happening any time soon).

She's Back in the Game

2009-07-27T15:29:00.002-04:00

I'm at 8,726 words. I started this story before the last one, then got distracted. The last two days I've written about 4k words, so I'm pretty happy with my progress. The book's taken a few surprising directions for me, but overall I'm happy so far. I would really lose my mind if I tried to plot this out - everyone's so pushy!

This books is likely going to be part of a series though - at least, that's how I'm writing it. I've got three definite stories out of this arc, but there's a nebulous fourth story dancing around in my head as well. It's funny how a simple idea can grow and grow exponentially. It makes me wonder if people like Sherrilyn Kenyon, Nora Roberts, and Gena Showalter set out to specifically write extensive series or if it just happens. For me, it just happened. I think I'm going to have to write the first three books before I'm ready to think about submissions - since I'm not a plotter, I need some way of ensuring all the story lines meet up.

Whew! Plans and strategy are difficult when your opponent is your imagination. That's my deep thought for the day.

Happy Monday!

Saturday Fun Fact

2009-07-25T21:44:00.004-04:00

If you google search the keywords "dog pee purse," the second entry in the list (assuming main entry, not sub-category) is my blog post about that blasted dog in my apartment complex who decided to mark his territory on my purse! I'm still frustrated (it was my purse! purses are sacred!) but it's kinda cool to see something I made (e.g. a blog post) show up on the top of a list in google.

I have arrived. Er, my purse has arrived. Whatever. Should I be proud if I can one day find my blog post by searching those terms and clicking the "I'm Feeling Lucky" tab?

Oh, and for you Chuck Norris joke fans out there (even if you're not really fond of the Chuck Norris, you gotta admit the jokes are funny), google the phrase "find chuck norris" and hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button instead of the regular search term. It's funny. At least I think it is.

It Has Fun, It Has Joy, And It Has Dance!

2009-07-25T21:15:00.003-04:00

SB Sarah of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books included this video in her blog post this afternoon. It was amazing, super awesome, and most importantly - from YouTube! I'm such a sap, I cried. It was simply that impressive. Take a look below. (if the video doesn't show up, go here to watch it.

And before you even ask me Jess, I'm not sure I can do something like that for your wedding sober. Give me a couple shots of tequila and we'll talk. :)

Box of Books!

2009-07-22T22:13:00.002-04:00

This really great lady Barbara is giving away a box of 35 romance books - you can win the box o' books by going here. How do I know she's great? She's giving away 35 books of course! She's parting with many copies of beloved bound paper - even though she's not had the time to read many of these titles, she's not hoarding them from the rest of us. I can say from experience, this is not an easy thing to do. I'd cry if my husband asked me to part with my books. Seriously.

The contest's open to anyone in the U.S. and Canada. If interested, enter!

I Hate Money

2009-07-22T21:23:00.004-04:00

I think I've stated this before, but I really hate money. I hate that we need it to survive and I hate that I'm materialistic enough to not move to a commune. Barter systems sound really nice sometimes.

My husband and I were out eating at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Macayo's, and I fished out an old receipt from a Macayo's location near our old house. The date on the receipt was from around the time I had been hired on at my old job and things were really looking up for us: I had graduated from college 18 months prior, my new job had just started and paid more money in a month than I had ever seen, we had been in our house a year or so at that point and the neighborhood was great, and my husband had just started his own business. I promptly burst into tears thinking about everything we've lost between that time and now.

In just over a year's time, I lost all of those things - save the husband and the college degree . I had to quit that job for health reasons, my husband's business failed and as a result we ended up foreclosing on the house. As soon as the dominoes started falling around us, it felt like we needed "FAILURE" tattooed in big, bold, red letters on our foreheads. It was my first house and I don't think I ever want to try home-ownership again. Anytime I have to sign paperwork, I get shaky. Sounds stupid, but the anxiety attacks don't stop. The anger though, is all with myself. I'm frustrated with what's been deemed legal through all of this, but in the end the actions were our own.

My biggest internal struggle surrounding all this is the feeling that I didn't have a real health condition. I was diagnosed and treated eventually, but it's not like I had anything particularly life-threatening like malignant cancer or AIDS. I feel stupid about losing that job just a month before figuring out what the heck was wrong with me and I'm frustrated that I never got hired back with that company. The guilt is the worst though. I'm not sure it's something I'll get over anytime soon.

