lazy-assed blogging, link sluttage & a little writing buddy nepotism

Saturday I was out of town,
Sunday, I was feelin lazy,
Yesterday and today I've been dealing with the usual 'end of month' frenzy at work as everyone tries to close last minute deals and make quota/goals. So I wasn't going to blog today either.... That is, until my buddy Chaos Cat dropped me an email; this year's Romance Junkies Writing Contest has gone live. So drop by her site, read the entries, cast your vote.

I'm just going to chillax for a bit more.

Day tripping

I'm headed across the border for the day tomorrow, so no posts. Today I met my good friend Manfred for dinner. The boy is nuts for the movie THE NOTEBOOK and has been *hounding* me for weeks to see it. (He's only seen it once and knows the dialogue, which he quoted over our stone-baked pizzas--that's how much it affected him.) So guess what he brings to dinner? Yup, the DVD, with orders that I *must* watch it before we have diner next week. I'm just not a chick-flick chic. I wanna see The Longest Yard this Sunday, depending on how much energy I have left after the road trip tomorrow.

Oh, just remember something funny; Manfred and I stopped into Indigo/Chapters and I picked up three books- Jade Lee's Hungry Tiger (I enjoyed her last two books), Karen Harper's Dark Angel (I haven't had much luck with MIRA books, but this one looks good.), and Three-Way. ;-). So we get to the check out, the CSR starts sliding a bookmark into each book as he's ringing up the sale and when he got to the erotica, I wanted to say: "Don't bother; the stickiness will mark my spot."

But I refrained. heh.

Then when I told Manfred as we left the store, he despaired about taking me out in public. Like I'm the one who has a thing for THE NOTEBOOK. yecch.

Anywho, time for a writing update. The laptop has helped tremendously; best decision I ever made to buy it. But I'm still hitting snags with my output. For instance, I wasted hours today on a prologue that just wouldn't come, until I finally decided it was a wash. And I'm in the middle of dialogue that isn't as 'directed' as I'd like. On the other hand, the synopsis revealed a pretty strong story. I guess it's just been stewing in my subconscious for the past several months, ever since I put it aside to work on Odil and Zoe's story.

So tell me something I don't already know

**This first link courtesy of PBW


**** THE PROOF THAT Vanessa Jaye IS EVIL ****



V A N E S S A J A Y E
86 65 78 69 83 83 65 74 65 89 69 - as ASCII values
5 2 6 6 2 2 2 2 2 8 6 - digits added
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/ \_____/ \_________/
7 3 4 4 7 - digits added

Thus, "Vanessa jaye" is 73447.


Turn the number backwards, divide by 11 - the symbol of judgment and disorder. The number is now 6767.

Add 7291 to it - this is the year Fidel Castro was born, written backwards - you will get 14058.

Add 1778, the year Oliver Pollock invented '$', the symbol of exploitation, suffering and injustice - the result is 15836.

Subtract 18, the symbol of bondage. The result will be 15818.

Subtract 1288, the year it was made legal for women to propose to men. The result will be 14530.

This, when read backwards, gives 03541. This is 1889 in octal, the year Adolf Hitler was born...

Evil, QED.

And, yet, I have my good side....


:: how jedi are you? ::


....but there are some issues I'm still working on.



What Sort of Weirdo Are You?



**I'll be back with a writing progress post later

Oh, yeah.

Trace tagged me a couple of days ago. I’m only just now getting around to it, because I sux.

Total number of books I own: Apprx 1000. The sad thing about that is, they’re mostly to-be-read. There’s only about 100 books that I’ve read and are keepers, maybe another 25 that I started, gave up, but decided to give another try. Once I finish a book, either it’s a ‘keeper’ and goes back on the shelf, or it goes in the stack of books destined for the Used Book Store. I don’t keep a book just because it’s part of a series. And I’ll keep a book I don’t necessarily love, in totality, but some aspect of it has impressed me enough that I’d want to experience it again.

Last book I bought:

NO LEASE ON LIFE (paperback). I’m not thrilling on this one. But I do like the random jokes; example --

They found a woman on 14th street in a bathtub full of milk.
They did?
With a banana up her ass.
You’re kidding.
The cops are looking for a cereal killer.




There’s a ton more books I’ve bought lately, but I’m too lazy to go find them to list here.

On the 'To Buy' List:

For the most part, I tend to be a browser, walking the bookstore aisles till something-– title, cover— catches my eye. Or I'll surf online and read about upcoming releases. Off the top of my head, and only because I recently read a review on it, I’d be interested in checking out Julie Leto’s Dirty Little Secrets.

Last Books I Read:

Well, there was this one…. ;-) But check out the sidebar for a more up to date list. Er, actually, I think the sidebar needs updating.

I’m in the middle of Edward Rutherfurd’s SARUM at the moment. I read his LONDON a couple of years ago (now on the keeper shelf) and enjoyed it. So far, so good, with this one.

