Erica Ridley

CONTEST: Win Free Books!

2009-10-29T14:24:00.002-04:00

Details over at this blog's new home:

http://EricaRidley.com/Blog

Please update your bookmarks and enter to win!!!

October 1813 Scandalsheet: Unauthorized Braintree Edition

2009-09-23T08:04:00.004-04:00

Come check out the brand new October 1813 Scandalsheet: Unauthorized Braintree Edition over at 2wicked2kiss.com!

Highlights include:

Unauthorized Scandalsheet: Gossip + ~~suspect list~~ Guest List!

Do-It-Yourself Psychic Visions - Horoscope Generator!

Contest: Win Free Gothic Historical Romance Novels!

Official Book Video for Too Wicked To Kiss!

Let me know if you link to the website and/or video from your blog, website, or Myspace, and I will link back to you over at ericaridley.com/blog!!

Direct link to video:

Blog is at EricaRidley.com!

2009-09-15T08:47:00.003-04:00

Please come visit me (and update your bookmarks) to my new home, at:
http://www.ericaridley.com/blog

See you there!!!

Erica

(Big thanks to B.E. Sanderson for pointing out I should make it clearer!)

Release Day Times 3

2009-08-25T06:13:00.002-04:00

Today is release day for Diana Peterfreund's RAMPANT, an amazing YA novel with a butt-kicking heroine who battles authority, expectations, and KILLER UNICORNS. You will love this book!

It is also release day for Tessa Dare's SURRENDER OF A SIREN, the second in her trilogy. (Third book comes out next month--almost no waiting!!)

AND, it is release day for the new home of this blog! Please visit http://www.ericaridley.com/blog and let me know how it looks in your browser, whether you have any problems finding things or posting comments, etc. Thank you!!!

New Website!!!

2009-08-24T05:25:00.000-04:00

Things have been a-changin' over at www.ericaridley.com! Got a whole new look, and tons of new content, including Embarrassing Photos, Little Known Facts, a Fake Cover Blurb contest where you can win free stuff, and an excerpt from the March 02, 2010 Kensington Zebra release TOO WICKED TO KISS.

Please check out the new digs and let me know what you think!

I got my cover!!!

2009-08-20T05:35:00.001-04:00

Well, technically, the book cover went to my home in Florida (I am slightly out-of-town at the moment, as I happen to be in France) but I got an email pic of the cover (which I lurve!) and the real thing should be arriving shortly (and then I will upload it for you to see!!!)

Yay Barnes & Noble!

2009-07-21T08:57:00.003-04:00

STORY: ShelfAwareness

DOWNLOAD: BN Free e-Readers

I am SO EXCITED about the new BN program! I can now read e-books on my PC *or* my Blackberry. (And the free e-reader came with 6 free e-books, 4 of which I actually want to read LOL)

Since I am constantly in a state of travel flux, this will help me not incur airline weight overage fees with books in my baggage, and also let me read on the Subway no matter where I am or if I remembered to tuck a book in my omnipresent backpack.

Best parts - eReader remembers where I left off without me having to remember to explicitly bookmark, and my books are automatically available in both locations without DRM snafus in transferring from one place to another.

Rock on!!!

Writers Catch the Wave: Why Google Rocks

2009-06-18T03:27:00.010-04:00

Google Wave will change at least one writer's life: http://wave.google.com

Confession: I watched half the video, only because I fell into a dead swoon and couldn't handle it anymore. If you, too, were overwhelmed by awesomeness (or simply didn't have 1.5h to spare) here are some highlights from the segments my brain recorded before it exploded:

[begin fangirl propaganda]

Basically, what Google did is this: They said to themselves, "Google, what's the most popular internet activity? Email, right? Shame we didn't invent it. Hey... what if we did? Like, reinvented it? But made it so bad-ass it also eclipsed every other internet activity on Earth?"

And so they created Google Wave, which will apparently be available later this year.

Why I Fainted Dead Away:

* It's email, it's chat, it's Picasa, it's Facebook, it's Hi5, it's MySpace, it's Blogger, it's GoogleTalk, it's YouTube, it's Twitter, it's every bulletin board system or message threading forum or email listserv you've ever laid eyes on--all in one.

* This is accomplished by thinking of each of those elements of part of a greater element, which is a conversation they call a "wave". (Possibly because the Australian team programmed it, and Aussies have surfing on the brain.)

* Like Gmail, the central server hosts each wave (conversation) without downloading it to your desktop. Also like Gmail, you get a multi-window dashboard upon login and your contacts have photo icons. /end similarities

* Say you want to start a wave (conversation) with one or more pals. You either start to type part of a name into the box (old-school style) or you drag and drop a contact icon.

* Next, you start to type. If you make typos, Wave automatically corrects them as you go. No more of that red-squiggle or wait-until-the-end-then-run-spell-check nonsense.

* If one of the intended recipients happens to be online in their wave in this moment, they see your message. As you're typing it. Without having to wait for that annoying "Bob is typing a message" status to go away and the words to finally appear!!!

* (Note: just in case there's some reason you want your contact to remain in agony as you go check your laundry and feed your cat, totally forgetting you have your response half-typed on your screen, there is a checkbox to hide replies until sent.)

* This means that unlike present-day instant messaging, which in comparison is not all that instant, you get to spend 100% of your time reading and/or responding to the wave.

* If your friend wants to reply to any portion of your wave (which at this moment looks like an email, or perhaps a Word doc crammed with charts and lists and tables etc) she can highlight any portion (ie, your question about "How much do I owe you for the handcuffs?") and type her answer. Don't think email-style reply. Think comment bubbles in Microsoft Word. In-line. (With the cute little gtalk photo icon. Heh.)

* You, in return, can reply to that specific comment, rather than reply to the entire email. And your comment appears in-line, right beneath the other person's comment. Instantly-instantly. As you type each word! (Writers: think what this means for scene or synopsis critiquing! or email loops!! And just wait--there's more!)

* If one or more other recipients is online, this byplay can burst into IM-style chatting, right at the exact relevant portion of the initial conversation. And if the topic changes, all they have to do is highlight the new relevant section, and the subsequent chat embeds right there. Or if they stray completely off topic, click somewhere else in the wave and start a new thread.

* This means that, like a message board, there can be a seperate topic that receives multiple comments, each of which can subsequently receive commens of their own, except, unlike a message board, the threads can branch out anywhere, at any time, dividing the original message into innumerable subparts (again, think critting! Or listserves and writing loops!!) as well as dividing long-winded replies into innumerable subparts.

* Also, completely unlike a message board but more like Word's track changes feature, in addition to comments (or just typing anywhere willy-nilly in the wave, which you are still able to do) you can make changes directly to the original (or any previous) text, written by absolutely anyone. It shows up on their end track-changes style. And someone can correct your corrections, and so on.

* AND, in case the visual wasn't clear, all this appears to you (and everyone on the wave, even if they weren't online to witness the magic) as one single email. Gone, gone, gone are the days of a billion copies of the same message scrolling on into infinity. It's one thing! But with live action! You can watch it all happening!

* So let's say we want to add our favorite critique parter Jane to the wave, now that we've been chattering on it for four days. If this were a normal email, we'd forward the whole shebang, and when she got it, her initial response would be "WTF". (Also, if this were normal email, she might've been forwarded the not-quite last email and someone could be replying to a different one and then suddenly there's five different email versions out there and nobody knows what's happening.) But this is not a normal email. All we do is add Jane to the wave, and Bam! She gets the whole thing.

* So now Jane is looking at a drafted, critted, revised, recritted, rerevised scene. But in her wave, it looks pristine and beautiful, without any of those pesky track-changes highlights. She can read like a reader, and if she wants to bleed red all over it, she can do so. But what if she then wonders how this totally awesome scene got so damn awesome in the first place? Easy peasy: she clicks "Playback" at the top of the wave, and it reverts back to the very first message ever typed, and moves forward in time, screen by screen, PowerPoint style, until the present. How cool is that?

* But just in case that's not quite cool enough for you, here's this: Unlike PowerPoint, each screen of the wave is totally editable, readable, copyable, pasteable, chattable, and replyable. So if the scene actually sucks monkeyballs, she can say, "Here's where you went wrong: You listened to Erica's comment and edited the life out of an otherwise perfect slice of awesomeness and now the whole thing sucks. Go back to this point and add a throwaway line about X, and it'll be perfect."

* And then, of course, you can! Or, if I happen to be online and see that little tidbit before you do, maybe there's a few choice things I want to say that I don't want Jane to read. (Like, "Who added the crazy bitch to the wave?!") I can do one of two things: I can reply like normal but mark my reply as "private" (and indicate whether I just want it to go to one person, or everyone but one person, or whatever tf I want) or I can click "Copy into new wave" and effectively cut Jane back out of the loop.

* Other ways "copy into new wave" is cool: You can copy whatever you want. You can copy the entire wave. You can copy the completed wave. (Ex: you want to send someone--agent, editor, beta reader, mom--your scene without giving them the history playback ability.) You want to send just the embedded attachments, like photos of your kids without the accompanying story of how they came down with a case of violent projectile diarrhea during mass. All one-click easy.

* While we're on the topic (of photos, not diarrhea) the file sharing goes like this: to add photo(s) to a wave, just drag and drop those puppies in from anywhere they happen to be, and bam. Thumbnails of each image show up instantly on the other participants screen, even before the full images are done uploading from your hard drive. And, if one of your wave participants happens to be, say, your blog (and no, it doesn't have to be blogger, it can be WordPress or something you code yourself or anything) then the photos show up on your blog. Instantly. In real time.

* This means, if I happen to be reading your blog and I see the real time awesomeness of your photos being uploaded, maybe I'll leave a comment, like, "You are eight shades of fabulous! Please run for president!" And because you instantly get this comment in your wave, IM-style, you can respond IM-style--and that response shows up for me, the blog reader with no wave account, instantly! Instantly-instantly, as you type each word, before my very eyes! How bad-ass is that?? I can even watch as you go through and put captions on each photo, and so on--everything is real-time live action!

