Random Ramblings

Only someone rather full of herself would publish her ramblings.

Our Internet access is so bad, the blog page took three minutes to load. I gave up three times before I let it go.

Happiness=Soft Scrub Scrubby pads. My sinks have rarely been so shiny and pretty. (How do you spell procrastinate?)

A woman on television just said she asked the Ghost Hunters in to prove her beau was not possessed. I don't mean to mock, but that seems like a question that wouldn't come up too often in a relationship. That said, I wonder if the beloved...

The Kitty and I are in love with a new concealer. I love it because it's actually concealing without creating wrinkles in the Grand Canyon motif. Kitty professes his love for any object that comes into the house covered in hard plastic wrapping. That's a twofer!

Time to go. Meeting buddies for lunch at the pizza place I mentioned in the almost-movie post below. I'm going to possess a monster slice of pepperoni and a salad. Wish you could all partake, too! Much more enjoyable than random ramblings! :-)

Flyby Wednesday

Errands yesterday took longer than I expected so I didn't have the wallowing time I love best at this stage of writing. Everything else in the world has to go hang, and I paddle around in the words. (You'd be surprised how little my non-writing family understands this part of the process.)

This time I'm trying to keep one other thing in control. I've been walking for nearly five months. I'm at three miles a day, and even in the recent heat, I don't want to break the habit. Last night, in an attempt to beat the effect of those climbing temps, my friend and I started out at 7, which was fine, but I usually do a couple of laps around the neighborhood after my buddy stops. Last night we stood chatting at her mailbox (did I mention I have an unfortunate gift for gab?), too long. Midway through my second lap, a bat started circling my head. Now I don't live in Transylvania, and I didn't look for Dracula to suddenly flutter to the ground in front of me, but you know--rabies.

So, as the bat seemed to be cutting his circles with every lap around my head, I covered my neck. I know, I know, but it was some crazy instinct I couldn't control. And I hustled home to put a house between me and the rat with wings.

Apologies to all who love bats.

Our Walking Buddy

Sometime today I have to pack up the girlo's suit and my laptop and head out into the world. The girl needs said suit for practice interviews and I need to get out of this house. I love the abode, but if I don't depart once in a while, I turn into a homebody who's perfectly happy never to venture anywhere else.

I also tend to hide out when I'm sad. When we moved here, we managed to find friends whom clearly we have been waiting to find all our lives. In fact, it feels as if we have known each other forever. Let's be honest. My beloved husband has found the clone from whom he was somehow separated, and I have too much fun talking waaaayyyyyy too much to the wife in the couple as we walk our neighborhood, seeking health. (She may actually be trying to outrun me as I yammer and yammer and yes, gab--just a bit more!)

But we had another walking buddy. Her name was Missy, and Missy was the sweetest little doggie in the world. She left her family on Saturday. So, her person and I are walking alone in a neighborhood that feels pretty empty. I miss you, Missy.

New Title for November

I mentioned it below, but I have a new title for the book that's coming in November. A Conflict of Interest really suits the story--a judge and a psychologist who've been fighting their attraction suddenly find themselves at true odds over her testimony in a case he's hearing.

(Why was that so easy? You wouldn't believe how I wrestled the one-page synopsis for the Art Facts Sheet.)

I'm still enjoying the revisions on this book, and I'd better update the sidebar with the new title and get back to making this story right.

But first--I finished my Rita books; found some excellent new authors--that's the best thing about Rita judging. Gotta report the scores.

And--thank goodness for DVRs. I have a deep and abiding love for "vintage," or is that retrospective, movies? Today is Dr. Kildare day on TCM. I also have white-jacket syndrome. I panic when I hear the word, doctor. My daughter can't tell me much about her workdays, but I love Dr. Kildare. For one thing, sometimes the medicine is bewildering. (I can never spell medicine correctly first try--is there a syndrome for that, too?) But I think I'm mesmerized by the stories. Either way, the DVR will be busy till about 7 tonight so I'd better get some good page count.

Happy Monday!

Saturday!

Just a random photo of my shadow on the beach.

My head is so full of revisions, anything extra feels sort of haphazard. Like--wow, when did the house get so mussed? Oh, look at the pretty clouds. It isn't sunny today? And--did anyone know we were going from snow to summer in the space of seven days? Have I been buried in back spasms and A Conflict of Interest for longer than I think?

Enough stream of semi-consciousness.

But I do have advice for any aspiring romance author today. Hie thee to Kate Walker's blog, where you'll find an excellent post on writing emotion into your story. One day I'd love to attend one of Kate's courses in person!

Brush with Movie Stardom

All right, not really anything as close as a brush! :-) The girl and I went to dinner on the square last night only to find a movie company setting up inside the best pizza spot in our little town. (The girl immediately called a person she knows who's looking for work as a camera operator. Ya gotta feel for a person looking for creative work in this economy!)

Then, off to queso and chips and other yummy dinner goodies for us. When we came out, a guy was wandering the square in a headset. As we were trying to decide whether it's rude to buttonhole a movie guy doing his work and interrogate him re: what's goin' on, he came up and asked us if we wanted to be extras. I must admit I wanted to see how a movie scene is filmed. The girl is in the middle of tests and precepting, and she didn't care to spend those hours in service of her mother's curiosity, so we moseyed home.

I hope we're suddenly becoming a movie mecca! ;-)

Broke the Habit

Of blogging.

I have a plethora of excuses: the usual Internet going down in weather--rain, thunder, lightening, hail, tornadoes--and eventually four inches of snow! The above is the view from my office window just after the snow started sticking. I love snow. Did I mention that? Love snow.

I've also been working on Art Fact Sheets, the suggestions authors make for cover art. The nightmare of the one-page synopsis.

And, finally, my dorky reason for not being at the blog, I managed to pull every muscle in my back--by sitting in a recliner we've had for six years. I'm so proud.

So, today, I'm propped on every pillow we own on my bed, working revisions! Back to those cranky pages! Resistance is, as they say, futile. :-)