September 13, 2007

Airplane Etiquette

What’s acceptable attire to wear on an airplane? You might remember this young woman, Kyla Ebbert, who was recently taken off a Southwestern Airlines plane because of her attire. They made her scoot her skirt down and her top up.

Do you find it inappropriate?

I was at Starbuck’s the other day, and sitting across from me was a medical student. She was about 22 years old, and looked very much like Kyla (above). Only, my companion was wearing shorts (very short ones) and a tank top. Was that inappropriate?

I’m not sure any more. When I was a kid (a hundred years ago :)) we weren’t allowed to wear shorts or other casual attire to places like the mall. (Mall, ha! It was a conglomeration of stores all in one area - not covered they way malls are now). People at that time dressed with the decorum dictated by the situation and the place. But that’s not the case any more. A lot of companies have “business casual day” every day. Ladies don’t wear gloves to church like they used to, boys don’t wear ties to school.

I’m ok with all that. I actually prefer to go casual. My worst nightmare is having to get all dressed up for something.

But back to the airplane question … What’s appropriat attire?

And what about reading material? When I was flying out of San Francisco last month, I went into one of those stores at the airport to buy a magazine. On the top row were 4 or 5 porno magazines. I’m talking Playboy and Hustler and a few others I don’t remember the names of. This was in the airport, PAST SECURITY. That means that anyone buying one of these things is about to board a plane! And I’ve got to say, sitting next to someone on the plane who was gawking at … er, reading one of those magazines would seriously creep me out a lot more than sitting near a young lady dressed like the girl in the picture above!

And the winners are…

Congratulations to Brownone, Christy H, and Cherie J, they each won an autographed copy of my recent book, Tempted At Every Turn. E-mail me, ladies, and give me your mailing addresses. Congrats!

September 12, 2007

Good advice

Not too long ago I was watching the season finale to The Next Food Network Star (one of my summer indulgences) and I was struck by something that Bobby Flay said. He told the contestants, “if you’re not nervous about your passion, you’re not passionate about it.” Think about that as that statement implies so much. Some might argue that if you get nervous about something, then you’re not meant to do it and I would say that that’s totally true when it comes to jumping out of a plane, but I’m sure there are plenty of skydivers out there who would argue with me. When it comes to your passion though, I think nerves are healthy and even crucial to some degree. For me, my passion is my writing. I love it. Okay if my critique partner heard me say that, she’d totally laugh since I mostly complain about my writing, but in reality as much as I complain, I wouldn’t want to do any other profession. I am passionate about writing. And I’ll be honest, it makes me crazy nervous. It scares the pants off me some days. The business aspect is terrifying on its own, but the craft itself is nerve-inducing. How can I take the perfect story that’s in my mind and do it justice on paper? Do I remember how to write a book since the last time? What if they find out I’m a fraud? What if no one likes my stories? Writing makes me nervous. But it only makes me nervous because I truly love it. If I didn’t feel the passion I do for it, then I wouldn’t care how things turned out, it wouldn’t matter if I wrote a great book with characters that readers relate to.

So what do you think? Do you think Bobby Flay is right? And what are you passionate about? I’ll pick three random comments and give the winners an autographed copy of my latest release, Tempted At Every Turn.

September 11, 2007

Liaisons

So I was listening to an interview with Gene Simmons from Kiss the other day on NPR’s Fresh Air. It was an old interview and I guess a controversial one because Simmons was pretty obnoxious in the way he treated Terry Gross, the show’s host.

Anyone else hear this interview originally or a few days ago?

So the thing that struck me about Simmons was not how rude he is (big surprise, rock stars have egos), but that he was so excited to talk about his many “liaisons.” Apparently, he’s had over 4,000 of them.

Ewww. 4,000?

What kind of guy sleeps with 4,000 women? What kind of woman wants to sleep with a guy like that?

(Or one who looks like this? Seriously, please explain this to me.)

