Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a Safe, Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

May you get all that you need and none of what you deserve. ;)

Much Love,

Jaye

Retrospective of post for 2006

Considering this is it--We made it! One more year down, countless more to go-- figured the time was ripe to look back at some of the fun posts I had up this year. I mostlt pulled from earlier in the year, since the more recent stuff might still be fresh in mind.

Boy, I wasn't kidding when I said this was Procrastination Station. lol. You have my solemn word, that I'll keep it up in the new year. ;-)

Enjoy!

1. Cracked
2. Another Heartwarming Moment…
3. Things That Made Me Laugh This Week
4. Gazes Galore!
5. Ouch!ouch!Ouch!
6. Joke
7. Cleaning Hunk
8. Naomi Campbell’s Beatdown Puppet Theatre
9. I think you meant ‘assuage’ not ‘ass guage’.
10. Vehicle of Voice
11. Where the hell are they playing this ad?
12. Book Report (this post is actually from a last year.)

I'm in the 2%

It's free-for-all Friday, y'all. That means I don't have to tax my brain none when it comes to posting. lol. Here's a fun quizz my sister emailed me. She's in the 2%, too. Which just proves we're a famiy of weirdos:

Take this Test:

At the end of this message, you are asked a question. Answer it immediately. Don't stop and think about it. Just say the first thing that pops into your mind.

This is a fun "test"... AND kind of spooky at the same time! Give it a try, then check the comments and you'll see how many people fall into the same percentage as you. Be sure to post if you're among the 98% or the 2%. You'll understand what that means after you finish taking the "test." Now - just follow the instructions as quickly as possible.

Do not go to the next calculation before you have finished the previous one.

You do not ever need to write or remember the answers, just do it using your mind. You'll be surprised.

Start:

How much is:
>
>
>
15 + 6
>
>
>
3 + 56
>
>
>
89 + 2
>
>
>
12 + 53
>
>
>
75 + 26
>
>
>
25 + 52
>
>
>
63 + 32
>
>
>

I know! Calculations are hard work, but it's nearly over..

Come on, one more! :
>
>
>
123 + 5
>
>
>
>
>
QUICK! THINK ABOUT A COLOR AND A TOOL!

go to comments....

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Keeper Books Read in 2007 byVanessa Jaye These are not all the keepers, just the first 13 (in no particular order) off the top of my head. And they are not necessarily all the kick ass book I've read. Some books, as much as I enjoyed them, I don't think I'll want to re-read. Keepers, may not be perfect, but something about them, makes me want to revisit and re-experience the characters and their stories. Also, a number of these books I bought years ago when they were first released, but just got around to reading them this year.: 1. Run No More by Catherine Mulvany 2. Dedication by Janet Mullany (hmm..not 100% sure I actually read this this year, and not last year.) 3. The Spare by Carolyn Jewel (loved it! Don't know how I stopped myself from immediately re-reading it. Not a perfect read, the the characters & emotion really, really worked for me.) 4. Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward (kicked. ass.) 5. The Devil's Waltz by Anne Stuart. (Loved. It.) 6. Prince of Ice by Emma Holly (Really enjoyed this one. Strong story-telling, great world building.) 7. The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt. (Woot! This one saved me from a serious reading slump.) 8. Blown by Francine Mathews. (Really good suspense/thriller. I'd like to read more of her stuff.) 9. Pride and Prejudice by Uno Who. (yup. I finally got around to reading the book. *g*) 10. All You Can Eat by Emma Holly (again, well done.) 11. Fevre Dream/a> by George Martin (great vampire tale.) 12. Dark Lover by JR Ward (yeah, I was a hold out, but when I finally got around to reading it, loved it. 13. Lord Ruin by Carolyn Jewel (this was a re-read. After i read The Spare, but managed to refrain from re-reading it. I plucked this one off the shelf to get another Carolyn Jewel fix. *g*) Very easy to see most of what I kept are historical romances. There's something about them that are *comforting* to me. The fairy tale aspect, I guess. But I needed that retreat from the stess of real life this year in particular. :-/ Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Blogging schedule for 2007

The Thursday Thirteen meme seems like a pretty easy way to ease into having regular posts on the blog (next blog post- above). I think I'll do a Writer Wednesday (craft talk), an all about me!Me!ME! Monday (what's going on on a personal front with the writing, maybe with short excerpts, etc). I guess Free-for-all Friday has a nice ring to it, so that might be talk about a favourite show, book review, favourite recipe, hunky photo, linky madness, quizz/jokes whatever works. So that's 4 solid guaranteed ::crosses fingers:: days of blog posts.

