How cool is this?!?

I just found my picture on Laurell K. Hamilton's website! As most of you probably know, Laurell is one of my favorite authors and I had the pleasure of speaking to her and her husband (one of the nicest guys ever!!!) at RT. They've always been very kind to me, remembering me over the years, which is pretty impressive considering how many people they meet.

Anyway, I gave them one of my books at Laurell's signing in September, not really expecting to hear anything. But when we were at RT, Jon said he read it and he liked it! Neat, huh? So, here's a link to the picture we took. Scroll to the bottom to see!

Weirdness

Random little tidbits...
-I'm absurdly proud of the fact that I've never seen a single episode of "Dancing with the Stars." It's not just that I haven't seen it, but that somehow I feel some kind of vindication for not caving and watching a show that I would normally have no interest in even though it's the one of the few new things on television right now. Strange and a little sad? Yes, I know. : ) This is not to say that there's anything wrong with the show. I'm sure for people who enjoy ballroom dancing, this is a great new thing. But I don't have any interest in it and for some reason, I feel quite proud of myself for not vegging out in front of it just because it's on. However you know what they say...pride goes before a fall. So perhaps I'll end up watching it yet.

-Does anyone else remember a short story (I think) in which a robber or thief bites off (or tries to bite off) a woman's finger to get her ring? I'm pretty sure this is something I read in a literature class in college. Or...I could be remembering something in the horror genre. I'm thinking it's like a Flannery O'Connor or something like that. Any former English majors out there who know what I'm talking about? I don't need to know for any reason. It's just bugging me!

So much going on...

The first thing I want to say is...I had a good day! I don't even remember the last time I said those words. But I had a good day today. I'm trying right now to figure out exactly what caused it, but I'm thinking it's probably a combination of things. I went to bed early last night and woke up feeling pretty rested. I also got up even a little earlier to get a little more writing done without feeling as rushed. Then I went to work, already feeling good, singing along with my iPod. Then when I got to work, I did a little bit of stuff, then went out to lunch with a co-worker friend. When I came back, I had project management stuff waiting for me. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the project management aspect of my work. I don't get to do it anymore after the restructuring of a year ago. Right now, I'm just filling in, illicitly, for an out of town project manager. And I enjoyed it! I felt valued and like I was contributing and making a difference and using my knowledge. Wow, I haven't felt like that in...ages!

So, now I'm on my way home, going to pick up Boston Market (thought about abbreviating that, but I figured some people might interpret BM wrongly *grin*) for dinner. Yea! Here's hoping I can figure out exactly what it is that made this day a good one because I'd like to have another one soon!!!

A Writer's Schedule

Found this hysterical blog entry at Meg Cabot's site and I had to mention it here. Even with all the Tab breaks and staring at naked people, she still gets way more writing done than I do. She is an inspiration...a freaking hilarious one, and very motivating.

In the spirit of her entry, here's my daily schedule (and perhaps an explanation as to why I don't have more books finished like she does!):

6:07 a.m.--Groan with limited awareness as husband turns the lights on to shower. Like it would kill him to shower in the dark!

7:01 a.m.--Alarm goes off. Hit snooze button.

7:10 a.m.--snooze again.

7:19 a.m.--snooze again.

7:27 a.m.--yeah, you guessed it. I'm lucky the damn button hasn't broken already

7:36 a.m.--drag myself out of bed and grunt good morning at husband, if he hasn't already left for work.

7:40 a.m.--after turning on my computer, stumble downstairs to make a nice cup of decaffeinated Earl Grey tea, the choice of Starship Captains everywhere! And if you don't get that pop culture reference...for shame. You are obviously not now nor have you ever been a sci-fi geek : )

7:43 a.m.--stumble back upstairs to office with tea and whatever sweet dessert type confection I've found to bribe myself into writing when I could be sleeping.

7:44 a.m. --WRITE!

8:50 a.m. --debate whether I can squeeze in a few more minutes of writing. Starting is always hard and stopping is even more difficult sometimes. It's just getting over that initial hump of convincing myself that I need to be in the chair in front of the computer. Further debate about whether what I've written on this particular day is worth fishing out my jump drive and saving it there as well as my computer.