We're in the process of applying for a new apartment - a place we both love, I might add - and I'm terrified we'll get rejected. We're in no way on the cusp of losing the roof over our heads (yet another reason I feel guilty - who complains when they have food to eat and a place to live?) but our credit isn't stellar either. Admittedly, it could be a lot worse and we've made some great strides post-foreclosure, but I'm constantly worried that it's not good enough. Is this what others go through when they have a bankruptcy?

The worst of it all, though, is that I have a loving husband, a wonderful new job (with promotion), and a great, supportive family and I still keep crying in my spilled-milk puddle. At this point, I think the puddle is more tears than milk. For the most part, I do my best to grin and bear all this as it comes. I'm thankful that we are getting out of our financial woes with barely little more than a hand-slap and a time-out. I hope the same is true for many others out there in the process of watching their homes disappear.

I'm sending a big thank you to all my friends and family who have been there to commiserate with me over all this; everyone who's given me a reason to laugh and smile, who've bailed us out with cash when we really needed it, and everyone who's refrained from telling me to get over myself already - I very sincerely thank you. I do need to get over myself already, but I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Really.

On a lighter side, I'm reading Burn by Linda Howard. It's about a young woman who just makes ends meet financially (and generally has about $20 left over after bills, etc.) and ends up winning the lottery. The big jackpot. She's of course mobbed by moochers and people who want her to invest in the next big thing - she's got money and they want their hands on it. I'm only on chapter five, so I've no clue what happens next exactly, but she apparently gets scammed out of some money from her good-for-nothing father before getting herself out of the moocher mess. She's sailing smoothly seven years later, but then gets kidnapped or something. I'll get back to y'all later when I get more into the story but it's kind of refreshing to know that no matter where you are on the financial spectrum, money sucks. :)

I won this book from the lovely Lynn Viehl as part of her Left Behind and Loving It dealie-wop during the RWA conference. She wasn't going to conference, but she was offering all kinds of workshops during the dates of the conference to all of us saps who either couldn't afford to attend or who refused to be a part of the hoards of women stampeding around the conference for swag. Her workshops are available to see online at her blog (click on her name above, and it'll link you there. You're welcome), so check it out if you're interested. Is long as I don't get trampled, I'd like to be in that stampede at least once in the next few years.

Seduce the Darkness

2009-07-17T17:15:00.003-04:00

My copy of Gena Showalter's Seduce the Darkness finally came in yesterday - I started reading it after work (15:30) and finished it the same night (00:25)! I managed to get some cleaning in and went shopping for professional clothing with the hubby, but it was so hard to put down! I'm pretty sure the shopping would've happened sooner if the husband had a crowbar to pry me from the book. :)

The book was so great - Devyn is such a great character. Gena did such a wonderful job making him a three-dimensional character instead of a simple two-dimensional womanizing male. He had a very well-developed past, present, and future - and I found myself rooting for him the whole way through. And Bride. ::sighs:: That is a woman after my own heart! To knock the pins out from under a man like Devyn and be self-sufficient in her own right totally made her one of my heroes. I guess it would be heroine, but whatever - she's so awesome!

And to think, I wasn't sure if I could handle a re-take on vampires yet again (especially since Gena had already done a type of vampire in the Atlantis series). I love when she proves me wrong!

I know I sound like a broken record here, but if you haven't checked this book out yet and you are even remotely interested - just. do. it. Seriously. I promise you, it'll be so worth your time. You know you want to.

Biggest Loser!

2009-07-13T18:22:00.003-04:00

I am so proud to report that my darling husband won the Biggest Loser competition at work today! (The competition was division-wide, not company-wide, but it was a victory nonetheless.) He set goals with himself, he did a fantastic job sticking to realistic diet and exercise plans, and he really only fell off the wagon a bit once. Even when off the wagon, he was still making good dieting choices - it was the exercise part that caused the hang-up.

He's always my hero, but I'm just so super enamored of his success! The fact that he won some play money as part of the prize was nice as well. I'm not going to post any specifics about his accomplishments (that's his business to tell) but I will tell you all that he looks great! Of course he's always handsome, but I thought he had the winnings in the bag when I realized how much he looked trimmed down. Plus, his shoulder/arm area has defined itself nicely - rawr!

::beaming:: I'm just beside myself with pride and happiness and smiles. Go husband!

(And I feel particularly accomplished in staying away from the word "amazing". Plus, I kept from over-using "proud" and "fantastic". Yay for expanded vocabularies!)

HFCS and Me

2009-07-12T23:35:00.003-04:00

Or Why High Fructose Corn Syrup And I Are Frenemies

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) tastes really good. I had some today in my Manzanita Sol drink at lunch today. It was sweet and had a slightly apple flavor to it (hence the manzanita) - but my favorite part was the sweet. This lovely sweetness comes from the ever-present HFCS in this and many brands of pop out there. Granted, I don't really drink much pop, but the uber saccharine nature of HFCS makes a good case for my time.

