Happy day before turkey day.

I am very much looking forward to this holiday season. True, it's going to be bittersweet, since we will be missing two family members and a beloved friend who all passed this year, but it's time for some light and celebration. It's okay to feel relieved that the stress has decreased and look forward to some downtime where the only pressing decision is apple or pumpkin pie. Btw, the correct answer is "both."

For the last two days, I've settled in with one of my longhand notebooks and things flowed. I love when that happens. Of course today that means I need to transcribe that stuff, maybe beat my head on the desk a couple of times and see how everything jibes with the outline, but I think it's going to go fairly smoothly.

Had a lovely surprise today while checking to see if my books are availiable in Kindle format on Amazon (all three are; go here) -- a five star review for My Outcast Heart. Which is here. Oh yes. Whatever else happens today, the day is now unspoilably good. I have my cell phone off to ensure that. My mama didn't raise no fools. Would not mind a Kindle for myself either, but it needs to get in line behind a new laptop and more memory/graphics card for the husband's desktop.

Still, five stars, baby. Yeah. This day is good.

Old school top fifty?

I have to admit I did consider voting in this year's top one hundred romances poll at All About Romance but didn't. The reason? I had a strong feeling most of my favorites are from another age, and that got me to thinking. What about ranking the old school books, the ones that newer readers to romance may not have had a chance to read? May not, for that matter, have heard of, in some cases.

This is not to say that I don't enjoy books published today, or that I do not fall like a slavering wildebeest on new historical romances by authors such as Diana Groe, Blythe Gifford, Lyn Randal, Pamela Clare, Tracy MacNish, and other new kids on the block. Far from it. But it's the old school stuff that got me started, and always has a strong tug on my creative subconscious. So in a burst of caffiene inspired enterprise, I began to list. I made myself stop at fifty, because I could easily have gone to a hundred. Books by the same author (and there are many authors who grab a good deal of the space; give me a good voice and I'm pretty much there for life) that are grouped together are related, as I read them as one big book. Not all favorite books by a particular author made the list, and again, these are not ranked.

The following isn't neccessarily in order, but was the first fifty old school books that came to mind, and came quickly indeed.

Skye O’Malley – Bertrice Small
Redeeming Love – Francine Rivers
The Kadin – Bertrice Small
Love Wild and Fair – Bertrice Small
Lovesong – Valerie Sherwood
Windsong – Valerie Sherwood
Nightsong – Valerie Sherwood
Wild Bells to the Wild Sky – Laurie McBain
A Love So Bold – Annelise Kamada
A Banner Red and Gold – Annelise Kamada
Daughters of the Southwind – Aola Vandergriff
The Pride of Lions – Marsha Canham
The Taming – Aleen Malcolm
Ride Out the Storm – Aleen Malcolm
Ann of Cambray – Mary Lide
Gifts of the Queen – Mary Lide
Lady of Fire – Anita Mills
Heart of the West – Penelope Williamson
Bold Breathless Love – Valerie Sherwood
Rash Reckless Love – Valerie Sherwood
Wild Willful Love – Valerie Sherwood
Rich Radiant Love – Valerie Sherwood
Upon a Moon Dark Moor – Rebecca Brandewyne
The King’s Brat – Constance Gluyas
My Lady Benbrook – Constance Gluyas
Lovely Lying Lips – Valerie Sherwood
Love Cherish Me – Rebecca Brandewyne
A Rose in Winter – Kathleen Woodiwiss
Lisbon – Valerie Sherwood
Ashes in the Wind – Kathleen Woodiwiss
The Wolf and the Dove – Kathleen Woodiwiss
The Flame and the Flower – Kathleen Woodiwiss
The Wind and the Sea – Marsha Canham
These Golden Pleasures – Valerie Sherwood
Rapture – Rosamund Royal
Adora – Bertrice Small
Moonstruck Madness – Laurie McBain
Rose of Rapture – Rebecca Brandewyne
Velvet Promise – Jude Deveraux
Highland Velvet – Jude Deveraux
Velvet Song – Jude Deveraux
Velvet Angel – Jude Deveraux
Born to Love – Valerie Sherwood
Beloved – Bertrice Small
This Towering Passion – Valerie Sherwood
Her Shining Splendor – Valerie Sherwood
The Bargain – Veronica Sattler
Angel in Scarlet – Jennifer Wilde
Winter Fire – Johanna Lindsey
Love Only Once – Johanna Lindsey

Good review #2 from Dear Author!