8:52 a.m.--race into the bedroom to throw on corporate appropriate-clothes and make-up...in between watching some bizarre show on National Geographic or The Learning Channel. Home birthing anyone? Plead with the dogs not to potty on the floor.

9:10 a.m.--throw an old comforter over the bed so Snowy doesn't get the real one all hairy and bolt downstairs. Give the dogs their medications for the day and leash them up for their first daily potty.

9:12 a.m.--plead with Joe to hurry up and go #2, assuring him that the big "For Sale" sign in our yard is, in fact, an inanimate object with no malovelent intentions toward him.

9:16 a.m.--hustle dogs inside and upstairs. Baby-gate them in. Wash hands and grab all my stuff, purse, bag, keys, etc. Curse under breath about being late for meeting.

9:17 a.m.--lock the door and run for my car.

9:18 a.m.--get out of my car and check the house door again as I can't remember if I actually locked the door this day or if I am just remembering another day when I did lock the door and today I didn't.

9:20 a.m.--discover that door was indeed locked. Curse obsessive compulsive disorder under breath and get back in car. Pull out of the driveway and begin commute, praying for green lights and sane drivers.

9:42 a.m.--slow down, remembering that I'm still on court supervision for, what else?, speeding.

10:05 a.m.--arrive at work, five minutes late for ten a.m. meeting, a meeting which rarely takes place but the days it does are inevitably the days I'm running late.

10:07 a.m.--WORK! With plenty of email, blogger and MSBC breaks : )

12:07 p.m.--break for lunch to gossip about company stuff or perhaps squeeze in some writing stuff over lunch. Not real writing, but research or character background material.

4:42 p.m.--begin deliberating about blog topics.

5:08 p.m.--wait until most of the co-workers have gone to write blog and concentrate on final few work things to be finished. I always work better with fewer distractions.

6:27 p.m.--finish up and log off computer. Leave desk.

6:32 p.m.--walk back to desk to make sure that I'm remembering correctly and actually shut down computer instead of just thinking I did. Curse obsessive compulsive disorder under breath.

6:40 p.m.--find car in parking lot and try to get in without touching any super-heated by the sun metal surfaces.

7:01 p.m.--space on out commute and sing loudly to favorite songs on my ipod.

7:25 p.m.--hurry inside house to let the dogs out and to feed and water them.

7:36 p.m.--change clothes and try to find something to eat for dinner.

8:01 p.m.--greet husband with leftover options.

8:15 p.m.--try to convince myself to work on writing again after dinner.

8:47 p.m.--instead decide I'm too tired and lounge on couch and watch bad television or check email.

10:13 p.m.--fall asleep on couch but insist that I'm just resting my eyes while I wait for the weather.

11:30 p.m.--drag myself upstairs to shower and get ready for bed.

12:02 p.m.--wide-awake, thanks to my cat nap, I snuggle into bed and watch The Secret Life of Ramses II or The Wonderful World of Surgery until narrator's soothing voice makes me nod off.

2:07 a.m.--wake up to television blaring on an informercial, husband snoring and my glasses now permanently bent at a 45 degree angle to my face.

Repeat. Yep, I know it's completely inefficient. Any organized people out there with suggestions?

Weekend Update

Oh, it was a busy one this time. Our house is now officially on the market...which I hate. It's so hard to keep the darn thing clean. And before anyone says anything, yes, I know it would be that much more difficult with children. But my husband and I are not the tidiest of people. We're not slobs exactly, but we're definitely stackers. Don't know what to do with something? Just add it to that towering pile of stuff we don't know what do with. I don't know how people well and truly get organized. It's helped now that we have a centralized location for our bills.

Not to mention we have two big dogs. This week they'll have to go in their crates during the day and I just hate doing that to them : ( But it's safer for them that way. No one will accidentally let them outside and I won't have to worry, as much, about someone teasing or hurting them in some way.

Let's see what else...I attended AuthorFest on Saturday at the Schaumburg Library, which was great fun. Even bumped into someone, Kim (I think?), that had attended one of my online chats. Had a blast talking to the other authors and speaking on the panels. I love talking about writing and I so enjoy speaking on panels to other aspiring writers...because I know exactly what it feels like to be on the other side of that table, hoping for some answers to make writing a little easier. Or at least to confirm that you're not the only crazy one who keeps trying at it!

