I'm feeling very guilty as I don't think I've made a post in awhile. I've had things to say occasionally, but just haven't been able to get over here to post.
So here goes. What am I doing writing wise? Well, I'm sort of in reassessment mode. I completed my third book, which was the latest in my series set in the fictional, Southern town. I turned it in to my agent and then had the obligitory wait to hear back from her. When I did the news was mixed. She liked the story, but was afriad it was too similar to the last two submissions that we've sent out to editors. Other than a few we're still waiting to hear back from, the answers have all been "no thank you" for various reasons that seem mostly to do with things other than the quality of the book. Comments like "we like it, but don't have a place for another contemporary romance". So my agent feared we would wind up getting the same response if we sent book three out now.
Her suggestion was that I try something different. She thinks small-town settings are still popular, esp. in the inspirational market and she doesn't want me to lose my humorour tone. So she thought maybe a women's fiction where the story focuses on what's happening in the town and the romance is secondary. I'm still not quite sure what that book might be.
Meanwhile, I've had this really crazy idea and it's based on the character from ym last book. The story centers around a children's book author who had one big best-selling book and now is stuck for a new idea. All throught the book there are hints about the book SHE wrote. A fantasy story with a fairy warrior princess. Well, that idea has been swimming around in my head and it's morphed into a oung Adult/Fantasy/Romance. Sort of Buffy The Vampire Slayer meets Harry Potter (with a female hero). Surprisingly ,y lovely teenage heroine has a sassy voice. She's sort of a younger version of my previous adult heroines. I have no idea if I can write a YA or fantasy as I've never tried them before. I'm not really even a big fantasy person...but the idea won't go away. And the Young Adult market is booming now thanks to Potter and the Twilight series. So we'll see where it goes.
Mourning Patrick Swayze
My Entertainment Weekly Magazine arrived Monday and on the cover was Patrick Swayze’s in full heartthrob mode. It’s been a terrible summer for 80’s icons…Michael Jackson, John Hughes, and now the man who stole Baby’s heart and made the Mambo sexy. If you grew up in the 80’s, chances are you were a little in love with Patrick Swayze – or least with Johnny Castle the character he played in Dirty Dancing. I know I was. They showed the movie on TV all weekend and it was really hard to watch. To me Johnny & Baby are frozen in time. I just can’t imagine he’s not here anymore. Surely they’re both still dancing the Mambo somewhere. They must still be practicing lifts in the lake and dancing on an overturned tree trunk. It’s unthinkable that they ever grew older or that one of them could ever get cancer and die.
Dirty Dancing was a small movie, made on a very modest budget, with no big name stars. It was set in the early 60’s and had ballroom dancing. It was meant to be a silly summer flick that was quickly forgotten. Instead it became one of the biggest movies of the decade. For 3 reasons I believe…The universal theme of first love, great music, and Patrick Swayze’s hips. Seriously. Dirty Dancing was a coming-of-age story that appealed to every woman. And inspired a hope that maybe there was a Johnny Castle out there for her too. Every song made you want to dance. And those hips. Can’t forget that. Patrick Swayze made ballroom dancing sexy way before anyone on Dancing With The Stars.
I also can’t help comparing Patrick Swayze (and Johnny Castle) to some of today’s so-called sex symbols. There seems to be a definite string of androgynous man-boys. They’re almost feminine, with faces as pretty as any girl (in some cases prettier). Look at the guy in the Twilight movies. He’s supposed to be playing a kick-butt vampire, but Roberti Pattinson doesn’t look capable of protecting anyone. Maybe I’m too old, but I don’t get the appeal. I know the Twilight stuff is designed to make teenage girls come unglued so I guess I’m not the audience. Or is that really the kind of guy women are supposed to want these days? The thing that was so appealing about Johnny Castle is that he was a man. In every sense of the word. Baby sure knew it. He made the “college boy” waiters look like empty shells.
I feel a little emptier with the passing of yet another of my teenaged memories. And now I’m thinking I’ll have to go out and get a copy of Dirty Dancing.
A random rant on things I’d be happy never to see or hear about again.
Do you ever get to the point where you’re just so sick of something or someone that you feel ready to punch the next person who mentions that thing or person? I’ve been feeling that lately over a number of things and people.
