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Showing posts from August, 2007

and the wig! oh BOY

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I really should Google myself more often. Another treasure. Unsentimental Splendor ? Is that what that means? I can't seem to use babelfish well enough to get ebay to work for me, but I did manage this for the text of this book: One woman made for the adventure. And hour its adventure is he. Meeting rude the Irish policeman Mick McCann, to Timona Calverson, rich and famous photographer, is enough only little moments in order to become account that is that one the man to which it wants to donate just the heart. But Mick, persuaded that they are too much various and that they could not be happy, ago of all in order resisting them. It will touch to Timona to convince it of the contrary. With whichever means. Famous of MarchRose: Draft of the novel of debut of the author, acclimatized in the New York of fine slid century, that succeeding is of public that has had a large one of critic, yielding endured them endured one great popolarità beyond that the RIVER Award. Its continuation is

HELP! HELP! I need someone who speaks Italian

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I need this cover. The clinch! The heroine's nearly broken neck! The mustache!** I neeeed this book that I didn't even know was out. It is Italian, right? I don't know which Zebra book it is--oh, yes I do the description is of Araminta. Un amore proibito, una passione rovente Araminta Woodhall, bella e sensuale, sogna di aprire un suo ristorante. Rifiutati i capitali del nonno, lavora in una casa da gioco in Park Avenue di proprietà di un uomo losco e misterioso. Proprio lì, una sera, ritrova una vecchia conoscenza: Griffin Calverson, ricco magnate delle ferrovie. Immediatamente la passione li travolge, ma davvero gli inattesi pregiudizi saranno un ostacolo alla loro felicità. LE SPESE DI SPEDIZIONE NON CAMBIANO FINO 2 KG DI PESO! APPROFITTANE E DATE UN'OCCHIATA A TUTTE LE MIE INSERZIONI! damn, even the instructions look great. I can see that the auction ended a couple of days ago and I can see it didn't sell. I want the book! YIKES. Someone take pity on me. Pleas

more me me me, but not here.

Hey WRITERS, ch eck out this site for promo. I think it's mostly for independent writers (i.e. self-published) but I like it so I immediately signed on and put up everything that's still sort of in print. (I left out the long-gone literary journal stuff) I liked it so much, I even started a group there for writers who have to be authors but might not be so good at that part of the job. Today's blog stuff is at Passionate Prose. Does anyone read those group author blogs? Not a lot comments happen at the ones where I post.

No Comment

My email spellcheck keeps trying to turn "blogspot" into "bloodsport"

Thirteen Things about Kate Rothwell

So my Thursday Thirteen author didn't show up, silly woman! I was going to skip it, but then figured what the heck. I got someone in house. Unfortunately she's not prepared for promo and she's kinda dull at the moment. 1. I was supposed to spend the morning at the high school orientation but the kid got sick. Not me! Yay! 2. Oh wait, I'm sorry you feel bad, kid. But still, it's good that it was some yucky germs forcing us out and not me running away. Yo, Boy2, here's some water and get better by Tuesday, okay? No, you can't watch tv. Read a book. Poor lil chicken. 2a update: He's already better, he tells me, but I dunno. It's been one of those up then down then up things for the last couple of days. No fever, or maybe very low grade, just nausea, headache and dizziness. One more day and we'll call the doctor. He did have an earache earlier this week. Could it be some sort of inner ear thing? Maybe? 3. The layer of dog hair on my cheap bedroom

I love my chair. LOVE IT

Leslie, Your email is bouncing for me, but listen: the chair is the best thing in this whole pathetic house. I love it. Thank you. And also because of your pushing, I called my friend at long last and lo, she lives, sort of. So thank you for two important things. (Now I just have to find strong enough medication to get there.) XXOO

NOT trisk, but beware

It's on a smaller scale but the anger of its authors is just as strong. The buzz on lots of loops is that another epublishing company is sliding down the tubes. Apparently Mardi Gras Publishing is going down, but slowly it seems, because the company site is still up, Looks like they're even soliciting manuscripts. Still, the word is on the loops. Here's another --toward the end. And heres's another, just a single post If this is the end, it's not a nice wrap-up. Authors are complaining it hasn't been nice for a while. When a company slides into bankruptcy, versus just folding tents and going away quietly, who'll help the authors get their rights back? I hear EPIC might help I didn't even know the publisher existed, but turns out I know several people who'd sent manuscripts and were waiting for them to show up. Ugh.

