Hunter of the Heart: Werewolves of the Caribbean

PBW had this fun link over on her blog (her comic strip is a hoot!) and I thought I'd give it a whirl. *g*

You can click onto the panel for a lager image, but I had a heck of a time loading it to the blog and it came out a bit illegible. Check here for the original webpage.



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Way to start the year

I went into the office for half day yesterday and came home with a low grade migraine. Despite taking meds I still woke up with some residual headachey-ness and feeling like I'd gone on a bender the night before. Got the hangover without the fun of the champers before.

Still, I managed to tackle some major things on the to-do list today, like clean the fridge and (re)organize the linen closet. Such a glamorous life I lead. lol.

But if I don't make a concerted effort to get a bunch of stuff done/errands run before I go back to work, god knows when they'll get done. Tomorrow, I have to run around downtown, but at some point I need to clean the oven and clear the spare bedroom of most of the junk stored in there to make room for the desk I bought last summer but never got around to assembling.

Hey, wake up! I'm talkin here. lol.

But what makes me most happy, is, between all the other stuff I'm crossing of THE LIST (that's the way I'm thinking of it now, ALL CAPS) I've managed to make some steady headway on the revisions to the wip.

I haven't been updating the progress meter because for the longest while the revisions were resulting more in deletions/losing words than layering/expanding. But... I just finished the last 'new scene' in the middle of the story, and the word count on the revisions has finally moved forward. Granted, it's not a huge amount--a lot of writers do that as a daily goal. Whatevs. I made my peace with the snail's pace on this wip a long time ago. Plus I knew the story has improved with the changes. And now, from here on in, it'll be mostly tweaking till I get to the end, which will be rewritten/expanded.

I'm hoping to get started on that new ending before I go back to work and get stressed out of my mind again. Target for finishing this damn ms is the end of the month.

Hope to god I sell this f@#!er once it's done. Then thank the lord and pass the gravy I can FINALLY start something new. *If* I'm lucky I'll have a release out this year.

::fingers crossed::

So, nice way to start the year with the feeling of making solid progress on this ms after spinning my wheels most of last year.

Looking for something to while away the time today?

Check out the 12 Days of Christmas/freebie Christmas stories over at Amies.

Because Bad Girls Give It Away!! 12th Night Freebies




Samhain is also doing their annual freebie Christmas stories, so check it out.

Samhain Christmas/New Years Freebies

And a big thank you to everyone who hopped over to Scribe to check out the Xmas freebie I did last year. If you haven't read it yet, give it a shot.

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Happy New Year!!

Rock on with your bad selves!! 2010 better watch out!!

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Peeking Under the Covers

I was reading a hardback book recently and removed the dustcover to protect it from getting ruined while the book got jostled around in my purse. This is not something I normally do, which tells you how much I loved the book in question. (btw, I don’t buy HBs as a rule unless they’re on the remaindered table or at a deep discount (30%- 40% off at least).

One of the things I noted on this particular book was the end papers.


There were several end pages/papers at the beginning and end of the book, all of them with a lovely geometric pattern within a boarder and all done in color. The title—scripted—within the notched boarder design has been embossed into the front cover also, but I couldn’t capture the plain matt finish on film.


What I liked about the Neil Gaiman book is his initials in silver foil, the black used on the joint/spine with the very elegant silver/foil line near the edge. The same silver foil is used on the spine. (I’m calling it silver foil, but I don’t really know what the heck it is. *g* just that it’s metallic.)




Jayne Anne Krentz’s cover design was also a fairly simple/elegant execution with her monogram in silver foil on a very pretty blue background. Same metallic print is used on the spine.




The Last Apprentice has a textured finish to the hardcover. To me it reminds me of ‘skin’. I like the embossed ‘O’ and the red metallic print used for the title.




There’s nothing really special about the Charlene Harris book except the used of color. I like the white/purple combination.


Also, the Malcolm Gladwell hard cover is only notable to me because the initials embossed in the cover is not the author’s, or even the book title. It’s the publisher—Little & Brown. (sorry for the crappy pic, initials are within the red circle).




The graphic novels were a little more interesting.

Daredevil Yellow:

The image stamped into the cover isn’t done in metallic ink, but still fun/eye catching. Also love the splash-page type artwork on the inside cover.






The dustcover for Batman incorporated the artwork on the hardback cover.



And I found Iron Man is noteworthy because of the high gloss finish on the hardback, plus the title being so prominent.



While I’m on the subject of book design, I’ll also add that I love when publishers add a little flourish of artwork at the beginning of each chapter, or incorporated within the title header on each page, even if it’s just having the title underlined. Also, I haven’t seen this in awhile, but I like when the edges of the page are rough, like they’ve been hand-cut (I know there’s a technical term, but I’ll be arsed if I can look it up).

