This isn't funny any more!

I'm blogging tonight for Monday. They're predicting 4 t0 6 inches of snow here starting tonight and I might be in no frame of mind to post tomorrow. :-/

Honestly, talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous. It was 51 degrees here this afternoon and I turned the heat off and opened up a couple of windows to get some fresh air. Talk about glorious. And I had Sunday night baseball and the official start of the regular season to look forward to. I'd say easy come, easy go except that there was nothing easy about earning our one day of spring.

I'm feeling better about my To Do List right now. I spent Saturday working on the most arduous of the items on it--mailing out bookmarks. I'm down now to just a couple of hundred for In Twilight's Shadow and I managed to get rid of a few hundred more of In the Midnight Hour as well. Yea! I still have one more request that came to my PO box to mail out and then I'll be caught up with that as well.

I also mailed out pretty much all my Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs) so that's another item off the list. I think that covers all the reviewers now, but I did keep a few extra copies just in case something crops up.

Anyway, I think I'm off to bed. I'll need to get up early to give myself extra time on my morning commute.

Y'all know I have a story to tell about the PLA signing I did on Wednesday, right? I always seem to end up with stories. :-)

I had two hours from the time I finished at the Evil Day Job (EDJ) until my scheduled hour for the signing. RWA (Romance Writers of America) asked that I be there 15 minutes early, so actually 1 hour 45 minutes, but that's still a lot of time, right? Um, actually not so much.

First, I talked for about 15 minutes with a couple of guys at the EDJ, then I went to the ladies' room and started getting ready--you know, put on makeup, change clothes and all that. It left me with an hour to make it from the EDJ to the convention center for the signing. Since Google Maps informed me it was a 17 minute ride, I figured that even with traffic, I'd still be there in plenty of time.

I was wrong.

My problems began when I saw the construction ahead signs. Months ago, I'd heard that they were doing work to separate a highway and a freeway where they ran on the same stretch of road, but I'd forgotten all about it until that moment. It was an area I never travel in, had not plans to travel in, so why would I retain that information? It all came back to me as traffic came to a dead stop. I kept looking at the clock going, OMG, I'm going to be late!

I was on that freeway for about 7 miles and it took an incredible amount of time to go that distance. Every time I thought it would get better, we'd stop again.

Then there was the off ramp to I94 being backed onto the freeway I was on. I didn't need to get off there, but the road I needed to exit on was the next one after 94, and because I'm so unfamiliar with the area, I didn't realize I could have gone around those cars and still been able to exit. Instead, I sat in my SUV, creeping forward little by little.

Luckily, I didn't get lost and I even found the entrance to the parking ramp attached to the convention center. It was 4pm. I needed to be at the booth by 4:15 to sign at 4:30. I got a decent parking spot and high-tailed it inside and across the skyway only to discover I was parked as far as I could be from the PLA exhibit hall. Gah!

The first two exhibit halls were also in use and packed with people there for their meetings. I had to thread my way through them as I headed toward where I needed to be. I finally found the PLA Attendee check-in, but couldn't find the Exhibitor check-in, which is where I needed to be. I got in line anyway and was pointed to the correct area.

Only when I got there, I found Will-Call, On-Site Registration, and Accommodation booths, but no Exhibitor check-in. I got in line at on-site and was guided to exhibitor. They were divided by alphabet and I got in the line that included the grouping for the letter R for RWA. I was wrong again. It seemed they'd rearranged who had what part of the alphabet, but didn't change the signage. I got in another line.

Finally, badge holder and booklet in hand, I could enter the exhibit hall. I need booth 307 for RWA. I'm looking through the booklet as I walk, trying to locate a map of the hall. I can't find one and no one I asked knew if there was one in the book or not. I decide to wing it. I turn to the right, looking for a booth number somewhere. Anywhere. I see none.

After a few eternal minutes, I find signs hanging at the very back of the hall, number the aisles. I, of course, had turned the opposite direction. The 300 aisle was on the other side of the hall.

I have to thread my way through lots of people who are looking at the other booths, which means their pace was leisurely while I'm in a panicked, "OMG! I'm late!" mode. I reach the aisle and turn right. Wrong again. I need to head the other way.

