Well, it sure has been a bit dreary weather-wise in my neck of the woods. After raining all day yesterday, the skies are still gray and miserable this morning. It’s just one of those blah days when a person sure could use a pick-me-up. So I thought I’d lift my spirits by sharing a few of the things that always seem to cheer me up and make me laugh whenever I’m feeling down.

1. Classic Saturday Night Live - Ah, those were the days. John Belushi’s Samurai Warrior. Eddie Murphy’s Mr. Robinson. And who could forget Dan Akroyd and Jane Curtain’s editorial commentaries? (Jane, you ignorant %#@t.) I used to laugh until I cried.

2. Reruns of That 70′s Show - This is one of the few comedies that ever made me actually laugh out loud while I was watching. And boy do I miss it. So isn’t it great that we have the reruns? The timing on this show was brilliant, and I just loved the antics of Kelso and Fez. But my favorite had to be Eric. That wry humor of his and his deadpan delivery got me every time.

3. Comedian Lewis Black - That’s right. The comedian who shouts. But I’ve noticed he tends to say out loud what I’m not always brave enough to say myself, and he does it in such a way that he can make something serious very funny.

4. Wayne’s World - Because every once in a while I want to watch a movie that doesn’t require me to expend a whole lot of brain cells.

5. My dog - What can I say? I think my Yorkie must be part mountain goat and part cat with the way he clambers up my furniture and perches on the backs of chairs. And I’m absolutely convinced he understands what I’m saying perfectly, because he always knows exactly how to respond to make me laugh.

So, there’s my list. Now, why don’t you share a few of yours? And just to make the day even brighter, I’ll throw in a new contest. All those who comment will be included in a random drawing for a signed copy of winner’s choice of either A Kiss in the Dark, A Kiss Before Dawn, or Sins of Midnight. Just post your comment before midnight tonight and I’ll announce a winner tomorrow morning.

And don’t forget to scroll down and check out Jenna’s musings on shopping. Sigh… Did someone mention Christmas shopping? I haven’t even started mine.

It’s hard to believe it, but it’s that holiday time of year again. The malls are playing Christmas music, Santa is near Macy’s (and thank God, our mall has finally retired the ridiculous Santa The Alien theme) and the shoppers are out in full-force. Our mall, and many like it, I’m sure, has also opened up its ‘sidewalk stores’. These are those little kiosks in the middle of the mall walkway. They sell holiday-centric items mostly. Calendars, spiced nuts, games and lotions. I hate the kiosk stores. Know why?

They feel a strange need to approach me.

I don’t like being approached. Which makes me sound really weird, but bear with me. I have no problem with being in J.C. Penney and having a sales clerk come up and say, “Can I help you find anything?” That’s cool. I might actually NEED help finding something and I worked in retail, so I know how it is. What I don’t like is people coming up to me and offering me samples of crap or wanting to know how my nails look (short and nibbled, thank you, it’s been a stressful month). I don’t want to be combed. I don’t want to be rubbed. I really would like to avoid being touched by strangers as much as possible.

Is it so much to ask to walk through the mall without feeling like I’m in Times Square again, having people offer me fliers for bus rides and ‘escorts’?? I don’t want a bus ride or a hooker, either, but at least I get those offers with a New York accent.

So am I the only one? Does anyone LIKE being accosted by the lotion lady??

Oh, and make sure you check out Anne’s non-review of the new James Bond movie, Casino Royale, below.

I just got back from the midnight showing of Casino Royale. Crazy girl, I know. I won’t give anything away, but I loved this movie. Love the new Bond. I think he might be able to have chemistry with a doorknob.

There are a few things I’d like to discuss about the movie. Lips want to move. Fingers want to type. Must. Hold. Back…Can’t. Give. Away. Spoilers…

Have fun this weekend – especially if you are going to the movies. And Go Blue!