There hasn’t been a way to procrastinate yet, that I have not, or will not discover. :-P

Holiday Wishes

It's been a crazy year for me at work; we've been short of staff for most of it, meanwhile the work-load has exploded and the deadlines got shorter.

But this is not a post to whine. I would have never gotten through the year without friends, both in real life and online, plus every once and while I just took time for me and tuned the world out. No guilt.

So here's to all my online friends and those of you who just lurk or drop by from time to time:
Enjoy the day today, fully, with your friends and family. Forget the worries but remeber the love and the laughter. And in the upcoming year do more of the same, including taking time for *you*, guilt-free.

What I'm saying is, I wish you much happiness today and for the whole year through, but just thought I'd make it a little more than a wish and give a couple of tips on some ways to snag a little bit of happiness for yourself.

Health, wealth, love, happiness and a very Merry Christmas to you all!



**edited to clear up the typos, and also to post a link to my free Xmas story from last year, over on Scribe. The Wolf Who Stole Christmas

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Interesting article on ebooks

I was googling god knows what and came across this link:

Does The Brain Like eBooks?

I remember when I first got online--about 10-15yrs ago-- I hated it!

The screen was too busy with too much and too many things going on. The whole think gave me a headache.

Now I've got a million tabs and windows open, logged in to email, twitter and facebook simultaneously, and have the tv on in the background. But this comment touched a nerve re my early days online:

Right now, networked digital media do a poor job of balancing focal and peripheral attention. We swing between two kinds of bad reading. We suffer tunnel vision, as when reading a single page, paragraph, or even “keyword in context” without an organized sense of the whole. Or we suffer marginal distraction, as when feeds or blogrolls in the margin (”sidebar”) of a blog let the whole blogosphere in.

I love my SONY e-reader, but to be honest, I only use it is during travel on public transportation. If I'm going to curl-up on the couch or do some reading in bed, only the paper version will do. I read in part to relax and de-stress, and perhaps some of the issues touched upon in the article are the part of the reason I prefer reading/holding a *real* book in certain instances.

Anywho, there are several contibutors to the article--

Alan Liu, English professor
Sandra Aamodt, author, “Welcome to Your Brain”
Maryanne Wolf, professor of child development
David Gelernter, computer scientist
Gloria Mark, professor of informatics


--and I think it makes for interstin reading. Go forth and read.

Pride & Prejudice: a drama in triple i parts, as told by Yahoo!Emoticons

Go Here.

Brilliant and hilarious.

The Royal Itch (joke)

Once upon a time lived a beautiful Queen with large breasts. Nick the Dragon Slayer obsessed over the Queen for this reason. He knew that the penalty for his desire would be death should he try to touch them, but he had to try. One day Nick revealed his secret desire to his colleague, Horatio the Physician, the King's chief doctor. Horatio thought about this and said that he could arrange for Nick to more than satisfy his desire, but it would cost him 1000 gold coins to arrange it. Without pause Nick readily agreed to the scheme.

The next day, Horatio made a batch of itching powder and poured a little bit into the Queen's bra while she bathed. Soon after she dressed, the itching commenced and grew intense. Upon being summoned to the Royal Chambers to address this incident, Horatio informed the King and Queen that only a special saliva, if applied for four hours, would cure this type of itch, and that tests had shown that only the saliva of Nick would work as the antidote to cure the itch.

The King, eager to help his Queen, quickly summoned Nick to their chambers. Horatio then slipped Nick the antidote for the itching powder, which he put into his mouth, and for the next four hours, Nick worked passionately on the Queen's large and magnificent breasts. The Queen's itching was eventually relieved, and Nick left satisfied and hailed as a hero. Upon returning to his chamber, Nick found Horatio demanding his payment of 1,000 gold coins. With his obsession now satisfied, Nick couldn't have cared less and, knowing that Horatio could never report this matter to the King, and with a laugh told him to get lost.

The next day, Horatio slipped a massive dose of the same itching powder into the King's underwear. The King immediately summoned Nick.

The moral of the story............

Pay your bills.

Brunchy Conversation at Casa Jaye

Scene: Mama Jaye is curled up on the sofa, enjoying a steaming first cup of morning tea. The boy comes downstairs, fresh out of the shower, leaving damp footprints across wood floor. Mama Jaye's delicate brow pleats in minor distress.

The testosterone-driven, gobs-of-toothpaste & shaver-clippings in the sink leaving, endless-eating machine— aka 'Da Boy'— peers into kitchen and notes bowl of batter on counter.

Da Boy: "So mom, how are those pancakes coming along?" (this passes for subtlety within the neo-adult, pickled in after-shave Neanderthal male sub-species)

Mama Jaye looks up at 21 yrs,7 months and 14 hrs of excruciating labour standing on size 12 feet before her, in wonder. ::short private inquiry with god ensues::

"Why don't you ever make me breakfast?" she asks man-child (screw subtlety)

Boy looks perplexed.

