Nevertheless, she persisted.
Today I was at Riskey Regencies (where we will be interviewing Katherine Caskie on 9/16) with a contest and four questions for your consideration. Check it out!
I was also over at Racy Romance Reviews where I was one of three people talking about True Blood Season 2. Drop by and share your opinion.
Lucky me, I have Monday and Tuesday off. The last of the furlough days at the day job that were supposed to compensate us for the reduction in salary. We still have the salary reduction, but no more furlough days. Sigh.
Still, this means it’s still the weekend for me and that is good.
I’ve been writing and on hold with AT&T. It took in excess of an hour to get my father’s cell phone transferred to my bill. It’s still not done because I can’t put him on my Family Plan until the new phone arrives. I don’t even want to tell you about that nightmare. Suffice it to say there were many incredibly stupid reasons this could no not be done reliably, cheaply or at a price that made any sense whatsoever.
And then, I kid you not! Not even 10 minutes after I finally hung up with AT&T, my father came home and as I was telling him that his new phone (NOT FREE — shh. I did not tell him that part) would be here in a couple of days, he says to me Oh, good, because I think I lost the phone. I took my phone to his car and called his phone in case it just fell out of his pocket (remember my post yesterday about the ventilated clothes?) but this met with nothing but silence.
Which meant I had to call AT&T back to report the lost phone. I am happy to say that this was not as bad as I feared and I’m pretty sure they didn’t cancel the new phone order though for a minute I thought he was going to.
Anyway, I wrote today but I don’t know how much or how well because I was on hold most of the time and that voice is just gadawful. Odd, but I was never once tempted to add any of those services. In fact, I just kept thinking all those additional metered minutes data plan smhan stuff was an incredible rip off and that it would be a cold day in hell before I ever give up my iPhone because frankly, I think if you paid ala carte for all the stuff the iPhone just does, you’d be paying in excess of iPhone money.
So, my Monday had some very Monday qualities to it and yet, I was not at work and don’t have to go to work tomorrow.
And, last night was True Blood night. May I just opine that Alexander Skarsgard is insanely hot?
Thank you.
Back to work.
First, thank you to everyone who commented on my post about Pantsers, by the way. It’s nice to know there are many others out there. Solidarity! And there was that fascinating hint of others who share my love for office supplies. That’s my biggest regret about not being more of a plotter type, because plotters seem to use a lot of neato supplies for which, mostly, I have no use.
In other news, I am, of course, working on The Next Paranormal which is going pretty well, all things considered. I’m above 30K words and there are interesting developments. Not as fast as I’d like, but consistent progress also gets things done. I’m looking forward to having enough written that I can really tear in to the story. First draft writing is hard work.
All my ARCs of Indiscreet, my October historical from Berkley have been mailed out as have the prizes for my newsletter subscriber contest. I do indeed hold subscriber only contests, so if you like my books and want to know about when the next one is out by all means subscribe.
Last night I went to see Harry Potter. Golly, those movies are well done. But all the movie trailers were terrible. There wasn’t one single movie previewed that seemed even remotely interesting. What’s up with that?
I am giving some thought to the best way to put fangs on my beautiful MacBook Pro. I’ll have to go stroll around an art supply store looking for appropriate materials. I want to put them on the forward edge, where you’d reach to open the laptop. Anybody have any ideas on that one? Too bad HBO doesn’t sell an Eric Northman laptop skin, because I’d be all over that.
Since I’m on the subject, I LOVE Fang. (That’s the MBP) It’s smaller and lighter than my old Dell and on the 4+ hour flight from DC to SFO, I used hardly half the battery, and I had it on pretty much the whole time. It’s small enough to easily sit on the airplane seat tray without bumping the neighbors or anything. It’s great in the back of the car, too and no problem in waiting rooms either. (Son has had orthodontist, ortho xray and dentist appts — all routine, no worries!)
I’m delaying any action on the possibility of adopting a Greyhound. We have two gates that need fixing first. One of them is a simple fix. The other is a bit more complicated, but I’m also not clear on why it’s an issue. The objection was, in essence, What if someone leaves the gate open? Certainly a good question, but how is that any different than the possibility that someone in a house facing a street would leave the front door open? In our case, if that were to happen and the dog was also outside unattended, it would still have to choose that direction to run — which is not line of sight from anywhere near the house. Homes with gates across the driveway are the exception not the rule, yet Greyhounds get adopted into homes where an accidentally open door puts them directly onto a street. What we have is not one but two barriers to road access and that is actually safer.
At the moment, I don’t have the energy to call and argue the fallacy with the guy. And I’ve always been one to resent and deliberately fail sekret tests and trick questions because they piss me off and I more than halfway think that’s what’s going on here.
I need to think about it more.
Anyway, that’s the weekend report. Any fang art suggestions are welcome
So, how was ComiCon, you ask? If humanly possible, I’m going back next year for the whole thing and I’m bringing my son and nephew and one or both of my bothers.