* AND, the whole thing is open-source with ready-made developer APIs, which is a fancy way of saying anybody anywhere can program their own websites or applications that embed wave technology (as in the blog example above, but can be applied to any concept--schools, any given message board / forum, etc) and/or anybody anywhere can program their own add-ons to enhance and integrate with wave technology (think facebook applications, wordpress widgets). And now think of them all as instant real-time interaction!

I really, really think this could completely change the way people communicate with each other, across the world and door to door. (There's already crazy multi-language support in the sense that someone can be adding to your wave in right-to-left arabic script while you're writing in left-to-write and someone else is commenting in their native Chinese characters and it all appears there, together, real-time.)

I don't have time to type every single feature, but suffice it to say: the idea of removing the need to have separate applications (a file sharing program, a chat program, an email program, a social networking program, a photo sharing program, blogging software, instant messaging software, etc, etc) and to have it all rolled into one with the absolutely mind-boggling addition of it being even more instantaneous than instantaneous, live on your screen, whether you're in your wave dashboard or not--Wow. /re-swoon

[end fangirl propaganda]

Whew!

2009-04-04T05:38:00.002-04:00

Finally getting adjusted to Florentine life. If you're interested, I uploaded some photos here:

http://adventures.ericaridley.com

Today I'm going to do a little sightseeing and some client work, and tomorrow the plan is to write, write, write!

Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

2009-03-30T02:16:00.002-04:00

Reporting to you live from Florence, Italy!!!

Where, to be honest, I have no clue if I've actually changed my latitude or not because I'm marginally maptarded (or, to be more precise, incredibly lazy in that I could've looked at a map, but nooo, that would take 3 seconds of my life) but I've definitely had an upbeat attitude adjustment because Italy rocks!

Yesterday's adventures in international air travel are here: http://adventures.ericaridley.com (I'm trying to keep the writing blog writing-related) and I've also been twittering like crazy (am #ericalridley)

I'm giving myself until Friday to get settled in and used to speaking only in Italian, and then it's back to the WIP (which I'm assuming my editor still wants in English... Heh.)

YOUR TURN: How was your weekend? If you didn't kill 2 entire days with airports, airplanes, trains, and taxis, you're one step ahead of me. Wow me with your productiveness and/or party-ness!

Um... yeah.

2009-03-27T09:57:00.002-04:00

Sneak Peek

2009-03-26T09:48:00.002-04:00

For a hint of what's to come, here's a sample blast from the past:

http://adventures.ericaridley.com

Let the adventure begin!!!

Stay Tuned...

2009-03-23T19:34:00.000-04:00

The adventure begins this weekend!!!!!

Website Update

2009-03-04T17:31:00.002-05:00

I decided to at least do some housekeeping on my website, and took down my pretend book covers (now that I'm going to have real ones! squee!), rearranged the content to be a little more user-friendly, and added a Site Map so there'd be a comprehensive list of links to all content right on the same page.

I also added a new page called Timeline of a Writer to show my progress from aspiring author to published. (And hopefully beyond... I'm including international fame, fortune, and best-sellerdom as rungs on my ladder to world domination. Muahahahahaaa)

As soon as I have more concrete info, I'll update the site with title and cover information, but until then... así es!

Website Conundrum

2009-03-03T10:08:00.002-05:00

Being a web developer by day, you might think my author website (ericaridley.com) would be the height of up-to-date information. But it's not. And it's killing me. But the reason it's not up-to-date is because I don't have anything concrete to update. For example, as soon as I have cover art for my book, believe that I'm going to plaster it all over the home page. But until I have that much... is there a point in redoing my site to get rid of all its aspiring-authorness if I'm just going to redo it again in a few months when I get actual information? (I don't want a blank website...)

What do you think?

Proposal Turned In!

2009-03-02T09:32:00.001-05:00

Yay! Progress! Now to finish the book...

You? What're you working on?

No More Flu!!!

2009-02-27T17:41:00.002-05:00

Am pleased to report I am part of the living again. Hope you are staying healthy!!

Curse you, historical accuracy!

2009-02-22T07:54:00.003-05:00

I want to use a music box analogy in Spectacle, but I can't because such clockwork contraptions weren't invented for two more years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_box#History

D'oh!

Doing Lines

2009-02-19T15:39:00.002-05:00

Broke 10k this morning and completed the entire top line of my storyboard! w00t!!!

(Line 2 is stuff I plan to have happen next. Lines 3-8... well, let's just not talk about lines 3-8 right now, shall we?)

Tick... Tick... Tick...

2009-02-18T11:20:00.001-05:00

I like what I'm writing, but for some reason it's literally taking ten times as long to write each scene as the last book did.

I know some books are "gimme" books and some books are Not, but jeez.

At this rate...

Curses

2009-02-17T20:54:00.001-05:00

Why is it every time I edit a scene, I end up deleted the equivalent of an entire page?

Arrrrrr.

(Yes, this one has pirates.)

Progress!

2009-02-13T06:49:00.002-05:00

I've been doing something writing-related every day this week! (Namely... writing. Go figure!)

How 'bout you?? Progress lately?

New Computer!!!

2009-02-10T15:22:00.001-05:00

My much anticipated (and much backordered) new laptop has finally arrived! Squee!!!

Ethanol: Friend or Foe?

2009-02-03T07:25:00.003-05:00

The topic of ethanol comes up frequently in my family. One of my brothers thinks it's the answer to all our problems. Another thinks it's a complete waste of time because the inferior performance and taxes on our environment outweigh the positives.

I was driving down the road with my dad the other day, and apropos of nothing, he shook his head and said, "With all the people dying of hunger in this world, it's a damn shame we're busy turning food into fuel for our cars."

Gah. At the very least... ironic. Right?

What do you think about the fuel situation and the ethanol "solution"? Do you have any better ideas?

Out with the Old

2009-01-29T09:57:00.002-05:00

I've had my old laptop for... wow. Since the days floppy drives were considered indispensable. And although technology continued passing it by, my laptop never let me down. It continues working like a charm, except... Well, except the case is cracking. And pieces are starting to fall off. And the hard drive is so small, I have to delete old emails in order to receive new ones. And--

So finally, after year(s) of suspecting I needed a new laptop (and much ridicule from my friends, who insisted I needed a new laptop) I finally ordered a new one. Overnight shipping and everything. Went all out.

(Natch, there's a part on backorder, so who knows when it'll arrive...)

How about you? Do you write on a desktop or a laptop? Old or new? Or maybe an Alphasmart or handwritten on paper? Ever think about upgrading? Or are you an upgrade junkie?

I Bet You

2009-01-26T08:35:00.001-05:00

This weekend, while giving a workshop on Websites & Online Marketing to the STAR chapter of RWA, I entered into a friendly little bet.

(Or possibly a snarling, I-will-get-you, just-you-wait-and-see competition... hard to say.)

With challenge in her eyes, a friend of mine informed me that she bet she could write her novel by the end of February. (Yanno... 5 weeks from now.)

As I hadn't yet recovered from the heart palpitations sparked by my own mid-March deadline, I opened my mouth and said, "Oh yeah? I bet I can finish mine first."

To which my friend casually responded, "You're on."

Ack! It's on!!!

How about you? What are you working on? Got any deadlines, self-imposed or otherwise? How are things going with that?

Guess who got her contract in the mail?

2009-01-21T05:31:00.001-05:00

Me!!!

Snort!

2009-01-15T10:38:00.001-05:00

When Mozart passed away, he was buried in a churchyard. A couple days later, the town drunk was walking through the cemetery and heard some strange noise coming from the area where Mozart was buried.

Terrified, the drunk ran and got the town magistrate to come and listen to it.

When the magistrate arrived, he bent his ear to the grave, listened for a moment, and said, "Ah, yes, that's Mozart's Ninth Symphony, being played backwards."

He listened a while longer, and said, "There's the Eighth Symphony, and it's backwards, too. Most puzzling."

So the magistrate kept listening; "There's the Seventh... the Sixth... the Fifth..."

Suddenly the realization of what was happening dawned on the magistrate; he stood up and announced to the crowd that had gathered in the cemetery, "My fellow citizens, there's nothing to worry about. It's just Mozart decomposing."

Cows and Coffee

2009-01-12T10:33:00.003-05:00

I was reading a Science and Technology article on my google homepage today (warning: it's in Spanish) that claims every two times you Google one of your burning questions, Google produces the same amount of CO2 in answering as is produced when heating up a cup of instant coffee. (This is not a knock against Google, whom I'd marry if it was a he.) Google, in fact, was quick to point out that just the mere fact of having your computer connected to the Internet at all (whether you're Googling or busy cursing at Spider Solitaire) produces even *more* CO2 in the same amount of time as any two Google searches. Given that there's 200 million Google searches in any given day--and a whole lot more of other 'net shenanigans going on whilst not Googling--that sounds like a helluva lot of C02.

Given the technologically addicted nature of the world at large (and myself in particular) however, I'm not sure what we can/will/should do about it...

Thoughts?

P.D.
In response to the question about the gender of the cow... The cow was actually a cow-cow, not a bull. (So... a "she".)

The Cow...

2009-01-08T06:49:00.001-05:00

...was just chillin'. Sometimes it's like that. I'm not exactly sure why or how cows escape from barbed-wire enclosures to wander the (somewhat populated) streets, but it seems to be just one of those things that happens.

(And other times, you can't even drive a car down the road because an entire contingent of cows is blocking your path--but usually somebody's herding those cows into another field. Again, for what reason, I don't rightly know. Exercise?)

Ah, Costa Rica, how I miss thee...

Call Story

2009-01-07T07:00:00.003-05:00

So, I was sitting at a tall table in a tiny internet cafe in Arenal, Costa Rica watching a cow cross the road, when Gmail was so kind as to drop an email from my agent, Lauren Abramo, into my Inbox.

[begin complete and utter paraphrase with shameless abuse of poetic license]

ERiCA!!!

I left you messages on all forty-eight of your phones and yet I haven't heard from you. What could possibly be more important than the super-exciting thing I'm killing myself trying to tell you?? Call me before I shank you!