"I've made you breakfast before."

Mama Jaye says nothing, her expression is reply enough.

Much aggrieved, Da Boy triumphantly offers up the penultimate irrefutable culinary proof:

"I made you Pop-Tarts!"

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Awwwww

I got this in an email today.



For more 'awwww' check out one of Aztec Lady's recent posts over on Karen Knows Best.

Beautiful Creatures - II (& Lips Touch: Three Times)

I ran some errands downtown today and picked-up Beautiful Creatures. But it took them awhile for actually find it in the store (the Chapters-Indigo at Bay & Bloor is one of the bigger locations with two levels). It wasn't on the shelf, but the did eventually find a couple of copies on one of the display tables.

Anywho, while I was waiting around for some one to track down a copy in-store, I did some browsing and came another book that sounded pretty awesome. So I bought it to!

Lips Touch: Three Times

Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers' souls:



Goblin Fruit: In Victorian times, goblin men had only to offer young girls sumptuous fruits to tempt them to sell their souls. But what does it take to tempt today's savvy girls?

Spicy Little Curses: A demon and the ambassador to Hell tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test her curse.

Hatchling: Six days before Esme's fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons?

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Hmmm.... the description on Amazon differs from what's on the back blurb or the inside cover-flap. The synopsis on Chapters-Indigo jives with what's on the book-flap:

Everyone dreams of getting the kiss of a lifetime - but what if that kiss carried some unexpected consequences? A girl who’s always been in the shadows finds herself pursued by the unbelievably attractive new boy at school, who may or may not be the death of her.

Another girl grows up mute because of a curse placed on her by a vindictive spirit, and later must decide whether to utter her first words to the boy she loves and risk killing everyone who hears her if the curse is real.

And a third girl discovers that the real reason for her transient life with her mother has to do with belonging literally belonging to another world entirely, full of dreaded creatures who can transform into animals, and whose queen keeps little girls as personal pets until they grow to childbearing age. From a writer of unparalleled imagination and emotional insight, three stories about the deliciousness of wanting and waiting for that moment when lips touch.

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That's still not what's on back cover. Looks like I have to type it out:

There is a certain kind of girl the goblins crave. You could walk across a high school campus and point them out: not her, not her, her. The pert, lovely ones with butterfly tattoos in secret places, sitting on their boyfriends' laps? No, not them. The girls watching the lovely ones sitting on their boyfriends' laps. Yes.

Them.


The goblins want girls who dream so hard about being pretty their yearning leaves a palpable trail, a scent goblins can follow like sharks on a soft bloom of blood. The girls with hungry eyes who pray each night to wake up as someone else. Urgent, unkissed, wishful girls.

Like Kizzy

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Goblins! How cool is that? And isn't that cover just gorgeous? The book was spine-out on the shelf so it was the title that caught my attention first.

Maybe there is something to this YA craze, I like the way they've branched out beyond the usual vamp/were paranormal material.

Again, while googling the cover I came across a review for the book, here

Interesting Books

I skimmed through an email from Amazon this morning and came across this recommendation:

Beautiful Creatures:

Blurb:There were no surprises in Gatlin County.

We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.

At least, that's what I thought.

Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.

There was a curse.

There was a girl.

And in the end, there was a grave.

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Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.



Sounds intriguing, doesn't it?

I ran across this review while googling for a pic of the book cover, it doesn't get into the story/character development analysis much, but it's definitely a ringing endorsement.

I recieved this email no less than 5 times today

TIGER WOODS FAMILY CHRISTMAS PHOTO

Over At Southern Fried Chicas

Southern Fried Chicas

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Happy Today

Why?

Well, I'm not at work! I know both my coworkers intend to go back into the office this weekend, but I'd rather bust my a$$ motoring straight through an extra long workday during the week and keep my home *work-free* rather than bring work home or, in the case of one coworker who lives in condo a 10 min walk away) go home, then come back to the office.

So I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

...to do laundry, grocery shopping and housework. *g*

But I'm also happy because after being in what feels like an eternal slump for months, I read two books back to back that I really enjoyed. (Ahhh, now my fellow readers understand the scope of my joy.) Not perfect reads, I had my quibbles with both, but still just loved the time I spent with both sets of heroes/heroines.


Kristin Higgin's Fools Rush In


This is has been languishing in the tbr pile since it's release (in 2006?). I love KH's voice, but she's one of those authors I can't read back to back or the similarities between books becomes too apparent.

Also, while i know she's marketed as contemporary romance, *to me* she's not. She writes woman's fiction with a strong romance. In this case about 300 pages of the almost 400 page book was about the heroine settling back into her small Cape Cod town after years away at University/med school and her self-improvement plans (the usual hair/make-up/weight loss/fix-up new home, establish career thang)--plans which tie-in very neatly to her bigger plans of landing her high school crush.