Most Influential Authors:

Influential how? I admire different things about different writers. I love different things about different books. A book that was influential, in the sense that it *really* made me think about life in general and a lot of personal internal stuff, is: THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho.



***Okay, I looove this book. Just looking at the cover brings back all the good feelings I floated around in for weeks after reading it.

Tag You're (All) It

Yeah, cause I’m a lazy-ass blogger.

Pimp My Weapon II

Remember this? lol. The second installment is finally here. From Heavy.com: Pimp My Weapon-II


Issues? I doan av no stinkin issues. ;-)

More testicles than you can shake a pr-- er, stick at.

An email from a friend:

There is a factory which makes the Tickle Me Elmo toys. The toy laughs when you tickle it under the arm. A new employee is hired at the Tickle Me Elmo factory and she reports for her first day promptly at 0800. The next day at 0845 there is a knock at the Personnel Manager's door. The Foreman from the assembly line throws open the door and begins to rant about the new employee. He complains that she is incredibly slow and the whole line is backing up, putting the entire production line behind schedule. The Personnel Manager decides he should see this for himself so the 2 men march down to the factory floor.

When they get there the line is so backed up that there are Tickle Me Elmo's all over the factory floor and they're really beginning to pile up. At the end of the line stands the new employee surrounded by mountains of Tickle Me Elmo's. She has a roll of plush red fabric and a huge bag of small marbles. The 2 men watch in amazement as she cuts a little piece of fabric, wraps it around two marbles and begins to carefully sew the little package between Elmo's legs.

The Personnel Manager bursts into laughter. After several minutes of hysterics he pulls himself together and approaches the woman. "I'm sorry," he says to her, barely able to keep a straight face, "but I think you misunderstood the instructions I gave you yesterday". "Your job is to give Elmo two test tickles".

I found another funny testes joke on Avatar's site.

And here's a personal account of Testicular torsion.

Famous testicles. Adult material (illustrations). There are also semi-explicit ads on this site. You've been warned.

From Go Ask Alice "...additional padding is often essential for a smoother ride..."

Is that a banana in your pocket...? "The March 3 attack left the former NASCAR driver without a nose, cheek, eye, all of his fingers, his testicles, part of his buttocks and a chewed ankle."

The Horse Ball Relocation Program.

Idiot.

What does this blog post entry have to do with my writing? Does the phrase 'Doing dick all' mean anything to ya? ;-)

You ain't ‘All That'

The weather was bee-yooo-tiful today, perfect for my girlie plans: got my hair, nails, pedi and a facial done. Felt like hot shit on a silver platter (served with a minty coulis). So there I am on the way home, doing my 'Miss Thang' thing as I swish down the street, popping into various stores for week-end supplies, when I pass a bum outside the liquor store. (Imagine that.)

He looks up, spots me and, expression brightening, says:
"Hey, I saw you earlier strutting your stuff down the street."

Yup.

That would be moi.

VOGUE,Vogue,
vogue...

"So what's your sign?"

blink.

LMAO! Well, if a guy who keeps all his worldly goods in a rusted out shopping cart feels like he can give me game, then whatever the heck I thought I was strutting, just couldn't be 'all that', now could it? ::snort::

(To be fair, bums have libidos too. They keep it tied up with some found string and chewing gum, stuffed in a classic Coke bottle they've been saving since 1963.)

Don't look at me like that, y'all already know I'm gonna burn.



I bought a laptop, but didn’t buy the remote thingie that makes it web accessible in the apartment. So no surfing, or email on it. Just writing. We’ll see what happens.... :-P

At least Mace Windu didn’t die like a punk.

We saw STAR WARS Episode III last night. While it’s better than the last two, it was not a good movie.

* Too much CGI scenery/effects, instead of focus on the human elements. I wanted to see more interaction with the characters, not another ‘cool’ gadget/machinery.

* The dialogue was LAUGHABLE. Cheesy, stiff and stilted, fifties-tinge melodrama. It was clunky and ‘telling’, and a poor substitute for character development. I wanted nuance and complexity. Not declarative sentences, full of ‘foreshadowing’.

*Ewan Macgregor ROCKS!!! A true Jedi thespian. That man was the Hellman’s mayo on the hamminess of the ham sandwich of that movie.

*Sam went out with nostrils flaring. (as usual.)

*WTF happened to Padme? Every time she showed up, she was a spaghetti spined creature, whining and whimpering for her man. Where’s the decisive, strong-minded leader of the past two movies? I wanted to bitch-slap her into the Delta Quadrant where Captain Janeway or the Borg Queen would remind her of the proper behavior for a kickass space diva. (btw, any of the Star Trek First Gen movies blow this last Star War Trilogy into the deep worm hole –and you know what ‘hole’ of the worm I'm referring to.)

*All the flashy lights in those sabre fight scenes? Distracting. Not. Cool.