The Twilight Craze and/or Vampires of any kind – Seriously. Stop. I don’t care. I don’t want to care. I don’t want to read the books or see the movie. I don’t want to hear about them every time I turn on a TV. I’m also sick of vampires in general. The romance section is filled with them. It’s hard to find books about anything else lately. Vampires had already peaked in the romance genre a couple years ago. Then the Twilight craze took over and it grew into ginormous, living, breathing entity that is threatening to take over the world. I’ve heard that Twilight has even outsold the mighty Potter books. That’s not entirely surprising, given its fanbase. While Harry Potter drew boys, girls and some adults, Twilight brought hordes of teenage girls into the equation. And let me tell you, no one does obsession better than a tween-teen girls. I just want it to stop. Now.
Miley Cyrus – Good grief! This girl has taken over my TV. Her Disney Channel show is on 24 hours a day. She took over the Teen Choice Awards and then every channel spent the next 2 weeks dissecting her performance, which was accompanied by a pole…as in a stripper pole. The tiny clip I which was rebroadcasted 80 million times didn’t seem all that racy, but maybe there was more they didn’t show. In any case, the collective hand-wringing over Miley doing a pole dance while her father looked on proudly has given me a giant headache. Beyond that Climb song is played on the radio literally every time I get in my car. (Sometimes more than once if it’s a long trip.) Is there some kind of contract that says it must be played at least 3 times every hour? Every segment of every entertainment show has something about her, with the daily hyperventilating over whether she’s trying to go all sexy. (One guess…yes…it’s what they all do. They think that’s the way to keep fans as they grow up.) Just like Britney a few years ago, I’m sick of her. Thankfully, Britney had a convenient breakdown that took her out of the limelight. I don’t want Miley to go shaving her head and marrying any random backup dancer on a whim, but I do want a break from her.
Anything mentioning Spencer or Heidi (aka Speidi) - Really? These two are what our collective society is supposed to be interested in? No wonder our country is going to pot. They appear on some stupid “reality” show. They are detestable and gross and so full of themselves it’s sick. I don’t understand why they continue to appear on any station. Heidi even showed up on the Miss Universe Pageant, doing a horribly bad job of lip syncing to a horribly bad song that she allegedly sang on an alleged album. I frankly don’t know what those beauty queens did to deserve that kind of abuse, even if they do parade around a stage in a bathing suit while numbers grading them flash across the screen.
On that note…Anyone in the Khardashian family (including Kim with a k, Kourtney with a K and Klohe with a K) - Let me make it clear that I have never watched this show. But it doesn’t matter. I still can’t escape hearing about it every 5 minutes. What exactly is it that makes these people so interesting? What have they done to merit not one, but TWO reality shows? I don’t get it. They don’t DO anything but shop & complain about each other. Now it’s even worse since two of the sisters have a show that’s filmed in Miami. And not even the most popular sister, at that. (I can’t believe I know that, but like I said, you can’t escape hearing about them.) This is what’s capturing our attention, folks and it’s frankly sad.
Anything with the word “green” in it – I’m sorry if it makes me insensitive to environmental concerns, but if I hear the words green-anything I will scream. I’m all for trying to do things that will protect the environment, but at this point “green” has become nothing more than a marketing term thrown out to sell stuff, be it cars or detergent or light bulbs. Just like the words “non-fat” are thrown out to entice the diet-conscious into buying a certain brand, “green” is thrown out to make people think they are fighting off global warming. It’s the same thing. NBC is the WORST with their “Green is Universal” campaign, which makes me wanna puke. If they send the Today show crew on anymore of these “Ends of the earth/Antarctica is melting” episodes I really will throw up. And if I remember correctly, the one who got sent to Antarctica couldn’t even GET to Antarctica because (are you ready for this) IT WAS TOO COLD! Never mind the fact that NBC is owned by GE, which has a very vested interest in so-called “green technology” because they make most of it and stand to gain billions off it.
So…until next time. That’s my rant.
Miss Universal Appeal
I don’t know if any of you managed to catch it, but the Miss Universe Pageant was on last week. I know, I know. You probably thought it wasn’t even on anymore. It certainly doesn’t get the kind of attention is used to. Beauty pageants in general have become a topic of intense debate in this country. Plenty feel it’s demeaning to parade women around in bikinis while a rating number is scrawled across the bottom of the screen. This is not the case is other countries, particularly South American countries. To them, this pageant is Serious Business. I remember seeing a documentary once on the pageant industry down there. (think it was Colombia or Venezuela) They literally have schools where these girls go to train just for this. They line them up and then tell each girl what they need to have “fixed”, meaning surgically altered. One gets boobs, one gets nose, some get both. New hair, colored hair, liposuction for those unfortunate enough to have hips. They also coach them on how to answer the all-important judge question. It’s like when they send athletes to training camps, only these camps are only about producing
I didn’t watch the whole show, but what I did see let me know that the gild is definitely off the lily when it comes to pageants.
