Transylvanian Inspiration

Congratulations to Nikki, who was chosen via random.org as the prize winner! Thanks everyone for participating, and good luck with the prizes at the other blog's and the rest of Barbara's party!

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Today begins Barbara Vey's 5th Anniversary Party, celebrating her blog, Beyond the Book, at Publisher's Weekly. I've joined with Lisa Kessler, Rachel Firasek, Kinley Baker, Sarah Makela, Bella Street, Linda Wisdom, and Chris Marie Green to give away a Kindle AND a $50 Amazon gift card AND whatever swag Lisa can fit into the package! Go comment on Barbara's post today and be in the running to win!

Also go check out tie-in posts at my fellow author's blogs:

• Lisa Kessler
• Rachel Firasek
• Chris Marie Green/Christine Cody
• Sarah Makela 
• Bella Street 
• Kinley Baker
• Linda Wisdom

The anniversary party paranormal day theme is Transylvania. That is all well and good for people like Lisa, whose characters are vampires. But how could I tie my goddesses in?

Uh...how about by talking about Hungarian goddesses? Yeah, I was amazed by the obviousness, too. Only took me four-point-seven minutes to think of it.

So Hungarian mythology is not, I think, all that well known in the United States. Certainly not as well known as Greek/Roman and Viking mythology. But in all fairness, it's hard to name superheroes and comic book characters after Boldogasszony (goddess of motherhood) or Boszorkány (a supernatural witch, she'd play the villain in a comic book). Those names don't roll off the tongue of non-Hungarians. (Note: time-limited research is from that unreliable cauldron of interesting stuff, Wikipedia.)

Hungarian myth is heavy on the gods, and even heavier on demons. But it's entirely possible that some of my Goddesses Rising have this ancestry. Not that they know it. It's kind of hard to do genealogy that far back, so no modern goddesses know exactly from whom they're descended.

Transylvania has a dark and moody reputation, but honestly, it's gorgeous country. I mean, look at this!

© Lenard denes, used with permission via GNU Free Documentation license

Who wouldn't want to visit there? During the day, you can hike in the gorgeousness, meet friendly locals, and collect unique memorabilia. At night, the looming hills and fog and shadows will cloak the vamps and demons the region is famous for. Best of everything!

Have you ever been to Transylvania, or any other part of the country? What part of the world do you associate with the supernatural? Comment here to WIN a copy of Megan Hart's Collide and an Under the Moon coffee mug (with a couple of other seekrit goodies thrown in). Don't forget to go to Barbara Vey's blog party for a chance to win the BIG prizes, and hop on over to my fellow authors' blogs for chances to win additional goodies. Have fun!

On My Way to RWA

I'm getting ready to go to RWA National next week. (For the non-writers who read this blog, that's the Romance Writers of America conference.) Some of my fellow attendees had a 15-page planning document weeks ago. Some were so overwhelmed with what they needed to do, they just kept buying shoes. I'm somewhere in the middle.

Yes, I have a four-sheet spreadsheet with a color-coded schedule and all my packing planned out. But that only came together this week. I still have to sort through a half-inch-thick folder of papers—untouched because I had a long to-do list of things that I needed off my desk before I leave. I still have to practice my pitch and research my pitchees, and read through the book I'm pitching so I remember all the details they might ask me about.

But I'm close to ready. I bought a dress for the Harlequin Black and White Ball, and borrowed shoes and a purse from Number One. I know, I can't believe it either. She has big feet, but they're the 15-year-old feet of a normal-sized teenager. My big feet are 40 years old and have been through two pregnancies and support a not-normal-sized person. The style of the shoe, though, makes them fit perfectly.

The only problem is that they're kitten heels. Which is excellent, because my other "fancy dress" shoes are nearly three inches, and I don't want my feet to hurt like that for three events (the Carina and Harlequin parties one night and the awards ceremony another night). But I'm prone to turning my ankle while wearing flip-flops, so I'm a little nervous about that possibility on these teeny heels. When it happens, I generally go to the ground, and not very gracefully. So I'll be holding my breath all night for two nights. Especially the one where I have to go out of the hotel.

I think I've bought all the little things I needed, mainly travel stuff for efficient packing. I'm not flying, but I don't want bulky stuff in my suitcase, either. Plans are being finalized, and now I just need to find the train station before I'm in a time crunch, and I'm all set!

My goal for this conference is networking. I'll be meeting authors and editors from Carina and Entangled, members of YARWA, and old friends, some of whom I've never met in person. I have official editor and agent appointments and some opportunities for informal meet-and-greets, as well as multiple volunteering duties. So my plan is to build my professional presence a little.

