What a dork am I

I probably shouldn’t admit this but I may be the only person (female in particular) on the planet who cannot identify Hugh Jackman. I know he’s a popular actor but I don’t know who he is (know the name though), and don’t know that I’ve ever seen a movie he’s been in. And, you know, I’m okay with that. (Even now.)

So when they did a clip from his movie Paperback Hero (thanks to Blogging National for that info) at the awards ceremony Saturday night, I thought it was a "staged" thing. THEN, when the women on either side of me say, "Ohmigod, that’s Hugh Jackman!" I, having never seen Paperback Hero and not realizing it’s a clip from a movie, jump to the conclusion that RWA has hired Mr. Jackman for this little performance. Seriously, that is what I was thinking as I watched that. I’m thinking they opened the purse strings and shelled out for a spot with Hugh Jackman. I’m that stupid.

It wasn’t until they started showing clips from other movies (that I knew) that I realized what they were doing and that the clip with THE Hugh Jackman was probably from an actual movie. And now, all I can think is I want to see that movie.

I’m such a dork.

~L

RWA National

Well, I made it home, safe and sound (so did the boys).

I would post pictures but the only one I have on my camera was of my roommate in bed (I was testing the camera to see if I remembered how to use it), and while she doesn't know this blog exists (few do), I don't think she would appreciate me posting that picture. HOWEVER, she took a bunch of pictures for (and of) me that she said she would email to me so I will be posting some in the near future.

As for National, suffice it to say, I had a wonderful time. If I can be perfectly candid (and who's going to stop me?), I was considering leaving RWA altogether. It's not that I've been depressed or discouraged but more dispassionate about writing and my membership dues are due at the end of this month. But a week or so ago, Claire Cross/Delacroix posted a blog entry that made me want to stay in RWA (and I renewed my membership a day or two before I left to go to Atlanta). And National got me motivated again.

But here's the deal...it wasn't a workshop I went to that did it. No. Thursday night (during Moonlight Madness) my roommate and I went to the bar and got a table (and if you were in Atlanta, you know that was no small feat). It was a large table and only the two of us sitting at it. We saw these two women looking for a place to sit down and told them we had room at our table - and they joined us. They were both published authors (Nancy Block and Sharon Schulze). They could not have been more open and giving of their time and knowledge. We visited until well after midnight (missing the entire MM, which we'd planned on going to...well, we had stopped by when it opened but it was way too busy to stay then, which is why we went to the bar, so technically, it was that we never made it back to MM...if you want to be technical). By the end of the night, I had a renewed desire to write and felt like I'd made two new friends (we saw them several times more during the conference and Nancy and I even have a "challenge" going about writing - it was so cool!). For me, that was the best thing of the conference - bar none. And, not that I have a problem or anything (I came home with thirty pounds of books, not to mention I shipped another thirty pounds of books home.), but the first thing I did when I got home was order Nancy's book - and I can't wait for it to arrive so I can read it.

But enough about that...tomorrow (or one day soon), I'll tell you about being witness to Mel making Susan Elizabeth Phillips cry.

Until then.....

~L

Do you see what I see?

So, yesterday I went to my Weight Watchers meeting like I do every Tuesday. I usually wear the same thing each week. I have two shirts that the only difference is the color (although one fits looser) and I usually alternate those with my pants. The shirt has a light jacket that I remove for the weigh in (the white one, I know for a fact, weighs .6 of a pound).

Yesterday I wore a dress instead of my usual weigh in outfit (it's a laundry issue...totally forgot..anyway...). I'm going to try to describe the dress so that you know what I was dealing with. The dress is in two pieces. The "skirt" portion of the dress is like a full dress except that the top portion of the "dress" is not intended for viewing by the general public...it just holds the "skirt" portion up. It's not obscene or anything but the top half of the skirt portion is definitely "under" wear. Then there is the top portion of the outfit. It has a button down shirt with delicate buttons (it's a very nice outfit - very professional looking) on the front. This portion of the outfit is necessary...repeat, necessary! Hopefully that gives you an idea of what it looks like?

