Jul 6, 2005 | Uncategorized
Today has been one of those days where you just don't get much done. After an entire morning spent in a hospital waiting room, I am home and trying to regroup. I took the Neo, I wrote a partial scene, and I started to read Suzanne Brockmann's Forever Blue. Can I please be Suz when I grow up? I know this is an older book, but I missed it until now. It's just so good. Being a military spouse, I was a little taken aback at the thought of a guy in his dress whites wearing sandals, and boy wouldn't his CO have torn him a new one, but okay, I can buy it I guess. I am willing to buy it because the character is so darned appealing otherwise. 🙂
Finished Cara Summers's The Dare last night. I stayed up late reading it because I couldn't stop. She kept me in suspense about the mystery until the very last moment. Enjoyable book, though I was glad when the heroine bought a new red thong. I was beginning to wonder about the, er, cleanliness of the one the hero liked so much. Ha! Good, fun read though. I enjoyed it.
Is it really Tuesday already? I feel like I've done nothing all weekend. Last night, when I really needed to be sleeping, I was reading. And then I was trying to sleep and obsessing about my thesis. I should be working on it. Really. But I don't want to. I want to write fiction, not a scholarly tome about Virginia Woolf. I picked this topic, I designed this thesis, and now I just want to forget it. But I must get busy. Time is running out and I've got a mentor who will start tapping his foot in about two more months if he doesn't get a draft.
Oh, ick, just had an encounter with a gecko. The little beast was crawling on one of my bookshelves. No doubt looking for a place to crap.
Jul 4, 2005 | Uncategorized
This is my first official Fourth of July as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution! And I have nothing exciting planned, in spite of the fact one of my ancestors is a Patriot. Mostly, it's because my hubby has a medical appointment tomorrow morning that requires he avoid certain kinds of foods, beverages, etc, until after the appointment. So, rather than eat hamburgers and drink beer, we're just kind of hanging out, me on one computer, him on another. Maybe we'll go to the beach. Last night, there were fireworks close by and we could see them from our lanai. That was great.
Fireworks aren't illegal in Hawaii (though the display last night was professional), even though every summer they have fires because the ground gets too dry. Makes no sense to me, but then Hawaii has other things that make no sense to me. For instance, they just enacted a law where you get fined if you aren't wearing a seatbelt (I believe in seatbelts, btw, and think everyone should wear one–mine saved my life last year when someone plowed into me) but yet you can ride in the back of a pick-up truck on the highway and that doesn't count. If you're in the car but without a seatbelt, you can be fined. If you're in the bed, even if you're perched on something sitting in the bed, you're a-okay. Makes no sense to me.
I'm supposed to finish an article for the Words of Paradise newsletter today. I haven't even started it. 🙁 Not sure what I'm going to write about. I forgot that next week was the meeting, even though I've been coordinating the speaker. I didn't mess that up, thank goodness. Wally Amos of Famous Amos cookie fame is coming to speak to us. He is supposed to be very inspiring. So far, according to his assistant, he's still planning to come. What worries me is turnout. We don't have a big group anyway, but lately it seems as if we're lucky to get 10 people to show up. Our best meeting was last year when we had Jill Marie Landis and Kristin Hannah. We probably had about 30 people that day. The following month, we had Margaret South and she drew a crowd too. Margaret formed All Girl Productions with Bette Midler and Bonnie Bruckheimer. She currently lives in Hawaii full time. She was completely fascinating, so nice and not the sort of person you'd think could just pick up the phone and call any number of Hollywood heavyweights. She was real. If you're writing screenplays, surf on over to http://www.theartofstory.com/about/ and read about Margaret. She does consultations, I believe. I've never consulted with her or know anyone who has, but I liked her as a person.
I suppose if I plan to finish that article, I better get busy figuring out what to write about. Maybe I'll pop back in later.
Aloha.
