If there’s one thing Southern gals know how to do, it’s gab. Silly or serious, all it takes is a glass of iced tea and time. Pull up a chair, kick off your shoes, and make yourself comfy…get ready to dish!
Blather, Rinse, Reboot
One of the great things about attending an RWA National Conference in your own back yard is that you can get right down to work on the energy surge. That’s a good thing, too; I got my marching orders from Dream Agent. The short version: polish and send Little League, two chapters and a treatment for both the Hell’s Belles and Arden Grove series, and one completely new idea. Oh, and nuke The Five Step Plan and start over. Le sigh. So I have homework, and lots of it, added to the assignment I’d already given myself: Graduate to a big girl...
read moreBiscuit Worthy
I can’t remember where I picked it up, but the Bed/Dinner List game always provides some interesting conversation in that lull between clearing the plates and dishing up the pie. Here’s how you play: Name a well-known man, then say whether he’d be named to the Bed List (i.e., you’d go to bed with him and not kick him out, crackers be damned) or the Dinner List (you’d love to have dinner with him, but not necessarily hook up for post-dessert activities, if you get my drift). Once you’ve called a guy, no one...
read moreIdentity Crisis
*sigh*If you’re a semi-regular reader of the dish, you can probably tell that mimi has been going through a funk. An existential crisis. A “who am I, and remind me why I’m writing this blog?” moment. Or moments. Or months, if you want to be candid about it.All mimi can claim is an insane work schedule and, indeed, a bit of an identity crisis. For the blog, that is. mimi has always been a Jill of All Trades type rather than a one-and-done personality. Likewise, the dish covers everything from writing to teaching to home...
read moreBrontë Sisters Power Dolls
As one YouTube comment stated, “this is brilliant wrapped in bacon.” Love. Hilarity. Thanks to JoAnn Ross for the tipoff!
read moreI Write Romance
mimi is always amused by the looks she gets when a well-meaning questioner finds out that she reads and writes romance. There’s never a way to explain it that suits folks. You see, it’s hard to think clearly when you’re working around a bundle of stereotypes.Luckily, mimi has Eileen Dreyer–who writes romance as Kathleen Korbel–to explain on her behalf. Check out her fabulous article posted at cnn.com.Yeah. What she said!
read moreFresh Apples
mimi has been a hardworking girl for lo, these many years, and since this is the last year of National Board bonus money, it was time to upgrade. The nice people at the Apple store have sent me (courtesy of my credit card, of course) this lovely wee MacBook.So shiny! So pretty! So fast! mimi is v. excited about possibilities and has already downloaded a fresh new copy of Scrivener so she can keep working on the book that is taking foreeeeeeeeeever to revise. Maybe revising will be more fun now that I have a new toy. Let’s hope.
read moreThe Word Series
Props to Novel-T, which has created a lineup of American literature-inspired T-shirts. The baseball-themed shirts feature iconic characters and writers, like Hester Prynne, Moby-Dick and Captain Ahab, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and writers Whitman, Poe, and Thoreau. Each “jersey” features an icon befitting the player, like a whale (duh), a Captain’s “C,” paintbrushes, and a raft. My favorite is the international “no” circle/slash for Bartleby the Scrivener, who would, of course, “prefer not...
read moreIt’s About Danged Time
A friend sent me a link to this brilliant ad campaign for, of all things, tampons. The model in the first ad is actually a former intern at JWT who helped design the concept of the ad campaign. Clearly, she gets it (unlike the idjit who came up with the “have a happy period” tagline, who probably thinks we all dream of the day we can wear white during that time of the month and spin and go salsa dancing). The second spot just nails the American obsession with demographic testing. Funny stuff!
read moreRain, Rain
Wouldn’t you know it? It’s the first day of Spring Break, and it’s pouring out there. *sigh*Sometime this week, I have to catch myself up on everything. I’ve let the blog slip, the laundry slip, the writing slip…I know it’s because I am SLAMMED at work, but still. So, this week, playing catchup. And doing the taxes. And the laundry. And maybe doing something Spring Break-y.
read moreNewbery Update: 1960s
Now we’re on a roll. The 1960s are the first decade where I had multiple reads already. Let’s see what else popped up:Onion John by Joseph Krumgold – This book marks the first time an author won the Newbery more than once (other double winners include E.L. Konigsburg, Lois Lowry, Katherine Paterson, and Elizabeth George Speare). This book didn’t charm me as much as …And Now Miguel, his first Newbery title. Onion John, the town eccentric, becomes the focus of a town-wide improvement plan, with interesting results....
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