Who's not the hero. In fact, Millie's pursuit of Joe Carpenter falls pretty much into the realm of 'stalking'. Seriously. The author skirts the border of making the heroine unlikeable because of this, but aside from this touch of madness, the heroine is such a good egg, you can't help but like her. And the hero is just a real stand-up guy. What you would want in a real-life hero, not the fantasy hero-types you read in romance books. KH does a bang-up job showing the easy bond/caring/friendship between the heroine/hero before the romance really kicks in. Good thing, since he's her ex-brother-in-law. KH makes it work though! I totally believe that the HEA for these two will last.


The next book I read, I finished in 24hrs (stayed up till 5am this morning to finish!). Rachel Gibson's True Confessions, is definitely more of a straight contemporary romance, although there is a bigger story surrounding the core romance.


I loved the heroine and the hero. They were both distinctive, layered, imperfect and strong, and a really good match for each other. Loved their banter/witticism, and the sexual tension? Whoo baby! This is how it's done. Reminded me of some ol skool Linda Howard. I've missed reading build-up like this. I like the money-shot/pay off scene as much as the next reader, but the tease/foreplay/build is just so much more interesting/fun.

What I also enjoyed about this book is, I read RG's See Jane Score (I think it was her first book) and I a bunch more of her book in the tbr pile but haven't read them yet, but I could see that RG has taken her writing to another level with this latest release. I thought See Jane Score was great, but her writing in this book is just so much better.


I just love when a (favourite) author *gets better*, because it doesn't always happen. Sometime they stay at the same level re plotting, characterization, word-smithing, and in some instances that's fine. Whatever you loved about them, you still love.

But sometimes it's not, because you saw the 'rough diamond' of their work and kept reading in anticipation of that polishing and refining of writing skills. Gets frustrating when that doesn't happen, especially when the rough edges are things you might feel should/could be dealt with if just a little more attention/care were applied.

Worse scenario is, when it seems like they've regress (burn out? Not enough time to polish/flesh-out their work? Less attention given on the editorial end? Change of genre/publisher?) whatever the reason it's always disappointing.

Kinda got of track there, a little, didn't I? Well as long as I have rambled off topic I'll add that the last thing that's got me chuffed is, reading good books makes me want to be a better writer and to that end, I'm off to deal with the wip.

Joke-Tree Hugger

While walking through the Boulder Colorado woods a man came upon another man hugging a tree with his ear firmly against the tree.

Seeing this he inquired, "Just out of curiosity, what the heck are you doing?

"I'm listening to the music of the tree," the other man replied.

"You gotta be kiddin' me."

"No, would you like to give it a try?"

Understandably curious, the man says, "Well, OK..." So he wrapped his arms around the tree and pressed his ear up against it.

With this the other guy, slapped a pair of handcuffs on him, took his wallet, jewelry, car keys, then stripped him naked and left.

Two hours later another nature lover strolled by, saw this guy handcuffed to the tree stark naked, and asked, "What the hell happened to you?"

He told the guy the whole terrible story about how he got there.

When he finished telling his story, the other guy shook his head in sympathy, walked around behind him, kissed him gently behind the ear and said, "This just isn't gonna be your day, is it, Cupcake?"

Where Am I?

I'm around. I've been working 10-12 hour days, which doesn't leave much juice to do other things, like say write blog posts. I only log online to check email, might pop into a blog or two or skim through twitter (maybe leave a comment, most often not)and log off again. This will continue right up to the end of the year. I'm swamped at work, and our department was just been handed another huge project to handle. So huge, they're loaning us 4 more bodies from administration to help do the grunt work. Those bodies will most likely have no impact on the hours I've been putting in, though, all things considered.

Writing. I have been. But only during my morning train commute into the office. Time which I guard jealously since I know it's the only time I'll have the energy/mental focus/time to write. I'm still trudging through the revisions. What's taking me so long, you might be wondering--besides the mental exhaustion? The writing really needs cleaning up. It's in-authentic to the characters/story in places. Over-written in many instances or I'm coming across spots to flesh out as I go along. Today I'm going to tackle the only new scene planned for the middle of the book, then it'll be more tweaking/clean up until the changed/expanded ending.

Reading. I've had several DNFs, not surprisingly. In many cases it's me not the author. I long to read something that consumes my interests and gets me all wrapped up the story.

That's about all I have to say at this point, sort of a meh posting, which is why I haven't bothered doing it till my extended absence required that I show my face here. *g*

The end is nigh

Crazy woman that I am. after getting home from a long day I decided to bake a carrot cake. Been jonesing for one for awhile and was planning to make it this weekend past, but made a banana chocolate-chip bread for the boy instead.

