April 29, 2008

Isn’t he just ridiculously hot? Wow. Anyway…

Fun stuff!

Click HERE to come see the pet special guest stars, now appearing in Have Mercy.

Click HERE to read an excerpt from (you guessed it) Have Mercy.

Click HERE to buy the book!

Click HERE to get a sneak peek at the Reader Letter.

And now that you’ve read (and clicked) all the way HERE, enter a comment to win a copy of COMING SOON! Yep, 5 will be given, chosen at random by my handsome husband. Check back on Friday, May 9th to see if you’ve won!

April 25, 2008

I’m not only back, but finally over jet lag and such, just not over the back pain caused by horrible airplane seats. I had the best time - talked and talked with my amazing nieces, nephew-in-law, amazing sister and played with adorable Great Nephew. (I explained to him many times that I’m his Great Aunt - emphasis on the Great. I’m quite sure he understood, despite his only oral confirmation - the informative “Hudda” followed by flinging his rubber toy into the air).

We had a non-traditional Passover. All vegetarian, deliciously so, and a lot of very thoughtful discussions, including one on romance novels as subversive, feminist material. It was awesome.

I tried a GPS in my rental car, which got me lost on the first turn. I was in Manhattan, trying to get from La Guardia to the NJ Turnpike when I found myself heading to Staten Island at 10pm. I freaked mostly because I’ve only driven in Manhattan itself or to Long Island. By some miracle I made it onto the Turnpike, then realized at almost 1am that I’d somehow missed my exit entirely and gone almost 100 miles out of the way. (Pittsburgh. Sigh.) So I got a motel room and retraced my steps in the morning. The whole experience proved to be amusing to my family.

I now need to jump back into work despite the fact that I’m obsessing over my vegetable garden. Which I can’t even start until the end of May. I did, however, order my tomatoes and red peppers, but they won’t arrive until the end of May, either. And how in the world am I supposed to narrow down my flower garden choices? I have to plant in containers, and I can’t buy several hundred of those, so I must choose. It’s very difficult.

Reading: Catch of the Day by Kristen Higgens (wonderful!)
On Deck: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

April 16, 2008

I’m off to New York for a week. Everyone be good. :)

April 10, 2008

I’ve gotten all twittery over yet another cool brain thing. Yes, I’m a dork, but that’s beside the point. The cool brain thing? Synesthesia. Go here for some fascinating videos that show how people can taste words, see numbers, the possible origins of language, how metaphors are connected to synesthesia and more!

My niece actually has synesthesia. She hears music in colors. How fun would that be?

I, of course, don’t have synesthesia. Just like I don’t have any form of ESP, precognitive dreams, or alas, even very much intuition. So I’ve got phenomena envy. I even had an opportunity for a near-death experience, but no go. No white light, no tunnel, no nothing. Sometimes it sucks being me.

How about you? Any synesthetes out there? Do you know anyone with the condition? Can I borrow their brain for a bit?

April 1, 2008

No, I really don’t have a trick or joke, I just thought it was fun. I’m actually in the land of revisions, with a side of still researching the next book. I’ve been fighting a cold, but Zicam is helping me win. Also, I’m planning my trip to NY to see my family (yay!). I don’t know why, but when I have to travel, it somehow creeps in to disrupt my life weeks before the actual trip. Getting nails done, for example. Sometimes the disruptions are fun, like group emails to discuss the fun stuff we’re going to do when we’re all together. But mostly it’s things like nails.

As for the research - too interesting! I’m fascinated by all the new discoveries they’re making about the brain. I’m currently reading The Neuroscience of Human Relationships. Kind of intense, but the subject is enthralling. No fiction for now, but there will be fiction soon!

Reading: well, The Neuroscience of Human Relationships
On deck: Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream

March 24, 2008

Hope those of you who celebrate had a wonderful Easter!

Anyone know a clinical neuroscientist, or someone else who studies the brain? I’m needing some questions answered for a book, so I thought I’d ask here.

As for the books, they are inching along. Plotting is great, although until I have the characters’ journeys nailed, it all feels like a jumble.

The fun thing I’m doing at the moment is planning my garden, although the last frost here isn’t until June, but some friends are building me a 4X4 veggie patch which I’m so looking forward to. I’m also planting some heirloom tomatoes and I’ve got my nose buried in the Burpee catalog because oh, my! Veggies! In the front part of the yard it’s going to be one giant container of herbs then a bunch of butterfly-attracting flowers. I love it last year when I watered the herbs - the scent was heavenly. I’d grow them for that even if I never used them in cooking, which I do. For the 4X4, I’m planning a picking garden - fresh salad plucked moments before they hit the table. ::sigh:: happiness.

In the anti-happiness department, I’m putting together my taxes. Eeek.

It also looks as if I’m going to New York for Passover this year. Four days with my sister (the Rabbi) and her brood. I haven’t seen my family in ages so it’s going to be wonderful. Except for the flying part. I hate flying and wish they’d hurry up and get those Star Trek transporters up and running. Sheesh. At the very least, we should have had flying cars by now.

Reading: Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
On deck: Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix

March 17, 2008

I watched Chocolat last night. Again. And fell in love. Again. Not just with IrishJohnny! but with the wardrobe/hair combo of Juliet Binoche’s character. My God, I loved looking at her. Especially in the black dress/red shoes. If I could adopt any style at all, that would be it. Of course, I’d have to be much taller/skinnier/longer necked. I think I was drooling more over her clothes than the chocolat, although yes, I completely wanted to join Alfred Molina in the display case. I love it when I re-watch a movie and have that yummy anticipation of knowing exactly the kind of rush I’m going to have.