Or maybe I can do a Tuesday Tune in, and that would be the linky madness to what's going on around the blogosphere, including newsy stuff on friends. The only problem with this is, by the time I do list the links, a *hot* story might be cold/dead, or been beaten into the ground on other blogs. We'll see how that works out.

So there you have it:

1. me! Me! ME! Mondays (catch up on what's going on with my current writing)
2. Tune-in Tuesdays (links to interesting posts/blogs)
3. Writer Wednesdays (craft talk)
4. Thursday Thirteen (meme)
5. Free-for-all Fridays (misc posts that will probably bleed in to the week-end.)

Chills

I haven't seen DREAMGIRLS yet. I want to, but it may have to wait till the DVD comes out. Anywho, there's been a debate going on about Jennifer Holiday vs Jennifer Hudson re the singing of "I'm Not Going." While Hudson does an admirable updated job, Halliday owns this one. Sez who? Sez the chills running all over my body, the tears that spring to my eyes and the almost queasy feeling I get in my gut when I hear her version. It's powerful, raw, emotion running through her voice and it hits the corresponsding primordial source deep within me (and others I'd guess). Same as Whitney's rendition of *I Will Always Love You* which blows Williie Nelson's and Dolly Parton's versions out of the water. Dems da breaks.





As for the actual lyrics to the song. I'm not down with that. Kick his ass to the curb is what I'm all about. Listen up ladies, if a man don't want you. He. Just. Don't. Want. You. No amount of lovin, or baby making, or suger-mamma'ing him is gonna change that fact and make him treat you right. Pick up your sense of self, pack up your dreams and goals, so he can't trample them underfoot no more, dust off that self-respect and get to steppin on to bigger and better things that are out there waiting just for you. This boxing day special message is yours for the bargain price of $0.02. *g*

On the other hand, if you're a writer, and you've saddled your heroine with this prize of a man. Make him pay. Make him grovel. Make him beg. (& make sure his change face is believable). Give him a world of pain before you write lovely little closing scene where she takes him back, eyes shining with tears and heart just about to burst.

No, I'm not hatin. I love the XY carriers. *g* Just hate to see ladies disempower themselves.

Never say Never Trying something different

You may want to skip this post. It's a long-assed all about me one. Or you can go right to the end to see my writing goals for next year :-P

I've mentioned before that the year turned out not too bad for me. I set goals and achieved a lot of them. But, one of the most notable goals that I fell short of meeting had to do with the writing. I pushed myself and made some progress, but not nearly enough. I've had to sit back and analyzed the possible problems:

I was in a dark place emotionally for the past (couple of) years. There were/are two unlikeable people in my life who I had to interact with on a daily basis, and those interactions, inevitable, filled me with hate and anger, more and more. One of the things I worked on this year, was to *not* let those two get to me because I barely recognized myself as the laid-back, calm, jokey person I'd been most of my life. Instead I was a coiled tangle of ugly feelings and knee-jerk reactions. *bletch* (Not a conducive mindset to creatively writing passionate, humorous, love stories)

So instead of funny, hot, emotional, contemporary stories, I was caught up in a dark fantasy pseudo historical romance, which was more plot heavy, than character driven. The darkness in the mss reflected some of what I was feeling in real life, I guess that's why I couldn't let it go. But even the other mss I was working on, that had more humour, was still missing that emotional/character-driven component which I think is a major strength/driving force in my writing. I'm tired of pushing, and poking, and pulling. I want to be carried away.

So... those two books have been put aside for now. I promised a bunch of people I'd start submitting my first ms again (Felicity Stripped Bare in the sidebar). To that end, I tweaked the first paragraph a bit, then sent the whole thing off to the GMC Queen, Dee. I got several requests (fulls/partials) for it, but no sale. Maybe Dee can give me some idea of why. Or maybe I just hadn't sent it out to the right agent/editor yet.

Next up, I have a couple of contemporary romances that I need to go back and finish. Hindsight tells me part of the problem with them was that I was attempting to shift from the strength of 'character-driven' to plot-driven. A little more structured plot can only do good, but it's not what drives my writing. So, I'll have to untangle those twisty-twist plots I cooked up, and revise with something more streamlined.


