It can happen...

Jordan talks about being stalked because of blogging. I've never heard of that, but it wouldn't surprise me. I have been stalked because I'm a writer, which, let me tell you, is scary as hell.

I met a woman casually when I was living in Vegas. We belonged to the same organization, and her behavior didn't strike me as particularly odd right off the bat. But as time went on, things got weirder and weirder. She would bring me inappropriate presents. Once, she gave me a stuffed envelope that contained nothing but meticulously cut out cat pictures. I'd find out from others that she'd quote remarks I'd made in passing as if they were Important Words To Live By. She'd show up in places she wasn't expected because I was there, and then she'd just hang around me until I was so freaked, I'd leave.

I tried talking to her, to tell her I was uncomfortable with the situation, but after nodding and apologizing, nothing changed. It was creepy and it was weird, and it still gives me the jitters. She never did anything to hurt me, but you know what? I've done a great deal of research on stalking, and it wasn’t in the least out of the question. Any time someone sees you as something totally unrealistic and gives you characteristics that are imbued with significance that have nothing to do with you, it's a sign to be very, very careful.

Every person (every woman in particular) should familiarize themselves with what to do in case of stalking. According to Gavin De Becker, the most important thing is to trust your instincts. If it feels weird, it is weird.

On a much lighter note, we're out of here today, but I'll be checking in from my friend's house. Plot Group! Yeah! If only I had some idea what to plot!


06.29.05 @ 11:10 AM MST [Link to Entry]

Extreme!

We're going to Vegas tomorrow and we'll be back on Friday night, so if you don't see a blog update, that's why. This is a plot group trip. For those of you who don't know what a plot group is, it's a group (duh) of writers I've known for years, who get together periodically to brainstorm.

I love this process. For some reason, I'm much better at getting fresh ideas when we're in the midst of the discussion. I've always been that way, whereas I know lots of folks who need to noodle their ideas away from the discussion when they're alone and have private time to ponder. I know some folks in critique groups get their pages from their partners so they can read them privately then think through their comments before they meet again. For me, I need it live, and read out loud. I'm much better that way.

Anyway, I have a blind Blaze contract, which doesn't mean my characters are sight-impaired, it means I have a book contract for a Blaze that's open to whatever story I can come up with.

Blaze is branching out, looking for new concepts and story ideas, like time travel, first person, and something they're calling Extreme Blaze. The latter appeals to me, even though I don't have a clue what it means. I do know two Extreme Blazes have been bought - one where the hero is from the future and one where the heroine is an assassin. Neato, but what does Extreme mean?

According to my conversation with Brenda Chin, it's "A story that you wouldn't think would work in a Blaze." Okay. Also neato.

I've been trying to think of something that would fit. I know that I'd have to meet reader's expectations. Give them a story where there's lots of heat and lots of sexual tension. But Extreme? I don't want to write a s/m book because I think that's been done and done. For me, I have to be able to put myself in the situation, so I can't do futuristic, or most time travel things (although I'm doing the novella), but Damn, I can't think of anything that would be Extreme and still work for Blaze.

So now that you know as much as I do about Extreme - what do you think? What would you expect to find if you picked up a book that had the Extreme flash? Did something occur to you the moment you heard Extreme?

PS - all that stuff I was going to do yesterday? Did none of it. Mostly I sat on my ass and played solitaire. Went fishing for a bit, caught nothing, came home. That's it. And I also got no presents.


06.28.05 @ 11:49 AM MST [Link to Entry]

A Fabulous Idea!!!

After a busy weekend in which I caught fish, grilled burgers, smoked fish, finished the revisions on the 24 hour book and sent it to my editor, started reading the research book for the WWII novella, and tried to even out my stupid sunburn with slather on tanning lotions, I'm going to start the new novella today, and also clean my desk. The cleaning the desk part is probably going to be harder than writing the book.

It truly is a glorious mess, with everything from Oral-B teeth whitening strips to wedding prep stuff, to bills that must be paid, to um, well, I have no idea what's under that pile.