In writing news, I’m still plotting. Ah, the plotting. Where the ideas snake through my brain, building character lives, devising ways to reveal flaws and aha! moments. Seeing how putting those two people together is going to change everything for them. Not just love, but how the challenge of the other begets transformation and a new way of seeing themselves and the world. It all sounds so glorious in my head. Everything is possible at this point. When it’s all potential, it’s perfect. I just wish every book could turn out exactly like I imagine it at this stage. Alas, it rarely happens that way, but that’s the mechanism of the writer. Trying to convert the initial concept to words on a page. Without that ideal and the subsequent struggle, there would be no striving, no improvement, no experimentation. Perfection is always just out of reach, but the striving makes this job ever-challenging, ever new.

March 10, 2008

The book is done and sent and I’m a little worried because I actually liked it a lot. That never happens. But, we’ll wait and see what my editor thinks before worrying overmuch. I took an extravagant nap on Saturday, read, went to bed early. Yesterday, I finally saw Juno, which was good, but not fabulous, and again, went to bed early. It’s mostly like this after a book. The characters, however, are still swirling in my head. That will last for longer than one would think. Mostly until the next idea gels.

I’m also having a klutz day. Spilled coffee, then grabbing for cup spilled all the pills from my pill case and that was a royal pain in the ass. There’s a mouse who’s decided it likes our house, and chose the moment I was scrounging pills from the carpet to dash across the room. Can’t remember where we put the no-kill traps, so it looks as if I need to purchase more. Oh, and I really do have to have that root canal I’ve been putting off.

::sigh::

Not the best morning I’ve ever had.

I’m supposed to go plot new books with my writing buddy. I’m afraid I’ll somehow manage to blow up her house, though. I’m not usually this klutzy, but there are days when it hits like a ten-ton truck. I think I heard somewhere that there’s a hormonal thing going on that prompts this kind of nonsense. I hope it leaves before I take down the whole city.

Hope you’re all having a much better Monday!

February 27, 2008

The book I’m writing at the moment (A Blaze) has given me the opportunity to work on some writing concepts that I believe in whole-heartedly, and that I’m nowhere near mastering. In this instance, I’m using the idea of Carl Jung’s Shadows - the part of us that is wholly unconscious but that drives us in all our actions. As it pertains to the book, I’m editing with an eye to catch all instances where the conflicts in the characters are stated blatantly and changing the scene to have the same message come through using only actions. Making all of it subtext. I’m not finding this easy. It has forced me to really understand my h/h history, but to veer away from stereotypical behaviors. In essence, put the characters in situations that trigger deep emotions, give them something to do that (in theory) give clues to the deep emotional issues but that are never stated, and leave the conclusions, and therefore the final makeup of the characters, to the reader. Oh, and it needs to be kind of funny.

February 25, 2008

In A.O. Scott’s NYT review of the new Michael Gondry film BE KIND REWIND, Mr. Scott discusses the premise of the movie - how a couple of guys from Passaic wipe out all the tapes in the video store they work in, and replace them with homemade, wildly abbreviated, and wildly inventive remakes of the originals, calling the process Sweding. I haven’t seen the film and therefore have no opinion about it. What I did was read the review and this particularly stuck out for me:

“And yet at the same time that stuff is capable of inspiring a deep and durable sense of ownership. The movies we love belong in some profound way to us, and part of us lives inside them. Sweding is Mr. Gondry’s way of making that rather abstract sense of connection literal, of suggesting that even if we are not strictly speaking the owners and authors of the movies we like, well, then, perhaps we should be.”

So I got to thinking. I’ve always had a sense of ownership over the movies and books I’ve loved. I “own” characters whom I love, and when they are screwed-around with, my rage isn’t mitigated by the fact that they are Not mine, will Never be mine, and of course, they are Fictional. I’m not talking about the characters I’ve created in the books I’ve personally written. I’m talking about Harry Potter, among others. Logical, no. Emotionally satisfying - of course! That’s the thing about art. It hooks me emotionally and makes me feel not only included but attached. Character love is one of the purist emotions I can think of. When I ruminate about, say, Buffy, it’s an incredibly intimate process. We are, in my head at least, friends. I care about her and what happens to her. With some male characters, it gets a little messy, so we won’t go there. It’s enough to admit that, just as most of my real life relationships happen in my head, the fictional relationships are sometimes as vivid and consuming as with those people I can touch.

Before you say, come on, you’re just psycho (which may be true, but a topic for another day) I happen to see this same phenomena over and over again. Just listen to people talk about their favorite books. They become invested. Sometimes tragically so. Sometimes endearingly. Always passionately.

Is this the root of fan fiction? Is all fan fiction at its base Mary Sue? Is all character love Mary Sue love?

The reviewer of BE KIND REWIND looked upon “Sweding” quite favorably. He suggested it would be a cool thing to do and expected to see some revisionist tapes on YouTube.

Do those of you who feel fan fiction is not okay feel Sweding is not okay? Does the story always, only belong to the creator? Does media interaction need to change right along with the new back-and-forth the internet brings to our lives?

My life would be a shadow if I didn’t have my books, my music, my movies swirling in my brain. My passion for “my” characters led me to write. It is one of the most sacred things in my life, and has been with me since early childhood. I am forever imagining, whether it be about characters I create or characters I borrow.

Chime in here, please. I want to talk about this more.