First of all, the entertainment…Heidi Montag & Flo Rida. Are you serious? A reality show flunky doing a terrible job lip syncing to a truly horrendous song. Who decided this chick should make an album anyway? Isn’t it enough that she and her heinous spouse Spencer clog up the TV airwaves on a regular basis? Now she has to invade radio as well? Gag me! And then to bring on Flo Rida, a hip hop/rap guy to “serenade” the girls. Nothing against him. Some of his songs are catchy, but they belong in a club with strobe lights a tons of drunk people, not on a pageant stage while confused beauty queens from sub-Saharan Africa try to sway and smile like they understand a word he’s saying.
And you know a show is BORING when the most fun you have is trying to figure out which beauty queens had been surgically enhanced. Which was pretty much all of them so far as I could tell. Literally, my roommate and I did this for every single one of the 12 finalists. Some had better jobs done, others (like unfortunately Miss USA) had obvious melons on their chest. No attempt to make them look natural whatsoever. Just tiny waist & skin colored water balloons for boobs.
Then there were the judges. Who picks these people? Random actors who are apparently out of work, random singers, the owner of the resort where the pageant was held, a partner of Donald Trump who own the Miss Universe pageant. One of them was actually described as having a line of “lip gloss”. I’m not making that up. A line of just lip gloss. Just how many kinds of lip gloss could there be anyway? She’s not interested in any other kind of make-up?
In the end the Beauty Queen Training Camps reigned supreme as Miss Venezuela was crowned Miss Universe. The 2nd time in a row Venezuela has won. Then the outgoing Universe came out to crown the new Universe and pretty much threw the crown (which I learned was voted on by the public in an online poll of some sort.) on the girl’s head, causing it to fall on the ground. Guess the Training Camps didn’t cover that particular subject.
South Motors Honda in Miami...Bad Service, Bad Attitude, Bad Salesman
Saturday I began what I thought would be the best part of the car buying experience...The test drive. I went to 3 of the car dealers on my list: Honda, Nissan & Mazda. I went by myself, which in retrospect was probably a mistake. At the Honda dealership (South Motors Honda located at , phone # 305-256-2340) I had what had to be the WORST experience I could have imagined. I left feeling disappointed, and frankly offended, at the rude and dismissive way I was treated.
I went in to take a look at a 2-door Honda Civic and the Honda Insight hybrid vehicles. The day before I had read an article in the State Farm Insurance Magazine that weighed some of the pros & cons of hybrid vehicles versus standard vehicles. One of the “cons” was that the hybrid vehicles can be very expensive to repair if parts ever need to be replaced. So, I asked the salesman about this issue. I guess I offended him with the question. Maybe I wasn't supposed to malign the reputation of Honda with petty questions about repair costs. Because he snapped, “I don’t know anything about what happens once the car leaves the showroom. You’d have to ask the service department.”
Really? A Honda salesman is not aware of the reliability and track record of vehicles he sells? I should think this would be something any good salesman would know. I should also think any good salesman would also have a better answer at hand than, “ask the service department”. Then he followed up with, “Well, I guess whatever source you read had backup to prove that.” So, I guess he thought I was making the whole issue up? Frankly, I’d trust State Farm as a source over a car salesman any day.
The salesman also didn’t seem to want to waste time with test drives. When I asked to drive both vehicles he told me that the only 2-door Civic he had was blocked in next to the building. (On a side note, I checked the dealership website the next day it listed FIVE 2-door Honda Civics in stock. So either the was lying or he truly didn’t know anything about the cars on the lot.) In any case, I told him I’d drive a 4-door model if that was more convenient. We went out and drove the Insight hybrid vehicle first. When we got back he started to direct me inside. I asked about driving the Civic. His response was, “Are you planning to drive all of them?” My inner response was, "Well, now I will. I might just drive every model you've got." I’m not sure what prompted that totally response. He then told me that he was “busy” and that I should make an appointment and come back later. I guess he had better things to do than to try and make a sale.