I think, however, that since I create this mess every time I write a book, that the messy desk might just be why I write in the first place. When you're not writing, it's hard to justify the piles, but when you are, it's perfectly acceptable, perhaps even required, to be a major slob.

What's kind of sad is that my "celebration" of completing another novel is throwing out crap. When I first started writing, the end of a book was cause to hoist a glass of something wonderful, go out to dinner, feel as though I'd accomplished something wonderful and hard and just so damn neat it was thisclose to a miracle. Now, I just check when the next one is due, figure out how many days I can spend doing nothing (not many) and get on with it.

I think this last one was book 38. I'm not sure, and I'm too lazy to count. But something inside tells me that writing a book is still something huge. Hard! If it was easy, everyone would do it. And that I should mark the moment. None of the women I'm close to, who have been writing for awhile do. We're all just relieved that it's done, and girding our loins for the next thing, whether it's synopsis, book, whatever.

Here's what I think - every time I finish a book, I should get a present. A wrapped present with pretty ribbon. The gift should be a good one, too, not something I would pick up for myself at the grocery store. I'm not sure who should give me this gift. I don't even care. Just so long as there's the opening-the-gift part, and the excitement of getting something neato. Or shiny. Shiny is good.

How will I make this happen? I have no clue. But I'm putting it out there in the universe, so that it can start developing critical mass.

Presents for Authors!!! It's an idea whose time has come. And let it begin with me.


06.27.05 @ 01:59 PM MST [Link to Entry]

This is the end....

What's the best ending you've read to a romance? Did it actually use the word love? Marriage? Forever?

I've just finished my book, and the ending is…negotiable at this point. I have two different approaches and I can't decide which works better.

So what's a faboo ending? What's a sucky ending?

I'd especially love to read the ones that have stuck with you.


06.24.05 @ 01:50 AM MST [Link to Entry]

Branding (ouch!)

Deep into the end of the book. I've totally fallen in love with my hero, which is fun. It'll be interesting to see what the editor thinks of the book. I had high hopes that I would be able to include flashbacks and stuff to this book, but it just didn't work out. In fact, it's these two going through 24 hours of intense getting-to-know each other. They talk, they dance, they play, they talk some more. Very high ratio of dialogue to narrative, more than any book I've done. I'm having a friend do a read through tomorrow, so that feedback will be helpful.

I've also noted that I'm liking beta-ish heroes more lately, which is odd, because I have in the past tried for more alpha-ish guys. My last Intrigue hero was very alpha. But I HAVE to love these guys, and I guess I'm attracted to men who can talk (without becoming a woman) who are self-aware enough to be amused at their own foibles, and who are the kind of man I'd want to spend the rest of my life with. They also must be totally great in bed.

Now, in the next full Blaze I'm going dark. This is a thriller, with a stalker and an ex-CIA operative, and danger all around. I'm looking forward to writing it, because I do love the tension and the dark intensity.

I'm so lucky this way. That I get to write both romantic comedy and dark, intense books. My editor told me that they've come to me for certain projects because they think I'm versatile. Great for my creative juices, not sure how great when one considers the whole branding thing. Because mostly I write for one line (Blaze) it's not too scary, but let's say I move into ST - mostly, I believe readers associate me with romantic comedy. Would they be disappointed with an intense, darker read? It's not something I have to worry about this minute, but I do have to deal with it. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what readers expect when they pick up one of my books. How does one find this out?


06.23.05 @ 11:57 AM MST [Link to Entry]

The Good, The Bad, The Totally Awesome

The good news: I'm zeroing in on the end. Truly. I can see it, I know what's supposed to happen, and I will indeed have the book in on Monday.

The bad news: I'm sunburned. On the top of my knees, for God's sake. I know better than this. I think because we've had The Longest Winter Since the Ice Age, I was greedy (and not too bright) but now I'm paying for it. I refuse to put on pants because, well, Ow.

