Good news for romance

I saw this article today at msnbc.com about the trend for romance novel sales to increase in a recession.

It's nice to know some things are looking up.

Here's a question - in the face of economic uncertainty do you buy more books? Romances or just books in general? I tend to use book purchases for medicinal purposes. When I'm bummed, depressed, etc, I go book shopping. Also when I'm happy and in possession of some extra, unexpected money, I go book shopping. So basically I don't really need an excuse to buy books, or any excuse will do.

I don't think I've bought more books since the recession hit, but I certainly haven't bought any less. How about you?

Read-A-Thon

 I finished three books in two days. Reading them, that is. That's the biggest dent I've ever put in my TBR pile in a single week.

How? Well, the lack of valuable projects at work has had me aimlessly web surfing for days, so rather than do another damn Sudoku [I'm getting pretty good at them actually] I decided to embark on a mini-read-a-thon between making the office coffee and stamping the outgoing mail.

What? I finally finished Alan Dean Foster's version of the new Star Trek saga. Was it good? Um...I have to say no. I guess I've spent too many years learning how to STICK TO ONE FREAKIN' POV PER SCENE to not have the book make my eyes bleed just a little. Also, and perhaps in his defense he may not have had a script to work with, or had an original script that changed, but some of the best bits of the movie are subtly different in the book and not better.

The next book I read was Always Looking up by Michael J. Fox. I don't read much non-fiction but this account of his life since retiring from acting due to Parkinson's disease and his political quest to lift the ban on stem cell research was interesting and inspiring.

Finally, I downed one of the BBC Torchwood Books called Almost Perfect. Any book with John Barrowman on the cover can't be all bad, and this one was rather cute and a very fast read.

This week, three books - next week - the world!

In Praise of Slowness

I stumbled upon THIS BLOG today. A writer and parent from England discusses the idea of slowing down and living life more fully, rather than more…fastly, for lack of a better term. I’m all for it.

I’ve been living in a constant state of flux for about a year now, trying to decide where I’m going, what I’m doing, and why I'm doing it, and I think the concept of slowing down is exactly what I’m looking for. I’m seeking to get back to enjoying my life, not just my writing, but every aspect of my life, and I’m trying to figure out how to get more accomplished not by cramming even more into every minute of my day, but by actually doing less and doing it well.

Sounds nuts, right? I probably am, but since I’ve hit 40 I’ve increasingly come up against the question, Is this how it’s supposed to be? I find that the way our society runs has become less of a bemusement to me and more of an annoyance. I’m seeking reality [while still having time to live in my fantasy worlds of course] and I think the only way to find reality is to slow down and look for it more carefully.

What do you think? Is faster better? Do you wish you had more time to do things, or just less things to do?

What am I watching?

Since the regular TV season is officially over now, the pickings are slim for some decent tube time.

Thanks to Netflix, I'm not totally board when I crash on the couch in the evenings. We've been working our way through Primeval {BBC Sci-Fi}, Cities of the Underworld {history channel documentary} and The Starter Wife {USA network series}. I've noticed that all shows seem to be better when you don't have to wait for new episodes. It's a lot easier to get into a show when you can watch 3 or 4 episodes in a row than when you have to hunt all over the TV guide to find the next airing.

Of course in addition to watching TV, I'm supposed to be writing. I am, really. I just finished a revision of my gargoyle story - now I'm trying to decide what to work on next. I want to write a novel over the summer...but too many ideas are clamoring for attention. I may have to flip a coin, or just spin the TV remote and see where I land.

Speaking of weather

'Tis now the season of the green dust here in sunny/warm/rainy/cold/balmy/frigid NJ.

Thanks to all that rain [the rain we did get as well as the rain we didn't get] - everything is in full bloom and shedding little pellets of misery on us all.

My throat is itchy, my eyes are sticky, my car is tinted green.

If we could make fuel out of pollen, I think we'd be in great shape. There's certainly a never-ending supply of it.

I'm boycotting weather

Or maybe I should just boycott all weather reporting services.

This weekend was supposed to be the town wide garage sale - in which we were participating. So I've been sticking little neon price stickers on my old junk all week, and collecting small bills and coins for change. Yesterday we got up [way too early I might add] and DH started moving cars and lugging tables up from the basement under a cloudy sky. The rain began before we started setting anything else up and since the forecast was for showers by noon and thunderstorms by 3:00, we decided to scrap the whole deal.

After that initial scattering of rain, the rest of the day was dry, cool and pleasantly breezy. In fact I went to visit other people's garage sales - the brave souls who ignored the weather reports and lugged their junk to the curb anyway. Sigh. By dinner time the sky was blue.

So, we decided to chance the 90-minute drive to Warwick, NY to go see Star Trek again at the drive-in! We put on our pajamas, packed the car with snacks [I bought a Red Bull for the trip because I was already tired from getting up so early] and off we went.

