Storms and Satellites

Don't mix.

Each afternoon/evening for the past week we've had storms, and the second a cloud shows up, the satellite apparently cowers in fear. Oh, for an alpha satellite! One that is not swayed by cloud nor thunder, one that communicates at no thought of the personal cost.

But we just have the regular kind.

This morning, my friend, Susan Floyd (who also writes for SuperRomance), called. I hadn't really noticed how much nourishment the rain has brought, but the beloved was doing some work so I went outside to cackle to my heart's content without disturbing him. Suddenly, I noticed, the fall haze has begun. I love mornings with fall haze, but I digress! The grass has turned green and filled back in, and the dew had coated some longer spots with a kind of teal sheen. Beautiful! I just hope the beloved won't notice and mow it all down. He prefers tidy to oh-that's-gorgeous!

Decatur Book Festival

Are you busy this weekend? Do you love books? Come over to the Decatur Book Festival. You can read about it here. Several Georgia Romance Writer authors will be speaking and signing, and you'll also be able to see/hear authors from many other genres.

Who doesn't want to spend a few hours talking books and writing?

Speaking of books, I gotta go to the library!

Rain and Assorted Musings

It's a lovely day here, all gray and kind of cooler than we've been used to. Sometimes, when the heat goes on the way it has, I start to think the weather will never be cool again.

However, my rather brown and dry world is turning green and red and gold and orange. The leaves are starting to change and blow into the pool--with the frogs. So many frogs. I'm not sure why they all come to us. ;-)

The rain has made me believe we'll have cool weather again some day, and going outside won't be a chore. The summer will change into autumn. That's the way of things. I'm a person who tends to worry. About everything. But this time of year reminds me worrying is sort of pointless. Life happens as it's supposed to.

School Days

The girl's going back. I never enjoy saying goodbye to my children.

However, I've lined up a little Thin Man marathon to tide me over after we get back from moving her in, and she's coming back for breakfast in the a.m. ;-) Afterward, I'm off to B&N to buy my first Laura Kinsale. In some strange romance writer's bend-in-time deficiency, I've never read anything by her, but a writer friend swears she's the best at emotion. I need some of that!

Now to see if this posts. Our satellite went belly up so I haven't been able to get online very easily. It's like starting over again!

Watching for Cooler Temps

The current book is set in winter, but it's 93 degrees (Heat Index 104) here right now. I have on movies with snow in them, because I wnat to remember what the sky looks like. I want to remember how people move when they're cold.

My heroine is a fish out of water because she's taken care of herself before now. The hero is in the same boat because he started all the heroine's trouble. Normally, he tries to avoid ruining women's lives so he's finding his actions unacceptable--thought he could not possibly have made any other choice.

Snow is working to isolate my characters.

It might be time for a pool break, though. Maybe the reptiles will stay away as the ground's too hot to slither or hop upon! I don't want the environment to cool down and become hospitable for them!

Swimming with the Snakes

Literally. Well, one snake and four frogs. Tonight, I am not fond of nature. We've had really hot weather. I guess nature wanted to cool off. So I finally gave up on the pool.

Have finished my deadline! Yay! And now I'm working on the next Welcome to Honesty book. This one is about Maria, who was Eli's doctor in Temporary Father. I loved her. She loved being on the page, and she got all feisty so we made a deal. If she stayed in character for Beth and Aidan's book, she got a book of her own.

I'm enjoying it so far. Maria's the black sheep of her family because she has a job and a home and she pays her bills and stays in one place and doesn't need rescuing.

Until now.

But she's not a woman who takes kindly to being rescued. The interesting difficulty about writing strong women is remembering that readers don't always come to them, knowing what I do, that they often have a soft center they're protecting with their outer shell of strength. Hinting at the softness, without letting them fold is walking a tightrope, but ya gotta have empathy.

Best Romantic Ending

I post regularly on the SuperRomance message board on eHarlequin.com, but today I can't seem to get in, and I don't have time to figure out why, so I thought I'd move part of that post here since I don't have blog time either.

First, since I've been whining about my girl, an update. She's up and about--and she's visiting a friend. Her eyes look normal, instead of as if she's sick. (moms understand that, huh?) So, even though she's still exhausted (anesthesia, I'm guessing), everything else is working out mighty fine.

One of the writers on the Super board asked for our favorite romantic movie ending. Immediately, Pride and Prejudice popped into my mind. And a welcome pop it was. I even pulled out the DVD. I didn't much care for the Keira Knightley/Mathew Macfadyan Pride and Prejudice whilst I was expecting it to be P&P. But the moment MM came striding across that field, my attitude underwent a miraculous change! And once I remembered how to breathe, I thought there were hidden charms to this "loosely based" version! So--my fave--starts with MM crossing that field and continues through his efforts to tell Lizzy he loves her. Sigh....

Back to work!