May 27, 2008

Some of My Favorite Things

I thought today I would share some of my favorite websites with you. I don’t have a lot of time to surf, but these are sites I visit almost every day. Maybe you’ll find a few new faves and share some of yours with us.

1) The Jaunty Quills—oh, but you already knew about that one, right!

2) Free Rice —This website is run by Poverty.com, and it allows you to practice vocabulary. For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program. The words are hard! Try it. You’ll learn a new word (and help feed the hungry).

3) The Animal Rescue Site –This is one of those sites where you click and the sponsors donate money to help pay for food and care for animals. It also links to similar sites for the rainforest, literacy, hunger, breast cancer, and child health.

4) Vegan.com–I realize most of you aren’t vegetarians, much less vegans, but I thought since Oprah was doing that 21-day vegan challenge, some of you might be trying it too. I’m going to go vegan this summer (again), and I just love this site and the podcast. I can’t wait to try the top 10 recipes.

5) Kids-in-Mind–I think every parent should be familiar with this site. I’m a teacher, and it helps me choose which movies are appropriate to show my students. Check it out. It’s really objective.

So those are some of my favorites. What about you?

May 20, 2008

Email

I remember the first time I ever used email. I thought it was cool but really cumbersome. This was when the Internet was still in its infancy, and I had to type in code in order to send a message to a friend who also had an account at the college we attended. There was no Hotmail, no Yahoo, no Gmail. It was just a blue computer screen and some nonsense code and my message.

It seemed easier to talk just using my new mobile phone (which, by the way, weighed about 8 pounds and got no reception).

Things have certainly changed, and while I cannot imagine life without email, there are things that bug me about it.

When people don’t email me back.
Hey, I understand that people are busy. If they’re anything like me, they get like 500 emails a day—mostly SPAM, but some that require an action or reply. I don’t expect an instant reply, but within 48 hours would be nice. Recently, I was organizing an event at work and needed to know how many would attend. After weeks of sending emails and asking who would attend, half a dozen people still had not responded. In desperation, I finally emailed them this: “I don’t care it you come or not. I just need a count. Email back YES or NO.”

Still nothing!

So I figure they’re not coming. Of course, at this point I could have actually walked down the hall and asked them if they were coming, but what’s the point of email then? Plus, if I ask them about it personally, there’ll be that awkward sorry-I-didn’t-respond-to-your-email apology. Then I have to say that it’s okay, but really it’s not because it if were okay, I wouldn’t have had to email them 8 times and then walk over there!

So anyway, where was I? Oh, right. So I figured they wouldn’t show. And then, of course, they did.

The useless Reply All
Sometimes, in the spirit of efficiency, people send an email to several recipients. I’m all for this. Recently, a friend of mine sent a mass email to let everyone know that her dog had emergency surgery and might not make it through. The email must have gone to 60 people. I emailed her back privately, but some people hit Reply All. Those emails just clogged my Inbox. They were sweet but not meant for me. I didn’t even know most of the people.

Failure to Trim
I completely understand, in a business situation, keeping the original emails at the bottom of the page. One or more of the parties involved in the decision may need to refer back to something mentioned in an earlier email. The Jaunty Quills do this all the time when we’re making decisions about this blog. Sometimes we ever chime in using different colors to differentiate our responses.

But when I send someone a personal email, why keep my letter in the reply? If I send a letter via snail mail, no one would return it with their letter. I think not trimming personal emails is kind of weird for some reason.

So am I alone? Do any of these things bug you? What bugs you about email?

May 13, 2008

I Miss Reading

My life is definitely too busy. I have 7 books checked out from the library, and I’ve only started 3 of them. Plus, I have another I’m halfway through, but it’s not from the library. I should probably put it at the bottom of the stack, but it’s so good!

We’re supposed to go to a party tonight, but I told my husband that if I had my choice I would stay home and write and read. Do you ever want to skip social events and just read? Does that make me anti-social?

I have enough time to write—not as much as I’d like, but enough. But something has to go when I’m writing a book, and since it can’t be my day job and I already only get like 6 hours of sleep, I guess it’s been my reading time.