So anyway I walk into Weight Watchers wearing this. I had been bad most of the week and I was feeling particularly "fat" when I went into the meeting but I'm a believer in weighing in anyway (particularly since I won't be able to next week...vacation and all), not to mention I didn't want three weeks to go by with no weigh in. So I step up to the scale and tell the person (Betty Jo) "don't look yet...let me see first."

Betty Jo graciously accommodated me. And I stepped on the scale. I'd figured I'd gone up in weight but it was slightly more than I'd hoped (I won't say expected because I was pretty bad last week) and I gasped. Betty Jo immediately suggested I might want to take off the "shirt" portion of my outfit (assuming it was two-piece, which, as I mentioned, it is) to weigh.

I really was surprised by this because when I've suggested it (jokingly) in the past, she shot the idea down.

There were only three of us in the room at the time and she got up to close the doors and she and the other woman stood in front of the door windows (yes, the doors have windows in them) so that no one would see me "stripping" to weigh in. Then, for some reason still unknown to me, I took the shirt off and weighed (it also weighs .6 of a pound, in case you were wondering).

The second I stepped off the scale the two women stepped away from the door windows. Now you may have noticed that I didn't say I'd put the shirt back on...because I hadn't. I'm still standing there "exposed" when they stepped away from the windows. I'm mentioning this fact when someone swings one of the doors open wide and comes in.

Of course, I'm freaking out, frantically trying to get dressed before anyone else walks in (or by) because stripping at work is just not my thing.

At that point I hadn't decided if I was going to stay for the actual meeting but they talked me into it so I went up to get my lunch. I stood in the coffee bar visiting with several people (telling a couple about being "naked" in the conference room with the door flying open lol) as my lunch heated up. I go back to the meeting, sit through it and then go back to my office and work.

A couple of hours had passed and I had talked with a number of people. Gotten up and done things, had people come in my office, etc. And then I had to go to the Ladies Room.

I do my thing and am washing my hands, looking in the mirror when I realize...I'm not properly buttoned up!!! In my rush to get dressed I'd missed buttoned myself. And no one told me.

And this, my friends, is why I have the policy of no stripping at work.

Dentists vs. Housekeepers

It's official. I've given in. I'm hiring a housekeeper to come clean my house this weekend. The dust bunnies have dust bunnies and it's time some serious attention is given to it - and I don't want to do it so I've called in the experts.

But here's the deal...I'm sitting in my living room thinking "can I let them see my living room like this? maybe I should pick up a little." Then I go into the bedroom and think "there's two inches of dust on the dresser, maybe I should just dust a little." Bathroom "I really use it when it looks like this??? I can't let anyone else see it like this...I'll just scrub the toilet...and the bathtub...and the floor."

Then I think, "why am I going to pay them to clean my house if I'm going to clean it first?" That is, after all, why I'm hiring them. Right?

So I did an informal poll at work, asking people if they had someone come out to clean their house, would they "clean" before the housekeepers got there?

The majority said no, that that is why you were paying them. It was their job to clean - don't do it for them.

One person started giving me a lecture on that point so finally I looked at her and said, "Okay then. Answer me this. Do you brush your teeth before you go to the dentist?"

She looked at me like I'd grown a third breast or something and said, "Yes. Of course!"

"Why?" I asked. "Aren't you paying him to clean your teeth? Doesn't that mean you're doing his job for him?"

Funny, she didn't have a quick comeback for that.

Great Summer Read - FINALLY OUT!

Sandra K. Moore has a knack for continually upping the level of suspense, and with Dead Reckoning, she delivers more than promised. I highly recommend Dead Reckoning.

Chris Hampton was used to bailing her younger sister out of tight spots, but discovering Natalie needed rescuing from her abusive, drug-smuggling husband, was definitely new territory.

Reluctantly, Chris accepts help from DEA Special Agents "Smitty" and Connor. They set out on her 70-foot motor yacht, Obsession, to take advantage of a two-day window of opportunity before Natalie leaves her husband’s private, highly guarded, island. Chris has no room for navigational error.

The stakes go even higher when she finds strange equipment concealed onboard Obsession, and discovers that someone is stalking her, believing she’s hiding a stolen fortune.