Sail on over here and see what Jayne has to say about "Queen of the Ocean." Read the review and leave your own comment if you feel so moved.

Also visit my entry at Unusual Historicals this month for a look at some of the fashions of prior eras --some may be funny looking to us, but it was hot stuff for them. Add your own fashion foibles from any era, or defend any favorites others have pooh-poohed. There's also a gorgeous streaming banner of the Unusual Historicals writers' book covers that alone is worth a look.

Currently crawling out from the bug that swept our family, but devouring Monica McCarty's debut Highlander trilogy as I do, so I'm welcoming the reading time.

Also getting ready to celebrate another writer buddy's success. My friend and longtime critique partner, M.P. Barker's debut YA historical novel, A Difficult Boy, is availiable for preorder at Amazon.com. Woo and hoo! Really really good book, really really good author, and amazing friend. Can't wait to celebrate her success.

Okay, there's a bug

Le sigh. If I needed any more reminders that this is a Monday, I have them. Didn't mean to arrange for *all* the Unusual Historicals blog entries to end up on my page, only mine. Working on fixing that now. Wish I could take credit for all the interesting things on the UH site, but alas, no, only my own.

Other than that, I'm spending today climbing out of a funk. I'm not depressed, I'm in a funk. That's a temporary thing and I can tell where it's coming from. I'm a people person, and spent the last week in the company of felines, coming home when the DH is snoozy, and there were days where the most human contact I'd get (aside from the Internet) was the clerk at the convenience store where I'd snag my Cherry Coke Zero. Plus there was the book that contained an element that would have caused me to pass on the book had I known, but I didn't, so there I go, happily reading until whambang. No thanks. UBS bag. Someone else will enjoy in the future.

Having the right input to defunk is crucial. Reading is high up there. I do know some romance novelists who can't read in genre while writing, but that's never been my problem. Okay, my tastes aren't in current vogue, but that doesn't bother me. There are still gems to be mined, and all things go in cycles. Picked up Shannon Drake's The Queen's Lady this morning, and things look promising so far. Good historical atmosphere, and while the real life historical figures are on stage, this does look like the h/h's story, and I love starting the book with a prologue from the middle (does that make sense?) and then going back to the beginning. Valerie Sherwood (whose books I sorely miss) did that a lot once upon a time, and I always found it a way to get sucked into the story in no time flat.

May indulge myself in a little Hugh Grant movie therapy after I mae a few baby steps in the work direction. Possibly Music and Lyrics, though a nibble of Love Actually never fails.

In the midst of decluttering two out of the three abodes , I'm gathering older copies of Romantic Times and Romance Writers Report (the RWA monthly magazine) which are always good for a shot of encouragement. This does, however, mean I'll have to organize them (oh darn -- heheh...I love organizing books and magazines) which serves as a rather useful timeline of how the genre has grown and where it might be headed next. I definetly plan on being along for the ride.

Trying something new

The wee hours of the morning on the last day of a two-catsitting-gig week is probably not the best time to start fiddling around with new webthingies, but I'm giving this a shot, as my friend Kady (hi, Puds) told me about multiply.com. So far I've managed to upload pictures of the furry members of my family, including Vlad the bat, and somehow managed to post some of my Unusual Historicals blog entries here, but not the personal ones. Still working on that.

Not a lot of actual writing work in the last couple of weeks, as we've dealt with the passing of my Aunt Lola, my dad's sister, and that throws a new wrinkle into estate stuff. We're getting through it, though, and I'm looking forward to my RWA chapter's Book in Six Weeks program again this year. Also looking at some interesting promotional opportunities, so things are coming along.

Fall always seems to give me an extra burst of energy, which is especially helpful when organizing the office -- yikes, am I really writing on all these projects? Umm, yes, I am. Which is a very good thing. Writing is still the best job in the world.