I’m still trying to figure out why he was so rude. Perhaps it was because I’m a woman and I showed up alone. Perhaps he didn’t think I was serious about buying a car. Perhaps he was angry that I didn’t immediately want to start negotiating a deal so he could get his sale that day. Or perhaps he just didn’t really care if he sold me a car or not. The economic situation has hit many industries hard – auto dealerships in particular – but maybe South Motors Honda hasn't felt the effects of the recession and they don’t really need the extra sales.
In any case, I have no intention of going back there and if I do end up buying one it will never be at South Motors Honda, with or without an “appointment”.
Why car buying makes you crazy
Seeing as how my trusty, 10-year-old Saturn has started to show its age (and nearly stranded me on US1) , I’m now entering the world of new car buying. A place I haven't been for the aforementioned 10 years. And let me tell you, just like having to start dating after a divorce, it's a scary place. (not that I really know what that's like, since I've never been married or divorced). First of all there are waaaaaayyyyyy too many choices. About 5,000 different brands and 75,000 models. Who can be expected to know which of these cares is really better? Unless you’re one of the male species who seems to be born knowing the difference between a V6 and a V8 engine. The only V8 I’m familiar with is the tomato juice in a can. So I’m forced to spend hours upon hours scouring websites like Edmunds and cars.com. Reading the reviews and doing comparisons and highlighting which has better features for the price. I’m sticking to a general price range. It's the “I’m poor and frankly can’t afford a car payment now” price range. I am attempting to avoid the cars whose only “options” are seats and a steering wheel. And I must “option” air conditioning and a radio. I’m also avoiding that tiny little 2-seater car that looks like something a 5-year-old gets a Christmas presents to ride around the back yard. I don’t remember the name of it. I only know that I drive in Miami and if I were to be in that thing I’d get squashed like a bug. Plus, it just looks stupid, and people driving it look stupid. Sorry. Don’t mean to be judgmental, but people in them DO look stupid. I’m looking at hybrid cars, too. I like the gas mileage of them certainly and Honda & Toyota make the least inexpensive ones. But I can’t help feeling like the people who buy them only do it so they feel superior to the owners of SUVs and oil-based cars out there. It’s kind of obnoxious. Plus, really the hybrids are not all that cute. It’s vain of me I know, but I like cute.
Then I have to do the price comparisons. Then look at what dealers around here are selling for. (which always seem to be about $3,000-$5,000 MORE than what Edmunds lists. Thanks Miami for the higher prices.) Then the scariests part, is negotiating. YUCK and DOUBLE YUCK!)
But here’s my long list right now:
-Mazda3 (cute, good reviews, doesn’t look like a mom car)
-Hyundai Genesis (Good reviews and gosh is it CUTE! Plus, Hyundai has an amazing warranty, but may be out of my price range)
-Honda Insight (the hybrid best option. ALMOST cute, price is nice and have to admit 40 mile per gallon IS sweet. Might even make me feel obnoxious about saving the earth from deadly fossil fuels.)
Honda Civic (Is actually cute, decent price, good reputation for reliability)
-Nissan Altima (The 4-door is blah, but the 2-door? Major cuteness, plus good reviews and decent price)
-Ford Focus (Kinda blah, but decent reviews, decent price. It’s American-made and I can’t help thinking American-made car companies need help.)
-Scion tC (I think it’s the poor cousin to Toyota, but it is all the way cute and seems to have decent reviews and more than decent price.)
-Volkswagen Jetta – (Yeah, it’s cute, even with 4-doors, decently priced, but looks expensive.)
-Toyota Camry (good price, reputation for reliability, but seriously not so very cute.)
-Mitsubishi Eclipse (All the way cute, reviews are alright, price is alright.)
So now my next start is test drives. Might be the most fun part of the process, except for the fact that I know some sales guy is gonna want to talk price right out of the gate.
Help! I’ve lost the part of my brain that used to retain phone numbers. Do you remember when you were 5 and you were taught to remember your name, phone number and address in case you ever got lost? Do you remember when you knew the phone numbers of your friends? Of the closest Domino’s Pizza? When you could recite 867-5309? Well, I have lost this ability, and I blame it all on cell phones & speed dial. We don’t dial numbers anymore; we press a number or letter. If you’re real sophisticated you don’t even have to dial anything, but say the person’s name out loud and the phone dials for you. While this convenience is certainly nice, the problem is we learn thing through repetition. So phone numbers no longer get stored in our brain. And if you are stupid enough to forget your cell phone at home (which I was last Saturday) you literally do not know how to contact ANYONE if you get lost or your car breaks down (which it did).