Despite her best efforts to stay focused, Chris finds herself responding to the advances of both agents. But after an "accident" in the engine room nearly costs Chris her life and the discovery of a dead body in the salon, Chris realizes that someone on her boat will do anything to stop her.

Torn, Chris doesn’t know who to trust. She’s drawn to Connor, but fears he is trying to seduce her merely to distract her from her purpose. And is Smitty really suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, as he claims, or is he pretending in order to further his own deadly agenda?

I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Reckoning. The flow was fast paced, and I was drawn in from page one. I was there with Chris, sharing her love of boating as she risks all to go after her sister. I suffered through her upheavals, doubts, and fears. And, I was there with her in the end when she is heart-wrenchingly forced to choose between the two things she loves most in the world.

Will Chris be able to survive and save her sister?

I'm too sexy for my fangs...

This is for Maria, who said she likes blogs about books. :-)

I just finished reading How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks. I'm not particularly drawn to vampire stories (I know they're hot right now but I don't feel the pull) so it's been easy to resist buying this one in the past.

That was until last Thursday when I went to dinner with a friend (and had a margarita) and then followed that up with a trip to the bookstore. I was happily shopping the aisles of books, telling stories of different authors (and no, the friend doesn't know I write) and books as we went. She said she wanted to find a book for her daughter-in-law who liked vampire stories so I pulled this one out for her, telling her it was a local author. She started reading the back cover as I walked away and then she started laughing. I wanted to know what she was laughing at but she was laughing too hard to tell me so I picked up another book and started reading the back cover myself.

Here's the back cover contents:

Nobody said love was perfect...

Roman Draganesti is charming, handsome, and rich...he's also a vampire. But this vampire just lost one of his fangs sinking his teeth into something he shouldn't have. Now he has one night to find a dentist before his natural healing abilities close the wound, leaving him a lop-sided eater for all eternity.

Things aren't going well for Shanna Whelan, either. After witnessing a gruesome murder, she's next on the mob's hit list. And her career as a dentist appears to be on a downward spiral because she's afraid of blood. When Roman rescues her from an assassination attempt, she wonders if she's found the one man who can keep her alive. Though the attraction between them is immediate and hot, can Shanna conquer her fear of blood to fix Roman's fang? And if she does, what will prevent Roman from using his fangs on her...?

My friend and I both bought the book. :-D

I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending, but overall, it was a fun read. Some seriously funny moments, including one where one vampire was singing "I'm too sexy for my cape, too sexy for my fangs. Too sexy!"

Blog Etiquette, Part II

Okay, so you get a blog...what is acceptable blog material? Is it better to keep the material superficial? Personal? Business oriented? Mix it up?

Blogging is a form of journaling but how personal should it get? For instance, I used to keep a journal but I only wrote when I had something really bothering me that I needed to get off my chest and I addressed my entries to God. Letters to my heavenly Father. I didn't write every day but when I did write, it was because something was bothering me. If anyone read that journal today I think I would come across as very troubled or angry because I was when the entries were written - and that's all they'd see. Nobody wants to read that.

If I blogged that way, well, I wouldn't keep reading a blog that was only venting frustrations so why would I think anyone else would? So, I try to keep the rants (hence the blog name ;-) ) to a minimum (they still get in there occasionally though).

But my question is, what kind of blog (if you have one) do you have (see list above ;-) )? And what kind of blogs do you enjoy more? What turns you off of a blog?

Again, inquiring minds want to know. ;-)

Blog Etiquette

Have you ever thought about your obligation to your blog audience?

Should you always respond to their comments?

And as a blog reader, what obligations are there? If you read the blog do you have to post a comment?

I was thinking about this because of a particular blog I frequent. I have no idea how large her audience is (I will say that I've seen her blog link on several author's blogs and she is published herself) but what I do know is that I'm typically the only person commenting on her blog. A lot of times I don't know what to say so I say nothing but when I can think of something, I post it because I know that seeing a lot of 0 comments can be discouraging and she has interesting, thought-provoking posts.

