The World Awaits!

In the latest "too much is never enough" news, Scholastic has planned a blockbuster ad campaign for Harry Potter 6 this summer. According to Publisher's Weekly:

To prime the pump for Half Blood, on April 7 Scholastic will launch a multi-million-dollar marketing campaign for the book. "100-Day Countdown to Harry" includes midnight parties at retail locations and the first-ever Harry Potter crossword puzzle in the New York Times.

A multi-layered ad rollout includes video spots asking "Who Will be the Half-Blood Prince?" that will be shown on electronic billboards and airplanes. In July, American and Continental Airlines will air 30-second and one-minute video ads for the book on 50,000 domestic flights.

Down on the ground, Harry will once again have a huge presence in Times Square. Beginning with the midnight release and continuing through July 23rd, the video screen in Times Square will feature special five-minute promotional spots at midnight followed by 15-second spots every hour that week. Online promotions will include Google banner ads, and various activities, contests and trivia at Scholastic.com, including a downloadable countdown clock.
On the bookseller front, retailers recently received a mailing including materials for a concurrent "While You Are Waiting for Harry Potter" countdown campaign. Oversized bookmarks and brochures featuring Half-Blood on one side and a selection of Scholastic fantasy titles to read while fans are waiting for the new Harry Potter on the other were part of the package. In May, Scholastic will ship 40,000 Half-Blood five-foot tall countdown clock standees to retailers across the country, as well as 5.5 million lightning-bolt temporary tattoos to hand out to fans at their midnight parties

Obviously Scholastic believes there are still Muggles in Iowa who have not heard that the new Harry Potter hits the shelves this summer. A countdown clock! And temporary tattoos, too! Oh, I know, you're right. It's an event, Scholastic could fill Hogwarts a million times over with the lucre they make from the HP franchise, and I shouldn't be crabby about it, but still…. A countdown clock?

The appeal of Scottish heroes in the romance novel makes it all the way to India!

It's Spring in New York, opening day is only a few days away, and yes, you too, can go see Hans and Franz batting their little androstenedione-filled hearts out. In football news, it looks like Bloomberg will get his West Side Stadium for the Jets. Can't you just see it? Fall, the leaves are turning bright orange, there's a chill in the air, the smell of roasted nuts (not THOSE!) wafting in the breeze, and towering over the Hudson River, the stadium rises up, dwarfing the Statue of Liberty, and there, along the West Side Hwy, as far as the eye can see, a line of silver strings along the shore, like those old mercury thermometers before they got banned for causing birth defects in children. Slowly, the car horns rise to cacophonous levels as the game begins. It's there, just within their reach, but they can't get there yet. Traffic.

Questions for the day:
1. Did you know that Harry Potter VI was coming out this summer? Yes, or no.
2. If you could take the multi-million dollars and design an ad campaign for a book (any book) what would it look like?
3. Do you like Scottish heroes? (I actually do)

The Literacy Site : Help Children Read By Giving Them Their Own Books

A good cause to help promote literacy and you don't have to do anything but click here

Various and Sundry

Last night I finished Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger. Woo-hee, did this guy peg Texas football. It's the true story of a high school football team and a town's obsession with winning the 1988 Texas State Championship. The author starts out with character portraits of six of the players at the start of the season and then follows them through to the final game. The characters are exquisitely drawn and you can feel the affection that the author feels for them. However, this is not just a football book. It's the story of race in Texas (and I'm not talking the 40 yard dash, either), and a stark look at priorities in the Texas educational system. I grew up in Dallas, and attended many high school football games in my day. The Skyline Raiders weren't that good when I was in the stands, but later they did develop something of a reputation for winning. In the book, one of the characters says "football is king." Well, in Texas, football is bigger than that. It's Zeus. High school, even the Dallas Cowboys (well, before their…cough, cough… adventures with the judicial system). If you don't like football, this book probably isn't the book for you, however, don't dismiss it as just a sports book. This is a book about an entire culture and it's a cautionary tale as well. Highly recommended.