Pick your Plot Romance

It worked for kids's books, right? Why not romances. Today: the historical paranormal (choose one of the red things) Anna/Belle/Cassandra is a lady fallen on hard times hired to be a governess/librarian/nurse for a mysterious duke/count/marquess/baron . On a stormy, moonless night (no options there, sorry. You can pick snow, hail or rain though.) the carriage she is in breaks down/is held up/falls down a cliff. She pulls herself from the wreckage/intact carriage uninjured and decides to walk to the manor house/wait for help/ mount the only uninjured horse and rides for help, leaving the groom with the broken leg behind As she walks/waits/rides she feels a mysterious malevolent/protective presence. It's as if an unseen hand touches her hair/unseen breath touches her neck/unseen body just at her back makes her skin ripple You get the idea. Eventually the hero turns out to be a vampire/werewolf/ghost-demoted god/some new creation that's a mishmash of the above. If he's

visitors hit the road

Bye Leslie, bye Eric. Thanks for visiting. We haven't found any of your possessions yet but give us a day or two and chances are we'll find something. Heck we found Cousin Brian's skull tee-shirt just yesterday. Boys who visit us shed items. Always. Always and always, say the three butterflies. ( Rules are rules is the mosquito. I can't believe you don't remember that most excellent book.) Leslie left behind a spiffy office chair, but that was on purpose. Crazy Girl Working Inc thanks her. Yo, guys, next time take some of these boys with you. I'm sort of sick of the way they think they can keep talking to me and hanging around and saying "mom, watch this fabulous imitation of a vampire farting." or "mom, give me high five" when I'm trying to think or read porn or write my blog. I don't even bother with writing my own stories because hehehehehe we know what kind of stories CGWI creates. Or was it CWGI? * * * * Tomorrow we're talki

bonus for a thursday

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BAM'S BOOK IS OUT . How could I have missed that? This life crap is getting in the way again ? Sorry Julie, I have to put this in, too and you have to share your day with Bam. So okay, my job tonight: buy it, point out that I've blogged it and maybe I'll be a winner. Yay!

Thirteen things about JULIE COHEN!

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Also known to the privileged few as Feckless or Feckled, depending on the mood. She's from Maine but lives in England. . . Or maybe I've got that first part wrong. We met at an RWA conference -- that I remember. So does she, it turns out. THIRTEEN THINGS ABOUT JULIE COHEN , according to Julie Cohen: 1. Between March 2006 (when my first book came out) and February 2007, I had six books published and I had a baby. (I got pregnant just before my launch party for my first two books.) I'm a little tired at the moment. 2. My first US release, MACALLISTER'S BABY (Harlequin Presents August 07) is number six on the Waldenbooks/Borders series romance bestseller list this week. Yippee!!! 3. Neither my husband nor I can tie our shoes properly. I'm not sure how we're going to teach our son. 4. I compile sound tracks for all of my books to listen to while I'm writing them. My current one includes Louis Armstrong, Guns n Roses, and Hall and Oates. 5 . One time I got

stuff

1-- Yo, out there, Lynn, damn blogger and its commenting eccentricities But seriously, I need someone to kick my stories' butts into gear, and I'm not the one doing it. 2-- We have guests still. Heh. Guests, can't live with 'em and ....um....so have to go play with them while they're around. We just have one at the moment but we should get another in a day or two. Who knew central Connecticut is such a hot spot? I think it's in part because I'm so rotten at leaving home. I'm the mountain, come to me, Mohammed, or maybe it's because 2.5-- central CT is a swinging hotspot. Yowza! Hamptons and Hartford. Both begin with H, are two syllables, and are the places the fabulous people gather. 3-- So do any of you have good closing rituals? I'm in dire need of one. When a book is done, when a part of life is over, when a friend moves away or something like it. I'm gerbil wheeling unless I can figure out a closing ceremony. Maybe drinking a bottle of

