Weary?

We did something new on Saturday, Ed and I went trail riding.  Ed rode our daughter’s 250 dirt bike and I was on my ATV.  We went far into the hills of Mt. Hood Nat’l Forest with five friends.   Two of them would have prefered being on horseback so they could commune with the silence and smells of nature.  Ed and I can’t hike and we don’t have horses, so would never have experienced these sights any other way.  It was awesome.

With our dinner tonight, we got fortune cookies.  Ed’s was:

STICK TO THE BASICS  -  BE WEARY OF NOVELTIES

Huh?  Neither of us are weary, and I assume it’s a typo, and supposed to be WARY, but even so – what type of fortune is that?    Mr. Ostrich, please put your head back in the sand, there’s an awesome sunset you don’t want to see.

Some add the words, “In Bed”, for messages from fortune cookies.  That makes the message even worse! 

My cookie held the message, “Fame and Fortune Lie Ahead”.   Cool, but it certainly won’t happen if I’m wary of novelties.  Nor do I want my fame and fortune in bed, even if I do write romance novels.

Here’s a fun post on the “Anatomy” (of a Book) – at least that’s what the other bloggers wrote about!

Here’s another post about the fame and fortune of being an “Indie” novelist.

a day in a writer’s life

Mercury is retrograde this month, which is a time of pesky delays and misplaced communication.  It’s a good time to be in a lull point between projects, but it is ending and I’m feeling the rev of energy, in my fingertips, to dive into the project at hand.  For writers there is always a story to begin or revise.

The blogs of authors I follow grant insight into living the life of a novelist.  This is mainly, write, write, write, read, read, read, revise, revise, revise, submit (survive rejections!), revise, read, submit (survive acceptance!), revise, and finally – promote.  I’m excited to have blogs to follow, of friends that have actively chosen to be novelists then learned, read, wrote, submitted, (like me) and now – they are published!  Delilah and Minnette had their books hit the stands and then scrambled into the promotion zone of web pages and blogs.  Jessa, is in the holding zone of waiting for the release of her first book, in October.

Jessa, like me, has actively worked to enter the world of books on the shelves, for years.  That’s why her post “Playing the Professional Writer” is poignant to me.  From Tess I know there is an uncertainty with every book, regarding her skill as a storyteller and her desire to enthrall and entertain her readers.   She writes one book a year, though her readers clamor for more.

It’s that “book-a-year” method that is key to many authors with staying power in the business of novel writing.  That’s why I feel fine being in a writing lull this Mercury retrograde.   What did I do today?  I wrote a little bit, read some writing articles and publishing industry news and blogs.  I also played with my grandson most of the day.  After dinner Ed watched the Cavs-Magic game, while I watched two clips on TED, gave myself a pedicure, then watched the end of the game with him.

The newsflash for today is I write contemporary romances but enjoy and unwind listening to a physicist talk about the mathematics of war.    He’s really cute, with a great accent.  I also like mindboggling science, in a funny and fascinating presentation.

What brings all these ideas together is, books and science may affect more than one generation.  There will always be new discoveries, new stories, and new babies.

underwhelmed

I read a romance novel (by a new-to-me author) this weekend, that was promoted as hilarious.  It was cute but didn’t generate any belly laughs.  I felt it was poorly edited, and a bit sloppy, yet it was from one of the “big name” publishers.

Fortunately, the family weekend camp out, was wonderful!   I went trailriding with friends, on my new ATV, kayaked and played. The new requirement for weekends, sports bra! 

Grandma’s also like to put their feet up and rest the muscles, while the youngers (and hubby) keep playing.    I read while everyone was off on adventures and the baby was sleeping.

Matt, a relatively new “significant other”, arrived on Saturday and was impressed and enthusiastic about the view, and location, of our weekend place.

This picture is from my surprise party where Kate is showing the effects of dark blue cake and frosting.  

Matt’s enthusiasm “fizzled” (LOL!) during the family camp out.  He learned to ride a dirt bike, kayaked at dusk, and got a ride in an open cockpit bi-wing.

Hanging out, drinking beer, while a variety of small airplanes took off and landed in our front yard, was no-big-deal by day two, for this professional chef and drummer.  As they got ready to leave, Matt grinned and shrugged.  “Yeah, same old, same old,” he said.  “I’ll just tell everyone I spent the night with Kate, and the two dogs, in the back of a truck.”

Guys that spend a weekend with “the girlfriends family” are supposed to groan and complain.  It’s the guy code.

I reconnected, to the internet today, and a pile of publishing industry updates that predict the imminent end of books as we know them.  I also read too many posts about the value of the web, and blogs, on book sales.  Same old-same old.  It was a delight to get Tess’s input on it all, she’s been my personal choice voice of reason, for this chosen career.