And to have fun! I've added karaoke one night and hanging in the bar with some people another and I expect a few dinners out. The hotel is on Times Square, so there will be a lot to choose from, dining-wise! And since my TBR pile is dwindling, I'm eager to get my hands on some new books. If you live in NYC, come on over to the Marriott Marquis on Tuesday night from 5:30 to 7:30. There's a gigantic, 500+ author booksigning, with all the proceeds going to literacy. It's open to the public!

I'm finishing writing this at 2:00 a.m. Friday morning, but I'm setting it for Sunday, the day before I leave. I'll be gone for a week, likely with no Internet access. Pray for me. :)

Blogging is the Last Thing I Should Be Doing

But come on! It's been...I don't even want to look to see how long it's been since I blogged. I'll spare you the apologies and excuses we all give when we go too long between posts. I know that's tedious, and honestly, you probably don't care.

So.

What SHOULD I be doing instead of blogging?

1. Revising Full Fusion, my NaNoWriMo book, to fix the scene set at Gillette Stadium, where I stopped Saturday to do a little scene-setting research, and to fix the parts that are stupid, because her friends would really not accept the truth so easily, and stuff like that.

2. Continuing writing Full Fusion, adhering to NaNo rules (i.e. no editing), because after driving 839 miles in two days, I'm 7500 words behind my goal.

3. Laying out in a spreadsheet all therapy charges, insurance allowances, insurance payments, and our payments, because I think the PT office is screwing me (unintentionally, it's just super-complicated and this is not a very well organized bill).

4. Researching and ordering Number One's contacts.

5. Updating my website (soooooooooo far behind on that!).

So there, that's my goals for the week. Wish me luck!

Soothing the Soul

I got lots and lots of bad news today. On a normal day, it would send me crashing to the floor in despair. But today, I'm riding on this:


(video courtesy Megan Hart)

So it only stings a little.

Megan wrote eloquently and beautifully about our trip, so I hesitate to write my own thoughts here. But I'm gonna try, with the caveat that she's just better than me. :)

I've said here many times that I'm a music moron. I've never been big into music, rarely ventured in my "younger" years beyond Top 40, and only attended three concerts in my entire life (Billy Joel in 1989 because a friend had tickets, Nickelback for Number One's birthday one year, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra 7 times, but it was essentially the same thing all 7, so it only counts as one :) ). I've never reacted to a musician the way I've reacted to Jason Manns.

Cynics might say it's because of his tenuous connection to Supernatural. It's true that's how he came to my attention, and I did first meet him at a Salute to Supernatural convention. But there are other musicians (like Steve Carlson) associated with the show about which I'm so obsessive passionate, and they haven't had the same effect. Carlson is fine, I have a couple of his songs, but that's it.

Jason Manns is totally different. The opening notes of his guitar set up my anticipation. His voice melts my bones, until he growls, and then it's shiver time. Motorcycles and honeyed clouds. It's like aural serotonin. Then there's what he sings about. I love his covers, because he takes familiar songs and makes them his own (I know, nothing unique about that, it's just that it's HIS voice). But I love his original stuff even more. "Journey" describes how I feel as a writer. "Perfect Spot" is how I try to see my life as a whole. And I'm a romance writer, so how can I not thrill to "Without You"?

A lot of things we love can diminish under exposure or examination, but not this. First, I share this love with friends, and that always boosts it exponentially:

Picture stolen from Megan Hart because it's the best I've looked in years! LOL

Being with them made the trip, and the dinner, and being so close to the stage you can touch it (eat our foresight, bitches! :)) so much fun by itself, I never wanted it to end. Even without the music.

Meeting Jason, though, is the ultimate enhancement to his music. Some musicians are jerks, or divas, or full of themselves, or so shy/introverted they seem like one or all of the above. Jason's sincere, friendly, engaging, sweet to people who act like idiots (no, I don't mean us, though some other people might, it's all a matter of perspective! LOL), and patient when you're trying to take a picture and Smith closes her eyes three times in a row.

This was the third performance I got to see. The first was great, but in a well-lit room packed with people, which makes it harder to sink into the music. The second was slightly disappointing, because his awesomeness was obscured by (incredibly rude) loud talkers in the room, and the lateness/time hogginess of the performers before him (which I actually didn't mind until I discovered it meant Jason's set was limited to, like, four songs), and the poor quality of the sound system.

The Tin Angel was none of those things! Excellent venue, if you ever get an opportunity to see someone perform there, take it. And eat at Serrano first, so you can get a reserved table up front. And call for reservations as SOON as you know you want to go, and you'll be RIGHT in front.



