Somewhere, over the rainbow ...
I've seen more bluebirds around our area this year than I remember seeing before. Pretty little things. A splash of color against a backdrop of earth tones. They make me think of spring. Or at least the promise of it.
February seems to have gone by in a rush. I can't help but think I've forgotten to do something - something important. Try as I might to rack this organizationally challenged brain of mine, however, I can't think of what it could be. Do you ever get that feeling? That little nagging in the back of your head that says, was I supposed to do ... something?
I'm approaching 40. Rather quickly, I might add. I've probably said before that I'm looking forward to 40 a whole lot more than I did 30. I'm in a better place now than I was then, although this milestone is going to have a whole lot more associated with it than others in my past. I have a lot of hope for this year.
For the moment, however, I need to concentrate on this week. The WGH has been on vacation - goes back to work tomorrow - and since I never get anything done when he's home I've declared the past 10 days a wash as far as getting any writing in. So, for today, I'm working on the interview I promised to send to a certain charming gentleman from California, a book review due to our editor, and catching up on my reading. If after all that I still have time (between errand-running with the WGH and cleaning out the fridge), I will open the file on the manuscript and make an effort to move forward.
Wish me luck. And read a book.
=) JB
2.27.2007
2.26.2007
Neurons
A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor.
- Victor Hugo, French poet, dramatist, and novelist (1802-1885)
Some days I have trouble getting motivated - it's when I have six thousand things to do and six minutes to get them done (or at least, sometimes it seems that way), and I am at a loss as to where to start. My neurons don't want to synapse. The brain balks.
I tackled that problem this morning by pulling up every program I would need on my computer today, and I'm going through them one at a time. When I finish what I need to do on one, I'll close it. Already used one and x-ed it (i.e. the quote above, very much descriptive of me today); this is number two on the list.
Basketball update. We had quite the weekend. Our girls lost their first round Regional game Friday night, so The Tall One's high school basketball career is officially over. (We're still hopeful for the future, but won't hear anything until Thursday at the earliest, when the NCAA "quiet period" ends and spring signing season begins. Trust me, when we hear something, you'll hear something.) On Saturday night our boys shocked the region by coming back from as many as 11 points down (a couple different times) and defeating a very strong team from our sister district, advancing to play in the next round of Regionals tomorrow night. It was quite a game.
Writing. I still have my 1,000-1,500 words per day goal, although I haven't been meeting it the past week - gee, ya think? With five out of six nights being spent at basketball games? But now my schedule is back to normal (at least until soccer season starts), and I plan to write my little fingers off working on this WIP.
Between interviews. And book reviews. And ...
Read a book. It's good for you!
=) JB
2.22.2007
Down for a Day
Today, we have no basketball. (Gasp!)
Today, I don't have to hit the day job early.
Today ... I write.
I hit a point yesterday where I had to hop on the Internet and do a little research. This is fun for me, although it does detract from writing time, but you have to do the research, make sure you have things right, or the writing will be flawed - either the book won't get published or it won't sell, because people will notice if you screw up. I'm all about suspending belief for fiction, but there are certain instances where you just have to stick to the facts.
I met an interesting fellow at Murder in the Magic City a couple weeks ago who does what I call serious research. He picks a setting for his book and then goes there to check it out. Like India. How cool is that? JT took advantage of her recent trip to New York to check out a couple "setting" things for her next book.
Sigh.
Someday, I'm going to take a fun trip and call it research, too. ;)
Tomorrow, we have more basketball - the game that could possibly be The Tall One's last, at least in high school. We're starting to chalk up the "lasts" for real, as graduation is just over three months away. Anyway, I may or may not have much chance to either check in here or write tomorrow, so I'm taking advantage of all available opportunities today. Especially since I'm a tad behind on my JT-imposed 1,500 words per day quota. Yikes.
Read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
Today, I don't have to hit the day job early.
Today ... I write.
I hit a point yesterday where I had to hop on the Internet and do a little research. This is fun for me, although it does detract from writing time, but you have to do the research, make sure you have things right, or the writing will be flawed - either the book won't get published or it won't sell, because people will notice if you screw up. I'm all about suspending belief for fiction, but there are certain instances where you just have to stick to the facts.
I met an interesting fellow at Murder in the Magic City a couple weeks ago who does what I call serious research. He picks a setting for his book and then goes there to check it out. Like India. How cool is that? JT took advantage of her recent trip to New York to check out a couple "setting" things for her next book.