The totally awesome news: First, some backstory (the Reader's Digest version). Not sure how much I've shared about this, but anyway, I first met my wonderful guy in 1976. We met in a bar (Sloans, in West Hollywood, which is now gone). We dated for a couple of years, all of the tumultuous and incredible. I fell desperately in love. We broke up. I never got over him. Compared everyone I dated to him. Finally, gave up the dating thing. Became very comfy with the idea that I'd not be with one man. It truly was okay - I've always entertained myself very well. I was in my 40s and it wasn't going to change, no big deal. Then in March, 3 years ago, I got an email. From him! Three month after that, we moved in together. And now, three years after that (drum roll please) we're getting married. The date is set (July 30th) in Reno. Small ceremony, no frills. Which works for me. I'm so happy. I love him beyond belief, and I figured we've survived two winters alone in a cabin in the mountains, and it's still the most amazing relationship I can imagine.

Us in '77

06.22.05 @ 01:11 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Books and Fish

Okay, called my editor. She's a peach! No problem with getting the book in Monday. And we pushed back the next Blaze deadline a month, so I wouldn't have to make myself (more) insane. So yay.

I believe I've mentioned that I'm doing a TT novella for Blaze set in WWII, and I'm loving the research. Did you know that Times Square, in fact all of Broadway, was "browned out?" All the lights, all the glitter, even the news crawl at the New York Times building were doused completely or shaded gray. Taxi's had the top part of their headlights painted black. So interesting. Wish I had a lot more time to dig deeper. But the most fun is scoping out the music. My heroine is a singer at the Stage Door Canteen, and man, did I love the music of that era.

Also, took some time yesterday to go fishing, and it was gorgeous. Blue sky, white puffy clouds, cool breeze. Didn't catch many fish, but it was so cool to watch the ballet of dragonflies skimming the water, followed by leaping minnows, followed by trout, all of them skipping over the blue, blue lake. Then I came home and wrote until midnight. It was worth it.

We'll probably go fishing again today because I'm trying to get enough fish to put in the smoker. We're having friends come up on Thursday, and they all like the smoked fish, but so far, we only have two.

Other than that, I'm pretty focused on getting the book in. I'm on page 230. I need to rewrite some of what I did yesterday because it's more recap than reaction, and that's not okay. I'll get there. I will. A panic writer in her natural element. Just don't get too close to the cage.


06.21.05 @ 01:47 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Deadlines, Weekends and Scorching Sex

I'm rounding the corner on the book - I'll be done by the end of the week, which is wonderful, but I have to call my editor, who, being the smart woman she is, already knows I'm horribly late, but has no idea when I'm actually going to turn the book in. I should have done this a week ago (at least) but I'm a chicken shit, and I didn't.

Last night, at about 10:30 I found myself writing a sex scene that I hadn't actually planned, and OMG it was so hot. If I'd have had a smidgen of energy left after a grueling day, I would have been all over the DF. Alas, I'll have to attend to that at a later time. But it's very cool when the sex in the book turns everyone on. And moves the story forward. And reveals something about the characters.

A little weird whine - I no longer have weekends. Yes, I do have Sat and Sun, but they don't feel like weekends did when I worked a regular job. I work when I need to work, and take off (too often) when I don't, and it has nothing to do with the day of the week. But on weekends, it seems, other people have actual lives! They don't blog much, they don't comment much, they don't update much, and since the internet is my window to sanity, I hate that. I have no idea what to do about this problem, except ask all of you to think of the poor isolated writers who have to click the time on the bottom of the screen to figure out what day it is to keep me entertained on the weekends. I don't think that’s too much to ask.

So, another 15 pages (minimum) today. And tomorrow, and so on until it's done, done, done. Then I've got a novella and a Blaze due by August something-or-other. Somewhere in there is RWA in Reno (more on exciting news about this later) and however much I swear I'm going to write on the road, I'm lucky if I get half the work done, so maybe I'll ask to push that Blaze deadline out a month. God, why does my editor put up with me?


06.20.05 @ 01:52 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Redheads rule

Sometimes writing is so excellent that it fills me with so much joy that I'm floating and blissed out beyond belief. And then there was yesterday.