So, in the last week how many of you have conveyed your life-support wishes via email, phone, letter, or telegraph to every single member of your family? One of the issues that has been lost in this whole drama is the story of how Terri Schiavo ended up in a coma in the first place. An eating disorder. MSNBC covers some of the complications that arise from anorexia or bulimia , but this case should be a wake-up call to the women out there who are killing themselves to lose just a "few pounds".

Ah, spring, when a young boy's fancy turns to beating up the Easter Bunny

So, you could have predicted this , couldn't you? Oh, yeah. I did. Harlequin, in conjunction with the Oxygen channel, just set the romance industry back twenty years. Respectability? Pish-posh. We don't need no stinkin' respectability.

The Meaning of Life

I've resurrected myself after the Easter break, ready to get back to work. Today's headlines are all about the dead, dying, and resurrected. According to Drudge:



A more cynical personal than I might have made a joke, or chuckled aloud, might have swallowed a guilty tee-hee. Alas, as all of America is on the Schiavo death-watch, there is no more humor in this land.

And there's only one thing more interesting than watching Terri die, and that's gossip!!! Yes, the Times has an article on the gossip industry in the BUSINESS section. The article is a profile on Liz Smith, who is pretty old school in the gossip biz. A small quote from the article:

Jeannette Walls, the purveyor of gossip at MSNBC, said of Ms. Smith: "She made a decision not to be nasty and not to exist on schadenfreude, and that's not a formula that would work today."

Nope, people are only interested in schadenfreude and family feuds over corpses, million dollar movie contracts, and also mafia secrets.

The 1st Amendment Covers Romance As Well

There's an interesting discussion going on at Alison Kent's Blog and Romancing the Blog about whether romance authors should be a) reading romance and b) critiquing the romance genre in a public forum. I spent a few years 'off' romance as well, mainly because my reading time is rare. There are some authors that I'll always make time for. Nora Roberts' trilogies never disappoint me. It's like a Hershey's chocolate bar. You know what you're getting and it always hits the right spot. I read a few of Karen Marie Moning's books and enjoyed them. But, over all, I didn't read much.

Lately I've been rethinking my philosophy of not reading what I write as arrogance. I love Alison's books, in many ways, she inspired what I write for Harlequin as well, but I'm not sure that reading a romance for analysis isn't as effective as say, reading McKee's book for craft. Why not? Can't a book be used as a tool for learning? What works, what doesn't. Reading taste is subjective, but I firmly believe that good writing, and good stories, and yes, good romance, is not subjective. It can be learned, it can be studied, it can be taught.

I believe Alison's entitled to speak her mind, although I had a debate with my husband the other night about whether or not the Harvard Pres should step down for his comments about women not being genetically wired for math and science. My DH defended him (the rat), saying that professors should have absolute freedom of speech, but I felt like the Pres was always going to be perceived as representing Harvard, even if he was speaking his own opinion. The tag-line, "President of Harvard University" always appeared next to his remarks. So, perhaps people see Alison as representing the romance genre, and thus, the fuss. I don't know.

I'm a huge advocate of free speech, I think the unadulterated expression of ideas is a right that should be cherished and protected, and yet, if I look at my opinions in the earlier paragraph, I can't wonder if I'm being hypocritical. There are a lot of places to weigh in on this discussion, and if you want to comment here, feel free.

I just needed to express MY opinion. :)

Word of the Day

The word of the day is furbelow, noun.
1. A pleated or gathered flounce on a woman's garment; a ruffle.
2. Something showy or superfluous; a bit of showy ornamentation.

According to the origin note, it's perhaps an alteration of Provençal farbella. However, I think this is a Benjamin Franklin word. He spent a lot of time in France. Just thinking out loud.