Well, she recently posted an entry asking all her readers to post a comment so she'd know they were out there. I immediately jumped up, raised my hand, said "I'm here" then posted a comment (because she couldn't "see" me jumping up, raising my hand, and oddly enough, she couldn't hear me either...weird how that works).

But here's the deal, every time I read her entries and post a comment, she responds....once. For example, I post a comment and she posts a reply. Her reply makes me think of something else, a comment, a question, whatever, and I post another comment. She never responds back to the second comment I make...NEVER - even when I am asking a follow up question - never. So if you see her blog she either has two comments or three comments...never four or more. Not that I'm complaining, I just find that a bit odd and that could just be me.

Anyway, not all that long ago a discussion was raised somewhere that bloggers should respond to their comments, otherwise the commentors will disappear, not feeling valued (which, for the record, I know I'm bad about NOT doing that but it has more to do with my own belief that I'm a topic killer than anything else - I really do appreciate the comments!). So my question is, when is it acceptable to cut off a dialogue with someone reading / commenting on your blog? Is there a magic number - if so, what is it? Do you feel you owe it to your "audience" to respond? Would you stop commenting if you didn't get a response from the blogger? Would you stop reading their blog altogether if they didn't respond?

I guess the real question (feel free to answer as few or as many as you like :-) ) is, do you have rules you follow when it comes to blogging? If so, what are those rules.

Inquiring minds want to know. :-)

The Devil Wears Prada

I just got home from seeing The Devil Wears Prada with Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. I loved it! Very Fun!

I've seen several interviews with the cast and have heard Meryl Streep say that it wasn't a fun movie to make. Not fun because, because of her role, she felt she had to maintain a distance from the rest of the cast and crew and to her, that is the best part of making a movie. (Cast members had even commented on it in their interviews.) But, the final result is she pulled off one wicked, bad-ass bitch on screen.

Anne Hathaway also did a good job with her role. However, all the movies I've seen her do, she plays the sweet, down-to-earth girl and this was no different. But, she did a great job with it.

One of my favorite lines from the movie (and mentioned as one of the actor's favorite lines) was "I'm one flu bug away from my goal weight."

Good movie. :-)

Story Ideas

It's a question that's been asked a million times but I always like to know where story ideas come from.

For me, so far anyway, there has always been a basis of fact in my ideas. For example, the story I'm working on now (a recent idea but I've been going to town on it, so to speak) came from an event that happened a week ago - at the baseball game. Since most everyone who reads this blog has access to my other one, I'll be brief in the description but it came from the kiss cam proposal that happened at the baseball game I went to. The woman had a deer-in-headlights look throughout the entire episode and the man was giddy with excitement. I never saw him ASK a question and I didn't see her give an ANSWER so what if there was a miscommunication there? Maybe the question is only implied and something she does (which actually happened), albeit inadvertently, causes him to jump to the conclusion that she's accepting the implied question. (Well, not so much implied since it was in big letters on the big screen but not actually verbalized.)

Aside from the fact that I witnessed a proposal like this recently, I've incorporated some other incidents from my personal life. Like, it's their third date and they haven't so much as kissed (or even held hands) and he's proposing. (That actually happened to me a few years back.)

But this brings me to my big question of the day. How much of your personal life / experiences do you bring to the table when forming your ideas? How much of your heroine is actually you?

Inquiring minds want to know. :-)

Work in Progress, otherwise known as Change is Good :-)

Last night I was wandering around online and to make a long story short, I decided my blog needed a face lift, so I went in search of a new look and this is what I decided on.

Now, being that I'm not a computer programmer, don't know computer codes, I'm pretty limited on what I can do without mucking up the page. In fact, last night when I was trying to deposit all my information/codes onto this new template I had a heck of a time. Things were overlapping at one point, which, sadly, wasn't the worst of it. Oh no! During one stage of the update process, the clock, current book, archives, favorite links, etc. appeared after every single blog entry. That's right folks, you didn't have to scroll to see what time it was in Rome because at each new entry, there was the clock, along with everything else now on the sidebar.

