kate rothwell

Normally what Rush Limbaugh says or thinks is not on my radar--or if it gets there, I push it off again. I got that high blood pressure thing and all. But I did like this response to his phonies remark. In fact, I like love the whole blog so why don't we call it The Blog of the Week and leave Rush by the wayside. Go, read the blog. Thank me and/or curse me for pushing you over there, you'll be glad you did.

1. Shirley Jump features me and my banana spooge at her blog . 2. The other dog discovered the evil, stinky substance and she also rolled in it. I've rubbed them both with reams of paper towels and doggy de-stink gunk and have banned all unaccompanied trips out back. 3. I'm celebrating writing "the end" on a story by taking the morning off. I was going to exercise but finished Going Postal by Pratchett instead. Oh, how my love for him grows and grows**. It's greater than the stench in this room, even. ______ ** as does my butt, again. Better get back on that treadmill .

I missed Thursday and I have a Thirteen, even! Sandy will wait until next week. Okay the moment I've been waiting for is here. Not the contest yet. THIS MOMENT. Those books better be available on this side of the world, that's all I'm saying. YAY BRONWYN!!! And now we find out who won Knight's Challenge..... .... .... .... .... Isn't trying for suspense with little dots lame? But what can a blogger do? .... ... ... Ugh, the dog seems to have rolled in something disgusting. eww, eww he stinks. .... ... THE winner is... ... ... .... 2 ... ... who is 2? ... CHERIE J!!!

AND I've decided this week's SBD sucks. Pleh. The comments are roxor--worth reading. Do we want surprises thrown in without warning? OR does that out of the blue stuff make us Cranky? Still. Let's revisit some less sucky actual posts. A list of other people's drinking games (plus an outdated contest) obits. Not great, but I do like obits still. Awards ceremony based on a PBW thing Romance Judge Seen it A Lot contest. Actually a Thursday Thirteen. Don't forget. Comment below and perhaps you'll win an ecopy of Knight's Challenge.

As soon as I can figure out how to upload the damn pictures, you'll see a glorious batch o' flowers. I mean, wow. Roses and more roses and some kind of gorgeous purple orchid-thingy. Two of my sisters sent me flowers for my birthday and they take up most of the dining room table (the flowers, not sisters, who aren't here, unfortunately). Last time I had this many bouquets I'd given birth. Speaking of which, it's the boy's birthday too. Boy1 = best present I ever got, hardest to unwrap. He's not getting flowers. I got him computer games and cold, hard cash--very cold. I wrapped the money around a batch of lime popsicles, his faves. What else is happening? Doug's birthday, too. He's running a contest over there. What is it with bloggers and contests? No don't answer because . . . I'm going to give away an eb00k copy of The Knight's Challenge . ** Comment below and in a couple of days I'll pick a winner. Really, even if you don't ...

I got expert advice back on a story and it's...it's expert. Really good stuff. I can see that the ideas are RIGHT for what I've got so far, sort of. The trouble is, I can see that, but I can't see me writing it. I'm not going to ever be popular because no matter what I write 1. the action part is missing once the story starts up or 2. it comes out of nowhere. One of my stories starts with two people, running hiding running and frightened for their lives and then melts into people having misunderstandings or--here's a big, horrible moment--catching the wrong train. And to me, it fits. They were bound to get on the wrong damn train and then worry about little shit for a while after all that big worry. To anyone else, it's . . . huh? Oh, whine, whine, whine, Rothwell. Get over it and write the damn book with the plot that fits the characters and the set up. Unfortunately? For my current book, analyzed neatly by the expert, the set up is intense. The story chugs...

Ms Ruby, I'll call you but I swear to God, I can't talk any more. Not another word. Shhhhhhhh....And listening is right out, as well. They are tampering with the mails again. They are opening packages, ripping corners on envelopes, returning items to me without contents. Okay, so they did it twice in the last month. Strikes you as like a lot, too, eh? In one month, two bizarro mail episodes seems almost worth a call. The cranky lady bellowing about "we pay taxes and all those postal increases and why is there always a line at that post office and when will you get some decent veggie stamps back in" kind of call. I don't make them actually. I kvetch here instead. I would accuse my postal delivery guy of hijinks** but he doesn't seem curious enough to even read a postcard, much less play pranks. He's the sort who's counting down the days until he can collect a pension. Judging by his youthful appearance, I think it'll be more than a decade, poor m...