The problem is that HFCS and it's accompanying glucose really aren't that good for you. Actually, I'm pretty sure they're just downright bad for you - with the possible exception of creating a brief spurt of energy. It's also highly addictive and makes you not only want to consume more HFCS-laden beverages, but it also makes you want to consume more sweet and fatty foods as well. Plus, it's everywhere! HFCS is present in baked goods, soups, pop, even in honey (though that last is illegal). How is a person supposed to stay away from the stuff?

HFCS is nothing more than a backstabbing b*tch, making me want to consume it and then adding to my waistline. No wonder so many Americans are obese! Of course, moderation would certainly do us all a few favors. Here's some food for thought: many other countries either use little to no HFCS and/or they have limits as to how much HFCS can be produced each year. HFCS is supposed to be cheaper than sugar because of the tariffs on sugar imports, and yet a wealthy first-world nation insists on maintaining over-use of the stuff? If the poorer nations can survive the sugar tariffs, perhaps we could too. Just a thought.

Also, when I was visiting Australia and New Zealand, I absolutely fell in love with Lemonade/Sprite there! I couldn't explain it, but the pop just tasted better overseas. After doing some reading about HFCS, it appears some of the improved flavor was likely due to the lack of HFCS in their processing plants. What, then, is the obvious solution to this conundrum? Why, move overseas of course! Until that unlikely event happens, I'll do my best to stay away from HFCS. Who knew it was so prevalent. Not me.

2 Down, 1 to Go

2009-07-11T19:24:00.006-04:00

I completed yet another day under the new position at work - the days are long and the physical activity levels are quite a bit higher. Hmm, maybe I'll lose more weight? I managed to function with only 5 hours of sleep last night, so I'm pretty pleased with myself. The only downer to the day is that a friend is having a gathering tonight and I'm too tired to attend. That, and I have to get up early again tomorrow a.m. Boo! But I just have to get through the full-day tomorrow and I have three days off!

I think I like the increased responsibility levels on the floor, it's just the early hours that are killing me. I'm a bit of an insomniac and I'm definitely not a morning person, so the combo is kinda brutal. ::shrugs:: Totally worth it though. :)

So I went into work yesterday to buy Gena Showalter's Seduce the Darkness, but it's sold out in the store! I'm a bit bummed for me, but that's great news for Gena! I'm the third person to order it this week alone - so hopefully that means she's climbing up on the sales charts as we speak (Royal 'we'). I did get the Endless Summer anthology with Jill Monroe, Julie Kenner, and Karen Anders. Of course I read Jill's short before bed. It was really good and really fun, but really, really made me want to go to Hawai'i again. Thanks a lot, Jill Monroe! Really.

But seriously, you guys should check that one out too. It's got a hot surfer dude who's, like, intelligent and stuff. Like woah, dude. :) (He doesn't talk like that at all, I was just being facetious) Let's just say, I've never wanted to be a Wahene more in my life. Of course, I would have to get over my fear of the ocean - well, not so much a complete fear of the water so much as a fear of getting lost in such a vast expanse of water. And the aquatic life. ::shudders:: It all totally gives me the heebie-jeebies. You can tell I grew up land-locked, can't you?

Also, L.B. Gregg posted an un-edited excerpt from her next Men of Smithfield story. I believe she said it's to be released in the Fall? You can find the excerpt and any other information on her blog Nose in a Book. Her previous books were Gobsmacked and Happy Ending in this series. They're both really quite good. I recommend them if you are even remotely interested in m/m romance. If you've never tried it before, you might enjoy this witty intro to the romance sub-genre. (just do eet).

In other news, The NY Times has some interesting information about the CIA's Concealment of Terror program. Apparently, former VP Dick Cheney was involved in the program as well as the program's secrecy. (This is the part where you nod along with me and pretend to be surprised. Even if the lack of surprise is because it was Cheney involved or because an alphabet soup agency is keeping secrets, we should still all pretend. Seriously.) The link to the article can be found here.

Because Sharing is Caring

2009-07-08T22:31:00.003-04:00

I have a favorite online video that I love, love, love to watch. It's on this wicked funny site called homestarrunner.com. Actually, most of the stuff on the site is hilarious. I highly recommended the Fluffy Puff Marshmallow commercial, in addition to the Strong Bad Emails.

