kate rothwell

This is from Doug and doesn't require much, so fine I'll do it. SOON VERY VERY SOON. I will 1. Steal Bam's contest away 2. Feature Shirley Jump at last. A week ago I was not around at least not so's you'd notice. So to the meme: The basic facts: Who is your significant other? Michael How long have you been together? Since 8/82 A longass time Dating/Engaged/Married? very married. How old is your S.O.? 52 and he's older by four years. Okay? Get it? We're old. OLD. What’s his/her middle name? I bet he'd hate it if I said. Archer. Which one? Who eats more? Nowadays he does, usually, except if chocolate's involved. At the moment we're both outclassed by all three boys who can do amazing things especially to ice cream and cereal. Who says "I love you" first? Both? Maybe? Why the hell don't I know the answers to these questions? It seems pretty damn basic, doesn't it? Maybe I'm sleeping through my marriage. Shit. Who weighs ...

except when the fine print comes into play. General — Physicians should consider the cardiovascular status of their patients, since there is a degree of cardiac risk associated with sexual activity. Therefore, treatments for erectile dysfunction, including CIALIS, should not be used in men for whom sexual activity is inadvisable as a result of their underlying cardiovascular status. duh, you morons. Left Ventricular Outflow Obstruction — Patients with left ventricular outflow obstruction, (e.g.,aortic stenosis and idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis) can be sensitive to the action of vasodilators including PDE5 inhibitors NO, I am so not on Cialis, but my kids have memorized the ads which play almost continuously during breaks in the shows they watch (Mythbusters, History Channel stuff--Old guy shows) Even though I force them to turn the sound down, we see all those happy, happy old folk doing well on cialis and so I feel as if we all are pals with the stuff around here. What...

More gloating for Summer. I have to figure out how to change that dang Summer Devon page so I can put up my reviews. I might skip the 61 from Mrs Giggles. Or maybe have the link accidentally go to one of her more favorable reviews of a Summer Book.

okay I get a kick out of this story, Love You to Pieces . Maybe because the oldest boy was watching Shaun of the Dead the other night--got me into the whole zombie mindset. Zombie Love is just one of those things I never wanted to imagine. I think I still don't want to, but I'm fairly glad Ally Blue did, I think. Maybe. Free gross 'n' graphic, tender (both "aww" and "mm, meat") love story at the bottom of this link . You're warned. Also extreme butt secks.

This started out as a comment at Tumperkin's place in which I agreed with Bettie** Tumperkin wrote about character description-- a good post. Replying to Tumperkin's line "short of saying 'she looks exactly like Angelina Jolie, " Bettie wrote: That's my pet peeve, right there. I hate, hate, hate celebrity comparisons. It just seems lazy. I'd rather a vague description than one that hijacks an actor's face. Yeah, what she said. I dislike the mention of an actor's face because I really would rather not be given an immutable image of the characters. There are other, stronger reasons it bugs the bejeebers out of me when an author uses a famous contemporary face. See, I mind mostly when it's one of today's hot popular faces. George Clooney, no. Peter Lorre, maybe. Okay, I'll say yes to Lorre (but not the hero, unless you're slightly perverse. I admit that I'd read that book, but I'll bet a gazillion dollars Avon would never pu...

1. If you wrote to me in the last month, whatever you wrote is gone (Bonnie Dee! I'm sorry!) 1a. Your email address is also gone so I probably can't write to tell you about it. 2. This isn't whining; it's information. 3. This is the cause of my current gloating . 4. The new computer is wonderful, so far.

So we'll just not go into the fact that I seem to have lost most of my Thursday Thirteen interviews. Uh, Shirley Jump? I'll be putting you up as soon as I can smash into the old computer which will be when the teenager down the street gets home from school. He'll have fun, anyway. IN the meantime, enjoy the itty bitty kitty committee. One doesn't usually like to recommend possible cuteoverload knock offs, but this one has such a good, fine name. And it's based on a good effort, too! * * * * * I tried to get Beth interested in in this generator , but she, like my anonymous commenter here , is more worried about my relationship with the gods. Here's something 7th Sanctum and I whipped up in five minutes! I toyed around with one idea: it came up with -- A fusion of the tale of the Princess and the Pea and the story of Pygmalion and Galataea that concerns a group of taxi drivers. but decided to go more traditional DARK HEAVEN NEXT [that's an RPG nami...

helpful polite idjit: may I help you, MarGARet? me: Yes, I was just cut off by accident. I need to return my computer to get it fixed. It's happened twice before--I'm still under warranty, thank goodness. I'm getting the error message again that means the mother board-- hpi: Did you write down the error message, MarGARet, please? me: Sure it's -- hpi: Excuse me. I must put you on hold. I will return momentarily, MarGARet. Please excuse the wait. woman's voice tells me about the wonders of going online to get help for my computer. I wonder how many other people shout "I'd be there if I could, ya bitch" at recording. hpi: Yes, hello MarGARet, sorry for the delay. I have my supervisor on the line. He should be able to help you interpret the error message you've been getting, MarGARet. I'll just transfer you . Thank you and have a good day. We are most sorry you are experiencing trouble. me: Fine, but can I get a case num-- clicketty click, silence...