Hurrying down the aisle, I'm frantically scanning for an RWA sign, but I see nothing. I make the cross aisle, nearly at the opposite wall, but there's no RWA. OMG!

I can't find anyone to ask. I take another frantic scan of the area and spot a rack with tote bags on them. The rack says "Romance Writers of America." I look up at the sign, but it says something like Cafe de' Amore. (I might have the name wrong, I did mention blind panic about being late.) The booth was done in a really cute, Italian bistro theme, but there was nothing except the tote bag sign that said RWA and that really threw me.

It was 4:27.

I took off my jacket, grabbed my signing pens out of my purse, and began autographing books.

Overall, the signing went well, I think. I didn't say anything too stupid, although I did ask a librarian from Roseville, MN how she was enjoying Minneapolis. Sigh. In my defense, I didn't look below her name on her badge, so I didn't see the Roseville part (it's a suburb of the Twin Cities). I think that was the dumbest thing I said all afternoon, though--I hope!--so I can live with that.

I ran out of books in half an hour, but hung around to talk and pass out bookmarks until my time was up at 5:30. I managed to 1) find my car without any difficulty! and 2) make it to the freeway I needed to be on without getting lost. Anyone who knows me well, knows these are two things I can't take for granted. :-) (And once I was on said freeway, I knew where to go, so it was all good from there.)

The librarians I talked to were wonderful and it reminded me why I always enjoyed hanging out in libraries while I was in school.

Overall, it was a great experience, but I almost wonder if being late wasn't the universe's way of keeping me from stressing about signing? I mean, how could I worry about sounding like an idiot when I was frantic about how late I was running?

Today I have to go down to the Minneapolis Convention Center and sign books for a librarians' function. I love librarians. Some of my fondest memories are the hours I wiled away at the library and I even wanted to work in the county library as a part time job while I was in high school. I didn't, but I did get hired for a few days to help them rearrange all the books.

Why the "gah" in the title then? I'm horribly, painfully shy. Meeting strangers is torturous for me. And it gets better--I can't talk and sign books at the same time. If I try, I misspell something (and that something could possibly be my own name, that's how much I can't multi-task at signings). Intelligent chit chat? That's completely beyond me. I've been utterly dreading this event for three weeks.

So why did I volunteer? Good question. It seemed like a good idea back at the beginning of January when the opportunity was mentioned. Of course that was nearly 4 months out and now I wish with all my might that I'd passed it up. It's bad when I'm quoting Nietzsche to myself: "What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger."

If you're one of the librarians I meet at the Romance Writers of America booth, I apologize in advance for being such an idiot in these types of situations.

The only bright spot is that conventions mean name tags so I shouldn't have to ask someone to spell "Ann" three times because I'm too rattled to retain information. I can just look up and see her badge and go, ah, yeah, that's right. Ann. :-)

Send some good vibes my direction. I need them.

Sorry, the blog title is as clever as I can manage on the amount of sleep I had last night. :-)

This is going to be kind of a newsy post today since I've had a pretty exciting couple of days.

First on the list is that In the Midnight Hour is a finalist for Best Paranormal in the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence!

Every author has a book that's a little more special to them than the others and Midnight Hour is one of those stories for me. And I'll totally deny I ever said this if any of the characters from other books ask! I guess I'm lucky to have more than one title that I would call the book of my heart.

Second, I received my first review for In Twilight's Shadow this morning and it's a great one! This is from Detra Fitch at Huntress Reviews:

"The story is so well written that Maia's anguish and despair seemed to dance on my nerves, making this a compulsive page-turner."

This is my first review for Twilight and it's always a nervous moment to see what people think of the latest baby. I was thrilled to read this and now I can relax--a little bit. :-)

And so concludes the exciting news portion of this blog. :-)

Last night I was nearly done with the chapter I was working on--within spitting distance--and I vowed that I would not go to bed until I finished it. I was getting tired, but I persevered, and I did finish it. At 10:39 at night. That's really late since the alarm goes off at 4am for the Evil Day Job (EDJ).

Of course, I didn't fall asleep right away. I was too busy running scenarios through my head for the next chapter and wondering if it would be too much talking in back to back chapters if I went with Idea A.

Maybe that's why I had the weird dreams all night that continually woke me up. The only one I remember had writing people in it--not characters, I mean people in the business. I might not have known any of them, but I knew what they did. Dreams are funny that way.