Fortunately, I had opted not to "save" my changes until I got it right because I never would have figured out how and what to pull out of the template to fix some of my mistakes. However, I was afraid to add too many extras not already on the template because of some of the snafus - which is why the page count feature is not currently displayed. I don't think this is the final - FINAL product but I think it's a good starting point - for now.

It seems to suit me. :-)

Take me out to the Ballgame...

Last night my group at work was treated to a night out a Minute Maid Park to see the Astros play. We'd worked out the details long before Roger Clemens announced he was coming back to the Astros and finding out he was going to be pitching his first game this season on the night we were scheduled to go was pretty cool. The stadium was completely sold out and it was standing room only but because we'd planned so far in advanced, we had good seats.

Now since Roger Clemens was pitching they turned out the lights and let the stadium be lit by the flash photography. Ha! (But let me tell you, cameras were flashing all over the place!) We had a company/department camera with our group and I had stressed that I did not want my picture taken because I hate the way I look in photos these days. As a result, there are more individual pictures of me than of anyone else in the group. The one to the left was the least offensive to me. LOL

One of the pictures of me was taken when I was tapped on my shoulder by one of those white tubes you see (posters of Roger Clemens) and I turned around. I saw the camera pointed at me, closed my eyes and said NO. What the camera captured was my eyes closed and my mouth WIDE open, as I looked over my shoulder. Not attractive at all. And if I hadn't suffered a moment of intense annoyance when I saw it, I wouldn't have deleted it and would have even posted it here for your viewing horror. LOL

Anyway, the most exciting thing about the game was the parking experience. I rode with someone from work and my "guest" for the evening met us at the game, having come alone. Now, the person I rode with is like me - not cheap but a single woman with bills to pay so she knew where we could find $5 parking "two blocks" from the stadium. When we got to her parking lot I was afraid to get out of the car the neighborhood was that bad - and it was daylight! (For the record, two blocks to my friend means "two blocks this way and two blocks that way" which means four blocks to me, but I digress.)

So, we realize that my friend is probably parked in a different $5 parking lot and since she's my guest, there is no way I am going to let her walk to her car alone after the game. I tell her we'll take her to her car. Her response was, "Or I can take y'all to yours." Nothing further was said on the matter and we head out of the stadium. We're walking and talking and walking and talking when my cell phone rings (gotta love "vibrate" when they're in your jeans pocket lol). It's a friend from work (actually the woman whose back you see in the picture) - she'd meant to walk my guest to her car but had forgotten. She's at her car and wants to know if her and her husband should wait for us. I said no, we were fine that we were going to take Tamara (my guest) to her car. Tamara stops and says, "I thought y'all were going to take me to my car." Kelly (my ride) says, "I thought we were going to your car."

Apparently we were wandering aimlessly through downtown Houston without a clue as to where we were headed. (Being that I was a passenger regardless, I'd left all decision making up to Kelly and Tamara...maybe not the best decision of the night. lol) I relay to Brenda (the friend from work who is waiting at her car for us) what is going on and change my thought about them waiting...I ask them to please wait for us. Please.

At this point, I have no idea where we are or where we're going and I'm not convinced that Kelly or Tamara know where they are either. The crowd that you walk out of a game with has thinned and it's just the three of us and Kelly's six year old son walking in the middle of no where. We finally find Tamara's car (she had been parked next to Brenda and her husband) and send her home. Brenda took us to Kelly's car and we all left.

Now, I already mentioned that I was not happy with the parking lot in the daylight but thought it could just be my imagination running away with me, right? (because I do, after all, have an active one at that) Come in this morning and Brenda was talking about how scary of an area it was that we parked in, what with all the homeless people hanging out there and all.

But hey, we only had to pay $5, right? LOL

Saved by the....t-shirt?

I'm all for helping someone who gets in a bind - through no fault of their own but someone who squanders their money and then wants someone else to bail them out??? Sorry. Not for me.

Have you seen the news that Dustin Diamond (aka Screech from Saved by the Bell) is about to lose his home to foreclosure so he wants to sell t-shirts to raise the money? He said that "If the public didn't care, I as an entertainer wouldn't have been a success."