Do you have enough time to read? What do you do to make more time for reading?

May 6, 2008

The Thing About Cleaning (and writing too)

Ultimate Sportsfan and I had friends coming over for brunch on Sunday, which meant we had to get ready for our guests on Saturday. And of course, that meant cleaning. Lots of cleaning.

I hope I can feel at home confiding to all of you that I don’t clean much. My house isn’t a pigsty or anything. I wipe off the counters, do laundry, run the dishwasher…but the heavy stuff like mopping and dusting and polishing the silver only get done when we have people coming over or I just can’t take it anymore. I’d like to do more cleaning, but the bottom line is that I can either clean or write, and I choose to write.

But Saturday I had no choice but to clean, and I started thinking that, in some ways, cleaning is a lot like writing. See, the thing about cleaning is that the more I clean, the more I see that needs to be cleaned. For example, if I clean the counters and the sink in the kitchen, then the stove looks dirty. Then the refrigerator doesn’t look spiffy. And what about the inside of the refrigerator? And if I’m cleaning in there, I’d better do the inside of the microwave too. And how long has it been since those windows were washed…

I think in the cleaning world this is called the dustball effect.

In the writing world, it’s called overwriting.

Right now I’m on page 354 of a book that really shouldn’t go over 375 pages. I’m generally a pantser, but at the end of a book I try to map everything out clearly to ensure I don’t forget anything and the pacing stays tight.

So after cleaning all day, I sit down to write. I know exactly what scenes I need to write, their purposes, the point of view, everything. And yet, as I write I can’t resist putting little extras in there.

Why not give this character a few lines? Why not throw in another kiss? Why not have the hero talk to his best friend one more time? Pretty soon what should have been 5 pages turns into 12. If I allow myself to do this unchecked, I’ll get 550-page books. I’ve done it in the past. But since I’ve been published and realized that no one is going to buy 550-page books, I’ve tried to save myself the anguish of cutting huge sections and written to publisher guidelines.

And so just like when I’m cleaning, and I think, “Why not pull out all the refrigerator shelves and wash them?”, when I’m writing I have to say, “No, best friend, you can’t have a part in this scene. Or a subplot. Or a love interest.”

Save that for the next book. Or the next Spring cleaning.

April 29, 2008

Things That Bug Me

10. When I pour a bowl of cereal and there’s only enough milk to fill the bowl halfway.

9. When, after said cereal bowl incident, I remember that I was supposed to do X and Y before work.

8. When I arrive at work late because X and Y took longer than expected.

7. When my boss notices that I arrive late.

6. When, breathless, I finally get to my desk and see notes from the day before reminding me of all the work I was going to do when I got to work early.

5. When the printer breaks, and it keeps saying, “Tray 2 Open.” And Tray 2 is not open, damn it!

4. When the copier has a paper misfeed, and there is not a scrap of paper anywhere in G2 or A5 or any of the other crevices it tells me to search.

3. When I get 10 minutes to eat lunch because I spend the rest of the time trying to fix the copier.

2. When someone tells me the copier has been broken since yesterday.

1. When I stop by the store after work (Finally! I can make those copies on Monday. I’ll just get there early.) to buy batteries for a portable radio I’m bringing to a picnic the next day. And then I get home and realize that I need 8 C batteries, not 8 D.

Ever had a day like this?

April 22, 2008

Vacation Time!

I love this time of year. In my part of the world, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the temperature is perfect.

And it’s time to plan for summer vacation.

This year Ultimate Sportsfan and I had planned a two-prong vacation. My grandparents and my brother live in Michigan, so we planned to fly up and see them for three or four days. This was my part of the vacation. Then we were going to fly to Las Vegas and play there for three or four days. This was USF’s part of the vacation.

Then I finaled in the Rita.

For those of you who don’t know, the Rita is like the Oscar’s of romance writing. Authors and books are nominated in various categories and the awards are given the last night of the Romance Writers of America’s annual conference. I am extremely blessed to have finaled once before in the Best First Book category (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Men I’ve Dated). Now I’ve finaled in the Regency Historical category. My competition is fierce: Julia Quinn, Anna Campbell has two nominations, and Nicola Cornick. The odds of me winning are only 1 in 5, and yet I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be there. It’s so much fun to be a finalist, even when you don’t win.