Jul 3, 2005 | Uncategorized |
Took my Neo to the beach yesterday! What fun. I didn't get a whole lot written on it, mostly because I kept having trouble with the scene–where to begin it, what to put in, etc. Sometimes, even when you GMC a scene out, you can still have a heck of a time with getting it right. 🙁
I love the Neo, however. It's so slim, slimmer than the AS3000. It's cute, and efficient. Even though I had trouble with the scene, hubby didn't know it. All he saw was me sitting there tapping away. 🙂 Good thing since he won't think it was a wasted purchase. He is a real techno geek and he always wants new toys. I tease him because he ends up not using something for very long, or something new comes out and he wants that instead, so how can he pass up an opportunity to tease me about a toy? But, I am using my toy and determined to prove it was a good buy. 🙂
Reading Cara Summers's The Dare. Very enjoyable so far. I really like the heroine, and I love the way she thinks of the hero as her very own Terminator. I get a great visual on him every time he appears in a scene simply from that word. The suspense plot is set up very well and I have no idea who the bad person is yet. Also reading The Frog Prince by Aloha Chapter member Jane Porter. I am the sort of person who reads several books at once. Don't know why, since it wasn't always this way, but I think it has a lot to do with my academic work. I never read reference books or literature straight through–I always read part of one, part of another, etc. I think I learned this in my history classes. History was my minor, English my major. The only way we got through those huge and boring history tomes was by reading a chunk here and there. I think this is why I read in chunks now. It's not boredom (sometimes it is, sure) but just that I want to read so many books I figure I'm slightly ahead of the game if I read two or three at a time.
One of my pet peeves, come to think of it, is romance writers who don't read romance. Usually, these are unpublished writers, but I have from time to time seen a website where a published romance author's reading list won't have one single romance on it ever. How can you (pub or unpub) promote the genre, or claim you want it respected, if you don't read it? If you write romance but don't read it, I believe it's tantamount to saying you don't respect the genre or your fellow writers. Sound harsh? Maybe, but I'm convinced that it sends a message, even if you don't intend that message. If you say you're writing for Harlequin or targetting Harlequin, and then your reading list popped up there for all to see is stuff like Slaughterhouse Five, To the Lighthouse, The Sound and the Fury, The Lovely Bones, The Secret Life of Bees, and The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume II–then, honey, your message is all wrong.
My reading list is varied for sure. And when you click on my profile, you're gonna see a whole lot of literary novels for favs. But then you also see the fact I grouped romance into one category of novels I love. I could name a few, sure, but the truth is I am always excited about discovering new stories and so I don't want to name particular books in my profile. I want to say romance novels are among my favorite reads because I am always finding new books that trip my trigger. But, there is only one To the Lighthouse and yes, that is one of my favorite books of all time. I can't explain it, except to say I had one of those epiphany moments while reading the dinner scene that changed the way I thought about writing and stories forever. And I'm currently working (or supposed to be) on my master's thesis, which is about Virginia Woolf, so I do read stuff like Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. But it's not all I read, thank the good Lord. I'd tear my hair out if it was.
Romance is my unapologetic favorite type of story to read. I love the dynamic of two people falling in love. I don't think it's cheap or tacky or trash. I've read bad romances (and bad fill-in-the-blank genre books too) and I've read some that just lift me up and make me feel so good inside. If good literature is about moving people, about making them understand or question or experience the human condition in different ways, then I've got some romance novels I'd like to nominate for good literature candidates. I write because I want to write like that; I'm not daring enough to suggest I am succeeding at writing that type of story, but it's my goal.
This is just my opinion, of course. I suppose someone could say she can't read romance while writing it because she's afraid of subconsciously copying something, but I still think the majority of romance writers who don't read romance are doing themselves and the genre a disservice, even if unintentionally.