Behold the magnificence of my favorite episode below:

If you're not too sure what just happened, Strong Sad is clinically depressed, Strong Mad is very loud and simplistic minded, Strong Bad is quite evil in his hijinks, The Cheat is Strong Bad's side-kick, and Coach Z is a wannabe rapper. Of course, hilarity ensues with each episode.

Watch it again, if you'd like. Then check out the others here if you're interested. And let's not kid one another, you're definitely interested.

A whole new addiction for you. No need to thank me.

Some Wisdom I Might Try For a Spin

2009-07-08T21:11:00.003-04:00

The ladies known collectively as Moira Rogers* said something about writing that I haven't been able to get out of my head: they love freebie stories. Making them, reading them, whatever. They just love them. They said that they loved telling stories, but they got the best learning with their craft out of telling the little tales. I imagine most of it was back story, extra scenes, etc. but it really helped them hone their craft.

I'm still learning - and though I've completed a story, I don't think I'm anywhere near comfortable or confident in my abilities. I mean, sure I can absolutely write good, grammatically sound sentences. And yes, I do have wildly entertaining (to me) stories dancing around in my head (I think it's a waltz right now) but can I really get all that down in an interesting way? Is the story tight? How the heck do I know how gripping something will be to a reader? How do I know it's even remotely interesting to anyone other than myself? I guess the answer is: I don't.

But I think these women are on to something. If I can get a handle on little vignettes, maybe the overall stories will improve as well. It's an art form, yes. But instead of starting with a large piece of clay or block of wood to form into something else much smaller, I need to learn how to effectively spin a small idea into a great big, beautiful tapestry. Make like a silkworm. Or something. Plus, if I get some really good stuff down, I can post it for others to read and ~~tear apart~~ comment. And I can enjoy it too.

I'd really like to not feel like an idiot as I try to work my way through. I can be hard on myself, so it's probably not that bad, but I know it could be better.

*I know, I keep talking about these ladies. But they're awesome!

USA Today Says Romance Readers and Authors Are Smart!

2009-07-07T17:08:00.004-04:00

Deirdre Donahue (USA Today) wrote a smashing article today about how intelligent romance authors and readers can be. Who knew some of the best-selling romance authors had Ph.Ds and that some readers were law students? Well... I was surprised about the Ph.D. thing, but the law student thing was no surprise to me.

How far fetched is it for me to have a degree in English and love the genre? Not terribly, since that's me to a 'T'. Click on the link to this post or go here to check out what the brilliant Ms. Donahue had to say.

The lovely ladies behind Smart Bitches, Trashy Books were featured in the article as well. Have you read their blog lately? It's great stuff. Go see them after you finish reading the article. Trust me, you won't be sorry: they've got a book out about the romance genre, they have great podcasts available, and they do spanking good reviews. :)

Samhain Publishing is Seeking Submissions

2009-07-06T18:25:00.002-04:00

I found some submission information today if anyone is interested:

Samhain Publishing is seeking submissions for their Spring 2010 demons and angels themed anthology. Stories can be of any genre or heat level, and submissions are open to M/F, M/M, or multiples thereof, but all submissions must feature either an angel or demon theme (or both!) as integral to the story. Submissions should be 20,000 to 30,000 words in length.nicemommy-evileditor.com, Jul 2009

This is just a piece from Angela James' blog. If you are interested in further information, please read the whole post on Angie's site.

Seduce the Darkness

2009-07-05T20:16:00.003-04:00

The ever-talented Gena Showalter has a new book out in her Alien Huntress series: Seduce the Darkness. The series has been absolutely fantastic (other titles include Awaken Me Darkly, Enslave Me Sweetly, Red Handed, Blacklisted, and Savor Me Slowly). I actually first discovered Gena's work with the Alien Huntress series and the first in her Tales of an Extraordinary Girl books (Playing with Fire).

Her writing is hilarious, intelligent, and sexy. She clearly has fun and I haven't regretted reading a single book of hers. Please, please, please consider taking her latest book for a spin - I promise that Devyn is reason enough to love this book (he's a super hot alien, he's royal, he runs around in kilts sometimes and he's a womanizer begging for a set-down -- and believe me, there's nothing more gratifying than that). Seriously, just do it.

Once you succumb to the wonders of Devyn and Bride, take a look at the rest of her Alien Huntress series. Then broaden your horizons with her Lords of the Underworld, Tales of an Extraordinary Girl, and Imperia series. And don't forget about the contemporaries!

Are you writing all this down? Here, lemme get you a pen.

