Opening POV

Pages Written: 9!

Recently I noticed that my novels always begin with dialog instead of narrative. Then yesterday I realized for the first time that my novels almost always start in the heroine's POV. The one contemporary exception is Flat Line, in which I start in the hero's POV because the novel is a sequel, and he's the returning character from Vital Signs.

It kind of surprises me that I start novels in the heroine's POV, because generally I prefer writing in the hero's. And when I pick up a book, I tend to get into it more quickly if it starts off in the hero's POV. So why do I start with the heroine? I have no idea. Maybe because when I'm plotting the novel I see it as "the heroine's story." Again, the exception is Flat Line, which I've always pictured as Nate's story more so than the heroine's.

Hmm. Must think on this...

Thursday, September 30, 2004 @ 08:08 AM CST [link]

Whiny

Pages Written: I rewrote the same 6 pages about 10 times, so does that count as 60 pages?

I'm sad. I'm all out of Firefly episodes to watch while I'm on the treadmill. That sucks. I'm so annoyed at the Powers That Be who thought the show should be cancelled. There are certainly worse shows on TV--shows that don't even come close to Firefly in regards to characterization, witty dialog, strong plots...grr.

What is WRONG with people?

Larissa, who is going to whine all the way to the treadmill today...

Wednesday, September 29, 2004 @ 07:41 AM CST [link]

When It Flows

Pages Written: 5

Yesterday I had a lot of things to do. I knew I wouldn't have time to write, but there was a scene in Flat Line that was calling to me. I had to at least sketch it out before I forgot it.

So I sat down and pounded out 5 decent pages in about 10 minutes. It was awesome. Very rarely do pages come to me like that. But for some reason I'm finding that this particular novel has been easy to write. It just flows from my fingertips. I think it's partly because I'm giving myself permission to be gritty and non-PC. I also love my characters. The heroine is a tough, take-no-prisoners kind of gal, and the hero is about as raw as it gets. I have to be careful with him though, or he's going to become "unlikable." (That's for you, Emma! )

He's definitely going to be walking a fine line, so I gotta watch that. But still, I'm having fun with him, and hopefully that'll continue!

Tuesday, September 28, 2004 @ 07:23 AM CST [link]

I Finaled!!!!

Pages Written: 5, plus a few revised pages

In Lori Foster's Brava contest!!!! With its idiotic grammar mistake (still kicking myself for that,) my entry, Signed, Sealed, and Delivered, still finaled! Woo hoo!

Monday, September 27, 2004 @ 09:58 AM CST [link]

A Great Idea

Pages Written: None since last entry, which was only 5 minutes ago...

Nope, I'm not whining about bugs or hurricanes or itchy toes. I wanted to share with you this great idea of Alison Kent's. She made a website for listing author blogs because her own blog sidebar was becoming so unwieldy. I know there are a lot of blogs I read that I haven't added to my own sidebar simply because the list would be so annoyingly long, so the website idea is fantastic.

So go add your blog to the list!

Sunday, September 26, 2004 @ 07:56 AM CST [link]

Mississippi in the Fall

Pages Written: 1, plus a handful of revisions

Ah, the cooler temperatures that finally make it pleasant to be outside. The shorter days that announce the change of season. The thinning of traffic now that the tourists have gone.

The frigging insects that have come from nowhere.

The weather is nice enough now that I COULD be spending a lot of time outside. I COULD be having morning coffee on my back porch. I COULD enjoy a cocktail on my front patio in the evenings. But no. The insects have come.

No-see-ums that attack all limbs at once to bite. Ants that get really, really angry when I water the lawn. Last night I got bit over a dozen times on my big toe, and today it burns, itches, and has swollen to about the size of a golfball. It's driving me INSANE.

But my favorite insect (that's sarcastic, in case you weren't sure ) are the, um, sex bugs. My son learned at school that they are "love bugs," (how sweet) but everyone else calls them sex bugs, screw bugs, or another, more...raw term. They are nasty. They don't bite--at least, I haven't been bitten, and I assure you that if these things DO bite, they WILL bite me.