Dude, you're asking for handouts. Obviously our definitions of "success" differ.

I don't know. Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't buy one of those shirts if the money was given to me to do so. To do so would only encourage this type of behavior in the future, by him and others who would either a) live beyond their means; or b) piss their money away and expect hard working people (who live within their means) to support them.

So not happening!

Second Chances

I'm not usually one to give an author a lot of chances to impress me. Occasionally I'll give an author a second chance but it has to be on a recommendation of someone I respect.

Which brings me to the book I read today, Kiss Me While I Sleep by Linda Howard. My last venture into Linda Howard's books was last summer and To Die For. It was told in first person with a strong heroine and a totally alpha male. If you don't know this already, I can't stand alpha males. I really liked the heroine in To Die for and I really liked the story but I kept hoping that whoever was gunning to kill the heroine would miss their mark and kill the hero instead. Of course that didn't happen. But it really put a bad taste in my mouth for Linda Howard's books.

So, Pam mentioned the suspense in Kiss Me While I Sleep in her blog and I had to buy it, giving Ms. Howard a second chance. I should probably throw in her that last night (or maybe this morning, time is a bit of a blur the last couple of days) I looked at the reviews of To Die For on B&N.com and I wasn't the only one, shall we say, less than thrilled by the book. Several people commented that it wasn't how she typically wrote and that it was enough to reconsider buying her again - despite the fact that she'd until now been an automatic buy. That says a lot.

Anyway, I started the book late in the afternoon today and finished it this evening. It was good. Told in third person so you have several points of view throughout. I really liked Swain. I thought Lily trusted Swain too easily, given the circumstances, but I really liked them together. I enjoyed the story and, despite Pam's chant (it’s a romance so they are going to live, it’s a romance so they are going to live, it’s a romance so they are going to live), there were points (and one in particular) where it wasn't clear that a romance fashioned ending was in the cards for all parties. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Next up is Lisa Kleypas' Someone to Watch Over Me. I bought it at my local chapter meeting for $1. It's an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) and the cover looks nothing like the cover on my side bar but I've heard it is a good story and that I'll enjoy it so..... :-)

Pride and Prejudice

I've finally finished Pride and Prejudice and I have to say, it was hard to read. And by hard, I mean it felt like it was taking forever. Not in a, "I hate it, when will it end" kind of way but I usually can gauge how long it will take me to read a book based on the number of pages I have to go. This was not the case with this book. Every page took longer than I would have thought - almost as if I was reading a textbook. I will say this though, about the pages, the typeset seemed to be smaller so it may be that more words were actually on the page than would have been in most books. But that's just speculation on my part.

In any event, I really liked the book. I loved the story of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy (did we ever learn his first name? I don't think we did, now that I think of it.) and the way it was told.

I also loved the story of Jane and Mr. Bingley. Jane reminded me of Melanie in Gone with the Wind with her loving, forgiving heart.

And Mr. Bennet, I loved him, even though he was barely mentioned in the book. His fondness for Elizabeth and his dealings with his wife were humorous - well to me, but then I'm easily amused. :-)

I think what I was struck with most though was the fact that I was reading a story that, when written, was a contemporary novel. It wasn't a written "historical" as we know them today. The author didn't attempt to "transport" the reader back in time because that was what was happening at that time. Few of the male characters were addressed, if ever mentioned, by their first names. And when women were married (Charlotte), they were then known/addressed as Mrs. whoever (Mrs. Collins), as would be appropriate for that time. Today's historicals would reflect more of a familiarity between people in that, while they might address each other as Mrs., Mr., Lady or Lord whoever, the reader almost always knows their first names.

Same goes for fashion. Wardrobe was once mentioned when Lydia married and her mother was concerned that she have a "wedding" wardrobe. Aside from that, no particular attention was given to the dress of the time. Today, pictures are painted with the words to show what everyone is wearing, presumably to transport us back in time.

Hair, once, to address that it was more important that Jane's hair be attended to than anyone else's since it was Mr. Bingley visiting.