And then I started thinking about romance heroes. Aren’t they always “experienced?” Haven’t they usually had their share of “liaisons?”

Well, mine certainly have. There must be something appealing about a hero with romantic experience. We readers don’t want him to have fallen in love before (or maybe he loved and lost and struggles to love again), but we don’t necessarily want him to be a virgin either.

So why is it that a romance hero with experience is sexy but a real guy with experience (granted A LOT of experience) is gross? In fact, I never wanted to date guys with lots of experience—players, as they’re called now.

So what gives? Don’t romance heroines ever worry about all the women who came before? Does a guy’s double (or, heaven forbid) triple digit number never bother them? Should my next hero be a virgin?

September 10, 2007

Bionic Eyes Update

In a few hours, I’ll be heading over to my very favorite eye doctor’s office for my one month check up. And I figured that since there was so much talk before my surgery about my Lasik and all that I’d give you an update.

It’s fabulous being able to see. The last time I went I was a solid 20-20, so I’m very interested to see what my exam says today. Here are some things I like and some things I’m having trouble getting used to about no longer wearing glasses:

Sunglasses — Sunglasses are so cool! How did I not realize this! It’s sunny out, there’s glare, I just don’t feel like letting the world see my tired eyes… SUNGLASSES! I have four pairs now. Here I am modeling three:

Night vision — I don’t mean being able to see in that weird greenish tint, I mean actually being able to see things at night! Like the clock. Or the lump on the floor that is the cat. This comes with disadvantages, though. I’m pretty sensitive to light when it comes to getting to sleep (always have been), so now that the clock and the hall light or the lights outside are clear rather than soft and blurry, I find that sometimes I have to turn the clock away to fall asleep. ‘Cause those crystal clear numbers are so freakin’ bright!!

Steam — The other day my friend and I were driving home from our retreat and we stopped to get something. I had been running the air conditioning in the car so it was cool. We stepped outside to find it hot and muggy. Her glasses immediately steamed up. It took everything in me not to do that Nelson (from the Simpsons) “Haha!”. It was so awesome NOT to have to wipe my glasses off!

Not having glasses — Seems weird to list not having glasses as a disadvantage to not having glasses, but it’s true. I’ve been so used to having glasses for so long (25 years) that I still try to take them off, push them up, search around for them on the nightstand… etc. El Guapo says I’ll get used to it and stop trying to push them up. I hope so. I’ve poked myself between the eyes several times. Old habits die hard.

September 9, 2007

Farewell to a Great One

September 8, 2007

Read Any Good Books lately?

From the time I learned to read in first grade, I’ve enjoyed nothing more than cuddling up to a good book. When I started writing my own, reading other author’s works took a nosedrive. There just wasn’t enough hours in the day.

This year I decided to read one book a week as part of my New Year’s Resolutions. This week–for some reason–I must have been really in the mood to read because I read not ONE, but THREE books. They were:

Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas– This one took me a little bit to get into. I admit the only reason I didn’t put it down and move on to another book was because I love Lisa Kleypas’ writing and characters and had to believe this book would be no different. My instincts were right on target. I LOVED this book….and the ending was oh-so-satisfying…and unexpected A definite recommend.

Bite Me If You Can by Lynsay Sands. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a paranormal fan and have never been able to get into vampire books. But I’d gotten this one at the RWA National conference and it grabbed me from page one. For those paranormal lovers out there–don’t miss this one!

And, last but not least:

Twice the Temptation by Suzanne Enoch. This is a two-in-one. You get a historical about a cursed diamond and a contemporary that involves the same cursed diamond. I love Suzanne Enoch’s historicals AND contemporaries so this book was twice as nice.

How ’bout you? Read any good books lately?

September 7, 2007

You’re Watching That?