Happy Birthday, Bam.

I am not a crook I did not have sex with that woman. America doesn't torture. easy question time: which one should worry us most? hmm. wonder why this went into draft...

PBW has a perfect right to get on with her life and stop writing her blog. Nobody pays her for the time and wonderful advice she puts into it. In fact, even if it was a paying job, if it's stale for her, she should move on. Put down that keyboard. I just wish she wouldn't. And I can't help feeling as if I was some sort of straw or something. I mean bad, unedited fiction can't kill a blog, right? The same applies to Corn Dog and I fret about her, too.

1. Why don't they stop with the Star Trek and start with another bunch o' names and places? So many brilliant ideas out there. Firefly! I want more of that. And Pratchett and Viehl and ....a bunch more. Okay, so I did stare at all the new ST stars to see if they resembled the old people. But come on. Star Trek ELEVEN?? You'd think a culture with a five minute attention span could move on from these 60s shows. 2. Why does my dog take naps halfway up the stairs? She just tumbled down, again. Thump, thump, whump. Scared both of us. 3. Why, when I need fluff most--sugar-coated sugar-books--do I find them dull? The books are fine. Same as they ever were. But I'm snarling about various life factors and my bad attitude is getting in the way of the latest faceless-female-glamorous-neck-to-knees-cover Regency-set book. I suspect it's the Why Not Me problem that would be solved with a snap of the fingers and a contract. It resembles Mistress Matisse's Princess Moment...

But then why did she provide the link to buy it at her store and another link to the petition? It's time to make Oprah prove her patriotism by signing this petition. Granted, you're probably tired of being told to sign important petitions to stop wars, help starving kids. Go for one that's basically worthless, for once. random paragraph from the letter to Oprah: Selecting I Am America (And So Can You!) for your Book Club will go a long way toward erasing the long-standing concerns and nagging doubts about your patriotism that have dogged you ever since they were first raised in this letter. Otherwise, it's not looking good. To be honest, it's very suspicious that you have a Book Club in the first place.

you were spot on with the leaf thing. The trees aren't perfect this year, though. Sorry about that.

I'm over at the Samhain blog. I'm counting the minutes until the new Toshiba gets here. And I can at long last heave the Dell off the deck down, down onto the blacktop. Sure, I could donate it to some charity, but there is no charity I loathe enough to do that to. I can almost taste the glorious moment my three? four? years of pampering and coaxing this machine will come to an end. . . .In my mind I play the happy moment of impact. Crash. Tinkle. Yay. Maybe I should wait until Aya's here and she can tape the event.

listen I'm still way too blah to post, but the following is a public service for anyone who's got kids like mine--I mean kids who don't like actual flavor in their food. It's your fault they eat like that. You got the picky-pants genes going.

what does it say about a person that she is cheered up by various reports of a man's untimely demise? The wetsuits. The dildo up the butt. But mostly the fundie background at Liberty University. Snicker. "Refrain from speculation" said the statement from his church. Omigod, can anyone manage that? I mean would even Jesus be able to turn his mind from speculation? I do hope Aldridge died satisfied because the man put a lot of effort into his fun. No, really, the only humane response to Rev. Fallwell's friend's kinky death is poor guy . What a way to die, but worse, what a way to live. Rev. Gary must have loathed his kinks or maybe he hated his real life. (At any rate, something didn't jibe, dude). Right. Now we have the o, the humanity, o the waste part out of the way, back to the comments at Sadly, No. They are making me laugh a lot.

Don't ask the bitter, snarling female in the corner (heavens, that would be me) about the publishing business or getting your books in print or romance--or anything at all, actually. Just drop the quarter in her Dunkin Donuts cup and, for God's sake, don't make eye contact. She's not quite as bad as the glittering-eyed, skinny-handed loon, but she's getting there.

Listen, skip the mega-mall hospitals. I don't care if they have the Best Care in the World. I didn't go up to Boston as a patient, I was a visitor, and I still dislike those places. Three days and I could see it was based on the "hello I'm nurse [fill in the blank] and I'll be your server for this shift." And never mind the corporate mentality, what is it with those hospitals all cropping up in one area? Mike's theory is that it's the phenomenon of multiple car dealerships that insist on crowding along one highway. Anyway, the medical world builds those huge medical structures (designed to give one confidence in the marvels of mankind's advances) all in the same area. Is it zoning? Is it so you can do some comparison shopping (Honda? Subaru? Oncology? Coronary?). That would make some sense, but it seems more like competing gas stations. Sure there's some specialization--a diabetes place and a children's hospital--but most of the huge comple...

I'm not here. I'm there. I should be back late tonight, exhausted and depressed and sad and feeling basically useless**. Great, huh? Just what you'll want to read about. How about if I promise a book report instead? Or maybe a link to something my kids found on the internet (they always find things on the internet, the little dickenses) I miss you even though you never write or call. ________ ** except not entirely. Thank you, Doug.