But, it's hard to jump back in to mss left cold for months/years. I want to feel that emotional connection to my characters that I now know is vital to my writing. Being caught up with fascinating world-building or plot twists will only take me so far and then no further. And, there does have to be a strong enough frame-work of GMC/plotting to sustain a single-title length. My brain needs a bit of a rest from that type of in-depth planning.

So.... I'm working on a novella/short story length erotic romance (Song of Surrender in the side bar). 50-100 pages. Yeah, yeah, I've been decidedly unenthusiastic about overly sexualized stories (mostly because the sex was at the expense of character, believable/interesting plotting) and I'm on the record for saying I can't write short. lol. But novella writing will help me get out of the rut I'm currently in because, most of the focus will on the H/h (their emotions & responses), and I can avoid making the back-story/world-building/plotting too complex or worrying about supporting the story over a longer page count. Also, I'll probably get around to finishing Leif Irondik. *g*

I now know that the sooner my H/h interact, the better for me. The stories really hit their groove when I have the H/h playing off each other emotionally, sexually, personality wise. I need them in conflict, or engaging banter, or fighting/responding to sexual attraction before all the external plotting gets out of hand. And no more love triangles. At least no more love triangles where Hero B is in the spotlight for the first couple of chapters, when I know in my heart that the real hero, Hero A, is waiting in the wings.

Writing goals for next year:

1. Focus on getting the single title romances done and at the door, starting with Felicity Stripped Bare. While there seems to be a death knell ringing over the contemporary romance sub-genre at the moment (move over Westerns, chick-lit, and Regencies), I naturally write with a high level of sexual tension/physicality, so the level of heat might still get me some interest. :-/

2. As a counter-point, keep writing (and hopefully get published) the novella length erotic romances (which seem to be mostly fantasy/sci-fi based at the moment). They'll give me a break from writing the longer contemporary romance books, but keep me productive at the same time.

3. Writing Related: might do something about a new blog design/web-site. We'll see. But I may adapt a schedule like a number of other writers (Writing Wednesdays, Thursday Thirteen, Reviews on Mondays, etc) so I can get this blog a little more lively again.

Best Wishes

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas,
& a Happy Holiday Season,
May it be filled with love and laughter,
and may the new year bring
the fulfillment of many of your dreams.

Thank you all for being part of this blog.

Luv,
Jaye

Oldie but Goodie: Smack the Penguin

I was nosing around my archives for something, and came across this little timewastr. heheh. Re-posting. Have fun!







Smack the Penguin

They Lied.

These pictures seem familiar?

They're usually part of advertising for buying a new home and/or getting a mortgage.

Notice the joy in the couples faces. The big banana smiles. The perfect homes....


....That are probably out of their price range.

Really, would you be smiling so big and bright if you'd just mortgaged yourself up to your eyeballs? Let's face it, most first time house buyers do not get the house of their dreams. After the bitch slap of reality, comes the cuddle-up and canoodle with compromise. (This is the stage I'm at.) For most people it takes years to get to that dream home. And during the process, you're most likely to look like this:


But it is worth the effort, isn't it? If you do get your dream (or something like).

Sort of like with writing.

When purple prose is taken literally.....

"....then in a violent burst of uncontrollable passion, she inflamed his loins!"

Beancounters Rule the world.

We've all read the ranting lamentations of how marketing, computerized inventory systems, et al, are making the major decisions in publishing, etc. Such is the way of the (creative arts) world, judging by this comment from actor Anthony LaPaglia (taken from his recent interview in Nerve).


You've been quoted as saying, "This is a bad time to be an actor. . . I make a great living at it, but in terms of fulfillment, there's no soul in it anymore." Do you still feel that way?
Yeah. For the most part, I think that's absolutely true. It's become so corporate. It's all about horizontal integration and all this other crap. When I started [acting], generally speaking, they would cast the best person for the job. Now it's just a list of who means what in Romania or France, or "How much pre-sell can we get?" Then, you have the advent of the twenty-five-million-dollar actor, which has impacted so many parts of the business. Fortunately, I've only ever had two agents in my whole life, and I'm quite happy with mine [currently]. But, there was a time when your agents were there to help you, and to protect you and make sure you made the right decisions. Now, they're in the business of maintaining relationships with producers that will help them down the line. Agents have become stars by proxy. It's just a weird situation.