Have you ever absolutely loved a movie that everyone else you knew hated? That you actually felt embarassed to admit that you have in your movie collection? You dig it out when no one else is around and curl up on your couch to watch, praying that none of your friends or family members show up unexpectedly to catch you at it. You live in dread of hearing them say “You’re watching that?” one more time. And heaven forbid that the pizza delivery guy knocks on your door while it’s blaring at a major decibel on your television set. (Which really happened to me this past weekend, BTW. I’m still pink-cheeked from that one. Note to self: Not a good idea to be singing Suddenly at the top of my voice when expecting a pizza.)

For me, one of those movies is Xanadu, with Olivia Newton John. I saw it for the first time on cable when I was a little girl and I fell in love with it. I must have watched it a million times. The rest of my family members were less enchanted with it, however. In fact, I think my brother once mentioned that being forced to watch it had definite possibilities as a form of torture. (Please, please, I’ll tell you everything I know! Just don’t make me watch Xanadu!)

Of course, I was a kid back then, so my terrible taste in movies was excusable. Or so my siblings tell me. But now that I’m an adult–Well, sort of–I still love it. I don’t know if it’s the combination of Gene Kelly and a terrific soundtrack (The title song, Magic, and Suddenly were all hits for Olivia when the movie first came out) or if I’m just into corn. Maybe it has something to do with the absolutely gorgeous animated segment by Don Bluth, formerly a Disney artist. Or it could be that I just like roller skating. Whatever the reason, I still enjoy getting it out and watching it on occasion. (For some hilarious insight into the movie, check out this website.)

Come on, time to fess up! What movies do you love that make other people squirm?

P.S. Pssst. As a quick sidenote, I’ve finally joined up with My Space! You can stop by and say hello at http://www.myspace.com/kimberlyloganauthor

September 6, 2007

The Decline and Fall of English

I don’t mean to sound like a harbinger of doom, but I’m seriously concerned about our language. I don’t think it gets enough respect. Anyone and everyone just changes it to suit their whims. The most blatant example of this is with spelling.

People complain all the time that kids can’t spell, but how can we expect them to spell when advertisers and marketers refuse to spell!

Take words like lite and donut. You see them everywhere, but they are wrong. Wrong, I tell you! It’s “light” and “doughnut.” As a teacher, should I take points off a kid’s paper when s/he writes “lite?”

The other day a student asked if spelling counted in journal entries. I said no, the idea is just to get your thoughts down and get in the habit of writing every day. So then she said, “Well, school is spelled S-C-H-O-O-L, but I can I write it S-K-O-O-L in my journal?”

After I quit ramming my head against the wall, I said no. I might not count off for spelling, but doesn’t mean you should deliberately spell words incorrectly. The response?

“We do it on text messages.”

Ugh. Don’t even get me started on the way instant messaging and text messages are ruining our language. At least there I see the need for brevity, but I can’t help but fear that in 30 years you’ll open a new edition of A Tale of Two Cities (A Tale of 2 Cityz) and read, “It wuz the bst of timez, it wuz the wrst of timez.”

Yes, I know language must evolve or die. No, I don’t want a police state that regulates everything, but can’t we have a few hard and fast rules?

September 5, 2007

A New Diet

As many of you know, I’ve been losing weight during the last few months. And it’s going well (less than 10 lbs to go to my goal!). But after this last weekend, my husband and I have entered into a whole new diet. It’s called:

The Fridge is Broken Diet

Yup. My fridge died on Saturday. Just up and completely died, taking all our our refridgerated food with it. And since it was a holiday weekend that means we won’t even see a fridge repairman until today. Yeah. 5 days, at least, with no fridge. Living out of coolers and from take out (and that’s if they have the part today and get it fixed). Fun, fun, fun.

But today I’m leaving for a two-day writing retreat with my friend and talented author Julie Kistler. Two days of plotting and brainstorming and all kinds of good things. And I’m told the fridge in the cabin works just fine!

So if you were going to retreat from the harsh reality of broken fridges and little annoyances that sometimes gather together and overwhelm, where would you go and what would you do? I won’t be around to answer comments today (we’re leaving right at noon and I have a swim class right before that), but I’m very interested to see your answers when I return on Friday afternoon!