Bag-O-Characters

Today I'm going to make a few notes on character. One of the things that writer's have is the bag-o-character-traits. It's a favorite character bit that you might see over and over again in the same writer's books. We talk about rehashing plots, but there are characters that are being rehashed, too. For the sake of this discussion, I'll start with characters I don't write simply because I think they're overdone: the kooky eccentric heroine who loves dog, the repressed flower with an overbearing daddy, who usually has sex issues (somebody REALLY needs to analyze THAT family), the hard-drinking, slow-talking alpha male (usually owns a bike) who's been wronged by his woman in the past.

Now, lest anyone think I'm throwing stones, here's my list of characters that I do over: Carol in A Christmas Carol is loosely related to Beth in Breakfast at Bethany's (only Beth has much more backbone than Carol ever had), Amanda in Just Kiss Me is loosely related to Jessica in Pillow Talk, Joe in Just Kiss Me is loosely related to Dominic in It Should Happen To You. How are these people related? The overarching character trait is the same. Carol & Beth, lack of direction, Beth in her career, Carol in her love life. Amanda and Jessica are both overly dedicated to their jobs, Joe and Dominic are both suffering from a lack of self-esteem.

So, okay, I've confessed some of my bigger, darker secrets. But how do you differentiate characters so that they become unique?

See, I was watching Hannah and Her Sisters this Weekend, and although I'm not a big Woody Allen fan (see above on limited bag-o-character-traits), I was impressed with the characterization within the movie. We have the blow-hard, depressive artist who knows all. We have the undermining sister who sees the world only through her eyes and runs over everyone who threatens her narcissism. The confused-middle-aged man who loves his wife, but is excited by the thing out of reach. What made the characters come to life was their tweaking. The undermining sister wasn't a rich-bitch, which is the stereotype, instead she was an underdog actress who yearned to be like her mother, but wasn't talented enough to make it (underdog makes her sympathetic).

The confused middle-aged man, (also played by Dudley Moore in 10) was brought to life by the guilt that he suffered over his affair and his loyalty to his wife. He was never going to leave Hannah and you knew it. The blow-hard depressive artist was giving a nice tweak to his character when you realized he was perceptive (noticed that Lee had been kissed), and also when he stood on his scruples and refused to sell his art to the rock singer.

Why do those stand out? Because they're contradictions to the stereotype, and not only are they contradictions to the stereotype, but they're also contradictions within the character. The artist is not so driven by his desire for fame that he ignores his own pride within his work, which actually not that I'm writing this, have realized could a take on the artist-eschwing-commercialism stereotype. The narcissist sister is a failure within her life, yet suffers rejection again and again. Once again, a contradiction.

Contradictions exist within each of us, and the way an author brings these to life is to show a character in different bits of the universe. Most of us have played several roles within our lives. For me, it's mother, wife, daughter, employee, writer, manager, friend, neighbor. Each of these roles brings a different aspect to my character, and by picking a few different roles for a character, these dichotomies can be highlighted.

Okay, that's all I'm going to say about work today. In things that make you think, the Sunday Times has an article about how we are customizing our life so completely that we're unable to come with anything that doesn't guarantee instant gratification. You know the old codgers who sit around in their rockers and remember the good-old-days? I think I'm turning into one of those. "In my day, we suffered through those commercials to get to the good stuff. And three channels! That was it. No Cartoon Network, or A&E that you could tune to whenever you were bored." I don't know if I'm more nervous about the direction we're moving in, or the fact that I'm turning into an old codger at the ripe old age of 42 (apparently Ms. Rosen, also has a bag-o-articles because this is a reprint? Rehash? of an article in The Atlantic Monthly).

While I was watching the Today Show, they were concerned because Scott Peterson is getting marriage proposals. Don't you want to shake these women? Don't you want to say, "He killed his first wife, and you want that job?" Very sad. Another stereotype you'll never see in my books. The needy female who aches so badly to have a man that she's willing to swim in the dregs of the testosterone jungle and propose to a prison inmate.