Anyway, the sound was professional and clear, the crowd was all there specifically for Jason so any rudeness was only mildly annoying instead of infuriating, and he had the night to himself so we got two sets of I-lost-track-of-how-many songs. The only way it could have been more perfect was if he had his new CD ready. I wait with bated breath.

So thank you, Megan, Vicki, and Misty, for another wonderful night, and heartfelt thanks, Jason, for helping me forget that I'm supposed to be in a sucky mood today. :)

Let Me Be Random

I'm ba-ack! Yay.

So I've traveled a lot this summer. Tennessee for a week, Maryland for a soccer game, DC two days in a row for a booksigning and then professional meetings, New York and back, and then Myrtle Beach. The longer trips put us through West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. That's a lot of states in 7 weeks.

What I've found really interesting is that gas prices have been essentially the same everywhere I went, even New York City. I've been amazed by that. Of course, I made that observation, then got home and gas here in Podunkville, PA, is 20 cents a gallon higher than it was yesterday in Myrtle Beach, Ultra-Commercial Vacationville. That's, like, opposite how things usually are.

Most of you probably don't pay attention, but if you look, you'll see this post was put up around 2:30 a.m.-ish. I got up this morning, did some chores, and spent several hours working (both household and professional stuff). I didn't do the four most important things on my list before the family talked me into a movie, and I had to do grocery shopping (yes, I live in the freakin' grocery store!!!). Then I made dinner. I came back and did two of the important things, but it was 10:30 and my brain was fogged, so doing the other two important things would be stupid. They need a sharp brain. So I brainstormed with a friend who's writing proposals for her publisher, and started catching up on blog reading. Which I've just completed (almost), and it inspired me to blog.

But now I feel I wasted four hours of what could have been productive time. It wouldn't have been. Revisions and critiques are a lot harder than reading blogs. Especially when I don't comment.

Then I felt guilty, because Jessica/jade_kadir did a meme that said I was one of the three people she talks to most online, and with vacation and busyness that led to late reading, I've been very silent lately. And Gail/un_conscience said no one seemed interested in her SPN recaps, and I totally am, but never commented on them...ref. vacation and busyness and reading several days after the post went up.

But even when I'm not busy, I don't comment much, on any of the blogs I read. Sometimes it's because I tend to read them late at night, like I did tonight, and that generally means tired brain = can't think of pithy comments. Sometimes I don't even need that excuse, I just don't have anything to contribute. But it doesn't mean the people I'm reading are shouting into the wilderness. I'm always entertained and they are always making a connection, even if they don't know it.

I need to become better about telling them.

I saw two movies this weekend. Friday, while J and Number One saw GI Joe, Number Two and I saw Aliens in the Attic. I was pleasantly surprised. It was funny, and decently acted, and far, far better than, say, the Hannah Montana movie. Today Number Two talked Daddy into seeing that with her, and Number One and I went to (500) Days of Summer. I knew it was one of those typically downer-topiced indies, but I've loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt since Third Rock from the Sun and Zooey Deschanel is decent. I found the movie delightful, because it did three things:

1. Used a non-linear timeline to break up the downer stuff with happy stuff.

2. Made the downer stuff funny, even while it was tragic.

3. Ended on a high note.

So definitely worth the price of a ticket.

The downside to taking vacation at the beginning of August is that when you get back, the month is nearly half gone. I know, the math doesn't compute, we were only gone 8 days, but yeah. I have 22 days to my deadline, and must finish the paid critique before then, too, and the schedule is full of soccer and back-to-school stuff, and if I have time to blog at all, it will probably be at 2:42 a.m. every time.

I know. I can see you wincing. Me, too.

All in Suzuki Life of Manns

I left with some friends at noonish yesterday to head to NYC, got home at 4:05 this morning, and got up just before noonish today. It was a rockin' 24 hours!

First, huge thanks to Megan for driving into NYC, which is always an experience. We shall never forget her creative curses thrown at other drivers, many of whom also had out-of-state plates but jumped on the "moron city driver" bandwagon with relish.

Second, nearly as huge thanks to my friends. How often can people spend 16 hours together, non-stop, and not only not run out of things to talk about, but never get annoyed with each other or have any kind of tension? You guys rock harder than the bands did!

So. The bands.

The venue, Sullivan Hall, was fine. Standing only, which was annoying but tolerable, especially since we got there at 6:45 or so and there was hardly anyone there. The sound was kind of bad, but we were right up front, so everything sounded mostly okay to us, except when there was feedback.