Sigh.
Someday, I'm going to take a fun trip and call it research, too. ;)
Tomorrow, we have more basketball - the game that could possibly be The Tall One's last, at least in high school. We're starting to chalk up the "lasts" for real, as graduation is just over three months away. Anyway, I may or may not have much chance to either check in here or write tomorrow, so I'm taking advantage of all available opportunities today. Especially since I'm a tad behind on my JT-imposed 1,500 words per day quota. Yikes.
Read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
2.21.2007
The Way the (Basket)ball Bounces
It has been one long, long, long night of basketball. Our game, the consolation of our district tournament - to determine 3rd and 4th place teams going into the Regionals - went into not one, not two, not even three, but ... are you ready for this? FOUR overtimes. Four. I don't think I've ever seen a high school basketball game, let alone a GIRLS' game, go into four overtimes. It was quite exciting.
And as if that weren't good enough, the championship game went into overtime, too. Just one, though, thank goodness. I don't think I could've taken much more of that.
I did manage to make some strides this morning on the WIP and yes, it's still a medical thriller. The incomparable Robert Fate (hi, Bob!) said to me today (and I'm paraphrasing here) that he used to scoff at authors who said their characters directed their stories, but now he's starting to believe it actually happens. I'm here to tell ya, it does. You get to a point where they sort of take over - the book, your life ... and nothing seems to fall into place unless they let it.
So, here we are, somewhere in Chapter Six, and I'm doing at least a half-decent job of following my plot summary, and the characters are starting to come to life (except for the ones who've been killed, of course, but that might be giving too much away).
More in the morning. In the meantime, read a book. It's only 9:15 in California, right?
=) JB
And as if that weren't good enough, the championship game went into overtime, too. Just one, though, thank goodness. I don't think I could've taken much more of that.
I did manage to make some strides this morning on the WIP and yes, it's still a medical thriller. The incomparable Robert Fate (hi, Bob!) said to me today (and I'm paraphrasing here) that he used to scoff at authors who said their characters directed their stories, but now he's starting to believe it actually happens. I'm here to tell ya, it does. You get to a point where they sort of take over - the book, your life ... and nothing seems to fall into place unless they let it.
So, here we are, somewhere in Chapter Six, and I'm doing at least a half-decent job of following my plot summary, and the characters are starting to come to life (except for the ones who've been killed, of course, but that might be giving too much away).
More in the morning. In the meantime, read a book. It's only 9:15 in California, right?
=) JB
2.19.2007
Where I've been, what I've been doing, and who I've been doing it with ...
I know, I know ... I'm slacking again.
As if I haven't been missing in action for [cough] five days [cough], let's pick up the conversation where we left off ...
Profundity. (Yes, that is a word. It means "intellectual depth" - you can look it up if you don't believe me.) A week ago I made a proclamation. I write romantic suspense standalones.
Turns out, I was wrong.
Oops.
After hashing out the plot summary/rough synopsis for the new WIP, I sent it to my fabulous critique partner for her perusal and feedback. She sent me an email that made me call her just to make sure I'd read it right. I can't repeat what she said verbatim - suffice to say it was something along the lines of "wow", which really does a lot to boost one's ego. During the course of our conversation, the words "medical thriller" popped up, mostly from her end of the phone. On my end, I did a good job of parroting.
"A medical thriller? I can't write a medical thriller."
"Yeah. You can."
"I can?"
"Just write the book."
So, it has apparently been determined that the book I'm currently writing is a medical thriller. Woo.
I wouldn't rest on those laurels just yet, though. By next week, it could change again.
Basketball will be taking over my life this week. The tournament games we were supposed to play Saturday were postponed to today because of ... hope you're sitting down ... SNOW. We Yankees (that is, the WGH and I) were a little less than sympathetic toward our neighbors down here, at least at first. To us, a dusting is ... well, a dusting. In the South, a dusting shuts down the entire town. We had a great deal more sympathy for them when it continued to snow off and on all day Saturday and the parking lot at our local grocery store was quite slippery with ice that evening. Okay, yeah, so, probably a good idea that they put the games off for a couple days. Especially since our forecast for the week has highs in the upper-50s to low-60s. Don't like the weather in Tennessee? Just wait a day or two ...