Love, Lauren

[end complete and utter paraphrase with shameless abuse of poetic license]

Hmmm, I thought to myself. I *could* continue to drowsily stare at the cow crossing the road. Or... I could call my agent.

Seeing as how AT&T charges $2.29 per minute for international calls from Costa Rica [$?#*@!] I fired up my good buddy Skype on my laptop and placed me an international call faster than you can say "VOIP".

[begin complete and utter paraphrase with shameless abuse of poetic license]

L: Hello?

E: Hey, Lauren, it's Erica.

L: Hey, Erica! Long time no talk. What've you been up to?

E: Oh, you know. Ate some beans and rice. Drank an Imperial. Watched a cow cross the road. You?

L: Oh, you know. Crossed tall buildings in a single bound. Shot spiderwebs out of my wrists. Sold your book.

E: SQUEEE!!!!!

L: SQUEEE!!!!!

E & L: SQUEEE!!!!!

[end complete and utter paraphrase with shameless abuse of poetic license]

There you have it--my two-missed-calls-one-email-one-cow-and-an-emergency-voip-chat call story.

Squeee!!!!!

Special thanks to my uber-massive support group: the Mavens Darcy, Lacey, Carrie, and Jackie, Kel & Manda, Janice, PCubed: Jean, June, Elissa, Cheryl, and Linda, all my TARA sisters, Cheryl, Julie and Virginia for never being too busy to answer my questions, and of course Karen and Diana, whose (utterly perfect) initial reaction was, "I told you so!"

Yay!

2009-01-06T07:09:00.001-05:00

Thanks so much for all the awesome congratulations!!! Your squees make me squee even more!!!!!

FIRST SALE!!!

2009-01-05T07:10:00.004-05:00

Can I get a SQUEEEEEEE?!?!?!

I am pleased, thrilled, utterly apoplectic to announce that my superstar agent Lauren Abramo just sold my superstar Regency-set gothic TOUCHED to Kensington in a two-book deal. Yayayay!!!

It will be arriving at a bookstore near you in the next 18 months. More details to come (including "call story"...)

w00t!

Special thanks to my uber-massive support group: the Mavens Darcy, Lacey, Carrie, and Jackie, Kel & Manda, Janice, PCubed: Jean, June, Elissa, Cheryl, and Linda, all my TARA sisters, Cheryl, Julie and Virginia for never being too busy to answer my questions, and of course Karen and Diana, whose (utterly perfect) initial reaction was, "I told you so!"

Teaser...!!!

2009-01-02T07:08:00.001-05:00

Ginormous SQUEE incoming, bright and early Monday morning... be here to be the first to know!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2009-01-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

w00t!

Resolutions

2008-12-31T06:45:00.001-05:00

Most of you know how I feel about goals. Last year around this time, I yammered on about how they must be specific, quantifiable, realistic, and attainable, and how above all, you (er... I) should be accountable for sticking to them.

Somewhere around mid-year, I fell off the write-every-day wagon.

How did this happen, given that I am the self-professed queen of making specific, quantifiable, realistic, attainable goals and sticking to them like bubble gum on shoes?

Because... I missed a bullet point. I should've added this tiny detail here:

Goals must be a priority

Even a goal like "get out of bed by noon" won't come to pass if it seems more important to lay in a sea of pillows with the TiVo remote and a plateful of comfort food.

So. My #1 goal for 2009 is:

Write/Revise/Plot/Daydream about my WIPs every single day, even if a few stolen moments is all I have.

1b: Because it matters.

You?

Bleh, home sick! :-(

2008-12-30T08:35:00.002-05:00

Hope all of you are enjoying your holidays and avoiding, yanno, ~~viruses that cause excessive amounts of mucus to build up in your sinuses and slide down the back of your throat~~ getting sick.

Did you stay home? Road trip? Still gone? Glad to be back? Holla...

Pass me a Defibrillator, Please

2008-12-22T11:35:00.001-05:00

My cell phone bill for the month I was in Costa Rica?

$584.74

/dies

I'm Alive!

2008-12-16T18:46:00.001-05:00

I just got back from ~~sunny~~ rainy Costa Rica. Photo evidence coming soon!

Pun Intended

2008-10-10T15:02:00.005-04:00

With thanks to Lacey, I give you:

1. The roundest knight at king Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here, I'll go on ahead.'

14. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, 'No change yet.'

17. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

18. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

19. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

20. A backward poet writes inverse.

21. In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your Count that votes.

22. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

23. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects!

Kick-Off Celebrations

2008-09-29T10:52:00.004-04:00

Birthday week kick-off celebrations began last night with homemade mojitos ¹ and the Bears game². Off to a great start!

How's YOUR week going??

1. By "homemade", I don't mean *I* made them. My pal Keith did the from-scratch thang with organic mint and the whole nine yards. Mmmmm...

2. And, despite the bazillion fumbles and interceptions, they actually won! ZOMG! Go Bears!

Birthday Countdown Begins!

2008-09-25T16:07:00.001-04:00

7 days until I turn 21! (Oh... wait...)

Grrr

2008-09-23T08:57:00.001-04:00

No writing last week. Bah. Plan to devote a big chunk of mañana to the WIP, though. Hope things are more productive on your end!!!

Morning!

2008-09-21T10:22:00.002-04:00

Can't believe it's been over a week since my last post. How time flies when you're battling sinus issues, dancing salsa at Latin Night anyway, and rewriting your author bio thirty times in less than an hour because it's somehow impossible to be succinct, witty, *and* interesting, all at the same time (at least when talking about myself).

Oh, and look--I was caught on film while out and about! Radio 92.5

What've you been up to??

le théâtre

2008-09-09T18:03:00.002-04:00

Off to the movies...

What does it mean that the last three films I went to see have been in French? Does it mean that I get out too much--or not enough?

hmmmmm

Nothing Left But Writing

2008-09-08T09:47:00.002-04:00

I am pleased to report that this weekend, I finally finished reading the first 190 pages (which, coincidentally, is all that exists) of my WIP (where P=Procrastination). Now that I've got my previous WIP shipped off to my agent, and my soon-to-be current WIP re-ingrained in my head, there's nothing left for me to do but... write. Ack!

...and revise. My initial plan was to write the entire first draft before showing any of it to my CPs, but all that happened was, I hit 60k or so and never opened the file again. So I'm now thinking, perhaps I ought to clean up what I have and let 'em have a lil look-see, just to get my critdrenaline flowing again.

P.S.
Am I the last person to know about Google's Panoramio? I spent more time surfing this site yesterday than I used to spend playing Spider Solitaire. Dangerous, dangerous!!

A New Contendah in the Browser Wars

2008-09-06T09:43:00.002-04:00

So what do you guys think of Google Chrome?

From reading their cute and informative comic book* on the history and decision-making, it certainly sounds like it could be the Best Thing Evah.

(From reading the, er, Internet, on the other hand, it also sounds like they've got a few bugs to work out first... but what ~~beta~~ software program doesn't?)

I anticipate they'll have the same marketing problems as any Windows-competitor: All PCs come bundled with (the unquestionably suckier) Internet Explorer, and 99% (I just made that number up) of users are either too ignorant to download a better browser (like, say, Firefox) b/c they don't even know it exists (or why they should), or they're too lazy/apathetic to bother. /end rant

While most Windows users are addicted to IE, most Mac (and Other) users have chosen Safari, FF, or Opera as their browser of choice. That said, these users have already bucked the statistics by buying outside the box in the first place, so IMO they've proven themselves to be open to trying Something Different. Chrome might find its first fanbase with these folks. (And, yanno, geeky engineer/programmer types who lurve shiny new internet apps.)

/end totally random non-writing-related blog post about my pal Google and their crazy shenanigans

E

* Check it out: They might be the first company whose online documentation includes the handy acronym OMFG. Points right there, eh?

I want one!

2008-09-05T12:12:00.002-04:00

Somebody, please make it happen: Check this out

Waste Time w/ Hot Guys

2008-09-03T12:53:00.003-04:00

Quiz lovingly ripped from my pal Michelle Rowen's blog.

Click Here for the completely unscientific but all-around yummy Man Quiz, to see what kind of man most turns you on.

My results:

Exotic bad-ass

You scored 65% masculine, 65% athletic, 55% exotic, and 31% refined!

You want everything in a man at the same time! Masculine, built like a Greek god, exotic and mysterious and even some bad-ass in there too.

Amen. Can't go wrong with an exotic bad-ass, I always say! How 'bout you?

Ew Ew Ew: Public Service Announcement

2008-08-27T08:11:00.003-04:00

This bit of advice, from ~~my internet crack supply~~* WikiHow:

Never step on a cockroach with your shoe, pregnant females carry their eggs beneath their tough exoskeleton, and smashing a cockroach will spread them, especially if you track the residue onto carpeted areas or around your house. If you kill a cockroach be sure to thoroughly clean the surface around the bug and dispose of or thoroughly clean whatever you killed it with. To dispose of dead cockroaches, flush them down the toilet so it's out of your house. Don't think that tossing it in the trash can is enough. The eggs can still hatch.

* Today, bugs. Yesterday, jealousy and obsession. The day before, arepas... Internet crack, I tell you!

And it's off!

2008-08-25T09:30:00.000-04:00

After much delay, the revised manuscript Revenge of the Robot Duke's Virgin Secretary* is now in the hands of my agent!!!

w00t!!!

* (just kidding**)

** (I mean, kidding about the title***. I really did send off my manuscript.)

*** (Not that that isn't a kick-ass title.****)

**** (I'm kinda turned on by the idea of writing a Presents-esque futuristic historical erotic sci-fi romantic suspense. *****)

***** (just kidding)

I stepped into the...

2008-08-22T09:17:00.001-04:00

Picture, if you will, Regency England...

1849: entranceway
1833: foyer
1746: entryway

1813: Erica's book

entranceway: what Erica's heroine erroneously stepped into

/sigh

Viva search & replace...

What the... Progress?!?!