Anyway, they are flying black things that are about 1/2 inch long. Sometimes you see just one, but mostly you see two stuck together, back to back. The things cover my house, my car...and me when I go outside. Ick. Having a bunch of bugs on you is bad enough. Having a bunch of copulating bugs on you is much more disgusting. I can never decide which insects need to be brushed off first--the biting no-see-ums or the bugs that are using me as a bed.

So anyway, that's life in Mississippi right now. If it isn't hurricanes, it's biting and copulating bugs. Sigh. I miss Michigan!

Sunday, September 26, 2004 @ 07:30 AM CST [link]

The Author Rebuttal--worth it?

Pages Written: 1...plus 10 pages of revisions

So. When an author gathers scathing reviews of one of her books, does it make sense to write a scathing rebuttal in return? Is she defending herself, or alienating readers? I guess it depends on how the rebuttal is written.

There will always be people who hate your work. Just as there will always be people who love it. So will explaining your reasonings behind the novel make those who hate it suddenly change their minds? My guess is no. But apparently Anne Rice thinks so. And I'm not sure that these words of hers are helping matters any:

"If and when I can't write a book on my own, you'll know about it. And no, I have no intention of allowing any editor ever to distort, cut, or otherwise mutilate sentences that I have edited and re-edited, and organized and polished myself.

I fought a great battle to achieve a status where I did not have to put up with editors making demands on me, and I will never relinquish that status. For me, novel writing is a virtuoso performance. It is not a collaborative art."

Every author I've ever spoken with has agreed that editors are a valuable part of publishing a novel. Yes, there are horror stories, but from what I've heard, a good editor is worth their weight in gold. Am I wrong? I could be. I'm not published.

But my point is that I think that while Anne Rice has the right to defend her work, it seems pointless. And her screeching speech might actually hurt her in the long run. It doesn't seem well thought-out, but rather a knee-jerk reaction written on the spur of the moment while still running high on emotion. For example, she contradicts herself in these two paragraphs:

"Now to the book. Allow me to point out: nowhere in this text are you told that this is the last of the chronicles, nowhere are you promised curtain calls or a finale, nowhere are you told there will be a wrap- up of all the earlier material."

and...

"I'll never challenge your democratic freedom to do so, and yes, I'm answering you, but for what it's worth, be assured of the utter contempt I feel for you, especially those of you who post anonymously (and perhaps repeatedly?) and how glad I am that this book is the last one in a series that has invited your hateful and ugly responses."

Gotta love the fact that she also feels contempt for those who don't like her book.

Again, something that may be more hurtful to her career than helpful. Then again, the buzz over her Amazon.com rebuttal may send people scrambling for the book in question just to see why people have hated it.

I don't know. I think I just see her rebuttal as something she didn't need to do. I read through the reviews of Blood Canticle, and yes, there are a LOT of scathing words. But most of the negative reviews are by fans who have followed Anne through her career and are disappointed in the quality of this particular book. They admit that she's usually brilliant, but that this book is terrible--poorly written, poorly characterized, and just plain awful. Many blame it on the death of her husband. Many don't think the real Anne Rice wrote it at all.

I think that a lot of the negative reviews are a result of frustrated fans who have seen their favorite characters like Lestat turned into something different and less compelling. They feel let down, and their emotions are showing. You see it all the time in sports. The biggest fans are the biggest jerks when their teams lose. But they still keep going back to the games.

So it seems to me like there are a lot of legitimate complaints that Anne is ignoring in favor of blasting the very people who love her books--but who are angry about getting an inferior product when they are used to so much more. Personally, I liked her early books, but they began to get...weird. Not as well written. (Gee, maybe that happened around the time she insisted upon no editor???)

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out!

Friday, September 24, 2004 @ 08:14 AM CST [link]

I'm a Hermit!

Pages Written: 10 pages of revisions

Thanks to Steph! And yeah, the results came as a huge shock. *snorts*


You are the Hermit card. The Hermit has chosen a
solitary spiritual path. He shines light on his
inner self and, by this means, gains wisdom.
The Hermit's home is the natural world and it
is by being in tune with that world that he
learns the laws of nature and learn how they
operate within himself. His path is a lonely
one as he lives in silence and has for
companionship only his own internal rhythms.
But those crossing his path are touched by his
light and wisdom. Though often alone, he
manages nevertheless to instruct those who meet
him and guides those who chose to follow him on
a path towards enlightenment. Image from The
Aleister Crowley Tarot deck.
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/thoth/


Which Tarot Card Are You?