I wrote a sentence. Stared at the screen. Looked at the TV. Wrote another sentence. Made oatmeal. Deleted the first sentence. Watched Ellen. Played spider solitaire.

I could continue to chart the day, but then you'd have to stab yourself just to ease the boredom.

The odd thing is, I could see the scene, but something disconnected between my mind's eye and my fingers. No clue, except that maybe I'm distracted? That's a wild-ass guess, because I don't feel particularly distracted.

Today will be better. I swear. For one thing, I'm getting my hair done, and I may switch colors. I'm one of those folks who believe hair is for experimentation. I have many friends who have found a style and a color and stick with it. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just not me. I've been all kinds of colors. Not black, because that's too harsh for my fish-belly pale skin. Red is the favorite, but I switch reds all the time. The older (and more gray) I get, the lighter the highlights. I also want my cut to be choppy enough that people can't be sure that when I look like I just got out of bed, it's not on purpose.

I also love going to the beauty shop here in smallville, because it's where I get all the juicy gossip. I have no idea who any of the players are, but I eat up the snarking and the whispers. Small towns, you gotta love em. They're just like high school. Well, high schools I read about. Mine sucked the big one, and I got out as soon as humanly possible. I knew maybe 4 people out of the gazillion that went to Hamilton High in L.A. It was a hideous experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. But that's just me.

Anyway, new hair color will surely mean my writing will be swift and sure, and every word will be a gem. Right??



06.17.05 @ 12:06 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Sentences and Titles

This line won't go away:

The need I had for him was at war with the way I needed him.


I keep thinking about it, even though I'm deep in the current book, even though I have three other books contracted after this book, and even though I have no idea what I'd do with it, but there you have it. Something about the sentence has captured my imagination.

I don't think I've ever had a sentence as the genesis for a story. I've had images, scenes, characters spark books. But then I've also had a conflict start the process, and I guess this would qualify. To me, it's incredibly evocative and vague enough that I can play with it to my heart's content.

Somehow, some way, I'm going to turn this sentence into a novel.


Now, on a completely different note, I need title help. I figured I'd see what you guys come up with, because I'm not having any luck:

Okay - the blurb:

Drug dealers on the run from the DEA drop a bag with eight million dollars in cash smack dab in the middle of an isolated trailer park inhabited by a group of elderly misfits. It's the old farts versus the high-tech gangsters. The gangsters don't stand a chance.

Right now, the book (and the screenplay) is titled Apache Tears, which is the name of the trailer park. But the title doesn't reflect anything about the story. So I'm looking for something fun, something that would suggest that this is an action story with a twist. Any thoughts????



06.16.05 @ 12:20 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Back in the saddle

We're back from Vegas which was a billion degrees, and now I have to work. I typed on the way, but didn't get enough done. It's absurd how late I am, and if I was my editor, I'd shoot me. On the plus side, I'm liking the book, so that's good. Amazing how long it can take to write about 24 hours.

Saw Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which was fun, and wow, what a score. Awesome. Never heard of the composer before.

There's still snow on the ground up here, but it's truly gorgeous with all the quaking aspens full of brilliant green leaves. After this grueling winter, it's nice to have the really excellent spring-like weather. Although there's a storm expected this weekend, and I'm hoping it's just rain.

The real difficulty of traveling is that I come back to a gazillion blogs to catch up on. Yikes. And a chapter to write. Tonight.

06.15.05 @ 07:37 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Button, button

There are two new buttons on my sidebar that I invite everyone to click.

The first is ONE - it links to One.org, which is spearheading a write-in campaign to encourage TPTB to aid Africa in the upcoming G8 summit.

The second is AK Bookclub, which is a reading group newly born, and I've never been in a reading group so I want to play, and want as many folks as possible to play along.

And now back to your regularly scheduled blogging.

06.13.05 @ 07:44 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Writing, she is fun, part II

I'm on page 165, and late with the book. What's worse is that while I love the h/h, I had to rearrange the timeline of the book so that while I've got 165 pages written, I'm actually working at around page 130, because I had to put more stuff in the middle. I don't write like this. I'm a linear writer and I've never skipped or written down the scene that was dying to be written before it's place. No, wait, that's a lie.