Of course, the downside to attending such an event is that I'm immediately struck by a feeling of being behind. It's best to have a book out every year. I have drafts of several books finished, but nothing ready to go out. I think this is because I've been splitting my attention. As soon as I finish a draft of something, I start something new. Well, the something new is always more fun than fixing up the draft of something already written. Using this method is supposed to give you a more objective perspective when you go back to the original draft. But what I find is that I lose momentum and it's hard for me to get back into it. I hate revising things. So stopping before that critical step makes it very hard for me to go back. So, I'm making a new rule for myself. I can't start something new until I finish COMPLETELY something on my to do list. And by finish, I mean, sending it out to publishers and/or agents.

So, now I'm buckling down...which sucks. First drafts are always so much more fun to write! Oh, well.

Another thing...I went to a corporate America lecture today on communication. The speaker was actually kind of interesting. He said that all activities in our lives, business and personal, fail one conversation at at time, slowly, not suddenly. I think that's very true. He also gave us a technique to help us communicate better. He said that a lot of our judgments about people are often based on our imagination or what our brains fill in rather than the facts. And when you test the truth of these judgments, we're often wrong. So instead you should use the I notice/I imagine theory. In other words, base it on facts and then ask the person instead of assuming. For example, if someone comes in late to work, you might normally roll your eyes and assume it's because that person overslept...yet again. But if you ask, you might find out that the person has some other obligation in the morning that you didn't know about.

I find I do this a lot in my personal life. If my husband leaves dirty dishes on the counter instead of putting them in the dishwasher, I read that as a sign of "I'm too important and/or busy to be bothered by doing this simple task, you do it." But when I've asked (*clears throat* yelled) about it, he explains that he just didn't feel like doing it right then but he'll do it later. It has nothing at all to do with me.

Okay, I've rambled on long enough but I thought it was an interesting seminar : )

Outlines vs. No outlines

I'm actually thinking of using an outline to guide the next story I write. I used to be so opposed to it, but after doing it for the Zara sequel, I've found it to be really helpful. Of course, in that situation, I wrote a rough draft first and then fixed it in outline form first before beginning to write it. But other writers, I know, have to submit outlines before they can get acceptance on a book. So writing a synopsis first would probably be a good skill to have.

Anybody else out there a newly-converted outliner? Does it really work better than not outlining?

Research question?

One of the things I remember very clearly from high school is that girl fights always seemed to break out right outside the girls' locker room. They also seemed to occur most often during hot weather. Irritable, hormone-filled teenagers crowded into a building without air conditioning. Not really a surprise. My question is this, do think it's more likely that fights would take place at the beginning of the year (late August/early September) or the end of the year? I guess I'm asking as research for the believability factor. I mean, the beginning of the school year is kind of tense because everyone has to settle back into the routine of a new year. And a new class schedule with different people around you is always potential for conflict. On the other hand, the end of the year, kids are just about going nuts to get out for summer. So tempers flare and patience is short.

What do you think? Which part of the year is more angst and tension filled? I know, I ask the strangest questions sometimes : )

vegging out

Had to get up at 6:00 this morning after an awful day yesterday. Contact lens tore at work so I couldn't see to work and couldn't drive home. I had to call my brother (who, luckily, happened to be home) to come and get me. But that meant my car had to be left at work, so I had to hitch a ride with my husband this morning. And he leaves EARLY. I was actually in the office at 8:15...and there were other people there. Amazing. Seriously, I couldn't concentrate on anything besides staying awake until like 2:00. Some of that's because I didn't sleep well last night, afraid I would oversleep and make my husband late for work!

So tonight, I just vegged out again. I watched Beauty and the Geek. I have to say, I'm not much a reality show person, but I kind of liked it. It doesn't, at least from the one episode I saw, have that nasty characteristic of showing the worst of human nature as entertainment. Plus, it's another excuse to keep from doing the writing stuff I should be doing...ah, yes, procrastination, my dear friend.

It's a sickness, really

Okay, I had this whole entry written, whining about all the books I've written first drafts of and still have yet to finish. But then I reread the entry and decided it was boring and too whiney (see, sometimes I do recognize that about myself!) and deleted it.

