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25 things…

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Today’s post really has nothing to do with writing, I guess. Though I suppose it could be a useful tool when first starting a project and “getting to know” your characters. But someone sent me this questionnaire of “25 things about YOU,” and it was kind of fun to fill out. Here are my answers, and I can’t wait to hear what other people have to say about them, too. 🙂 Or maybe it’s just a way for me to indulge my natural nosiness…

1) If you could build a second house anywhere, where would it be? Maui, of course! Or maybe a cottage in an English village. Can I have both?
2) What is your favorite article of clothing? Well, I have two, actually. One is an ancient yellow fisherman’s sweater. Yellow is a horrible color on me–makes me look like I’m dying of a terrible tropical fever. Plus there is a hole in the elbow. But I love that sweater and will never part with it. My other fave is a black jersey wrap dress that always gives me the comforting idea that I’m thinner than I am. It’s a magical dress.
3) What is the last CD you purchased? Cecilia Bartoli’s Opera Probita
4) What time do you wake up in the morning? 7 if I have to go to work (boo!), as late as the dogs will let me sleep on weekends
5) What is your favorite kitchen appliance? Er–does the phone count, since it’s in the kitchen? I use it to order takeout all the time. Or maybe the microwave.
6) If you could play any instrument, what would it be? This is hard, because I always wished I had musical talent and, well, I just don’t. Ask my parents about those ill-fated piano lessons. But I would love to play the cello
7) What is your favorite color? Pink!
8) Do you believe in the afterlife? Yes. No. Maybe. Depends on what day it is. 🙂
9) What is your favorite children’s book? Another toughie–there are so many. Eloise, I think. I adored that book when I was a kid, and drove my parents crazy demanding they let me move into a hotel
10) What is your favorite season? Autumn. I love the cool, crisp air, the colors, and Halloween
11) Do you have a tattoo? No–I’m afraid of pain!
12) Can you juggle? No, despite the best efforts of this guy selling juggling sets at a Ren. fair last spring
13) Who is the person you would most like to travel back in time and talk to? Why only one??? Shakespeare, maybe? Or Austen! Or the Buddha. Can I have all 3?
14) What is your favorite day of the week? Saturday, of course!
15) What’s in the trunk of your car? Besides the body of the last reviewer to diss my books?
16) If you could have one superpower what would it be? Invisibility! I really envied Harry Potter that cloak of his
17) Sushi or beef? Um–chicken. But if I have to choose one, sushi
18) What is your favorite meal? Fried shrimp
19) When is your birthday? January 15 (gifts accepted all year long, though)
20) Do you watch Oprah? If I happen to be home and it’s on. So, not much
21) Do you watch Survivor? No–not much of a “reality TV” person
22) What is your favorite TV show? Of all time, I LOVE LUCY. Or maybe NORTHERN EXPOSURE. Right now–LOST
23) Do you celebrate Christmas? In a “trapped in family hell” way, yes 🙂
24) What is your favorite movie? Another hard one. You all know how I love movies. Today I’m really liking ROMAN HOLIDAY
25) Vanilla or chocolate? Chocolate, always

Now your turn! Feel free to answer any or all of these yourself, either here or on your own blog. (But if it’s on your own blog, you have to send the Riskies a link!) Happy Saturday…

Alpha-Bad-Tizing

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He was at least a decade older than me, smoked cigarettes, refused to be photographed, barely got out of high school, dealt some illegal substances, and drove a ’57 Rambler. Oh, and he looked like Willem Dafoe.

So what did I do?

Reader, I dated him.

I love bad boys.

I am, quite possibly, the goodest girl you will ever meet. Besides my sometimes outlandish fashion choices, I always got enough sleep, stayed out of trouble, did my homework, read everything on the suggested reading list, felt guilty when I discovered I’d been given the wrong change. But I am irresistibly attracted to men who seem to walk on the edge of danger, which is how I like my romance heroes, too.

Anne Stuart writes the best bad heroes. Liz Carlyle also has a penchant for less-than-perfect men, and of course anybody who’s written a vampire hero usually walks on the dark side.

The funny thing is, I can’t write them. My heroes seem to be pretty nice, sometimes almost boring, and it drives me insane. Why can’t I create what I love so much? I’ve tried to make them meaner, but it’s very hard.

I’ve just finished the first draft of a new book, and this month’s revisions process will include toughening up my hero, Reeve.

So–do you like bad boys in fiction? Which are your favorite? What are the best ways to show he’s a bad boy without making him kick a puppy or something? And have you ever dated one in real life? Did he live up to your fantasies? Come on, share!

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

Love me, love my book?

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I can’t imagine why anyone reads books by the well-known adulterer Charles Dickens or that spiteful gossip Jane Austen (no wonder Cassandra burned most of the letters).

