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Filed in: friends and family | slice of life | writing Tags: harry potter movie | motivation | random musings | revision | the dragon and the pearl | writing
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Poking my head out for a minute…
Is the Harry Potter movie still out? I lost track of it after mum stood me up in Vegas to play the penny slots instead of going on a movie date with her dear daughter.
“Bah!” I could hear her saying. “You can watch Harry Potter anywhere.”
Back to the cave. I’m supposed to start fast drafting a novella today and I need to ship the D&P manuscript to Little Sis along with some form of bribe. Nothing edible. The last bribe was a disaster when the squeezable bottle of condensed milk busted open in the box. Don’t ask. Little Sis likes condensed milk — just not all over manuscript pages when she’s critiquing them. Maybe that’s why she panned everything from Chapter 12 on…
I think I’ll go see Harry Potter this weekend if I can get this novella drafted. 
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Filed in: friends and family | miscellaneous | slice of life Tags: random musings | romantic stories | wedding anniversary
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“I need to get you a card when we’re at Target,” my husband says.
“You’re going to buy me an anniversary card while I’m there at the store with you? After telling me about it?”
“Well, I have to get you something paper and that’s that.”
Oh, my hubby. So romantic.
I roll my eyes. “Well I was going to get you Star Trek tickets. That’s made of paper.”
“That’s a great idea! I’ll buy your ticket and you’ll buy my ticket. And we’ll exchange.” He grins. Everything is solved, all is right with the world.
I remark about how unspontaneous this is. We can’t plan out what we’re going to give each other like this! But hubby insists that we’re just being practical, which is good.
“Well, let me tell you right now. I want something romantic for our second anniversary,” I say with a scowl.
Hubby laughs, apparently quite pleased with how everything has worked out.
He did actually order us a cake that tastes just like our wedding cake — a vanilla chiffon cake with fresh strawberries and cream filling. He didn’t believe in eating a year old wedding cake, but he did want to observe the tradition in some way. That’s my husband for you. Unassumingly romantic and annoyingly practical all at once.
We did exchange tickets inside the theater after paying individually and enjoyed our movie date night very much.
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Filed in: events | miscellaneous | The Bookshelf | writing Tags: author interview | favorite author | kurt vonnegut | random musings | ray bradbury | stephen king
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My very first “author” interview is up at Vivienne Westlake’s blog. She writes steamy historical romances. Check it out here.
My Little Sis and I were chatting last night and she surprised me by asking who my favorite author was. I think she knows that I kind of hold that spot for someone as if it were the heavyweight championship and only rarely does the title get handed over.
I hadn’t thought about it in a while, but the answer was still Kurt Vonnegut. I offered up Stephen King as a maybe, but the last thing I’ve read by King was On Writing. I actually haven’t read anything by either of them in a while. So why do they get the title? Why not someone in romance or historical fiction?
I guess if I had to choose only one author, I’d want it to be an author that I can pick up any piece of writing from and know that I’m going to read from start to finish. It has to be someone who’s changed the way I think of the world and has to have done it for years. Each new work I read from them has to provoke something new in me. Ray Bradbury used to have the title for the longest time. Then I read Slaughterhouse Five, Cat’s Cradle and Breakfast of Champions and decided Kurt was my favorite. He’s nothing at all like what I write or will ever write. Stephen King was always high on the list. No one makes me care about a character like King. Then On Writing just had such a huge effect on me as a writer and a person that he’s definitely a contender.
So who’s your favorite author? Do you think it’s one that others would expect?
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Filed in: book reviews | events | friends and family | miscellaneous | slice of life | travel | writing Tags: brainstorming | inspiration | plotting | random musings | travels | writing
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 Lately I’ve been brewing a lot of thoughts. Last night I even plotted out an entirely new novel. For some people that’s no big deal, but I rarely commit enough to an idea to outline it. It takes a long period of mulling over an idea before I decide it’s tickled my interest enough to latch onto it. Writerly friends always talk about how many ideas they get that are pulling at them and urging to be written. That so ain’t me, babe.
In San Diego, I was thinking about Little Sis’ fiance. Soon-to-be Brother in Law is a journalist and a freelance travel writer. Sunday morning, they got up early to take my brother to the airport, hit the zoo for five hours and then meet up with us for lunch. What kind of crazy person wants to squeeze in time at the San Diego zoo on Sunday after going to a huge wedding the day before? To me, it just sounded exhausting, but Brother in Law was giddy about going to the zoo and seeing lions and tigers and bears.
I thought then about all the articles he has to write on a daily basis. If I had to come up with ideas on a daily basis, I’d implode. Even these little bloggy thingies are hard to come up with sometimes. But BIL loves to go out and experience things. You might think, yeah, who doesn’t? But Little Sis and BIL, both writers, are out every chance they get finding events, places to go, people to see. Maybe all these inputs help BIL formulate this neverending cycle of ideas.
It leads me to think about what kind of experiences I’ve been stirring into the daydream soup. Ever since my honeymoon, I haven’t been writing or revising in earnest (yes, confession time). Some of it was because of the whole euphoria of finding an agent and getting embroiled in the day job. But I’ve also been going out and doing things. There was the weekend in San Diego and the entire week visiting friends and family in Los Angeles.