I did once. In the book Hot & Bothered, I dreamt about a scene in an elevator. I got up, wrote it in a frenzy, and then when it was time in the book, I added the scene. Oddly, I've gotten more mail from that one scene than I have for any other book except one. The one I get the most mail about is a series I started with Harlequin American called The Girlfriends' Guide To: Catching His Eye. Only the first book made it into print (mostly because I didn't write any of the others. Editorial change, long story). But I get mail about that book all the time. At least a couple every month, and it was out ages ago.

So my point is I'm all fershimeled. This is a word that we used in my family and I think the word itself is self-explanatory. It may have its origins in Yiddish, but then again, it may be totally made up.

Because of my fershimeled state of mind, I'm writing later and later in the day. Last night I finished at about 10:30. And I only got 12 pages in, instead of the 15 I wanted to. I hate this. I find myself wanting to sleep. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that sleep = avoidance.

Tomorrow, we're going to Vegas. I have to go to the dentist (yipee! cough) which is probably a good thing, as I'll be working on the Neo. No email, no TV, no blogglomming. Just typing. I'm hoping in the next day or two to catch up to where I should be, and then perhaps things will flow more easily.

But today, I'm here and planning on checking for comments every twenty or thirty seconds. So be kind to your local insane writer and talk to me. I'm not above begging.


06.13.05 @ 02:31 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Okay....

This is June, right? Can anyone explain this to me? Yes, that's snow. Lot's o' snow. Buckets o' snow. It's warmer in Siberia. Sheesh.

06.11.05 @ 03:06 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Cruelty

"I have sailed the world, beheld it's wonders
But the cruelty of man is as wondrous as Peru"

Stephen Sondheim, from Sweeny Todd

With all this talk of what's moral, what's proper, what image to present, what other people think I’m supposed to think, I've been thinking. Forget sex, forget violence, when did cruelty become so okay?

I was watching a TV commercial for a new show called Hell's Kitchen, in which a terribly ill mannered chef berates, humiliates and denigrates junior chefs under his control. The voiceover, which I can't quote accurately, says something like: How he spits on these people will make you laugh out loud.

WTF?

When did this happen? Why? I was never one who could watch Jerry Springer or any of that ilk, because I have a great deal of trouble watching someone being humiliated. I feel it inside me, and I just can't handle that. I don't have to know the people to squirm, in fact the people don't have to be real, I just despise it when people are show in humiliating circumstances.

With the proliferation of reality shows, this trend seems to be getting larger and larger. Not to mention the popularity of Ben Stiller movies. It's as if we've become a nation of schoolyard bullies, rubbing our hands with glee when the weird kid comes to the playground so we can laugh as we pants him.

I don't get the popularity of American Idol. Why would I want to watch some asshole destroy a person's dream in the cruelest way possible? Why is this considered entertainment?

I know how I was crushed when I got my rejection letters on my first books. I was devastated, and these were kind rejections. What would it have been like if it had been televised? Long ago, when I'd written my very first script, someone I liked and respected told me it was vomit. That comment has never lost its bite all these years later, all these successes later. God forbid I'd have been in front of an applauding audience when that little gem was delivered.

I just don't understand. I guess the cruelty has always been there. That we feel better about ourselves when we witness some poor schlub taking it in the kisser. But celebrating the attitude that cruelty is entertainment makes me sad and a little scared.


06.10.05 @ 01:52 PM MST [Link to Entry]

On Why I Am A Moron

I live in the middle of nowhere, a veritable cornucopia of malfunctions abound, mostly having to do with unscheduled power outages, and I'm a person who depends pretty much entirely on my computer to do my job. Okay, here's the moron part: I don't have a UPS. Not the delivery guy (he delivers if he can get up here). I'm talking about an uninterruptible power supply. I know a lot about these as I worked as a computer tech for Macrosoft. I wrote the computer manuals for their hardware. I coached people who had lost their systems because they didn't have a UPS. Are we seeing the moron connection?

