This coming weekend is bittersweet, I think, for moms: On the one hand, we get to relax, eat lavishly decadent muffins, be appreciated for what we do.

On the other hand? It’s one day.

That is a bummer. Not to mention, I think if most moms were honest, ones with young children, at least, what we’d say we want most is time to ourselves, away from our families, with a nap or two to take without guilt (yes, I am speaking for myself, but I think that other moms feel this way too, no? Tell me if I am wrong).

Instead, what we get is eggs benedict and a chance to spend time with our kids and our spouse, as though we don’t spend enough time with the former as it is. The latter is off working or whatever usually, but it’s not like we can do what we’d really like to do with our spouse when the kids are around. Just sayin’.

So today I’d like to invite all of us moms–and working women in general–to share what they REALLY want as a treat. No guilt, no judgment, you know your family members aren’t gonna be popping by here or anything.

Tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

I want:

A chocolate chip scone.
A latte with whole milk.
A beer at 2 in the afternoon.
After going to the gym.
A chance to read by myself on the couch.
Wine later.
At least two naps.
My husband to tell me how nice I look.
An obscure noir movie to watch in the evening.

And I think that covers it. How about you?

And Happy Mother’s Day!

Are newspapers–traditional, black and white, printed on paper–dying? Print magazines are shuttering faster than the doors of Almack’s at 11 o’clock, and newspapers are seeing huge drops in circulation and advertising as well.

Newspapers used to be how everyone got their news, even if it was weeks late. Now, of course, the internet’s ubiquity means that newspapers are past time once they’re printed. My dad’s former newspaper, the Boston Globe, is facing possible closure by its owner, the New York Times, because of union negotiations (thanks to friend HatRack for sending me info about this!).

Back in the Regency, newspapers were as partisan as the New York Post is now, which is to say, newspapers were unabashedly partisan; which paper you subscribed to was dictated by your politics. The British government charged a stamp tax on newspapers, which made them prohibitively costly for all but the wealthy. It’s safe to say, however, based on our fiction and common sense, that newspapers were handed around from person to person and devoured.

I’m torn about the death of newspapers myself; on the one hand, I like the purported objectivity they espouse. On the other, I can get an enormous amount of news on the internet for free, and spending money on a newspaper is another luxury I’ve cut out of my daily life. But on the third hand, I don’t want to rely on news sources like the Daily Show and the Huffington Post for my information. The fourth hand almost doesn’t bear mentioning, but newspapers write on subjects I wouldn’t normally search out, so they keep me more informed than I might otherwise choose to be.

The heroine of my book, A Singular Lady, wrote a newspaper column detailing her hunt for a husband. If Titania were around today, she’d be blogging on the same subject.

How about you? Do you still get a hard copy of a newspaper? Where do you get your news?

Life, such as it is, has been as non-stop busy as usual, except the weather is getting nicer (and I *know* I am getting older, since the weather figures more and more in my conversation).

BUT I have been reading a lot, which is cool, but not found time to write, which is not cool. I have this little problem called ‘getting distracted,’ usually by ‘the shiny,’ which could be a new book, a friend, or the time-suckage of the internet.

That said, however, I have dug deep to find a renewed fervor to finish revising this ridiculous story I’ve been working on forever. That STILL isn’t done. But I just registered to attend this year’s RWA National Conference in July, so I need to finish it by then, or I will personally cut off my own head.

One friend pointed out recently that perhaps I can only do things under pressure of deadlines, and I know I always notice time deadlines in books and movies–because, after all, what’s the point of staying up another hour to read if the hero and heroine have all the time in the world to sort out their problems and fall in love? I want them to feel as much urgency as I do when reading.

For example, I’m reading a book a Twitter friend recommended, The Guards by Ken Bruen. Very dark, very intriguing writing, with a super-dark protagonist (he is NOT a hero). She called it “Irish noir,” and that’s a good descrip. His time deadline is if he doesn’t figure out how to stop the person he knows is doing bad things, bad things will continue to happen to innocent people. But in order to stop the person, he has to do something bad himself, or convince corrupt purportedly good people to stop it. All while dealing with his personal demons, which make Satan seem like Mr. Rogers.

None of this is Regency-related, but it is life-related, which is a universal truth we all deal with. And time is something we all never have enough of.

This week it seems I am babbling more than usual, which is pretty darn remarkable.

So–have you been reading any new-to-you authors? Do you read noir? Who are your favorites (I could go on and on about mine, but will spare you)? Do you like ambiguously dark characters, or do you want them redeemed by the end of the book (I do not think that is going to happen in this book)? Anything else you want to talk about this fine warm Friday?