Independence Day

2009-07-04T13:46:00.002-04:00

On this day, some really intelligent men committed an act of treason by declaring their independence from British rule. The beautiful document created on this day (4 July 1776) will be forever known as the Declaration of Independence. Though the country had not reached independence in actuality, they had done so in spirit.

The wars since this date have been bloody and brutal but centuries later, the United States is still an independent nation. The states may not be unified by the Articles of Confederation any longer and the Constitution may have changed, but Americans are still a united people. We may not always get along, we may do terrible things to one another, but we are strengthened by the ability to stand up for ourselves and our rights.

We still have our bill of rights and we still function as a democratic republic. It's not perfect, but it works for us. And that's all that matters, isn't it?

Happy Independence Day everyone!

President Obama Makes June LGBT Pride Month

2009-06-29T20:00:00.004-04:00

I just finished watching a press conference by the President about changes our nation needs to make to ensure all citizens of the United States are treated as full and complete citizens. Things like the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy need to go, and LGBT policy makers are welcome in the current administration. I'm not sure what everyone else thinks about this, but I think this is definitely a step in the right direction. The press release can be found here.

I remember reading news reports about members of the armed services speaking out to news groups about what it's like to be gay in the military. The military as a response, dismissed those servicemen (and possibly servicewomen) because their homosexuality was revealed publicly. They performed their jobs extremely well but because they were "out" they were no longer welcome. I truly hope this practice will cease.

I did some reading about reactions in the "gay community" to Obama's upcoming conference and unfortunately it seems many [still] feel that he won't bring about as much change as promised in his campaign. We have yet to see the ultimate result of this conference - as it's just happened today - and we still have to wait and see what Congress and the House of Representatives ultimately end up doing. The article I read in the Atlantic can be found here.

I realize sometimes what's put in the press isn't necessarily the view from everyone in the gay community. From where I stand, this gives me hope. We still have things like the Defense of Marriage Act hanging over our heads as a nation - locally, Arizona has amended its constitution to preserve marriage as a union between a man and a woman. I have no clue how long it could take for us to get something like this reversed since it would take something huge bring something like this about legally. Maybe if we can get things changed Nationally, local change may come as well.

With the state of the environment and economy, I have to have something that gives me hope. I choose to place some hope on this.

Me vs. Edits, Round 1

2009-06-27T02:45:00.004-04:00

Ring that bell! Round 1 is a win with a TKO! ::jumps up and down, shaking fists together in the air:: Someone get me my cape!

I finished round one of edits - it took NINE hours, but I did it! (Thank goodness I didn't have to work today!) It was so interesting to see all the plot holes a person can make while writing. You know in your head how something is going to happen, but you kind of forget to describe a few of the steps needed to get to that place - because you've already made it there in your mind!

Leaps of logic are great that way, I guess. ::shrugs:: Oh well, I worked on filling in some of those holes and I'm sure another round of edits is sure to find some more. I feel like I'm ready to write out the synopsis, blurb, and query letter - tomorrow, of course. I've been so afraid of how I would structure them, but doing the edits today really helped me to solidify how they should look.

It's all coming together. Now all I have to do is see if this is a story better left in the dark, dank dungeon, never to be seen or heard from again - or if it's worth continued polishing to be sent off. One of the hallmarks of good writing is to know when something just isn't working, right? Right? Or is one of the hallmarks of good writing knowing how to fix something that a trusted friend says isn't working?

I don't think I've been away from it long enough to make that opinion myself - which just means to me that it doesn't have what it needs yet. I have some really compelling parts, but some others just kind of make me go "meh". There shouldn't be any "meh" in my stories! I need "wow!", lots of "wow!".

Oh and can I say it's really tempting to include the line "you're so beautiful, you could be a waitress"? For realsies.

Now, if I could just get away from overusing commas and dashes things would be great!

Death

2009-06-25T20:30:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling my mortality today. ::sighs:: Just depressing.

Last R&R Day

2009-06-23T19:06:00.002-04:00

Today's the last of my two consecutive days off from the day job. It's been nice, but it seems the time just flies by so much faster when you're not working. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I think so, too. Memo writer, did you get that?

I have to work early the next two days ::groans:: but I have an interview to throw into the mix for tomorrow so that should help things along a bit. The hiatus from editing will end on Friday, since it's my next day off from the day job (my schedule is so weird, but that's retail for you!) - I really hope to have some fresh perspective for plowing through this book. I was pushing myself too hard since this is my first time actually completing something, so I'm going to try and give myself a bit of a break.

It's a holiday story, but if it's not done soon enough to be submitted this year, I can play with it until I have an absolute love/hate relationship with it and submit next year. ::shrugs:: Could be worse.