To prove I got my money where my mouth is, here are a few favorites that pop to mind: Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, The Charm School by Susan Wiggs, Simply Irresistible by Rachel Gibson, The Prince of Midnight by Laura Kinsale, Beyond Sunrise by Candace Proctor, Until You by Judith McNaught, As You Desire by Connie Brockway, Time Without End by Linda Lael Miller, The Older Woman by Cheryl Reavis. I could think of more, but that's what popped to mind very quickly. It's heavy on historicals, because I used to love and want to write historicals. I still love a good historical, but it seems like that ship is foundering right now. I think it'll cycle back (I hope) and I'll be there when it does. I don't currently want to write them, however. When I finally found my voice, I discovered it was too contemporary for the medieval I'd (long ago) flogged around NY. Ah well. The last book on that list is a category novel, and boy is it good. Cheryl Reavis is amazing. She never left the hero's POV (it's been a couple of years, but I'm pretty sure I'm right), and it worked. Wonderful characterization.
Okay, now I'm feeling inspired so I better get busy and see if I can write my own contemporary romantic literature novel. Aloha.
Jul 2, 2005 | Uncategorized
I got my AlphaSmart Neo. It's so cool! It's tiny, slimmer than the AS 3000 I borrowed from a friend. I'm happy. Natually, it arrived while I wasn't home. My husband called me to tell me it was here. I used it a little lastnight, playing around, and I can see where I'll get some good use out of it, especially when I can't surf the web on it. Why do I click that IE button so easily? I don't know, but I can't seem to stop myself. I'm working on the WIP, things are difficult, and I suddenly need to know if I've gotten any email in the past 5 minutes.
Had lunch with Ann Peach, her husband Ralph, and Aloha Chapter President Leslee Ellenson yesterday. We went to Mariposa, a restaurant in Neiman Marcus that has a gorgeous view of Ala Moana beach park and the ocean. I was 15 minutes late, thanks to traffic (1 hour to go 5 miles–that sucks). They were kind enough to wait to order, though I felt bad that they did. But, I was there at 1:00, we ordered, and stayed there until about 4:30. Amazing how much talking you can do when you get writers together! Poor Ralph, he is a very patient man. He and Ann are adorable together, still very much in love after 38 years of marriage.
We talked about many things. Ann says that paranormal is hot in New York, no surprise, and that erotica is in demand. Ann said that everyone she knows is looking for books. That is encouraging. We also agreed that you shouldn't try to write the latest thing if you weren't interested in it simply to try and get sold. Your lack of interest will show in the writing; besides, the market may change before you finish that vampire erotic time-travel ghost story anyway.
I can't even remember all we talked about. I just know we had fun, laughed a lot, and talked writing quite a bit. We also talked restaurants and travel, and good cheap places to eat on Oahu. They are here, of course, but not in Waikiki where all the tourists go. Chinatown is excellent for inexpensive food (hubby and I ate dinner for $18; that's two giant entrees, spring rolls, and drinks). There are also some great places on the North Shore ($12 for two entrees, chips and salsa, and drinks at Killer Taco in Haleiwa). So you just have to look and be willing to explore. If you want to sit beside the ocean and sip Mai Tai's while a band plays Hawaiian music, be prepared to pay. But, you can always eat cheap elsewhere and join the crowd for Hawaiian music on the patio of the big hotels in Waikiki. Then all you need to do is order a drink. 🙂 Lots cheaper that way.
Today's plan is to write at least a scene. Hubby is home, however, so who knows what will ultimately happen. He does have a paper to finish, so perhaps he will be busy. He mentioned the beach earlier. I can do that, and take my Neo. Not against an afternoon in the sun (slathered in sunblock, of course).
Aloha.
Jun 30, 2005 | Uncategorized
I am back from Rib Fest 2005. It was a success, and of course my hubby is now napping. He has basked in the glow of his coworkers' compliments and is free to snore in exhausted oblivion. I, on the other hand, am wondering where in the heck is my AlphaSmart. Day 4 of the vigil and no Alphie in sight. It's coming from CA for pete's sake! They charged me express rate because some poor pilot has to fly over an ocean to get here–apparently that makes the destination farther away than, say, Boston. It's 2500 miles from CA to Hawaii. Gimmee a break.
I also forgot to call the Menehune water people and tell them not to deliver a 5 gallon bottle of water today. So naturally they did, and naturally I already have six bottles sitting around here because I have forgotten before and they will deliver anyway if you don't tell them otherwise. So I have 7 bottles total with a $10 deposit on each. It's a new savings account! Rack up bottles and then cash them in when you need funds. Sheesh, why can't I remember what day they deliver!! I have got to get rid of at least 4 of these things. It's ridiculous.
