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!
Halloweenie
Heh heh heh…Dana Summers is on my weird little wavelength with today’s Bound and Gagged:
read moreManfiction
Stephen King’s “Who Says Men Don’t Read” column from Entertainment Weekly, a late September installment of his “The Pop of King” column (yes, I’m behind in my reading), provides some interesting food for thought about genre fiction in general, but the divide of the sexes in particular. In countering the industry’s moanings that “men don’t read anymore!,” King has this to say:Here’s a concept so simple it’s easy to miss: What men want from an Elmore Leonard novel is...
read moreAnnual Dose of Crazy
So two years ago I decide to throw the biggest wrench in the world into my already packed schedule and do NaNoWriMo. Thirty days, fifty thousand words–one month to a complete first draft of a novel. Normally, I’m a save-it-up-behind-the-dam gal. I’ll think and fidget and think and ponder and then finally sit down and blurt out whole chapters at a time. Those chapters tend to be relatively nicely written, so rewrites are actually fun and quickly productive.But a novel in a month seemed challenging and maybe fun, so I tried...
read moreTen Bands/Artists That Remind You of High School
Bruce Springsteen – “tramps like us…baby we were born to run!”Duran Duran – “…and I’m hungry like the wolf!”R.E.M. – “…radio free Europe…”John Cougar Mellencamp – “…little ditty ’bout Jack and Diane…”The Police – “don’t stand…don’t stand so…don’t stand so close to me…”The Pretenders – “…now I’m back on the train, yeah….oooooohhh….back...
read moreLeaf Peepin’
mimi père and Wicked have lived in the mountains for seven years now, and this is the first time we’ve visited in the fall. Leaf peepers, the locals call those of us who slow down traffic and wander about agape. But can you blame us? Check these out:Autumn. Le sigh. I have a sudden urge to go read some Keats.
read moreYou’re Lucky Enough
Woke up to this today:As the little plaque in the powder room says, “If you’re lucky enough to be in the mountains, you’re lucky enough.”
read moreStaying Young
Happy B-Day to me! Normally birthdays involve lots of soul-searching and whatnot, but I think the best advice for staying young is courtesy of baseball’s legendary Satchel Paige:Avoid fried meats, which angry up the blood.If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.Keep your juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.Go very gently on the vices, such as carrying on in society–the social ramble ain’t restful.Avoid running at all times.Don’t look back–something might be gaining...
read moreMeme From Hell
Dara over at Slave to Romance is dead meat. I spent all day with her in a workshop yesterday, and she didn’t say she’d tagged me for this meme! (Okay, not really dead meat, since she is so very nice, but paybacks may be in order.) Here we go, the longest meme in the world:1. What is your occupation? Teacher, writer, mom, Chief Cook and Bottlewasher2. What color are your socks right now? No socks unless it’s cold outside; I’m a barefoot Florida gal!3. What are you listening to right now? The background music for Zelda:...
read moreIf You Can’t Say Something Nice
Lauren Lise Baratz-Logsted has some excellent advice for writers today. In her “Dear Author: Don’t Be a Jerk. No, Really.” post at Red Room, she takes authors to task for distasteful behavior. Things you’d think authors would realize, like not calling out other authors, not dissing authors who have been kind enough to give you a blurb, restraining yourself over negative reviews, not blasting the art department over a bad cover, not acting like a know-it-all, etc. All of this seems common sense, but……there...
read moreThe Bed List/The Dinner List: Special Edition
Why, oh why do we take so long sometimes?BED LIST: PAUL NEWMANThose iconic blue eyes enchanted women for years. He was so handsome, he actually lost movie roles during his early career because he was too good looking. Good thing they got over it so we could drool over him in Hud, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cool Hand Luke, and dozens of other roles. No offense, Robert Redford, but you were outclassed–I’d take Butch Cassidy over the Sundance Kid any day.DINNER LIST: PAUL NEWMANNewman himself found it humorous that he’d probably be...
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