I can't do it captain, I don't have the power.

2009-06-21T14:32:00.003-04:00

So it's time to start editing and tweaking the story, make it pretty and worthy of submission - but I can't handle it! I've been breathing this story for six days straight now and I think my mind's going to explode. It's so depressing to see how much work there is to make it polish nicely.

I have a Father's Day gathering with my family at 14:00 and then I have to work at 18:00 and I just can't focus. I decided to leave the spit-shining for tomorrow and Tuesday. It pushes me back a bit more from where I'd like to be but I'm just getting into this stuff and clearly I need to work my way up to it.

It's been recommended by others to take some time away from the creation before you tear it apart and put it back together again, so that's what I'm doing. I've heard the process is painful and I'm beginning so see why. It's a great story, but it needs to read well. It'll be nice to see a sparkling finished product!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

Booyah!

2009-06-20T17:05:00.004-04:00

I wrote a book in five days! It's only the first draft, so it's not by any means complete - but I managed to get 18,500 words written out in less than a week! I'm shocked and amazed. It ended up being eight chapters long, plus an epilogue. It's clearly a short story, but I just feel so darned accomplished! Imagine what I could do if I set my mind to writing a full-length book! NaNoWriMo, here I come!

Baby steps, Elisa. Baby steps.

I still have lots of edits to do, details to add and tweak, you know the real hard work - but I'm on cloud nine right now! Even if this doesn't go anywhere, I'm so pleased that I got it done! Go me! If I didn't already have cake, I'd be rewarding myself with some cake right now. :)

Okay so I'm closing tonight and tomorrow night so it's good that I have this accomplishment to buoy my spirits. I was learning the children's department yesterday and my feet are absolutely killing me. Thankfully I'm only working five hours today, so it should be much better. I'm off for two days after tomorrow so I can really dive into finishing this book.

It's Friday!

2009-06-19T15:34:00.003-04:00

I have a long day ahead of me today, since I work until 23:00. It wouldn't necessarily be my first choice since I've been feeling very tired lately, but I am working more hours - meaning I'm making more money! It's ironic that you want a lot of stuff, but can't have it because you can't afford it. Then when you are finally working and making enough money to have all that stuff, you can't use it.

Back when I planned on going to medical school and being a doctor, I figured that I would have to learn to live without actually having a real life for a long time. Even when I was bringing in more money, I'd pretty much have to have my friends come over and use all my cool gadgets for me because I'd either not have the time or the energy to take advantage myself. What's the point of being able to afford it all if you can't appreciate it?

Not to say that I can afford it all right now. I'm far from that, actually - I recently bought some books during our appreciation week but I'm too exhausted to even think about opening the books right now. Plus, I've found that I can't read while I'm writing seriously. Maybe you're not supposed to be able to do that, but I wish I could. TV can help me unwind, but we were paying $21.95 a month so that I had access to TBS, C-SPAN, and the Discovery Channel. It wasn't worth it, so we discontinued our basic cable service. Now I just watch the funny stuff on YouTube or on DVD. ::sighs:: Oh to be independently wealthy.

Okay, so despite the fact that I'm going to be WAY tired tonight, I'm happy to say that I now have 14,500 words! This last chapter was really difficult, too. I have never written a sex scene before - I've read them aplenty, yes but never actually wrote one - it was a lot easier to do once I started it out but it was so hard to "see" how it would work for my protagonists. I'm actually quite pleased with it - but it's my first ever, so it could be complete rubbish and I'd still be pleased with myself. I'll have to revisit it later. So yeah, I'm almost to 15k words and I still have a chapter and an epilogue to write! First draft, too! The things you can do when you actually set down to do it, you know?

So yeah, I think I can confidently guess that the story is going to be more like 20k words by the time I've finished with the edits and whatnot. Hopefully, it'll be ready for submission by Monday or Tuesday of this week - I'm off both those days so I should be able to dedicate my time to finishing it all up then. Plus, I need to write a blurb, synopsis, and query letter. Is it odd that I'm more freaked about writing those last three bits than I am about the entire story? It's that whole first impression thing - it's hard to reconcile mentally. Oh well, I can do this. I think. :)

My Hovercraft is Full of Eels

2009-06-19T00:28:00.003-04:00

I'm now at 11,700 words! I was aiming for 12k total, but it looks like this first draft is probably going to be more like 14 or 15k. I've already got some big plans for things to add on the first revision run-through, so I may very well end up approaching 20k! Wow!