Thursday, September 23, 2004 @ 07:52 AM CST [link]

Ivan the Terribly Persistent

Pages Written: 3

We're getting clobbered by Ivan. Again. It's remnants have reorganized in the gulf of Mexico, and though it hasn't reached tropical depression/storm status, it's causing high winds, rain, storms, and floods here. Wanna know how often something like this happens? Not very. It's because I moved here. Seriously. This is my luck. People along the gulf coast would lynch me if they knew where to find me...

Wednesday, September 22, 2004 @ 02:40 PM CST [link]

Dialog or Narrative?

Pages Written: 8 pages of revisions

Yesterday I was going through a bunch of my old manuscripts and I noticed something. I always--always--start off a novel with dialog. Out of curiosity, I scanned about two dozen books in my TBR pile and found that only 2 began with dialog. Why? Is beginning a novel with dialog some sort of unwritten, unspoken taboo that I haven't heard?

I dunno. It's just weird that none of my 7 romance novels and novellas have started with anything but dialog. I guess that when I'm visualizing the beginning of my stories I just picture someone speaking. The one exception is my fantasy novel, which begins with a very bloody scene and descriptive narrative.

So how do YOU start your novels off? And why? I'm curious now!

Ooh, and I finally got my website updated!!! I put it off because I'm really clueless about website stuff, but thanks to The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Web Page and the Coffee Cup FTP that is also an easy to use html editor, I managed to create web pages and update existing pages.

So check out my updated homepage and my updated novels page, which includes new blurbs, excerpts, and recipes. Yay!!!!

Wednesday, September 22, 2004 @ 09:16 AM CST [link]

Ahoy, Matey!

Pages Written: About 10 pages of revisions


You Are A Pirate!


What Type Of Swashbuckler Are You?
brought to you by Maddog Varuka & Dawg Brown

And for more pirate fun, go here and put your website addy (or any website addy) where it says, and it'll translate your site into "pirate speak!" Kinda fun!

Tuesday, September 21, 2004 @ 06:58 AM CST [link]

Home!!!!

Pages Written: ROTFLMAO

I'm home!!! I'm so excited to be back after one of the most stressful experiences of my life.

Getting things ready by myself was NOT fun. Because we didn't have boards for the windows, I had to tape them, wrap the furniture in plastic, put all breakables and valuables in windowless rooms, disconnect the computer, wrap it in plastic and put it in the bathtub, prepare water, prepare the freezer with frozen water, sandbag, etc.

Then came "evacuation" (a word which will forever cause me to break out in a rash, heart palpitations, and hyperventilation.) It was hell. Sheer hell. It took 10 hours to get somewhere that should have taken 2 1/2. It took 7 hours to go SIXTY miles at one point. Sixty miles of bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go traffic. It was like this:

Roll 2 feet. Stop. Roll three feet. Stop. Roll one foot. Stop for ten minutes. Roll 20 feet! Stop for another 10 minutes. Roll 2 feet. Stop. Roll 4 feet. Stop. This went on for SIXTY miles!!!! My feet were cramping, my butt was numb, I had to pee, the cats were yowling, my son was hungry...and I couldn't pull over or I'd never get back onto the road. I went through 1/2 tank of gas in those 60 miles. But I wasn't about to stop for gas. The gas stations (all two of them) had lines 20 cars deep.

So after 60 miles of this, I'd had it. It was now 12:30 a.m., and I was exhausted. So I got off the main highway and took a little backroad bumpkin highway that would get me to my hotel. It was dark and windy and scary (backwoods Mississippi-- I think there are still cannibals living there,) but there was no one on the road. I made excellent time.

