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March 9th, 2010
I went to visit my sister this weekend, and in the pacific northwest, mere days after the conclusion of the winter Olympics just a few miles and an international border north, spring is springing. Take a look:
These are just a few of the buckets and buckets and buckets of flowers at the Pike Place Market. (They sell fish there, too.) Add to that the crocuses (croci?) daffodils and cherry blossoms gracing my sister’s front yard, and you know spring is ridiculously impatient this year. (Of course, I’m sitting at the airport as I type this, and its snowing outside, so you have to appreciate the season’s mood swings.) But the true harbinger of spring in recent years has been the advent of the Oscars! We all anticipate and wonder and prepare and view obscure little films we would never see for any other reason than trying to accurately judge their chance of winning and therefore our chances of winning the office pool, and wonder most importantly what everyone is going to wear.
Now, I’m not going to critique what people were wearing: I’m too lazy to hunt down and upload pictures of stars, and besides, there are bloggers that snark on Oscar fashion professionally, far better than I ever could. (I’ll just say this: Charlize, Xena wants her lilac satin breastplate back. There, I’m done.) However, I am a huge film buff. Really. I’m sought after by pub quiz teams for my mad movie trivia skillz. Best picture 1970? Patton. First movie that Tupac Shakur was in? Nothing But Trouble, as a background dancer guy. Don’t doubt my interest in or encyclopedic knowledge of all things film and TV. I will see everything, remember it, and judge it accordingly.
So, having seen all ten (!) nominees, I was deeply gratified to see that the movie that won best picture was the one I thought should win, as well as the director I thought should win, and not the one that made all the money. Now, time to go collect on my office pool…
More writing this week, so until later, happy reading!
Posted in TV & Movies | No Comments »
March 2nd, 2010
I’m in a crappy place today. Not in real life – in real life I’m in southern California, its 70 degrees on the first day of March, it can’t get much nicer. No, I’m in a crappy place in terms of my book. I’m at that place that every writer knows and dreads, the place where you start to question everything, and nothing is as good as it was when it was bright and shiny but still solely in your brain. Where you just want to pull everything apart, or shake your characters and scream “what do you want from me???”
Of course, this isn’t practical. Or (in the case of character-shaking) feasible. Instead, you have to write through it, and eventually, you remember why you liked these characters and their story in the first place, and the pendulum swings the other way. I know my process. All will be well.
In other news, Revealed is out in mass market TOMORROW. (Or today, depending on your time zone.) Get excited people! This means that there is only one month until the official release of The Summer of You!
Posted in Books, Los Angeles, Revealed, The Summer of You, Writer's life | No Comments »
February 22nd, 2010
Holy cats, February has been flying, right? Flying so fast that, I looked at my calendar and saw that Revealed’s mass market release is a mere week away! Revealed was originally released a year ago, in trade format. This means, for those of you who missed it the first time around, can now find it again at your local bookstore, at a highly reasonable mass market rate.
But it makes me think: has it really been a whole year since my second baby was released upon the world? Since Phillippa Benning graced us with her estimable presence and Marcus Worth, er, learned to put up with her? Some things have changed. A year ago, I was living in a different city, working at a different job. I didn’t own a car (in New York you don’t need one), and didn’t yet know that I could stream Netflix through my Xbox. But other things are basically the same. Those 5 stubborn pounds that existed on my frame are still there. My hair is basically the same length. I’m still eagerly anticipating my next book coming out while working feverishly on the one after.
And since its only a week until Revealed hits the shelves in Mass market, that means that we are BARELY over a month away from the release of The Summer of You. April 6th, 2010. Can. Not. Wait.
Until next week – Happy Reading!
Posted in Books, Los Angeles, New York, Revealed, The Summer of You | No Comments »
February 15th, 2010
It’s fairly common to get two holidays in a row – after all, each day has an eve before, and for Christmas and New Year’s, they are celebrated. Three, is far less so — although we Americans tend to stretch holidays in their weekends, only one day is Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, etc. But this week, we have four, count ‘em, FOUR legitimate, actual holidays in a row! Madness!
Here’s my breakdown:
Sunday. Valentine’s Day.
I’m not really a Valentine’s lover or hater. I consider myself Valentine’s Ambivalent. While flowers and candy are great, do you really need a specific, planned day to tell the person in your life you feel shmooshy about them? Shouldn’t you do that whenever the shmooshy feeling overcomes you? You could be thinking, “I’m madly in love with this guy/girl/frog/piece of garden statuary, but its only August. Guess I should wait 6 months to declare it.”