In the midst of basketball and the scads of various and sundry other things I have to do this week, I will be writing furiously. JT set me a goal of 1,500 words a day. Fortunately, part of those words are already written - I just have to do some major tweaking and rearranging of things. It'll come together.
A medical thriller, she scoffed. Yeah.
Well ... yeah. Maybe so.
Read a book. It's good for you. My book of the week is Vinnie's Head by Marc Lecard - due to be released next month. If I hadn't been so dang tired last night I might have read a lot more - as it was, the first sentence grabbed me and held on until my eyes couldn't hold themselves open any more. Can't wait to see how it plays out.
=) JB
As if I haven't been missing in action for [cough] five days [cough], let's pick up the conversation where we left off ...
Profundity. (Yes, that is a word. It means "intellectual depth" - you can look it up if you don't believe me.) A week ago I made a proclamation. I write romantic suspense standalones.
Turns out, I was wrong.
Oops.
After hashing out the plot summary/rough synopsis for the new WIP, I sent it to my fabulous critique partner for her perusal and feedback. She sent me an email that made me call her just to make sure I'd read it right. I can't repeat what she said verbatim - suffice to say it was something along the lines of "wow", which really does a lot to boost one's ego. During the course of our conversation, the words "medical thriller" popped up, mostly from her end of the phone. On my end, I did a good job of parroting.
"A medical thriller? I can't write a medical thriller."
"Yeah. You can."
"I can?"
"Just write the book."
So, it has apparently been determined that the book I'm currently writing is a medical thriller. Woo.
I wouldn't rest on those laurels just yet, though. By next week, it could change again.
Basketball will be taking over my life this week. The tournament games we were supposed to play Saturday were postponed to today because of ... hope you're sitting down ... SNOW. We Yankees (that is, the WGH and I) were a little less than sympathetic toward our neighbors down here, at least at first. To us, a dusting is ... well, a dusting. In the South, a dusting shuts down the entire town. We had a great deal more sympathy for them when it continued to snow off and on all day Saturday and the parking lot at our local grocery store was quite slippery with ice that evening. Okay, yeah, so, probably a good idea that they put the games off for a couple days. Especially since our forecast for the week has highs in the upper-50s to low-60s. Don't like the weather in Tennessee? Just wait a day or two ...
In the midst of basketball and the scads of various and sundry other things I have to do this week, I will be writing furiously. JT set me a goal of 1,500 words a day. Fortunately, part of those words are already written - I just have to do some major tweaking and rearranging of things. It'll come together.
A medical thriller, she scoffed. Yeah.
Well ... yeah. Maybe so.
Read a book. It's good for you. My book of the week is Vinnie's Head by Marc Lecard - due to be released next month. If I hadn't been so dang tired last night I might have read a lot more - as it was, the first sentence grabbed me and held on until my eyes couldn't hold themselves open any more. Can't wait to see how it plays out.
=) JB
2.14.2007
Another Milestone
The Boy turned 16 yesterday. Ah, me.
It's hard to believe that this lanky, long-haired young man was once a tiny, squirming, screaming bundle of joy. I asked him this morning if he could guess what I was doing on this day 16 years ago. It took him a minute. In fact, it was only when I said, "I was in the hospital" that he got it. Oh, he said. 16 years ago.
Uh ... yeah.
The WGH and I did a good job of surprising him with a couple things. I baked him a cake - German chocolate with coconut pecan icing, his favorite - and scouted around the Internet until I found a game store that carried the RPG video game he wanted. His sister said it sounded like a fire alarm going off when he opened it (his exclamation of glee, that is). We also surreptitiously invited his two buddies over for dinner, so it was a right little party. It was the WGH's idea to do something, and my six phone calls and one trip to the grocery that made it happen. We make a pretty good team.
The next "big deal" for me is going to be when Little Bit officially hits the teenage years - which will be in April. Lord, help me.
The Tall One got another college acceptance yesterday (we're now up to two). Not a letter. A phone call. And not a scholarship offer, but at least the call was from the college she's most interested in going to at this point. The WGH and I are still keeping our fingers crossed. We figure if God means for it to happen, it will happen.
I have great plans for today. Lots of things on the to-do list - and I hope to get most if not all of them accomplished - including finishing the synopsis on the new book, contacting a few of the terrific folks I met this weekend regarding their Lunch Room interviews, getting another review written, and finishing this week's book (Bride and Doom by Deborah Donnelly). But first, I have a conference call/online training session for the day job.
