Ah, finally able to post again. Real life, wonky computer, but I'm back.

Good talk on some of the lists and bbs, about writing, different types of books, and the like. This coincides with my current reading, and makes me keep a keen eye out for something that will tickle my fancy when I'm looking for a new book.

Vlad, our resident bat, is back in the window. He first showed up last autumn in late October, and has been a regular when the temperature is cool enough. I did a little research on his particular branch of the bat family tree, and he's a Small (or Little) Brown Bat, most likely a young single male and will probably stay in our window until he chooses a mate. He'll probably live into his 20s, long after we plan to move. It's fun knowing he's there, like autumn can really happen now.

On the writing front, I'm tackling one of those scenes that makes me want to hide under my desk, clutching a box of Mallowmars in one hand and an action figure in the other, muttering something about Zwiebeck. In short, a scene in which my fictional hero meets a real historical figure, in this case, Charles II, his idol. Only this is a real man, not an idealized figure. Good scene, important scene, but the meaningful stuff, while my favourite, always turns me into a chicken.

Day one of birthday weekend. My friend, Linda, took me out for pumpkin pancakes at IHOP; verrry big portions. I keep forgetting that, so there are pumpkin pancakes for breakfast tomorrow, too. You're all invited. Bring tea.

Trawled the mall for various small errandy things, and got ambushed by someone I will refer to as Nail Girl, who apparently is highly motivated to move product to people, whether they want to buy it or not. I will cover only the salient points.

After explaining to Nail Girl that I have a skin condition and do not want potential allergens touching my skin, she assures me she won't put anything on me, and whips out her nail buffer. This is fine. She buffs one nail. This is fine. Asks for my worst nail (hard to locate, none will win contests) and wants to buff that, too. This is still fine. Now I should do one, because it's easy. Okay, fine again.

Nail Girl will not stop going through her spiel. She whips out a bottle of something she calls cuticle oil, and puts a drop right on my nail. This is not fine. I grab for the bottle to read the ingredients. Nail Girl assures me everything is natural.

Well, that's nice, but the main allergen I'm looking for is also natural -- lanolin. If it and I meet, I am going to need a doctor. No ifs ands or buts about it. Nail Girl does not seem to think this is as important as rubbing the unknown substance into my nail. I get the bottle, no allergen, but now she wants to sell me the whole package, with a big bottle of lotion, whose ingredients it is impossible to read. Puts package in my hands. I put it down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Nail Girl begins slashing the price, trying to pull me closer. Her speech is exactly the same with each slice. No. But she'll charge me less. No. But see, here are reciepts from people who bought it. That's nice. No.

Nail Girl is now belligerent and possibly starting to panic. If I had it at home, would I use it? Well, isn't that the point of buying it? But no. I don't want it. I don't like her behaviour, and this is one step away for my calling for security. But I already said I liked it. Yes, I did, but that does not change the fact that I am not buying it. Well, if I don't have cash on me, I can write a check, or use a credit card. No. No. No no no no no no, and this is wasting my time. Goodbye, Nail Girl.

I don't know if this is how I would have dealt with the situation ten or even five years ago, but it felt great. Heroine-worthy; any of my historical gals could stand up to a pushy merchant that way.

Part of me feels slightly guilty, and part of me feels gleefully proud. I've converted another Simmie, my cp, Vicki. A few days ago, she wasn't sure about Sims, now she's buying all of the expansion packs. Bwaahahahaha. Once we have the same packs installed, we can trade families. I finally got the hang of putting stuff up on the official Sims exchange, so been doing a lot of that lately.

Writing -- gorgeous. I have hit that "I am there" stage once more. Even though I have that "throat may be sore in a day or two" feeling (and husband came home from work last night sans voice, oh joy and bleh) it's overriden by the fact that I can wake up in my characters' heads, and it's more fun than scary. Yay, writing. I think part of it is having energy devoted to something that is creative-y but not actually writing. In this case, Sims.

Also experimented with the watermark stamped background I want to do on this year's Christmas (post)cards. Works great. Now to print off all my stuff for writing group and reward myself with a warm bath.

Made the mistake yesterday of looking at the Sims2 guidebook in Target and yes, now I must have Sims2. Of course on the next computer, whenever that happens, but in the meantime, have been giving very unsubtle hints that Sims Vacation or Superstar had best be in my loot on the 24th.

Yep, birthday time again, and no I won't say what number, but I am the same age as Star Trek and the Monkees. You may do the math if so inclined.

I happen to love birthdays. Don't neccessarily have to be mine, but that's always an extra plus. I am a big-fuss person where such days are concerned, even for other people, though most of my family is of the less-fuss variety. Can make for some interesting situations at times, but hey. Variety makes life interesting.

For the past couple years, the husband has come up with the perfect gift, which proves he really does know and love me. He takes me to Barnes and Noble and lets me run amok, and he will not complain about whatever covers are on the books he has to take up to the register. It does occur to me that I've been nicer to him than I could in taking advantage of such generosity. May have to browse during the week and call it practise shopping. Be sure to include the music and stationery sections of B&N, not just the books.