Doesn’t mean I’d say no to a Whitman’s sampler on February 14th. But on February 15th, its half price!
Monday. President’s Day
Day off work! In England, they have bank holidays that create these three-day weekends. In America, we feel the need to give those holidays names and specific purposes. But other than celebrating the various birthdays of founding fathers, who much like Canadian hockey players, seem to have all been born in January or February, as far as I can tell the only real use for this day is to purchase discounted mattresses and vehicles (and this year, since its Feb. 15th, discounted valentines candy).
This takes us directly into…
Tuesday. Mardi Gras.
This year, the candy-filled debauchery that began on Valentines and was briefly suspended while we purchased new mattresses on President’s Day carries over into the complete gluttony and bacchanalia of Mardi Gras. Traditionally a day when, before beginning lent, you gorged yourself on those things you would be forgoing for the next forty days. Now, it’s an excuse to drink excessively and get beads in competitive flashing contests. I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to forgo drinking OR competitive flashing in the next forty days. But it’s a fun party. And it’s too bad that those of us outside of Louisiana don’t have this day off work. Or more importantly, the next one…
Wednesday. Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday is the Catholic version of this holiday (where the faithful atone in church and have their foreheads marked with ash), we Protestants just call it the first day of Lent. I like to call it “Hangover Day.” The day you affirm that you will abstain from indulgence. You will make this commitment, to purify yourself. Because, considering the way you feel the morning after Mardi Gras, You Will Never EVER, eat/drink/do the electric slide like that again!
I hope you all are enjoying your holiday week, and now if you’ll excuse me, the television is telling me it is my last chance to get a good deal on a Serta mattress…
Happy Reading Everyone!
Posted in Writer's life | 1 Comment »
February 7th, 2010
In my reboot of the website, I took down a feature called “What Kate’s Reading” because I didn’t feel like I updated it enough to make it worth the reader’s while. Which means, I haven’t told you what books I’ve been reading recently. Time for an update!
But first, a caveat. Like most everyone else who reads voraciously, I have a To Be Read pile. Mine is less a pile and more one small shelf and two-larger-boxes-that-live-under-my-bed. I also have a separate shelf entirely devoted to Georgette Heyer novels that my mother decided I needed but I have no idea when I’ll get around to reading them. (I’ve previously read 4-5 out of the 30 or so I received. Thanks Mom!) No matter how much I try to pare down and read what’s in my TBR pile, the thing just keeps growing.
The four most recent books I’ve read are (and I know this because, yes, I keep a list): Lush Life, by Richard Price, A Field Guide to Burying your Parents by Liza Palmer, Naughty by Nature, by Barbara Pierce, and Pure Princess, Bartered Bride by Caitlin Crews.
 
 
They are an urban crime drama, a family drama, a historical romance, and a Harlequin Presents. Of these four, one was purchased in the last week, one in the last month, one in the last two months and one gotten at a conference almost two years ago. So out of the four books, only one was *really* a resident of the TBR pile for any length of time.
No wonder I never make a dent.
All were very enjoyable, but I have to say I probably enjoyed Lush Life the most. Only because I don’t read a lot of urban crime drama, and this one took place in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It’s an area of town I am very familiar with and therefore it was a very visceral experience reading this book. Also I find that if I take a breather from romances once in a while, when I come back to them, I love them even more.
What about you? What are your reading patterns?
Another week of writing stretches before me, and as such, happy reading everyone, and good luck shrinking that pile!
Tags: Barbara Pierce, Caitlin Crews, Liza Palmer, Richard Price
Posted in New York, What I'm reading | 1 Comment »
February 1st, 2010
Hey, lookie what I got:
Previous to now, I have not had any print materials. I have gone to conferences and written my name and email on a napkin for someone that asked for my contact info. I am SO pleased to have finally gotten my act together and had these cards made. Trust me, I’m going to be handing them out to everyone – the barista at the coffee shop, the Barnes and Noble help desk guy, everyone.
I love that they are thematically in line with my website (scrolly-flower-bubble thingies!) and they are just in time, as we are just over two months out from the release of The Summer of You! (Yes, I’m going to mention that EVERY time I blog. Because it’s exciting. And scary. I should just cave and get a countdown clock installed on my website.)
And lookie what I got for that:
 
Bookmarks! They’re awfully pretty. And on the back you’ll see a pic of Compromised and Revealed – the latter of which is getting its RE-release in mass market on March 2nd, 2010! That’s ONE month away. Egads!