I wrote an entry at passionate pen today . It's a standard sort of I'm a Convert to Rrrromance article. I thought of the subject because the block party is coming along this weekend and I expect (I hope) that the English prof will be there with her dip and kids. No "the dip" isn't code for her husband--they're separated. Block party has a Summer of Love theme, which is just silly if you ask me, which the organizers didn't or maybe they did and I lost the form.

that's why I haven't been around. Aya's still here and has been doing more flash-pitcher-thangs. Now I want one of those little drawing things for the internet. Those are fun. Today's Quiz ( updated because I like Doug's definitition). CYMBALTA is: 1. a small island off the coast of Greece known for its olives and its anise flavored liqueur. Once a hot tourist spot, it fell out of favor after a group of radical communo-fascist separatists bombed a beach-side hotel. 2. A dance resembling the tango that was briefly popular in the early 1920s. It fell out of favor in part because Amiee Semple McPherson** refused to characterize it as either "wicked" or "heathen." 3. An antidepressant. 4. The plural of cymbal, a musical instrument for folks with no talent. _______ **interesting quote: "Whether you like it or not, you're an actress." - Charlie Chaplin to Aimee Semple McPherson

Boy2 is walking around imitating a New Zealander who spends fair chunk of tv air-time imitating David Bowie. ch-ch-ch-chaaaanges. The American/Kiwi/British accent is spot on . and Flight of the Conchords is so hawt, babee. Brent! I am 1986 David Bowie from the movie Labyrinth. So. You showed your penis to the man from the greeting card company . Boy2 has now discovered that the series is available on our "on demand" channel (four more months of the cable special deal and that thing's so out of here.) He's memorizing songs from it. He's hanging around youtube, watching "Hiphopopotomus vs. Rhymenoceros," stage version and the special street video. Also "Frodo, Don't Wear That Ring." It may be time to institute some Tough Love.

We went to see Stardust the other day--that's not the confession. (Good movie because all of us liked it. A tough crowd to please.) The confession has to do with the sin of spending more than two minutes of my life pondering Larry Craig's case. Once again, in a public toilet I scootched around trying to see how difficult it would be to reach my foot into the next stall. It was really tough, by the way. Of course Bowtie Cinemas (Formerly Hoyt Cinemas, formerly Crown Cinemas) might have larger stalls, but this isn't the first public bathroom in which I've attempted to adopt a wide stance. C'mon, admit it, you do things like that sometimes, too. Don't you? Maybe?

A nice review by Doug! And no, I didn't pay him, much.

The only real question is which scene are are we truly witnessing: 1. The gerbil wheel action of the brain of someone lying in bed at 2 am trying to fix a manuscript? 2. standard feedback session with an agent or editor...such as Linda? ( " or something like that ." She did send it--and she pointed out that's her motto.) a shark, a squid, a pebble... yes I know it's another link. Sue me for not providing enough original content why don't you?

what she said.

another sale to another start-up company. This one is Alexis Fleming's latest publisher. She and Lyn Cash and I wrote another of those connected series of books (I love working on those things) and Alexis really likes the total ebound people. Alexis and the other TEB person I checked with, Portia Da Costa, both enjoy working with the company a lot. It's kind of fun to see books for sale in other currencies. I bought a book there, just to make sure (okay, just to read it. Yay Sam Winston! It's a short, fun book) Their webpage was beautifully easy to use and the process smooth going. The store portion didn't mind that I wanted to play in dollars. I guess that's paypal's domain, but still easy, easy, easy. I finally figured out if you're an author who might hook up with an ebook company, the most important advice for you, young lady: Make sure it's simple to buy the damn books! Ebooks are usually such impulse buys--mine are, anyway. Anyway, if the site is...

in honor of finding out we're going to be togethah, forevah, in an anthology, I decided Charlene was the Woman for Today. Number 13 is cheating, Charli. 13 Things About Charlene Teglia 1. I live in Forks, Washington. If you’ve read Twilight, you might think we’re surrounded by vampires and werewolves. This is totally fictional. And the fact that I write about vampires and werewolves is totally coincidence. (But Bigfoot is real and living in the Hoh rain forest!) 2. Okay, so now you know where I get my ideas. No movie theaters, no bookstores, no cable TV, just me and my wild imagination and a whole lot of rainy days. a teeny picture of charli 3. "Earth Girls Aren’t Easy," my latest Ellora’s Cave novella, was based on a real event. A meteor lit up the skies over Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula in the summer of 04 and afterwards our military neighbor got up and went to work in the middle of the night. I said, “What if that was an alien space-ship crashlanding in Puget...

ONE: Don't forget the chat tonight at nine pm EDT at Noveltalk. Come and talk to me. Please? TWO: Watch this. Aya got it by way of Naomi and it might only be good for people who know from NYC young people today.