2008-08-18T10:06:00.001-04:00

Although I didn't make my goal of completely revising a 400 page story last week, I got this close.

Technically, I did do all the revising and all that's left is some rewriting... four scenes, to be exact. (Which was daunting enough that I killed the entire day yesterday procrastinating with my mp3 playlists on my crackberry, but let's not talk about that.)

Off to load up on caffeine and tackle those last scenes... Wish me luck!!!

Sick :(

2008-08-12T09:41:00.001-04:00

Sore throat and cough... yuck.

Crawling back to the bat cave to feel sorry for myself...

E

Bwa ha hahahah

2008-08-08T09:58:00.003-04:00

I'm pretty sure I'm the last person in the universe to finally sit down and watch it, but if you haven't seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog yet, click on over. Hi-larious.

Home!

2008-08-05T13:42:00.001-04:00

...Which I followed up by driving to the grocery store for groceries (duh) and promptly locking my keys in my car (bigger duh).

1 hour and $65 later, I was on my way home at last...

/sigh

Stuck in the Airport

2008-08-04T08:07:00.001-04:00

Red-eye from San Fran to Philly? Check.

Flight from PHL back home to Tampa? Cancelled.

Somebody kill me...

Synchronicity

2008-07-28T14:26:00.001-04:00

I was reading a book on male/female relationships over the weekend, and the book mentioned something I'd read about many times: synchronicity of body language.

When two people aren't that into each other, one of them is likely to start to glance away, then slide a foot back, then slowly turn away, then, yanno, bolt for the door.

When two people are into each other, they lock gazes, they turn toward each other, they lean forward, they reach for their drink/machete/whatever at the same time, they cross/uncross arms/legs at the same time, and so on.

Probably you already know this, I don't know. In any case, it's hard to describe synchronicity of body language in a romance novel without sounding like clunky stage directions. (And when John touched his ear with his left hand... so did Mary!!!)

But one thing the book talked about that I hadn't really put thought to was the idea of synchronicity of language. If one person refers to children as kids/rugrats/kiddos/munchkins/brats/babies, so might the other one. Two people in luuurve use the same phrases, keywords, inside jokes.

And that seems possible to put on the page...

YOUR TURN: What do you think? Have you witnessed or experienced synchronicity (or a distinct lack thereof) in real life? How about in a book you were reading/writing? I'd love to hear your feedback!

80s Party!!!

2008-07-22T08:33:00.004-04:00

w00t, 80s Party!!!

NBF (...or not?)

80s Gangstas

Party Time! Excellent!

80s Lovin

A-Team

Totally Tubular Valley Girls

Mwah!

A Writer Writes, therefore:

2008-07-21T09:17:00.002-04:00

I must be a super-slacker. I haven't written in so long, I don't even know where to begin anymore.

OK, lie. I should begin with the finished book I'm allegedly rewriting, then move on to the half-finished book I'm allegedly, er, finishing, then turn to the plotted book I spent months stressing over and dreaming about.

So I guess it's not that I don't have an action plan. It's that I don't have... well, action.

And it's not because I'm sitting around painting my nails (not that there's anything wrong with that) or wasting hours on end watching TV (and again, there are quality programs out there worthy of the lost time) or anything like that... in fact, I can barely squeeze in time to eat (I had a frozen dinner this week for the first time in months--and I actually had to stop by the store to buy it because I don't keep them in the freezer) or exercise (I bet the bike trail near my house thought my roller blades ran away with my Richard Simmons dvd) or studies (I had this lofty goal of improving my French and learning conversational Italian by, yanno, March... not lookin' good.)

No, what's been keeping me crazy busy is a) work (which would be incredibly stupid for me to give up), and b) people. Living, breathing, human people. Friends. (And a NBF who in a vague, not-sure-it-counts sort of way, forgot the N this weekend and referred to himself as a BF... but that's another story.)

I've been meeting new people and seeing movies with friends and dressing up like Madonna from her Desperately Seeking Susan days (80s party!!) and generally trading in my natural introverted tendency to never leave the comfort and safety of my office chair for the excitement and chaos of a busy social calendar. (To those of you who know me well: No, I still cannot be trusted to read a calendar with any level of accuracy, so believe me when I say much hilarity and gnashing of teeth has ensued.)

Point being... none of this is writing. I can't even call it "refilling the well", because after (oh God--has it really been more than 3 months??) the well ought to be overflowing by now.

What do you think? Should I swap the time I'm spending with living, breathing people for the ephemeral ones flickering and sputtering in my head? Should I block out time for writing (and eating and exercising) or should I just carry on with plan-less-ness and see what life brings me?

Anniversary Jamboree!

2008-07-14T09:50:00.002-04:00

For fun and prizes (and good karma!) please drop by ManuscriptMavens.com and leave a comment during this week's First Anniversary Jamboree!

Thank you!!!

Move over, Dewey Decimal!

2008-07-07T01:03:00.003-04:00

If you hadn't already inferred it from previous posts, here's the sitch: my mom is staying with me for a month to lend a hand during the LASIK (which went fine and I no longer require space alien goggles) and to hang out for the 4th of July weekend etc.

Like mother like daughter, which means in my mom's copious free time (b/c I never untether from the PC) she likes to kick back with a book. She brought a suitcase full, but ran out within the first couple weeks (totally LM,LD!!) so I've been loaning her books from my stock. Yesterday she read Dean Koontz' From the Corner of His Eye and the day before she read Michael Crichton's Next. Today she said she wanted to read something that required less thinking, and didn't I have a nice murder mystery she could breeze through? Like, say, a Miss Marple?

No, no I don't, actually. (Although I have nothing against Agatha Christie, and Sleeping Murder is one of my faves.) Since I like thinky stuffs (like quantum physics and the ethics of biogenetics, see above), I don't really have many mysteries on my keeper shelves, simply because after I read them, I now know who dunnit, and lose interest in rereading. I do, however, own maybe 30 Mary Higgins Clark novels and every single Sue Grafton paperback, so I was able to point Mom in that direction fairly easily.

Until.

Mom flips open the first page, gives a disgruntled look, and tosses the book to the table in disgust.

Me: Er... Everything OK?

Mom: Oh, it's just the stupid type. Why do they print the text so tiny?

Me: Well, some say the book's physical size matters more to a publishing house than the contents' legibility. They need to fit a certain number in the slot at the registers.

Mom: So they print it so small it's practically Morse Code?

Me: Not always. The converse is also true. If the wordcount comes up short, they're equally likely to bump up the font size a notch if they think that'll make the book (size) more attractive to buyers.

Mom: [eying the book on the table] So... if I compare that book to the other MHCs, some of them might have bigger text?

Me: Sure. Lets grab 'em and experiment.

[fast forward through the painstaking comparison of 30 MHC novels, and their subsequent division into stacks of Normal Type, Tiny Type, and Morse Code]

My mom demolished my carefully alphabetized library and has now rearranged my book collection in descending order of font size. Just wait. I think it might catch on.

YOUR TURN: Ever notice the difference in font sizes in your books? Ever organize them by said font differences? Ever choose to read or not read something based on the size of the font? Holla back!

Happy 4th!!!

2008-07-04T01:49:00.000-04:00

Happy Independence Day to my U.S. pals!!!

The rest of you can have a happy 4th, seeing as it's the 4th of July regardless of what country you happen to be in, unless it's after 5pm EST, at which point it's already the 5th of July in Athens and Tokyo and, uh... Perth.

But whatever. Party anyway. Word.

Question 4 U

2008-07-01T02:54:00.001-04:00

If your cellphone bill indicated you exchanged over 1600 text messages in a 30 day period with the same person, you wouldn't worry your texting to that person had become... say... excessive, would you?

I mean... texting is unlimited, therefore doesn't knock out phone minutes, so it's almost like you never texted that person at all, since it doesn't "count" on the bill anyway, right?

And it kept the phone minutes spent with that person down to a nice round 600, which averages to about 20 minutes a day, which is hardly any time at all. I spend more time than that staring at my stove waiting for water to boil. (...with the phone at my ear/fingertips...)

So all in all, 600m + 1600 texts is nothing to worry about, right? Right???

P.S.
I never use crap like "4 U" in my texts. I just put it in the post title to be funny. Ha! Ha! 4 U! I'm a laugh riot.

Too Soon or Too Late?

2008-06-30T06:07:00.002-04:00

I recently met someone who shyly admitted she wanted to become a romance writer. She mentioned she'd written several beginnings, endings, and partial drafts (I so resembled this not too long ago), has more ideas than time to write them all (ditto), and although she is aware of RWA (Romance Writers of America) and similar organizations, did not yet feel comfortable making that plunge.

I, too, had been Exactly Like That. (I'd actually paid money to join both RWA and my local chapter TARA, but didn't actually get up the gumption to attend a meeting for a full calendar year.)

So then I, in my typical ~~world domination mindset~~ bossy style, set about delivering two pieces of unsolicited advice:

1) Finish a book. Any book. It's OK if it sucks.

2) Join a writing chapter. And, yanno, take advantage of it.

I was pretty proud of myself for a while there. Those were my two best pieces of advice overall (for any writer, regardless of genre) and would've totally changed my life if I myself had followed the suggestions years earlier.

But. (You knew there'd be a but, right?) Later I got to thinking... Yanno, she's probably trying to do #1. If she were a painter and I walked in on her laying down the background in oils, and I said, "You know what? I think you should go ahead and put the foreground in when you're done with that background stuff." I would look like a complete ass, right? It's not like finishing a book hadn't occurred to her. For all I know, she's on page 399 with two paragraphs to go.

As to advice #2, I probably felt so strongly because I had gone through the same thing--I was under the misconception I needed to finish a book before becoming the tiniest bit active in my chapter, or they wouldn't believe I was a Real Aspiring Author. That first book would've been sooo much better if I would've gone to a few workshops during its conception and first draft(s) (which is what prompted the unsolicited advice to join! join! join!) but would it have been salable? Meh, prolly not.