Anywho, cue ::cravings:: Even though I can barely keep my eyes open I'm so exhausted, I mosey into the kitchen and start baking.

This one isn't being made from scratch. Just used a box of Betty Crocker SuperMoist Carrot cake mix, added in a cup of freshly grated carrots, some golden raisins and... a tablespoon of Wray & Nephew Overproof Jamaican white rum. (The fumes were so strong, I was expecting the oven to explode at any minute).


The cake is cooling now and I'm about to make the cream-cheese frosting. yum.


Project: Ass Expansion about to commence...

Library Haul

Bad blogger, I know. I was going to blog about the book that broke my recent (fiction)reading slump, but we'll leave that for when I have more energy.

So... I'll post the books I got from the library yesterday. The library is directly across from the supermarket & bank. How sweet this that? I've never gone grocery shopping down there without dropping into the library first.

C.J. Box's Blood Trail.



I first came across the author via a newsletter (publisher or writer's org) in either case there was a link to an excerpt and ever since I've had it in mind to check out their writing. This is my first try.

Synopsis found on Amazon:

When an elk hunter is shot and gruesomely gutted in Box's solid eighth Joe Pickett novel (after 2007's Free Fire), Wyoming governor Spencer Rulon assigns Joe to the investigative team headed by Joe's nemesis, game and fish director Randy Pope. The authorities suspect a group led by antihunting activist Klamath Moore, but Joe thinks an enigmatic clue near the body points to a serial killer. As usual, Joe stands alone against official protocol, placing his career and life in peril by following his hunches. He persuades Rulon to release his pal, iconoclast Nate Romanowski, who's awaiting trial on spurious charges, to help him on the case. Writing beautifully about the mountain West and its people, Box takes care to present both sides of the controversial issue of hunting. The narrative alternates between the searchers and the killer, whose identity will keep readers guessing up to the surprising climax.




Nadine Dajani's Cutting Loose.



It was the spine that caught my eye on this one--the publisher, color and photo/image. I haven't read one of these woman fiction following 2 or 3 protags in awhile, but particularly like that all the women are from varying ethnic backgrounds (Saudi Arabian, Palestinian and Honduran).


Synopsis found on Amazon:

Dajani's engrossing second novel (after Fashionably Late) chronicles the overlap in the lives of three dissimilar women working at a Miami magazine. Upon realizing that her husband is gay, pampered Ranya Hayek flees her situation and, after a chance meeting with smitten millionaire Georges Mallouk, finds herself working for the first time. Georges and his brother, Joe, own Suéltate, a successful magazine geared toward Latinas and helmed by the brash Rio, who works nonstop to make it a top publication. Rio has the occasional tryst with Joe and is wary of Ranya, who has both brothers mooning over her. Also disdainful of Ranya and Rio is Ranya's childhood schoolmate Zahra, who is intelligent but socially awkward. After having made a mistake that destroyed her beloved life in Boston, Zahra took a corporate position with her old friend Georges, whom she still holds a torch for. Dajani seamlessly flits from character to character, embodying each woman and pitting her observations against her misconceptions. Though the unfortunately pat happy ending seems lazy and unlikely, the novel works nicely.




Eden Bradley's A 21st Century Courtesan





I've one other Bradley book. I liked it, but it was BDSM --really BDSM, not just window dressing for the story. It was done really well. Great writing/characterization, but ultimately I'm not that into reading BDSM so haven't really read anything else by her because I had the impression that's mostly what she writes. I almost didn't bring this one home because I"m not in the mood for erotica, but... I love the whole intriguing sexy stranger at the opera set up.

Synopsis found on Amazon:

She lives in a world of silk sheets, imported champagne,
and endless erotic delight.…

She fulfills the deepest fantasies of the most powerful men in the world. Sensual, seductive, and discreet, Valentine Day is a high-class call girl, pampered and adored by her exclusive clientele. But Valentine has a secret. Always in control, she’s never experienced true pleasure outside of her work. But all that is about to change.… Now the woman who’s spent a decade pleasuring others is about to embark on an erotic journey of her own.

It happens one night at the opera. Seated next to her in the dark is a stranger. As the music swells so does the sexual tension. Gorgeous, sophisticated Joshua Spencer invites her for a drink, and soon she’s fantasizing about taking him home. When they finally come together in the most tender and intense lovemaking Valentine has ever known, she’s hooked. But suddenly Valentine is questioning everything. Joshua has no idea what she does for a living. Can she risk everything—including her hard-earned freedom and one final, shattering secret—for one man? And would he still want her if he knew the truth?

Lloyd Jones' Mister Pip.