I finally got to the hotel at 3:00 a.m., and had to share a room (two double beds) with two other women, three small kids, and two cats. It was...interesting, but at least I was no longer driving. The next morning I lucked out; people were checking out of the hotel to evacuate even farther north, so I got my own room. I could have stayed in the other room because one of the adults left to go north, and I enjoyed the kids and the other Coast Guard wife, but my poor cats were too traumatized. (Yes, I basically got a hotel room for them, since I spent more time downstairs in the other room!)

That night the hurricane hit the gulf coast, and I stayed up all night watching. Then in the morning, Ivan moved northward to where I was staying, so we got to experience category 1 hurricane winds. Lots of damage, power out, etc. It was cool. I mean, if I have to leave my house and miss the hurricane experience, I want something exciting to happen. (That's the weather freak in me.)

So anyway, I drive home using the back roads again--screw the "evacuation" routes--and the damage was incredible. Houses with roofs ripped off, broken and uprooted trees...and I drove through little towns where people still had OUTHOUSES! Yep, if the residents weren't living in moble homes or trailers, they had shacks with outhouses.

So I get home this weekend, and my house is amazingly intact. My fence took some damage and my yard is full of debris, but that's it. I'm SO relieved and happy. I have lots of work to do to clean up and de-hurricane-ify the house, but I'm not going to complain. It could have been MUCH worse.

I'm also thrilled to have electricity. Lots of people in Ocean Springs don't. My cable is messed up, but I'll live. I also made a new friend out of the whole thing, so all in all, it was worth it.

So anyway, I hope everyone else stayed safe and had a productive writing weekend while I was going through my own personal idea of hell.

But maybe now I can finally get back to normal--while keeping one eye on the tropics and storms that just keep forming!

Monday, September 20, 2004 @ 08:44 AM CST [link]

Wish us Luck

Pages Written: Screw that!!!

Okay, this will be my last post for a while. I'm getting out of here today. We should be feeling the effects of Ivan this afternoon, and we'll be experiencing hurricane conditions within 36 hours. My neighbors are boarded up and packing their vehicles. I'm doing my best to get everything done by this afternoon. Not sure when I'll be back up online. Electricity will probably be down for days if not weeks.

Take care, everyone!

Tuesday, September 14, 2004 @ 08:21 AM CST [link]

Fly-by

Pages Written: Yeah, right

This is hell. I managed to fill 5 sand bags before a massive thunderstorm rolled through, turning my sand/dirt to mud. Wal-Mart's shelves were practically empty--no batteries, no canned goods, no water. Fortunately I was pretty good on those things. They're getting emergency supplies in tomorrow and staying open 24/7 until they have to shut down.

All plywood is gone from home improvement stores. All my neighbors are boarded up. All hotels all the way north to Memphis (I'm on the Mississippi coast) are booked. All non-residents are being asked to evacuate tonight. This SUCKS.

I can only hope Bryan gets to come home for the clean up...

Monday, September 13, 2004 @ 06:07 PM CST [link]

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas!

Pages Written: 15

I go through periods where I have NO ideas for stories. None. It freaks me out because I think I'll never write another novel because I have no decent ideas. And then all of a sudden, ideas flood my brain, and that's almost worse than having none at all, because now I've got all these ideas in my head and I can't possibly write them all at once. But I keep thinking and plotting and wanting to work on them. So frustrating. I've got four new story ideas all fighting with the novels I'm working on now. Grr.

Of course, I may not be working on anything for quite a while. We have a hurricane coming. I'm SERIOUSLY freaked about it. Weather Channel models now show Ivan (still annoyed by the fact that some idiot put that name on the hurricane name list,) making landfall near the Florida-Alabama border. That's close enough to us for serious effects, and it's also close enough to us that just a small shift westward (which is this storm's trend) will put it on top of us.

I don't normally freak out over things like this. I'm one of those nuts who loves severe weather (gee, doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I've been working in weather for 14 years, huh? ) so I'd be happy to stay, but not with a kid. I'm also seriously freaked because our house is brand new, and I really don't want to lose it. Argh! This is just my luck.

So today I'm going out to buy storm supplies, including sand bags for the doors. I wish I could board up the windows, but with Bryan gone I can't. I really need help for that.