(hmmmm... I wonder if a bunch of his fellow writers are going to jump all over his case and tell him he should have kept his mouth shut? ::whistling innocently:: )

All the heartache or ranting in the world, won't change anything. You really can't go into this game only thinking of the creative side, you really have to understand how the business runs and how you can perform/exist within the process and find your success and happiness.

Christmas Cookie Recipe

These are dead easy.

Really. :-)


Enjoy!








~*~*~


CHRISTMAS COOKIE RECIPE

1 cup of water
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
t tsp baking soda
2 cups of dried fruit
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar lemon juice
1 bottle Crown Royal Reserve

Sample the Crown to check quality.
Take a large bowl. Check the Crown again.
Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter
in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar.
Beat again.
At this point its best to make sure the Crown is still OK.
Try another cup …just in case. Turn off the mixer thingy.
Break 2 eggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.
Pick the frigging fruit off the floor. Mix on the turner.
If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers, just pry it loose with a dewscriver.
Sample the Crown to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt,or something. Who givesh a sheet?
Check the Crown Royal. Now shift the lemon juice and
strain your nuts. Add one table. Add aspoon of ar, or somefink.
What ever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin
360 degrees and try not to fall over.
Don’t forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window.
Finish the bottle of Crown Royal. Make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

Cherry Mistmas.

~*~*~

Here's a real recipe for Chocolate Mint Surprise Cookies.

Still Absent

But don't say I didn't warn ya (see post below). And to make matter worse, one of my goals this year was to move, preferably buy. So of course I wait to till last, and freakin busiest, month of the year to put all my frantic plans in action.

This morning, I *might* go to the gym, I must go to the bank. This afternoon, I have my RWA local chapter Xmas social (not sure if I'll make it, it's freezeyerassoff cold outside), and tonight is my company's Xmas party tonight. Yesterday I went out to dinner with yet another good friend who I was determined to "see" before Xmas, or I wouldn't see her again till next year sometime. We exchanged gifts and had a couple of Bellini's (which is why it would be a good idea to go to the gym. heh) Tomorrow I start making the rounds with my R.E Agent, who's also a good friend, and get some writing/plotting done. And sometime this week, I must start on my Xmas cards. And also going through our belongings to see what goes to the new house and what goes to charity.

*sigh*

I've been--and will continue to be-- a little scarce lately. Tis the season of business luncheons and cocktail parties, even though the deals never stop rolling in, while I'm away from my desk. (While I can weasle myself out of some occasions, others I have to show my face and do the schmooze thang. Have you ever seen me shmooze? Not pretty. Particularly, inevitable, the part where my foot ends up in my mouth.

*sigh*

Then there's the frantic scheduling with friends to meet up before Xmas/next year. This evening is case in point. Called one of my bestfriend's this morning to set up a dinner date, and turns out tonight is the only night we can get together. It's damn cold outside and I only got about 4 hours sleep last night, but I'm going....

*sigh*


I was over on Helen Kay Dimon's blog just now. She has a post up on recent sales (as reported by Publisher's Lunch) Here's the blurb on Majorie Lui's sale:

FICTION: SCI-FI/FANTASY
Marjorie Liu’s THE IRON HUNT, one of three books in the Hunter Kiss series of dark, sexy urban fantasies featuring a woman of unique powers whose body is covered in living tattoos — her own personal demons to call on when the sun goes down, who both protect her life and are destined to end it,

I totally realize that each author puts their own particular spin on things, nevermind the uniqueness of voice, but... I have a secondary character in my wip who is has powers related to his tattoos. Really not the same, but....

*sigh*

I don't know why I always seem find this depressing sh*t

I do know I had checked out Holly Lisle's Talyn, when it was first released--in part because of all the positive buzz and interesting blurb--but the hardcover price pretty much deep six any possibility of a purchase at that time.

I thought I'd wait for the paperback release. Alison Kent and Lynn Viehl were giving away pb copies recently in contests on their blogs, but I figured I'd cough up the cash for that one more sale.

Anywho, Holly has a post up: How to kill a career in three easy books that gets to the heart of her concern for this series. I'm fairly sure some of this was unlying Anne Stuart's earlier (controversial (?)) comments. Read it and.... well, you know.