Ace in Blind was a pretty decent rock band from New Haven, who thanked their friends and family for coming down for the gig. So cute. Sad that they didn't have more people there, but we helped make up for it by buying their CD. I also got their T-shirt for Number One, and told her wearing a shirt for an obscure band makes her look cool. Or she could tell her friends it's a band her mom went to see in NYC, which would make me look cool. But she said that would make her look like a dork. Oh, well.

Next was Andy Suzuki, who played with The Method, I think he said. He had a high, sweet voice, very emotional lyrics, and tons of energy. The band was really interesting, with the typical guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums, but also another guy who did all kinds of eclectic percussion, a backup soloist (his sister!--Mom sold his CDs for him), and the coolest, an electric fiddle. He was good. He dueled with the guitarist and his fingers flew! The instrument sounded even sweeter than Andy did.

Doesn't he look a lot like Joseph Gordon-Levitt?



Next came Life of Riley. I became a Riley fan (love that name, too, have it slated to use in a book :) ) back when Jason Manns first did a tour with them, and they were great on stage. I was disappointed when they had to stop.

Which was a real problem with the whole setup. But I'll get to that.



Finally, we got to Jason. He was accompanied by Jonah, the Life of Riley drummer, and that was a great enhancement. The backup percussion supported Jason's guitar and his incredible voice, and they had nice on-stage chemistry. I grinned every time Jason growled, and my friends looked at me and laughed every. single. time. But damn, it was WAY too short.


Here's the problem. The bill was typical--less experienced bands first, more well-known, experienced, skilled performers last. But the bar had another gig at midnight. So when the first band started nearly half an hour late and ran 45 minutes over, it pushed all the others, so the last one, the one we traveled 8 hours to see, was the shortest. Jason didn't have time to play any of his new stuff and left off many of the favorites (damn, I really want to hear "Journey" live--maybe someday).


Still, it's a minor complaint. We did have time to meet Life of Riley and talk to Jason for a little bit.



Overall, it was well worth the trip, and I'm satisfied for now. I won't have to go to such extremes to go see Jason play again, at least not for a while, though I do expect to see him again sometime. I already feel like a groupie, can't make that complete without the actual hanging around part. :)

Now, to try to recover enough from the trip to survive the rest of the summer...

Taking a Breath

I finally have a moment to do so!

*inhales deep*

Wanna see what I've been doing around the web?

At Supernatural Sisters, I explained why I love the classic episode "Roadkill." (Classic as in "prior to season 4")

At the Gabwagon, I expressed my disappointment at how the RWA annual general meeting proceeded last Thursday.

Coming up, I get to be a guest at the fabulous Magical Musings, talking about how evolution of a career often brings you back to basics. And about how I type with my cat stretched across my wrists. That will be on Thursday, but check out their other great posts in the meantime. I love reading what those smart ladies have to say, though I confess to rarely having comments.

So. Taking a breath? Last week was of the "incredible that I made it through" variety.

Monday
I already posted about this. It was slightly better on Friday. I also have to work a couple of days this week, and I'm feeling more confident. Though the file I couldn't find was apparently where it was supposed to be, which made me feel dumb.

Tuesday
Harry Potter was excellent. Mostly. I'll do another post later that has spoilers, but don't want to bury them here. I think it was the most well done of all the movies, and so much better than the last one as far as cohesiveness and narrative flow. Most of the things they changed, I understood and thought they did well. A few didn't make sense why they changed them, and two big things bothered me a lot and made me afraid for the last movie(s). But, as I said, more later.

Wednesday
Tuesday, of course, ran into Wednesday. When teenagers go to sleep at 4:30 a.m. (ish), they don't really want to get up in the morning. I was aiming for home at noon, but got them all delivered by 1:00. Then I barely had time to get some work done before I drove to DC with Number One, who got to go to her first booksigning ever and meet authors who write the stuff she reads, not just people who are her mother's friends first, authors second. We had a nice dinner and some great conversation, and got home about 10:00 p.m.

Thursday
Up at 6 to drive back to DC with Misty Simon and Vicki Smith. It was a pretty smooth ride into DC, despite being rush hour (and just after) and we got to the hotel in plenty of time for the main meeting, which was half fiasco (see Gabwagon post). The rest of the day was awesome, though. I got to see a bunch of people (though not as many as I would have seen if I'd been attending the actual conference, which makes me sad, but maybe next year I can make it work!) and spend quality time with Agent Awesome. Cathy McDavid and Libby ICanNeverRememberHerLastName had their second annual wine party, which was tons of fun. I didn't want to leave, but finally forced myself to. We got home about 2:45 a.m.