Hmm. Now, I seem to have little to say. Perhaps that should tell me something about the percentage of whine normally found in these blog entries.

I totally vegged last night and watched the AFI give George Lucas the lifetime achievement award. I swear, my eyes teared up at least three times. When they showed him with his kids in all those photos, when the original cast appeared on stage together (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, R2-D2, C3PO and Chewbacca), and at the end, when they showed little clips of how Star Wars has affected so many people. Not in the crazy, costume-wearing kind of way, though there were some of those. But people who learned English from the movies. And a daughter who went to see the movie with her dad before he died. People who've been inspired by what he created. I swear, I still get chills every time I see those words roll up across the screen and I hear John Williams's score.

After mopping myself up with a tissue, I told my husband, "I want to be George Lucas when I grow up."

His response? "You want to be an older Jewish man with a beard?" Smart ass.

What I meant (and he knew it) was that I want to write something like that. Not for the money (though, hey, I'd take that too) but just to create something that inspired and touched so many people. Who knows how many lives those movies changed? It had an effect on mine, I can tell you that. My interest in science fiction started with Star Wars. I don't remember a time when I hadn't seen it, if that makes sense. I wanted to be Princess Leia so badly as a kid. Heck, if somebody offered that to me now, I'd probably take it too--gold bikini aside, of course. : )

George Lucas didn't create movie characters, he introduced us to people populating a strange and wonderful universe. They live on with us in our collective consciousness like distant cousins or that crazy Aunt Ethel. An seven foot tall dog that walks on two legs. A frightfully uptight and proper robot. A space pirate that simultaneously takes your breath away and makes you want to hit him. That is what I want to do every time I sit down to write--I want to introduce you to people like that. People you'll love, people you'll remember. That's what I want to do for the rest of my life.

The best quote from George Lucas? "I make movies because I have to. I don't know what else I would do if I weren't making movies." That's exactly how I feel about writing books.

*snicker*

In re-reading my last entry, as I'm wont to do in paranoid fear of the inevitable typo, it sounds like I'm recommending that people watch the movie with Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace...as in call them up and have them over in your living room. To which I say, hey, that sounds like fun! Invite me too.

**IN GOOD COMPANY**

For all the recent graduates out there, or soon to be graduates, all bright and shiny with the idea of coming to work for corporate America, I highly recommend watching In Good Company with Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace. It's being added to my list of "Favorite Movies about Work." I wanted to see it in the theater but ran out of time and money. The movie gives, in my mind, a strikingly realistic depiction of what it's like to work in corporate America these days. It's not a sad or depressing movie really (otherwise you KNOW I wouldn't be recommending it) but it gives a heartfelt look at the business of work and why some people do what they do. And there's a moral to the story, all neatly tucked in there and non-anvilish, which I think is at the heart of why so many people are unhappy with their jobs.

Dennis Quaid did a great job, even though it was difficult to see him as old enough to play that role (father of a college-aged daughter). He is one of those men who seems to only get better looking as he gets older. Topher Grace also did a fantastic job as the young up and comer. What I found interesting is that at different times, you're rooting for both of them, even though common sense says they're being pitted against one another and you must choose between them. I will say the ending disappointed me slightly, but not for the reasons you'd expect. After working so hard to establish a realistic view of the working world, the story shifts to a "reward the good guys" strategy. Which so rarely happens in the real corporate America. : ) But it was still worth seeing and owning, in my opinion.

Anybody else out there see this movie? What did you think?

Upcoming Events!

Just a reminder of a couple things coming up this week...

On Wednesday, June 22, I'll be at Romance Junkies doing a live chat from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. CST. If you click on the link above, you'll be taken to the chat page of their website. Just log in and start asking questions...please!?! : )

On Saturday, June 25, Schaumburg Library is hosting AuthorFest from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Come meet some of your favorite local authors and some new ones as well. Click on the link above for a full list of attending authors and panel events. Schaumburg Library is located at 130 South Roselle Road, Schaumburg, IL, 60193. This event is FREE!

The incredible, reappearing author...