*I did not believe for one single minute Annikin’s rapid decent into darkness. And his motivation was weak reasoning, especially when you take into account his first slaughter victims.

*Although it felt like weeks, I’m guessing a period of months went by. The reason this is an issue? Padme’s amazing turbo pregnancy. Swear ta gawd her belly got bigger in each scene. lol.

*The final moment between Obi and Anni was *The Best Moment* in the whole dang movie, hands down. (Final we got a dollop of real emotion.) And I do mean *the final* moment. The rest of their showdown/fight scene was very anti-climactic. In fact I liked the final fight between Obi and General Grievace, or, even the showdown between the Emperor and Yoda, better.

*The Emperor/Chancellor/Darth Snidely Whiplash Siddius, was sooo two dimensional. At any moment he could have slapped on a top hat, twirled and imaginary moustache and said to Annikin: “I’ve got you now my pretty. Bwahaahahahahahahaa.” Actually, he did do that maniacal evil laugh. For real, yo. :-P

*The last 5-10 mins of the movie felt like a wrap up. With a lot more declarative pronouncements. For example, why have Yoda announce he will have to go into exile?

*The transition between scenes and the 'presentation' of them (cause that’s what it felt like) was clunky. It was: “Here is this scene, that establishes this thing about the character/plot; scene over.” “Here is the next scene, that establishes this thing about character/plot; scene over.” “Here is the next scene, that establishes this thing about character/plot; scene over.” Remember that old (cheesy) Batman show with Adam West, and they’d have the scenes spin onto or off of the screen? That’s how the progression of this movie felt.

*If you’re on the fence about seeing this one, don’t. Wait for the DVD/video. But, I guess it’s worth seeing this final installment, if you’ve been following all along. I was honestly somewhat bored for most of the movie. I didn’t feel anything was at stake. I didn’t feel any chemistry between the characters. There were no nuances revealed. Even the fight scenes felt flat.

I think I’ll stop here. If you want to read more, check out Mrs. Giggle’s who I think brought up some points I didn’t (but I agree with, except for Hayden’s acting. But to be fair to Hayden, and all the other actors, there’s just so much you can do with awful dialogue and direction).

**update: John Scalzi has two reviews up. The Long Form Review, and aMini Review--which pretty much sums up my take on it, too. lol. One thing he said that struck me, in his long for review, was-- "...it's clear that even Lucas was bored..." --he was referring to Clones, but I thought/felt this (ie, the Lucas was bored) with Epi III. An aside here, we watched the Tarrantino CSI season finale. And the contrast between the two 'movies' couldn't have been more stark. The CSI episode was filled with all the emotion, characterization and tension I wanted to see in Episode III. Tracy, blogged about it here.

Diana, on the other hand, really liked Episode III.

This guy also enjoyed the movie. I sort of agree with his 'good things' list/points (but with far less enthusiasm).

Another one bites the dust.

I took 30 minutes out of my lunch yesterday and got another page down of the wip. I was right about Ben’s pov, the writing moved faster; but after that one page I got stuck again. I didn’t like the way I was making him so filled with thoughts of revenge. It felt cliché. So I spent the rest of the day examining his emotions closer. I wanted complexity in his reactions. Perhaps his acting out his revenge, without realizing it? Then I drew back and looked at the structure of the story, because the balance felt off; and realized I’d started in the wrong place. The story should be more focused on his bigger fight/mission. This scene with Ruby should come later. In simplified terms the story is a treasure hunt/thriller with paranormal elements, a strong romantic subplot, and a back-story (requiring quite a bit of research) told in alternating flashbacks, so there’ll be a double climax (past and present).

*sigh*

This is not how I thought the story would unfold, or how the romance element would balance out against the external plot. Why do I do this to myself? My stories always seem to morph into something that seems way more than I can chew. I do want to stretch my skills/abilities, but I don’t want to over-reach.

I have something else brewing...., I’ll talk about later.

The new face of book selling?

I was over on Sara Donati's blog, and checked out a link she blogged/posted. Vidlit does mini movies (synopses) of books. I enjoyed the one I watched for Bertice Berry's upcoming release, but almost felt like I was watching one of those movie trailers that show you the best parts and give away the ending. :-P

PBW, aka S.L. Viehl, did something akin to this for her Darkyn site, although that was more a professional audio reading of a excerpt, on a kick ass site than a movie. And I think Christine Feehan has mini movies/commercials for her books (available for viewing on her site to members only). In the case of Viehl's effort and Berry's Vidlit, my interest was/is piqued enough to seek the books out. What about you? Does this type of marketing influence you?

Ahhssole, little grasshoppa make big funny

Current read: The New Concubine a Blue Moon imprint erotica by Akahige Namban (<--I keep thinking this name is some sort of anagram, or something, like, AKA Hi Gena Emban? AKA Hygien be man? Nope, that last one is totally wrong. Okay, enough of that.)