…or the classics on crack…

This was in my inbox the other day, having made it past my spam filter:

a glow of such sweet animation to her face, as made her look handsomer than ever. kitty simpered and “my reasons for marrying are, first, that i think it a right thing for every clergyman in easy
“not as you represent it. had she merely dined with him, she might only have discovered “what a charming amusement for young people this is, mr. darcy! there is nothing like dancing
consider his addressing him without introduction as an impertinent freedom, rather than a compliment
accused me i am ignorant; but of the truth of what i shall relate, i can summon more than one witness elegant female.
“she had better have stayed at home,” cried elizabeth; “perhaps she meant well, but, under such
alone. now was the moment for her resolution to be executed, and, while her courage was high, she “take care, lizzy; that speech savours strongly of disappointment.”
“why, indeed; he does seem to have had some filial scruples on that head, as you will hear.”
“yes, miss elizabeth, you will have the honour of seeing lady catherine de bourgh on the
charlotte’s marriage. it is unaccountable! in every view it is unaccountable! “been at longbourn since her coming away.
“mr. collins,” said she, “speaks highly both of lady catherine and her daughter; but from some

And another delightful one that I found in my mail – this one has paragraph breaks!

difficulty of finding anything to do, which was the more probable from the time of year. all field

“i have heard much of your master’s fine person,” said mrs. gardiner, looking at the picture; “it
elizabeth almost stared at her. “can this be mr. darcy?” thought she.
convinced that when charles gets to town he will be in no hurry to leave it again, we have determined

“very well. we now come to the point. your mother insists upon your accepting it. is it not so,
direction, may be of service, if not to himself, to many others, for it must only deter him from such
different positions; but from every window there were beauties to be seen. the rooms were lofty and

affectionate solicitude; or allow her to hear it from anyone but myself. he is gone to my father already.

“yes; to the last. but if i go on, i shall displease you by saying what i think of persons you

“nothing so easy, if you have but the inclination,” said elizabeth. “we can all plague and punish
by engaging them towards herself. such was miss lucas’s scheme; and appearances were so
circumstance i were to give a flat denial, and ride off as fast as i could.”

and the gentlemen did nothing but eat and admire.
elizabeth had settled it that mr. darcy would bring his sister to visit her the very day after her

but elizabeth, who had not the least inclination to remain with them, laughingly answered:
accomplished.”
“what, none of you?”

amiable and pleasing.

“this is quite shocking! he deserves to be publicly disgraced.”

as to the possible consequence of her persisting in this interference. from what she had said of her

be put in competition with him. he did every thing best in the world; and she was sure he would kill
and who she observed to mrs. collins was a very genteel, pretty kind of girl. she asked her, at

and the mortification of kitty, are scarcely to be described. wholly inattentive to her sister’s feelings,

I’m not sure if they can be counted as swift synopses of the book, or merely the sentences tossed into a boggle cube and shaken. Makes me think of a revised version of that 80′s commercial — This is a classic. This is a classic on drugs. *spine sizzles*

Anyone else with anything fun in their spam box lately?

Last Saturday I had a profound thought while in a workshop, but it would take at least a couple hours to articulate it and I’m behind on writing two newsletter articles that are due, um, today, so I’ll post it later this week.

Just wanted to pop in to announce Dorothy W. in New York is the winner of this week’s drawing for my prize packet with coverflats and other goodies. Congratulations, Dorothy! My husband drew the name, so it was totally random and fair, but must admit Dorothy holds a special place in my heart because she bought one of my books through a fund-raising auction and paid way more than the cover price. Isn’t she a doll?

All those who’ve signed up for my mail list in November or entered November contests are still in the running. There are two other ways to increase your chances of winning — details on my web site: www.ShirleyKarr.com
And if you poke around to see the updates I’ve done lately, you’ll find a pic of JQ regular Lacey, and the actors I’ve cast as my heroes. Yes, actors, plural. Some of you may find it hard to believe, but I have actually cast actors other than Johnny Depp in my books.

With my book’s release less than two weeks away(!), I’m planning an e-mail newsletter and a snail mailing that … well, rather than just a post card, it requires an envelope to hold it all. But it’s only going to those who’ve signed up to receive such things from me. Is that a blatant enough shameless self-promotional plug, or do I need to be even less subtle?

Scroll down to read Margo’s request, and Jenna’s post on marketability. Interesting discussion!

If you’ve got one that doesn’t include sausage or giblets (yeuck) please let me knoW.

And be sure to read below for Jenna’s $64,000 question on marketable/unmarketable books.