At this point, I began to think maybe I should've kept my big fat mouth shut and let her do her thing (which she will undoubtedly do anyway) and pursue her goals at her own pace. What's best for me isn't necessarily best for everyone else and all that. (Awww, life lesson.)

YOUR TURN: What do you think? Big mouth shut next time? Are there other (better?) things I should say in the future when I run into an aspiring author at those very early stages? Please give me your suggestions!

Book Clubs: Good or Evil?

2008-06-23T01:00:00.000-04:00

Some writer pals of mine are planning on starting a sort of book club, wherein each person gets to suggest one month's book, everyone reads it (even if they've already read it, so as to have everything fresh in mind), and then the group discusses the book from a craft angle (as opposed to the more traditional read-it-as-a-reader perspective). What worked, and how the author made it work. What didn't work, and what the author might've done differently to make the story more effective.

Being a one-time craft book addict (and online craft class addict) all this sounds mighty tasty to me. (Organizational headaches aside re: how to get a group of active, day-job-having writers together in person once a month.)

Then again, while I've never been part of a book club or anything of its ilk (unless you count my BMG cassette tape club membership back in the 80s) I've been a member of many group/team projects where well-meaning discussions turn from productive to pyrotechnic when differences in opinion collide.

For better or for worse, I'm interested to see how all this shakes out from both a sure-hope-I-improve-my-craft perspective as well as a kind of psychological experiment perspective. Readers tend to have strong opinions. Should be interesting, to say the least. I'll let you know how the first meeting goes...

YOUR TURN: Ever been part of a book club, either as a reader or as a writer? If not, ever been a member of any other kind of club? Any suggestions for making the improve-your-craft book club a raging success?

P.S.
Totally OT: Just saw The Happening night before last. Anybody else see this? Without giving any spoilers (please), I'm super-curious what you thought about the movie.

P.P.S.
No recent snake sightings! Yay!

Snakecitement!

2008-06-18T22:45:00.004-04:00

So, today the phone rings for a client conference call while I'm in my bedroom doing my post-Lasik eye drop thing. (My mom is in town for a month to act as driver anytime I'm drugged/blind.) I run to get the phone, realize there's a TWO FOOT SNAKE slithering down the middle of my hallway, reflexively leap into the air to clear the snake, do a barefoot skid-land into my office, pick up the phone, yell, "Call me back--there's a creepy black snake coiled next to my foot!" and slam down the phone.

Then I freak.

I freak quietly and inwardly, as that is my freaking style. The snake pauses, twelve inches or so from my bare toes, and eyes me, as if to say, "Well? I'm here. Whatcha going to do about it?"

I think for a minute and come up empty. So I call out to the living room, "Hey, Mom? There's a, ah... snake. In the hallway."

Mom freaks.

She does not freak quietly and inwardly, as that is not her freaking style. The snake does not continue pausing, and decides to also freak.

In the direction of my bedroom.

I upend my office trash can and race after it with dreams of trapping it inside, only to arrive in my bedroom just as the snake slithers into my closet and across my favorite high-heeled sandals. A four-letter F word may have been spoken at this point.

Mom arrives with a cardboard box and a tennis racket, and continues freaking.

I slam the closet doors shut and phone a friend.

J: Hola?
E: There's a giant snake in my house.
J: What?
E: Snake. Big. Here.
J: What are you going to do?
E: I called you.
J: What should I do?
E: Get it. Now. Please.
J: I'll be right over.
[click]

I turn to Mom, and tell her that J (the guy I've been kind of sort of maybe dating) is leaving school to come deal with the snake issue. She nods and starts to say something calm and rational (let's give her benefit of the doubt, shall we?) but then suddenly points behind me and screams.

As before, I freak. (Inwardly.)

The snake has poked his head out from beneath the closet door and is watching us. Mom shoves at it with the broom. It disappears back inside with my clothes. Joy.

The phone rings. My clients, trying again for their conference call. I inform them they have approximately 30 minutes before my personal snake charmer arrives to rid my house of reptiles, so they better talk fast. They do.

My cell starts ringing while I'm on the office line. It's J, so I hold the office line away from my ear with one hand and go ahead and answer my cell with the other.

E: Hola?
J: Are you okay?
E: Yes.
J: Did it bite you?
E: No.
J: Your mom?
E: She's fine.
J: Where's the snake now?
E: My closet.
J: ...Why?
E: I accidentally chased it there. Can I call you back?
J: I'll be there in 5.
[click]

Client call ends. Doorbell rings. I run to the door, bury my face in J's chest (he smells *really* good, btw) and order him to get rid of the snake before it touches all my clothes just like it touched my favorite shoes and I'm forced to set fire to my entire closet.

He kisses my forehead, pries me off his chest, and strides back to the bedroom, where Mom is still standing watch with a broom and a tennis racket and a generally terrified expression.

Mom starts babbling incoherently about how happy she is to see him because we are hopelessly snaketarded and have no idea how to get rid of the damn thing.

J flings open the closet door. Nothing. I hand him a flash light. There's the snake... dark eyes glittering in the furthest corner. Mom recoils in terror. J asks me for gloves. I dash out to the garage and grab a motley assortment, because how the hell do I know what kind of gloves are best for snake-catching? As I'm running back to the bedroom, I hear Mom screaming, "Hurry, Erica, hurry!"

I burst through the doorway and toss the gloves to J, who tosses most of them to the ground. He slips just one (the bright blue dishwashing-style glove, if you're curious) on his right hand. He lays down army-style, whistles to the snake, reaches inside the closet, scoops the snake into a box, takes it outside, and releases it by the neighbor's fence. (Not my nice neighbors. The other ones.)

Overcome with relief and gratitude, I reprise my throwing-myself-at-him maneuver, and Mom reprises her incoherent babbling. We continue in this vein until the snake finally disappears through the grass (away from the direction of my house).

Then J says, not only does he absolutely hate snakes with every fiber of his being, but that's the first time in his life he's been that close to one, let alone had to trap it with his hands.

And he totally dropped everything he was doing and ran over to help, leaving his books at the university still on the medical library table and everything.

Awwww. I'm kinda thinking he's a good guy.

But the real question is: Do my shoes now have snake cooties?

LASIK!!!

2008-06-15T16:19:00.003-04:00

I can see cleeeeaaaarly now, the glaaaaaasses are goooooone...

Well, my glasses-glasses, anyway. I have these lovely space alien goggles to accent my outfits for the next 2 weeks. And yes, that is in fact blood giving that lovely dash of red to my eyeballs.

But my eyeballs are 20/15, baby! That's right, better than 20/20! And for a girl who can't even *remember* being able to see farther than a few feet away (the tip-off to my nearsightedness was when, at around 7yo, my mom asked me to look out the window and tell her the number of the neighbor's house, and my response was, "Houses have numbers?!?!") the experience of waking up able to see is craaaaaazy exciting!!!

Of course, I also get to have fun with three different kinds of eyedrops this week, too... antibiotic 4x day, prednisone anti-inflammatory every 2 hours, rewetting drops 1-2x per hour. Good times. (Especially the prednisone. It looks like milk, and makes me cry white tears. Which only accentuates the alien vibe I've got going on.)

The creepiest moments were during the surgery itself, which I'll only tell you about if you ask... Not sure your tolerance level for eyeball clamps that bruise your cornea and laser blasts that stink like burnt hair when they singe your eyeballs. (Oh--wait--I just told you. Heh.)

Anyhoodles, w00t w00t w00t! I even got a special card I can take to the driver's branch to say I don't need no stinkin' "special driving conditions" anymore. Yeehaw!!!

YOUR TURN: What's up with you? How was your weekend? Do anything for Father's Day? Cut any of your eyeballs with lasers lately? Don't I look fetching in safety glasses?

Fathomless...

2008-06-10T02:19:00.002-04:00

...should be fathomful, right? Like, so many fathoms-full, you can't even fathom it? Fathom after fathom after fathom of fathomfulness? (...Who says fathom, anyway?)

/glances at clock

/realizes it's 2:30am and past time for bed

/sighs and pads off

Countdown to LASIK!!!

2008-06-09T08:21:00.002-04:00

3.5 days...!!! Squeeeeeeee!!!!!

Quick poll: Do you wear glasses and/or contacts? (If so, do you prefer one over the other?) Know anyone who got LASIKed?

P.S.
Please do me a quick favor--my friend Carla Capshaw is doing her first MM guest blog about "The Call" over at ManuscriptMavens.com. Please go comment! She's even giving away lots of free books. =)

One of Life's Mysteries

2008-06-04T21:00:00.002-04:00

As someone who (occasionally) plucks her eyebrows, I was just wondering... If you pull a hair out, root and all, how/why does it grow back? I mean, shouldn't I just have to do this once and be done with it? If I just trimmed my eyebrows, sure. I could see that. But if I'm yanking the whole thing out of the follicle...

You know, the more I talk about this, the more eyebrow-plucking is starting to gross me out.

None of this has anything to do with writing... Back to the batcave...

Irreconcilable Differences

2008-06-02T00:14:00.001-04:00

x-posted from ManuscriptMavens.com

Today I want to talk about "irreconcilable differences" as it pertains to romantic conflict. The first time I heard this phrase was, I believe, in reference to a celebrity divorce in California. I remember thinking, "But what does that mean? Nothing happened?" and being flabbergasted by the whole concept. (Mind you, I was undoubtedly young at the time I first heard this phrase.)

As an adult, though, I'm beginning to see how supposedly small things can become greater than the classic "big" things like, say, cheating.

What if a slob and a neatnik fall in lurve? Match made in heaven, because he'll be right there to pick up after her everywhere she goes? Doubt it. As soon as the newness wears off, I bet the resentment sets in.

What if a recipe-collector and a frozen-pizza-burner fall in lurve? Fabulous because she can cook dinner every night and he'll be grateful he's no longer gnawing burnt frozen pizza? Maybe at first.

What about a party animal and a homebody? Are they good for each other? He'll help her discover her domestic side, and she'll help him connect to all the other humans roaming the planet? Or a recipe for daily arguments over whether TV reruns or happy hour is the better use of their time?