So other than the fab review, it's been a rough morning for me. I couldn't get out of bed, was running late for work, and barely punched in on time. At least I haven't had to resort to the second cup of coffee. Yet.

It's snowing here today. (I promise this post will not be about the weather!) It's the slow-falling, heavy snow that we usually get in March. I don't like snow, I never will, but today there was a quiet beauty to the landscape.

It's the kind of day where I'd love to be at home. If I had a fireplace, I'd like a small fire going and a cup of cocoa. As much as I love coffee, today is a cocoa day. It's a day for quiet relaxation, a day to enjoy the softer moments of life.

Those days, the ones where we can just sit and stare out the window at the weather, seem few and far between. Life has become go-go-go all the time. For everyone.

It's especially obvious when I drive. I'll be doing 75 in a 60 zone and people will tailgate me. My residential street has a speed limit of 25mph, but people zoom by at 40. Never mind that there are small children, pets, and senior citizens who live on the road.

Why do people try to cram in more and more stuff each day? I know that I'm as guilty as the next person, although I've streamlined to the point where the stuff that I'm trying to do is writing or promotion related in some way. I've jettisoned other hobbies, other interests all to find more time to keep up with my second job. That extra time has remained elusive.

Normally, driving in weather like this leaves me stressed, but I'd left the house early because I didn't know what the weather was like. I was lucky and very little snow had fallen overnight and I was able to take a nice, leisurely drive in to the Evil Day Job. I've started getting off the freeway a ramp earlier, so I even manage to avoid the stress of the backup of people headed in to the EDJ with me. So I arrived today feeling unstressed and relaxed. Wow. What a difference that made in how I feel today!

I tell myself that I should leave the house early every day even if there is no weather event, but I know I won't. It's too tempting to stay in bed in the morning--I'm too tired to get up--and then I end up hugely stressed because of the time.

That's what I guess makes today a special kind of day. The quiet snow falling, my relaxed commute in, a relatively quiet morning so far. It's all good.

It looks like I'll be saving the stress for the commute home. The snow has started to really come down fast and furious now and it's accumulating quickly. It might be one of those white-knuckled, 1:15 minute drives home. Guess I better enjoy this mellow feeling while I can.

Sorry, I meant to post yesterday, but I ran out of time. You see, Wednesday was my day and I was busy enjoying it. And of course, informing people that it was my day.

Okay, you're thinking, she's delusional. Maybe she got confused. Nope, Yesterday bright and early my phone rang. It was Doug Steenland, the big kahuna at NWA--my Evil Day Job (EDJ). Doug had a recorded message to let me know it was my day. When I hung up the phone and saw all the guys had hung up from their talk with Doug, I informed them that it was my day and we went from there. ;-)

Since I said they could all go home with pay, they were more than happy to agree that it was my day. None of them left, though, because they wanted to stay at the EDJ and celebrate my day with me.

My day was a good one, BTW. I actually managed to be clever a couple of times in conversation and made people laugh. We were given profit sharing checks because NWA made money last year. I didn't get a whole lot, but I can't complain because it's "free" money. Even traffic largely cooperated and I wasn't too stressed or frazzled on the drive in to the EDJ.

The only way my day could have been better was if the coworker from hell had been off. Unfortunately, he wasn't, but his stops over in my area were the only blights on my day.

When I arrived home, my new ergonomic keyboard that I'd ordered to use on the Mac was on my porch and a little later UPS brought my wireless laser mouse and my USB hub, further improving my day. I hooked them all up to the iMac with relative ease. I say relative because I have this bad habit of putting batteries in backward. I know I do this and I even pay careful attention whenever I put batteries in anything, but I still always manage to screw up. And when my laser mouse didn't work, I opened the compartment, and sure enough, I'd done it again. Sigh.

I discovered one problem I'm having with the Mac. I downloaded Neo Office yesterday with the intention of writing on my new computer now that I have the ergonomic keyboard, but I couldn't find any pull-down menus to set my preferences. Then I downloaded Firefox and couldn't find any pull-down menus there either! So I need to learn where those features are located on the iMac programs so that I can set my preferences and defaults. I did find a series of tutorials on the Apple website for people making the switch from PC to Mac, but I didn't have an opportunity to through them all.