The kids were thrilled because neither of them remember our last trip to the drive-in when they were merely toddlers. After taking the winding roads to the outback of nowhere, we pulled in just 2 minutes before the show started and settled in [after an exhausting hike to the restrooms] to watch the movie.

Halfway through, the rain started, so we watched the movie with the wipers on while lightning split the sky above the screen. It was actually pretty cool. I'm glad I'd seen the movie before, though or I would have been mega-disappointed when the screen started to get wet. We also had a spider in the car! And after that gruesome discovery I was itchy for the rest of the night.

We stumbled home around midnight and flopped into bed. Today is cold and windy, so we're not doing the garage sale today either. SIGH. Off to go foodshopping. Weather be damned.

Still here!

I haven't fallen out of cyberspace, if that's what you're wondering. It's just been a mega-busy week. Between the regular job, taking extra hours at the part-time, part time job, proctoring the bi-annual ASE tests and editing, I barely have time to sit down, let alone blog.

To recap:

My query blitz yielded some interesting results. Of course I'm holding my breath and checking my e-mail obsessively.

I started rewrites on my rewrites of my gargoyle story. I'm going to whip that thing into perfect shape if it kills me.

I made an executive decision about writing - specifically that my next major project will be another full length novel and that I will try very hard to only work on one manuscript at a time at least over the summer. This means there may not be any novellas appearing for a while, so my name may be scarce among the epubs for a while.

It's season finale week with most of the networks, so as much as I'll miss my favorite shows, I may have nothing better to do but write in the coming weeks. Can't use good TV as an excuse any more.

I have renewed my obsession with Star Trek! After seeing the movie, I now remember why I grew up LOVING the show and the characters. I won't go so far as to say I miss being active in fandom - I'm not really a club person anymore, not that I ever was much of one, but I do realize how much I missed epic science fiction.

****

Well, off to Job # 3 now. I'll try not to go another five days without blogging.

Happy Mother's Weekend

I would have said Happy Mother's Day, but I believe that mothers really deserve, at the very least, an entire weekend.

We're going out to dinner tonight and taking my Mom. We used to do the actual Sunday dinner thing, but all the restaurants were so crowded and crazy. Both my mother and I tend to be a bit agoraphobic at times, and she despises waiting a long time in a restuarant to get a seat, so we switched to a Mother's Day Eve dinner which is much less stressful.

Tomorrow I've been promised French Toast for breakfast and we're going to see Star Trek. Then we'll probably order a pizza for dinner. [Even when you celebrate Mother's Day Eve, you still shouldn't have to acutally cook on Mother's Day.]

So what are your plans for this weekend?

It seems I can do the 'hot'!

To offset yesterday being cold, gray and rainy, the Universe sent me some awesome reviews!


Night Owl Romance had this to say about SKIN: 4.75/5 Wow! Hot, hot, hot! I was right there all the way with Makena and Darq. The author paints an intense portrait of these two as they explore the possibility of a relationship and what it might mean to them both.

And Manic Readers had this to say about GOING DEEP: 4 1/2 Stars! In Going Deep, Bernadette Gardner has crafted a wonderful futuristic love story. The setting is unique, the characters are complex, and the romance is both sweet and spicy enough to warm up the cold ocean.

Today, it's still a little bit cloudy and cold, Universe - so you're welcome to send some more great reviews any time!

When you just can't lose...

I saw this picture on I Has A Hot Dog the other day and I had to save it. Whoever the guy was who took this picture, he's pure genius.

Unless his girlfriend is allergic to dogs, he's got this proposal all sewn up. I'd certainly say yes and I don't even know the guy.

Have you ever heard of or come across a fool proof marriage proposal? I was always suspicious of the big public ones where someone gets hundreds of people in a stadium to hold up signs, or someone hires a skywriter, or puts a bill board on a bus. Then there was the guy recently who proposed on a bridge and then accidentally dropped the ring into traffic. Memorable yes, but way too stressful for everyone involved.

If you were going to write the perfect proposal, how would it go?

A piece of quiet

So what do you do when you have a piece of quiet?

I've got a little while to myself while the thundering herd is out collecting their Free Comic Books. I'm home blogging, naturally, and thinking about what else I could do on this sunny, cool spring afternoon.

There's laundry of course. And I could update Bernadette's website, work on putting up a free read, edit a novella I'm working on, read a book [I'm in the middle of a good one!], clean, collect items for the garage sale we're having in two weeks, take a walk, take a nap, or work on an entirely new story.

If I could do it all at once, I would. Of course, if I could be at the spot in this picture, I would be there instead.

The problem with weekends is, there's just too much to do. Too many choices. I feel paralyzed sometimes by how many choices I have and I'm always wondering if I'm utilizing my time the best way, or if perhaps I'm spending too much time worrying about how well I'm utilizing my time.

And the pieces of quiet that I get are entirely too small, so I have to use them wisely before they disappear.

How big was your last piece of quiet?