Friday
More freelance work in a.m., outside work in p.m., birthday cake shopping that failed, birthday dinner that did not.

Saturday
Sleeping IN. More freelance work. Soccer game beach party.

Sunday
Two people ended up dropping by, one foreseen, one a pleasant surprise. I had a very nice visit, but spent so much time trying to get Number One's birthday present to work right that the freelance work delayed grocery shopping, which I now I have to do tonight while Number Two is at soccer practice. But the good thing is that, despite some running around and the tightness of scheduling that working outside causes, this week should be MUCH more breathable than last. :)

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Funny Story of the Week:

I took my husband's car to DC, because it's a hybrid and bigger than mine, so more comfortable for passengers. The speedometer is lined up differently than mine is--that's my only explanation, unless it's flat-out wrong, because I had it on cruise and I never set it that high. Then there's the fluctuating speed limit on route 15. Not excuses--I deserved to be pulled over. Just reasons.

So it's 1:30 in the morning, three women in a car, all dressed up. He asks where we're coming from, I say DC. Asks if I'd had anything to drink. I said about "this much" wine, showing a couple of inches, a few hours before. It was actually that much twice, but in a small plastic cup--really less than a full glass overall, and I finished the last bit about...I don't know, 10:30? But of course he wouldn't take my word (and rightfully so) so guess what?

I got to do my first ever field sobriety test and Breathalyzer^TM! Of course, I passed with flying colors. And get this--he gave me a warning for the speeding. That has NEVER happened to me before in my life.

Misty said it was the cleavage shirt.

San Francisco Photos

Finally! Here they are!

I'll spare you all the sightseeing photos. For one, because they can be found anywhere. For two, because if I'm in them, I look horrible.

I'm also not posting (to everyone's relief, probably) all 39 of the conference-related photos. Some are poor quality. Some have a weird face being made by one of the subjects--those are held for future blackmail. Some I think are great shots but the subjects don't agree or withheld permission to post them (Lisa, I'm glaring at you). Some are repetitive, too, and I'm trying to keep this interesting. So. Here we go.

WEDNESDAY

This is probably the coolest thing I saw in San Francisco. I know, kinda pathetic, and someone told me they have them elsewhere, but *I* never saw one:





I had one more shot that was actually video, and it won't process properly. But you go in, do what you need to do--in a spacious, clean, unsmelly atmosphere with soap suds along the base of the wall--come out, the door closes, and the entire room gets washed. So cool.

Wednesday was also the day of sightseeing with my friends.


Me, Lisa Mondello, Pam Tracy, Libby Banks, Cathy McDavid



Wednesday night was the Literacy Signing, with 550 authors. I only took three pictures. Well, one of these was with Trish's camera, which got a better shot than mine did.

Me and Trish Milburn

The Giddy Monica Burns
(go see The GabWagon for why she was giddy!)

The approved photo of Lisa Mondello
THURSDAY

Thursday is about the Annual General Meeting and other non-exciting things, so not many photos here.

Me, Connie Newman, Barbara Rae Robinson

See? Not Very Exciting
This was actually just one of those freaky things, Trish blinked. She wasn't really falling asleep while that person talked.

FRIDAY

Lyndi Lamont, Catherine Snodgrass, Cindy Procter-King
Amber Quill authors

Me, flanked by ML Rhodes (left) and her mom (right)

SATURDAY

Cathy McDavid, Lisa Mondello (shh, don't tell her) and Me

Me with Libby Banks

I didn't get a good shot of Pam in her finery, so here's her Rita nomination upon on the big screen during the ceremony.

And one final shot, from Sunday:


It didn't occur to me until the last day that a lot of the birds I was seeing, I might never have seen before. It didn't occur until I was walking along behind this guy, a Brewer's Blackbird. I got all excited that I could log a new bird in my bird book, then realized my bird book is Eastern Birds of North America. But of course this one has a wide range and was in the book anyway. So I got to log it, but being able to do so means it's not exactly an uncommon species. Oh, well.

So there you have it. My SF trip in not-so-concise images and explanations.

RWA Day WhateverTheHeckItWas Plus Every Day Since

My five-and-a-half-year-old laptop was very uncooperative with e-mail the last time I used it, so I stopped trying. Plus, I got busier. And more tired. So that explains the gap in posts.

I'm home now, but way behind, of course, and suddenly SF seems long ago and far away.