I'm reading the book for the articles-- ::blink blink::, er the setting. Really.


It takes place in 17th century Japan, and there's some sort of murder mystery going on involving numerous concubines, a Giant samurai, a deadly female ninja, a mountain man, and many a farmer's wife (nudge nudge wink wink) to name just a few of the horny cast of thousands.

So far, no murder. Well, actually, a number of murders, but not *the* important muder, since all those disptached so far are clearly 'red shirts'. But no murder, ergo, no mystery, either.

But what the Hey! That just leaves more time for my fuedal supa freaks to get bizzay!

This book is freaking hilarious. It starts off with, "The wizened man came out of the misty drizzle, cringing towards the light."

That's right. Cringing *towards* the light.

Later on, when a samurai decides to, ahem, *unleash the dragon* it's described as: "...his long dark pole shuttled greasily into her..."

hmm....




...taking a moment of silence....

Snaps out of it.

For those of you who lurve anachronisms, at some point during this 17th century romp-a-palooza, the female posterior is referred to as 'buns'.

And for those of you in the purple prose posse, Yes! Yes, the immortal phrase - "he exposed his long flesh sword," was used!

**update, just read this phrase two seconds ago: "...his shaft of gristle...."



I'm going back to reading more of COOCHIE TIGER, HORNY DRAGON. Hope y'all had a good week-end.

Half-time check in.

Not much writing done. I took the Quickpad out with the intention of writing at the park, but ran into some friends, I hadn't seen in awhile, at a cafe..... *sigh*

'K, I get home and open up the W.I.P., then go to this website--the background music really gets me in the right mood, it has a 'tango' vibe to it; very sexy, dangerous/adventurous. (**Guess I should mention that the back-story of my H/h--& villain--plays out in ancient Egypt, while the opening scene takes place at the ROM). Anywho, I figure I should buy at least one CD with Egyptian music, cause that one song is bound to drive me crazy soon, so I checked out HMV.

Ahem.

I don't know about you, but, *I'm So Freaky*, *Bounce that Booty* and, *Work Freak, Pump that Body*, weren't exactly the types of tracks I had in mind. So, *Back from the Tomb*, by Egyptian lover, will not be making my list of potential buys.
heh.

Today's two-fer

A pic and a joke:


Who Says Guys Don't Have A Sensitive Side?

A woman meets a gorgeous man in a bar. They talk, they connect, they end up leaving together.

They get back to his place, and as he shows her around his apartment, she notices that his bedroom is completely packed with soft, sweet, cuddly teddy bears. There are three shelves in the bedroom, with hundreds and hundreds of cute, cuddly teddy bears, carefully placed in rows covering the entire wall!

It was obvious that he had taken quite some time to arrange them lovingly and she was immediately touched by the amount of thought he had put into organizing the display. There were small bears all along the bottom shelf. Medium-sized bears covering the length of the middleshelf, and huge, enormous bears running all the way along the top shelf.

She found it strange for a young man to have such a large collection of Teddy bears, especially one that's so extensive, but doesn't mention this to him, and actually is quite impressed by his sensitive side. All the while thinking to herself ... Oh bless! Maybe this guy could be the one! Maybe he could father my children?...etc.

She turns to him...they kiss... and then they rip each other's clothes off and make hot steamy love. After an intense, explosive night of raw passion with this sensitive guy, they are lying there together in the afterglow, the woman rolls over, strokes his chest and asks coyly, "Well, how was it?"

The guy says, "Help yourself to any prize from the bottom shelf."

On today's agenda

Writing.



I'll be back with the results, later.

This is later. Sunday, to be specific. I managed five pages. But they were a hard five pages. And I was just complaining to a writing buddy that maybe I'd go back to working on Odil, when I realized why I'd been so bored out of my skull with this scene. It's the wrong POV. Ruby has nothing at stake really, in this scene. She has no goal. She's only intrigued by the gorgeous man who seems to be following her around the museum. But Ben has an agenda, and I need to find a place to switch pov's and let him run with it, rather than keep trying to balance the sense of attraction versus caution in Ruby.

This n that

Pissivity: What's up with the crazy weather? Yesterday it was, what? Mid-twenties? A no stockings, no jacket day. Last night we opened all the windows cause it was so damn hot in here. This morning I woke up with my teeth almost chattering from the cold. And I wore my winter jacket/parka today. wft? I can just feel a big ole case of 'da Sicks', with my name tattooed all over its germy ass, headed in this direction.

Morbidity: Somebody jumped in front of the subway train today just before the 5pm rush hour. He achieved his goal. Nothing else to say.

Making plans: I've been writing the H/h's back-story, initially as a way to *know* them, but now I think I'm going to weave the scenes into the narrative, either by alternating chapters--past with present--or by interspersing flashback scenes, so I'll have two climaxes (climaxii? *g*) building.

