My parents went shopping yesterday and came home with two oddly shaped massage things--one for my mom and one for me. They're supposed to be really good at relieving headaches, but the thing looks like some kind of spaceship for inch-tall Martians. I did give it a try yesterday and darn, it did feel good. The only thing is the way it vibrates makes me hand feel all tingly and weird.
The second thing occurred to me a couple of hours after I used it. These things were loose and had a sticker on them saying "Try Me." What if someone with lice or scalp lesions or something else gross used it first and then I rolled that thing all over my head? Ewwww! I wonder if Lysol wipes will take care of icky germs on the plastic feet?
I just saw that commercial for you're the TV boss where the woman tells the mafia guys (The Sopranos?) that she's blocking them because she doesn't want her kids exposed to the violence. Um, where'd she get that skirt? I know, I shouldn't be focused on that, but it's horrible, stripes in a V-pattern. Where'd they find this thing? A 1970s retro clothing store? You know, it's not like I care about fashion, but hideous is hideous and even I can pick that out. Some things, like avocado green stoves and V-pattern striped skirts should never be resurrected. It's bad enough they existed once.
Yesterday, I sent an email to one of my writing buddies. In it, I was talking about the heroine from the WIP and she pointed out how many times I used the heroine's sister's name (Ryne was my previous heroine). She's right, I used it a gazillion times in our note and I define Maia in contrast to Ryne all the time in my head and when I'm emailing about her. I wonder if that's part of the reason why I'm fighting with this book so much--I'm more interested in my other characters still? My friend challenged me to write this next chapter without using Ryne's name and she's right, Maia should be the star of her own story. I'm just not quite sure how to divorce myself from Ryne. It's not like I can tell her and Deke to go away because I need them around until I do edits and galleys. I did decide to finish Maia's character sketch. I started one for her after I did Creed's, but I never filled out much. Maybe this will help yank my head out of the previous story.
I received my Golden Heart judging packet yesterday. Five entries to read and I have until March 1st, I believe. That's the only thing I really looked at was when I needed to be finished. I'll examine everything more closely when I get ready to start reading. I've got my fingers crossed that I don't have a bunch of time travels. I can judge them fairly, but they're my least favorite part of the paranormal category.
I've been wondering why when years ago, I used to read every single one that came out and I decided that was part of the problem--I read too many and some of them weren't good. And two, time travel is hard to write. A lot of times, it just feels clumsy to read and it's the same general stuff all the time. Hero or heroine (usually heroine) put on a magical (cursed) dress (or something else if it's the hero) and gets sent back in time. Of course, the character never ever believes they've time traveled and they accuse everyone of being part of an elaborate hoax complete with actors, costumes and sets. (Yeah, my friends always spend thousands of dollars to pull off a joke.) The character who's traveled in time then proceeds to fall in love with their look-alike relative's spouse who hates the person they replaced because she's a horrible bitch and the heroine (or sometimes hero) decides to stay in the past without running water, electricity, computers, hair dryers, hot running water, etc, all in the name of true love.
After reading the paragraph I just wrote, maybe it's the predictability that I have trouble with. I'd be more interested in a time travel where the h/h traveled to our future. Now that would be different. Hard to pull off, of course, and it would take a lot of world building, but I'd find that a lot more fun to read than another historical disguised as a paranormal. (Yeah, I know, but I don't read historicals.)
Edited to add: I do think I can judge any TT I have fairly--I focus on the writing--it's just not my favorite sub-genre, that's all.
I have to run. It's after 5am and we all know what that means--time to get ready for the EDJ.