Anyway, overall, my day was wonderful and I want another day like that today. We'll see how it goes.

My new iMac computer arrived and it's beautiful! It's also a joy to use and I fell in love with it in less than 24 hours. Now I want a Mac laptop, too!

Of course, I have a story about the delivery of the new computer.

When I ordered the computer, I asked my parents if I could have it delivered to them at their house. I'm at the Evil Day Job (EDJ) Monday through Friday and I was sure the delivery would be during the week. And sure enough, the original estimated arrival date was Tuesday, March 18.

Saturday morning, as I'm drinking coffee, I decide to check the tracking number to see where the computer is now and see that it's on the Fed Ex truck, scheduled for a Saturday delivery! =8-O

I hurry up and call my dad since I don't have a clue when Fed Ex is going to arrive and it was already after 9am. This is where I got my first hint that things weren't going to go as discussed. His reply was he wanted to go to the grocery store. I was like, okay, but could you leave Mom home--just in case? And that's what he did.

It never occurred to me that this would become an ongoing issue for the day. I'd assumed--incorrectly it seems--that they would still take delivery of the computer for me even if it was Saturday because I needed to write, and in my mind, that's every bit as much of a commitment as the EDJ. I assumed wrong.

The first call from my parents came at noon. Could my dad have the tracking number? He's going to call and find out where it's at. I said, well, yeah, but-- Hello? Hello? He'd gone to get a piece of paper to write down the number. When he finally got back on the phone, I read him what it said at the Fed Ex site: 8:05 on truck for delivery. He conceded that Fed Ex wasn't going to know exactly where the truck was and when it could be expected to make delivery.

There were more calls to tell me that the computer had yet to arrive. At 1:30 it's my mom on the line suggesting they just leave a note on the door for the Fed Ex guy to drive over to my house instead. Yeah, right, like he's going to do that with a computer.

I conceded that no writing would be accomplished and that I was going to have to drive over to my parents' house. I told my mom that I'd be there as soon as I took a shower. Yes, it's true, I was still in my pajamas while I was trying to write.

I was just getting ready to leave my house when the phone rang again. The computer was there. Yea! I drove over and got it and brought it home.

Why were my parents so hot to leave the house? Did they have lunch plans with friends? Did they have matinee tickets at the theater?

Nope, they wanted to go to the natural store and eat free samples.

I kid you not. This was far more important than my writing and it would be obvious to anyone else, right?

I love my parents dearly, but they can make me insane. I guess it's mutual. I can't help but wonder, though, what they would have done if this was during the week and I was at the EDJ? It wasn't as if I didn't consult with them on the delivery thing before I even placed an order for the computer and it wasn't as if they didn't know it could come on a Saturday. I told them the delivery range and there were no protests like Saturday is free sample day. :-)

Anyway, the computer is home and set up without any need to consult instructions. I turned it on and it recognized my other computers on the network without my having to do a thing! (Keep in mind that after three or four days of work, I still can't get my two Windows XP computers to access each other! I can get on the desktop and access the laptop, but not the other way around.) Um, come to think of it, the Mac only reads the laptop, too, so clearly the issue is the PC desktop.

I didn't get to use the Mac too much. I have to move the old desktop out of the prime spot, put the Mac in that spot, dig out my printer and other peripheral disks to load the drivers, and get my programs loaded, but I was immediately struck by how easy the Mac is. I turned it on and it just worked. Wow! What a concept.

The only two things I don't like about it are the keyboard and the mouse. I need an ergonomic keyboard and my old one is so old, it doesn't even have a USB plug, so I ordered a new one. The mouse is just awful! The cord is short and constantly in my way and it's too flat to fit comfortably in my hand. I also ordered a cordless laser mouse, and since I'm going to lose the two USB ports on the sides of the Apple keyboard, I got a USB hub, too.

It's worth it, though, and I get to avoid Vista. Hurrah!

My Evil Day Job can be kind of brain numbing, so I have far too much time to think. Yesterday I was mulling over clichés.

All the experts say we should avoid clichés and I'd agree with that--generally speaking--but what I was mentally debating while I sat at the EDJ was when is something fresh and new so distracting that instead of being part of a good story, it becomes more about the phrase than about what the author is trying to convey? Clear as mud?