Even back in St. Louis, we’re getting out more. After the farmer’s market in Amsterdam, I remarked to hubby that it was the sort of Saturday I’d like to have every week. Sure enough, when we got back home, hubby started taking us to the Soulard Market on Saturdays. We’ll walk hand in hand, buying fresh fruit and vegetables. Then we go home and I’ll make the best sangria and guacamole. And that, of course, leads to another couple hours of lounging and non-writing.
All of this stuff feeds my mind, so I guess I have a happy brain right now. So maybe it’s not so bad to not be writing so much for the moment.
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Filed in: friends and family | miscellaneous | slice of life | writing Tags: childhood stories | dreams | fan fiction | mother's day | random musings
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 When I was in 3rd grade my mum told me that you can think up stories and write them down and if they’re good enough, then people will pay you for them. I wrote so much that summer that my fingers swelled and I developed a writer’s callous that has only just begun to fade.
Mum always wanted to be a writer and she gave that dream to me and Little Sis and my not-often-mentioned brother as well, who’s also a pretty decent storyteller. Our first stories were mostly fan fiction — retellings of Transformers and Voltron episodes and whatever shows tickled our fantasy.
When my Little Sis was struggling with writer’s block during her master’s thesis, my mom’s supportive words were, “Maybe you’re not creative enough.” My Sis loves that story, because Mum cuts to the quick. Aren’t you a writer? Isn’t that what writers do?
When she asked about how my writing quest was going and I told her I was still trying to query after three years, her response: “The hardest one is going to be the first one. Until people know your name.” You know, there is nothing untrue about that.
More lovely encouraging words from Mum to Little Sis: “I paid a lot of money for your degree, where’s my book?”
It’s always been matter-of-fact with Mum. This is what you do. Write your story and that is all you need to worry about.
One more story, the best one. On the day Mum was supposed to graduate with her teaching degree, she got onto a refugee boat and left her parents and native country behind to flee with her husband. She had plans to teach literature during the school year and write in the summer. Obviously, all those plans were gone the moment she left shore.
A woman in the boat saw that Mum was pregnant and told her that the child would be intelligent, being conceived in one country and born in another. That little bump inside her was me. You don’t know how many times I’ve heard this tale.
“Mom always knew you’d be smart,” she’d say.
I hope my mother decides to sit down and write again one day. What stories she must have to tell! In the meantime, thanks for the dreams, Mum. They’re pretty good ones.
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Filed in: friends and family | miscellaneous | slice of life | travel Tags: chit-chat | friends | random musings
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Still in Los Angeles. One more day to go.
I had lunch with a dear friend yesterday. We used to teach together and when I say teach, I really mean we were in the trenches together. We fought the system at one of those huge high school institutions in the inner city. We broke away to start a charter school that is just kicking butt now.
I’m not at liberty to reveal personal details, but she’s going through a lot right now. This is a strong, independent woman and the one of the most dedicated teachers I know. She got dealt a bad hand of cards for absolutely no reason at all and she doesn’t deserve it. Karma doesn’t deal good or bad cards though. Karma allows her to go through all she has and still smile and laugh with me over sushi.
I didn’t mention my writing life at all. It’s not that it isn’t important and I didn’t want to brag, but different things are important to me when I’m with my non-writing friends. Writing is something I’m “stuck” with all the time when I’m in front of a computer or driving or doing chores on my own. I’m okay with taking a break.
Hubby and I then visited the friend who officiated our marriage ceremony. He had two rug rats running around and was excited to tell us about a new robotics class he was going to teach. He and hubby geeked it out for a while before I was too tired to keep my eyes open. Unlike me, hubby does like to talk about programming when he’s not on the job.
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Filed in: friends and family | miscellaneous | slice of life | travel Tags: authors | bookstore | julia quinn | nora roberts | random musings | writer's life
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Still in California. Had a wonderful day yesterday having lunch with a friend at El Indios (the proclaimed birthplace of the taquito) and then exploring Old Town San Diego. Many pictures to come once I can find the cable to get these pictures off my phone.
I was reflecting on how many people have asked what hubby’s reaction has been to my recent Golden Heart® and agent news. I wonder why that is? I guess we’re romance people and we always want to know how people balance writing with life and love and everything else.
I try not to let writing take over our conversations. We both have full time jobs to discuss and kibitz about. I don’t talk to him about my plot or writing issues, etc. But I do update him on how the hunt is going and gush a little with him for every contest final or full request. And with each update, I have to explain to him what Romance Divas are, what RWA is, what’s a critique group, etc.
So yesterday I was searching a bookstore for Silver Phoenix and hubby came over with me to the Romance section.
“So explain to me, how do you know which publishing house these are from?” Hubby is a programmer, a techie at heart. He likes to probe and question and break things down.
I showed him the listings on the book spines: Pocket Books, NAL, Avon.
“Which house do you want?” he asked.
I laughed. “Anyone who will take me.”
I showed him a Julia Quinn book and he asked me what her husband did. I explained that he was a research Ph.D. in infectious diseases and that she made more than he did. He protested that once I made it big, he wouldn’t be motivated like that. He’d quit his job and spend his days planning meals for us. Keep in mind that hubby is actually super-driven with his job; a total Type A, alpha male. He does, however, love to cook.
“Nora Roberts’ husband is supposedly extremely good as a handy man. He helps her run a bed and breakfast.”
He grinned. “Now that’s more like it.”
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