Easy as ABC--or Not

I love bookstores. Of course, I do. I am a writer and before that I was a reader. The first bookstore I loved was called The Bookmark. It was privately owned and located next door to Parisian. (That was before Parisian moved from Gateway Shopping Center to the mall, where it met its demise. That's another story and one I could easily get started on, but I will resist.)

Anyway, my mother would give me money and let me go to the Bookmark while she tried on 300 dresses and 500 pairs of shoes in Parisian. I loved the smell, the order, the quiet, but most of all, the possibilities. The Bookmark, like most small bookstores, is long gone. By the time it went to the great bookstore in the sky, there was a Bookland in the mall. It was bigger and better organized and I transferred my love easily. By the time it died, I had a mega store in my town and a different mega store in the next city over.

The megastores remain and loving them is easy because there are books and coffee. Well, mostly, it's easy. I am having a little trouble. Three days after Christmas The Lady Most Likely by Judith Quinn, Eloisa James, and Connie Brockway was released. I was ready. I was excited. I had my gift card. I went to the mega store in my town. I looked in the new books. No book. I looked in romances under each of the authors' names. No book. I looked everywhere it should have been and a few places it had no business being and, still, no book. Two days later, I was in the next city over. I went through the same drill at the other megastore and still, no book. Two days after that, I went back to the mega store in my town and—well, you get the picture. I finally got it at Target, which I did not want to do. I want my bookstores to stay in business so I want to buy from them.

I know it's on the tip of your tongue. "Jean, did you ask for help?"

I did not. You see, this has happened before and I have asked. It has never done one bit of good. And in spite of the fact that I was a librarian for 23 years, graduated from college, and matriculated quite successfully through the first grade, I just cannot seem to make heads or tails for the alphabet these days. I mean, they must have changed it. Or maybe I slept though the part where aliens abducted me and took to an alternate universe where T occurs right in the middle of the C's.

And today I went to the mega store in my town to take a gaze at the January category romances. There's a new Superromace with a quarterback for a hero that I am all aquiver about. No luck. The December books are still out.

So what did I do? I came home and pointed and clicked my way to what I want. The book will be on my doorstep Tuesday. I realize that isn't doing one thing to help me keep a bookstore in my town but, more and more, it seems, they aren't doing much to supply my demand.

So what's the answer? Where do you get your books?

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Jean is reading: The Lady Most Likely To by Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Connie Brockway


Kathy is reading:The Admiral's Penniless Bride by Carla Kelly


Stephanie is reading: Everlasting by Kathleen Woodiwiss

One Word

This past Sunday at church I heard about a new twist on New Year's Resolutions. The idea is to, rather than make a bunch of resolutions that are broken by February, chose one word to describe the characteristic you want to focus on. There is even a website devoted to this idea--myoneword"dot"org. There are some very interesting posts about the words people selected and why they picked them. The lady I learned about this from chose the word "intentional" for her word. She selected it because she wants to be more intentional in everything she does from parenting to work. This got me to thinking...

As writers, words are very important to us. Jean and I often discuss particular words and how they set the tone of the sentence. Many of you have heard us talk about this because it is often funny, especially when it involves body parts or sex scene. There are words that each of us hate and yet inevitably we convince each other that the character would use or think the word, so that the story HAS to have the hated word. It has led to some very, very funny discussions.

After prowling around the myoneword website and thinking about what my word might be for the new year I decided to choose the word "focus." Anyone who knows me knows that I have some trouble with holding a focus. Oh, I can get a job done, usually well. It is just that I often spend a lot of mental energy getting the job done that I would gladly use to accomplish other tasks. I have decided to really try to focus my attention on one thing at a time - to just key in on success on that one specific task or goal.

What would your one word be to describe what you would like to accomplish or change in the new year and why?

Life Is How You See It

“Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free
Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb.”

More lyrics: http://http//www.lyricsfreak.com/d/dire+straits/#share

This song by Dire Straits has everyone thinking ‘we’, those who create music, write lyrics, or books have it made. One morning, a creative thinker can be in subzero weather, the first to hit the south since 1966, shoveling snow away from the front door so a trip to the car is feasible, and the next minute, in a Caribbean resort soaking up rays while motioning a cabana boy for another drink. How? It’s all in perspective. The mind has a way of tripping a fuse. You know the fuse I’m talking about, the one that turns on rose-colored glasses with rhinestone settings or darkens the world via a distorted lens. Or for a writer, that might be called ‘a muse’. ;)

To each his/her own.

How do you see the world? Glass half-empty, glass half-full, milk the cow or anger the bull?

Life is how you see it. And life for a writer is no different. Writers live the best life! Using imagination, a writer’s greatest tool, a writer can wield a therapeutic sword as an emotional outlet, hacking away worry, danger and physical or emotional injury with one swift motion, or countless crimes, armed only with a pen, a piece of paper and a string of well-strung words. ;)

Why write? Writers have a fanciful way of looking at the world. Some see the world filled with the divine or riddled with suspicion. But if you really want to be satisfied, write romance! Why? Romance writers live the dream. Prince Charming never fails to produce a happy ending, commonly referred to as an HEA (Happily Ever After). The Fearless Damsel or Lady In Waiting, no matter how old, or her background, ends up charmed and/or saved by the handsome Alpha male who has swept her off her feet with promises of protection and a forever love that can never be sated.

Ah! Talk of love, of sated love… Now I have your attention. ;) Yes, these are great reasons to be a romance writer. But as Susan Hatler said it best on Patricia Preston’s blog recently, “there are 10 things I love best about being a writer:”

1. Thinking is working.
2. Watching movies is working.
3. Reading is working.
4. Making things up is working.
5. Hanging with writers is working.
6. Commuting is two feet.
7. People-watching is research.
8. The dress code rocks (mainly sweats & slippers).
9. I can write anywhere (laptops travel).
10. The subjects to write about are endless.