I'll be keeping a close eye on things, and will probably be evacuating tomorrow night or Wednesday. Expect lots of panicked posts until then!

Monday, September 13, 2004 @ 07:04 AM CST [link]

Writing Sex

Pages Written: 6

I got another 8 pages written yesterday. I'm so excited! I'm really having fun with this novella.

Which brings me to the subject: Writing Sex.

I used to dread the idea of writing sex. Sex scenes scared me. They were torture to write. It took me about 5 times longer to write a sex scene than to write any other scene. So why did I write them? And why did I decide that I wanted to write even spicier stuff like Temptations and Blazes and Bravas?

Because that's what I like to read. I could write novels that are easier for me, that contain less sex, but why would I do that if I don't enjoy reading them? So I'm not writing sex because I feel my novels need it to sell--I'm writing sex because the types of books I like to read and write require a spicier slant.

And you know what? I'm growing much more comfortable with writing sex, and I'm getting to the point where I actually enjoy it. They still take longer than the average scene, but that's because it's so important to write them with care to keep them from sounding like a sex manual or porn. Getting the right emotional element woven in takes time.

So although the sex scenes still take longer to write than the average scene, I'm enjoying writing them now. And they are coming easier for me. I actually look forward to the coming sex scene rather than dread it. Yay!

Friday, September 10, 2004 @ 07:28 AM CST [link]

Love it!

Pages Written: 2

Puppy Shoots Man With Gun, Saves Littermates.

I want to adopt that puppy and name it Trigger. Good boy!

Thursday, September 09, 2004 @ 01:48 PM CST [link]

In the Groove

Pages Written: 8!

Yesterday I thought I'd be lucky to get two pages written. Those two pages were WORK. I struggled with every word. And then I started a new scene in a new POV, and suddenly, the words flowed and I managed 6 pages in a short period of time. I love it when that happens!

Now I must catch up on blogs--I've been too focused on other things to do much online for the last couple of days, so now I must catch up. Yay!

Thursday, September 09, 2004 @ 08:49 AM CST [link]

Taped To My Monitor

Pages Written: A measly 3

In my new issue of Writer's Digest (a magazine I don't particularly find useful but bought as one of those school fundraising things,) I found a quote by Lynda Sandoval that I taped to my monitor.

"Every serious author must develop a my-life-depends-upon-it level of perseverance."

I forget that sometimes--like on days when I'm tired from getting up early to get my son off to school. Or on days when my allergies are killing me. Or on days that contain the letters M,T,W,F, and S.

But now I have that little piece of paper right there in front of me. No excuses now!

Today I'm finishing up my novella characters' first sex scene, which turned out to be pretty decent. But while writing it, I noticed a pattern of mine. I tend to write two sex scenes in a row--the first always in the heroine's POV, and the second in the hero's. I think it's because my heroes are always tortured in some way, so putting the second scene in their POV allows me to leave an emotional lovemaking scene in a powerful way.

But something is different in my novella. I DIDN'T write a second sex scene in the hero's POV. I couldn't figure out why the story didn't feel the same as my others, why I didn't need a second scene in his POV. Then I realized that it's because for the first time, my hero isn't tortured. He's pretty normal. This time, the heroine has issues. Big, weird ones. It'll be interesting to see how this novella turns out. I think it could be either really good...or really, really weird!

Wednesday, September 08, 2004 @ 10:46 AM CST [link]

Upside-down

Pages Written: Big, Fat, 0

Well, I just dropped my husband off at the airport. I'm sad. I know I say I'm all strong and independant, but I DO miss my husband when he's gone. The first couple of days are the worst, and then my son and I get into a routine that makes things easier. But I still get lonely. Expect a lot of bored, rambling blog entries!

I haven't gotten any writing done yet today, at least, not any relating to fiction. I did do something else, something that I'm hoping will benefit my friend (the one who had the accident) and her husband. I don't know if it'll pan out, but if it does I'll let you know.

Okay, must get some writing done while keeping one eye on the news. Hurricane Ivan looks nasty, and the southerly track gives it a good chance of entering the Gulf. (And what genius put a name like Ivan on the hurricane name list??? Helloooo!!! You're just asking for it to be a bad one so it'll forever be known as Ivan the Terrible. Grr.)

