Monthly Archives: September 2010

Sep28

“Ghost Night”

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Started Ghost Night by Heather Graham on Sunday.  So far so good. I do like the way she writes. Very captivating. This is another of the Bone Island Trilogy. I have read them in the wrong order and that’s ok, too.  I know what happens to Bartholomew but I’m cool with that. LOL!

I won’t read any tonight or probably the rest of the week- inspiration has struck on the current WIP and I gotta type, type, type. I’m only posting here since I realized I’d had this blog on ignore the last fews days- since the short story writing fest on Saturday, the 25th. 

Have not heard from the two publishers that I have shorts out on submission. I think they’re both cute stories. One has a deadline of the 30th  of Sept. and the other of Oct 1.  I am hopeful for yeses on both.  One is a Thanksgiving mystery and the other is a ghost story.  Tis the season.

Sep24

My Favorite Cliché

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Is it a cliche if I made it up myself?

Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague

It is really not a cliche in the truest sense, but my favorite cliche is one I made up myself. It is “life is tough and then you die.” I started out saying it to my children when they were little and complained about things that went wrong. It evolved from there to saying it to my staff. And from there, to the world at large.

Yesterday, one of the marshals at the courthouse said to me- “What is that thing you always say about life being tough and dying?” So, clearly, it’s the cliche of choice in my world.

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Sep22

The Weirdest Food Ive Ever Eaten

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Portrait of a goat

The weirdest thing I ever ate (at least it was weird to me) was goat. I ate it in a small town in Mexico south of Corpus Christi Texas. A very long time ago. I do remember it quite well. It looked like steak and was very tasty. That is, until my father told me it was goat meat. UGH.

But, I’d eat it again. As an adult, I’m not as turned off by the idea as I was when I heard it as a kid. And in truth, it was quite good.

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Sep20

The Summoning – Part Two

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Got delayed in finishing reading this one.  Had to go out of town to a conference  and had no time to read.  I know I was recommending this book when I first posted that I was reading it. I was throughly enjoying it.  And now I’m mad.

I take back my recommendation of this book. Don’t get me wrong, the writing is excellent and the story line is intriguing – that I like.  What makes me mad as a snake is that it is NOT a complete book.  The book ends in the middle of the action. IN. THE. MiDDLE. OF. THE. ACTION.  You have to buy the next book in the series to even get a conclusion to this book.  Reminds me of the middle movie of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. That was what I call a “bridge” movie- you HAD to see movie # 3 to find out the end of movie #2.  I, for one, refused and I still haven’t seen it.

I have to think that this is a marketing ploy to get people to buy the second book. I won’t do it. I refuse. I hate to be manipulated and that is exactly how I feel right now. Manipulated in a very bad way. When I buy a book, I want a conclusion. Now,  don’t get me wrong, I want to be intrigued enough to buy a second in a series to see what happens next but I don’t want to be forced to buy a second book to get any conclusion at all.

There was also one scene near the end where I found myself hoping the author hadn’t gone for the cliché I’d expected to happen all along. I was proud that she hadn’t done it and then in the last 30 pages, she did.  Bummer.  Hated that she gave in to that impulse. Based on the creativiity in the earlier part of the book, I expected better of her.

So, even though I’ll probably get blasted for this. I have to say it – Don’t buy  it- Just say no.

Sep17

Brains or Beauty?

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Brain Coral

I would much rather be intelligent. Brains will get you much further than looks for a longer period of time. While it’s true that our culture right now prizes women’s looks over anything else about her, once the looks begin to fade, what do you have left? I’d hate to think my self esteem was tied up in my looks. Wouldn’t I be suicidal the first time someone called me ugly?

Yep, give me brains everytime.

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Sep16

A Book Character I’d Like to Be

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Gotta Love British Cozy Mysteries

I would love to be Miss Marple (a much younger version of course)- She had such a sharp mind. She solved some of the best mysteries ever. I read these all as a kid and I got where I could solve them in like 28 pages. It was a fun game for me to figure out “who dun it”- I didn’t usually get ALL the details but I did get the identity right. I would write down my guess and the page number I was on- then my sister would read the story and be stunned when I gave her my paper when she got done.

I think this clue solving made me want to write such stories myself.

And it doesn’t hurt that I love the time period of the stories as well as the glamorous settings (see my answer yesterday- even though that story was  Hercule Poirot and not Miss Marple, it was still a glamorous place for a murder, Ms. Christie).

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Sep15

My Epic Road Trip

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Orient Express

I would love to ride on the Orient Express. It seems like a beautiful way to travel. I’ve always been intrigued by that area and It would be quite epic!

Trains are romantic and beautiful! And hopefully, none of Agatha Christie’s characters would  be on board to ruin the mood.

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Sep13

The Summoning

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The Summoning is a Young Adult novel by Kelley Armstrong.  I got it at RWA National conference in Orlando. I started it last night when I was too tired to work anymore on edits on my own manuscript.  I read a bit more at lunch today. I am enjoying the heck out of it. Very lightly written even though it’s categorized as horror. The protagonist is a 15 year old girl who sees ghosts AND they see her.

She freaks out at school when she sees a dead janitor and is taken to a group home for teens with “issues”- she is told she is schizophrenic and that almost freaks her out as  much as seeing ghosts.

Something  is amiss at this group home- I’ve just gotten past the part where one of the residents is taken away and something happens to her. Will be interesting to see where this goes. 

So far, I’m hooked.