Not easily offended or grossed out: ...But if you are, stay away from this post. lol. Me? I laughed my butt off.

Going to curl up on the sofa now, with a nice big cup of tea and my current read, Live Bait

I should post something, yeah?

I'm brain dead. Very busy at work and, for some reason, I've got a touch of insomnia. :-( So not getting enough sleep for the past couple of days.

Anywho, I've been scribbling away in my note book during the commute to & from work--getting down ideas, fleshing out back-story and conflict, listing players and their motivations, and getting a grip on the major turning points. Plus got about 3 solid pages of story down. I'm excited about this new/old project and, from Jordan's recent posts, it looks like the market is ripe for this type of story.

Here's my newest hero/protagonist: Ibenré (Ben).



Of course, ds just had to point out that Ibenré sounds a lot like Bengay. I had to point out that my hero is not one of his highschool homies; there shall be no stupid nicknaming of my Alpha hotties.

Charlie Jade

Is anyone else watching this? I caught the last half hour last night and really enjoyed it. The show has a *big* screen feel to it--interesting camera angles, and characterization (from what I saw). Think I found another winner. :-)

**update: found trailers for a couple of summer releases. These look pretty good.

The Legend of Zorro. To be honest, I wasn't interested in even seeing the trailer (NOT a big Catherine Zeta Jones fan here--I just don't *get* her popularity--and I thought she was going to share equal billing/time on screen. As much as I heart Antonio, I wasn't willing to put up with CZJ) but I think I'll keep this one in mind. Looks more fun then the original.

The Island. (Is it my imagination or does Michael Clarke-Duncan show up in most of Michael Bay's films?)

Batman. I think Christian Bale is going to *own* this role.

Red Eye. <--this is a Wes Craven movie, the last part of the trailer seriously creeped me out.


And speaking of horrors, I've put Odil to rest. I can't struggle with this book anymore, I've started on a horror-romance series today.

Contest

Romance Junkies is holding their second Annual Writing Contest. Check it out:

What do you win? The top 18 finalists get a detailed critique by a member of our Author Panel. Each Author is assigned one entry and does a critique for that entry. The top three entries will be read by Tova Sacks, Berkley. Tova Sacks will read the top three and from them pick a Grand Prize Winner. And that Grand Prize Winner will get a Creative MP3 Player.

And who knows, Tova *could* request to see the full manscript, if she's really taken by any of the entries.....


Oh, Happy Mother's Day, ladies!! The boy made brekkie, gave me a funny card (and wrote something very, very lovely inside that made me tear up. ::sniffle::) and he gave me a gift certificate for Chapters/Indigo. (smart kid)

Some thoughts on Romantic Suspense

These two posts, here at Mrs. Giggles and also at
riemannia’s sort of touch upon something that’s been bugging me about some Romantic suspense. Some writers, for some unknown reason, switch to ‘romance-write/speak’ when they focus on the sexual tension/attraction between the hero/heroine. It’s like night and day. Like there are two different authors and one is writing the suspense/action stuff, while the other writes the sexy emotional stuff. You’ll have this concise hard hitting prose, then suddenly: The scent of her was intoxicating and he fought to catch his breath as sensations *he’d never EVER before experienced* rolled over him like a pheromone laden fog. (The only thing rolling are my eyeballs.)

People, please.

Watch your language. You can still *do* emotion and sexual tension without *doing this*. It’s like throwing a handful multi color sprinkles and maraschino cherries on top of a sublime slice of Tiramisu, or pouring crème anglaise all over a big honking slice of Baskin Robin’s chocolate ice cream cake. Yes, you want the phrasing to suit the mood and heighten the emotion/sensation, but what language did you use to infer the anger and fear your protagonist was feeling in previous scenes? How did you convey the heart-stopping action and forgot-to-breathe moments of tension? Use that same language. Use the language that suits the story/book overall. Please.

**Update/Addition -- I started a reply to some of the comments posted, but it got really long, so (with a little editing) I'm just going to add it to the original blog post:

My concern is not just a matter of the pacing being off -- fast or slow. A suspenseful moment could be written so it's drawn out (slow), yet the tension not only holds, but tightens. And a sensual moment could be written to show the dizzy, whirlwind of emotion/sensation the characters are experiencing (fast). And if making use of metaphors, you *could* use the same tone to describe a kiss and a car crash. In any case, you want your 'tone' to fully service the scene/characters requirements.

What I'm speaking of, though, is a complete 'flip of the switch'. The language/descriptions become more "flowery"(?)--for want of a better word--a change that's even more striking because it doesn't match the language/tone/voice used for other moments of introspection, or in the emotionally fraught scenes with other characters. The 'romance speak' only makes an appearance when the romance thread becomes the focus of the story.

So, if, in the hypothetical car crash, the heroine experiences-- “past moments of her life spun away in a macabre dance, while death reached out to embrace her like a lover, long lost”, then fine, using flowery phrasing will work just dandy in the romantic moments. But if the writer is not waxing poetic with the crash scene, then maybe s/he should distill the moments of sexual/emotional tension with more straight forward language as well(?)