I was writing this afternoon, and yep, you guessed it. The power went out. Which was bad just in the fact that we'd been three days without power, um, last weekend. But the real pisser was that I was on a roll. You know the kind I'm talking about…when your fingers can't type fast enough. When the scene is so real, so vivid, so there that I have no awareness of the page number. (Which is a big thing for me. Gotta know the count). Only, I didn't care, because there was this thing, I'm not sure if there's a term for it, but it's basically a setup and payoff, dialogue-wise, that so totally rocked it was like I was on drugs. Perfection.

I lost it. It's gone, and I can't get it back. It was a rhythm. A flow. And I can't seem to get past it. I'm furious. With the power company, yes, but with myself more. I KNOW about backups. I KNOW about UPS. I…well, you get the picture.

I'm trying to talk myself into dreaming the scene tonight when I sleep. It's never worked before, but hey, there's always a first time, right? So I'm gonna not only cue the dream, I'm also going to have a pad and pen at the ready.

I'll let you know if this works. And yes, our next trip to Vegas, I'm buying the freaking UPS.


06.09.05 @ 02:57 AM MST [Link to Entry]

help and procrastination

First off, I need help. Anyone watch the re-run of House last night? There was a song at the end. Name that song and artist and I'll….thank you kindly. I was gonna offer something amazing, but I have nothing amazing to offer. Well, if you want, I'll send you a book. J

I also heard that there was a website you can go to that lists the music from TV shows. Yes? No? Linkage would be great.

Okay, now that that's taken care of, you can tell I'm pressed up against my deadline because yesterday I:

Made banana coconut muffins because the bananas were pretty much black
Cleaned out the fridge. I only do this under duress
Make chicken enchiladas because I'd made some chicken breasts in the crockpot, and needed to do something with them.
Made the chicken stock to put in the chicken enchilada sauce. Yes, I do have chicken broth in the pantry. What about it?

I also wrote 10 pages. 5 short of what I should have. Shit.

I'm also looking around for the next book to read. Can't be romance. I don't read romance when I'm actively writing. I want something juicy and big and I want to fall into it. I will probably have to order it online, because there isn't a bookstore near me. But I'm willing to find something extraordinary. Along the lines of Prince of Tides, please. Any recs?


06.08.05 @ 12:07 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Fish and Sex

This is the upper lake, the one that we call Dinner Lake, because in summer, we'll go there at around 4:00, catch a couple of trout, and leave by 5:00. Only it's so cold up there, we haven't been able to catch much of anything. It's also hugely full, and when we do fish there, it's going to be from the road because everything below that is under water.

Also, got Strange Attractions by Emma Holly, after hearing so much buzz on line. I can't get past the premise. I've tried, really, because I love reading about hot sex between men/women, men/men, men/women/men. But it stretches my willing suspension of disbelief, and I can't make it work. Damn.

06.07.05 @ 12:12 PM MST [Link to Entry]

This is your brain.... This is your brain after learning

According to Lawrence C. Katz, PhD, a professor of neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center, coauthor of Keep Your Brain Alive, the brain is evolutionarily primed to seek and respond to what is novel. That at around 30, our memory and cognitive and motor abilities begin to decline. What's important however, is that anytime we learn a new skill, we change the brain physically. The brain is a plastic instrument that has continuous capacity for change, and that by learning new things, we keep our brains healthy and active.

I love this, especially because I'm an author, and unless the Bestseller Fairy drops into my life, I'm going to need to write for the rest of my life. Savings? Hahahaha. Insurance? Hahaha. Getting a real job? It is to laugh. So my brain needs to function, and function creatively.

I believe that writing novels recreates the brain. Every new sentence, new plot, new character, puts us in the zone, where our brains have to pay attention. Reading does this, too, I think, although I have no proof whatsoever. I just feel it. I know that new ideas changes me. But I’m thinking it's not enough. That I need to add something to the mix. Learn stuff. Any stuff.