I'm interviewed again, this time over at Romance Reviews Today's blog. I like that place. You go comment there and you can get a chance to win any one of Summer Devon's fabu ebooks. What else I'm up to: 1. A brief wallow about another rejection. 2. I'll be putting on my parachute, checking the guidelines, scanning the car for bombs, counting the gators in the pit, preparing the fatal injection needle for insertion, writing down my last will and testament (" boys, remember: don't feed the dog more than twice a day. And don't use the large scoop"). Any minute, or maybe it's any day, now, I'll be jumping out of an airplane, fighting off rabid dogs and ninjas with my bare hands, facing the heart of darkness without a candle. . . okay, okay. I'll be taking a two hour road trip. Maybe. I'm still waiting to find out if I must. Yeah, so I inflate the danger a bit. Actually, the response is just about that exaggerated but it's my liza...

I know Sandy because she's one of the original Zebra debut authors (we original debs keep in touch, as in, we clutch each other and scream a lot when exciting things happen). She's elegant--even when falling off cruise ships--and she's kind. In the aftermath of Katrina, she and her husband opened her home to a displaced family. The cruise ship story is one she's told a whole lot of times because it's good and people ask her about it. If you want to hear about Sandy falling off the ship, go ahead and ask her. She's so polite she won't tell you to get lost, even if she's way sick of the story. Here's the cover of her latest release which is doing beautifully in stores, thank you. Thirteen Things Few Folks Know About Sandy Blair , by Sandy Blair: 1. The book of my heart is still under the bed and may never see the light of day. For starters, it’s 900 + pages. 2. Just hearing a deep Scottish brogue will turn my knees turn to jelly and I start looking...

For distraction in this wearying world one can usually turn to the comix. Ha, say the comix today. You think you got it bad? There's Lisa from Funky Winkerbean** heading off to dance death (or maybe it's the phantom of the opera come to collect her?) and Grandad Jim from For Better or Worse is staring up at an alarmed Iris. Jim might be just having yet another set-back. God knows those old people do that. Lisa's clearly entering the dance floor up in the sky, poor thing. Jeepers. __________ ** I can't find the comic at the official site but here's part of a statement: For the first time in a comic strip, Funky Winkerbean creator Tom Batiuk has depicted the death of a young wife and mother from the recurrence of breast cancer. Lisa Moore, a major character who is battling breast cancer for a second time, succumbs to the disease on Oct. 4, 2007, leaving behind her husband, Les, and their five year-old daughter, Summer. As a result of Batiuk’s commitment to helping...

You know the problem with Doug's meme? "identify my most frequent writing mistake, then tag five other bloggers to do the same." It's so hard to just pick one mistake. Repeated word syndrome? Too many m-dashes due to working for epublishers who don't allow many commas and absolutely no semi-colons? Skipping over the easy analogies, metaphors, imagery that are part of the first draft (my way of working = get the stuff out and then rewrite)? Thinking I'll ever get published in NYC again? Amiable rather than exciting characters? Plodding plots? You pick which is my most egregious mistake. I'm going back to bed and mourning my late career. Now I get why good writers like Nancy Butler throw in the towel. The running in place thing gets old fast. And my ear hurts. Oops. I once again forgot the important piece of advice a mega-hugely-successful writer** told us at a workshop. I need to express endless enthusiasm about my work and my competence. If I believe I...

Yes, I still can't hear and my ears hurt. BUT I have memes . What is this meme? It's such an old word on the interwebs no one asks any more and so I don't get to read someone else asking the dumb "huh" question and pretend I knew it the whole time. I don't know what it means. I know what it is. Anyway I have two of them and here's one now! It's from Lovelysalome/Carrie OOooo it's more like a chain letter without the riches or recipes or curses. Here's the desktop. It has my dog. Hi Sooz! Lots of stuff on there because my kids and I both use this damn computer. But I did go through lately and dump all the documents on the screen except one. The one is the grocery list. Alphabetized, divided into sections of the store, devised by my compulsive husband (he's the one who's kept gas books for every car he's ever owned. As in every time he or I buy gas, we write down mileage and gallons. He also enters the data onto the computer and .....

work supplies: box o' unused Kleenex -- yes bag for nasty used Kleenex-- yes advil --yes lukewarm cup of coffee and lukewarm bottle of water-- yes work clothes: battered old Kid's View teeshirt with boy1's sweats and boy2's school spirit sweatshirt-- yes clove of peeled garlic jammed in left ear-- yes okay, time to write some romantic smut. Maybe later I'll write about some of the books I read this weekend but I doubt it. Glass houses and all. But I'm grouchy enough to say enough with the meat sandwiches. If the plot doesn't call for two guys to be all over the heroine, then don't. Just don't. No more throwing things in just to reach that E or X rating at Ellora's. Make It Integral To The Story and Characters. Fine, all right, if you must put in the wandering-from-the-point sex, then let us know in the warning. ( warning: Hot Smutty Sex also HSS occasionally unrelated to actual character development and story line) I admit I need a checklist to ...