You can find out more about Susan Hatler’s blog here: http://patricia-preston.blogspot.com/2010/12/guest-blogger-author-susan-hatler.html

Yes! Yes! Yes! Doesn’t it all make sense? Writers are always working, but the work, though it varies, can be an amazing array of wonderful ‘stuff’. Where else can you get by with staring at people, examining their accents, deciphering flaws and emotions, writing down tid-bits of conversation, shadowing a particular occupation, and/or traveling to experience and create the aura of a book’s setting, all in your pajamas?

Yes! Yes! Yes!
(Cue Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally) I have a thing for research books! My study is filled with them. My hubby can attest to the many museums we have frequented and the purchases made to fulfill my connection with the past. (Writing Historicals can make an historical romance writer ‘hysterical’ if curiosity hasn’t been sated.)


Yes! Yes! Yes! (Cue Frau Bleucher from Young Frankenstein~~
He... Vas... My... Boyfriend!)
[horse whinny]



Yes! We may not be moving refrigerators or lugging color TV’s, but we are doing what we love, even if we don’t happen to be getting paid for it— YET. As I sit deciphering my goals for 2011, with my trusty new calendar, I know there will be blisters on my little fingers and on my thumbs, but the effort will be well worth the price. And while I tap… tap… tap… away at the computer keys this year, I will keep Susan Hatler’s list nearby. Her list reminds me that Yes! I have a great job. I’m a writer and I’m going to live the BEST life yet.

2011 here I come!

What is your top 10 list for 2011?

Angry Birds

I have an I-Pad. Purchased for what I thought would surely be work-related endeavors. I have downloaded books which I intended to read. I have used it to find out the weather in locations where I am headed. I have used it to search the Internet for useless information. I have used it for navigation and maps. But I have never used it for work, yet. My latest “use” of the I-Pad came home with my husband. All the doctors at work have been sitting around, waiting to perform miracles, while playing “Angry Birds.” He downloaded the game and made the horrific mistake of showing it to me.

I grew up in the age of board games and charades, nothing electronic. When I was younger, anything electronic would have taken an entire building to house a computer with the memory of the I-Pad. My first introduction to video games was the Atari while I was in law school. I played Asteroids until my eyes fell out of my head. Then came Link (is that spelled correctly? I can’t remember) and I lost interest in video games. Those endless searching and role-playing games bored me. Give me something to explode and I was happy but don’t ask me to solve a puzzle and find the treasure. My son came along and he had to have all the video games. I lost count of the names and types of games he played. Too many. Nothing interested me about them. All I knew about them at that time was I had to fight him to make him leave that dang controller and eat dinner. Video games became a bane to my existence.

But, once again, I find myself in heaven, blowing things up and trying to take out those dastardly pigs. Angry Birds is a game invented by Rovio Mobile and it is very, very addictive. When my husband showed it to me I had to play it so he would shut up about how much fun it was (humor him so I could continue with the book I was reading). Okay, I sat down at the table and gave it a whirl. Four hours later, my son was walking into the kitchen trying to find out what was for dinner. Dinner? How about roasted pig? The game involves shooting birds out of a slingshot at various structures housing evil pigs. Sound interesting? Not really until you play it. It is like a puzzle – where do you shoot the birds (no pun intended) to bring down the pigs’ barricades and destroy them? Angles, trajectories, explosions – Angry Birds trying to win. So many levels, so little time…



At my age, I should really be sitting sedately, crocheting or knitting. Instead, I am hopelessly hooked on a game which involves violence (those pigs can get black eyes from flying debris) and mayhem (the pigs explode – no guts or blood – please, I do have some inhibitions). So, until I reach the next level there will be no dinner. And there is no controller to take from my hands…

Have any of you tried this game out on your I-Touch or I-Pad? Are there games out there you have become addicted to? My son and husband don’t want me to know if there are – they’ve missed a few meals over the Holiday Season.

Goodbye, Mr. McElroy: It's Been a Pleasure

Good morning, college football fans—and the rest of you too.

It's nearly over and I am sorry. By the time the BCS Bowl has been played on January 10, there will have been thirty-five bowl games played this year. It wasn't always that way. In the sixties there were eight. By 1970, there were eleven and it has grown from there. Some people think there are too many bowls these days. Not for me. The more the better.

I cut my teeth on Crimson Tide football and I can't remember a year when I've been prouder. Oh, don't get me wrong. I love a National Championship and an undefeated season. Who doesn't? Last year was fabulous. The next one (number 14) will be fabulous.

But the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day was pretty sweet. My team, who lost with grace three times this season, won their bowl game like gentlemen, with class and humility.

Greg McElroy, who just quarterbacked his last college game, always gave his team credit for successes and took personal blame for mistakes. He made blocks when he needed to and when no one would have expected it of him. I'll miss him. Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson, two of the best running backs in college football, never displayed one iota of personal competition but supported and cheered each other on. These things spell winner.

My favorite moment of the season did not occur on the field but on the bench. Greg McElroy had just suffered a concussion and didn't seem to have a lot of information about his identity and location. He sat on the bench beside star wideout Julio Jones, who had also been injured. Julio sat quietly with his arm draped around Greg's shoulders. I don't know if he was giving or seeking comfort or if he was just trying to stop his quarterback from hunting his helmet and attempting to head back on the field.

But I thought, "There sits a couple of champions and that is why I love this game."

As writers, we've all taken a sack or two and we aren't always able to get up again without help. I am thankful that when I have needed the help, it's always been there for me.

And that is why I love what I do—and all of you.

Happy New Year.