September Rain

Can’t believe it’s been a whole week, and only a week at the same time. DH is feeling poopy, work puter has been crashy, actual writing sludgy, reading fell into the bleh zone, but on the bright side, I can see both rain and foliage from the office window. Plus the neighbor’s rain-slick black roof, which is a lovely thing. Weather is cooler, and I’ve actually worm sweaters and boots and brought out the fuzzy duck blankey I pilfered from my Dad’s house years ago. Dad is not getting the duck blankey back for love or money. It’s too fuzzy, too warm, and too ducky to give back. Sorry, Dad.

Went out to dinner with members of my current nag group and the group from before that, last night. Found a faboo new restaurant with the best chili I’d ever had – ever— and a quite sophisticated bleu cheese cajun burger on panini (am I now too snooty for myself?) with pumpkin ice cream for dessert. Must also add that …drum roll please… I was able to wear one of my favorite thin outfits last night after a long fat summer. Thin clothes, huzzah! Always a good thing.

Got to watch last night’s LOST, LAW & ORDER and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE this morning, while writing on a rainbow colored legal pad in the comfy chair, drinking various teas out of a pinky-purple latte mug. Which has now been dubbed my favorite tea vessel, edging out the shamrock mug and the "I (heart) Las Vegas" mug I commandeered from a friend.

Good TV helps the creative process, though I do need to reconnect with earlier events in OitS. I need to get this sucker done and out there, if that’s okay with real life. Okay, it’s not okay with real life, but I need to push and finish anyway. There are new stories that want my attention, and the bratty MOH is getting restless for the big debut in January.

http://snarklingclean.blogspot.com/

Oh my. I do believe I've found another must-read blog for my daily rounds. I'd say tea and crumpets for everyone involved, but in a certain context, that's really none of my business.

Getting ready to start the day's writing, with a boost that:

A) last night was the season premiere of LOST and I got to watch it with DH, who is as hooked as I was.

B) My copy of The Sims2:NightLife came in yesterday's mail, and it is gooooooood. Come on, a computer game about the search for one's perfect mate? Perfect for romance writers.

C) I got to play TS2:NL while watching LOST with the DH

D) Mail also contained a thank-you letter from a writer whose ms I had judged in a contest, and hearing that she'd placed second in her category. Woot! I do remember her story, and I will definitely buy it whenever it comes out. I've judged several contests, and this is only the second thank-you letter I've recieved (the other one being from someone I had met in person, but whose name wasn't on the ms) so it was extra-special. This gets a scrapbook page for sure.

E) I am actually hunting down quotes for My Outcast Heart. A bit skeery, doing that, but I've had my first yes, so that's a boost.

F) I get an extra work day on Saturday. I was supposed to go to a stamp show with a friend, but she couldn't make it, and needs me to catsit while she is elsewhere, so I can put Simon and Jonnet through some more heck (and possibly some tea and crumpets) in the morning and then go home and Sim in the afternoon, as DH will also be working.

Yep, good to be me.

Look, up on the shelves! It's a bird...it's a plane...it's a supercouple?


The new At The Back Fence is out now, and this issue’s topic is connected books. Hoo boy, could I go on about that, on several fronts. Probably will, too, but I’m coming off a couple of overheated days so I’m taking it easy.
What struck me the most, though, was the mention of one of my very favorite things in romance – supercouples. I’m probably dating myself but I love supercouples, I miss them, and if I have anything to say about it, a few of them may be ready to reintroduce the concept. Modest, huh?

Though I came on a little late for the real-time start of Luke and Laura, I caught on – though we won’t discuss the rape vs forced seduction thing here. I am foot-stomping mad that GH wrapped up (or more accurately unravelled) things the way they did, so in my mind, any Spencers seen in the area are impostors planted by the Cassadines. The real Luke and Laura are happily living in Australia under assumed names. So there.