Compromise is key. Sure. We've all heard that. But some things aren't compromiseable because they're just part of our makeup. The homebody isn't wrong to be a homebody any more than the bubbly extrovert is wrong to be a bubbly extrovert. Why should either of them give up what they love being to become something they hate, just to "get along"? Then neither of them are happy, right?

My theory is this all goes back to what your mama told you as a kid: Be yourself. Much easier to get along with someone who views, interprets, and interacts with the world in the same manner you do.

Of course, if you're writing romance, it's never that easy...

YOUR TURN: What say you? Is there such a thing as irreconcilable differences? Is it a legitimate conflict? Is it an overcomable conflict? Can you believe in Happy Ever After for a couple whose world-views are fundamentally opposed? Why or why not?

Personal Milestone: Spanish

2008-05-28T10:13:00.002-04:00

Technically, I'm talking about Personal Milestone #2, as Personal Milestone #1 was crossing the threshold into being able to think in another language so I didn't have to translate in my head when reading/speaking. And that one was huge for me, as Spanish was the first (non-English) language I managed to do that with.

Afterward, however, I felt like I stagnated. There I was, happily chatting with whomever and reading whatever while thinking in Spanish, but all it took was not knowing a given word (must do vocabulary drills!) or overhearing someone speaking English, and bam, I'd be jerked out of Spanish with bone-jarring force. Then I'd stand there, blinking, not quite thinking in either language, inwardly cursing my inability to sustain Spanish thoughts when those accursed English speakers were around. *g

Fast forward, oh, forever. OK, maybe 2 years. During this time, I visit Spain a couple times, Costa Rica a few times, no problem thinking in Spanish b/c rarely did I overhear any English. But in the U.S., same problem. Here virtually *all* the background noise is in English. I'd get jerked out of the Spanish moment just by overhearing Duran Duran or a car commercial.

UNTIL NOW.

I met someone from Costa Rica maybe 4 months ago, and over the past month we've been talking every day, sometimes in English, sometimes in Spanish. At first it drove me crazy that he'd flip back and forth between languages (sometimes mid-sentence! Aargh!!) but after awhile, I not only could follow along, I started doing it too, without even thinking about it.

And then this past weekend, I went to D.C. to visit some (English-speaking) friends, and while we were strolling down the pier in downtown Baltimore and chatting amongst ourselves, some people ambled past in the opposite direction. I accidentally overheard a word or two of their (Spanish) conversation, and got knocked out of English.

Yes. Insanity. All it took was literally a single word in Spanish and instantly my mind flipped over to that language instead, and all of a sudden I'm blinking at my English friends and grappling for the conversation thread.

Twice that day this happened. I wasn't sure whether to high-five myself (yay, automatically thinking in Spanish!) or impale myself on a machete (oh crap, automatically thinking in Spanish!) but it seemed like a milestone either way.

Later, I paid more attention to the thoughts in my head, and realized I'd been Spanglishing for who knows how long. At least a few weeks. Even when there's nobody around and I'm not being tempted by either language, my thoughts sometimes are one or the other or a mix of both, with no apparent cause.

Last night, I had dinner with a friend of mine who grew up in a Spanish-speaking home here in the U.S., so she speaks both languages fluently. I told her this story and asked her whether she tends to think in Spanish or English and was surprised to learn she often thinks in Spanglish, just like me.

And then I thought, maybe it's not without rhyme or reason. Maybe, when I'm thinking, the phrase that comes to mind is the better phrase. Every language has its own idioms and nuances and connotations for given words and phrases. Sometimes I can better express myself in one over the other. Maybe my brain is just taking the best of both worlds and using the right word for the moment, regardless of language. (I've even been known to accidentally respond to my Spanish friends in French, if that's what comes to mind first.)

Wonder if I can sell a book that way...

Refilling the Well: Mythbusters

2008-05-26T15:42:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine recently asked me via email if I was getting a lot of writing accomplished. I was so shamed by this question (and the obvious assumption that of course Erica can't go more than a moment or two without making progress on her writing) that I didn't even respond to the email.

Today is the day I spend 8 straight hours if necessary to get where I want to be in my story. But yesterday? And the day before that? And the week before that? And the fortnight before that? Er...

Blah blah, unending string of houseguests, blah blah, traveling 2-4x per month, blah blah, conferences and chapter meetings, blah blah, client work, blah blah, personal life suddenly got really interesting, etc.

A (different) friend of mine refers to this as "refilling the well". I think she got this phrase from a writer's book on writing, wherein the author advocated spending a given amount of time not writing, so as to have something to write about when you do plop down in front of the computer.

I'm guessing that author didn't mean, yanno, months.

I do miss Old Erica, and how I used to write every single morning, without fail. I intend to bring that back. Starting now. Gracias a Dios.

When I look back on my weeks of little to no writing, however, I have mixed feelings. Did I have legitimate ~~reasons~~ excuses for not writing? Yeah, probably. Do I ~~lament~~ regret the utter lack of progress? Yeah, that too. Do I wish I would've been writing instead of doing client work and traveling and visiting family and pulling a 180 on my social life? Not exactly. I wouldn't trade in any of those experiences. I just wish I'd had an extra 3 hours every day to add on some writing time. (I'm working on a wormhole machine. I'll let you know when it's ready.)

Maybe I was refilling the well. Or maybe I was making excuses and practicing avoidance tactics. But I'm back now, and that's the important thing. Or maybe the important thing is that I realized I can have a life and write.

Huh. Who knew?

YOUR TURN: What do you think? Is there such a thing as "refilling the well"? If so, is refilling the well something we should consciously try to do every so often? (And when do you know the well is full and you should maybe go back inside and turn on your computer?)

Counting My Blessings

2008-05-20T08:16:00.001-04:00

x-posted from ManuscriptMavens.com

Today I woke up not only in an exceptionally good mood, but with notes from Lacey suggesting I enjoy the milestones I do pass, and Bernard reminding me to count my blessings. The one thing I haven't felt very blessed with lately in my writer life is time, but I'm certainly blessed with people. And the more I thought about it this morning, the luckier and luckier I felt. I have:

* You. (Seriously, you rock. Nobody forces you to come visit me on the intertubes, and yet you do anyway. That's awesome.)

* The Manuscript Mavens. Carrie, Darcy, Jackie, Lacey--all super-talented writers and a fabulous support group.

* My agent, who either never gets tired of answering industry questions and calming me down when I spaz (or else is a darn fine actress, which I also can appreciate). Lauren rocks.

* My local chapter and our sister chapter down the road. TARA particularly rocks. I'm grateful for them every day.

* My in-person writer pals who trade crits or meet me at Borders to write or at restaurants to talk about writing or just to hang out. CPKel, Manda, Karen R, $Jean, June, Cheryl, Linda, Elissa, Karen L, Phyllis, Vicki, Julie, the list goes on--How did I get lucky enough to be surrounded by so many awesome people?

* My long-distance writer pals who are never more than a phone call / email / IM away. Diana, Stephanie, Tessa, CM, and Shari, especially. XOXOXO.

* My family members who encouraged me from day one. My other family members who think I'm apesh-t crazy for trying to write for a living, but support me anyway. My friends who never fail to greet me with a smile and a comment like, "How's the tooth fairy?" or "Finish your revisions yet, lazycakes?" Bless them.

* The blogiverse. Where would I be without the MaveFaves and all the reader sites and writer sites and chapter sites that help me procrastolate when I need a break, that teach me craft advice I never knew, that keep me informed on the industry, that introduced me to people who once lived on the Internet but are now among the dearest to my heart?

So, yeah. Today's a good day. No, today's a great day. How could it be anything but, when I'm surrounded by such fabulous people?

YOUR TURN: Count your blessings! I want to see 'em. I bet we're the luckiest bunch of writers in the world! =)

Successes and Goals

2008-05-19T15:36:00.004-04:00

My pal Carrie has a great post today over on the ManuscriptMavens.com site about defining success.

Here's a snippet:

I think it's too easy to think "when I get an agent, then I'll know I've succeeded" and then once you get the agent shift that goal to "when I sell, then I'll know I've succeeded" without recognizing the success you've already had.

To which I say:

I remember thinking, "If only I could final in a contest, then I'll know I've succeeded." and then once I did succeed, that goal instantly changed to *win* a contest, followed by get agent requests, followed by sign with an agent, followed by sell for millions at auction...

Maybe we should make bulleted lists of our accomplishments and tape them to our computer monitors, so that every time we think about our new, seemingly impossible goal, we can glance at a long list of other one-time seemingly impossible goals that we achieved with a healthy dose of perseverance.

And then I visited my Google homepage (iGoogle) only to find today's quote of the day being:

It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
- Arnold Toynbee

I think that's true... and I think that's me. Always striving for the impossible goal just past the more likely next goal.

World domination, here I come...

Scream for Me--At Last!

2008-05-14T11:01:00.001-04:00

Alex Fallon was the one who lived. Then. Thirteen years later, a shocking phone call sends her back to the place she'd hoped to leave forever, to a little girl who needs more than Alex can give, and a town who swallowed her stepsister whole. As the body count rises, so does Alex's protective instincts--as well as her attraction and respect for the one man who trusts her gut over small-town rumors.

Special Agent Daniel Vartanian's brother Simon was a remorseless serial killer. Now Simon is dead. When trophy photos from the atrocities in Simon's past eerily echo a current crime, Daniel is desperate to find and stop the new threat before more people die. People like sensitive, secretive Alex, whose determination to find a little girl's missing mother--and inexplicable resemblance to a face in one of Simon's photos--places her in the killer's sights.

I love the inter-connectedness of the growing romance and gripping suspense in all of Karen Rose's writing. I also love having connected characters from previous books come to life in a chilling romance of their own. Not only is Scream For Me a keeper, it's my favorite Karen Rose yet!

The story is fast-paced, exciting, and tightly plotted. I meant to "just read a little" and ended up awake until 3 a.m. because I had to see what happened next. (And then lay awake afterward unable to get the creepy photos and evocative scenes out of my mind!) A great, great read.

