Distracted by...

The Presidents. I DVRd the series on the History channel on Monday, and I'm allowing myself small bites. In college I had enough credits to minor in either Physics or History. (Hence the DVR of Cosmos episodes I'm also hoarding, like dessert. I had a physics professor in college who, like Carl Sagan, made it interesting enough to make me want to delve deeper.)

I love learning new stuff!

Late to the Blog

And i wish I had something vitally entertaining to share.

Hmmm. I am reading a good Rita comp. book, but I can't really share that title.

I'm also writing like crazy. I'm at the stage of the book where I'm both editing and writing new stuff and shaping and hoping I'm catching up all the loose ends. (I'm seeing a ball of clay in my head as I type this.)

It is sort of like clay. The story was a bundle of ideas that I put into a synopsis which doesn't greatly resemble the story that's building out of it. But I think the actual story is better. It's a good sign that I care so much about these characters. There are moments when they really get to me. I feel as if I'm visiting in their world.

I remember once, my son was grounded. Whatever he'd done was so upsetting he wasn't even allowed to play his guitar. After a few days, he showed up in front of me, a semi-mad look I recognized on his face. The wanderer in the desert, who keeps bumping into the mirage--that then fades.

"Mom," he said, "I'll take being grounded. You can add on time. But please, won't you guys let me play my guitar? I can't stand not playing."

I knew that desperation so well. If someone took away the instruments I use to write, I'd be looking like my boy. But just as he practices pretty constantly, I have to write every day. The thing is, he makes his music sound effortless. It flows from his guitar or mandolin or banjo (I love the mandolin best), but I'm not feeling sanguine that my writing is achieving that flow just now.

Gotta go smack some metaphorical clay around. I refuse to let it slap me senseless first!

My work area's ailing.

That would be my laptop. I love my little iBook, but half the screen stays dim for the first twenty minutes it's on. Half the touch pad doesn't work. (You'd be amazed how annoying that is.) And suddenly, when I least expect it, the laptop begins to do work for me--or at least to switch between applications so that I might work somewhere else.

I'm going to need a new one, but again, I love this little square of technology. Despite starting on MACs in my first freelance editing job, back in the 80s, I switched to Windows with a different job and never went back--until about three years ago.

And let's face it. Though I feel I should be finding a way to say this so that the very machine helping me write this post can't hear me, three years is a long time in technology-land. This model is literally obsolete.

Still, I'm trying to hold off a few more months. Out of loyalty.

:-)

I've just been visiting

classmates.com. There was a girl in my high school class who also always had a notebook with a story going.

There's something about romance writers. We gather our own to our own in a community. That's not to say there aren't some not so community-minded writers, but for the most part, we share information. We're interested in each other. We love to discuss work and the way we do it.

So I always wonder what the other writer did, if she kept working at her stories.

And, since I'm visiting a friend tomorrow who's also a writer, I'd better get back to the wip so I won't have to feel guilty talking life and books and work with one of my favorite people! ;-)

Bryan Brown and F/ X

Some folks might mention the name of the movie first, but only if they hadn't just seen Bryan Brown. ;-) And so many romance writers lust after the lovely Hugh Jackman. I gotta say, Bryan is so much--more. ;-)

I'm pretty sure the first time I saw this movie, I didn't mull over its plotting. I just thought what a great ride it was. But last night as I watched the movie, I suddenly realized the amount of work that went into a plot that tight and twists so unexpected.

This morning, I was reading Julie Cohen's blog. She posted yesterday about a guy who'd read her book and remarked on the escapism of the story because he read it on a challenge from a friend, but then just floated away on the story. Julie pointed out that "floating" comes out of the author's hard work.

I'm not sure movies like F/X get a whole lot more respect than romance writers. I mean they make lots of bucks, but how often do they get to hang out with Oscar? So I thought I'd note, not just Bryan's charms in his tidy whities, but the value of a great story, put together with only "apparent" ease.

Work that good doesn't appear wholesale in your head. You have to hunt it down, and when someone else does it so well, I appreciate it.

Dream Trip

The beloved and I are talking about taking a trip on a train. We have friends who've also wanted to do that, and the charm of a sleeper is irresistible. But only because it's one night. You'd think the train would be less expensive. No one moves your bags for you. No one starts a jet engine. But the track upkeep must be amazing because a train trip is really somewhat costly unless you go coach.

The trip I'd really like to take--well--I guess the Orient Express is out of the question, but second to that, how cool would it be to cross the Rockies in one of those vintage trains? Ahhhh. Heaven. As long as it didn't break down in the Donner Pass.

My beloved believes he could sit up all night on our shorter trip and enjoy himself in the lovely reclining coach seats. I've done that. He's welcome to it, especially because it would leave me the suddenly luxurious privacy of the sleeper!

Sven's Back!

Yay! You remember Sven? He makes a writer sweat for 70 days (well, this time it'll be 77). Last round, I had to break for revisions and a particularly difficult line edit, but this time, my deadline is just before the round starts. I'm so excited--and I have plans.

If you're a writer, or even if you're being tortured because you think you might be a writer, but you just can't seem to commit, pop over to Sven's site and see what others in our writing situation are planning. Maybe you'll be inspired.

This weekend, Bob Mayer did a workshop for my local RWA chapter, and besides being an amazing speaker, he reminded me of all that I love about writing. I always say that I love this job because learning is part of it. Who ever knows everything there is to know about writing?

I needed this weekend. I'm putting it to use as I finish my current book. As I made notes about what Bob was saying, I also made notes about my next proposals and the mainstream I'm planning.

So, here we are at today, and I'm excited about the job I love most of the time! ;-)

Gotta work!

Super Bowl Sunday?

I always like it because it's a few hours to contemplate the world while everyone around me focuses on the important stuff! I used to watch football with my brothers and my father, but it seems more violent over the years to me, or maybe I'm less excited about watching it. But the closest I can get to it now is We are Marshall. I realize that's a sad admission, and I shouldn't be shouting it from a blog--on Super Bowl Sunday--but I'm pretty excited about those quiet hours today!

Whether you're enjoying "the" game or a good book or a movie, or just contemplating, I hope you're having a great Sunday!

I could use some yummy Super Bowl-celebrating dip, though.