So anyway, keep your fingers crossed that Ivan doesn't hit the Gulf, because the warm waters here will likely turn Ivan's strength up a few notches, and I'm really not wanting to lose my brand new house. I'm not wanting ANYONE to lose their house, so let's hope the thing miraculously fizzles out or turns north!

Tuesday, September 07, 2004 @ 11:58 AM CST [link]

Website Update Research

Pages Written: 6

Since I didn't feel like writing this weekend--too much cold medicine--I did some research for my website. See, I love my website, but the home page has always seemed a little plain because I couldn't decide what I wanted. Well, now I'm ready to try and jazz it up just a little, so I spent some time surfing around, looking at author websites--specifically unpublished authors, since published authors often have book covers and things like that on their home page, and obviously, I don't have a book cover!

Anyway, one place I stopped in during my idea-gathering adventure was the site of the company that designed my website in the first place, Dreamforge Media. And I found the MOST awesome templates for sale. I want them all! I mean, I love my site, but these are just so cool!

Check out this one, called Chicks Rule. Oh my gosh, if I wrote fun, hip novels, I'd want this site in a heartbeat. But I've always liked retro-feel sites. Isn't it just...swell?

And this one, called Hippy Chick. I so wanna write chick lit or sassy, Sex and the City type stuff so I can have this site.

The other one I really like is this one, Salmon. Okay, it could probably use a new name but I love the layout. Love where the author picture goes.

There are several others that I really like there--Charming Checks, Fun Hearts, Paint Swishes...but the ones I mentioned above I just fell in love with. I want to buy them just to have them!

Anyway, I'm still searching through author websites for ideas. (And for what NOT to do!) I'll share later! Have a great--and safe!--Labor Day!

Monday, September 06, 2004 @ 08:41 AM CST [link]

Feeling icky

I managed to catch the ick my husband or son has. I'm pretty sure they have two different things, so with my luck, I caught them both and then the two different diseases mutated inside me, and now I'm the host of something new and terrible.

Because that's my luck.

Anyway, sick or not, I took the quiz I found on Sasha's site, and this is what I got:


Jaguar Spirit Calls To You!
Jaguar's Wisdom
Includes:


Seeing the roads within chaos

Understanding the patterns of chaos

Moving without fear in the darkness

Facilitating soul work

Empowering oneself

Moving in unknown places

Shapeshifter

Psychic sight




Animal Spirit Guides ~ Which One Calls To You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Sunday, September 05, 2004 @ 08:27 AM CST [link]

Exciting News!

Pages Written: 6

No, I didn't sell a book or sign with an agent, but it's a cool thing, anyway.

Yesterday an associate editor for Rose & Thorn Ezine contacted me for permission to reprint an article I wrote for Writing-World. So my article, "Partly Cloudy, Scattered Showers: Setting the Scene with Weather," will appear in Rose & Thorn's December (winter) issue!

What's so cool is that this ezine has a large readership, and it's won several awards, so I'll be getting my name and website out there. Of course, that doesn't mean much since I'm unpublished, so I really need to work on getting myself a contract before December.

Oh, and this is what the editor said about my website:

"You have an excellent website - very nicely designed and easy to navigate."

So once again, thank you to Bekke and Dreamforge Media for my website!

Now I must come up with a 3-sentence bio to send Rose and Thorn. Can you hear me groan? Writing bios scares me!

Friday, September 03, 2004 @ 06:58 AM CST [link]

Fried Green Tomatoes

Pages Written: 4

Well, the Coast Guard boat function went better than I expected. I wasn't TOO miserable, and none of the wives whined. A couple of them were actually really cool.

And on the way home we stopped by a little French-Cajun cafe and had the best fried green tomatoes I've ever had. Yum!

Work on the novella has been slow but steady. I probably won't get much done over the next few days because Bryan is off work until Tuesday, when he flies out to pick up his ship. Trying to write when he's home is like trying to turn a greased doorknob. It's useless. He hovers. He gets bored and wants to go places. He gets bored and wants to do stuff around the house. He gets bored and wants the computer. (See why it's good when he's gone? )

I read a really interesting article today, thanks to Sylvia and Alison. The article, In Defense of Series Romance, had me nodding my head in several places.