I always wondered how authors could predict how long their books would be as they approached the finish line. I'd always ask myself but how do they know they're approaching the finish line? If the end is in sight, how is it you know you still have x amount of words/chapters left to do? But then I realized today that I'm approaching 12k words today (which is what I'd hoped to get written out by the end of the story) and I have at least two more chapters to go before it's all tied up together. Wow! It's amazing the things you understand once you've tried something!

Here's my dilemma though: if I get the first draft done and then do a read-through to add detail to the story, make sure any holes are filled in and any thin details are beefed up, can I trust my own self-editing skills to leave it at that before submission? I'm thinking no and here's why: I can search for bad areas to my heart's content, but I know the story because it's in my head so I may completely miss something obvious (because I'm right there!). The husband doesn't do romances... at least, they're not his bag (baby) and he's crazy busy so he can't really help me either.

I've heard people suggest getting critique partners, but how do you trust someone with your work? Is it recommended to send the whole thing to your critique partners, or is it best to work in snippets? Are snippets enough to get what you need? ::frustrated growl:: For now, I'm a total chicken and I'm going to be my own critique partner - with the help of my hubby of course. He should at least be able to tell me if it's utter crap, right? That means I have to walk away for a day though, so that's going to be risky too. There's no official call for this submission, so I have no idea if I've missed an imaginary deadline.

I do know, however, that submitting something more polished gives me more of a chance to hear positive things from the editors... but I'm scared. I wish I was naive enough to not realize/care what the professionals thought - that I could just submit for a laugh or something. I take myself too seriously, don't I?

I am totally freaking out, man!

What Do You Mean I Can't Have Cake and Ice Cream for Breakfast?!

2009-06-17T23:21:00.002-04:00

I'm now up to 9k words! Actually, a little more than that but it's closer to 9k than 10k, so we'll just round down. Considering the character usage of those first sentences, I should'a just said 9100 words. Nah, 9k looks snazzier - like something you might see in a newspaper article.

The story is really got a great flow to it now and I understand more of what professional authors mean when they talk about how characters just start to appear on the page and how they love how the story develops. Even plotters say that. I never understood how you could have a plot outline but not "see" how the story would develop. Now that I'm developing my own story, I get that you see the big picture at first but it's the little details on the way that really get a person to the final destination.

Kind of like being on an airplane, to continue the analogy: you know your flight is from LAX to IAD - with a pit stop part way through in ORD - but you don't know how the flight is actually going to be until you start it. (For those unfamiliar with the airport destination lingo, the preceding flight info is for a trip from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles [DC], with the pit stop at Chicago O'Hare) We don't plan for when babies start to cry because of air pressure changes, just like we don't plan for the interesting in-flight meals or how fellow passengers will react to the in-flight movies. And sometimes, flights get delayed or derailed when a character hijacks the plane.

I'm not sure if it's as obvious to others, but I can see that I am already thinking differently - about politics, the environment, social interactions, etc. Not that my thoughts are different (my beliefs haven't changed) but the way I put those thoughts together is changing. I now understand what they mean when they say you need to write a few books (or whatever) before you learn to write well.

God, I hope I don't look back at this story and cringe in embarrassment. Hopefully, I'll look back and admire my growth - or stupidity, whichever is first and/or is more obvious. :)

Sanctuary Lost - On Sale Now

2009-06-17T00:50:00.001-04:00

Contest, Contest, Contest!

2009-06-17T00:29:00.007-04:00

The lovely ladies behind Moira Rogers are having yet another contest! I swear, they just love giving things away - bless you, ladies! There's a pretty sprout graphic in the post above to tell you all about it.

Let me tell you, the knife is pretty wicked! I've always wanted to be a collector, so maybe now would be a great time to start! ::wicked grin::

You can find more information on the contest and Moira Rogers here.

Word Count Update!

2009-06-16T19:46:00.002-04:00

I'm to 7016 words! I've only been writing this story for two days, so I'm totally impressed. I haven't written so much in a really long time and it feels great! It's especially exciting since this story has totally got me hooked. Hopefully the editors will feel the same way when I'm through with it. :)

It's hot again today, but I'm trying not to complain too much. I just have to keep reminding myself that I am indoors and if it weren't for air conditioning, I'd probably get heat stroke - even if the AC doesn't feel like it's doing much at the moment. I'll get over it. I always do!

I have to go pick up some packages from the front office (gotta love that apartment living!) and I'm pretty sure it's full of books! Either the books I won, or the books I ordered during appreciation week. Either way, it's way cool!