And the kids wonder what I do all day.
Read a book. It's good for you!
=) JB
It's hard to believe that this lanky, long-haired young man was once a tiny, squirming, screaming bundle of joy. I asked him this morning if he could guess what I was doing on this day 16 years ago. It took him a minute. In fact, it was only when I said, "I was in the hospital" that he got it. Oh, he said. 16 years ago.
Uh ... yeah.
The WGH and I did a good job of surprising him with a couple things. I baked him a cake - German chocolate with coconut pecan icing, his favorite - and scouted around the Internet until I found a game store that carried the RPG video game he wanted. His sister said it sounded like a fire alarm going off when he opened it (his exclamation of glee, that is). We also surreptitiously invited his two buddies over for dinner, so it was a right little party. It was the WGH's idea to do something, and my six phone calls and one trip to the grocery that made it happen. We make a pretty good team.
The next "big deal" for me is going to be when Little Bit officially hits the teenage years - which will be in April. Lord, help me.
The Tall One got another college acceptance yesterday (we're now up to two). Not a letter. A phone call. And not a scholarship offer, but at least the call was from the college she's most interested in going to at this point. The WGH and I are still keeping our fingers crossed. We figure if God means for it to happen, it will happen.
I have great plans for today. Lots of things on the to-do list - and I hope to get most if not all of them accomplished - including finishing the synopsis on the new book, contacting a few of the terrific folks I met this weekend regarding their Lunch Room interviews, getting another review written, and finishing this week's book (Bride and Doom by Deborah Donnelly). But first, I have a conference call/online training session for the day job.
And the kids wonder what I do all day.
Read a book. It's good for you!
=) JB
2.12.2007
Rubbing Elbows
Boy, did I have a great weekend!
I love saying that. It either means I did something with my immediate family or my extended family (i.e. a bunch of writers as crazy as I am), or I got something accomplished as far as writing.
This weekend, I was able to do all three. Woo-hoo!
Basketball. Always fun for me, even when we lose, but Friday night was especially exciting. Our girls' team came out shooting for bear in the first half, led at halftime by 5, and had the other team's star player completely gassed by the end of the game. Yeah, we lost - nothing seemed to fall quite right for us in the second half - but the girls still played their little hearts out. The Tall One led her team in scoring with 10, but the whole team was better together than we've seen in several weeks. It was our last regular season game, and tournaments are this weekend - more ball to be played, as they say.
The longest - but greatest - day. So, we get home from the ball game Friday night, finally crash around 10:30-11:00, and I lie in bed staring at the ceiling for several hours before I finally fall asleep, somewhere around 1 or 2 in the morning, I think. I must have been really keyed up, from the game and from the anticipation of what I would be doing Saturday. The alarm went off at 4:30 (yes, a.m.) and by 5:20 I was out the door, picked my friend up at 6:05 and at 9:15 we pulled into the Homewood Public Library parking lot - Homewood, Alabama, that is (a suburb of Birmingham) - for the terrific Murder in the Magic City conference.
What a day! Caught up with old pals Patti Sprinkle, Julia Spencer-Fleming, and Mary Anna Evans, had the honor of meeting the delightful Robert Fate and a satisfactorily long list of fantastic writers who graciously (and enthusiastically) agreed to come visit us in the Lunch Room for one of my long-overdue interviews. I think I'll be making up some lost ground with this bunch! I'm so excited about having them join us. Stay tuned for those in the coming weeks.
Recharging the batteries. We arrived back in Nashville around 9:00 p.m., I dropped my friend off and pulled back into the garage approximately 16 hours after I left it - exhausted but elated. Told the kids we'd be doing Sunday school if I woke up in time. After waking up about three times during the night for various and sundry reasons, 8:30 came and went and my body decided it had been deprived of enough sleep to last me a couple days. I finally dragged myself out of bed around 10:00, had a cup of coffee and meandered up to the study, where I proceeded to knock out most of a synopsis for the new Work in Progress.
Deciding on a direction. It seriously pays to have a critique partner who knows what the heck she's doing, someone who will spend an hour on the phone with you, giving you the pep talk to beat all pep talks. She made the most profound observation the other day, saying, "You can write whatever you want to write, because right now you're not tied to anything specific. Take those handcuffs off and write with that passion I know you're capable of writing with!" (That wasn't quite verbatim, but I think I've reiterated the gist of it.)