Karen Rose: Scream For Me (Squee! )

2008-05-13T09:24:00.004-04:00

If you haven't read this book yet, it's probably because it hits the shelves today. Drive, don't walk, to your closest book store and buy, buy, buy!

I am in the process of writing my first-ever Amazon review, which I will also be posting here momentarily. Karen Rose rocks!

How Do You Define Success?

2008-05-12T00:04:00.000-04:00

x-posted from ManuscriptMavens.com

This weekend, Pam Morsi gave a workshop to my local chapter. During her presentation, she said something about success that really spoke to me. I'm going to butcher the paraphrase because I didn't have the foresight to write it down at the time, so apologies in advance to Pam if I screw this up, but the basic sentiment is this:

Don't judge your personal success by anyone else's. Where would the world be if classical oboeists decided their self-worth by comparing their iTunes download popularity with pop stars? They'd throw themselves on machetes, and then we'd have no classical oboeists.

(Okay, I added the bit about machetes. She might've said, "Off a cliff.")

I think in this industry, it's especially easy to want to judge our progress by that of our (internet) neighbor, or friend, or chaptermate, or so on, when in reality, no two cases are the same. Even with the same type of book at the same publishing house for the same editor. And there's little to no data aggregated for our perusal, not that it would mean much even if there were.

Despite all that, I think it's really important for us to remember that we can't all be Madonna or Outkast or Daddy Yankee or whoever the download of the week happens to be. I'm not exactly sure how to do that, mind you, but I'm positive it's essential for writer sanity...

YOUR TURN: Is comparing yourself favorably / unfavorably to others human nature? Should we kick it down a notch to save our sanity? If so, how? Is it ever a good thing to judge yourself by someone else's path?

WTF Friday

2008-05-09T05:07:00.000-04:00

Another lovely page of my notebook:

What can I do to be better? Something¹

- 5 flowers²

most considerate thing ever heard³

nice to someone boss turned down come back twice order. why? nice-if anyone deserves, it's you⁴

wryly⁵

repeated, a little pat⁶

animals loose from zoo⁷

YOUR TURN: What the hell does that mean?!?! I'm sure it's meant to be a NYT best-seller, if only I could decipher my story notes... Put on your thinking caps and explain points 1 through 7 for me, wouldja?

Crackberry!!!

2008-05-07T09:57:00.002-04:00

I now own a Blackberry. It's been less than 24 hours, and already I've learned so much about it just by lugging it everywhere and jumping right in to use it. I decided to glance at the Quick Start guide a few minutes ago (I may even RTFM later if I can't intuit all its functions) and this particular piece of advice killed me:

PLAY MUSIC
Listen to your favorite music* on the Blackberry Curve
* Note: Any audio files must be transferred to the BlackBerry Curve before playing.

Huh! You don't say.

(This is why I don't read manuals!)

Dear Apple: (What I Want)

2008-05-06T04:18:00.001-04:00

Dear Apple,

I would luuuuurve it if you would custom design me some handheld technology much like an iPhone on ~~crack~~ gamma rays, through which I can organize and listen to mp3s (not proprietary crap!), organize and watch videos (of any size/format!), read e-books (of all file types) as well as word processing documents (pdf and rtf will do nicely).

All of the above should be indexable and searchable, the text files of which should also be content-searchable (so that if I have, say, a Farsi-English dictionary downloaded, I can open the file, type in the English word, and be taken directly to all matches in the open document.)

Speaking of documents, they should be easily bookmarkable (a la Sony Reader), and easily transferred from my computer wirelessly and via usb/firewire (without paying some b.s. $0.10 wifi fee) as well as easily downloadable from cyberspace no matter where I am (a la Kindle). Every book ever. Even if I'm in Costa Rica.

Since it would be based on an iPhone foundation, I of course would expect to easily manage contacts, calls, calendar, email, web surfing, etc, as well as be able to use the in-device camera and audio/video recorders. (And it must be SIM-card ready. I get around.)

Please, let the final product be no larger/heavier than a Sony Reader, max. And for the love of god, apply your Apple aesthetics and give me something sexier than the hideous Kindle to hold onto.

I am willing to outlay hefty cash for this device. And I will tell all my friends, family, cybermates, and so on, to procure their own. I will tattoo "Buy The All-New iPhonePodEmailEbookReaderInternational" on my forehead if that's what it takes. Just get this bad baby into a store (or e-store) near me. Thank you.

Love and kisses,

Erica

P.S.
You have until March 2009 to come through. I plan to pack one of these on my next international trip. Make it happen.

Never Hit a Girl

2008-05-05T00:03:00.001-04:00

x-posted from manuscriptmavens.com

When I was a kid, I got into a fight with this older boy at my elementary school. He was skinny, nerdy, and wore glasses. Ditto me on all counts. I don't know why he decided to pick on me one day, except that maybe other kids always picked on him, but not me (and I was arguably just as skinny, nerdy, and nearsighted.)

So I'm walking home from school, 4th grade, backpack on my back (where else?), coat under one arm (in the midwest, temperatures can change 30 degrees from morning to afternoon), violin case under the other arm. Kid-who-shall-remain-nameless comes up beside me on his bike and proceeds to ride slowly enough to torment me the entire walk home. When this doesn't get a satisfactory rise out of me (I'm actually extremely slow to tick off to the point of action, so this went on for a good mile or so) he lashes out at me with his jacket. One of the buttons catches me in the eye.

It hurts like hell, and he's finally got my attention. Before he's even able to snap his jacket back to his side, I swing up and out with my violin case, clock him upside the head (smacked the heavy case right into his cheekbone!) and knocked his ass right off the bike.

As luck would have it, this was right in front of my house. My neighbors saw the whole thing and immediately tattled to my parents the moment my parents got home from work. I expected severe punishment for braining a 10-year-old with a violin.

Instead... my dad bundled me (and my black eye--that stupid button!) up in our jitney and motored us right on over to the kid's house. I was pleased to discover the boy from school looked much worse than me (the entire side of his face was black and blue and I'm pretty sure he was concussed) but worried now was when I would get my punishment, since I was so clearly the victor in the brawl.

But no. My dad proceeds to ream the kid a new one, topic being: Never Hit a Girl (Even With Your Jacket). The kid's parents appear, hear the story, then they too ream their kid a new one re: Never Hit a Girl (Even With Your Jacket). The girl in question (er, me) melted against the far wall and smirked at the boy-who-teased-me from behind my black eye. Justice was sweet, if lopsided.

Fast forward 20 years.

About a week ago, a writer friend received negative feedback about the end of her book, because the hero (cop) pulls a gun on the villain (serial killer) and blows her away. Yes, her. And that was the whole problem. "Hero can't kill a woman," people informed my writer friend. "Shooting girls isn't heroic."

Seriously? An act of cop self-defense to save the life of the heroine he loves isn't heroic simply because the story villain is female? What if he swats her with his coat jacket?

YOUR TURN: What do you think? Never hit a girl? Or only if she deserves it? What if you hit her with a high powered rifle slug and she, er, dies? Does it depend on her story transgressions? Or is it never okay for a hero to perpetuate violence of any type against a woman of any type?

P.S. Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!!

I Love Lee Goldberg, Part 2

2008-05-01T09:39:00.003-04:00

Lee and I had a fabulous time last night at the hotel. (Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.)

MWA provided the free drinks, mariachis provided the music, and Lee provided the rhythm when he swept me onto the dance floor. I had never tangoed before (although from the moment I saw Arnold do it in True Lies, I always wanted to) and I couldn't turn Lee down when he was looking so sexy with a long stemmed rose between his teeth (he'd apparently seen the same movie) and one thing led to another, as such things do, and the next thing I knew he cleared off the dessert table with one arm, laid me atop, and whispered sweet dolphin sounds into my ear until morning. ¹

Other than that, the events were mostly writing-related. I had a blast talking to all the other writers, as well as several agents and editors. The TOR editors were particularly fun, and I got shoe envy from the cuteness of Nancy Yost's boots.² All in all, a good time!!

Erica

1. Just kidding, Valerie!!! Hehehehehe

2. Red! And adorable. Must go shoe shopping while in town...

MWA Snippets

2008-04-30T09:53:00.002-04:00

I had a blast at the conference (except for being more than mildly offended when a woman opined that romances were crap--after I'd already told her I'd written some!) and took reams of notes at all the workshops.

One thing that surprised me was learning how many mystery/thriller writers are pantsers. I had assumed the vast majority were big plotters, with at least some idea of where their stories were going (if not story boards or color-coded index cards).

There was also a small debate on whether or not critique partners were a good idea. Some (like me) swear by them, for their ability to point out logic/motivation errors the author couldn't catch herself. Others said CPs can be bad because, as a CP, they feel *obliged* to be critical, just to look like they have intelligent feedback.

I learned writing a 4-act spec episode for a TV program is probably way more than I will ever attempt, because a) you pretty much have to pick an existing show that you know inside and out (which, for me, is nothing) and b) what if I got hired and they needed me to move to LA?

I also learned all four networks rejected Law & Order, before it eventually found a home. So take heart, those of you with rejection letters. It's a rite of passage. =)

David Black told a hilarious story about Chris Noth. I would repeat it here, but it's much better in person so I can gesture accordingly. Next time you see me, remind me, and I'll dish.

Oh, and I was unbelievably annoyed during a Q&A session when a woman went up to the microphone to ask her question, and instead chose to give spoilers for seasons 1 and 2 of Dexter (which, you may recall, I had *just* ordered on DVD.) I might've forgiven her if she at least had a question, but she did not. Aaargh! Why do people do that?!

Also heard the term "refrigerator moment" to describe that moment when you come home after going to the movies, open the fridge to grab a beer/soda/OJ, and go, "Hey, waaaaiiiit a minute... Why didn't [protagonist] just do [some obvious and logical course of action that would've totally derailed the plot and ended the movie an hour early]?!"

I love Lee Goldberg

2008-04-29T11:27:00.001-04:00

The

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Sent from my Verizon Wireless LGVX9900 device.