Reading went well last night. Even though they called me to read first – I usually like to be at least halfway in so I can enjoy the anticipation – and it took a while to find the tea on the refreshment table.

I’ll backtrack a little. My friends, Michele and Melva and I arrived together, and went to register. While we all jockeyed for position at the registration table, one of the women behind it said I didn’t have to sign in; she’d done that already when she saw me arrive. Woohoo, celebrity perk. In the small sense of the word, but made me happy, as did the coffee-themed photographs displayed on the wall. I can’t stand the taste of coffee, but I like the smell (plus I do like to coffee-dye papers) and it looks great on film. The arrangement reminded me a lot of what I might see in the Mt Kisco, NY library (oh home of my heart) so that was a lovely plus.

Got up, did my thing – the prequel from Orphans in the Storm, wherein our heroine, Jonnet, is brought to the Isle of Man as an infant, and a lonely old woman does not kill herself. Plus there’s a war going on. (English Civil, to be exact.) Of course I have to notice the one about seven year old boy in the room. Sorry, kiddo. I can’t imagine it was terribly interesting to him, and of course I had to fixate on whoever was intermittently coughing. One does tend to notice these things when behind a microphone in front of a captive audience.

The whole thing went very well. Much applause not only when I said that I’d sold something I’d previously read from at other such functions, but after the reading as well. Had some inquiries as to if I’d read from the book that’s coming out (no, this one is in progress, but the other is similar in tone) and if that one is historical, too (yes.) A couple of friends who I hadn’t thought could make it did, which was another lovely surprise.

Good variety of readers/performers, and of course Melva and Michele were great. I am now poopled, so will yabber more in the morning.

Found a gorgeous research site for all things related to the English Civil War. So, for me, bliss.

http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/

Even got to follow some links to maps of both England and Netherlands, in period, on the same scale, huzzah. Didn't get as much writing time as I wanted today, but it's still some, and that makes for one happy Anna. So happy that I share with you a quick course in seventeenth century manners.

http://www.sealedknot.org/knowbase/docs/0099_Manners.htm

Lovely to find, and makes one want to print out copies to hand out to certain people in restaurants even these days. Or maybe that's just me.

Actually went back and fixed one of my "go back and fix this" scenes, and I think it worked out well. So maybe a good writing day after all.

The Dutch book I have with the nice big map that actually shows Breda does not have a legend, so I have no idea what the scale is. Grr. Though Lonely Planet's map will do in a pinch, plus they have a good description of the countryside. As does the lovely stack of books from some Dutch museum I happened upon at a library sale a year or so back. Lots and lots of pictures, with text in several languages, so I can pick up a little more Dutch as I go.

All in all, I have a rough estimate of how long it will take my people to get from point A to point b, and it doesn't look like I'll have to add much more in the way of connective tissue. Which is very good for me.

Finally have my writing space back, and it's glorious. Most of today has been taken with the above research, getting through the email my brain was too overloaded with weekend stuff (not a relaxing weekend, but we all lived) to handle. Tomorrow is new writing for sure. I feel more grounded now that I know how much travel time (no, Vicki, not time travel) we're talking about. That excuse gone, I can push on forward.

Also reached a Sims milestone...successfully posted two families to the exchange on the official site. Will work on getting my favourites up there in case I have to yank everything out when I get Vacation. There is a chance it may arrive in the birthday loot, and if not, still affordable. Sims2 does look interesting, but that would need to be on a better computer, so I'm sticking with the known quantity for now.

Woohoo -- one of my uploaded Sims families has been downloaded eight times, and the other one once. Ah, community. It's a good Monday.

In a very good reading groove with the Colleen Faulkner book in my purse, and the second book in Beverly Lewis' Abram's Daughters Amish series as my bedside book. After a stressy weekend, I knew I *had* to slip away to the peaceful plain community of Gobbler's Knob for a breather. Umm, peaceful if you don't consider secrets and murder and affairs of the heart, both the good and the bad kind, peaceful, that is. I will read anything Beverly Lewis writes, and know it's great.

The Dutch book I have with the nice big map that actually shows Breda does not have a legend, so I have no idea what the scale is. Grr. Though Lonely Planet's map will do in a pinch, plus they have a good description of the countryside. As does the lovely stack of books from some Dutch museum I happened upon at a library sale a year or so back. Lots and lots of pictures, with text in several languages, so I can pick up a little more Dutch as I go.

All in all, I have a rough estimate of how long it will take my people to get from point A to point b, and it doesn't look like I'll have to add much more in the way of connective tissue. Which is very good for me.

Finally have my writing space back, and it's glorious. Most of today has been taken with the above research, getting through the email my brain was too overloaded with weekend stuff (not a relaxing weekend, but we all lived) to handle. Tomorrow is new writing for sure. I feel more grounded now that I know how much travel time (no, Vicki, not time travel) we're talking about. That excuse gone, I can push on forward.