I remember the buzz on this one when it was short listed for a bunch of awards/prizes. What really made me take this one home is an short excerpt from the book on the back:

"You cannot pretend to read a great book.
Your eyes will give you away. So will your breathing.
A person entranced by a book simply forgets to
breathe. The house can catch alight and a reader
deep in a book will not look up until the wallpaper
is in flames"

A bit of an exaggeration, but I don't know how many times I've ended up on the other end of town because I was so immersed in a book I was reading I missed my train stop. 'K, it hasn't happened all that often. *g* But when it has it's because it was a damn great book I was reading.


Synopsis found on Amazon:

A promising though ultimately overwrought portrayal of the small rebellions and crises of disillusionment that constitute a young narrator's coming-of-age unfolds against an ominous backdrop of war in Jones's latest. When the conflict between the natives and the invading redskin soldiers erupts on an unnamed tropical island in the early 1990s, 13-year-old Matilda Laimo and her mother, Dolores, are unified with the rest of their village in their efforts for survival. Amid the chaos, Mr. Watts, the only white local (he is married to a native), offers to fill in as the children's schoolteacher and teaches from Dickens's Great Expectations. The precocious Matilda, who forms a strong attachment to the novel's hero, Pip, uses the teachings as escapism, which rankles Dolores, who considers her daughter's fixation blasphemous. With a mixture of thrill and unease, Matilda discovers independent thought, and Jones captures the intricate, emotionally loaded evolution of the mother-daughter relationship. Jones (The Book of Fame; Biografi) presents a carefully laid groundwork in the tense interactions between Matilda, Dolores and Mr. Watts, but the extreme violence toward the end of the novel doesn't quite work. Jones's prose is faultless, however, and the story is innovative enough to overcome the misplayed tragedy.

Southern Fried Chicas

I'm over at Southern Fried Chicas today.

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Blue Rodeo's Bulletproof

I woke up with this song in my head and I've been humming it all morning. It's one of my favourites by this Canadian country rock band. It's sort of bittersweet song. I've posted the lyrics also below.





Tell me one more time again
Just like I didn't hear you
Like I don't know what's going through your mind, I do
I play the same game too
You know it's hard to stop
Even when you want to

Now the moon lights up your face
And I can see you're crying
You never liked me to see you cry, it's true
I've done some crying too
You know the hardest part about it
Is trying to hide it from you

It would be great to be so strong
Never needing anybody else to get along
But we're so scared of the silence and the tricks that we use
Oh We're careful and we're cunning, but we're easily bruised
I don't want to lie about it
I'm not bulletproof

Well I finally found a way
To hide from all your glances
Til the waiting game we play is through
I can, but what's the use
When all I really want to do is hide out with you

It would be great to be so strong
Never needed anybody's help to get along
We're so scared of the silence and the language that we use
Oh we're careful and we're cunning, but we're easily bruised
I don't want to kid about it
I'm not bulletproof

Tell me one more time again
Well I guess I didn't hear you
And I don't know all the secrets that you keep inside
I tried the same thing too
But they all come pouring out of me when I'm talking to you

Well it would be great to be so strong
Never needing anybody else's help to carry on
But I'm not waking up each morning with forgiveness I can use
Oh I'm careless, and I'm cruel, but I'm still easily bruised

I'm so tired of lying about it
I'm not bulletproof
Oh and I'm not going to lie about it
I'm not bulletproof

You Just Can't Make This stuff up

A friend emailed this to me recently. lol.

In Stuttgart, Germany, a court judge must decide on a case of honorable intentions in a situation where a man hired his neighbor to get his wife pregnant.

It seems that Demetrius Soupolos, 29, and his former beauty queen wife, Traute, wanted a child badly, but Demetrius was told by a doctor that he was sterile.

So, Soupolos, after calming his wife’s protests, hired his neighbor, Frank Maus, 34, to impregnate her. Since Maus was already married and the father of two children, plus looked very much like Soupolos to boot, the plan seemed good.

Soupolos paid Maus $2,500 for the job and for three evenings a week for the next six months, Maus tried desperately, a total of 72 different times, to impregnate Traute.

When his own wife objected, he explained, "I don’t like this any more than you. I’m simply doing it for the money. Try and understand."

When Traute failed to get pregnant after six months, however, Soupolos was not understanding and insisted that Maus have a medical examination, which he did.

The doctor’s announcement that Maus was also sterile shocked everyone except his wife, who was forced to confess that Maus was not the real father of their two children.

Now Soupolos is suing Maus for breach of contract in an effort to get his money back, but Maus refuses to give it up because he said he did not guarantee conception, but only that he would give an honest effort.

The Never-ending story revisions

I’m still working the revisions. You might have noticed the word count for the HotH revisons hasn't moved. That's because I'm adding as much as I cut so the net word count of the manuscript as a whole (existing plus revisions/new scenes) hasn't increased.