Lee Child & Leslie Silbert

2008-04-29T10:22:00.002-04:00

Just went to my first MWA workshop! Good stuff. The first main difference between this and RWA is the quantity of workshops and quantity of attendees.

That said, everyone here is super nice, and Lee and Leslie are both personable speakers and the workshops are great so far. I'll write up my notes back at the hotel--Gotta run to the next class!

Mystery Writers of America

2008-04-29T07:58:00.003-04:00

Off to the MWA conference! I will text the blog with updates...

E

Mmmmm

2008-04-28T20:23:00.005-04:00

Dinner rocked--Gnocchi al pesto rosso and tiramisu. Mmmm. And I stopped at the bar down the street (Hey, it's a two hour hike to the metro) where the guy next to me at the bar not only (correctly) used "patina" in a sentence, he totally schooled the bartender in the nature and origin of the Chelsea "Rye-P-A" I agreed to sample. Funny! But not as funny as this snippet overheard of a quartet of umbrellaed nyc guys...

"How does John *do* it?!"

"Easy--He has a guitar *and* a puppy!"

Desperately seeking Sicilian

2008-04-28T17:37:00.002-04:00

Client work over at last (well, long enough for me to grab some grub) so off I go in search of Little Italy...

rainy day fun in nyc

2008-04-28T13:10:00.003-04:00

I made it inside moma at last!!!

Snafu

2008-04-28T12:36:00.000-04:00

Who says new yorkers aren't friendly? already half a dozen have rushed to my aid when i stood around gaping at the subway exit. i dont know why i assumed my stop was the end of the line. hindsight being 20 20, maybe i shouldve, yanno, read the map or glanced at a sign. ah, well, found the hotel w/ no trouble thanks to several friendly folk, one of whom was a puerto rican who thought i was from spain for some reason. (Only if it's contagious... hehe. never mind.)

i wanted to go to the wtc memorial before my monday afternoon client conference call, but its rainy and gross, so i'm standing in a wraparound line at moma, hoping to get in before i have to go back.

i did snack on some delish vegi grub at a roti cafe... mmm, nyc!!!

Ew, chilly!

2008-04-28T10:05:00.001-04:00

first adventure--tromping thru the rain in search of something called an air train, which is apparently not the metro. Not sure I brought warm enough clothes... this FL girl is chilly! (and lets not discuss the wisdom--or lack thereof--of my faux suede mary janes in these mud puddles...)

If NYC Won't Come to Erica...

2008-04-28T01:00:00.001-04:00

Erica will go to NYC!

Starting today, I'll be posting real-time updates of my visit to NYC all day, every day! (And I apologize in advance for the b.s. ads Verizon attaches to messages emailed from my cell phone... /sigh) In case you forgot, here is the sitch in a nutshell:

I am in New York City this week. I leave Tampa at 7:30 am and I arrive in the Big Apple at 10. From there, it will be a whirlwind of conference-attending, agent-meeting, and of course laptop-typing as I attempt to get my (paying) work accomplished while on the road. I plan to squeeze in a few sights between everything else, but I'll be honest--I'm most excited about meeting Lauren for the first time, and checking out a completely different sort of conference.

At least... I think it is. Or might be. I have no idea! Maybe the MWA folks are just like the RWA folks, what do I know. (Nothing yet... but I will find out tomorrow!)

On one of my many loops recently, a debate ensued over whether it was worth $2K in hotel, fees, food, drinks, airfare, etc to fly to San Francisco to meet one's editor/agent. (My agent has no plans on going to SF for RWA National AFAIK and I have no editor yet, so the question is moot for me.) Some people do go to National specifically to get face time with their agent/editor, which didn't strike me as remotely odd until I started hearing a few people say, "Why bother meeting at some random location [last National was in Dallas] when you could fly to NYC and visit them *and* their office for half the $$?"

And I thought to myself, "...Huh!"

(Of course, now I'll be in SF anyway b/c Darc had to go and final in the GH--jeez! If she would've just checked with my calendar first... *g)

YOUR TURN: Are you more likely to visit your agent/editor in NYC or at a local/National conference? Or does a face-to-face meeting not interest you at all? Why or why not?

Heads Up: NYC!!!

2008-04-25T09:32:00.003-04:00

Next week, I will be taking the Big Apple by storm Monday through Friday, dropping in on the MWA conference, and meeting my agent!!

Am I going on blog hiatus? NO WAY!!

I am at long last the proud owner of a camera phone with email capabilities, so I will be updating the blog a zillion times a day (technology permitting--I guess I better test it first) with all my adventures.

And there's sure to be adventures--I have them wherever I go! The only other time I've been in NYC was the week of Xmas-New Years 1999. So... yeah. It's been a while. Color me excited!!

YOUR TURN: Any must-see hints or tips for a single writer alone in the City not to look like a crazy camera-phone-blogging tourist? Maybe that's impossible...

P.S. Just did a test run and discovered everything works perfectly, except Verizon puts a giant blurb about "This photo was taken with a blah blah blah click here to find out how you too can be the proud owner of a blah blah blah" text beneath it. I don't see any way to turn that crap off, so I apologize in advance!

Lizard Invasion--Help!!!

2008-04-23T10:25:00.003-04:00

This morning I woke up to not one, not two, but three gecko-esque critters hanging out on the magazine basket in the living room. Little lizards are an inescapable part of Florida (and luckily I don't have a gecko phobia or anything, despite having suffered through an over abundance of Geico commercials) but this spring I am chasing the stupid critters outside several times a day--when I can catch them. Aargh!! Most of my neighbors just shrug and suffer in silence, but not me. Oh no, not me.

One of the lizards' favorite guerrilla tactics is to camouflage themselves on the steps in front of my door, so that when I arrive at home--especially at night, when it's too shadowy to tell--they can dart past my feet into my house. Why, lizard gods, why?!

HELP! How do I keep the little buggers from coming inside? And once inside, how do I get them out??

Writers and Earth Day (A Conundrum)

2008-04-21T08:25:00.001-04:00

x-posted from manuscriptmavens.com

What shenanigans did you get up to this weekend? Mine were many and varied, and included printing out the entire manuscript of Touched. I just received my agent's revision letter (which is always exciting--she gives amazing feedback) and since it's been a while (er, months) since I read the story myself, I thought I ought to do so.

But why did I print it out? Well, several reasons:

1) I find it much easier to crit my own work on paper. In fact, I find it impossible to do so on-screen, because of a regrettable tendency to skim sentences and paragraphs, and even scroll forward through whole pages or scenes. (Hard to catch stuff you don't read.

2) I reformat my manuscript to fit 2 pages to a sheet, single-space, justified, so I can hole-punch it and pop it in a half-binder. The half-binder makes it read "like a book", and also tucks easily into a purse or bag, making it convenient to lug around. (Unlike my monstruous laptop, which is super-heavy and requires a power source after a few hours.)

3) Not only does the reformatting change the line breaks and page breaks and let me catch a multitude of problem areas I wouldn't have otherwise, but paper also is a great critting medium for me to scribble notes in margins, plaster sticky-notes on the reverse sides of pages, circle sections and draw arrows to move them earlier or later, put question marks through entire paras/pages if I'm not sure I really need them, and so on.

Sounds fab, right? So what's my problem? Well, I'm a fan of planet earth, that's what. I'm a recycler. The kind that carries an empty Yoplait around with me all day b/c I prefer to recycle it at home than chuck it in the trash somewhere. The kind that saved all the Golden Heart entries I judged so I could print on the reverse sides. The kind that angsts over what to do with expired soup. That's me.

And here I am printing out 170 pages of a manuscript. (Which was as compact as I could make 100,000 words and still be able to read/crit it.) For the second time, even, since I did this for Draft 2 as well. Urgh.

Earth Day is tomorrow. I'll have to find some way to repent. Maybe I can talk my writing chapter into sponsoring a highway...

YOUR TURN: Am I going to Anti- Environment Hell for printing out my story? What if it sells ten million copies--will I go to Anti-Environment Hell then? How do you reconcile being both a writer/reader and a recycler? (You are a recycler, right???)

Seeking Recycling Advice

2008-04-18T08:09:00.003-04:00

I recycle. I'm the sort that holds on to my empty bottle of water until I can throw it in my car (rather than a trash can on the side of the post office or grocery store) because I know once it gets home, I'll recycle it, and I have no idea if city workers sort through trash. So: it matters to me.

On the other hand, I have no mechanical garbage disposal in my sink.

What does that have to do with anything? Well, when I was sick, I was going through my pantry looking for vegetable soup. I found four cans, all of which were expired. I also found cans of other random expired food (refried beans, tomato sauce, etc.)

So here's my question: How can I recycle my cans if they've still got stuff inside? Do I have to dump out a gallon's worth of vegetable soup and tomato sauce and the like first? Or can I just put the cans out by the curb?

Seattle Shenanigans

2008-04-17T05:59:00.001-04:00

Finally downloaded the photos from my trip to Seattle weekend before last! I have no photo evidence of the plotstorming I did with Maven Lacey and Maven Darcy, but I can prove we didn't have our noses in our storyboards the entire time:

Erica and Lacey at the Space Needle

Happy Hour with the cast of VHM

Lace rescues a ~~beached seal~~ trashbag

Fun times had by all!

YOUR TURN: Ever been to Seattle? If so, what were your favorite parts/activities? (If not, may I recommend... summertime? Brrr... *g)

Juanes, ¡en concierto!

2008-04-16T08:43:00.003-04:00

Despite being sick, no way was I missing out on the Juanes concert this past weekend. I loaded up on cough drops and gatorade and headed out to Orlando with the girls to get me an eyeful and earful of mi cantante favorito. Mmm, Juanes!

Más que un guapo increíble, Juanes es un cantante marravilloso que también cree en temas serios y importantes. A él le importa mucho el futuro del mundo, las guerras, los infermos, los pobres, y la paz. (¡Y también es muuuuuuy romántico! ¡Guau!)

YOUR TURN: Been to any concerts lately? Do tell! ¿Fuiste a algún concierto? ¡Díme!