Other than that, it’s a writing week. So I’d better get to it!
Until later, happy reading!
Posted in Compromised, Revealed, The Summer of You | No Comments »
January 26th, 2010
Ok, so I’ve been living in Los Angeles for about six months now, and I think I figured out why A. so many other people live here and B. they shoot movies here:
Its freaking gorgeous.
Seriously. I mean I knew it was nice. Temperate. There’s a beach. But its been raining for a week, and this weekend, when the sun came out, it became paradise. The smog was cleared, the hills and ground were this verdant green that rivals emeralds, and you could see clear to the ocean.
Oh, just look:
This was taken from the trail that hikes up Mt. Hollywood. See?
That O and H are the back of the Hollywood sign. Try to climb it and the sheriff in his helicopter will come after you.
In other news, now that the release of The Summer of You is a little over two months off, I’ve been thinking a lot about promotion. I’m going to be setting up some guest blogs and hopefully some website reviews, but I can tell you that one personal appearance I will be making will be at Lady Jane’s Salon in New York the first weekend of April! It’s a great cause and it seems like so much fun: Can. Not. Wait.
And other than that, I’m typing. Typing typing typing. Sigh. Typing.
That’s all for now, so until next week – Happy Reading!
Tags: Lady Jane's Salon
Posted in Los Angeles, The Summer of You, Writer's life | 5 Comments »
January 13th, 2010
I blame Twitter.
No one felt the need to be concisely witty before Twitter. Oh sure, we were short and sweet in our Facebook statuses (statusi?) but we tended to simply state our purposes, saying “going to the store, need tomato sauce for mom’s lasagna,” or “seeing a movie tonight, so excited!” But suddenly, with the birth of Twitter, we all feel the importance of our declarative statements. They need to be catchy, intelligent, cheeky, thought provoking, and hilarious all at once.
On the one hand, I now have faith that the next generation will be funny.
On the other, I have completely lost the ability to think in sections longer than a Facebook status update.
Let me give you my day, in status update form:
“Woke up ridiculously late. So the morning becomes the afternoon. Ah, me.”
“The West Wing soothes me as I eat my breakfast. Speechifying lends turkey bacon gravitas.”
“Typing.”
“Typing.”
“Holy cow, that’s my word count for the day! How shall I spend the rest this glorious evening? What’s that? The mall is still open, you say?”
“I lost five pounds and the only size I went down is my shoe size. How…?”
“More typing. Can’t let it go. But this time I have Conan to keep me company. Forget team Jacob, I’m firmly team Coco.”
So while I truly enjoy social networking and all of the access they afford us to our friends and fans… I think I should apologize in advance if, in my next book, my chapters are only 140 characters long.
Happy Reading Everyone!
Tags: Conan, Facebook
Posted in Writer's life | No Comments »
December 28th, 2009
And it feels so good. I’m shocked that I’ve showered and put on real clothes. I’ve logged several hours on Beatles Rockband. Several more have been devoted to the viewing of British television. And there has been the Operation interludes (remember Operation? My niece and nephew got the game for Christmas and they got rid of the charley horse and the wishbone! The wishbone was the easiest one! With whom do I lodge a complaint?) This is what Christmas should be: one day of gifts followed by several of doing nothing but playing with your new toys or new games, reading your new books (my sis got a couple PC Cast books I intend to steal), or just enjoying nothing. I return to the regularly scheduled programming of work and more work soon enough, but until then, I plan on playing “A Day in the Life” on Hard until I get at least a 95%.
Happy holidays, Happy nothing, and Happy reading, everyone!
Posted in Writer's life | No Comments »
December 14th, 2009
Hi Everyone! Quick Blog today, because I am over at the Book Smugglers being initiated into that fabulous rite of passage, Smugglivius, their year-in-review. I compiled a list of all my favorite things from the year 2009, and there’s a new Summer of You excerpt, AND a giveaway! It is my Smugglivius gift to you all, so head over and check it out!
In other non-denominational holiday stuff I am pleased to announce… I AM DONE. Done with cards, done with shopping, wrapping, shipping, decorating, cookie making. I have completed Christmas and still have ten days to go! For once in my life, I came in on a deadline early. I’m so proud of me.
I hope everyone is having a merry go of it… and if you need any last minute gift suggestions… I’ve always found a good romance novel to fit easily into a stocking. 
Happy Reading everyone!
Tags: Book Smugglers
Posted in Books, Compromised, Revealed, TV & Movies, The Summer of You, Writer's life | No Comments »
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