Yet I frequently hear, particularly from other romance writers, “Oh, I don’t like Author X. I’m not reading her books.” And it always puzzles me. Sure, not buying an author’s book will deprive her of the few pennies of royalties she might earn through your purchasee. Of course, that begs the question of whether it would be morally responsible to borrow said book from the library, read it illicitly in a couple of expensive java visits at your local Borders, or pay a quarter for a copy at the thriftstore. A further ethical question might be raised if you enjoyed the book—oh horrors—what then? Does it mean you, the reader, are tarred with the same brush, or, rather like earnest clerics researching pornography, corrupted without even knowing it? Chances are you might flip it closed with the satisfaction that Author X is indeed confirmed as a Bad Person—”I knew it when the heroine’s kitten drowned and that sweet lisping child fell into the midden”—and feel your point is proved.

Part of the trouble is there’s just too much information on romance authors. And it’s our own fault. We’re all over the place, chatting away on blogs and websites, and thinning the line between promotion of our books and promotion of ourselves, just being just so darned nice all the time. And if that niceness slips into real opinions and passions, it may raise some hackles. I’m not excusing bad author behavior or authors who are rude to people in public (I think most of us have had experience with those), but it seems you can get away with a lot more as a dead literary lion (most of whom were not Boy Scouts in real life) than as a live genre writer.

Is good writing good writing—whatever?

Janet

The Keeper Shelf

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Last week I blogged about books I don’t finish; this week I’d like to talk about the opposite.

I have a problem that’s probably pretty common to the Riskies and our guests. Too many books, not enough bookshelves, despite the fact that there’s book storage in every room of our house except for the bathrooms (hmm… no, maybe not a good idea.) Since it’s unthinkable to stop the incoming flow, some books must go. I recently forced myself to go through this annual decluttering exercise.

To the donation pile:

  • Books I didn’t enjoy.
  • Books I got at a conference over three years ago, still haven’t gotten to, and aren’t somehow calling me to hold onto them.
  • Duplicates–too many of them!

Keeper shelf items:

  • Books I love so much I can’t part with them.
  • Classics and useful reference books.
  • Personally autographed copies.
  • Books by favorite authors or recommended by friends, or with truly intriguing blurbs, that I will get to someday.
  • Books by favorite authors that I didn’t love, but merely enjoyed. Somehow I feel disloyal parting with them. Or is that I like to keep a collection together?

The keeper shelves are still pretty full. My TBR list is enormous and growing daily. It made me wonder. Why keep a book if I may never reread it?

But the answers came. I do get to TBR books. Eventually. With books I’ve already read, I do often share them with friends, and I may share them with my children when they’re older. Very good reasons to hold onto these treasures.

So how about you? What makes a book a keeper? Do you clean out now and then?

And oh, yes, any suggestions for the best places to donate a boxfull of books of mixed genres, largely romance?

Elena
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, Romantic Times Best Regency of 2005!
www.elenagreene.com

Things Cara drank in England

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Because I am jet-lagged, this post will be weird. I apologize in advance.

I’m having my morning tea right now. This will hopefully help my jet-lag. (I just returned from England, which means an eight-hour time difference). Plus, the night before the flight, I only got about three hours sleep. Why? Tea. I had a lovely afternoon tea at Richoux in London, but I guess the afternoon caffeine was too much for my system. So tea hurteth, and tea cureth. Tea giveth, and tea taketh away.

Did I mention this post will be weird? Yes, it’s a tour of things Cara drank while in England. Or, in some cases, didn’t drink.

When I was in England, I drank a lot of cider. I love hard cider. I don’t know why. I can’t drink wine (it gives me migraines.) I hate beer. I never liked hard liquor. But cider is just beautiful. Cider dances in the brain and on the tongue.

I did say I was weird today, right???

Speaking of things Cara didn’t drink…

On the flight back, for some reason the flight attendants tried to dehydrate me. And this was on Virgin Atlantic, which in that past I’ve always been very impressed by!!! But this time, instead of coming around frequently to give us liquids to drink, they instead came around with food accompanied by NOTHING to drink. No water. No soda. No nothing. And no liquids in between. They did this multiple times. I still have the headache.

So, what gives, Virgin Airlines??? Did you suddenly decide that water costs too much???

I did complain. The flight attendants took this as a personal criticism (which I found very odd) and just told me that there was water in the galley. They told me this eight hours into the flight. Telling me this earlier would have been nice. And they never did tell me where the galley was. Or explain the logic behind giving one a tray full of food, and then expecting one to somehow get up (which is impossible with the tray table down, of course — and where am I supposed to put the food???) and get water from the galley. And if we all did this, think of the chaos!!! No, not a workable system.

And so I say again: what gives, Virgin Atlantic??? Are you trying to make me switch my loyalties to British Airways or American Airlines, despite your cool seatback entertainment systems with twenty movies to choose from??? Because it’s working. Watching movies is cool, but having no headache is still cooler.

Cara (who had a very good time in England, actually)