And in books news, there's a fascinating article in the Times on the success of Dan Brown and what it's done to his life. I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, and thought it was an excellent example of what a page-turner should be.

Questions for today:
1. What characters are you tired of seeing?
2. Have you ever proposed to a man in prison?
3. What did you think of Da Vinci Code? Are you a fan or rotten-apple-thrower?

Listness

Today, it's all about the List. The New York Times List? Letterman's Top Ten? No, my friends, The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart. Did you ever have a boyfriend list? Well, Ruby (Roo) has such a list and disaster strikes when her list gets outted in her school. The book is YA, but for anyone who remembers the pain of high school, it's one of those things that could happen to any of us. The book got a starred review from Publishers Weekly, who said, "Spot-on dialogue and details make this a painfully recognizable and addictive read."

I had a chance to ask E some questions, mainly about her list (I had one, too):
Kathleen: Do your high school boyfriends know about your book? Any fun stories you'd like to share about that? Any lawsuits?
E: There's a reason this book is written under a pen-name :). Truthfully, I doubt they know. Or care. The feelings of romantic agony in The Boyfriend List are fictionalized from my high school and college experiences, but the horrible stuff Roo goes through -- the panic attacks, the penis information list, the bathroom wall graffiti, the betrayal by the best friend, the leprosy, the shrink, the Spring Fling debacle -- thank goodness I only imagined it.

Kathleen (who is always curious about people who do high school well): if you could go back in time now, what would you change?
E: I think I'd change how I conducted my relationship with my first major boyfriend. I was too much of a doormat, and at the same time was always demanding that we "talk." Only our talks never made anything better. It was a very dramatic romance. I think I'd take some more action, deliver some ultimatums, try and define myself for myself, instead of in relation to him. That lesson -- don't be passive, explain how you want to be treated -- is part of what I think Roo learns in The Boyfriend List.

Kathleen (rhetorical side note): Why are we women such doormats early in life? Isn't that just the way it is?
Kathleen (non-rhetorical question): Did you enjoy the experience of writing YA?
E: The Boyfriend List was the most fun I've had as a writer. Ruby has got a big, precocious mouth on her, which let me just run wild with slang and footnotes and parentheses and run-on sentences. The sequel is called The Boy Book, and comes out in late 2006, but before that I've got a book called Fly on the Wall, which is about a girl who literally becomes a fly on the wall of the boys' locker room -- and sees everything. And I do mean EVERYTHING.

Kathleen: A fly on the wall? Oh, my…..

And there you have it folks, today's book pick, The Boyfriend List (I really wish I never burned mine. It'd be worth money on Ebay.)

A couple of days ago, I talked about whether swearing is a taboo, or not, and then on the Daily Show Wednesday night was Princeton professor Harry Frankfurt (just makes you want to spell out Frankenfurter), talking about his new book, On Bullsh*t. Now, this book has been buzzed about, mainly because of the title, and now sits at Number 11 on Amazon. The actual content of the book is a short essay (67 pages) on the rising use of bs in our culture. Now, okay, this is $10 for a hardcover book that is 67 pages (and according to Jon Stewart, big font and lots of whitespace) and the subject matter is bs. Ah-hem. Do you know those pictures of a person in a mirror, holding up a mirror, which reflects a smaller mirror, and so on , ad infinitum? I feel like the author is making us hold up his book to the mirror, and there's ten million reflections of reflections in there, and they're all the same image. Bullshit.

And in today's Satanic news , there's a pet store in Indiana that recently suffered a fire. The only animal to survive the blaze? A turtle named Lucky, who now has an image of Satan on his shell, complete with horns and a goatee. Lucky will be auctioned off on the internet, as are all animals, food objects, and body parts gifted with images of deities, or non-deities as the case may be.

And that's the way it was: Friday, March 18, 2005.

