Since I am currently at the mercy of the eight-pound cat in my lap who can somehow increase her mass at will, here's a list of what I netted at the library sale this Saturday:

The Ideal Husband -- Shari Anton (medieval)
Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch -- Haywood Smith (women's fiction)
Doing Good -- Pamela Morsi (Women's fiction)
The Fairy Godmother -- Mercedes Lackey (fantasy, Harlequin Luna)
A Garden in the Rain -- Lynn Kurland (modern/medieval time travel)
The Seducer
The Charmer
The Saint
The Sinner --above four Madeline Hunter, early 19th cent historical series

Speak to Me of Love -- Robin Lee Hatcher (CBA historical, late 19th century)

Huzzah! Successful library book sale haul today. Brought in all of Madeline Hunter's 19th century quartet, all in new condition, for fifty cents a pop, plus assorted other historicals and inspirationals both paperback and hardcover. A couple books for the husband, an art gallery book for Dad, and most of all, managed to not turn around and thump the romance-bashers standing behind my friend Linda and me in line to get in.

I really don't get genre-bashing, as a whole. You don't like something, fine. Don't read it. Free country. Personally, I don't "get" straight mysteries or appreciate straight fantasy or SF the way some of my friends do, but I don't feel the need to talk them down, loudly, especially in front of people who are obviously buying them.

Hearing things like "Author X writes the mysteries, and those are good, but then she writes love stories...you know, sex things. I bring those back or throw them out." Well, okay, then. As my DH would say "Have at it, Sparky." Read and let read. Nice to know that was one less person grabbing for the historicals.

Huzzah! Successful library book sale haul today. Brought in all of Madeline Hunter's 19th century quartet, all in new condition, for fifty cents a pop, plus assorted other historicals and inspirationals both paperback and hardcover. A couple books for the husband, an art gallery book for Dad, and most of all, managed to not turn around and thump the romance-bashers standing behind my friend Linda and me in line to get in.

I really don't get genre-bashing, as a whole. You don't like something, fine. Don't read it. Free country. Personally, I don't "get" straight mysteries or appreciate straight fantasy or SF the way some of my friends do, but I don't feel the need to talk them down, loudly, especially in front of people who are obviously buying them.

Hearing things like "Author X writes the mysteries, and those are good, but then she writes love stories...you know, sex things. I bring those back or throw them out." Well, okay, then. As my DH would say "Have at it, Sparky." Read and let read. Nice to know that was one less person grabbing for the historicals.

I'm getting ready to read the very end of Laura Kinsale's fabulous Shadowheart which I read immediately after her equally fabulous For My Lady's Heart and for the first time in a while, writing feels, for lack of a better word, right. Call it kindred spirits, or inspiration, or divine intervention but it gave me the shot in the arm I needed.

Which was especially nice after a long meander through the local Barnes & Noble, with a peek at the new Romance Writing for Dummies book. I didn't get it (yet) but gave it a thorough perusal, and it will come home as soon as the budget can take it. (Hey, I have a library book sale coming up this weekend, and I live for those)

This may drive me to ferret out some old keepers from my vaults. Nothing resonates with me more than a hero and heroine who fit into one cohesive whole, who could never have lived in any time or place but the one they inhabit, and it has to be this man and this woman or dash it all. I like to use the phrase one man, one woman, one lifetime. Especially when the two together are stronger than either apart, and they take on the world as a team.

Plus real danger. Not "will never be allowed at (insert society party/place here) again" but "may die," or "country may lose war" or "home may be destroyed" or "may spend rest of life with wrong person." Or a combination of above. Something that will have a deep and lasting impact. I want to make my couples work for that HEA.

Ah, puter, sweet puter. After most of a week of catsitting (and much sidewalk tromping betwixt two catsitting gigs) I am getting reacquainted with the keyboard. Which is a good thing.

Just turned in an interview with ebook author Belinda Palmer to A Hint of Seduction emag. I love the interview process. I have often said I will talk to anyone about anything, and now I'm getting paid for it. So good deal all 'round.

Also did a little poking with Belinda, who is the marketing director for Wings e-press, whom I'd queried with MY OUTCAST HEART. She didn't see it on the readers' list, so quite likely my message got lost somewhere in the shuffle and I should query again. Which I will do. If I get a no from them, then there's an editorial assistant at Berkley building her own client base, and I've been invited to try there. But dance with the one you came with first, and all.

Still no news on the agent front. It's been a while, so I think one more polite noise and then shoot for some other opportunities for agents.

Much writing-related business going on today. I'm awful at writing my own bio/byline, and Gina at AHoS wants one, so this is where nail-chewing and stammering come in. In the end, I'll get it done, but oy. The process.