Another analogy? It's like reading a Harlan Coben narrative, then you hit the love scene and it's Judith Ivory all the way (or vice versa). Nothing wrong with either voice, but (and this is strictly my opinion) a transition like that is jarring.

*I'm not saying don't* make your love/romance scenes evocative and moving, I'm just saying watch the language you use. Make sure it jives with the rest of the book.

Well my last post was a bust.

but the topic tanked at AAR also, so I don't feel so bad. I've been good this week, getting a bit more on top of the housework, staying off line, writing, reading and getting back to the gym. Every freakin' muscle in my body hurts right now. And yet, I'm thinking about jogging down to the park for couple of circuits around the perimeter. Why am I torturing myself? After not going to the gym for almost 2 months, I've only put on 1 1/2 lbs, and that's with eating all kinds of crap in prodigious amts: fries, chips, pizza, ice cream, chocolate, etc. So all the (aborted) weight training paid off. I much prefer to work out than to diet, but I find when I work out, I eat healthier. If I diet, I get cravings for shit I wouldn't even want to look at on a normal day: Pizza-flavoured donut-chunk ice cream, and crap like that. gg

On the writing front, it's been slow progress, but progress nevertheless. I've been taking a half hour break in the mornings at work and just writing. Things are coming together, but I need several uninterrupted hours on the pc in the evenings to really make headway, and I haven't been doing that. Yet. Plus, of course, I've got another paranormal idea swishing around in my brain. I'll keep it simmering on the back burner and as soon as I'm finished this ms, I'll jump into that one.

Well, that's enough boring shit about me. Back to our usual goofiness.

Romance Novel 'Types' in TV-land

This thread started up at AAR; and since I don't have anything I feel really moved to blog about--and I don't want to post another joke--I thought I'd (try to) start this fun topic up here.

What TV show characters can be matched up with romance novel types?

Off the top of my head, I'd say from SEX IN THE CITY fame, would be perfect for the role of the wise, lusty, accomplished and mercenary mistress in a Historical. Some old school stuff by Jo Beverly.

Mr. Big: the Duke/Earl who casts off the heroine (Carrie) to marry someone more suitable and mature, only to have that marriage end (shambles or not) and return to the heroine. I should be mentioning authors, shouldn't I?

Harlan Judd from EYES would be a great Jennifer Crusie hero. Despite his edginess, he's shady, sexy, smart, and now that I think about it, is a Beta in disguise. Or he'd worked as one of those currently popular nobleman/spies that are running rampant in Historicals.

Dr. House, could be Laird McHouse; a recluse who has withdrawn from society to reside in an ancient castle on the moors. He can't keep decent help because of his cutting tongue, but his brilliance/expertise is known in certain circles, and the heroine seeks him out because of this.

Paris Hilton? That's a no-brainer, pun intended, one of those 'feisty' TSTL heroines.

I'm still not quite up to speed with what's on TV, so that's all I can come up with for now. Anyone else want to take a stab at this?

Oh wait! Collin Farrell. Yeah, I know he isn't a TV actor; but did you hear about him begging some actress in her seventies to let him make love to her? That boy has got ISSUES. I'm trying to think who writes really f*cked up heroes. Anne Stuart? Laura Kinsale? Given his sex drive, he could definably be an EC hero. Or the dissolute, wastrel/rake in a Historical. :-P

Saw this in this morning's paper.

BREVITY by Guy & Rod

I took a chance in checking to see if it was online, and found this site where there's a bunch of comics listed.

What does your birthday mean?

I've seen this one all over the place, Maili, Keishon, Trace, who got it from others. :-P

Your Birthdate: July 23

With a birthday on the 23rd of the month (5 energy) you are inclined to work well with people and enjoy them. You are talented and versatile, very good at presenting ideas. You may have a tendency to get itchy feet at times and need change and travel. You tend to be very progressive, imaginative and adaptable. Your mind is quick, clever and analytical. A restlessness in your nature may make you a bit impatient and easily bored with routine. You may have a tendency to shirk responsibility. Very sociable, you make friends easily and you are an excellent traveling companion.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Happy Humpday!

It’s Wednesday, week’s halfway over. And speaking of getting over the hump, I spent a couple of hours wrestling with the wip, before I gave up in disgust. (Actually, I felt like crying). Anywho, I later realized the problem—I hope—once again I’d tried to start the story in the wrong spot. I gave it a lot of thought, visualized a new scene and all the things it would touch upon. At some point today I’ll make an attempt to start it.

Some people are real sticklers for veracity of historical fact. For the most part those details fly right over my head. Even if I know something is wrong (like a bastard son inheriting a title as well as all entailed/unentailed monies and properties attached to said title), I’ll let it roll, if I’m enjoying the book. For other’s it’ll pull them right out of the story. And a little ‘creative’ grammar has never hurt a good read for me either (unless it’s changed the meaning of various sentences to something really ridiculous). But the thing that’ll trip me up each and every time is pacing.