So, I've made a fairly life-changing decision. (Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic. We should say ... career-stimulating?) I'm putting my past behind me and starting fresh. I have finally stopped trying to pigeon-hole myself into carrying on with characters who've worn out their welcome and have put myself firmly into a genre that I know I can write, and write well, and that is (drum roll, please) ... romantic suspense standalones. Each book will have new characters, a new story, and (I hope) new life and heart. I've already "redone" the book I started working on during NaNoWriMo 2005, at least by churning out a synopsis that will steer the book in the direction it needs to go. I love this story idea, the plot is solid, and by taking out these old characters and concentrating on who's left, it will be a stronger, more intimate, better written piece of work.
Yay, me.
I've finally decided what I want to do when I grow up. Again.
I met Laura Lippman this weekend. She is an amazing woman. She tells everyone she considers herself so very lucky to be doing what she loves to do, and she is one of the most genuinely nice people I've had the pleasure of meeting. All the authors at MMC this weekend were like that.
I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of this community.
There are some who would say that "romantic suspense" is, by technical definition, a sub-category of romance rather than mystery, and that I should be hanging out with the romance crowd. Now, I'm sure they're lovely people. I simply adore the gals over at The Writing Playground. But I don't consider myself to be a romance writer, and because of my personality I feel more comfortable with (and seem to fit better into) the mystery crowd, which encompasses suspense, thrillers and a whole heck of a lot of other really great types of work we call "crime fiction". It's an awesome place to be, and I don't plan to go anywhere else.
Visiting a sick friend. The WMVR was supposed to have gone with me this weekend. Unfortunately, she had to have back surgery last Wednesday and was unable to make the trip. I'm going down to see her later this morning and taking a couple of nice surprises with me - can't say what they are because she'll be reading this and I don't want to give it away ;). Suffice to say that my point above about this bunch of folks I hang out with being kind, gracious and genuine will carry over.
Do something you love to do today, and don't take it for granted that you have the power and freedom to do it.
It's good for you.
=) JB
I love saying that. It either means I did something with my immediate family or my extended family (i.e. a bunch of writers as crazy as I am), or I got something accomplished as far as writing.
This weekend, I was able to do all three. Woo-hoo!
Basketball. Always fun for me, even when we lose, but Friday night was especially exciting. Our girls' team came out shooting for bear in the first half, led at halftime by 5, and had the other team's star player completely gassed by the end of the game. Yeah, we lost - nothing seemed to fall quite right for us in the second half - but the girls still played their little hearts out. The Tall One led her team in scoring with 10, but the whole team was better together than we've seen in several weeks. It was our last regular season game, and tournaments are this weekend - more ball to be played, as they say.
The longest - but greatest - day. So, we get home from the ball game Friday night, finally crash around 10:30-11:00, and I lie in bed staring at the ceiling for several hours before I finally fall asleep, somewhere around 1 or 2 in the morning, I think. I must have been really keyed up, from the game and from the anticipation of what I would be doing Saturday. The alarm went off at 4:30 (yes, a.m.) and by 5:20 I was out the door, picked my friend up at 6:05 and at 9:15 we pulled into the Homewood Public Library parking lot - Homewood, Alabama, that is (a suburb of Birmingham) - for the terrific Murder in the Magic City conference.
What a day! Caught up with old pals Patti Sprinkle, Julia Spencer-Fleming, and Mary Anna Evans, had the honor of meeting the delightful Robert Fate and a satisfactorily long list of fantastic writers who graciously (and enthusiastically) agreed to come visit us in the Lunch Room for one of my long-overdue interviews. I think I'll be making up some lost ground with this bunch! I'm so excited about having them join us. Stay tuned for those in the coming weeks.
Recharging the batteries. We arrived back in Nashville around 9:00 p.m., I dropped my friend off and pulled back into the garage approximately 16 hours after I left it - exhausted but elated. Told the kids we'd be doing Sunday school if I woke up in time. After waking up about three times during the night for various and sundry reasons, 8:30 came and went and my body decided it had been deprived of enough sleep to last me a couple days. I finally dragged myself out of bed around 10:00, had a cup of coffee and meandered up to the study, where I proceeded to knock out most of a synopsis for the new Work in Progress.