My wonderful publisher, Hachette Book Group (Grand Central Publishing) came up with a badge for me so I could attend Friday and sign the copies of My Forbidden Desire they were giving away. I flew down and back on Friday, which is doable because it’s only an hour flight from here.
Huge thank you to Nick Small of Hachette who came out to give me my badge, escort me to the booth and help get me set up and ready to sign. I’m also glad that was at 9:00 am before the con was officially open, because after that — madhouse.
The signing was FUN and my gosh the books were just gone as fast as I could sign them. Everyone was so nice and friendly. It didn’t hurt that a Twilight give away was about to start, too. Hachette Books, in case you didn’t know, also publishes Stephanie Meyer.
Now, who doesn’t love free books, right? But good golly, there were a lot of people who were excited to meet me (yes, me!) because they had read my books and loved them or who had orders from others to get my book. There were a number of people who read the back of the book and were pretty excited about reading it. PLUS! I remembered to bring bookmarks for My Wicked Enemy and My Forbidden Desire so everyone got bookmarks, too. The extras were gone pretty quickly, too. So, authors, if you sign at ComiCon, bring LOTS of bookmarks. If I’d brought a thousand of each, I think they would have disappeared. Frankly, I think if I’d brought thousands of each they’d have been picked up.
I love talking about books and Hachette had some of my favs out there, including Josh Bazell’s Beat the Reaper which I think is just a really excellent book so I couldn’t help pimping that a bit.
After the signing, I took a bit to breathe and then I wandered around the exhibit hall, which let me let you is a lot of walking. There’s a great mix of commercial/corporate stuff — glitz! Glamor! Big displays!! and small presses, artists, comics… just really astounding. I wish I knew more about the comics biz because there were artists there drawing stuff and selling their artwork and I’m a doofus over artwork.
Then I decided to attend a few panels only I didn’t have a schedule thingee and I’m ashamed to confess that I also didn’t know who anyone who anyone was, so I just picked a few. I hit paydirt on my first one. Artist David Yardin gave a great talk on creating a comic book cover. Here’s his portfolio
What I loved about his talk, aside from the gorgeous artwork, was his story about how he got into the business. It’s instructive to writers, too. He’s from Australia, which doesn’t have the professional Comics industry the US does but he knew his work was pretty close to professional level. He was getting great feedback but he knew he needed to get himself to the next level. What he did was search out advice and (hugely paraphrasing here, and making observations David did not) since professionals get excited about talented people and want to help them, David did find just such a professional. He worked on his craft with this man (whose name I know I should have recognized but didn’t, sorry). He studied hard. Really, really hard. And he internalized what he was being taught and applied that to his work. He said he spent hours and hours just drawing arms, for example.
What was clear is that David wasn’t just passionate. He wanted to learn. Or more appropriately, even though he knew he was good, he knew he needed to be even better. And he made it happen. That’s a lesson for writers too. Don’t just complain about how hard it is to get published. Study your craft intensely and always be working to get better.
After that session I got in this astoundingly long line for someone named R. Rodriguez who I figured must be a big deal on account of the long line. (Ducking!!) Yeah. Director Robert Rodriguez who started out with his hit El Mariachi which he made for $8,000 in two weeks because he had to give the camera back in two weeks. Then he went on to make movies you might have heard of, like Spy Kids and Grindhouse and lots of others. He was really funny and told a lot of amusing stories.
I popped in on a couple more sessions and wandered around a lot. I tried to find Marjorie M. Liu’s signing but my lack of a program guide and my general inability to tell right from left meant I wandered around aimlessly and with my luck probably passed her twice without seeing her.
There are lots of ComiCon attendees who dress up. I saw lots of Klingons, several Wonder Women, Spiderman, Jedi Knights, Storm Troopers and lots of others as well as costumes I was unable to identify. Some of the costumes, male and female, were uhm, ill advised, in my opinion but ultimately, it’s all about having fun and everyone was having fun.
Tomorrow I’ll be at ComicCon in San Diego at the Hachette Books booth signing FREE copies of My Forbidden Desire starting at 10:00 am. If you’re around, please come by. That would be awesome indeed. Since I have an early flight I’ll be leaving for a Park N Fly hotel tonight. If I’d had my brain on straight I would have arranged this for Saturday when I wouldn’t have to worry about commute traffic. I’ve flow down and back in a day before, it’s a bit tiring, but completely doable.
And, Saturday is, apparently, the cast signing for HBO’s True Blood, including my One True Love, Alexander Skarsgard. He plays Eric.
Commiserate with me. This is sad indeed that I will not see him. Sniff. OTOH, I’m hoping my badge will permit me to wander around and look at stuff. Maybe poke my head into a panel or two. The worrywart in me insists on worrying that I won’t be able to wander around and I’ll be stuck doing nothing until my flight back. It’s not easy being a worrywart.