Also reached a Sims milestone...successfully posted two families to the exchange on the official site. Will work on getting my favourites up there in case I have to yank everything out when I get Vacation. There is a chance it may arrive in the birthday loot, and if not, still affordable. Sims2 does look interesting, but that would need to be on a better computer, so I'm sticking with the known quantity for now.

Woohoo -- one of my uploaded Sims families has been downloaded eight times, and the other one once. Ah, community. It's a good Monday.

In a very good reading groove with the Colleen Faulkner book in my purse, and the second book in Beverly Lewis' Abram's Daughters Amish series as my bedside book. After a stressy weekend, I knew I *had* to slip away to the peaceful plain community of Gobbler's Knob for a breather. Umm, peaceful if you don't consider secrets and murder and affairs of the heart, both the good and the bad kind, peaceful, that is. I will read anything Beverly Lewis writes, and know it's great.

What's a gal got to do to get some romance around here? Finally got my RT, and though I haven't had much time to look through things, (thanks to what I term Errandpalooza, which is not the most fun thing on earth) there are days when the romance genre feels, well, lost. For lack of a better word.

Mystery, suspense, chick lit, mainstream, women's fiction, erotica, etc...all great for those who enjoy those genres (the husbnd being a devotee of the good police procedural and occasional media tie-in novel, and I do enjoy some inspirational women's fiction, especially the really gritty stuff) but on the days when I'm starving -- yes, starving-- for a good historical romance, it can be trying times. What I am longing, thirsting, yearning for is a real historical, real romantic, historical romance. Firmly grounded in its period with the love story of one man and one woman front and center.

Two people who must have each other but can't, and the story of how they beat everything in their path, no matter how long it takes, to get there. It may take years. It may take everything. It may take more than they're willing to pay, but if that's what it takes, then that's what it takes. Damn the torpedoes and anything else that gets in the way. That's what I love to read the best, and that's what (I hope) I'm writing.

::sigh:: As I said to a new friend last week, I'm a mouthy wench with an agenda. Yep. Part of this fire, I think, comes from what I've been listening to (delightful moment to find that the Five For Fighting guy loves Billy Joel -- I loooove Billy Joel's music) and the weird schedule with creative time grabbed when I can (and I haven't stamped anything in weeks, another oogy.) My first reaction when seeing the cover of the new RT, with a very nice picture of Christina Skye on it was "man, I miss her historicals." Then the Fan Fiction Frenzy blurb...ah, I remember my fanfiction days and bucking the trends there, too. Really really good colour scheme on the RT cover, too.

I'm fine, but the husband now has a bug. ::sigh::

Good work day, though. Spent much much time listening to AOL music. Now feel compelled to go out and actually (gasp) buy a CD of some sort. Who says writers don't need math? Matchbox Twenty, Five for Fighting (who I think is only one guy, or at least I heard that somewhere.) Very important to the creative process. Also have a novella idea brewing from the "Living With Grace" video that has nothing to do with Will & Grace; beautiful song, and it's telling me its own story.

Got a couple of overdue personal letters out and ready to roll, which is also good, and on the professional side, managed a more detailed outline of the next section of my hero's action for OitS. Quite pleased with that. Of course it means I have to use Charles Stuart (Chuckie II) as an actual character, which gives me a small case of the heebie jeebies, but as long as I can keep it to a cameo, I should be fine.

Also need to figure in new information I have on travel time, so I will actually know (huzzah, huzzah) how long it taketh hero and heroine to get from here to there and then from there to the other place. Which means I can go back in and add the seasonal details that have been conspicuously absent. Which can plump out my page count a bit.

Still no Romantic Times. Wah, fury. Whole sections of car magazines but no RT. Feh. Though Survivor tonight, if the husband is feeling up to it. If not, reading on the couch while he snoozes.

If you're ever contemplating accidentally smacking yourself in the cold sore with a towel, thus tearing off the scab before it's ready, I have one word for you. Don't. Ow. Gross and ow. But on the mend.

The contest stuff is all in and judged (at least my round, but it's off my desk and on someone else's) and today is desk clearing day. Ugh. Not fun, but needed. Still have to check my notes from the RWA meeting to see what I volunteered for. Must also poke around for authors to interview, and, oh joy of joys (sarcasm mode on) update ye olde webbesyte. Then there is the stack of books for review that I can no longer plausibly skirt around. Am looking forward to reading them all, but the thought of more work maketh me whimper.

Don't remember if I was able to post it this weekend, but on Saturday after the meeting, I went to three, count them, three bookstores, and not a current Romantic Times in sight. Feh. I am very grumbly when in sick mode, or when I can't get my RT on time, and when both are happening at the same time...ugh. Let's just say my friend who I was with found the sure cure. Yankee Candle. I grabbed three votives that had "autumn" in the name and was tolerable for the ride home. Any grumbles were met with "smell your candles." Which I did. It works.