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.
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).
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.
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. 
Italian Chicken Pasta
boneless chicken pieces
cut into cubes and saute til brown
onion
saute with the chicken
pepperoni
add to saute mix above
Italian dressing
pour over the sauteed mixture above
tri color bow tie pasta
boil, drain and toss with the above mixture.
I loved this book as a child. I was always an independent person and I loved that Pippi took care of herself as well as her friends. I just thought she had an awesome life.
I think this book was good for girls to read- I was a child in the 1960s and even though these stories were written in the 1940s, I think this book spoke to young girls of my generation because of the changing role of women in the 60s- women were moving more into the work place and becoming independent at a greater rate then ever before. Pippi helped us see we could be strong when needed and soft as well. AND besides, she had a lot of fun- roller skating in the house was wicked cool!
So, I subscribe to http://www.duotrope.com/ It’s a great site. They have a lot of information about different magazines and literary publishers as well as calls for anthologies. You can even keep up with your submissions there and they calculate how many days your submission is out. They keep great statistics. Every week, they send a reminder email of new markets, closed markets, reopened markets, and deadlines. And if you report an acceptance, your name goes in that email with a congratulations.
This week, I noticed a call for Thanksgiving stories. First time I’ve seen this particular call. It was for a humorous mystery. Since I like to write light and love humor in my short stories, I thought it over on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, I woke up with the first line in my head. Didn’t find the time to write it til today- labor day- I hope it is as funny as I think it is. I finished it, edited it and submitted it all in one day. I usually mull it over more than that, but what the heck, gotta live life on the edge once in a while, right?
Won’t hear til after September 30 as that’s the deadline. Will keep ya posted when I know a yea or nay. Here is a pic of my Thanksgiving theme: 
I have just submitted another short story under my real name. It’s not a romance, so it goes under my real name. It’s one I wrote ages ago and that I recently revamped. I’d planned to submit it to StorySouth, a journal that publishes authors and stories from the South but I didn’t get finished with the rewrite before they closed submissions in June because I was making a mad dash to add words to one of my romance manuscripts. They reopen on September 15 but I found another market to submit to today which is the Gulf Coast Magazine. So, I sent it in. They both take simultaneous submissions, so if it isn’t accepted by the 15th, I’ll submit it to the other as well. Check them out: http://www.gulfcoastmag.org/ http://www.storysouth.com/
A new source of romance stories went live last night- my alter ego has a story in it but she can’t talk about it today because it is Wordless Wednesday on her blog. But check it out: http://romancestoriesmagazine.com/ One Night in Costa Rica is a story about a surfer and a herpetologist.
http://jillianchantal.wordpress.com/ and check out Wordless Wednesday too as the manuscript heads to the agent.
I got the elusive “call” today – except, turns out, it was an email. A totally unexpected, out of the blue, email that made my day– nay– made my week!
I’m pretty excited about it. A publisher actually wants to publish one of my books. Now, mind you, I’m still thrilled about the anthologies I’m in because it means a lot to me that editors like my work. I will still send in some short stories because I love writing short. I like stories where I can hold it all in my head at once.
But this is the next step on the rung. I’m just glad to be taking a step to the next level. Check out my pen name’s blog for more info: http://jillianchantal.wordpress.com/
Ramblings of a Writer 