For example, in my WIP when the hero smiles at the heroine, she felt like she was hit by_____. A ton of bricks? Over used. A speeding locomotive? That's also been done. A runaway freight train? Same problem.

So be unique, I thought, be original. She was hit with the force of a rhinoceros attacking a tour bus. Um, definitely different, but if I came across that in a book, it would pull me right out of the story and I'd be like, whoa!

So maybe the cliché works better here? As her eyes met his, it felt as if she'd been hit by a runaway freight train.

This isn't what I actually wrote, of course. I did find a middle ground and tied it to the heroine being a glass artist. I might change it still as I reread and fine tune, maybe it might get cut out on revisions all together.

But it led me to wonder if sometimes writers would be better served by just going with the cliché? Are there times where it's best to just to forget about breaking new ground? What do y'all think as either readers or writers or both?

In other news, I signed up for digital cable and my dad and I installed the cable box yesterday. My service had a deal--the digital starter package for $29.99 for 6 months--but what I really wanted was the MLB network since I like to watch baseball while I write. TBS stopped showing Braves games, WGN hardly shows any Cubs games any more, and the Twins lost Torii Hunter (my favorite player) and Johann Santana, our Cy Young Award-winning pitcher. It's going to be a semi-brutal season to only really have the Twins.

I could have titled this blog "Adventures in Cable Box Installation," but it really wasn't that hard. The only problem was the girl at the cable "store" said we didn't need to call the cable company to activate the box. So I'm looking at the schematics going, "everything is hooked up exactly right, why isn't it working?" One call to the company and ten minutes was all it took to get it all working. And get this: One remote for the TV, cable box, and DVD player. Wow.

Only it turns out that the digital starter pack has maybe half a dozen more channels than standard cable plus the channels that play music and that's it! What's the point of having digital cable without BBC America and Gameshow Network and all the other cool things? A quick check online showed the digital preferred package plus HBO was on special for $39.99 for six months, so I upgraded to that. We'll see how much use I get out of it.

Tuesday it was 49 degrees and sunny. I drove with my car windows rolled down for most of my commute home, enjoying the fresh air and the warm temperatures. It was super fabulous! Massive snow melt in my backyard and I can even see grass around my Styrofoam plant protectors. Ah, bliss!

For those of you who've read through my computer dithering, I finally made a decision on Monday afternoon. The Evil Day Job (EDJ) offers employee discounts at Apple, so I went online and ordered an iMac when I got home that day.

It's actually kind of funny how much trouble I have buying desktop computers when I don't have the same problem with laptops. But then my Sony Vaio is the first laptop I've had that's lasted for three years. Usually, I kill them in the 1-2 year range. But my desktops, those I keep for 6-8 years, which I guess makes it a much bigger commitment for me psychologically. I think it's been about 2 years that I debated back and forth on the desktop. First, I decided to wait for Vista, then I decided to wait for SP1 for Vista, then I added Mac to the mix when I kept hearing such horror stories about Vista. My last option was to just keep running the old desktop until a new OS came out--Microsoft is working on the successor to Vista as we speak. That plan was shot to pieces by the current desktop slowing down to tortoise speed.

So the commitment is made and I customized my iMac, adding more RAM, so there are no returns. I'm truly stuck now. Everyone has told me how much I'll like it and I did love the Mac I had back when I was in college. I'm sure I'll love this one, too. I hope.

Now, I need to clean my office so I can put the iMac at my desk and move the PC to the ancillary desk behind it. My plan with the old computer is to delete everything I can off the drive and see if that doesn't help it hang on for a while longer.

Anyway, I bored everyone at the EDJ on Tuesday with tales of my new computer, and now I can add my blog readers to that group. I can't help it, though, this is a major purchase for me. :-)

There will, of course, be reports after the new computer arrives. You've been warned. ;-)

I have a love/hate relationship with Daylight Savings Time. On the one hand, I love having that extra sunlight in the evening. It's especially nice in Minnesota when it's cold and snow is on the ground because it makes if feel as if summer is right around the corner.

On the other hand, my body is not adjusted and that hour makes a big difference. 9:30 the clock says, time to go to bed. 8:30 my body says, we're not sleepy yet. And then there's the morning. 4:30 the alarm clocks says. 3:30 my body disagrees, and tries to go back to sleep. It will take me a good two weeks to acclimate to this change and my body will be protesting every single day until it does.