Yesterday, Today, and Baseballs In Between

In yesterday's judicial watch, Scott Peterson will fry (don't you miss the electric chair?), Robert Blake cried, and Jay Leno came to Michael Jackson's defense (sentences you never thought you'd write). The bulging muscles of baseball are coming under Congressional scrutiny, because, well, Social Security, is like, SO boring, and it's almost Opening Day. Alternatively, it could be that certain members of Congress enjoy those bulging baseball muscles. I don't know.

Today's book news: There's talk of splitting up Viacom and separating CBS et all from Simon & Schuster. Boo. Boo. And think of all those exclusive interviews on 60 Minutes that S&S would lose. I think they're talking diddly.

Today's writing news: The page count is rising.

Today's weather news: Spring, spring, spring!!!!!

And lastly, I'm thinking about people that I think sold their soul. So, here's the start of my list:
Kirstie Alley
Paris Hilton
Clay Aiken

Who else do you think is out there in the world walking around soulless?

The Death of Story?

This weekend I went to Robert McKee's story seminar. For those of you who don't know, Robert McKee is the author of the screenwriter's book entitled, Story. Highly recommended for the intermediate to advanced writer who's looking for something a little more challenging.

First of all, the workshop was excellent, and if you're a writer, I can't rave enough. One of the things he discussed early in the weekend, was the current death of story in film. It was an interesting premise, and I do agree with several of his points: that movies are full of special effects, gee-whiz camera shots, and the obligatory man/woman/dog jumping just beyond the edge of an explosion.

You may wonder what he means by story? Very simply, (and these are my words, not here), it's the classic concept of following a character (or characters) on an up and down journey from an opening event to the final culmination where the character must dig deep within himself to overcome the very thing that he's been trying to overcome during the course of the journey.

According to McKee, there's a structure to story. An up and down pattern of building intensity, using surprise to keep the audience enthralled. As I was working through my current work in progress, I solved quite a few problems that had frustrated me. For me, that alone made the price of the workshop worthwhile. In the audience were screenwriters, script readers, novelists, and even one Harlequin editor, who I shall not name, but who was sent not because she's an aspiring novelists, but because Harlequin is showing an intense interest in craft. Harlequin, I salute you.

In other news, New Jersey has a resolution under consideration in the state Legislature encouraging residents to join "a campaign toward civility, kindness and respect to all." New Jersey has a reputation (and IMHO, it's deserved) of being rough and tumble and okay, they swear a lot, too.

In Diva's Guide, my character is from Jersey, and yes, she swears a lot. And it's not golly-gee-whiz-gosh-willikers, either. She's gritty, gutsy, and not afraid to piss off a lot of people. I'm stating this because I want to give everyone fair warning: she's got a real potty mouth on her, and if that offends you, don't buy the book, don't even pick it up and thumb through it, because I don't want to shock anyone. There, that's my Tipper Gore moment.

I'm in deep deadline doo-doo, so if you sense a slight air of desperation in my blogging, you'll know why. Here a post, there a post, etc, etc. If anyone would be interested in taking a shot, please let me know, because I'd like to have a free guest writers and readers get a chance to play.
So, here's today's questions:

1. Have you noticed a decline in story, both in film and books, maybe an emphasis on style over substance? Just curious about this, and trying to decide if I agree or not.


2. Does swearing bother you? Be honest, I'm curious because it does bother me, which I think is why I gave her such a sewer-mouth because in my head, it's a huge taboo, and she needed taboos


3. Has anybody read Friday Night Lights? I'm in progress now, and it's scary how closely they captured the Texas football mentality.

That's it for today!

