I'm LOST again!

Ah - tonight is the night I've been waiting some 8 months for... LOST is back. My only t.v. obsession.
Last night they rebroadcast the season finale from way way back when, complete with running explanations that came up in a bar along the bottom, which was very clever - and ingenious way to remind us all of about the plots and subplots without interrupting the action or making us sit through a retrospective.

I'm glad I tuned in because I'd forgotten so many details...

Like how John Locke was shot and left to die by Ben (who will always be Henry Gale to me). I really hope he figures out a way to redeem himself because I've always had a soft-spot for Locke -- but his actions of late are bit 'out there'. But it's interesting to see the faith/science undercurrent between him and Jack.

That Charlie 'sacrificed' himself. I'm probably the only person in the world who was happy to see the ex-hobbit kick it. My husband was quiet disgusted at my glee when Charlie Pace took his last annoying little breathe, until I reminded him that
A) he's just a t.v. character and
B) in real life, he's still living in Hawaii banging Evangeline Lily.
That shut him up.

That Hurly saved Sayid, Bernard and Jin -- making me think that perhaps this really is all in Hurley's mind - a la John Cusack in 'Identity'.

And the James 'Sawyer' Ford is so damn sexy! Perfect example of the alpha male.
I'd stay happily stranded on that guy's island ;)

Writer's ANXIETY??

You may have noticed a distinct lack of writing-related posts lately and though I'm a bit embarrassed about this, I need to share...

I've got a bad case of Writer's Anxiety. Never heard of it before? Me neither!! But I have it, and it's not to be confused with Writer's Block. No... the ideas are there (too many, in fact) and the storyboard for my intended wip (a novel to pitch at Nationals) is 80% complete and posted next to my desk.
Problem is, every time I open the document my heart races, my hands go all sweaty and they even start shaking a little. My head goes fuzzy and I feel all panicky.

WTF is wrong with me???
Is it because I've never written a full-length 75,000 word novel before -- Is it the size or the complicated-ness of the project that has me panicky?
Is it because I want/need it for Nationals- - Too much pressure? Maybe I should delete the count-down clock on my sidebar...
Perhaps it's the subject matter. I chose a paranormal - a genre I've never tackled or dabbled in before... but it's all there in my head, and the characters are talking...

I'm so upset about this that it's keeping me up at night. Have you ever experienced this before? Any advice/suggestions?

Monopoly - World, vote for Toronto!!!

Did you know that Parker Bros is coming out with a WORLD version of Monopoly? And they're letting The People (that's us!) vote for which cities will make the board. I, of course, am pimping votes for Toronto (which is currently at #19, behind Vancouver and Montreal) - so please go to this link and vote for the Big Smoke. You have to sign up and log on, but it's not hard - and you can vote daily for up to 10 cities.

Go HERE: http://www.monopolyworldvote.com

Only funny if you're over 30!

I missed posting a Friday Funny cartoon, so I'm posting a Monday laugh instead. My friend Chris K. *waving to you all the way in Edmonton, AB* sent this to me and I held my sides from laughing so hard.


************************************************************************
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up? What, with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning…uphill BOTH ways yadda, yadda, yadda! But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today? You've got it so easy!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet! If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no e-mail! We had to actually write somebody a letter…with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like “call waiting”! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy “caller ID “, either!? When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent – you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics. We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids' and the graphics sucked!
Your guy was a little square!
You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens; it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!
You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your a$$ and walk over to the TV to change the channel.

And there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove or go build a fire . . . imagine that!
If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled!!!
You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980! Oh yeah, and a seatbelt was Mom throwing her arm across your chest every time she hit the brakes.

Regards,The Over 30 Crowd
************************************************

I have no idea who wrote that gem, but I hope you got a good chuckle.
Happy Monday kids!

...because I'm a nerd

... a very enthusiastic nerd!
I'm SO darned excited that I'm going RWA's National Conference in July that I put a countdown widget on my sidebar. To the right. At the top. Go look...

Cool, eh?