Drama isn’t something I want in my life, and sunny days and good times with friends and family help prioritize my energy.  I ordered books today, Starsight II, Memoirs of a Scandalous Red Dress,  The Apprentice, The Seventh Sense.  I know these authors will deliver a story, in a style, I’ll enjoy, and not be underwhelmed.

Archives

It’s been pointed out that there are interesting posts in my own blog archives.  For fun, here’s links to blogs where I reviewed a book (or movie).

Knowing – the movie with Nicholas Cage;  Confessions of a Little Black Gown by Elizabeth Boyle;  Running Time by TJ MacGregor; The Indigo Children – Ten Years Later Lee Carrol and Jan Tabor; Mrs. Perfect by Jane Porter and Mistress of Pleasure by Delilah Marvelle.

Happy reading!

Weekends

Beautiful weather seems to have slowed many of my favorites from blogging – including myself!  We’ve got a big family camp out this weekend and the weather is supposed to be awesome.

Here’s the cake from the surprise pizza party in honor of my 50th birthday on Wednesday.  My niece made it, with help from her 3 year old.

The dark blue frosting enhanced the color of our tongues and teeth, granting ghoulish laughter.

We all agreed the sun, moon and stars was better than the option of a headstone cake because there are too many recent and pending deaths in the family, close to my birthday.  We focus on sunny days and starry nights.

7 month old Kiernan is a delight.  He has an amazing laugh, smiles lots, is learning to chew and crawls everywhere.

Here’s a list of recycled puns (that were posted to the READ listserv) to muse on for the weekend.  I take credit for only sharing these.  I don’t know where they were originally posted.  Enjoy!

Puns, For the Educated Mind
————————-
1. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .
3. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.
7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, ‘You stay here, I’ll go on a head.’
14. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then, it hit me.
15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said, ‘Keep off the Grass.’
16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, ‘No change yet.’
17. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
18. It’s not that the man did not know how to juggle, he just didn’t have the balls to do it.
19. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
20. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
21. A backward poet writes inverse.
22. In democracy, it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism, it’s your count that votes.
23 . When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
24. Don’t join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.

Tribute

My oldest daughter sent a text this morning:

“Do a good deed today in memory of Grandma Kramer. Love you Grandma!”   It’s poignant to remember those deaths four years ago.

I mentioned to Ed, that I got a birthday card from his parents, and he looked at me in shock.  “You got a card from your parents?”  I laughed!  “My parents don’t use Hallmark, to send me messages, anymore.”

Each year, Mom listed on the calendar, family birthdays, and the anniversaries of weddings, and deaths.  These were added to the Holy days and Feast days for Saints.  Every day of the year had a personally historical or spiritual focus.  Tributes were always framed in a “Life is Special, Live Well” energy.  These daily notes were an awareness that those who are gone, lived, and they mattered in the tapestry of who we are today, so we remember.

The age ancestors may be, if still living as humans on earth, was added in later years.  Mom would be 81, Dad, 86.  Now they’re ageless.

Do a good deed or claim a happy thought, in appreciation for the foundations, of your life today, built, by others.

Upgrades

As a New Years resolution, I joined Facebook and began connecting with friends and family through the digital world.  It’s been fun but also confusing as upgrades change the face of my pages.  When I learn something new to use, it disappears, or goes somewhere, and doesn’t work the way it did. I’m sure it’s an improvement, to someone.

It’s fun to learn new technologies, try new things, work through help files.  I used to write help files.   I’m seldom impressed with help files, they seem to be written more as marketing promos for how cool this upgrade is, instead of taking the user through the steps, to utilize the benefits.

With a new weekend place this year, I’m required to unplug from the digital and internet world, to enjoy Mother Nature and new friends.  This is a wonderful!  I’ve been connected with the latest and greatest of computer technology for most of my adult life, which is equal to the  birth and evolution of the world of bytes.  Now I disconnect and enjoy face to face conversations, sometimes while slowly cruising across the lake, with lots of laughter and beer.

I read a new friends book.  Minnette Meador‘s  StarSight is Volume I, and I don’t have Volume II in my hands yet, so can’t say how awesome this fantasy will be in comparison to Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”, or J.K.’s “Harry Potter” – but – for someone who doesn’t read a lot of fantasy novels, I’m REALLY impressed with her world building and style.  Piers Anthony blurbed this novel, and I assume he knows the genre.  I want to read more of Minnette’s stories, which are available in both electronic and print formats.

Also this weekend, Ed and I watched a favorite movie, Phenomenon with John Travolta.  This is an exceptional movie.  I see more layers every time I watch it, and it affects me each time as well.  Returning home, and reconnecting to the web and email, I read this article about meditation.  I wonder about the connection between activating our brains, and being digitally connected.