The Crowe Conspiracy

I'm feeling better, thank you for asking, and haven't seen much to write about in book news. The new Harry Potter cover. Yawn. So instead I decided to tackle a subject that was hitting the wires last evening. The reports that Al Qaeda wanted to kidnap Russell Crowe in order to destablize America. Apparently in the March issue of GQ, Crowe comes clean (finally!) about the 2001 kidnapping threat. Apparently the Crowe-kidnap-caper was nixed in favor of ramming two airplanes in the World Trade Center, one in the Pentagon, and one into the Capitol. So, I'm thinking, okay, WTC (Pentagon)... Russell Crowe....WTC (Pentagon)...Russell Crowe. We would have lost out on A Beautiful Mind, and Master and Commander, but you know, this was after the whole Meg Ryan-Dennis Quaid break-up, so it's not like we'd be losing you know, Tom Hanks, for instance. Or Dustin Hoffman. Would America have gone to war in Afghanistan over Russell Crowe? Would the FAA have grounded planes over Russell Crowe? Would the FCC have fined Howard Stern over Russell Crowe?

Just thinking, that's all....

And tomorrow morning, I'll be heading out to take the Robert McKee Story seminar. Robert McKee is the writing coach character in the movie, Adaption, and I've heard him speak once before at a conference. I'm hoping to come home with my book written (bwahahahahaha, that's the cold medication talking). Anyway, I'll be away until Tuesday when I'll report back.

Toodles.
Kathleen, snow-bound in New York

On Reading

Mediabistro has an article discussing why writers should read more. It stuck with me, considering the cold drugs I'm taking that means it must be serious, and I'm wondering if perhaps writers should be reading more. I know lots of writers. Lots and lots of writers, and every one (including me) says, "I should read more."

I think I shall.

Yesterday we caught a momentary glimpse of spring. Temps in the fifties, sunshine, most of the snow being melted away. It's not back in the thirties and dropping and snow is falling. Again. It's March, isn't it? Somebody tell me it's going to end.

And in Brooklyn news, a cop ticketed a Girl Scout's dad for selling cookies...because he wasn't properly licensed. If you're looking for Samoyas, you better schlep to Queens.

Keeping it short.

Death Warmed Over

Yes, that is my current physical state of being. It seems like every February I get knocked with a flu thing that pretty much slays me. I'll be taking a short hiatus, when hopefully I'll regain some of my brain cells.

Yours, not in sickness, only in health, :)
Kathleen

The Next Big Thing

The Next Big Thing in Parenting Discipline, have the cops come and arrest your kid. Who knew? I'm reading this to my two hellions today!

And now, nothing to do with parenting, discipline, or hellions. Today we're going to talk about authors with great titles. Today's guest is Johanna Edwards, author of The Next Big Thing, a book about a plus-size heroine becomes a reality TV show contestant and discovers she's already beautiful enough to be the next big thing.

Johanna (and yes, the 'h' is NOT silent), has a job that lets her talk books with authors. Another fab job. I asked Johanna about some of her experiences on the show, and here's what she wrote back:

Johanna: When I was in college I got invited to go out to Hollywood to attend movie press junkets. My first time out was for "Road Trip" and Dreamworks hosted a huge after party with the cast. I managed to cozy up to Seann William Scott (who is so gorgeous in person). We had beers together and even played pool for, like, five minutes. He was so flirty and sweet. I totally thought he was putting me on and being fake but the next day, when we had roundtable interviews over breakfast, he came up, gave me a hug, and said, "What's up! It's my friend Johanna from Memphis." That still stands out as one of my favorite moments.

Kathleen: Another thing I've noticed since trying to be more faithful on the blogging trail is that it's difficult for me to switch between blog-person and author-person, and I asked her if she has some of the same problems.

Johanna: I've found it to be really easy to switch back and forth. When I was a journalist I always started out by transcribing my interviews. Then I would build my stories around the most interesting quotes. I write fiction the same way. I focus mainly on writing the dialogue and then I go back and "fill in" the description and action scenes between the characters' speeches. As far as rituals, I MUST listen to music while I write. Usually U2, No Doubt, Tori Amos, Moby, Green Day, and so on.