If you ever visited my old personal blog (before I was Jaunty), you might recall that I used to answer a weekly question from Writers. Well, that tradition will be coming over to Jaunties, though probably not on a weekly basis. How does it work? Well, you send me your question at jenna@jennapetersen.com with the subject line Jaunty Question. It can be about writing, of course, or we’ll also take questions from readers (you can ask any of our authors about their books or characters or whatever). The questions will go into a queue and be taken in the order they were received. The other Jaunties will also give their answers in comments (when they feel like it) so you’ll get several answers instead of just one.

Here is a question brought over from my old blog:

Well here’s a $64,000 question for you? What makes a book “unmarketable”? Let’s assume that this “unmarketable” book is a historical regency era romance (thus eliminating the roaring 20′s, set in Tasmania or Russia during the revolution issues). Let’s also assume it meets the 90,000 word format and doesn’t contain any “ick” factor. What types of things tip it into the dread “unmarketable” category?

Unfortunately, the answer to this question is it depends. I know that’s the answer you hate most, but there it is. The romance market is an ever shifting beast. Each publishing house has certain things that might turn them off, each editor has things, and the market will sometimes bear things and sometimes not.

You’re setting this ‘unmarketable’ story in a marketable time. And you’re eliminating ick factors (the heroine is 16, the hero rapes her, etc – though both those elements were marketable in the past). At that point, you’ve pretty much ruled out what normally makes a book ‘unmarketable’. So you’re down to personal taste and house style, most likely.

That’s why it’s really useless to chase the market. Right now stories with paranormal elements are ‘hot’. Historicals with vampires, shapeshifting detectives, whatever. But by the time you write your story, tailoring it to what you THINK an editor wants to buy, and start to query on it, that ‘trend’ will likely have passed. After all, the stories you’re seeing come out today were bought a year ago, maybe even more. What editors are buying right now is something you won’t even be able to track on the bookshelves for 9 months to a year or more.

Unmarketable might also depend on where you are in your career. In the time surrounding when I sold SCANDALOUS to Avon, the book my editor pitched first contained an element my editor feared might be unmarketable for a first book (my heroine killed her first husband… well, she THOUGHT she killed him — whether or not she did is another story). It wasn’t that the element was unmarketable in general, it was more that she didn’t think it would be the best choice in a first book. Now if I pitched that book, perhaps it would be a better time (since by the time it came out, it would be my 6th book, not my 1st or 2nd). Will I do that? Who knows? I’m having more fun writing new stories rather than back tracking to old ones, but I liked that book a great deal and wouldn’t ever rule it out.

Honestly, I think it’s good to be aware of the market (like that most major publishers aren’t going to buy Caveman Era romance or 1960s settings or that most publishers are asking for hotter work), but don’t chase the market. If you’re plotting a book and it can fit into a marketable period, then put it there! But don’t try to put in a toolbox full of ‘marketability’ just to sell. It won’t read true and the editors will feel that. Will that mean that you might have to wait a little longer to make your first sale? Maybe. I waited 5 years for the historical market to open back up to new authors, but it did. But waiting and selling historical romance that I loved to write (historical, hot) means I’m more passionate and excited about what I do every day. And hopefully that comes through.

Recently I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop given by best-selling author Susan Wiggs. She was such a great speaker and a genuinely nice person.

As part of her workshop, she talked about how she got started writing and showed us her first “book,” self-published and written at age 8. It was titled “A Book About Some Bad Kids” and pictured a little girl up a tree with bad people below. Susan said that she’s still writing about this same theme, if not literally metaphorically.

How fascinating! I think every writer starts to see recurring themes after two or three books or short stories. But what fascinates me is that these can be present even in childhood. Most writers probably wrote as kids. My first story was fan-fiction featuring Star Wars’s Han Solo and Princess Leia (it’s reprinted in the back of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Men I’ve Dated). My other early works were also about princesses, usually princesses riding on the backs on dinosaurs. I sued to draw these pictures incessantly.

In third grade I sat next to the class bully, and the only way I could get him to stop stabbing me in the hand with his pencil was to draw him princesses and dinosaurs.

So while Susan Wiggs was talking, I was thinking about those princesses and dinosaurs. Did I still write about princesses and dinosaurs?

No…

Well, okay, my agent does call me Princess, but I’m sure that’s coincidence. And part of my author brand is “Pamper Your Inner Princess.”