My research takes me into the land of e-books, but then a post about Petrarch and St. Augustine brings me back to the world of words.   This is how humans share ideas, and may lead to a new ‘upgraded’ human.  Maybe I’ll be one – someday -  totally compassionate to all creatures and energies on this planet.

But tonight, Ed and I were more focused on trying to annilate a fly that came into the house.  Or maybe flies need an upgrade, to their brains, to learn they are not allowed, in my house.  Maybe the flies need a Help File.

Celebrate Life

In my life, May 13th has always been a good day.  Sometimes it’s been a big deal celebration of something, other times, like this year, it was a day that felt wonderful.  A good day to be alive.  Yesterday, was one of those days.  We had wood freshly stacked for next winter and nothing but sunny summer days ahead.

This morning, Kiernan arrived for a grammy day, he’s 7 mos old today!  He’s crawling, entertains himself and is a joy to have in the house.  That mattered immensely for Ed today.  He got news this morning that his dad – after being hale and hearty and full of fun for 75 years – was not being treated for pneumonia as expected.  Instead lung cancer was discovered.   Ed held his healthy grandson for a time.

Many hours later we learned Ed’s dad is much worse than expected.  As the next few days unfold, many of our summer plans may change.  I look at the calendar – my mom died on May 19th, 2005 – I turn 50 on the 20th.   While I don’t expect I’ll spend this birthday on a plane, to attend a funeral, the cycle of living is always potent to me at this time of year.  But this year, it also is, for my husband and his family.

My focus is that, my father-in-law, of more than half my life, will show us a new level of living for the next year, maybe more…  It’s possible.

My mom was given 1-3 years in 1994.  She lived 11 more.  Her funeral was a celebration of life, because that’s how she lived.  As do I.

The Digital Way

It’s really weird to be old enough to have typed computer punch cards in college and now watch people Twitter.

Photos were taken and never seen until the roll of film was used up, and taken for the week long processing, until pictures were viewed.  Now we have YouTube.

Today I read a blog about the death of voice mail, in preference to Twitter, IM’s and email.  I learned phone etiquette while using a rotary dial.

When our girls were young, they were the first of their cousins to have more than three TV channels, a remote control, a camcorder, and more than one computer in the house.    Now, # 1 daughter avoids computers and is afraid of credit cards.  # 2 daughter has DSL but no cable TV; (They rent movies or read books).  # 3 daughter  has two cell phones, a personal one and one for business; (She’s on Facebook but seldom posts).  # 4 daughter texts constantly, destroys cell phones monthly(she buys the replacement insurance) and posts on Facebook daily, more than once.   None of these four women would be able to  explain what a byte is… none of them read blogs (not even mine ).

When I look at my daughters: #1 is an Optician with 2 sons; #2 is a CPA with an amazing husband; #3 is a LMT and has a  dog and a horse: # 4 is almost 20 and has already managed a staff…  I see amazing women, who may or may not use the latest and greatest in electronic technology.  That was their parents thing.

And I count my blessings because all four of our daughters are avid users of text messaging, which means, we all show up on time, at the right place, when we want to get together for a party.

We’re all good cooks.

There’s a bunch of amazing recipes available on-line…

There’s even a new world called Flicker.  A friend sent me news about cool stuff and conventions in the world of Legos.

Hor-a-scapes

I love astrology for all the clues the stars provide to de-stress.  Since I follow astrological updates, I take a breathe when I feel the challenge of the day, knowing the planets keep moving, and this too, shall pass.

Everyone on the planet is being touched this May by a Mercury Retrograde.  Mercury is the Trickster of the solar system and has a marked influence on communications and electronics.  This includes computers.    For a great example how this can play out, check out Elizabeth Boyle’s trip recap.   The best part of her post is she also shows the cool stuff that happened.  This is one lesson of a Mercury Retrograde, to understand through glitches and delays, those treats that may have less impact if everything was smooth as silk from start to finish.  Otherwise her post may have been, “Wonderful trip, awesome scenery, great people.”  Instead, the blessings are more appreciated!

Another Horror to Escape is found in Marc Acito’s article about saving money by cutting your own hair.   I did this for years until my friend convinced me to donate my head to her students at Phagan’s School for Hair Design.   The certifications the students achieve are not only for working in salons.  One would work for a plastic surgeon, another specialized in pedicures as a preliminary to massage thereapies.  Most see their work as a special service to help others improve their self esteem through feeling pretty.

I got an email forwarded from my brother that brings these two posts today together.  (I got them today because I was off-line all weekend.)  This link shows the universal symbols for male-female can be creatively unique.  Creativity is another Mercury influence.