*sigh*

I thought once I settled on which new scenes to keep that I’d just skim/zip through the stuff already existing till I came to the next part of the story I want to flesh out with a new scene, then skim through to the end where I plan to add several more scenes. The new ending is probably going to be the easiest part [Famous Last Words. TM] before I won’t have to worry about ‘fitting’ stuff in.

So what’s the hold-up? Why haven’t I just jumped to part of the story I want to add the next new scene?

1. That ‘fitting stuff in’ thing I mentioned. As I’m going through the existing story, I’m trying to layer elements from the new scenes at the beginning into the story, making sure those new threads continue on, and don’t just disappear.

This applies to characterization as well, which means dialogue changes, but the dialogue was done a certain way to begin with because of plot/character. I have to make sure any changes still make sense within the context of the scene.

2. Repetition concerns. The new scenes for the most part are based on some inferences the characters had made to past occurrences in the original manuscript.

Now that I’ve shown some of those instances on the page, I’m more aware of the existing references veering into overkill. Have to nip them in the bud, but those references might have been part of dialogue, or internal reflection that worked as a transition from one paragraph/event to the next. So again, have to be careful everthing still makes sense. (Nothing is ever as easy as it would seem.)

3. Language. Ugh. I initially wrote this story (very much of a first draft quality) years ago. Never finished it at that time because I could see it deserved more development but had too much on my plate then. My writing has changed (improved?) since then. The language/style I used then is not the style/language I’d used now.

I do think that enough of what I wrote then is effective (emotional intensity/sexual tension, etc--and there are a lot of 'my darlings' in there also--so I don’t want to chuck it wholesale. But I can’t leave the clunky, overwrought stuff in there. Especially when it clearly isn’t the voice/tone of the characters.

Related to character tone: the hero’s buddy with the potty-mouth? His love of ‘mutha-effer’ only showed up in the scenes I wrote to complete the story the first time round. Now that I’ve written the new beginning scenes, he’s having the mutha-effing time of his life. lol. I figure if it sells and the editor wants me to tone it down, I’ll do it then.

The sad thing is, I cleaned up this tortured language stuff the first time when I decided to finish and submit the story. Obviously it needed more work.

I’m making this sound like I’m working on a freaking literary masterpiece. lol. Not! It’s just an entertaining story that I really want to make the most of. In for a penny, in for a pound, etcetera, etcetera

Adam Lambert's First Release

Honestly? I expected my eardrums to start bleeding about a third of the way in once he started screaming hitting the high notes, but surprisingly he kept it at a decent decible all the way through.

I really like the song. (Is this really for the 2012 movie?)


Time For Miracles

Adam Lambert | MySpace Video

You Feeling Me?

I got in a bit of a rut reading-wise recently. Nothing I picked up held my attention for long, and it wasn’t just romance, it was all genres of fiction. I turned to non-fiction, magazine articles, etc and found myself enjoying reading again.

Could be what I chose to read--books like The Outliers, Freakanomics, or things in general that were about finding balance in your life, thinking outside the box etc.

But, just because I’d taken a break from reading fiction, didn’t mean I’d stopped buying them. So it happened that one day on my way home from work I realized I’d left the non-fiction book I’d been reading in another bag. Luckily I’d purchased a romance on my lunch break, based on a recent review.

I immediately got drawn into the story, the author had a fairly engaging voice and I liked both characters. It took about 2-3 days to finish the book but I wasn’t even half-way through the story before I realized I wasn’t buying that the characters were in love.

I really love the Plain Jane wins the Handsome Prince trope, but it was not working for here. She was absolutely not his type and I didn’t not believe the attraction. That is, the author didn’t show me why this woman who was not his type would attract him regardless.

Except for the part where he was constantly lusting over her various body parts.

And it was never anything as poetic as the shape of her mouth, or her lovely eyes (I didn’t find out the color of her eyes till almost the last chapter in the book and that was through the internal pov of a secondary character). The hero’s attraction to the heroine was strictly of the T&A variety.

During the first love-scene for the first time ever I felt that she could have been any *body*, he might be grunting and humping over.

It just happened to be her particular body during that period of time. There was no emotional connection that I could see/feel. No moments of vulnerability that even the most romperlicious moving-body-parts erotic romance would have delivered.

I could see what each character would find admirable in the other, even what the other party brought to the table that they would need in their life (stability to balance out impulsiveness, etc). But, Love? Nope didn’t feel that at all.

I know I’ve seen peeps complain about this before that they didn’t believe in the HEA of a romance because they didn’t see what the H/h saw in the other party. I’ve even read a couple of those books, except I did believe the HEA because the author had rendered the complexity and range of feelings that comprise the emotion of ‘love’ so well, that even though I didn’t see the progression/growth, I still believed that it was real love the characters were feeling for each other.

Now I'm trying to think if I every read a book where the author *showed* the development of the romance, yet I still didn't quite buy into the HEA. A situation like that would probably be a combination of character and circumstance.