You can now remove your thumb and forefinger from your forehead -- I know I am! ;)

ROAR for Powerful Words

SQUEE! My BBBF (Best Blog-Bud Friend) T.L., whose writing ability I both admire and aspire to, honored me with this writing award. I'm tickled as pink as the lion ;)

As part of the award, recipients are asked to cite three elements of powerful writing. Here are three things that make a book a keeper in my world:

Characters
They have to be fully-developed (flaws, quirks, and all) and relate-able on some level. No cookie-cutter two-dimensional creatures for me please. TSTL heroines and OTT villains need not apply.

Story and/or story-telling
One of these two things must happen for me -- either the story must be so good I don't pay attention to the writing (Brown's The DaVinci Code) or the prose must be so excellent that I could care less if there's little movement in story(Frasier's Cold Mountain). Rarely, an author pulls off both (The Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner, Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald, Middlesex by Jeffrey Euginides), so I'm good with either.

The Power to Illuminate
I stole this right from TL because I couldn't say it any better - "I like fiction which illuminates, with honesty and authenticity, an aspect or aspects of human life, emotion, or endeavor -- whether serious, humorous, or provocative, whether in a realistic or a fantastic fashion."

Passing this award on is going to be hard, only because I know SO MANY amazing authors - all of whom make me think, smile, and shake my head (usually in awe). Narrowing it down to just a few is cruel!! I'm going to think outside the box a bit on this one...

Bonnie Staring - who makes me laugh every day. I urge you to visit her blog. You'll find her quirky brand of humour infectious!

Candy Minx - a blogger, a writer, an artist, a film-maker -- a true Renaissance woman. I'll be honest... I mostly don't comment on her blog because she intimidates the hell out of me. People - she's really really smart. Savvy. In-the-know. Go there. You might learn something.

Red Garnier - Red writes the sexiest, funniest erotic romance on the planet. What an amazing talent to make you giggle out loud while getting hot and bothered! If you want proof, start with Bona Fide Liar and Divine Assistant. She also writes dark and paranormal if that's more your style, but honestly, she's brilliant at funny. AND lucky us, she has a new book Amatista, coming out on Feb 6th. :)

Nicholas Temple-Smith - if you're not a regular visitor to Nicholas' Thursday Thirteen, then you should be. His book lists are thought provoking and informative, but he's another one that makes me laugh out loud when he ventures to the quirky side. (and 85+ visitors a week can't be wrong!) He also has a very enjoyable book out on Lulu entitled The Story of Elijah. A very enjoyable read!

Thanks again TL!!

R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Very sad news...
According to CNN.com and TMZ, Heath Ledger died this afternoon. He was found unconscious and was later pronounced dead. Apparent cause is overdose. He was only 28...

Life at the Kinsons, Mid-Winter Kick in the Pants Challenge

I like to read. Yeah, big surprise :) But my fave place to read is soaking in a tub of hot bubbly water, probably because it's the quietest place in the house.
The other night, armed with two issues of TIME and the latest Reader's Digest, into the tub I sunk...

My two cats, sadly no longer kittens at 8 months old, like to sit on the edge of my big corner soaking tub - can you picture it? - the kind of bath with a shelf-like ledge? I used to have a beautiful plant in that corner, but the cats practically sat in it (not practically - they DID sit in it!) so I moved it to make room for 'the girls'.

But I digress...
So there we were, the cats in a sitting-doze, me up to the chin in water, well into the second magazine, the room awash in a mist of steam, when my black cat, Licorice, decided to walk along the rim.
I jokingly said, "Don't fall in!" and you know those little back paws started to slide. Into the water she went, taking the Reader's Digest (that I'd put on the edge by my feet) with her.
In all the frantic clawing to climb out, she scared her sister, Lady Grey, who made a dash down the other side, slipped on the TIME I'd put behind my head rest (yes, I have a bath pillow) sending both herself and the magazine into the water too.
As I was scrambling to get the cats out, I dropped the other issue of TIME I was reading!
THEN... as I pushed Licorice out, she vaulted onto the vanity next to the tub knocking down two pullover sweaters and my bra -- INTO THE TUB.

