She interrupts me. I interrupt her. Elle A. Muse is unfortunately not amused…
If you haven’t seen Jill Monroe’s and Gena Showalter’s Author Talk series of interviews yet, you have to check out this one. Featuring author Kresley Cole, it kept me in stitches. I don’t know how to insert a UTube video into my blog yet, so I’ll direct you to Jill’s blog. And keep an eye out for Gena’s “interpretive dance” number. Great stuff!
http://jillmonroe.blogspot.com/2008/04/kresley-cole-author-talk.html
Was anyone as surprised as I was to see Michael Johns voted off American Idol last night? I picked him as one of my personal front-runners, along with David Cook, from early on in the series. Out of the two, however, I’d rather have seen Michael go for the simple reason that David seems much more certain of his direction as an artist. But I would have expected Kristi Lee Cook, Syesha Mercado, and Carly Smithson to leave before Michael.
It might be a good thing for him. It was for Chris Daughtry, another of my past favs. Of course, Bo Bice and Taylor Hicks were favs of mine, too. I bought the post-Idol CDs of all three, and only Daughtry’s didn’t disappoint me, yet he didn’t make it to the Final Two like Bice and Hicks. Both Bice’s and Hicks’s CDs sounded to me like some record producer’s idea of what they should sound like to appeal to the broadest spectrum of buyers. I understand Hicks has been dropped from the post-Idol record label, and I caught a recent interview with Bice where he mentioned getting back to his own style of Southern rock with his second album. I might have to give him another chance, because the first album didn’t “sound” like the Bo Bice I’d come to know on American Idol at all.
This is where I confess I’m not a fan of the American Idol voting format. I much preferred the format in the Rock Star series, where the public narrowed the choice to the bottom three every week and then the judges decided who got the boot. How about you? Do you prefer the Idol voting system, where it’s the calling-in public’s choice? Has your favorite been given the boot yet? Who do you think should go next?
I hadn’t visited Isabel Swift’s blog in ages, so yesterday, while waiting for my latest pages to print out, I hopped on over there. She’s started a series of interviews of Harlequin and Silhouette editors. I confess I only skimmed the interviews for content (very, very quickly–my printer is fast), but I counted at least five recent Q&As. The latest interview features Silhouette Executive Editor Mary-Theresa Hussey. Editors Emily Rodmell, Elizabeth Mazer, Joan Marlow Golan, and Natashya Wilson round out the others. So far, three of the five interviewed edit for Steeple Hill. However, hopefully soon Isabel will move on to other departments (not that I have anything against Steeple Hill, mind you). What an excellent resource! If you’re interested in writing for Harlequin/Silhouette, check them out.
I’m addicted to massage therapy. I go to massage every other week and to the chiropractor once a month. Like clockwork. It all started as a result of a major car accident the family survived when Youngest Son wasn’t even a year old. Well, first I was sent to physiotherapy (I think it’s called physical therapy in the States), but my physio guy did a combo of physiotherapy and chiropractic moves on me, because my neck and upper back were so screwed up by the accident. And still are. To some degree. I think it’s safe to say it’s writing that bunches me up now.
I once stopped going to physio for over a year. However, the more I got into writing, the worse my condition grew. My physio guy moved (he was great!) and the next physio had horrendous waiting times, so off to the chiropractor I went. And I haven’t looked back. I’ve also done Intra-Muscular Stimulation, which I like to call “painful acupuncture,” because it consists of having the needles shoved directly into the muscles giving you trouble. As much as I don’t like going to IMS, it was the therapy that finally got rid of a knot in my back that I’d had for fourteen years (since the car accident). Since then, the massage suffices. I consider myself very lucky that My Liege has an excellent medical benefits plan through his work (mind you, he gives up other benefits to have such a great plan), because without this plan I could not afford my twice-monthly MT appts. And they are a godsend. I think they should be tax deductible for writers, because I consider massage therapy as vital to my occupation as a writer as I do my computer. In fact, it’s because of my computer that I need to go to massage therapy! It’s a vicious circle.
How about you? Is there a “luxury” that you consider a necessity for life as a writer? In your dream tax world, what would you write off as a justifiable expense (if you could)?
I plan on reserving Tuesdays for writing news of all sorts on this blog. Not just my news, but yours, too. So, tell me. What are you working on? Any good news to share? Have bad news and need a hug? The road to publication is filled with hundreds of ups and downs, and so is the road that continues after we sell that first book. Let’s celebrate and commiserate together.
My Good News is that I’m finally back to work on Sex, P.I.s & Packing Tape. I read the first several chapters yesterday, and, I have to say, I like me, I really like me! (Um, I mean, it. I really like it.) Now let’s see how long I get to work on this manuscript before an editor contacts me asking me to work on something else. Packing Tape has turned into my “between projects” manuscript, but that doesn’t mean it’s not deserving and a manuscript I love for itself. I do. But I’m at the mercy of the publication game just like any other writer. And, because I write under two names, sometimes that publication game can feel like a roller-coaster and merry-go-round combined. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Everyone have a great writing day today!
Hi everyone! I am totally thrilled beyond belief to announced the unveiling of my new website design. Who designed it? I did. That’s why I’m totally thrilled “beyond belief.” I love web design, but it consumes me (translation: distracts me from writing). So to finally have the new design up and (hopefully) looking great is a humongous weight off my shoulders.
I have to give a shout out to the amazing Vivian Lund of Electric Webs. I tried my best to customize the default WordPress theme to match my new web design, but the results were less than spectacular. Okay, I’ll admit it, they were disastrous. Well, maybe not that bad. I had all the elements, but know zilch about PHP and CSS, so there were all these little niggy-noggy things in my theme that shouldn’t have been there. Vivian came to my rescue and fixed the blog lickety-split. If left to me, the blog design would have taken another two centuries. So thank you, Vivian.
Please check out my news digs–and not just the blog. In fact, if you like book give-aways, I would suggest very strongly that you take a look around at the other pages. Because, in celebration of my new website, I’m holding a contest to give one lucky reader a free, autographed trade paperback copy of BORROWING ALEX. Yup, I’m generous. Can’t help it. But not so generous that I won’t make you do some work to find out how to enter the contest.
Contest ends Friday, April 18th, so get browsing.
Oh, and if you notice something absurdly wrong with my new website (as in something isn’t working, not that you hate it), please email me.
Cindy
“Accolades Accepted, Insults Ignored.”