Yes, I do drive myself crazy. Why do you ask?

On my To-buy list

Not a book. A CD. Susan Boyle to be exact.

What a voice on the woman.



More info here

Friendly Pimping

The lovely Ms. Raine Weaver has a new book out today! It's a two-fer: 2 novellas-- The Rose Legacy and Ravenous--in one book.

Raine's a long-time friend, a sometime crit partner and always talented.

Check it out:

Hotter Than Hell

Want a taste of Heaven? Go to Hell.

Legend has it that the Incubi were originally fallen angels, irresistible creatures who sacrificed their place in Paradise for the touch of mortal lovers. They live among us still, in the shadowy, dream-haunted fringes of modern society, indulging their insatiable lust and feeding on our desire—with our blessings.

To read an excerpt, go here.

Available at Samhain Publishing.

Favourite Bit of Dialogue Written Today

There's swearing. Sorry.

Part of exchange between the hero and his buddy:

"I didn't talk you into anything. Besides I guessed right, didn't I? So quit your bitching."

"Bitch, I'll bitch any time I want to. Especially when I get stuck following one of your stupid-assed gambles, which I'll admit worked out this time. But if it hadn't, better believe I would've effed you up UFC style once we got out of here. Leave you looking like Mickey Rourke's ugly twin."

Edited: So who's this 'Mikey' Rourke? :-P Now corrected.

Raine Weaver has a post up over on Southern Fried Chicas about where/how writers get their ideas.

For me anything could start the seeds growing. Case in point, Dayan was just telling me his suspicions that two ‘cousins’ he works with, really aren’t cousins but boyfriend and girlfriend.

They seem incredible close to him and he asked if I remember a summer camp he went to years ago where apparently there was another pair of cousins there who were also extremely close/friendly.

Even as a 10yr boy he picked up on the chemistry between them. It turned out that they were not cousins but boyfriend and girlfriend, but had to say they were cousins because of some fraternization rule the camp had.

So while we were hashing the ‘are they or aren’t they’ question re the second/current pair, a vague story idea starts forming in the back of my brain. A very cool fun idea involving several 'cousins'.(I won’t say any more because we writers are notoriously superstitious about broadcasting story ideas before they’re written.)

But that my dears, is a very quick example of how writers get and develop their ideas.

Joke - Dementia Quiz

Got this one emailed to me a couple of days ago. I laughed my butt off because I got every single answer wrong, except for the last one.

Answers in white font, so drag your mouse over them to highlight/reveal.

**Post edited because of heads up from Kerry.


First Question :

You are a participant in a race. You overtake the second person. What position are you in?

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Answer:If you answered that you are first, then you are absolutely WRONG! If you overtake the second person and you take his place, YOU are in second place!

Try not to screw up next time. Now answer the second question, but don't take as much time as you took for the first question, OK?


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Second Question :

If you overtake the last person, then you are...?

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Answer:If you answered that you are second to last, then you are...... WRONG again. Tell me Sunshine, how can you overtake the LAST person??

You're not very good at this, are you?

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Third Question :

Very tricky arithmetic! Note: This must be done in your head only. Do NOT use paper and pencil or a calculator.

Try it.

Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000 Now add 30 . Add another 1000 . Now add 20 . Now add another 1000. Now add 10 . What is the total?

Scroll down for the correct answer.....
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Answer:Did you get 5000 ?

The correct answer is actually 4100 ..

If you don't believe it, check it with a calculator! Today is definitely not your day, is it? Maybe you'll get the last question right... Maybe....

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Fourth Question:

Mary's father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4. Nono, and ??? What is the name of the fifth daughter?

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Answer:Did you Answer Nunu? NO! Of course it isn't.
Her name is Mary! Read the question again!

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Okay, now the Bonus round, i.e., a final chance to redeem yourself:

A mute person goes into a shop and wants to buy a toothbrush. By imitating the action of brushing his teeth he successfully expresses himself to the shopkeeper and the purchase is done. Next, a blind man comes into the shop who wants to buy a pair of sunglasses; how does HE indicate what he wants?

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Answer:It's really very simple,

He opens his mouth and ask for it...

Does your employer actually pay you to think?? If so Do NOT let them see your answers for this test!

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So did how many did you get right?

This is another boring post about not posting

I've been knee-deep in the revisions/rewrites.

The phrase 'in the weeds' seems particularly apt.

Can't tell if I'm wining or losing. Certainly, I'm losing the word-count battle. Everytime I touch the manscript I lose words, even though I'm writing new material. It's partly because I'm tyring to avoid repetition, also I see some opportunities to streamline the language.

*sigh*.

If I didn't objectively think it was an entertaining story, I'd just shelve it and move on. Better believe the next time I write a plot-driven novella which will be never I'll pay closer attention to character developement.

That's it. That's all I got. Sorry folks.