Well, we couldn’t give up our trip to Michigan. How can you tell your grandparents you’re not coming for a visit? So Las Vegas had to go, and San Francisco took its place.

Wow. I think Vegas definitely would have been cheaper. But san Francisco, here we come!

Anyone been there? We thought we’d see Alcatraz and the Golden gate Bridge, but what else should we see?

And what vacation plans do you have? Or are you staying home this summer?

April 14, 2008

In My Shoes

I’ve really enjoyed reading about everyone’s day in the last few blogs, and I guess now it’s my turn. Since I have a day job, my schedule is a little bit different.

4:20 a.m. The alarm goes off. Feed the cats, empty the litter box, turn on the computer.

4:45 a.m. Finish reading last 2 or 3 pages written and start on the next page (or the end of the last page). Notice there’s no email checking in here. I’m not allowed to check email until after I’ve met my page goal. On weekdays, that’s 5 pages.

5:30 a.m. Start getting worried that I’m not going to be done with the 5 pages in time.

5:45 a.m. Ultimate Sportsfan’s alarm goes off. Type furiously. I know he’ll hit snooze.

5:50 Save the five pages, email them to myself, and check email.

6:00 a.m. Change into my running clothes. Try to convince USF to get up and run with me. Am successful about half of the time.

6:05 a.m. Run 2 miles.

6:40 a.m. Get in the shower.

7:20 a.m. Eat breakfast, make lunches, and head out the door.

7:40 a.m. Pull into the parking lot.

7:50 a.m. Sign in and head to class (I’m a teacher).

8:00 a.m. Drink coffee and try to wake up. Meet with parents or administrators. Lesson plans and grading.

9:30 a.m. Teach

11:55 a.m.-12:05 p.m. Check emails.

12:05-12:25 p.m. Gulp down lunch.

3:30 p.m. Head home unless I have tutorials.

3:45 p.m. Revise the chapter I have on my schedule. If I’m on chapter twenty, I’m probably revising somewhere back in chapter fourteen or fifteen.

5:00 p.m. Pick USF up from work (like Robyn, we only have one car). Go work out if we’re not too tired.

7:00 p.m. Eat dinner and read a book or back to the computer for more revising or to write a blog or answer emails.

10:30 p.m. Collapse in bed.

P.S. Sophie Jordan will be blogging with us tomorrow, instead of today, as scheduled.

April 13, 2008

Where do those covers come from?

If you’re interested in how romance novel covers are created, check out this feature from Better TV. Marianne Mancusi, an author with Dorchester, produced the piece.

April 6, 2008

Tomorrow!

Guest author TJ Bennett blogs with us tomorrow. She asked me to let everyone know that she’s having a contest whereby anyone who posts a comment on at least two of the blogs she’s touring will get a chance at a free book and a $40 gift certificate to either B&N or GermanDeli.com (a German foods importer).

Check out her blog tomorrow for more information.

April 4, 2008

Taxes

You knew it was coming, right? The inevitable blog about taxes. Have you done yours yet?

USF and I had them ready in January, but we’ve had to wait until this week to get one last form. We knew we were going to owe. Even though we itemized and took every deduction, we still owed.

Not because we make a lot of money. No way. We just make a lot of untaxed money. I do contract work and he sold some property and then there’s my writing income.

You know I really should pay estimated taxes, but I just never know how to predict if and how much money I’ll make. Royalty checks for all your favorite authors are showing up in mailboxes around the country this week. As far as my total, your guess is as good as mine. $10? $100? $1,000? $10,000? Who knows? I’m hoping for the last one, though.

So we got the last form in last night, did the final calculations, and wrote the check. Actually, no one writes a check anymore. We had it debited from our back account. When we realized we were going to have to pay, we started saving, so we had it covered. It was even a little less than we thought.

And now, of course, we’ll be getting money back from the government. Not so sure this whole economic stimulus thing is going to work. My refund will go right back into savings.

So what about you? Do you owe, have a refund coming? What are you going to do with your economic stimulus refund?