Saturday...hmmm...Saturday. I think I got more books at signings. Thought about attending workshops, but didn't. Had lunch with Cathy McDavid, which was great because we caught up on all the stuff that we didn't talk about when others were around because they already knew it. Shipped my two boxes of books and goodies. Spent some time editing in the afternoon. Went out to dinner with friends again before the award ceremony, which was as awesome as always.

Oh, I keep forgetting to mention...I have got to stop listening to people. It's not that they were wrong, just that I know myself and I'm different than the norm. I know, big surprise. Anyway, all the talk was about how cold SF is, and how I would need long sleeves for the duration, and the hotels are always cold, etc. So I listened, though I knew I'm almost never cold in the hotels so I mostly refrained from bringing really thick shirts and sweaters. But I did have a long-sleeved shirt for sightseeing Wednesday, and the only time I wasn't FREAKING HOT (and therefore obnoxiously complaining) was when we were actually on the wharf with the wind in our faces. The hotel was so hot, we had our room AC set at 66, and even 64 the last 24 hours. I couldn't stop sweating and was really unhappy about that.

But did I mention the elevators? They were awesome. Amazingly fast the entire time. I also found the room to be wonderful (really comfy beds) and the service to be efficient and very personable.

Okay, Sunday. Sunday Tracy Madison (who was not responsible for keeping us up late on Tuesday, only an innocent bystander, I swear) let us leave our stuff in her room as we had to check out but not leave until 4, and she stayed until Monday. That gave us a little more time to visit with her and her lovely daughter.

Sunday I spent mostly by myself. Lisa Mondello, my roommate, was meeting cousins she hadn't seen in years. Libby and Cathy invited me to lunch, but they had earlier flights and I really wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge, especially since I missed Alcatraz. So I went off on my own for five hours. In the interest of keeping this blog post shorter than Breaking Dawn (which is apparently only 7 pages shorter than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, according to Number One), let me sum up:

*Took the 30 bus to the 28 bus
*30 bus didn't go to end of line, so got off early
*Hey, I'm really near the crookedest street! I wanna see it up close.
*Hike up Lombard 4 blocks. And by "up" I mean "80 degrees up." Stop every half block to take pictures to disguise windedness.
*See crookedest street up close. Very pretty and kind of cool, but wouldn't want to sit in traffic waiting to go down it.
*Hike back down to 28 bus.
*Take 28 bus to GGB.

I loved the GGB area. It's so different from the rest of the city, with the cliffs and the look of the bay and the vegetation. It was foggy, so the tops of the towers were in the clouds, but the view was still spectacular.

*Walk partway across bridge. Take lots of pictures of self on bridge that all suck and shall not be shared on this blog. Buy souvenirs.
*Take bus back to Ghirardhelli Square.
*Walk around Hyde Pier and The Cannery, eat ice cream, listen to guitarist apparently inspired by August Rush music. He was good. Az Samad. His album Acoustic Gestures is available on iTunes.
*Stand in line for cable car for an hour.

I was absolutely determined to ride a real cable car. I rode the street car on Wednesday, as well as a wheeled cable car-like trolley for the tour, and the bus (the 30 went through Chinatown). But I had to ride a real cable car. It was cool. 120 years old and well cared for. Gleaming wood, signature bell, and unique operation. No cables, though. Kind of weird, unless the rails have cables inside them. I'm too tired to go look that up, and I didn't have time to get off and see the Cable Car Museum, which would have been interesting.

17 hours of travel, no sleep on plane, a little Buffy on the layovers, home with the kids Monday afternoon, shared photos of Holland and SF, got up to date on their activities. Napped, but only for an hour, not nearly helpful.

Number One and I went to see the Mummy movie last night. It wasn't disappointing only because my expectations were low. To wit:

*I've seen what kind of writing the writers had come up with for Smallville two seasons ago. They lived up to that. Plot was fine, but the dialogue didn't match the previous two movies, and either the story itself or the editing was erratic.
*Maria Bello is a wonderful actress, but she is not Rachel Weisz. I'm not saying she's worse than RW, she's just not her. There was no chemistry with Brendan Fraser, she was very stiff and missing the spark and joy of life that Evie is supposed to have.
*The guy playing the son wasn't as geeky and idiotic as I expected, but he wasn't written very sympathetically and I'm sorry, while an American accent isn't out of the question (he has an American father, even if he's been raised in England), he sounded like he came from Brooklyn by way of New Jersey. Or something like that.
*Rick O'Connell was gorgeous and well-acted, but again, poorly written. His exuberance was gone, too. And I sorely missed Oded Fehr.