My wish is that we pick one time--either DST or regular time--and stick with it year round. This bouncing back and forth is what's hard. Not to mention adjusting all the darn clocks. I only have two that set themselves, and the older DVD player is still insisting that it's regular time.
It doesn't help that I have an insanely huge number of things to do right now for the June release of In Twilight's Shadow. I seriously need a clone. Now. :-)

During a Woot-off a couple of weeks ago, I ordered a set of speakers that can be used with MP3 players, computers, cell phones, and other things with headset plugs. I received two for less than half the cost of one out on the web. The sound is a little tinny on the MP3 player, but it's really helping me on the laptop. I wanted to watch a You Tube preview for the Dead Like Me movie, but the sound was so soft, I couldn't hear it on the laptop's speakers. I could hear it, though, with the new speakers plugged in. It's still low, but audible.

And speaking of computers, the desktop is nearly unusable. This is a huge problem since my printer is hooked up to it, so after putting it off for several years, I'm left with no choice. The problem is that I still can't decide between Mac and PC.

Normally, I'm good at making decisions, but I keep waffling on this one. I spent some time this weekend going through the customization screens for PC and by the time I got finished, the price was in Mac territory. I also saw that PC is going to all in one like the Mac. That's all that was available at Sony and HP and Dell both had them as well. I also do not want to deal with the issues I'm hearing about Vista. The logical course of action seems to be to switch back to the Mac (This was my first computer).

What has me hesitating is all the peripherals I own. Will I have issues with them? Mac claims I shouldn't, even if they're labeled PC Only, but I'm still concerned. I know I'll have to get Parallels software to run WordPerfect--which I will never give up--but can I still buy XP to go with Parallels? Or am I stuck with Vista even here?

Upgrading isn't an issue because I've never upgraded my desktop PCs. I just keep buying new ones. ;-) And the big question: Will Mac play nice with my PC laptop? Even networking?

I think my problem might be an inability to make a commitment. LOL! This is a 6-8 year deal here (that's how often I buy new desktops). What if I make the wrong choice?

I think I've talked before about how my characters continually surprise me. No matter how well I think I know them, there always seems to be something I didn't anticipate or know about until later.

Examples:

Damon from Ravyn's Flight didn't tell me he had a traumatic experience in his military career--something he blames himself for--until I was halfway through the book. I had to go through and add all the foreshadowing later.

Ryne from In the Midnight Hour had a strong aversion to getting involved with humans. I knew that before I wrote one word in the story, but I didn't know why. I didn't even bother to ask why because I just figured the Gineal steered clear of them or something. A few weeks before I wrote the scene that revealed why she feels this way, she finally told me. My immediate response? I don't want to write this. I wasn't given a choice and Ryne was right. Without that semi-flashback scene, the information lacks the kind of punch the reader needs to feel to understand why she's so adamant.

I could come up with other examples from older books, but I had a new one arise in the Work In Progress (WIP).

Shona Blackwood is absolutely gorgeous. Super model gorgeous, but then all the Blackwoods are that attractive. The surprise for me came early in the story--Shona is awkward around men.

Totally shocked me.

I didn't realize it at first as I worked on the scene where she meets Logan. I just thought at the time that the awkwardness was something I was doing wrong. I did some cutting and reworking and then some more. I mulled. And then out of the blue, the information came. Her actions and reactions in the scene seem awkward because she's feeling awkward. I can't believe I didn't figure that one out quicker.

My excuse, I guess, would be that I didn't even consider that someone who looks like Shona would be a geek. She likes going out to clubs, she likes dancing with the guys who ask her to do so, but there are two things at work in the scene that made her uncomfortable.

The first is that she's attracted to Logan. The other guys were just dance partners. The second thing is that those dance partners didn't really require much in the way of conversation from her, certainly nothing more than some mindless small talk, but she's in a situation where she needs a little more to say.

Before I learned of her geekiness, I was having trouble relating to Shona. This made it much easier.

I like surprises like this. :-)

One last side note: Someone posted some links to blog posts that talk about the market and one of the things she said was something along the lines of "demons being the new vampire" and that editors are seeing too much of that.