So bottom line for me is this: I loved the story but I also loved the lesson in history it gave and the differing styles of today's writing vs. that time. It makes you wonder what generations from now will think of our writing.

But now that I've FINALLY read the book, I can finally watch the movie. I can hardly wait. :-)

I'm finally going to do it

I'm going to read Pride and Prejudice. Yes, I realize I'm the last person on earth that hasn't read it before now but I'm going to this weekend so I can check that off my list of things to do - presumably.

I don't know why I've waited so long to read it. I don't know of anyone who didn't like it. Heck, my friend is watching the movie over and over and over again (she watched it again last night - although that's not necessarily the same thing as reading the book but...). Maybe I'm afraid it's been built up too much and can't possibly live up to its hype. Of course, that never stopped me from seeing movies that were built up (but then, I've been disappointed in that area as well).

Maybe it's because it was written so long ago, how could it be any good? Yes, I know that makes no sense but what can I say? I don't know what it is that has made me reluctant to read it.

I will say this though, Nora Ephron has never steered me wrong before. After all, if Nora hadn't made Harry and Sally obsessed over Casablanca, I probably would have never watched it. Loved it by the way.

It was Nora who introduced me to An Affair to Remember in Sleepless in Seattle. Again, good movie.

And it was Nora who made Pride and Prejudice its own character in You've Got Mail.

She was right about Casablanca and An Affair to Remember so she has to be right about Pride and Prejudice - right?

Right!

Well, I'll let you know in a day or two if I still feel that way. :0)

Obsessions

I've blogged before about having a book buying obsession...in fact I may have alluded to that fact in my last post. :-) (By the way, I won six more books in Brenda Novak's auction and bought another book at the store today - Impulse (Thanks Pam! lol) by JoAnn Ross.)

Anyway, I get teased a lot about the number of books I buy and read. (Since my last blog - in addition to the auction and the "Impulse" buy - I ordered two more books off of amazon.com.) But, this one lady at work (who really gives me a bad time - all in fun) was telling me that she recently bought the movie Pride and Prejudice (the newest version). She was telling me how she watched it all weekend long - over and over and over again. And she was telling me what she liked about it and how every time she watches it, she sees something she missed in it before.

So today I was telling her that I won those books in the auction and she was giving me a bad time - again - and we were laughing about it. When she left my office...or should I say as she ducked out of my office, she says "I watched Pride and Prejudice again last night."

Which one of us has a worse problem do you think? I'd say her. At least I'm reading different books each time. lol

Book Bonanza

I love long lazy holiday weekends where you don't HAVE to do anything.

This was one such weekend and I spent it reading - and buying more books.

Friday I read Jessica Trapp's Master of Desire. Saturday I read Rachel Gibson's It Must Be Love. Yesterday I read Claire Cross' Third Time Lucky. And today, I read Julia Quinn's Romancing Mister Bridgerton.

As for buying books, I mentioned over at The Cupcake Police that although I'd resisted some recommended books, I couldn't resist when I saw someone had read something by a new favorite of mine...Erica Spindler. So, in four to twenty-one business days I should be receiving Erica Spindler's Killer Takes All, Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic and Sister, Jennifer Crusie's Faking It, and Janet Evanovich's Three to Get Deadly (yes, I know I'm way behind ;-) ).

That doesn't include the many books I have bids on in Brenda Novak's auction.

No, I don't have a problem. Not at all. LOL

Coming Soon....

In my currently reading section of my blog is a copy of Sandra K Moore's newest book cover - Dead Reckoning. It's what is next on my "to be read" list.

Here's the deal - it won't be released until July 2006. BUT, Sandra and I are both members of the Houston Bay Area Chapter of RWA and they recently instituted a program whereby a published writer (that would be Sandra) is paired with an unpublished writer (raising hand - that would be me!). We each have roles and responsibilities in this partnership.

For my part, I have to read all of her books before they are released (I know, tough job but somebody has to do it ;-) ) and then write a review of it. That review will go in/to the following places: 1) the HBARWA newsletter; 2) on the HBARWA webpage; 3) amazon.com; and 4) barnes & noble.com. For me THAT is the hard part. I want to do the book justice.