no, I don't know

I wasn't drinking, the usual excuse for that sort of thing. I have no idea why I suddenly went all godly. I wrote philosophical but I don't think that's what I was doing. Blathersophical I need a beta reader. Any hard-asses out there? I'm thinking of using Leslie W's service. She's a real editor and she must not have a real life because she's doing this at the same time she's doing a more-than-full-time job. (I have no idea bout that more-than-full-time thing--only based on what I know about editors.)

Faith. Got it?

It's God theme day! We were talking about the personal God thing once again, a boy and I. He believes, and I said G ood! That can help you and be a true form of strength . . . or so I hear. . . and then later on some random thing by Corn Dog reminded me of the subject again vizzz The idea of of A God Who Knows We, Each of Us, Exist (and actually cares). Nope, I can't get there. If there is such a set up, it'd probably be too Terry Pratchett in my mind. My practically best friend in the world believes that God is watching and that there are angels. She doesn't seem particularly Hallmark Channel about it, and it's based on a thoughtful lifetime raised in religion by a pastor dad. She has said that she can't imagine living without faith, that if that corner of her were ripped out, she'd suffer. Maybe that combo of fear and comfort is enough to keep belief alive--because it feels right, it slips into place that would be howlingly empty other wise. That's

friday four facts about us

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1. We watch too much tv . We figured that out this morning during the very spooky Penis Ads Concurrence Engorgement Convergence!** today. Maybe you noticed it too? The moment that The Streams Crossed? CNN had a Cialis ad, so we switched over to MSNBC and there at the same moment was a Lavitra ad. Now the phamaceutical companies have enough money to make some long-winded ( heh. long .) commercials and so we spent a few seconds switching back and forth and giggling. Then eventually that got boring so we went to another channel. There was Smiling Bob the male enhancement guy with the annoying whistling thing going on. Way. Too. Much. . . and I'm not sure the confluence (streams, don't you know) is good news about our species. 2. More proof: the boys know and sing this song . We'd blame Cousin Brian but they knew it before they spent time with him. 3. We can take ourselves off the Middle School list! It was just a moment of celebration when we realized after three years of

THIRTEEN THINGS ABOUT ROB PREEEEEEEEECE!

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13 things about Rob Preece (my wrist thanks him for writing 'em) 1. Rob is the only guy he knows who actually met his wife by attending Romance Writers of America meetings (he met author Karen Leabo/Kara Lennox at a Dallas Area Romance Authors (DARA) meeting). Karen wouldn't read his books for the first year because she thought they might suck and she'd have to dump him. He, on the other hand, was smart enough to know that a guy who dates a woman who writes romance has the closest thing to a user manual. He read all of her books for Silhouette, Harlequin, Bantam and BooksForABuck.com. 2. Before becoming a writer, Rob worked as a government economist and high-tech product manager. He didn't realize that not all authors earn as much as Stephen King, J.K. Rowling or Nora Roberts. He's since learned, but the lesson hasn't taken yet--he's still convinced that his turn is coming. 3. When he's not writing, Rob is fighting. He's a black belt in Tae Kwon

Another Reason

I've been kind of unhappy about the real world lately. Not my little corner of it, mind you. Just the part I visit now and then. The thing is, when I'm there it's not so bad--the work is actually fun. But I haven't been to work for a while--summer vacation--and I think I have some sort of cumulative horror. I heard we have new Turks coming in, began to snuffle and wrote this. A life of beer and skittles is never going to exist no matter how many people I teach the alphabet.

why I'm not typing much

The pinky side of my left wrist hurts, a spot just below the bump. No numbness yet. This is a new ache--when I type too much, I usually feel it in a shoulder or elbow. I've been doing stretching exercises but without any change for more than a week. At least it hasn't gotten worse. Any advice? Yeah, I know. Stop using the laptop. Any other advice? * * * * Tomorrow I have Thirteen Things about Rob Preece. He's the guy who runs booksforabuck but he writes, too--was a Golden Heart finalist . . .this year? Last year? Year before? These years run together. Heh. Today's post features the two occupational hazards : a slack grasp on reality and a slack grasp in reality (RSI! PU!).

