Friday, April 25, 2008

Confessions and Wierd Hotel Doings

I'm on a little road trip right now, working from the lobby of a hotel (huge hotel) where wifi is free. However, from the room, you can't reach the wifi and Internet access is $12 a day. Odd.

And my Starbuck's is cold. They slammed down the cage over the counter just after I haplessly bought my cup so I can't go whine about it there. Hence the whining here. Still, in the spirit of looking at my tepid cup o' coffee in a hopeful way, it's far more than half full! :-)

How peaceful it is to sit here while most folks staying are at conferences, doing courses, out working at their borrowed offices. I'm just working on a proposal, checking email, checking out the episodes of Another World Aol Video has posted. (Too bad I'm caught up!) Wouldn't you think a woman would be reluctant to just blurt out her Another World habit? Nope--I'm content enough to confess. Besides, I can't be the only woman in the world who's still half in love with Mac though I was about 40 years younger than he when I first fell.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Enough with the Vacation Time!

I've been taking it, sort of. I'm working like crazy on proposals, and I hope my editor loves them as much as I am. Also preparing for some time in the mountains. Yay! Reading tons of Christina Dodd! I loved her historicals, but I'm an even bigger fan of her contemporaries.

Reading is the one thing that suffers after you become a writer. You start editing. Books. Movies. (Some people refuse to accompany you to movies unless you vow not to speak.) I've longed for those golden days of just grabbing any book and not surfacing until I finish, replete. :-) Trouble in High Heels provided that experience. I'm reading Tongue in Chic now and feeling most lucky to have discovered the series!

Better get back to proposing. Can't read till I meet my own deadlines!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Back on the Blogging Bike

Normally, hate admitting I'm overwhelmed. But I was. I'm not now. Finished the flu. Finished the book and mailed it. Now my poor editor must deal with it.

I've been reading. What a lovely thing is reading. The taking in of someone else's words, the pictures those words create in my head. The absolute fun of visiting other times, other places. I love reading, and I kind of resent those times when I don't have time to read. How do you not have time to read? (I never would have expected to say those words.)

Along with reading, I've been working on new proposals--creating GMC statements--the romance writer's sword and shield.

Monday, April 7, 2008

No Time

Just a flyby to say how glad I am that a bad weekend's over, we've all survived, and things are--almost--back to normal.

Hope yours was better!

Friday, April 4, 2008

Scary Picture

So the only things "they" advertise on TV these days: Cell phones and medication. Why? I can't imagine enduring some of the side effects, which often seem to echo the symptoms, if they're not worse than the actual illness. Well--I'm sort of intrigued by a substance that causes a sudden compulsion to gamble.

But I'm really mulling over a cell phone commercial--the most recent one where the parents are totally confused by their cell phone so they buy a simple one that clears everything up for them. Now, I have adult children. I know I'm not a young chickie (the term even dates me), but for pity's sake, those two are too young to be stymied by a phone. ;-)

Or am I huddling behind fear of an incipient midlife crisis?

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

What does a bandwagon look like?

I was trying to think of some clever title about clinging to the last rail on a bandwagon when I realized I don't even know what a bandwagon is, if it's not the school bus my high school band took to away games. Anyway, back to the bandwagon I'm getting at. I've never been a big fan of reality shows--except my daughter has hooked me on Rob and Big and Viva La Bam (thank goodness for recycled reruns!), and America's Next Top Model (no one on earth could be less likely to undertake that addiction).

However, I'm trying to spend more time with the beloved, with whom I have literally nothing except our grown children in common. (I mean we must have common values, etc., but that would take more thinking than I have time for right now.) So--I've started watching American Idol this season, even though I couldn't make myself watch it during the audition episodes because I feel kind of bad for a lot of those would-be singers. The beloved has me hooked. I'm not only watching the program--I'm looking for recaps.

I'm addicted to one of those, too. It's on a website calledA Socialite's Life, and his recaps for AI and for Top Chef (uh-oh--I'm all about the reality TV!) make me cackle out loud. (Beware if you visit; the language and viewpoints can get adult--especially today's.)

We had our own reality TV moment around here last night. Just a little something no mom of a daughter on Spring Break wants to hear--the hysterical voice of the Garmin lady screeching that the girl had taken a wrong turn on her way to visit a friend in an unfamiliar city. The girl wasn't upset or worried, but the mommy is considering meds.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Laptop Olympics

It and I are racing to finish this book. Often, the laptop seems to want to finish it for me because suddenly new documents open, formatting occurs, or the cursor begins to travel. ==:-0 And just now, my screen divided to show all open windows minimized.

Of course, none of this is as bad as when the "W" jumped off and decided not to go back. You'd be amazed at how many words contain a W.