I'm Melting

2009-06-15T20:05:00.005-04:00

It's only 96 degrees out today, but I'm melting! This apartment is poorly insulated and I swear it holds in the heat better than a Styrofoam cup. Or an oven, take your pick. In the evening, it cools down and I get to thinking that it's not so bad around here but the mid-day heat makes me want to scream.

I swear, I'm running away to Alaska!

***

I've written about 2k words so far today as part of a hopeful submission for a holiday anthology. We'll see what happens with that. I'd like to have like 10k written today and another 10k tomorrow but apparently that's not physically possible. Darn physics and math! I know it doesn't have to be perfect, but I'd like for it to be presentable soon so that I can get it submitted. It would be so nice to have a contracted story!

Also, Deidre Knight did a very good piece on the relationship between ePublishing and the Romance Writers of America (RWA) as part of a discussion with the RWA's special interest chapter ESPAN: Electronic and Small Press Author's Network site. It's a very well put together commentary about the disparity between support for authors published with major publishing houses and support for authors published with small publishing houses, including ePublishers. You can find a copy of it here.

Chores

2009-06-15T02:34:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow's a laundry day - so I'll be getting a million loads of towels done, plus my work clothes if there's time left over. :) Okay, so it's not quite a million loads, but it sure feels like it. The tower of towels must come down!

It's really hot in the apartment right now, but I really don't know why. It's supposed to cool off in the evenings, right? Did someone send Phoenix the memo about that? You know, tell it that it's still a desert so the nights should be nice and cool? No?! Well that memo writer is fired - I can't tell you how many memos have needed to go out that just haven't happened. ::shakes head::

U.S. Senate Attacks Tobacco Products

2009-06-11T17:21:00.005-04:00

Business
Senate Votes for F.D.A. Rules on Tobacco
By DUFF WILSON
Published: June 12, 2009

The measure would give the F.D.A. regulatory power over cigarettes and other products, although the agency would not be able to ban them. A White House spokesman said President Obama would sign the bill.

Read the full story here.

***

I think this could be a good thing. It's how we finally got regulations on cocaine and opiate use (among other drugs). It was for the best to make these regulations. I know that I am one of the first to jump in and say I'm not comfortable with the government jumping in and infringing on personal rights (e.g. gay marriage, abortion, etc.) but it bothers me how many people are inadvertently exposed to the dangers of tobacco - especially through the form of cigarettes.

Children especially are victims of this, as they have no way of getting themselves physically away from harmful second-hand smoke when smoking adults are nearby. I think I'd have much less problems with smoking and other tobacco products if they would figure out a way to let people continue to consume tobacco without the smoke, smell, and taste. If there were no adverse affects to others, I'd say do what you want to your own body.

It Cures What Ails You

2009-06-11T15:43:00.002-04:00

Having a down morning? Have a road trip hangover from hell? Need a pick me up? Look no further than taste bud relief! My personal, all-natural, culinary cure is for some nice, warm brownie and a glass of milk*! It's got calcium, antioxidants, and that all important food group, chocolate!

You'll be feeling much better in no time.

*Also effective for curing poor moods from a bad day in the office, an exhausting day with the family, or those frustrating monthly visits from Mother Nature.

Road Trip Terminology, Part I

2009-06-10T14:41:00.002-04:00

road trip hang'over, n. 1. disagreeable physical effects, including drowsiness and irritability, following heavy consumption of time on the road, driving from one destination to another (unrelated to consumption of drugs or alcohol), 2. a letdown following great excitement or excess related to traveling long distances in a short span of time.

I had a road trip hangover yesterday. I stopped by work to get my paycheck and tried to pay attention to the product arrangements, but couldn't focus. I had a killer headache and I couldn't think straight. I ended up having the husband drive me around because I was a bit dangerous to have on the road. I didn't even enjoy my dinner - and I always enjoy my dinner! I'm still really tired today, but I don't feel so much like a zombie so that's some improvement.

I'm just relieved that I got home Monday, instead of yesterday. I have to work today and if I'd had that blasted hangover today instead of yesterday, I'd literally be dead on my feet at work. A bad thing when one is a bookseller, yes? Anyway, I'm not as bushed today as I've caught up on much needed sleep so today should move along relatively smoothly. I'm off tomorrow (yay!) so I should get a bit more recuperation time in before the Friday/Saturday work stretch - especially since I close Saturday night!

The weather in AZ is much better than it was when I left for CO, so I'm pleased I've arrived home when I did. Hopefully, this cool down will be a bit of a trend before the heat comes back. And the monsoons! I want those now too! The only good thing about AZ in the summer is the monsoon season - we get the coolest electrical storms out here in the desert!