You see, I'm already worried about not saying enough good / nice things about this book. Thing is, I just got the ARC at last night's chapter meeting and all I've read is the excerpt that is posted on her webpage (which, by the way, you really should check out because it's good and will leave you wanting more - but I digress). So how do I know it's so good? Well, first of all, I read her first book and couldn't put it down and I have no reason to thing this one will be of any lesser quality.

Which brings up a question for me. I have the utmost respect for Sandra, as a writer and as a person. She was the first person I ever communicated with when I was looking into joining RWA and she's never been anything but supportive - not just to me but to all of our chaptermates. Sandra's the kind of person I want to be when I grow up.

But that's not really the question. The question is, are you influenced by someone's writing based on how you feel about that person personally? I'm wondering this because many moons ago (read two years ago - give or take) I "encountered" another published author. This author writes in at least two different genres.

Well, let's just say my first impression of her was not good. In fact it was quite bad. But okay, maybe she was having a bad day.

And, it's possible she was having another bad day the next time we met. And the time after that. And the time after that. And the time.....and so on.

Now, despite all the "rough" (I'm really being kind here) encounters we've had, I thought I would read a book of hers. I couldn't get through the first chapter. I made excuses and said the timing was off for me and I've planned (but never actually done it) to go back and try to read that book again.

Then I find that this author has a book out that was a Rita finalist. It's in a different genre than the first book I tried to read (and let me just say here, I'm a fan of both genres so that wasn't the problem) so I thought I'd give her another try - despite that I don't care for her as a person.

So, I finished the book but I didn't think it was that good. I'm wondering if I'm letting my personal opinion influence my "reading" opinion. Which leads me to my question...would your personal opinion of someone influence your opinion of their writing work? Could it if the author truly was a good writer but just a snot to deal with?

In any event, I'm really excited to be getting a sneak read of Sandra's book before it's available to the general public and I know it will be great - and that has nothing to do with the fact that she's just a great person. :-)

So keep your eyes out for the book in July - you won't want to miss it. :-)

Are you for sale?

Yesterday, as I was surfing the net (work avoidance thing) I went to the MSN homepage a number of times. Something that caught my eye was a picture of a man. Underneath the picture, in bold letters were the words Mr. Right. And below that, the tag line that read "World's Most Eligible Billionaires".

Now, I never actually opened the article to find out what it said because I was too annoyed at the message I was getting from the visuals.

Let's back up a few years. I'm a lot younger and only recently separated from my now ex-husband. I went out with a friend of mine to a Pub she frequented a lot. Enough to know the regulars. Non-alcoholic drinks were free (which was good because I was poor), and we could play pool and darts (both also free) to our hearts content.

Well, this man came up and put his arm around me. I'd never met him so I was immediately put off by that. He was drunk and openly undressing me with his eyes. It gave me the creeps. Anyway, he asked me how old I was so I told him sixteen. He didn't care, he tried groping me anyway. I told him I was jailbait, he needed to back off and it didn't even slow him down. We moved over to the bar and he followed us, forcing his way between me and my friend. I said rude, mean things to get him to back off but he didn't.

Now I should point out that my friend and I met in a sign language class so we both knew sign (her better than me because she was the deaf instructor's interpretor - but that's beside the point). She was behind this man, signing over his shoulder to me, telling me to be nice, he was a millionaire! Like that somehow excused his behavior and made it okay for him to be a total ass.

Eventually the owner of the Pub asked the man to leave. He did and we waited a while before we left - only to find that this man had waited for us outside. He became more aggressive towards me, trying to break out the car windows once we made it to the car. The owner of the Pub came and held him back so we could leave, all the while my friend was telling me I was stupid for not going for it with this guy - and it was HER car windows he was trying to bust out.

So fast forward to yesterday when I'm seeing that image. Why would anyone be attracted to a person simply because of the size of their bank account? Yes, money is nice - it's even necessary in life. But just because you have it doesn't mean you're a decent person, worthy of my attention.

It may be that you can fall in love with a rich man as easily as a poor man but honey, if that's all you have to attract me, you're dead in the water with me.