kate rothwell

I think I sometimes like flawed books better than more perfect, polished ones. Like Blindspot, this one I just listened to--it was a lot of fun. It tried to do too much and be too much, but I love it just for making the effort. A big reason to like the book--I found the hero totally appealing. He was a wonderful rogue/goober. The heroine and her journey made sense, usually. You forgave her for almost killing herself with poverty and pain instead of making easier choices. I don't know why I didn't find her as appealing as the hero when she was the stronger, smarter of the two of them. The story of the hero's best friend, Alexander, was harder to take but that's because it was much less light-hearted and the best friend (a black man) was more complex. Alexander might not have fit the tone of the story but he was overall a nice change of pace, lemme tell you. Having the best friend be difficult, angry and vain (all for very good reasons) was such a pleasant surprise. I...

Hey, listen, even if you don't approve of Twitter, this is a good thread for newbie writers. Shannon Stacey (whom I love even if she ignores me 99 percent of the time. No, it's ok. I don't mind ) started it. You just go here and type in #writeradv . Easy! And unlike #queryfail, there isn't a lot of meta-discussion so far. If you look up #queryfail there are thousands of messages about the process and how meaningful/horrible/innovative/boring it was. Not worth the time. Better to read about queryfail on a blog where the good messages--as in useful or funny--are collected.

I'm over at erotic muses today , not fuming about the RITAs. I haven't threatened to withdraw from the RWA for years now. I need to get steamed about something. Got anything for me? All I have is this stupid book I'm writing. These people are boring me and they should stop being assholes. And frankly I don't care if they fall in love or fall off the boat. If only they'd shut up. _________ ** I promise to stop using that word soon, but truthfully, I'm not harping on anonymous's note. That's just a wonderful word. As good as "dickweasel" (whoops got that wrong at first.) Chum just feels good in the mouth even when you're not saying it out loud. Chum. Tastes like "gum" only even juicier. And then for the extra-added-plus you have the fish guts and heads flash through the mind? Yay.

This is funny. Mike found it.

Whoa. This blog is sort of featured. I wish I could frame that post over at Linc's because, dude, it is going to be the only time I'm ever going to be shoved into the same division conference as Neil Gaiman. Does this mean I have to start using punctuation and hunting down missing words** in the blog? Naw, I should have a couple of days ago. It's moot now. And for anyone who wants to know what I think the blog's theme is: Stream of Consciousness Random with Occasional Stabs at Promo. Also forays into fretting and bleeding heart politics. SBD is all Beth's . If you want to see truly elegant Stream of Consciousness, go visit Beth. _____________ ** for instance "to" is a word I can't seem to use/place properly. Always the little shit that trips one up.

good god it's all twitter and facebook's fault. I have only so much fritter time and they're using it all up. But SBD is short and it's Fool, by Christopher Moore a book that is silly fun so far. (it's a retelling of Lear, I suppose it will get tragic eventually, although the ghosts are as randy as anyone else, so even death isn't so horrid.) Wonderful insults, good language play. But seriously, Moore's not kidding when he says in the intro you must avoid this book if you don't like wankery or fuckery. It's not just bawdiness --almost all but not quite -- I'm about half done and characters are growing more interesting and some are almost even fleshed out as they do their wankery and fuckery. Part of the reason it's so good is that I'm listening to it, not reading it. I think it's the sort of book vastly improved by a good reader and Euan Morton is one of my favorite new readers. He's right up there with Simon Jones. Those are some...

I could lie and say I've been writing novels, but actually I've been reading them. Mostly Balogh and they've all blended together in my mind. Lots of healing outdoor passive sex for deeply wounded people who hold back especially when they really should just say what the hell they're thinking. I do like her work but I should not have read so much of it at once. My own books have slowed to a crawl. Too daunting. Plus at the moment I don't like my own style. I keep trying to change it but once I really start plugging away, the way I write slides back to what I'm used to. And then I slide into self pity and then we all slide into bed to watch Cash Cab...or read another Mary Balogh. Time to slide out of here! Time to go running! Time to find other people! I spend too many hours alone with snoring dogs! Now if that isn't gory detail.....well. (To understand why gory is important, see last few comments attached in post below. Every time I stop to think about puttin...