I wouldn't say my money was wasted. The effects were cool, the acting fine even if not what I was looking for, and I had a good time watching it with my daughter. But it was very definitely a second sequel in the old tradition.

Okay, almost done.

Besides wanting to spend the day with my family, I couldn't face the pile, both literal and digital, that waited for me in my office. Today I spent the morning sleeping (ref. 3 hours sleep over 36 hours, + 17 hours of traveling) and then getting my kids to Camp Nana and running errands. After that, I think it took me 3 hours to get the paper stuff organized, the balky computer working adequately, and my e-mail read. I got some business out of the way, but still have 43 out of the original 198 e-mails to address. (That tally doesn't include the 151 spam messages, and that's all just from four days. Imagine if I hadn't checked the three days before that!)

Some cool things today...

I got my cover for my September release:



I also found out that Renegade was #9 on the Amber Heat Bestseller list for July!

And I got a nice review for Renegade from Book Utopia.

So now we're on the downside of the summer. Even though we passed the halfway mark some time ago, getting ready for Holland and San Francisco was still climbing up to the high points of the season. Now we have doctor and car appointments, soccer practices, school open houses, and tournaments before the start of school on August 25.

And you know what? I'm sad about that.

RWA Day 1

Day 1 wasn't really RWA. Day 1 was flying, and sitting, and flying, and running through the airport, dragging Lisa behind me, because of being this > < close to departure time for our last leg to Oakland. Which was late. So, not unexpectedly when you have two layovers, we got to the hotel well after 11:00 p.m. We didn't sleep until 4:00 a.m. Eastern. Yay, good start against the jetlag!

Our flight wasn't supposed to be so long. When we booked them, she was flying from Boston to Atlanta, where I'd join her for the flight to Oakland. But Delta added a stop in Salt Lake City.

And let me tell you, I am so glad they did!

Usually when I fly somewhere, it's on the east coast. I haven't been to California since I was 9, and haven't been any further west than Dallas since then, either. So while there are some minor differences when I fly over terrain--Texas is flatter, Georgia has bigger driveways--everything looks pretty much the same.

That is SO not true of Utah!

The mountains, and plateaus, and lakes, and whatever those dark spots are that are evenly spaced between rises and look like they have roads to them and are either small bodies of water or gigantic homes...those are all cool enough. But MAN, is the area around Salt Lake City gorgeous! It's like a different planet, one of those fantasy concoctions, with mountains right up against the lake, and salt everywhere, and even the more familiar agrarian areas laid out in humongous squares instead of little plots.

As we circled for our approach, the sun dipped below the cloud cover and shone brilliantly red, reflected on the lake, with enough beauty to crack even my unsentimental, icy heart. I got out my camera--and immediately dropped it, causing the beauty to become second only to my fear that the camera was sliding all over the plane every time it banked. (It didn't, but I lamented every minute I couldn't take pictures of gorgeousness).

I fly through LA instead of Salt Lake City on the way home. Yay.

We took a cab from Oakland's airport to SF. I'm not really a city person, and tend to think they all look alike. As we drove past downtown Oakland, the cabbie pointed it out like a really interesting landmark. I was "eh." It looked just like Dallas.

But San Francisco is definitely unique (that's the main reason I wanted to come!). As you cross the Bay Bridge at night, you can see the crookedy, hilly streets illuminated on either side of the (okay, common-looking) downtown area. The view didn't last long, a benefit of coming in so damned late--traffic was awesomely light.

So Day 1, I saw Lisa Mondello and new author Tracy Madison (the cause of our very late bedtime) and did nothing else.

Stay tuned for Day 2's much more interesting awesomeness!

Looking Forward to April!

The weather teased a little in the middle of the week, then promptly got cold and windy again. But I'm hopeful it will recognize that next week is APRIL and will accommodate. Just a little. High 60s is good. The only thing I hate more than the end of a season is skipping seasons.

But there's more to look forward to in April than weather:

A Better Car Situation

Getting the new car fixed, and also getting the old car serviced and detailed, just in time for...

NEC

The New England Chapter of RWA is holding their annual conference on the 11th and 12th. It's been two years since I've been to any kind of con, three (four?) since I hit this one. They always do a great job, and I'll be seeing one of my best friends. I plan to hook up with my cousin afterward, and stop by Patriots Place in Foxboro on my way home.

Almost more importantly...

The (Temporary) Return of Good TV!

I'm sooooo jonesing for a fix. The gap because of the strike was hard, but it made this gap even harder. I can't wait for Numb3rs, Scrubs, LOST, Samantha Who?, and, of course, Supernatural to come back. Even though it's for a (way too) short time, it's better than never!