So I checked the list of stories that will be included in the next batch of Pocket Book/Ellora's Cave and didn't see Summer there. I was pretty excited though because Arianna Hart is in there YAY!! And Shannon Stacey! But it turns out, I'm a goober, because a few minutes later, Charli sent a note saying glad to be in there with you. I'm in! Futurelove, which hasn't been a big seller, but don't tell anyone , is going to be in print! And with Pocket Books, so we're talking big-gish time again. AND it's with Shannon Stacey and Charli! How in hell I didn't notice my name with Shannon's, never mind. I'll go back and see if she's going to be in two collections. Charli is! Okay back to the dancing and whooping! !!!!!!!!! I love Shannon Stacey and Charlene Teglia . [even if I can't spell her last name first time out] And now I get to be in a book with them? Not literally, but it feels pretty damn great. This is beyond awesome into...into....

Carrie Lofty is a Fresh New Voice! Now if only someone would publish her damn books. .

My new release is today! yay! It's short! It's got one of my favorite sort of heroes, a sarcastic loner. Talk about fantasy--forget the fact he's a dragon--his type is like those hyper-alpha dudes, not really the sort of mate one wants in the real world. To celebrate the release, I'm going to do a chat at noveltalk.com tomorrow night. It's a relatively easy place to check in and use. Head down to the bottom of that front page if you want to sign in. You do, I hope. No, I'm not to proud to beg--please, for the love of God, come over there so I don't end up all alone asking myself questions about how I get my ideas and telling myself I'm my own favorite writer and can I please have a free copy of a book. I want someone else to get the free copy. More promo-->>I posted an excerpt over at the Samhain blog. There's also another excerpt up at the "buy this book" link at the top. Uh oh. The Sammy blog seems to have a glitch with the link....

So next week a bunch of Dragon stories are coming out. One is mine . I opened Nina Mamone's Hard to Guard by accident (I was supposed to find an excerpt from mine)....And then I forgot to close it. Whoa, that story is way, way hot. I say you should buy it and read it. It's just plain fun. I have a quibble or two with the conflict, and I predict in the distant future the hero's protectiveness will drive the heroine to drink, but the premise and the fun, self indulgent dragons and the heat between the main characters made the quibbles go away. Her writing was fresh, and her voice, oh jeebus, It's the Fresh New Voice thing. Damn . I have to avoid opening any more of those stories because if they're even slightly as catch-and-hold-tight until the end as Mamone's I'll never get a life.

Kessler is the first writer I'm featuring whose work I haven't read ( Hell's Belles is on order). I also haven't really interacted with her online. So why am I promoting this stranger with books I don't know? I like the book excerpts. I appreciated her style when she visits Doug's place , Bam's place, and maybe dearauthor and a couple of other spots. . . yes, she's a writer who promotes her work with panache, dammit. That's really hard to do, almost impossible for some of us. Also a whole lot of people--whose writing and/or opinions I admire--are crazy about her books. In other words, she's an Up and Coming Writer, a Fresh New Voice**, etc, except we don't mind because she's apparently funny and pleasant and writes good books. Hot good books (it's so often the cute, innocent-looking ones who write teh excellent smut). Jackie writes about Jackie: 1. “Jackie” is short for “Jacqueline.” I opted not to have my author name be “Jacqu...

school! school! school! school! school! school! school! school! school! school! school! school! school! school! school! school! There. Doesn't that word look absurd? Curriculum night tomorrow and Thursday! Back to school night next Monday! All parent mandatory meeting (whoops, forgot to write down where or for what) next Tuesday! Go, go, go, go. And if I can't write because I'm wandering around, I should vacuum or something house-wifely. No, I'll write. Ohhh hey, today's school absurdity: During the morning assembly--parents more than welcome--the principal introduced a new face to Our Community, a dour, shaved-head safety specialist. As of this year every elementary school in this district has one. The S. Specialists sit at the entrance and sign in the visitors and parents (used to just be we'd go sign in with the secretaries) . Why do we have them? Last spring a kid claimed he'd been approached by a man in the boys' bathroom of his elementary school. P...

I will go very far, farther than those hills, farther than the seas, close to the stars, to beg Christ the Lord to give back the soul I had of old, when I was a child, ripened with legends,with a feathered cap and a wooden sword. --Federico Garcia Lorca For regular parents of regular kids** there are a lot of common milestones that come as a surprise. We weren't told, for instance, that we'd have to go to school again. I was so glad to get out of those institutions and to some minor degree I'm there again, living each year three times over. Ugh. In the fall, some of this Surprise! stuff makes me sad, and I'm not just talking about Back to School. A more internal, private parental pain is rarely mentioned or mentioned in such a treacly manner I discounted it: A growing kid always leaves behind something, a part of himself, and we lose someone we know and love. The kid I know this year isn't the one from two years ago, and there are so many things I miss about that l...