I realized last week after I'd already left the land of computers and internet service that I'd forgotten to mention to you that I'd be on vacation for a week. To quote Homer Simpson, "D'oh!"
Sorry about that. I'm back now and feeling relaxed still. I expect that feeling to wear off shortly : )

While on vacation, I read a bunch of books--yea!!! It felt so good to lay around and not have to be anywhere or do anything. I did finish one writing project. I'd originally started a Rennie Harlow short story about her finding Coach Swenson dead, a prequel, I suppose, to the first novel, Bitter Pill. But my short story ended up being about 300 pages long and because I did no plotting (remember, the thing was only supposed to be maybe 50 pages long--but I forgot I can't do short stories), it rambles all over the place and makes virtually no sense. Well, I mean, it makes sense, but it's not pulled together well at all. My original intention with the short story was to post it here as a freebie. But now, it's long and horrible, so I don't know what I'm going to do with it. But at least it's done!

Okay, back to books. Here are a few of the really good ones I've read so far:

A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur's Court by Marianne Mancusi. I loved this one because it combined a bunch of my favorite things. Medieval stuff, time travel, and love! Plus, chivalry and really cool clothes. The voice is terrific and Kat, the main character, will make you laugh out loud as she struggles with great panache to survive in a time before she was born and well before the birth of her favorite fashion designers.

Dead as a Doornail, A Southern Vampire Mystery by Charlaine Harris. This series just keeps getting better and better. Sookie, the main character, is so much fun and the practical, down to Earth manner in which she views her supernatural and chaotic world is priceless.

Princess in Training by Meg Cabot. Okay, if you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that Meg is one of my favorite writers. I'm forever sending you guys over to read her blog because she's just so darn funny. Every ounce of that humor is in her books and more. This latest installment of the Princess Diaries series involves Mia's run for Student Council President and the revelation that her college-aged boyfriend wants to have sex with her...someday. Cabot handles this potential sensitive topic (sex, not the student council thing) realistically and smartly. She doesn't do the thing where we all pretend to believe that this college-aged boy is different from all the rest and of course, he doesn't want to have sex! That's what parents would like to read, I'd imagine : ) I think a lot of YA authors feel pressure to write stories this way. Instead, she brings up the topic and shows Michael and Mia handling it in a pretty grown-up way. They talk about it. She doesn't betray realism by having him deny that sex is on his mind, nor does she make it all "after school special" ish by making him pressure Mia when she's not ready or having Mia cave. I just love the way she handled it.

Okay, I don't have any more vacation days planned for awhile so I should be here all next week. Though, I have to admit, disappearing, electronically-speaking, for a week was kind of nice. : )

Have a great weekend!

"Silly boy, trucks are for girls!"

On top of everything else, my "check engine" light came on as I was driving home yesterday. Arrgh. So, I took it in this morning. A new catalytic converter is needed, apparently. I don't even know what that is, but it sounds expensive. But I'm trying to look on the bright side, which is that the dealership got me a rental car through Enterprise and it's a truck! I love trucks!!! I always enjoyed driving the Tahoe, though it was a bit big for me. Right now, I'm driving the GMC Canyon. It's a small pick up truck with four doors. It's so cute! I told the Enterprise guy that, which I think startled him. When his manager came over to make sure that having a truck was okay with me, the guy who was helping kind of shrugged and said, "She says it's cute." I think I totally baffled him ; )

When my lemon of a car, the Malibu, is fixed tomorrow, I don't think I'll want to give them the truck back!

Pity party over here!

I'm having one of those days where it feels like the world is working against me. I know. Paranoid much? Or, perhaps, self-centered much? It just feels like I try to make progress on various things but at every turn there's an obstacle...or you know, ten. Normally, I just kind of suck it up and keep going, but right now, it just feels like there are too many things to conquer.

We're trying to reduce our expenses to allow us more flexibility with starting a family and juggling work, particularly as it pertains to my career, at least. That may mean selling the house we just built last year. Honestly, when we first started talking about it, I couldn't imagine finding a house that I'd like as well, let alone better. Well, we did find a house that we like, but now it seems it may need a new roof. So, it may not end up being that much of a cost-saver after all. At least, not at first. Over time, it probably would be. Though, of course, it's older than our current house (almost every house is, as ours is new) so there may be more expenses. But after the other houses I've seen in this price range, which I hated, I'm doubting the chances of finding another one I like as well, faulty roof or no.