Bo and Hope from Days of Our Lives. Oh, sigh. I have vivid memories of Peter Reckell riding into Salem on a motorcycle to the strains of "Holding Out for a Hero." Okay, I am a sucker for Jim Steinman songs anyway, but I was an impressionable teen, and yearned along with Bo and Hope from that day, through the whole Larry Welch affair and up to their first wedding. Went off soaps a while after that (soured perhaps by the raw deal Pete and Melissa got, too) but they made their mark.

So too did the supercouples of historical romance. I never read the Steve and Ginny books (yet), but Sherwood, Small…you bet! After the initial HEA, for me, the stakes raise. I love watching the same h/h tackle new obstacles and find their way back to each other no matter what stood in their way. Shoot, when Star Trek: The Next Generation came out, I had to watch because there was a character named Riker, and I was still smitten with Sherwood’s privateer hero, VanRyker. I had to see if this guy was a worthy descendant. Yep. And so began a long and fruitful fanfic career.

Once in a while, one of the pair would have to make a new beginning after their beloved’s untimely demise, and find love again. This could be a little trickier for me, but there are a few. Constance Gluyas’ duo, THE KING’S BRAT and sequel MY LADY BENBROOK did that very well.
If after a book or three, the torch got passed to the couple’s children, even better. How will our progenitors handle this new phase of life, and what will the next generation get into? Are secrets from their parents’ past going to complicate the present and future? Aola Vandergriff’s DAUGHTERS OF series did this masterfully, following three sisters and their husbands and descendants from the 1850s to 1920s. When that series was over, I was mad. When I found the author had passed, I actually sniffled, then printed out her backlist and began combing the UBS’s.

Would I love to see this return, maybe write a few of my own? Of course. Not exact copies of what’s gone before, but the same concept with new flavor. I have a few ideas.

Greetings from the naked chick on the third floor.

Which may well be how the housepainters think of me now. Two days in a row, I look up from the tub and yep, housepaintery shape behind the blinds. As of yesterday there was also plastic on the windows, so anything either of us can see of each other is shadowy at best, and those guys seem to be working hard, so I'm counting it all safe.

Of course, naked might be prudent -- the shrink-wrapped windows turn the place into a sauna, so thank God for fans. T-shirt style coverup will do for now. Still debating how much brainpower the heat will suck out of me and if I will have enough for nag group tonight. Probably a lot, so we may scrub the meeting.

Got jumped by a medieval idea while listening to Sting's "Mad About You" (which has nothing to do with the sitcom) this weekend, so into some research and plotting with that. Good thing one of my cp's is both a medieval nut and in the medical field, as I will be picking her brain like a hungry vulture on this one.

Time to go grab a notebook from the living room, and yep, I hear painters. I think maybe I should just borrow a costume from my belly dancer friend, GC, and have a moment.

Hello, yeah, it's been a while/not much, how about you?

Whoops, that's "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" -- and if I can find the 90s version, I will pounce on it. Love the original, but there's soemthing special about the same artists doing it with more mature voices.

Been keeping busy over here. Partly trying to figure out why it is that Olivia kitty sits on the other side of the desk when she wants to be in my lap (I'm supposed to pick her up and put here there; cats rule.) Have finally come to the conclusion that office space as is, is a creativity sucking void. This coming from the woman who tapes Designing for the Sexes and Designer's Challenge every day. Weirdly yellow-beige walls, insufficient light (for Dilbert fans, yes, I do expect to see Phil and his big spoon) and though I love my hutch, facing the wall while I work doesn't. This should be an interesting endeavor.

I may have the chance to exhibit some of my art in an honest to goodness small gallery. Have never done that before, so another interesting endeavor.

Slogging through the current scene in actual writing, though I have absolutely no trouble figuring what everyone would be singing about if the novel were an Elton John musical. (Yes, I have been listening to too much of EJ's Aida. Want to make something of it?) Now to translate that into actual prose.

New project for the other WIP -- find my heroine's secret life. I've had the same feedback on her from two trusted critters, so my job now is to get a handle on what it is about her that fascinates the hero. How does he know that she's in the same emotional place he is? Must put on thinking cap in preparation for brainstorming. Plus watch copious hours of the first season of Highlander. Ah, the things I do for my art.