SBD Four things

Some day I will read a book in which: 1. the first wife, now dead, wasn't an angel or crazy or a nymphomaniac killed on her way to meet her lover. 2. the first husband, now dead, had been a decent sex partner. 3. the hero will trust women no more or less than he trusts anyone else. Or maybe he'll be a push-over nice guy who assumes the best of the woman he loves. Huh? What's wrong with leaps of faith? Huh? 4. the hero and/or the heroine won't go all noble. he or she will pursue the other person even if he or she is not Worthy of Him or Her. (SW had the two extremes and I must say even I got sick of Mick's attitude) Unfortunately on my vacation I did not read books that included these plot points. I did read Julia Quinn's latest, the Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever. I also read a whole lot of Terry Pratchett and he couldn't give a flying fuck about Relationships unless it's the undying loyalty The Luggage holds for Two-Flowers. I also started a N

links

A while back Sunny featured porn for women. Entirely work safe, Doug, sorry. (Yup, it's just what you'd expect) And over at the belfry I put up my first note and it's whining. (Yup, it's just what you'd expect)

Sara, heads up: IRRITAINMENT should be in the glossary

I went looking for Casey Serin and his blog "I am facing foreclosure" is gone. Alas, I think, maybe. But it led me to this article and a whole site about Casey started by Haterz: his readers who love to hate the man. from the article: The tension between Serin and his so-called haters has led to an unlikely situation: the very people who loathe him the most also rely on him for a daily source of entertainment. The concept is sometimes called " irritainment," defined as : "Entertainment and media spectacles that are both annoying and compulsively watchable." (The O.J. Simpson trial in 1995 is the most famous example.)

I survived by the skin of my teeth**

We're home. To hell with the boring real world stuff. I figured out how to blog ahead at passionate ink. I wrote the entry days ago and figured out how get it to post at the correct time. Sure, everyone else on the internet has known how to do this sort of thing for months, but come on. For some of us interwebtypes, this is earthshattering stuff. And we want to share with you how, day by day, we're learning all about how to actually post in these goddamn blog things. Content schmontent. Meta's where it's at. Unfortunately we've blown our "what we know about the interwebs" wad for the day. Back to live action (taped earlier): We're enjoying this first person plural thing. A little bit more about our vacation. 1. We ate lunch at a hole in the wall place in Brattleboro VT on our way home today and the food was nearly worth writing home about. We're feeling extremely hip for stumbling across Mole's. The person on the right front (purple shirt) ser

vacation check in

Thunderstorms yesterday meant no splashing in the lake. We hit the Marble Museum and The Maple Syrup Museum instead. I wanted to stay back. No such luck. We didn't visit the inside of the castle though. Too expensive and the one piece of furniture on the page looked appallingly tacky. The outside had a long hill which needed to be rolled down, so several boys got muddy and felt car sick all the way home. Highlights: 1. The all-marble bathrooms in the Marble Museum. 2 . Mr. Doolittle, our animated guide to the Maple Syrup Museum, who spoke in rhyme except when he didn't, quite. Actual highlight: meeting a guy who cares deeply about maple sugaring. There's something contagious about true excitement. The boys managed to slip away to the sampling room while the man talked about how grades of syrup are determined. I witnessed Mike's fanatic streak get tapped [heh. maple syruping joke] when the man mentioned the bacteria that might or might not affect the process. But the