I was like, whoa! When I first talked to my agent in 2004 about my idea of a hero and heroine who were both half demon, she said it would be a hard sell in romance, but that if I wanted to do it as fantasy, it would be easier. It was at that same conference that I discussed being part of the Crimson City series with one of my editors, and a few weeks later, when I discovered the story he wanted me to write was already taken, I pitched him my half demon idea. The rest is history. :-)

I just have to laugh about the whole thing--from hard to sell to a glut in less than 4 years. Amazing. And I feel slightly smug and very relieved to know I was on the cutting edge.

I better hurry up and get a proposal together for this other idea I have before it stops being unique.

I ended up needing more work done on my car and they couldn't do it on a weekend or after I was done at the Evil Day Job, so I brought it in Monday night and received a loaner car. A Ford Focus.

When the guy brought it around and got out, I waited for the rest of the circus to climb out behind him. Yep, it was so tiny, it looked like a clown car! Fortunately, there was more room inside the car than there appeared to be from outside, but it still rode low to the ground compared to my SUV.

My worries about them not having it done before I left work on Tuesday turned out to be unfounded. They called me at 7:23 in the morning to tell me it was done. Um, if it was that quick a job, why did I have to leave my car overnight? Why couldn't they just do it right away and let me leave? Heck, they were faster replacing the tie rod end linky things than they were changing my oil!

Anyway, I swung by after work, returned the circus car to them and picked up my SUV. Here's one the great unponderables of my day: Why does it always feel as if the seat is wrong when I pick up my car from being serviced? It just didn't seem to be right, so I messed around with the buttons until I decided the seat hadn't been moved and that I should have just left it alone. Do you think it's because I got used to the loaner's seat that quickly? That's my only theory at this point. :-)

I'm so hoping I'm done with car stuff for a while now. I've had enough!

On the writing front, I'm trying to think how to end the scene I'm working on now. Usually, I have a clear idea of what I need and/or want to do, but I don't with this particular one. That's usually a sign that maybe I don't need it and I should see about combining it with another, but that's not the case this time. This particular scene is vital to the book.

I'm totally blaming this problem on the characters. They aren't sharing stuff from the part of the book I'm working on. Later stuff, or stuff that happens off stage--that they're showing me. Sigh. My only consolation is that I know other authors have recalitrant heroes and heroines.

I had to bring in the urban assault vehicle (with apologies to Stripes) to get the oil changed on Saturday. I had an appointment for 8:30 in the morning on the theory that the shop is much like the airline and that my chances of being delayed would be much lower the earlier I was there. It was a futile hope.

Once again, they didn't get me in right away. They only had two guys working, you see. This is endlessly frustrating to me. If you know you're only going to have two people working, and if someone calls for an appointment and you're full, why don't you tell me to come in at 9am? Or 9:30 or whatever? Instead, I was trapped in the waiting room and it was exactly two hours before I could get out of there.

That made me crabby enough--shouldn't an oil change be about half an hour?--but what really pushed me over the edge was Saturday morning television.

I did bring a notebook and a book book with me to entertain myself while I waited. I'm used to being delayed at this place. But I finished making notes for the chapter I'm working on and the book was the final one in a series. I'd read the first two at least 6 months ago, maybe longer now, and I had trouble getting into the third one because I couldn't remember the others real clearly. The magazines didn't appeal, but I read the local newspaper and the Wall Street Journal.

That took me through the Strawberry Shortcake cartoon without my hearing it. The only reason I was aware of it was because one of the guys who works there walked by and commented on how he couldn't believe that cartoon was still on.

However, by 10am, I was done with the papers and there was nothing left to do--except watch the television. OMG! When did Saturday morning TV get so bad? I only saw one show, something I think was called Cake TV and it was hideous!

(Okay, I know I'm not the target audience, but I can still watch Scooby Doo Where Are You? and enjoy myself.)

The laugh track on this Cake show was annoying, the acting was awful and overplayed, and the "jokes" (and I use that term loosely) were so horrible that I would sigh loudly and mutter to myself. Fortunately, I was alone while I was doing this. :-)

Chaning the channel wasn't an option and neither was turning it off. The buttons on the television that do those two things had been removed. I was trapped!

All I have to say after that half hour in hell is: Parents, I feel for you! I'd be homicidal if I had to listen to that every weekend.