Summertime, and the livin' is busy...

7/20/08 I missed blogging last week, and I am going to duck responsibility and totally blame my crazy schedule. My day job kicked into overdrive just as my proposal for book 3 was due, as well as preparing for San Francisco in two weeks! Yes, I’m going to the Romance Writer’s of America National Conference this year, and I can’t wait! I’ll be at the literacy book signing, so if you’re going to be there stop on by and say hello! I’m also looking forward to having a drink with my agent and my editor, sitting in on a couple of really cool workshops, hearing the speakers, and losing my capacity for speech in front of my favorite authors. I’m bringing an extra suitcase just for the books I intend to get. Hope to see some of you there! (side note: Saw the Dark Knight yesterday. Totally Awesome.)

Hot Town, Summer in the City

6/29/08 Summers in this city are incredible. The makeup literally melts off your face, but if your sunglasses are big enough, no one can tell. The sidewalks are all half filled with outdoor seating for restaurants and green markets abound. This week has been good – I’m getting used to the new computer. I’ve gotten a certain amount done, finally turned some things in that are due, so I feel vaguely accomplished. Don’t worry, this feeling will go away by next Wednesday. But for now I feel fully justified in going out and enjoying a summer walk (or melt) through the city.

Only in New York, Kids...

6/19/08 There are times, I will admit, I crave the country life. Or at least the suburban life. The idea of Targets and greenery – cicadas lulling one to sleep – being able to go whole hog at Whole Foods because you don’t have to carry your take back home, you have a car to do it for you… BUT, there are also times I’m very glad I live in a major metropolitan area. And two nights ago was one of them. So, I’m sitting in front of my television, my laptop on my lap (hence the ‘lap’ part of its name) typing intermittently as I watched So You Think You Can Dance. And then suddenly… zip. My computer screen freezes up, I can’t get the bugger to work. 30 seconds of panic later, I’m in a cab headed uptown to the 24 hour Apple Store. The bad news… the computer had died. (The funeral’s this weekend. I take it pretty hard when my electronics equipment goes to that great Circuit City in the sky. You should have seen me with my old television.) The good news – a very kind Genuis Bar guy on the 10pm to 9am shift sat with me until 2 in the morning as all my data was recovered and transferred to the shiny new computer. So basically, I managed to get back home, finish So You Think You Can Dance while I continued to type, and only at the expense of two cab rides and a $1500 new computer. Oh well, at least it’s a tax write off. Now if only I could get used to this new keyboard…

Bloggity Blog

6/08/08 I went to a party recently where I was introduced as a romance novelist. This has happened before. It inevitably leads to questions from the people I’ve been introduced to, and there are two ways conversation can tend. The first, is conducted whilst sipping tea: Them: Romance novels? How very interesting! What genre, how much research do you do, do you have an agent, etc, so on and so forth. The second, is conducted under the influence of alcohol. Them: So… romance novels. Like, with sex scenes and stuff? Me: Yup. Them: Freaky. I am slowly becoming accustomed to this.

The MacGuffin

5/11/08 A little bit of storytelling lingo for you today: I’ve been thinking a lot recently about MacGuffins. Especially with the summer movie season coming and giving us the return of Indiana Jones, the ultimate MacGuffin hunter. MacGuffins are things, devices, that are pursued in a story – but they’re really not what the story’s about. They’re a misdirect. Like the Holy Grail, or the Ark of the Covenant. It doesn’t matter what’s being sought, just that it is and that it sets up the conflict. Indiana wants the Arc, so do Nazis. Instant conflict! We never watched those movies to find the Ark, we watched it to follow Harrison Ford as he whipped his way through his enemies, to see whether he got together with Karen Allen (which apparently, he did), how he got out of that snake pit. Which is why I forgive the next Indiana Jones movie its horrible title -- Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I don’t care what MacGuffin they thought up this time, I’m just gonna enjoy the ride. p.s. Happy Mother's Day! (I would have written something more Mother's Day appropriate, but come to think of it, I think my mom would have approved of my Indiana Jones dissertation. )

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