But I’ve never written a book about a princess. I do have recurring themes. My heroines tend to struggle with loving themselves. They may be beautiful or rich, they may be geeky and awkward, or they may just be your average Jane, but like all women, they struggle with overcoming insecurities and finding value in themselves.

So here’s a confession. I can be a bit analytical. I have a degree in psychology, so it comes with the territory. Is it too far-fetched to see the dinosaur as a big insecurity and the girl on top as having mastered the insecurity and become a beautiful, happy princess metaphorically? Am I still writing about princesses and their dinosaurs?

What are recurring themes you write about? Or, if you’re not a writer, what are the issues/themes you like to see addressed in books you read?

Okay so I’ve been getting sculptured acrylic nails for more than ten years now and I love them. I absolutely loathe my real nails and with these I know at least my hands are always presentable. I love obnoxiously bright pinks and reds with sparkles and it’s the one thing I do to pamper myself. Now in Texas you can’t throw a rock without hitting a woman with acrylic nails, we’re everywhere. I foolishly assumed this was the case everywhere. So when we moved here I thought I’d be able to find someone easily. Um…no.

So the first person I went to had only been out of nail school for like 2 months and was 12, okay, she was probably 18, but she looked 12. She was very slow and frankly not very good, but I liked the salon ambiance and frankly I’m not that picky with my nails, most of them paint them better than I ever could. But after only 2 visits there, she informed me that they were becoming an Aveda-only salon which meant that no chemicals were allowed – thus no acrylic nails.

I found another girl, she was close to my age and had been doing nails for about a year and was much better than the previous person. But I was like one of only a handful of other acrylic clients – evidently the women over here just get plain old manicures, which are fine if you have nice natural nails, which I do not. So I went to her for several months and things were going fine until I go in for my apointment and she tells me that she’s moving to another salon and won’t be doing acrylics anymore. You guessed it, she moved to the first salon I went to.

So I got the phone book out. Again. Now keep in mind that when I had found these girls, it was after calling several places in town. So I locate another woman and she does what I need, but she really specializes in this other kind of nail which I’ve never heard of. But I went to her and she did a great job, really the best one in town, but she was expensive.

Then right before our conference this summer she went out of town and I needed my nails done so I called this other place and got in with their new nail tech and BAM! She was perfect. Funny, and really easy to talk to. So I’ve been going to her ever since. But now she’s moving to Ohio. Next week. So this morning I got my nails done for the last time with her. Now I could call the previous lady back, but I really just don’t want to, I always got the feeling she wasn’t going to work there for long, that retirement was just around the corner for her. So I’m back without a nail tech and it just boggles my mind. Seriously, is it just a Texas thing, cause I was under the impression that acrylic nails were everywhere. But they’re so hard to find here. I suppose in two weeks I’ll be on the prowl looking for a new salon…I just want to keep my nails.

So there’s my whine for the day. For more pressing news, read Margo’s post below about Thanksgiving and surgery.

I’m having Thanksgiving at my house next week. We’ll have anywhere from 18-23 people here, a good mix of my family and my in-laws. The only glitch is that I’m having surgery on my hand tomorrow, and my stitches won’t come out until the 28th. My carpal tunnel has gotten bad enough that it requires surgery before I end up with nerve damage. So here I go!

On the upside, it’s my left hand – the non-dominant one. I broke my right hand a few years ago (badly) and had to have pins inserted. I became somewhat ambidextrous after that, and now I overuse my left hand – with consequences. I actually have some carpal tunnel on my right side, too, but it’s not as bad as on the left.

Also on the upside – I’m not the one who’ll be lifting a 25 lb turkey into the oven, chopping celery and onions for stuffing, or mashing the potatoes . My husband and kids have all stepped up to the challenge and will be taking instructions from moi as I sit in my easy chair sipping hot cider and munching on cheese doodles. With my right hand. (Let me know if you’d like my recipe for spiced hot apple cider).

Speaking of recipes – did you know the Avon Authors will be doing our Holiday Recipe Ring again this year? We’ll have a starting date in early December and the first of our holiday recipes will be available then. Every day thereafter, you’ll be able to click on the recipe link and go to the next recipe. And I must say there are some great ones coming up!

See you when the anesthesia wears off .