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Saturday, April 05, 2008

God bless them all...

Not a bad pass time this guys got. I'm not an advocate of the war or of Bush either, but I do support the troops. They are way braver then me. I'm not sure I'd ever have the guts to go into a country like Iraq and walk around even if they did give me a gun. (I'm afraid of guns anyway.) I think the guys who go off to create peace in all parts of the world are heros. Maybe more of us should go to the airports and give these guys a hug?

I love my country even if I don't like my president.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Book Review- More Than Fiends by Maureen Child


If you are looking for a fun read pick up this book. It a light hearted story with some dark and dangerous demons.
Cassidy Burke is a single mom with her own cleaning business. When she finds out the women in her family are destine to be Demon Dusters and save the world she really has her hands full. Add a sexy new client who has more than business on his mind with a hunk of an ex lover who happens to be the father she never told her daughter about and all hell is about to break loose in the sleepy little town of La Sombra.
Loved this book but even better I just checked out Maureen Child's site and found out there's a sequel. Whooo Hoooo!
If you are looking for a good laugh pick up this book and read how Cassidy maintains her cleaning biz, reels in the sexy new client (in more ways then one) and handles her hunky ex lover while she dusts demons on the side.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Research: what would you do?



Reading over my WIP I have a scene where someone hands the heroine a glass that she thinks has water in it. It's really vodka. She takes a gulp and....

What? I've never gulped vodka? (I only mix it with coke) So, what do I say besides she gagged? Does it get hot? Burn? What does vodka taste like besides..um..vodka? And what does it taste like without coke mixed it?

When I broached this subject with my college kid (age 21) she had just the thing: tiny, airplane sized, bottles of vodka left over from her vacation last week. (I chose not to ask) My other daughter (age 24)grabbed some shotglasses and we started our research.

Since the first shocking gulp was what I needed we lined up the shot glasses and ....
"Rubbing alcohol." Everyone nodded. Yeah, flat and broad when it hits your tongue then hot and burning as it makes its way down before an explosion of heat across your chest.

Just in case you ever need to know.

So, what would you do/or have you done for research?




Monday, March 24, 2008

WIP


The man trembled. He was in a car, lots of black leather and dark wood. Expensive, he thought bringing one shaky hand up to his head to try and clear it. A woman was driving, but he had no knowledge of who she was or how he got there. He couldn’t even remember where he was before he was here, in this car.
“W-Where am I?” he asked, his deep voice trembling almost as bad as his hands.
The woman stared straight ahead, one hand on the wheel, the other elbow resting on the console with her hand wrapped around a latte. She seemed bored. Her dark hair was pulled back at the base of her neck and she wore no makeup. Attractive in a raw kind of way with large brown eyes, pale skin, flat, lean cheeks and full lips that formed a perfect pink bow. Her eyes were tired and she blinked several times as if trying to stay awake. Shifting in the seat, she sat up a little straighter and took a sip from her cup. She didn’t even look at him.
“Please,” the man asked again, louder this time, a quiver of panic in his voice. “Where am I?”
The woman kept driving.
“I don’t know what happened. How did I get in this car? Where are we going?”
Her eyes drifted to the driver’s side mirror and then to the passenger side. She lifted the lever for the turn signal, then switched lanes.
“Who are you?” The man turned in his seat and leaned toward the woman, trying to move into her line of vision. “Ma’am? Who are you and where are we going? You have to tell me.”
Again, no answer.
“STOP IGNORING ME AND STOP THIS CAR!”

Not getting a reaction the man brought his hand up and tried to grab the woman’s arm. His hand passed right through her as if it were moving through a pea soup fog.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Howling and Dancing

When my kids were younger I'd yell "FULL MOON" and we'd race out to the back deck and Howl at the moon. Full out, yeooowlly howls at the top of our lungs.
When it rained we kicked off our shoes and danced on the front lawn.
When we wanted a snow day we danced on the lawn too. The crazy, mystic dance of the snowflake.
When bored we'd paint the windows per the season (Tazmanian Devil with a Santa hat) or, when dh wasn't home, we'd do something on the walls. Diamond Head lives on my office wall now. With parrots sitting on the painted ledge and a wild palm tree hanging half in a painted window.
Okay, so the neighbors were never too friendly--can't imagine why??? But we had fun and I think this helped make them optimistic and creative.
I hope it showed them that the different drummer can be exciting and fun. That beauty should be celebrated with howls and dancing, art is something everyone can do and no matter what you do--have fun. Rainy days are never bad when you dance your way through.

Major vent-fest going on over at Pub Rants. Amazingly, all this agent did was say she could no longer accept snail mail and was going to email submission. Responsible, no? Less paper, fewer dead trees laying around the office, easier over all for her and us. I applaud her.

However there were a lot of comments on the blog that objected her decision because it might be inconvenient to some writers. It was almost a brawl with people sniping at each other. (Usually the "anonymous" ones that snipe the worst! And they were sniping about that, too.)

Wait! I wasn't aware the agents owed us convenience. We need them, the gatekeepers to this world we're trying to break into, for their connections, networking skills and (I think) for protection. They do all the business/contract stuff so we can keep writing. So if we want to stand in the crowd screaming "Pick me! Pick me!" wouldn't it make sense to do it in a way that was easiest for them? Going against their guidelines might get us noticed but it wouldn't be in a good way.

Bottom line; READ THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES.

Sheesh!

Okay, that's my vent for the day.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Lions and Tigers and DEADLINES!


"Empower your dreams with deadlines."--H. Jackson Brown


Why is it when given an assignment to get something done by a certain time most of us are able to accomplish something. Get that to me by Tuesday-no problem. We need the newsletter to the printer by Friday- okey dokey! Mother in law's gonna be her Saturday, gotta clean!-Whew! Got it done.


First deadline-Finish first draft by June- um, well...I was injured, Hey! I get a free pass! (car accident/surgery) Okay, it was done by Christmas.

Second draft- Chinese New Year- hmmmm, that goal wasn't realistic, was it?

Synopsis-(Cause I need a break from drafting)-Easter? YIKES! Here comes Easter!

Note to self: Need new deadlines. Did we say Christmas?

Help!
PS-I don't know who H. Jackson Brown is but I'd like to know what his deadlines are. (or were?)

Go Indie or Publishing House?

 Like the song says; You can buy your own Flowers.  Yet still we hesitate.  Agent - Publishing House - Indie Okay, getting an agent who can ...