Kathleen: And for those of you who don't know, Johanna is from Memphis and I was curious if she had a cool, Tennessee accent. Here's the answer:

Johanna:I think I have a strange accent. I have a light southern accent mixed with a few British sayings here and there (a holdover from my time in England). My voice is sort of deep for a girl. People used to always tease me and say I sounded like a phone sex operator. Oh, dear. That's certainly never been my goal. You can actually hear me speak on the "Book Talk" website. That's my voice on the "open" and "close" of the show.

Kathleen: Last thing, I'll be speaking at the RWA New York City chapter tomorrow on creating characters. If you haven't to be in the neighborhood, please feel free to stop by. I'll be the one who sounds like a frog.

The Need For Speed

Apologizing for the no-post Wednesday, but I got knocked in the head with a cold-thing, and I spent yesterday evening under heavy medication. Currently I'm a little drugged; unfortunately, my deadlines do not care.

I'm supposed to get a new computer today, WAY faster than my current one, which is a mere 400 mhz. AND, and, and, and, the cool thing is the display will support 1280x1024 (I use laptops, not desktops, and I'm currently running 1024x768). Can you tell I'm a computer slut????

Yesterday I went into the bookstore and was perusing (and working, too), when I spied with my own little eyes, a book on the shelves by romantic suspense author extraordinaire, Dee Davis, and it's called, Endgame. It's great!! If you like romantic suspense, you should check this one out. The heroine is a profiler out to track down an assassin, but things aren't always like they appear... hehehehe....

And, there's another book that caught my eye called "Zounds! A Browser's Dictionary of Interjections." I always have trouble coming up with expressions for my characters that are unique and appropriate. My favorite was Smeg, which I used for my geek-heroine in It Should Happen to You. It's from the BBC science-fiction spoof, Red Dwarf. Anyway, just thought I'd mention it....

In today's news briefs, the pope is "progressively improving", Maureen Dowd is ripping up on Botox in Hollywood. You go, girl, and I expect to see lines on your suspiciously unlined forehead tomorrow.

The Observer has done a little spoofing on Jonathan Safran Foer, whose new book is coming out next month. Sometimes reading makes my head hurt. Yesterday was Dr. Seuss's birthday. If I was feeling better, I'd write a poem. Sorry, you're getting short-changed today. Maybe tomorrow, I'll find a way. Maybe, maybe, maybe I say. And maybe not, because what's a day? (insert bow here)

I added in Google ads, and right now they're marriage oriented because Google uses content to determine what to put up there, not keywords. So, I'm wondering if I insert a lot of book, book, book, book, agent, literary publishing, romance, book, book, writing, fiction, creative craft, maybe they'll change.... Apologize for that moment of key-word fluff.


Tomorrow I'll be visiting with Johanna Edwards, author of The Next Big Thing.

Writer Interrupted

Oftentimes, life interrupts in writing. For instance, today there's about eight inches of snow on the ground and so the schools are called off. Thus, one concentrated writing day turns into 20% juice, made from concentrate. But, on the upside, I get some nice exercise shovelling snow the old fashioned way. One of my favorite reasons for being a writer is freedom. Freedom to take a day, an hour, a week off whenever you want/need to. Now, don't get me wrong, I have to make it up somewhere, but it's a very flexible occupation.

There's some writing news today, nothing that's more interesting than shovelling snow, though, and in current events, Fox Television has contracted Bin Laden and al-Zarqawi to star in the new version of The Simple Life: Bound for America! It's the story of two, whacky star-crossed terrorists who team up, trying to make their way into the home of the free and brave, by whatever means necessary. In our first episode, Bin Laden has his Sidekick hacked by the CIA, and the messages are leaked to the Internet. Around the world, Al Quaida members and Dr. Doom work frantically to change their cell numbers. Meanwhile, back in the Airstream trailer, tooling around the desert sands of Iraq and Iran, al-Zarqawi works to find a name that's easier for his publicity people to spell.

So, for now, I'm off to shovel. Will talk more tomorrow.