So, all of this has to be ironed out. A new roof costs a lot. So, this may not work out. In the meantime, I'm going through all the junk we've accumulated over the last thirty years (thanks to both sets of parents generously bestowing upon us our childhood boxes of "treasures" *grin*) and trying to get everything ready for the possibility of moving into a smaller house. I just want everything to be settled and decided on. I'm not good with change, as most anyone who knows me will tell you. I'm not like my husband who can just kind of let it drift to the back of his mind until a decision needs to be made. For me, anything potentially unsettling (literally, in this case) taints my every thought until it's the only thing I can think about.

I'm so frustrated with Bitter Pill right now too. I've gotten very helpful feedback at various points from both Becky and Stacy G. (Thank you for your help, guys. I really appreciate it!!!), but I'm at a loss as to how get it all into a cohesive form again. I just want it to be done, you know? Probably it should be rewritten from word one, but I can't even face the idea of doing that, as I'm doing that very same thing to another project right now.

Plus, Linnea just did this amazing banner ad for The Silver Spoon for me. It looks great! But I think I need to be able to make it bigger or smaller to fit the particular requirements of various websites, and I have no clue how to do that. And I HATE bugging people for help on stuff like this. I feel like it's something I should know how to do, like using a cell phone or making a blog entry. But I'm so not good with technology stuff. This blog is pretty much the only thing I've done slightly ahead of, or at least even with, the curve. And this is easy...though you wouldn't know it from the number of panicked phone calls I made to Ed in the first few weeks of doing this. Plus, most of these sites want you to use PayPal to pay for ad space. Well, that's fine except PayPal has this stupid money limit on it. I refuse to give them my bank account information--I'm never going to draw money directly from my account so why do they need it?!?--so I'm limited to a certain amount I can spend through them. Which is dumb because it's connected to my credit card, so I think the limit should reflect whether I've paid off what I spent before (which I have.) So, I can't use PayPal unless I give them my bank account numbers--not going to happen--or I register a different credit card with them, which I don't have. ARRRRGGGGH!

I'm going home now. I'm going to eat some dinner, then curl up in bed and read or something. Screw packing up and cleaning the house. I'm taking the night off.

Self-absorbed today

I'm having one of those days where I feel like I've been working so hard and not accomplishing anything. So, in my little "poor me" mood, I've decided to compile a list of all the stuff I HAVE gotten done. And a list of all that still remains undone. : (

In the last week, I've:
-written an article for Once Upon A Romance to be published sometime in the future

-ordered new business cards (go here and get 250 free!)

-sent a list of recommended books to the organizers of the Writers' Institute, per their request (by the way, if you download their brochure, you'll get to see a description for the panel I'm on *grin*)

-cleaned out about six boxes worth of junk in our basement (still have a bunch more to go and...ugh, the garage!)

-wrote some potential copy for banner ads, which Linnea is going to design for me (thank you, Linnea!)

-met with Stacy G. to go over some of her thoughts on revising Bitter Pill (Thanks, Stacy G!)

-sent revised versions of first three chapters of Bitter Pill to Becky and Professor Byrne because they also indicated a willingness to be guinea pigs--brave people! (Thanks, Beck and Ed!)

-researched online to find out how long you need to keep old bills and bank statements (answer? No one wants to commit to any particular timeframe, probably for fear of being sued. But I gather that it's sometime between one year and the end of life as we know it-- the apocolypse.)

-continued work on my current projects, including one that was supposed to be a short story for this website and is, at the moment, already 280 pages long...and still going.

-fixed our DSL last night (oh, forget keeping your old bills...this item alone is probably a sign of the coming apocolypse : ) )

-narrowed down possible dates for my sister's visit in July

I still need to:
-revise handouts for Writers' Institute binder

-create another version of the first three chapters of Bitter Pill (possibly) based on Becky's original comments and ideas from Stacy G. (Or else I'll just wait for all the feedback to come in and then make another version--I haven't decided quite yet)

-develop at least three writing class proposals for Harper College's Continuing Education Program

-get past a difficult scene in one of my current projects, while still continuing to make daily progress

-get a haircut

-sort through remaining seven or eight boxes in the basement, plus five rubbermaid totes of Christmas decorations

-go through kitchen cabinets and master bedroom closet to get rid of extra stuff we don't need

-CLEAN OUT THE GARAGE!