April is also a launch into...

The Return of Good Movies

There have been a few things out recently that I wanted to see, but when the time came, I wasn't interested enough to actually leave the house. A few April movies change that: Leatherheads primarily, and definitely Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and a movie that JUST came to my attention: Street Kings. Dude! Keanu's back! It's been wayyy too long, and though the movie is the kind I usually just rent, it's also got Amaury Nolasco, so I might just head to the theater!

April also means soccer (Number One started this week and has two to three games a week through May! Number Two starts next weekend); my chapter meeting, at which I will do my Pirates Guide writing workshop; Number Two's birthday (and she never wants a party! I am so blessed); AND a Chippendales show. I've never been to one, only a knockoff called Men at Work, so I'm looking forward to that.

And you know what? May looks even better!

Pets, Plans, and Travel

These are the last topics that have only one post labeled such, so I'm finishing my boost in one fell swoop.

J told me the other night that Number Two wants a kitten for Christmas. We have two cats and a dog. The dog has stained every carpet with florescent yellow bile vomit. The cats have shredded all our wood furniture. Our vet bill, while certainly lower than other people's is daunting.

Then there's the litter box.

We only have one, because when we had two they both just used one, anyway. And since the cats are banned from going downstairs, there's very limited space in which to place a second box. I'm the one who cleans it all the time. Do I really want to have to do it MORE often?

Plus, kittens are a lot more work. They chew things, they climb things, they get lonely and cry all day/night.

But Number Two really wants one. She insisted she'll take care of it (she already shoulders a lot of the feeding duties anyway). But Daddy got her afraid of me. She said she won't put it on her Christmas list, but could Daddy please let Santa know for her? The heart weeps.

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I have no plans for December. Well, not true. I have some plans. I want to write a short story so I get to 300,000 words. I want to start editing Behind the Scenes to eliminate the loss of tension at certain points. And I have some critiquing to do (should be doing right now, as a matter of fact!). And, of course, I have vague holiday preparation plans. I need to do Christmas cards, and make a gift list, and go shopping, and figure out what we're doing when. And we need to get a tree and put up the lights. And we have kids' events--dance recital for Number Two, orchestra and chorus concert for Number One.

But other than that, I have no plans.

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I didn't travel that much this year. I did the May retreat with my chapter, CPRW, and in August I went to Myrtle Beach for our family vacation. I think that's it.

Next year will be another story. I have plans to go to the NEC conference in April, the CPRW retreat in May, National in July (a serious reach, but I'm not giving up hope), Cape Cod for our summer vacation, and a tour of Ohio so I can speak at the Maumee Valley chapter and visit family in Akron, Toledo, and Delaware (no, not the state, the city near Columbus).

That's a LOT of traveling. Good thing we have a hybrid!

Fly Me Away

I want to know what the hell is up with our commercial aviation system.

I mean, out of four flights I took this weekend, every single one was early.

Yes, EARLY.

I mean, isn't it conventional wisdom that planes always land late? They're delayed by mechanical issues (that filter needs changing!) and baggage issues (Jim Bob hurt his back with that overweight suitcase--yeah, the one where the woman insisted she had to have eighteen pairs of shoes) and weather issues (fog, storms, wind). Even after having to taxi for half an hour in Dallas, and wait on the tarmac for our turn approaching the gate, I was still off the plane five minutes early.

So what's up with that?

I love to fly. The funny part is that I don't like the "up" part that much. The changing altitude makes me feel funky, and the cabin air is obviously not fresh enough. The seats are cramped (I considered accepting the offer of an upgrade to first class on the way home, but couldn't justify the $90). No, the part *I* like is the takeoff and landing. I love the G-forces pushing me back or pulling me forward, the speed of the plane, the soaring sensation as we lift off and the (usually) gentle jolt when we land. I also love moving through the clouds, especially the cumulonimbus that tower miles high and look solid enough to eat with a spoon.

I like the solitude, when I can keep my seatmate(s) from talking at me. I like having time to write and to read, especially in the half hour before landing when I can't feel guilty for not writing because all electronic devices have to be turned off. I don't mind long layovers, either. I didn't really pay attention to all my options when I booked the flight, just found the departure and arrival times that suited me best, so there were three flights from Chicago to Dallas before mine that I probably could have taken. But I watched two episodes of Gilmore Girls and ate lunch and listened to the happiness when nearby flights called standby names.

If I'm lucky, the next time I fly will be to San Francisco next summer. That will be longer and much more tiring, so we'll see how I feel about flying then.

But for now, I love it. :)