All right, enough blathering. On to critique. It took me an hour to get there, btw, and it's less than 7 miles away. Very bad traffic day in Honolulu. 🙁 Ann Peach was there, as I said, and she's so interesting and informative. She told me what I already kind of sort of suspected but didn't want to admit: my first 3 pages need to go. The first line of the book is halfway down page 3 (not the 1st line of dialogue, but the perfect opening hook–which also happens to be dialogue). She says you should think of the scene like a movie scene. If you were a director, where would you start? Where's the action? My heroine sitting in her car and thinking of why she's back in her hometown and why she doesn't want to be isn't good enough, even though she thinks about her past relationship with the hero and about her urgent goal for returning. Ain't good enough. I knew it, and I'm actually much happier that someone else saw it and pointed out what I'd only suspected. Ann says to go with your gut. If you think it's wrong, it probably is.
I also think that if you've reached the stage in your writing where you only have to cut three pages in the beginning rather than three chapters, you're moving up in the world, baby! I remember when Rebecca Brandewyne once said that she had to toss the first 100 pages of an early novel because it was all backstory and irrelevant. I, of course, made all the newbie mistakes and piled the beginning with irrelevant backstory in my first book years ago. I hope I have learned since then, but you know, I always write that stuff in there somehow anyway and then end up cutting it. Not chapters anymore, but definitely pages. I used to love prologues too, but now I avoid them like the plague. And, oh hell, where was my brain when I included that half page of flashback not all that long ago on the second page of the book? No, no, no. Sell a few books, get rich and popular (hahahaha!) and then do whatever you want. Until then, no cigar. *sigh*
Speaking of cigars, you have to see Triumph the Insult Comic Dog do the weather for Hawaii. LOL! http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Late_Night_with_Conan_O Why do I laugh at a really bad puppet cracking jokes? I don't know, but the dude behind the act is hysterical. And he gives it to Hawaii during the weather report. It's Armageddon in Hawaii!
I have to report that I did not get any writing done yesterday. 🙁 Hubby did manage to wash his Jeep and clean the yard alone, but I got busy updating my checking account on Quicken and making sure I hadn't forgotten to pay any bills. I am very good at forgetting when I get immersed in a book. Today is a shot writing day so far, mostly because of lack of sleep and hauling all that food around this morning. And I keep obsessing about the Alphie, looking out the window when I hear a truck. It's like Christmas and I just can't wait for morning.
I need to get busy though. Might be having lunch with Ann tomorrow, so I need to be able to say I was working. She likes to ask me what I'm working on, how close I am to completing it, when I think I can finish, etc. And then she likes to tell me I need to finish the book and have it ready to go ASAP. She is so right, of course.
Aloha for now…..
Jun 30, 2005 | Uncategorized
What the heck? Seriously, not kidding, it's an article in the NY Times about building your house on a lava field. (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/garden/30lava.html?8hpib)
Apparently, some folks on the Big Island (Hawaii for those of you who don't know one Hawaiian island from another one–and trust me, that was me just a little over a year and a half ago) are building houses on lava fields. One lady, currently being sued by the state, lugged a bunch of stuff, including a disco ball, across a lava field and into a lava tube. She set up house in the cave-like structure, complete with shelves made from boogie boards. She also had a four-poster bed. Now, I'm telling you that real estate is through the roof in Hawaii (the state, not just the island) so it doesn't surprise me. Oahu, the island where I live, is outrageously expensive to buy a house. Still, I'm not envisioning myself on a lava field. Not that we have any lava fields on this island, though Kaena point, at the north western tip, has black lava shelfs that drop off into the ocean. It's pretty cool up there, though very rugged.