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day has become a day of peace, and a reminder to enjoy the moment, of living life.  My mom is gone from earth but present in my mind and heart.  My girls are grown, and busy in their lives.   I was never one for being “celebrated” as a mom, on Mother’s Day.  Gifts, flowers and cards are always nice but it felt sort of silly, to be awarded, for being me.

I got a rose today.  We were at our weekend place and went for breakfast at the local bar & grill on the lake.  The new owners decided all women would get a rose for the day.  We were the only ones in the place.  I got a beautiful red rose bud.  I enjoyed breakfast, and eventually I put that rose bud in a vase that I bought two years ago, in honor of my mom.

Three of us kayaked on the lake, later.  I love being on, or beside, water.

Mom always wanted to learn to swim.

The new face of books

Like many industries, in this current economy in America, the publishing world is in upheaval.  It’s been fascinating to read blogs by agents, writers, readers and publishers about this “new” venue for story – the ebook.  (It’s been around for years.)  Comments after these posts show a high passion for both, the traditional book and the ebook/ereader.   The debates range from what makes a book real/readable, formats and feel, compatibility, and copyright laws for electronic rights.  (Google blew this issue wide open by posting 98% of some new novels – without permission.)

Relax, dear readers.  The introduction of ebooks into the mainstream publishing houses will not strip bookstore or library shelves clean.  Those dusty tomes and a wealth of new books and novels will be published for many years to come.  Horror stories of attempting to read Moby Dick on your cell phone, will not materialize, unless you chose to…

Textbooks, reference books and all kinds of non-fiction will continue to appear in print, the ebook format right now is best suited for novels, anthologies, poetry, biographies and essay collections – to name a few types.   Newspapers and cookbooks have already transitioned to web based formats and aren’t ebook friendly.

My husband Ed has always been on the leading edge of high tech, flying Mach 2 with his hair on fire.  I’ve been writing on computers since since 1982, when Ed came home with a huge box of electronics to replace the spiral notebooks and pens I used to write my stories.     Now the world of publishing is changing.  Story is being shared through Kindles, Sony readers, Jet Books and eSlicks. (Links and research are credited to Delle Jacobs)

I chatted with Marcy Dodge, RWA 2005 Bookseller of the year, about our shared new passion for the trade-paperback size.  We both like it, for reading, and many ebooks are also available as trade-paperbacks, but at triple the cost of the ebook.  I read tons of mass-market paperbacks, because that’s where I find the stories I want to read, but I really dislike the size, feel, font and flimsiness of paperbacks.  There’s no appeal for me, to curl up by the fire with the tiny screen of a Blackberry.  I not too sure about taking an electronic device to the beach either, I lost a digital camera to sand and surf because I wanted a picture of my grandson splashing…

Even the Kindle2 is too much like a paperback for my taste.  I’d like an “e-reader” I can open like a book, and be the size of a 5×7 envelope.  Two full pages, to read, before I have to press a button to turn the page.  I don’t read a book for bells and whistles, graphics or dynamics.  I read to travel through time and place, with an author who dedicated a year or more of their passion and talent, for me, the reader, and a few hours of my time.  I open a book to connect to story.

It’s the story that matters, through the voice of the author, polished with the talents of an editor.   How this is presented and available to readers may take on many forms in the next few years.  I’m sure the connection between author and reader will remain a special and intimate journey.

And with all this scuttle about the ereaders, ebooks can be bought, to read on your computer, for free…

MayDay

I love May.  It meant the beginning of spring in the brrr! climates where we lived, then we moved to Oregon in ’97.  Everything is in bloom, cherry blossom petals and used seed casings layer the ground.  I can barely see the driveway!

May 1st was (is?) my parents Wedding Anniversary, I’m not sure of the protocol for days, that involved celebrations my whole life, that are over now.   Ed and I were at our weekender place, we met new friends, and celebrated Opening Night/New Owners at the local bar & grill on the lake.

I went out early on Friday, Ed arrived hours later with supplies to build a utility bathroom, and an early Birthday Present for me!  An ATV!  It’s red, the right size, and easy!  Now I can go on trail rides to those places only accessible to hikers, horses and dirt bikers!  How cool is that!  I can easily haul picnic supplies to our favorite beach spot, and will soon be towing my kayak to the launch.  Every Grandma should have her own ATV!

In other news, Elizabeth’s Pippin and Dash story hit the bookstore shelves, and Trish posted the Writer’s horoscopes for May.

My latest research book is Beyond Heaving Bosoms, a delightful and informative romp, for anyone interested in romance books (the only portion of the publishing world that hasn’t tanked in this current economy, happy endings appeal to readers).    It also explains why romantic heroes are Alpha males.