The wilds of Vermont

. . . are tame. I mean look, I'm stealing wi-fi from some unsuspecting neighbor. I think it's because we're too close to NYC. Last month we went further northeast and it was easy to escape our Fellow Man and commune with cows. No motorcycles right outside the door. Probably we'll head to Maine next time...because as much as I whine about having to go on vacation (and shitallmighty, I do whine) I'd rather be somewhere a little less inhabited after all. Unless we're talking a NYC vacation. What I want: Cities=people. Lakes=us and an occasional loon. Ocean=waves. Otherwise I'm not picky. I love the ocean best. Not too much traffic though, thanks. Since this isn't the usual sort of vacation, the guys are downstairs watching some Bourne movie. Cable and DVD at a lake? Pfah. Wait, next time, what I really want is to stay home with the dog, dammit. I spent a while blog hopping just now and am amazed to there are still embers from the last big bloffle. Time to

be back in a week

This time we got Uncle Andrew and Cousin Brian with us. That's an improvement. but still....ugh

dedication...?

I've gotten to the point where I repeat myself in dedications ( for Linda, again ) but I feel like I really have to write something because I resent books that don't have dedications. I always, always flip to see who the author dedicated a book to. I love secret and obscure messages. Long ones seem too pretentious. No dedication feels like the book is mass produced and not personal. I didn't say my resentment was based on reality, okay? Mike doesn't particularly want me to put him in. Not sure why, but okay. He got one anyway-- Somebody To Love . I've already dedicated a story to the dawgs. ( Perfection, which I think of it as Sniff Me .) It's out in print in an anthology so I get to draw a picture of the pups when I sign it--a bonus for me. I was thinking of dedicating my latest book to Trader Joe's frozen raspberries--1.89 a bag--because I love those things. But isn't that worse than no dedication? It's even worse than those "To my editor&qu

the last word on sponges

I asked Mike "Destroyer of Sponges" to look at the comments on bacteria, heating etc. Not for the mockery (I can manage that on my own) but for the science. His note back about Dean's comment: Quoted from pp 120-121 of my course textbook "Microbiology, A Human Perspective" by Nester et al, 5th ed, 2007:"Microwaves do not affect microorganisms directly, but they can kill microbes by the heat they generate in an item. Organisms often survive microwave cooking, however, because the food heats unevenly." Terse only because he's busy grading exams. Generally speaking, there's nothing he likes better than discussing bacteria. His faves are shigella and e coli because he's worked on them. Oh boy! Yes, it's always fun to invite us over for dinner, particularly if you're serving salad, undercooked meat or anything with eggs. (Actually he's not likely to comment unless asked. But if you ask, you better really want to hear an answer)

Thursday Thirteen--Bonnie Dee

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I first mentioned something about Bonnie Dee on my blog here but for months before that, I'd been going around the interwebs telling people Read this book ! Read it immediately, dammit! Anyway, I wrote a squeeing fan girl letter to Bonnie Dee and now I hear from her occasionally. I even got to read two of her books before anyone else. Bone Deep remains my favorite but I feel protective and possessive about a lot of her other books, too. That means that if you hate them and tell me you do, I have to squelch the automatic response of what's your problem? There aren't a lot of authors I feel that way about, not even Summer Devon or Kate Rothwell. Finding Home by Lauren Baker and Bonnie Dee, now in print at Samhain I asked Dee to give me Thirteen Things about herself and here's what she had to say: 1. I love theater and have recently had a novel, “Touring Company” accepted at Samhain. I once played Golde in Fiddler on the Roof. 2. Two of my daughters just moved int

aya, again (or bragging about family, again)

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I keep forgetting to up links to aya-chan's stuff, and she's fun, so now I will. T his is Morpha, a shortie. One of those cool morphing movies, but with pen and ink drawings. She's got an artist mom, an artist grandmom and it shows, says the proud aunt. picture of the artist grandmom (who posed for Soyer in exchange for lessons): This is Aya's ghost movie. No one draws a better outraged sparrow. No one . She lists her cousins (my boys) in the many thanks part and I'm not sure what they did for the script except perhaps argue a lot in front of her. "Rabble of troglobites" and "jackanapes" seems like insults they'd use. When they get going, they tend to sound a little like text translated by google with a thesaurus thrown in for good measure. They also tend to have discussions about trees falling in forests and memories and unmemories. I love the swimming squirrel. These are her Harry Potter Deathly Hallow comix.... that CONTAIN SPOILERS. The