I was heading to my monthly writer’s meeting, which was about an hour’s drive. I realized shortly after leaving home that I had forgotten my phone, but I was already too far away to turn around and go back for it. My car is 10 years old and is usually reliable, but of course my first thought was…today would be the day my car breaks down and I don’t know anyone’s number except my parent’s home phone (which was MY old phone number when I lived with them). Thank God they got to keep their old number when they moved; otherwise I wouldn’t have known that one either. Only thing was, my parents were out of town. The first part of the trip was fine. Most of the return trip was fine. Until the very end when I suddenly noticed that my air conditioning had stopped working. I looked down and the engine gauge had gone all the way up to YOUR ENGINE IS ABOUT TO BLOW UP HOT! Then the steering wheel locked up and all the dials started jumping around like they did in the Close Encounter’s movie. Another thank God is that I was almost home when it happened. I turned for the repair shop where I always go, cursing every red light (I swear they put up 3 more lights and I caught EVERY SINGLE ONE) and praying my poor car could make it another 2 miles. I somehow managed to get it to the repair shop and it literally died going up the incline into to the parking lot. Long and short, a belt had come off, which sabotaged the car. Remember, I had NO CELL PHONE to call AAA and have NO PHONE NUMBERS stored in my brain so I can’t even call anyone to come get me.
So, now my 10-year-old Saturn is about to put out to pasture, I’m navigating the scary world of car buying, AND I am going to buy a book where I can WRITE DOWN phone numbers and keep it in my purse.
Stay tuned as I now go car shopping! Yip...eee! (NOT)
Good Bye Mr. Hughes
I don’t know what it is with sudden heart attacks lately. Tim Russert, Michael Jackson, screenwriter Blake Snyder and now the pop culture touchstone of the 80’s…writer/director John Hughes. Another piece of my childhood gone way too soon. John Hughes simply was the voice of the 80’s teen – of teens everywhere. His list of movies that he either wrote or direct is long and every single one is now a classic. Lines from his movies have become part of our everyday vocabulary. The iconic music that has become synonymous with the decade. Pretty In Pink, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Home Alone, the Vacation movies, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Some Kind of Wonderful. Many of today’s biggest stars got their start or a big career boost from his movies. Often, you’ll come across a movie on TV that you absolutely LOVED as a child, but then you realize pretty quickly that is actually pretty bad. But when you watch a John Hughes movie you still laugh. You still kinda wish Andie had gone to prom with Duckie. You still cheer when Samantha gets her romantic dinner on t he table. You still want to punch that principal from Breakfast Club in the face. You still wish you could hang out with Ferris Bueller. You still laugh at “Dong…”. You still laugh every time poor Kevin screams after he puts on the shaving stuff. You still cry when the grandpa gets to see his granddaughter. You still feel like a teenager. I only wish he could have made more movies. More movies with heart and wit and genuine feeling. Not like the cynical, world-weary, angst-ridden and often downright crude teen movies that come out today.
Thank you Mr. Hughes, for making my childhood a little funnier, a little more memorable. And for providing an awesome soundtrack to go along with it.
DC OR Bust
So this week I’m taking off to
The Cost of America's Freedom
Someone posted this on one of my writer's loops and I thought I'd pass it along. A reminder that freedom is never really free. Even today, the people of Iran are being beaten and killed for daring to question a (probably) rigged election and for fighting for basic freedom. Today, when North Korea launched nucelar test missiles in the Pacific Ocean (not so very far from Japan & Hawaii). Today, where in many parts of the world it is illegal to be a Christian. Today, when our own US government is passing massive, sweeping 1,300+-page "Climate Change" bills that NO ONE is even bothering to read before voting "YES" on. It's important to remember that July 4th is more than fireworks and hotdogs and a day off from work. It's important to remember that the fact that millions of people can even have blogs and Facebook & Twitter pages is an extraordinary freedom.
Happy 4th of July...and may you always remember the be thankful for living in this country.
And now some history. A good read.
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men
who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors,
and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army;
another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or
hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes,
and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.
Eleven were merchants,
nine were farmers and large plantation owners;
men of means, well educated,
but they signed the Declaration of Independence
knowing full well that the penalty would be death if
they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and
trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the
British Navy. He sold his home and properties to
pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British
that he was forced to move his family almost constantly.
He served in the Congress without pay, and his family
was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him,
and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer,
Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that
the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson
home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General
George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed,
and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed.
The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying.
Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill
were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests
and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his
children vanished.
So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and
silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they
paid.
Remember: freedom is never free!
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