Deciding on a direction. It seriously pays to have a critique partner who knows what the heck she's doing, someone who will spend an hour on the phone with you, giving you the pep talk to beat all pep talks. She made the most profound observation the other day, saying, "You can write whatever you want to write, because right now you're not tied to anything specific. Take those handcuffs off and write with that passion I know you're capable of writing with!" (That wasn't quite verbatim, but I think I've reiterated the gist of it.)
So, I've made a fairly life-changing decision. (Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic. We should say ... career-stimulating?) I'm putting my past behind me and starting fresh. I have finally stopped trying to pigeon-hole myself into carrying on with characters who've worn out their welcome and have put myself firmly into a genre that I know I can write, and write well, and that is (drum roll, please) ... romantic suspense standalones. Each book will have new characters, a new story, and (I hope) new life and heart. I've already "redone" the book I started working on during NaNoWriMo 2005, at least by churning out a synopsis that will steer the book in the direction it needs to go. I love this story idea, the plot is solid, and by taking out these old characters and concentrating on who's left, it will be a stronger, more intimate, better written piece of work.
Yay, me.
I've finally decided what I want to do when I grow up. Again.
I met Laura Lippman this weekend. She is an amazing woman. She tells everyone she considers herself so very lucky to be doing what she loves to do, and she is one of the most genuinely nice people I've had the pleasure of meeting. All the authors at MMC this weekend were like that.
I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of this community.
There are some who would say that "romantic suspense" is, by technical definition, a sub-category of romance rather than mystery, and that I should be hanging out with the romance crowd. Now, I'm sure they're lovely people. I simply adore the gals over at The Writing Playground. But I don't consider myself to be a romance writer, and because of my personality I feel more comfortable with (and seem to fit better into) the mystery crowd, which encompasses suspense, thrillers and a whole heck of a lot of other really great types of work we call "crime fiction". It's an awesome place to be, and I don't plan to go anywhere else.
Visiting a sick friend. The WMVR was supposed to have gone with me this weekend. Unfortunately, she had to have back surgery last Wednesday and was unable to make the trip. I'm going down to see her later this morning and taking a couple of nice surprises with me - can't say what they are because she'll be reading this and I don't want to give it away ;). Suffice to say that my point above about this bunch of folks I hang out with being kind, gracious and genuine will carry over.
Do something you love to do today, and don't take it for granted that you have the power and freedom to do it.
It's good for you.
=) JB
2.08.2007
Getting Back in the Pool
The lovely Nancy Cohen says that she sets a goal for herself of writing five pages first thing the morning, so that the activities associated with the rest of her day don't prevent her from getting any writing done. (Read her post, "Storytelling", here.)
Now, that's what I call discipline. Something to which all we writers should aspire.
One of the first things I did this morning was to check my Bloglines feeds, as I have been woefully behind the eight ball as far as keeping up with my friends in the Blogosphere. There's a lot of stuff going on. Here are just a few things I've learned:
What a deal. My lovely and talented friend Tasha Alexander has been tapped to write the companion novel to an upcoming Cate Blanchett/Clive Owen movie, the follow-up to the multi-Oscar nominated Elizabeth. For details on this fabulous news, click here. Kudos, Tash!
More Killer Year releases. The Liar's Diary by Patry Francis and Kiss Her Goodbye by Robert Gregory Browne are now available for purchase. And there's much more to come from The Class of 2007!
You might be a writer if ... Sara Rosett over at The Good Girls Kill for Money Club put up a brilliant post yesterday. So many of her points are so true, and I could add a few others in addition to those contributed in the comments. Just read it.
Research. Sometimes I check out the MSN home page just to see what's going on in the news. Today there was this intriguing article. Hmmmm. The BMWs met last night, and I brought pages from my latest manuscript. I didn't get into all the explanations of this with them yet, so (except for J.T.) the group won't get it now, but this article qualifies as serious research for the book.
Switching gears a little bit, one of the reasons I haven't been here in a few days is that things have been more than a little busy around the Thompson household of late. Tuesday night was Senior Night for The Tall One's basketball team. As sentimental a person as I can be, and as proud a Mom, I did hold it together pretty well as the WGH and I escorted our daughter to center court. I will admit that I did tear up just a little when one of her teammates, a sophomore who is quite possibly one of the sweetest children on earth, hugged me. Fortunately, I have a couple more years to watch her play, as she is in The Boy's class and we'll be there supporting both the team and the band for the next couple years and probably beyond, since Little Bit will be coming up through the ranks. Heck, I'll probably be at those games long after all three kids have graduated. There's just something about the atmosphere of a high school basketball game - high school sports in general, really. If you're not a fan, you should try it. It's a bit addictive.