Pacing is more than word choice, it’s the facts/details presented, how they’re presented and when. If you do it wrong, you drag the whole damn narrative down the drain, or have circular dialogue without a point. You present scenes that are amusing, or hot, or exciting, but have no actual meaningful affect of the plot development. You’re showing stuff that could be told and telling stuff that much be shown. Pacing is a tricky thing to balance, but it’s my bugaboo.

I’ve been know to highlight sections of work I’m critting, following by an explanation. ‘Get rid of this.’ lol. Okay, kidding. Sort of. I’ll say: this is repetitious, or you’ve broken the tension with this section and the info can be inserted into the story somewhere else, etc.

When it comes to my own writing, I get stuck. Those two scenes I finally gave up on yesterday, just didn’t have the ‘energy’ I needed, they weren’t driving themselves. The pacing was off--a death knell for an opening.

Looks like this early morning posting thing may be the way to go. I only have enough time to bang this out, nothing fancy with posting pictures, and no time to waste surfing around to a million and one other blogs.

I can do my ‘fun’ posts in the evening. Check out some of my favourite blogs, then get cracking on the wip.

Later

Jump or stay put?

Progress is still sloooooow on the current ms. I really don't like working on the Quickpad, but I've made the most progress when I do so. I've been toying with the idea of a laptop, but really don't want the extra debt. And I've also had limited success working on my work pc on my lunch break--except, I keep getting interrupted. As long as you’re at your desk, peeps act like you're still on the clock.

Then I planned to wake up 1/2hr earlier to just write.

Yeah, right.

Then I decided that I would make myself open up the ms and write for 1/2hr before I allowed myself to check email or go online.

Yeah, right.

The frustrating thing about this is, I know it's about being disciplined. I'm not blocked. Once I start writing, even if I end up tweaking a lot, I still get stuff down. All the frustration of course is looking for an outlet. There are so many interesting opportunities out there. Publishers are opening up new imprints that would seem right up my alley, so I wonder if I should just chuck the wip and jump on one of these new opportunities. Maybe the lack of discipline is a symptom of something deeper, maybe this is not the story I should be writing at this time. I wanna be on fire for my work. It shouldn't be a chore to open up the document and start typing away--I've never had this problem before. Never been so unmotivated about a project, that I actually *like*.

I'm not sure what to do.

Joke of the Day

A new priest at his first mass was so nervous he could hardly speak. After mass he asked the monsignor how he had done.

The monsignor replied, “ When I am worried about getting nervous On the pulpit, I put a glass of vodka next to the water glass. If I start to get nervous, I take a sip.”

So next Sunday he took the monsignor’s advice. At the beginning of the sermon, he got nervous and took a drink. He proceeded to talk up a storm.

Upon his return to his office after the mass, he found the following note on the door:

1) Sip the vodka, don’t gulp.
2) There are 10 commandments, not 12.
3) There are 12 disciples, not 10.
4) Jesus was consecrated, not constipated.
5) Jacob wagered his donkey, he did not bet his ass.
6) We do not refer to Jesus Christ as the late J.C.
7) The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not referred to as Daddy, Junior and the spook.
8) David slew Goliath, he did not kick the sh*t out of him.
9) When David was hit by a rock and was knocked off his donkey, don’t say he was stoned off his ass.
10) We do not refer to the cross as the “Big T.”
11) When Jesus broke the bread at the last supper he said, “take this and eat it for it is my body.” He did not say “ Eat me” .
12) The Virgin Mary is not called “ Mary with the Cherry,.
13) The recommended grace before a meal is not: Rub-A-Dub-Dub thanks for the grub, Yeah God.
14) Next Sunday there will be a taffy pulling contest at ST.Peter’s not a peter pulling contest at St. Taffy’s.

**yeah, I'm gonna burn.

Those bastards, they killed Morris Chesnut!

Yeah, that was a spoiler. But seriously he was the biggest name in the movie. wtf? I should backtrack, we watched Anaconda 2 last night. I can't believe what I'm about to do. Watch the movie.<--yeah that was a reccomendation (for everyone, except Cece). :-P For the type of movie it is, it was a very good one. Scared the crap out of me several times. The characterization wasn't bad, either. And speaking of characters, the men? Holy Shite. Hottie central.


Later

Hot monkey lovin'

So, while ds is a comic book fan, I don't think I'll be pointing him to this page anytime soon....

Suxs, sucks, suckage

We bought/watched BLADE TRINITY last night. (we own the other 2) By far, this sequel was my least favorite of the series. An obvious introduction to the Night Stalkers group, rather than a Blade movie per se. (Notice it’s not BLADE 3, but ‘trinity’ with hottie Ryan Reynolds and an ass kicking Jennifer Biel equally sharing the starring roles). The second BLADE was the best in terms of plot, character depth, and action sequences, etc, but the first one remains my favourite. Stephen Dorff rawked it out as Frost.