I enjoy series romance. Well, I enjoy well-written series romance. Yes, there are terrible single-title romance as well as bad serial romances, but for some reason, when a series romance is bad, it's really bad. It's as if the shorter length causes the awfulness to magnify or something. But the same applies to good series romance. The good ones are great.

That's why this paragraph really resonated with me:

"To me, there's something pure about the series format. The shorter length leaves less room for digressions. Increasingly I read single-titles that don't develop the romance any better than a series book does. Instead, the extra pages are simply filled with extraneous material. More secondary characters. More subplots. Side romances. Extended suspense elements. Padding. In general, I find that series books do a better job keeping the focus where it should be: on a few specific characters and their story. That's what I want to read about. To be caught up in the lives of these people and their story. Bigger books often don't - or can't - give the people at its core the attention they deserve. Series books do. I'd take most of Suzanne Brockmann's series books, which focus on telling an actual romance, over one of her overly busy, how-much-can-I-cram-into-one-book single-titles."

Agreed, right down to Suzanne Brockmann. I love her category romances but have been less than impressed with her single-titles.

Another paragraph I think I actually nodded and shouted "yes!" at:

"The whole point of the series lines is to give those books an identity and let readers know what they're getting when they pick up. Yet these days, readers never really know what they're going to get. Pick up all the books in a line on any given month and the quality will likely be all over the place: a good book, a horrendous one, a mediocre one, and who knows what else. The variations in quality are basically destroying lines from within. When you can read two books from the same line that feel like completely different creatures, it's hard to define what that line is. Is a Silhouette Intimate Moments a slapdash suspense story with undeveloped characters and an obvious plot, or is it a book that really takes the time to develop its characters and tell a compelling story? Is a Blaze a sexually intense story that pushes the envelope, or is it a string of lame, lukewarm sex scenes connected by a contrived, silly excuse for a plot?"

EXACTLY! This has always been my major complaint about category romance. I can't get consistent quality or tone or story with some of the lines. I've stopped buying by the line and started buying by author, because at least that way I'll know what to expect.

Anyway, check out the article if you already haven't!

Off to try and get in a couple of pages before Bryan wakes up.

Thursday, September 02, 2004 @ 08:13 AM CST [link]

Busy, Busy

Pages Written: 5

I've got a busy day ahead of me. First, the torture machine otherwise known as the treadmill. Then I've got to get my son's school fundraiser stuff together. I had to buy and renew a bunch of magazines that we didn't need just so he wouldn't feel like a total loser. He's only in second grade. How many more years of this?

He's also coming down with some sort of illness. I always know because he gets spots on his face. And he's got a lot of spots. I sent him to school because he feels fine, but I'm guessing that by tomorrow he'll be miserable. Poor thing. I hate it when he's sick.

And this afternoon I get to play Friendly Coast Guard Officer's Wife. My husband's boat crew is getting together so the families can meet before the guys fly off to pick up their new boat, the Shamal, which is currently in Virginia. I usually try to avoid get-togethers like this, but because my husband is now an officer and because he's second in command of the boat, I have to go play nice with the other wives, most of whom are VERY young and VERY new to military life, so I'm supposed to have all kinds of helpful advice for them. I don't mind that--I was once a new Coast Guard wife, and I appreciated all the help I got from the "veterans."

But some of the wives make me crazy. They are the insecure ones who can't handle their husbands being gone for more than a day, let alone for the two month patrols this new boat will be handling. Heck, the boat could be gone for much longer than that if it gets called to Iraq or to some terrorist-threatened port.

So I'm not the best person to give these women advice. I'm not that sympathetic. I've dealt with my husband being gone for several months at a time while I stayed home with a kid and a full-time job, and I managed just fine, even though every major illness or accident has happened to us while Bryan was gone. My advice? Deal with it.

Yes, I'm a never-empty well of compassion.

Wednesday, September 01, 2004 @ 08:54 AM CST [link]