If you're a Lost fan, parts of it, where the plane crashed and all that, are filmed very close to Kaena Point. Mokuleia is the beach, I think. I remember that plane scattered over the beach, too. At first, I thought something terrible had happened and wondered why I hadn't heard it on the news. Then my hubby informs me it was a movie prop. I'd been on the island all of two days at this point, where he'd been here for two months. Movie prop or not, it's damn scary to see a wrecked airliner scattered across the ground. Not an image one wants in one's head (to sound totally Virginia Woolf-ish).
In fact, in a totally smart-ass way, we always joke when we drive past that beach about how stupid those Lost folks are; if they'd just walk across the street, Dillingham Airfield–complete with gliders and sky-diving–is RIGHT there. Sheesh.
But okay, before anyone thinks I'm a total b**tch for talking about how I live in Hawaii, let me tell you the bad things about this state. Bugs, dude. Gigantic, humongous, need their own zipcode bugs. Flying roaches with tailnumbers. Centipedes that suffered some sort of nuclear accident before growing to proportions only seen in cheap horror movies. I had never, ever in my life seen a 10-inch long centipede that was also at least 1/2 an inch wide until I moved to Hawaii. Now imagine that in your house at 3 AM. Ohmygod! They come up out of the drains, people. The drains! I make sure every drain in my house is plugged every night. I haven't had a problem, even when I forget, but my friend who lives in a second story condo gets the damn things in her sink and on her kitchen counters if she forgets to plug the drains. And they ain't little.
They tell me there are giant spiders here too, but I haven't seen those yet. And scorpions on the leeward coast. Honolulu is technically leeward, I think, though I'm talking about the west-facing part of the island. Oahu has distinct climates, too. One side, the windward, is lush and tropical just like you'd expect, but the leeward is desert, complete with cactuses. The center is green and lush too, though more forest-y than palm-y, if that makes sense. We even have a freshwater lake in the center of the island where you can bass fish.
But back to those centipedes. They aren't poisonous, thank God, but their sting is supposed to be very painful. I don't want to find out. And they like to hide in your bed, I've been told. I am just paranoid enough to check the bed EVERY night to make sure there are no hidden creatures in it. My hubby used to complain. Now, he just shrugs and says, are you ready to check the bed? So, if you take nothing else from this rant, please be sure that if you visit Hawaii you do NOT walk around barefoot on the grass, especially at night. I am not joking. Just yesterday I watched an egret swoop into my yard in broad daylight and pick up a 5-inch long centipede. I wear slippers (flip-flops) all the time. I take them off to walk in the sand, but I would never walk across grass without them.
And did I mention the geckos? People think they're cute, and so did I until I had to live with them. Nasty creatures who poop ten times as much as they ought to, and usually on your window sills. I have also found gecko poop on my books and on the pillow in my guest room (I promise, if you come visit, I will make sure it's all clean first). We usually try to catch them and throw them out, but it isn't easy. They are very fast. And did I mention noisy? They make a loud clucking sound.
Oh, we better not forget the rats either. Hawaii has rats. Lots of rats, though they are sort of small and shy, not New York sewer rats or anything. They come out at night. Someone had a bright idea once to bring in mongooses to take care of the rats. One problem with that idea. Rats are nocturnal and mongooses are not. It's cuter than heck to see riki-tiki-tavi on the lanai from time to time, though, even if he is useless in the War on Rats.
But, even with all that, I love Hawaii. It took me a while. I had rock fever pretty bad about a month after I got here. I missed Europe, wanted to go back, and felt crammed onto a tiny island. But it isn't as tiny as you think, and the feeling passes. Unless you are the sort of person who loves to drive hundreds of miles every day, you'll be fine in Hawaii. No more long trips, and no more highways packed with 18-wheelers. We don't have many 18-wheelers here at all. One day I passed three on the road and I was shocked. Usually, I don't see any.
Well, this is certainly a long, middle of the night rambling post, but it's the hubby's fault. Apparently, those darned ribs have to start smoking at 3AM to be ready for lunch time. I am seriously miffed about this. I'll talk about critique group and writing stuff another time since rambling on about Hawaii happened because of the NY Times lava article. Blame them, not me. I just want to go to sleep! If you can spare a moment, think sympathetic thoughts for me.