I used to go to Learning Annex in LA and Houston, and take classes. Here in the remote I don't have that opportunity, unless it's online. And since I have the worlds slowest online connection, that's pretty much out. So again, I need to turn to books. I began with knitting last November. Which is way too much fun. Now I need to pick something else, but I have no idea what. Of course this has to wait until the book is done, so while I'm in the middle of panic-writer-land, I'll start playing around with ideas of what to learn. Oh, and did you know that something as simple as brushing your teeth with the other hand is sufficient to exercise your brain? Cool, huh?

Do you have a list of things you want to do? (See the Today show for examples)
What have you learned lately that challenged you?


06.06.05 @ 12:15 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Well, it's been special up here on Mount Doom…

Thursday night. June 2. I repeat – June 2, it's snowing. 2 fucking FEET of snow. Then the power goes out. Bitchen. About five hours after that, the phones go. Double Bitchen. Then we get word that even if we chose to, we cannot get down the mountain because there's been a Major Rock Slide (half a mountain, basically) that has wiped out the road. Neato Jet.

Well, the excellent road crews actually got a path down the mountain late on the 3rd. The boulders were Volkswagen sized, and very scary. But I was in no mood to sit in the dark, so we went to town and stayed at a motel. We finally got back home today, about an hour ago, and we have electricity (obviously) and phones and internet and electric blankets and Diet Barqs Root Beer, so it's okay. But Damn, kids. June 2. 2 Feet of Snow. I mean, really.


06.04.05 @ 08:26 PM MST [Link to Entry]

RWA WTF?

First, go check this out: http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/ It's Selah March's guest blog on Smart Bitches, and I had no idea!

What's with RWA? I'm terribly grateful for what I got from RWA in the beginning of my career. Because of that I did what I could to give back to the organization. I was a chapter pres, I wrote for the RWR, I gave lots of workshops, I paid for the conferences. But the longer I'm published the less I feel I'm getting from the group.

I'm going to Reno this year, but I’m not registering. I know there are some folks who feel that's wrong, but dammit, it's hugely expensive, and there really aren't any workshops I want to go to. I'm going to see friends and see editors. That's it. I can't really afford $300 plus in addition to hotel and meals and travel to not attend workshops.

And now that I'm hearing about RWA not wanting to let an erotica group apply for chapter status, I've moved from being disappointed in RWA's work with multi-published authors to pissed off.

I'd really like more information on this, so if any of you know what's what, could you post? I'd like to think this is a misunderstanding. I fear it's not.


06.02.05 @ 01:31 PM MST [Link to Entry]

Men and stuff

When I was a teenager, I had a very clear list of qualities I was looking for in a guy.

Gorgeous (of course)
Tall (which didn't take much because I'm 5' 3" so anything above 5' 5" would qualify)
Sullen (which I believe I defined as brooding)
Sex on Wheels
Dangerous (the darker the better)
Rebellious

Which in turn lead naturally to:

Cruel

And wouldn't you know, I actually dated quite a few men who met my criteria. All of whom were incredibly bad for me. Slowly (and I mean slowly) my list changed to:

Kind
Honest
Generous
Smart
Sweet
Funny

Which in turn would lead naturally to:

Sexy

The reason I'm bringing this up is that I write 20 something heroines. My heroes, however, tend to end up like the second list, while I know, I KNOW, that when we're in our 20s we want to meet list #1 guy. We want Alpha Guys, but not really. We want Alpha Guys who are tamed. By us. But in the taming, aren't we making them list 2 guys?

What bothers me most is when, instead of making the heroes in books into List 2 guys, the authors make them women with dicks. I hate that. But I'm seriously looking into incorporating more of the list 1 criteria into my ideal list 2 heroes. I'm pretty sure, though, that there can't be a HEA unless there's a lot of list 2 in the hero. It's all about balance and believable transformation.

I'm curious though about other's lists, and how they changed over time, and what qualities in the hero have to be there for the reader to buy into the HEA.




06.01.05 @ 01:37 PM MST [Link to Entry]