It’s getting on to the time when I need to be feeding the boy and figuring out what I’m taking. Laptop? yes, I think so. In case I can’t wander. Or maybe not. Maybe it will be too big at PITA to bring. OTOH again, maybe I should because sometimes crowds freak me out and a laptop would be a good thing to hide behind once I’m done with the signing bit. You see my issues? I won’t have a place to stash anything like a carry on bag so maybe I’ll bring along my RWA bag or my huge green Dell bag just in case there’s swag to carry away.
Worry worry worry.
Now watch something remarkable:
Let it all go, Carolyn. It’s one freaking day. Bring the damn laptop because it’s not heavy, it’s named Fang, after Mr. Skarsgard, and bring the green Dell bag because it will scrunch up easily in the laptop bag.
Ahh, yes. Off to cook dinner and then drive to the airport hotel. I will tweet for sure and maybe even blog.
OK, first off, I am very tired which I think means things are going well. Had a doughnut party in our room last night which was very fun. We ate doughnuts, talked smack, watch the more interesting bits of TrueBlood for a certain roommate who likes Bill more than Eric (WTF?) and some other stuff.
Today I had breakfast with my agent and had a very good meeting. Then I met with my Berkley editor and also had a very good meeting, which made me pretty happy. The luncheon was wonderful. Eloisa James gave a very inspiring talk and had more than a few people sniffling, too.
The Berkley and Grand Central signings were at the same time, so I went to the GCP signing for half an hour then popped over to the Berkley one, but the copies of Scandal were all gone. I signed a few for people who hadn’t left yet and gave away all my bookmarks. Then I went back to the GCP signing and by then all my books there were gone, too. So, rats for having those two at the same time.
After that I met up with Liz Maverick and Megan Frampton and we went to the Samhain get together which was crazy crowded.
In a bit, I’m off to the Berkley cocktail party and then a certain other party I can’t talk about but might start with a letter between G and I. Maybe.
Desperately need a nap, though. Will report more tomorrow if possible.
Just a quick note to say I’m working on the page proofs for Indiscreet so I have my head down getting through those. Plus too much day job stuff bleeding into my real life and eating up my evenings. Sigh so I am behind in everything now and getting paid less for more work. Should Not Compute. But it does, sadly.
Am also woefully unprepared for RWA in July. However, good news is that I’ll be at the Literacy signing July 15 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm so if you’re in the DC area, come by!
On July 24 I’ll be at the Hachette booth at Comic Con San Diego signing 200 free copies of My Forbidden Desire so if you’re there, drop by. When not signing I will be looking for Alexander Skarsgard and all things True Blood related. I’m only there for the day. I’ll post better time info when I have it.
Today I saw a little blurb that suggested Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse was the best beach read ever. To which I immediately said, WTF?
There’s just so much wrong with that statement, which yes, I do realize was meant partially in jest. But what’s behind that jest? Nothing less than the usual insulting dig at commercial fiction and the readers thereof– actual beach read books, which I hope we can agree are books you can take to the beach and read to forget your problems or simply enjoy an exciting story. To suggest that To The Lighthouse is a beach read is simply absurd. It implies that people who read actual Beach Reads are somehow so silly and harebrained that we have to be led down the path to literature because otherwise Beach Readers would never know about Virginia Woolf.
And then there’s To The Lighthouse itself. This book is not an easy read. It takes concentration and exquisitely careful attention to the prose. I once said To The Lighthouse is a cubist novel and it is. If offers a perspective that shifts and feels uncomfortable and forces you to struggle to give shape to what you’re reading. You are forced to see the world and The Novel itself in a whole different way. It is a tour de force. But as you learn how to follow the shifts and make new shapes from the prose, a new world opens up.
To The Lighthouse is NOT a beach read. And guess what? I’ve read To The Lighthouse and I’ve read actual beach reads and I get value from both. I bet I’m not the only one.
Last night I watched the season 2 premier of True Blood, the HBO series based on Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books. Which, by the way, I loved.
Then I heard about a controversial opinion that in the final scene of the episode, Eric Northman bites the penis off a hapless redneck who has done vampires wrong. Could that be so? I know other appendages were, er, removed (an arm, seen in silhouette), but was there actual biting off of a male member? Well, upon review the scene and doing my best not to be distracted by the obvious fact that my One True Love Alexander Skarsgard has been working out, I can only conclude that, well, yes. He did do that.
Did you read the paragraph above? No, not To The Lighthouse. Alexander Skarsgard. I have it bad. Really bad. It’s embarrassing and mostly I’m not even embarrassed.
I have begun receiving my candy of the month from the brilliant Hank Phillippi Ryan and guess what? Since I won it in Brenda Novak’s diabetes auction (ignore the irony! It’s for a good cause!) I’m in the club all by myself. And I’m not sharing. Sorry.
Not really.
Also, I finally worked my way out of my earliest dead end in a Work In Progress (WIP) ever. Chapter 4, for crying out loud. But now I’m out of it and things are looking pretty good.
I’m not due for another episode of Writer’s Neurosis for another 6 chapters at least.
So, who else loves Alexander Skarsgard?
