Crayons is Back!

I'm in a lot of pain the last few days. I had rotator cuff surgery three years ago and the pain still comes back. Sometimes its very bad. Like yesterday. And last night. And right about now. No one can explain why this pain comes back or why it won't go away.
Blah.
But today I found a reason to smile. Crayons is back! Crayons tells a story with her drawings. A while a go she closed up shop and said she ran out of things to say. But I would still go by her old site just to see if she had dropped by and today I found Crayons Encore.
Today, inspite of the pain, is a good day.
Thank you, Crayons. Your site gives me smiles.

Under the Dome by Stephen King

Just finished Under the Dome by Stephen King and I still haven't caught my breath. In this story a mysterious force field-like dome covers a small New England town trapping the people inside. Maybe that wouldn't have been too bad at first, but one of the town selectmen, Jim Rennie, has dictator issues and quickly works behind the scenes to create havoc. He fills the town police force with incompetent bullies, murders those who threaten to expose his crimes and manipulates the towns people to his own benefit. When the president sets up an ex-military man, Dale Barbara (Barr-beee), as the person in charge Big Jim pins him with a multiple murder rap and has him thrown in jail. Suddenly all the chaos created by Jim Rennie is blamed on Barrr-beee. What happens next will keep you on the edge of your seat.
My one problem with this book is the size...no it's not the length of the book...it's the physical size. This book is 4 inches thick in hardback. I guess I should have waited for the paperback because this book was hard to fit in my purse. And to make matters worse I couldn't put it down! lol So after going through the first few chapters I went out and got the audio version so I could listen during my 40 minute drive to work. Raul Esparza read this book and he is excellent. His ability to do voices was amazing and really took me into Chester's Mill and it's characters. I think he's the best reader I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.
The characters in this book will stay with me for a long time. When the book ended I felt like I was losing some old friends. Isn't that the best feeling in the world? Well done, Mr. King. Now...will you sign my copy?
Five stars. I loved this book!
Go to Amazon to see a video of Stephen King talking about this book.

Hacked!

My web based email was hacked and someone sent out a weird email saying I was stranded in the UK and needed money. What kind of sicko does this? Then it wiped out all my contacts so I don't even know who it went out to. I'm fuming! I contacted yahoo and asked what they could do about it but haven't heard from them yet. Has this ever happened to you? What do you do about it?
I'm deleting my yahoo accounts which will also delete my flicker account but what else can I do?
Blah. Some people are so mean.

So You Want to be a Writer

Work is really slow this time of year. In fact, it's dead. We sit around and watch movies, read, draw or paint, play computer games or surf. (I hate this job...I don't do well with boredom) And now the powers that be told us to stay off the internet.
REally? What the hell am I supposed to do now?
I want them to give me work...something...anything to do...but there is none for now. Even when there is work it's easy stuff so that's not that entertaining either.
I try writing and sometimes when the office is quiet I can get some done, but usually the chatter is too distracting.
I need a new job. Something busy and active. Blah, the job market isn't that great right now so I don't see anything that would fit me. . . yet. Being a full time writer isn't there for me. At least not yet. (I'm hoping!)
So, I'm looking.
While I'm looking, check this out -->

Cross Country, Oy! Mr. Patterson!

Normally, I love James Patterson. Yes, I've heard the rumors that he doesn't write his own books and yes, sometimes those short chapters annoy the hell out of me, but generally I like his books. And I love the Alex Cross series.
Then I read Cross Country and prayed for it to be over. This was the worst book I've read in a long! long! long! time!
It broke all the rules! There were so many exclamation marks I thought I should be jumping up off my chair for every other sentence!
There there were the rhetorical sentences. They came in groups of three (always three!) in every chapter.
If you've ever read any of the Alex Cross books you know he's this big, tough detective. He's too smart to take unnecessary chances and always puts his family first.
He's the perfect man.
Well, whoever took over the Alex Cross in this book was none of those things. He came across dumb as a doornail, took stupid chances and was a really feminine. Yes, big tough Alex Cross came across in this book as a girl. Jacqueline Daniels had a bigger pair than this guy.
Now lets move on to the plot....Alex goes to Africa to try and track a murderer. However he goes without a clue as to where to look for this man. Africa is a big continent so....what's the plan Alex? Wander here and there and hope for the best to bump into this guy?
But lets back up, Alex has no proof that this guy is in Africa. He only has some rumors that the guy originally came from there. The Alex Cross in previous books was much smarter than this guy.
Weak plot and out-of-character characters make for a really bad book. And I think this book was written by a woman. The feminine voice comes through so loud and clear
I can picture big, tough Alex Cross running in high heels.
Sorry James, whoever wrote this book needs to go back to writing 101.

More Sales!

Two more sales to the Confessions for January!
Yippy!

When is it Okay?

I've read a couple of books lately where there are info dumps in the first two chapters. One, a very popular book, had so much back story in the first two chapters I was wondering when the story would start.
In my critique groups this was one of the biggest no-no's, but I see this happening in books all the time.
So when is it okay?
This is a picture of Trixie. She came up from West Virginia on the day she was supposed to be euthanized. This week she got a new family to love. Yay Trixie!