Have I lost you? That was TWO cats, THREE magazines, TWO sweaters, ONE bra, and ME in the tub.
Ah... good times. Wish I had it on video tape just so I could see it all happen in slow motion - cause in real-time, it all went down in about 2.3 seconds.

The bad news? I won't be up on news and the latest in US politics.
The good news? I have the sweetest smelling pussy cats in Canada :)

* * *

If you're still with me (it was a wordy post, eh?) head on over to Christine D'Abo's blog. She's started a MID-WINTER KICK IN THE PANTS for writers. Join us as we try and get our productivity levels back onto the charts this winter. Lots of fun, a supportive network of writers -- woo hoo!! What more can you ask for?

What Wylie means...

Theived (or teefed, as we say in Bermudian) this from Christine's blog.

What WYLIE Means

You are influential and persuasive. You tend to have a lot of power over people. Generally, you use your powers for good. You excel at solving other people's problems. Occasionally, you do get a little selfish and persuade people to do things that are only in your interest. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way. And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life. You're sometimes a little guilty of being greedy. Spread your luck around a little to people who need it. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Friday Funnies #2

These cartoons sure come in handy when I'm too busy (read: lazy) to blather on.
Hope you have a warm weekend! It's chilly, blowy and snowy in my neck of the woods...
Any plans?

Seven Random Things meme

Christine d'Abo tagged me for a 7 Random Things About Me Meme. I was actually tagged last week for a birth month meme (Leah and Julia - check out theirs!), but it's a long one, so I'll put it off until I have some time to really think about it. In the meantime, here are

SEVEN RANDOM THINGS ABOUT MOI

1. When I was a kid, my uncle nicknamed me Peeler. Thankfully, it didn't stick - though he continues to use it.

2. I was adopted when I was six months old. Explains the 'black sheep' thing :)

3. I played keyboards in a rock band in highschool. We sucked. Our 15 year old lead singer (who was AWESOME) went on to become a stripper.

4. In addition to piano, I learned to play the French horn and the clarinet. Sadly, I haven't kept up with any of it.

5. I lost a very dear childhood friend to MS. He was 33. I now fundraise for the MS Society of Canada.

6. I dined with HRH Prince Philip. He's very short.

7. Both my knees have 4 inch scars from operations when I was a teenager. I have no clue what was wrong with them! At 16, I never thought to ask.

I think that everyone in the world has been tagged already so I'll leave it open. Play along if you'd like!

BBC Planet Earth

I got my hubby, who loves documentaries, the complete BBC Planet Earth series for Christmas. I, too, enjoy the odd documentary, but I won't drop everything to watch one. In fact, part of me bought the series for him to ease my guilt over ditching him and the television every night in favor of reading or writing.

Well - this series has totally captivated all of us - my eight year, too. Before I go any further, let me start by saying - WOW - GO BUY THIS. It's hands-down the best $54.00 I ever spent. Hours and hours of the most incredible footage I've ever seen. Simply stunning.

I've been subscribing to National Geographic for over 15 years and can't help feeling cheated!

This 5-disc compilation, narrated by the venerable David Attenborough, has shown me more about the world, introduced me to animals I'd never before seen or heard of (and I used to work in a zoo!!) and environments I never knew existed.

According to the back blurb, it was 5 years in the making, with over 2000 hours in the field. Each 'segment' (jungles, shallow ocean, seasonal forests, caves - my personal fave, pole-to-pole, rivers, etc...) is one hour long, followed by a 10 minute segment called Planet Earth Diaries, where they give you some insight into how they got some of the amazing footage. What these people go through for a single stunning shot is really incredible.

Days and days and days of sitting in bird blinds in a hot sticky rainforest for a 30 second shot of a bird-of-paradise displaying for a female (totally worth it, btw) makes me shake my head in awe at these dedicated crews. Or trekking for 10 days into a cave system to film the stunning Lecheguilla (sp?) with its white crystals - I'm still breathless over that one.