So we've had family in town, and although I did make an effort to spend time on my computer, spending time with my folks is always a bit more important. They did get home safely yesterday (to a reported six inches of snow), so today I'm trying to get back in the groove. Last night's meeting sort of helped me get jump-started again, which made me realize that my batteries must have become low. Every so often you need to recharge.
Recharge your batteries today. And read a book. Both will be good for you.
=) JB
Now, that's what I call discipline. Something to which all we writers should aspire.
One of the first things I did this morning was to check my Bloglines feeds, as I have been woefully behind the eight ball as far as keeping up with my friends in the Blogosphere. There's a lot of stuff going on. Here are just a few things I've learned:
What a deal. My lovely and talented friend Tasha Alexander has been tapped to write the companion novel to an upcoming Cate Blanchett/Clive Owen movie, the follow-up to the multi-Oscar nominated Elizabeth. For details on this fabulous news, click here. Kudos, Tash!
More Killer Year releases. The Liar's Diary by Patry Francis and Kiss Her Goodbye by Robert Gregory Browne are now available for purchase. And there's much more to come from The Class of 2007!
You might be a writer if ... Sara Rosett over at The Good Girls Kill for Money Club put up a brilliant post yesterday. So many of her points are so true, and I could add a few others in addition to those contributed in the comments. Just read it.
Research. Sometimes I check out the MSN home page just to see what's going on in the news. Today there was this intriguing article. Hmmmm. The BMWs met last night, and I brought pages from my latest manuscript. I didn't get into all the explanations of this with them yet, so (except for J.T.) the group won't get it now, but this article qualifies as serious research for the book.
~~~~~~
Switching gears a little bit, one of the reasons I haven't been here in a few days is that things have been more than a little busy around the Thompson household of late. Tuesday night was Senior Night for The Tall One's basketball team. As sentimental a person as I can be, and as proud a Mom, I did hold it together pretty well as the WGH and I escorted our daughter to center court. I will admit that I did tear up just a little when one of her teammates, a sophomore who is quite possibly one of the sweetest children on earth, hugged me. Fortunately, I have a couple more years to watch her play, as she is in The Boy's class and we'll be there supporting both the team and the band for the next couple years and probably beyond, since Little Bit will be coming up through the ranks. Heck, I'll probably be at those games long after all three kids have graduated. There's just something about the atmosphere of a high school basketball game - high school sports in general, really. If you're not a fan, you should try it. It's a bit addictive.
So we've had family in town, and although I did make an effort to spend time on my computer, spending time with my folks is always a bit more important. They did get home safely yesterday (to a reported six inches of snow), so today I'm trying to get back in the groove. Last night's meeting sort of helped me get jump-started again, which made me realize that my batteries must have become low. Every so often you need to recharge.
The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can't help it.
-- Leo Rosten, US (Polish-born) author (1908 - )
~~~~~~
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
-- Douglas Adams, English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 - 2001)
Recharge your batteries today. And read a book. Both will be good for you.
=) JB
2.02.2007
It's that time of year again ...
Snow Day. A couple of people close to me have observed in just the last couple days how wonderful it would be to have a job where you were paid whether you were right or wrong. Such is the life of a weatherman. Local forecasts called for 1-2" of snow for our area overnight between Wednesday and Thursday. We had a few flurries - zero accumulation. Yesterday, they said we could possibly get up to an inch in some areas but probably not much in the way of accumulation.
We woke up this morning to a good inch and a half.
The kids were going to be out of school today, anyway, not because of the snow - although Tennesseans are prone to calling off school on a forecast - but because of illness. A fair number of county school systems around the state have closed their doors because of the flu. Our high school had a record 162 students (19% of the total student body) out sick yesterday. Today is like a weekend day at our house - kids scattered hither and yon, but on our agenda is a basketball game at a school two counties to our west (about an hour's drive or so, maybe a little more). Fun stuff - the show ... er, game ... must go on, despite its being a snow day.