-tidy up the rest of the house before next Thursday

-create a spreadsheet of all the books that I'm planning to donate and/or sell at a garage sale and send to interested friends to see if they'd like first dibs on free books

Blah. Okay, I'm not sure that made me feel any better. I still have so much to do. And I'm trying to squeeze it in around work and everything else. The To Do list is always longer, isn't it?, and never, ever empty.

Oh, well, I'm going home to eat cookies. I'm out of the office and away from the computer tomorrow doing vague, mysterious errand-type things that I hope to be able to tell you about soon. And no, it's not a) a baby b) a new job or c) another book deal -- though, actually, any one of those would be fun. I may post tomorrow if I have news. If not, have a great weekend!

Chicklit--What is up with the shoe thing?

Let me say, first off, I love chicklit. I was one of the first converts back in '99 when I read the original Bridget Jones. Loved her. Laughed out loud repeatedly. I love stories of young women (in their twenties or thirties) struggling with who they are and who they want to be, their relationships and their careers because I can relate to them in some way. I relate to their anxieties and their flaws--chicklit heroines are not perfect, not even close, which is what makes them so memorable and lovable (usually).

That being said, I'm getting a little worried about the direction of the sub-genre (at least, I think it's a sub-genre, maybe it's a genre already, not sub anything). Nearly every chicklit book I've read this year has focused on one aspect of the chicklit heroine almost obssessively--her fixation with shoes and high fashion. (Note: I'm not getting into this to tear on one particular book or even this kind of book specifically, just to ask the question--why does chicklit always mean shoes and clothes?)

Bridget Jones, while she worried about her appearance and possibly being fat, did not go on for pages and pages about the kind of shoes/clothes she had, longed to buy or borrowed from her roommmate without the knowledge of said roommate. I understand that this fashion fixation is used sometimes show to the superficiality of the main character. Shallowness that, hopefully, turns to real depth as the story progresses and she changes as a person. But more often than not, it turns out to be a list of brand names and stores, repeated over and over again, like that's supposed to mean something, like that builds a character. I agree that there's a difference between a person who buys Target shoes and a person who buys Prada. But I don't need to hear about it endlessly, or really at all, to know which type of person the main character is. I can get it from other clues about who she is.

Here's another thing that bugs me about this--I know young, single, urban-dwelling women struggling to find themselves and they don't spend all this time obssessing about shoes and clothes! I know there probably are some who do, but does that mean that every character who fits into this general category must behave this way? Is she not a chicklit heroine if she doesn't moan about having to wear last season's Dolce & Gabbana? I didn't think the definition for chicklit was that narrow.

It would be like if all the sci-fi writers got together and decided that if you were to have aliens in your book, the aliens MUST BE GREEN. Otherwise, your book could not be considered sci-fi. WTF?

I also hate it when the shoe/fashion crap pops up in books where it doesn't even make much sense. Right now, I'm reading what I would call a chicklit action/adventure novel with an excellent premise and good writing. Chicklit because the main character is clearly still trying to define herself. And action/adventure because there's running and danger and stuff. But I almost didn't make it past the first couple of chapters because the main character--who, judging by her interests, is not one that I would think would be obssessed with such things--couldn't stop going on about shoes/fashion. I understand why it's being done, to create a character that contrasts with typical stereotype. A warm-hearted attorney, a smart jock, etc. But ONE reference or maybe TWO would have been enough. Would have sparked my interest and made me think, huh, she's not your normal (fill in stereotype here). That would be enough!

Now, I must confess that I'm not the type of person who worries about labels. I want to look nice, and I love a good pair of cute shoes. But I would never save up and spend several hundred dollars on one pair of shoes--do you know how many books that would buy?!? So does that mean I'm cut out of the chicklit movement? They don't write books for people like me who identify with sharp and sassy young women struggling to find out who they really are but don't mind wearing flip flops purchased for ten dollars at Hilo Hattie's in Maui? They are really cool flip flops. : )

*sigh* Bridget Jones, I miss you.

End Rant