Getting back to one of the reasons I didn’t like BLADE TRINITY. Don’t mess with Dracula people. If you want to write your own vampire origin, do so. More power to ya. But hands off Drac if you don’t understand that some things about his legend/history are sacrosanct. (btw, don’t rename him Drake, as in BLADE TRINITY, as in Lame.)

Dracula is a tragically romantic figure. He renounced God because of his great love for his wife Elizabeth. Yeah, the bloody legend of Vlad the Impaler is mixed in there, but all this crappy Dracula 2000, and even Buffy’s take on Drac? Don’t do it. It’s like making Superman a genetically engineered human, rather than an orphaned alien whose super-powers are derived from our yellow sun. It’s. Not. The. Same. I won’t get into all the other nit picks I had with the movie. ::scowling::

And speaking of sucking, we also rented ANACONDA 2. lol. On the other hand, Suspect Zero looks quite good. We'll probably watch that one tonight, since it has to go back tomorrow. Oh, wait. ::slaps forehead:: BlOCKBUSTER did away with late charges.... heh.

Lovely little surprises, & a couple of recommendations

I have an email contact addy over there in the sidebar. I rarely check it more than once a week, because, in the beginning at least, it wasn't very busy. Plus it's not my main email.

Today I checked it and found:

1. An email from PBW. She'd blogged awhile ago about her (phenomenal) year-to-date output, to which I’d left a comment about being torn between awe and despaired. Her brief, complimentary email encouraged me to continue writing and get my stuff submitted. :-) Thanks, I needed that 'chin up' today.

2. An email from Lin. She'd left a comment to the excerpt I posted. The comment seemed more to express her, er, shock(?) gg, more than anything. I wasn't sure if it was good or bad shock. :-P But the email, and a posting on her blog, went a little more in to it. (It was good) It's nice to correspond with your fellow wannabes. Thanks for reaching out Lin. :-)

3. An email from Marcos Villatoro. He was surfing by and saw that I’d gushed blogged about his first two Romilia Chacon novels. They're both great books, and I can't wait for his next one. His next Autographed one. ::BIG SHIT-EATIN GRIN:: Thank you Mr. Villatoro for your generous offer.

And since I’m in a recommending mood, another very good suspense writer is Galye Lynds. I’ve only read Masquerade, but that was enough to send me scouring the book aisle for Mesmerized and Mosaic.

I haven’t read the last two yet, cause I have this curious habit--when I find a writer whose books I really like, I either inhale them the minute I get my hot little hands on them, or, if we’re talking backlists here, I save them as insurance: for those days when I can't find ANYTHING to read. Then I have this lovely cache of guaranteed good reads to fall back on. Anyone else do this?

Two last recommends — TV shows, this time:

1. Grey’s Anatomy. If you aren’t watching this show, you should be. Great characters and interaction. (How HOT is that attraction between Dr. Yang and Dr Burke? (yeah, I’m particularly interested because of the interracial angle which you NEVER see portrayed so vividly/clearly—-without it being a big freakin ‘racial’ deal. This is about the people, their egos, fears, passions, etc. Not about the color of their skin. Nor does it feel artificial, like things are being ::koffkoff::whitewashed::koff::. gg. Kudos to ABC.)

I think I like GA better than House. With House, the real draw, for me, is the character of Dr. Gregory House. Take him (& Hugh Laurie, who plays him) out of the equation and the show becomes a bit, ehrm, formulaic and ‘okay’. I wish they’d explore subplots re the character's backgrounds/interactions more. Right now they’re just skimming all that.

2. Eyes. This is another show that I watch mostly for the main protagonist, Harlan Judd as played by Tim Daly. Harlan is a fascinating character to watch. He’s charming, good-looking, well dress, rich, and always has a one liner handy. But his eyes, his eyes give him away. They hold an edge of desperation. And when he stops with the jokes, you get a true sense of danger. He’s a shady character, and the writers haven't plumbed the depths of him yet, but I’m looking forward to it. Aside from him, the show is enjoyable, with the rest of the detective agency cast and the ‘mysteries/stories enough to hold my interest. Check this show out. Fast. It looks like it’s been pre-empted all over the place; and as a mid-season replacement with only 8 episodes, it may not come back. *sob*. Okay, this link contains spoilers, but it’s gives a more intriguing insight into the characters/episodes.

Does Your English Cut the mustard?

Not surprising. I tend to get my wrists slapped on punctuation. Of course, now I can't claim that it's mostly carelessness on my part. :-P From Larissa's blog by way of Julie:

Your English Skills:

Grammar: 100%

Spelling: 100%

Vocabulary: 100%

Punctuation: 80%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?