Conferences. A lot of my writing buddies are spending this weekend at Love is Murder or Left Coast Crime. Next weekend, I'll be attending Murder in the Magic City in Birmingham. This is the fifth year for MMC and I've been every year - it's a great little one-day conference, reportedly one of the best of its kind. I even had the privilege of being on a panel in 2005.
This seems to be the time of year that the mystery conferences really kick off - there are so many to choose from, and if you're a big fan with a nicely comfortable budget, you can see a huge variety of writers in venues all over the country. I'm not quite there yet. When the next book comes out I hope to do a couple conference appearances, but for now I'm content to stick close to home on a budget I can afford.
HP news. Most of you have probably figured out by now that my children and I are big Harry Potter fans. The kids say I'm obsessed with the whole thing. I wouldn't say obsessed, exactly, but yeah, I pretty much eat it up. Potter fans around the world are rejoicing at the news released yesterday - the seventh and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is scheduled for release July 21st. If you're counting, that's eight days after the release of the movie version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
We're a little excited at my house. Well, four of the five of us are, anyway. The WGH couldn't care less. He's not a fantasy fan. I've always enjoyed the genre myself, cutting my teeth on the likes of Terry Brooks and Piers Anthony. Jo Rowling is probably my favorite now, of course. Genius. I've just always thought it would be fabulous to be able to write about a world where you could make anything happen that you wanted to happen, outside the confines of reality. I don't think I could do it, although the WGH would say I'm out of the box enough that I could probably pull it off.
Happy Birthday, Bro! Today is my brother's birthday (my actual, real-life, related because we have the same parents brother). I had fun teasing him when we were teenagers about his being born on Groundhog Day. Not so much now that we're adults - after all, I'm much more mature now. Ahem. Speaking of Punxsutawney Phil, did he see his shadow this morning? The snow's already starting to melt.
Enjoy your snow day. If you're at LCC or LIM, I hope you're having a great time! If you're like me, hanging around home waiting for the starting gun to go off, read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
We woke up this morning to a good inch and a half.
The kids were going to be out of school today, anyway, not because of the snow - although Tennesseans are prone to calling off school on a forecast - but because of illness. A fair number of county school systems around the state have closed their doors because of the flu. Our high school had a record 162 students (19% of the total student body) out sick yesterday. Today is like a weekend day at our house - kids scattered hither and yon, but on our agenda is a basketball game at a school two counties to our west (about an hour's drive or so, maybe a little more). Fun stuff - the show ... er, game ... must go on, despite its being a snow day.
Conferences. A lot of my writing buddies are spending this weekend at Love is Murder or Left Coast Crime. Next weekend, I'll be attending Murder in the Magic City in Birmingham. This is the fifth year for MMC and I've been every year - it's a great little one-day conference, reportedly one of the best of its kind. I even had the privilege of being on a panel in 2005.
This seems to be the time of year that the mystery conferences really kick off - there are so many to choose from, and if you're a big fan with a nicely comfortable budget, you can see a huge variety of writers in venues all over the country. I'm not quite there yet. When the next book comes out I hope to do a couple conference appearances, but for now I'm content to stick close to home on a budget I can afford.
HP news. Most of you have probably figured out by now that my children and I are big Harry Potter fans. The kids say I'm obsessed with the whole thing. I wouldn't say obsessed, exactly, but yeah, I pretty much eat it up. Potter fans around the world are rejoicing at the news released yesterday - the seventh and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is scheduled for release July 21st. If you're counting, that's eight days after the release of the movie version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
We're a little excited at my house. Well, four of the five of us are, anyway. The WGH couldn't care less. He's not a fantasy fan. I've always enjoyed the genre myself, cutting my teeth on the likes of Terry Brooks and Piers Anthony. Jo Rowling is probably my favorite now, of course. Genius. I've just always thought it would be fabulous to be able to write about a world where you could make anything happen that you wanted to happen, outside the confines of reality. I don't think I could do it, although the WGH would say I'm out of the box enough that I could probably pull it off.
Happy Birthday, Bro! Today is my brother's birthday (my actual, real-life, related because we have the same parents brother). I had fun teasing him when we were teenagers about his being born on Groundhog Day. Not so much now that we're adults - after all, I'm much more mature now. Ahem. Speaking of Punxsutawney Phil, did he see his shadow this morning? The snow's already starting to melt.
Enjoy your snow day. If you're at LCC or LIM, I hope you're having a great time! If you're like me, hanging around home waiting for the starting gun to go off, read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
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