I really could go on and on about it -- just ask my sister who had to listen to me wax endless on the phone last night -- but I'll spare you and just say again - GO BUY THIS SERIES. NOW.

You will not be disappointed, in fact, you will be sending me accolades! ;)

Bags and bags of pine needles

Pop over to Six Degrees of Sexy, where Christine d'Abo, who, btw, was just awarded a JERR 5 Star Silver Star Award for her latest short story Chasing Phoenix (woot woot), is chatting about story arcs.

And under that post, you'll see Red Garnier's HOT-HOT HOLY SMOKIN' HOT new cover for I Take Thee, which is coming soon from Liquid Silver Books.

HELLO to Victoria Krain (who commented on the cartoon below) who we haven't seen for months and months and months -- her last blogpost was May 2007!! She recently gave birth to a gorgeous little girl, so we graciously excused her from the blog world, but now that she's back, we expect her blog to get up and running again!!

How many needles are on a Christmas tree?

I can now answer this with some authority: A 7 foot tree has exactly 4 1/2 plastic grocery bags of needles.

How do I know this?

I took down my tree last week and every time I touched an ornament, the branch supporting it shed every single one of its sharp pointy leaves.

Why?

Because *SOMEONE neglected to water it since Christmas, and *SOMEONE forgot to close the heating vent behind the tree -- so for 2 weeks that poor little evergreen was blasted by warm air, sat in direct sunlight in the living room window, and thirsted.

And yes, the *SOMEONE was me *blush*

So that same *SOMEONE, after dragging out the naked tree, was left with a mountain of needles on the living room floor-- hardwood (thank GOD it wasn't carpet) -- to clean up. The cats thought it was hilarious -- like two kids jumping in leaves, those cats took running leaps through the mountain until it was scattered far and wide -- while I yelled, chased and swept as fast as I could.

The tree then sat on the side of the road waiting for pick-up. What the neighbors must have thought, I can't imagine. Their still-green trees, the occasional piece of tinsel shining in the sunlight, next to my brown heap of leafless twigs.

I may have to move.

I still have some Christmasy bits and bobs about - a few candle holders, some of the kid's artwork - that I MUST get to this week.

How about you? All un-decorated?

*but I will blame my hubby for reasons of self-preservation :)

Friday Funnies

AMEN!

Any sweating?

Does anyone know when the next Seventy Days of Sweat session will be? I'm currently plotting out a novel and would consider joining if the timing is right.
I think I'd benefit from the vibes of the collective conscious,... share the pain! And glory?

Comment if you do! Thanks :)

Holla!

Thank You Graphic Comments
Big shout-out to all who took time to give me feedback on the blurb I posted yesterday. You, my writerly blog-buds, are AWESOME and I thank you sincerely for the honest and inventive suggestions/analysis/critique.

Law of Averages - unofficial blurb, opinions wanted

The storyboarding course had to be set aside yesterday so I could complete edits on Law of Averages. They've been sitting on my laptop since Christmas Eve but I couldn't face rechoreagraphing steamy sex scenes while my kids were watching The Backyardigans or Spy Kids next to me on the couch. Ewww!

In addition, I had to come up with a blurb - that nugget of story meant to entice the reader to buy. I did up a very short punchy paragraph and sent it off to Kelli, aka editor-extraordinaire, then went to bed. Alas,... sleep was short. The blurb sucked on deep subconscious level and I must have come to that realization sometime around 1am, because I was out of bed and rewriting.

I NEED YOU, PEOPLE!! Please, your honest opinions on the following would be greatly appreciated. Would YOU be enticed to buy?

LAW OF AVERAGES

Megan Frost, an up and coming restaurateur, knows everything there is to know
about the culinary arts, but when it comes to pop culture, she’s been living
under a rock. During a vacation to the sunny island of Bermuda, the yummiest
dish she’s ever laid eyes on rolls that rock right off her.

British musician, Gabriel Law, the famous Dark Angel of Rock, regrets putting his song writing on the back burner. Tired and creatively simmered out, he retreats to
the peace and solitude of Bermuda in order to cook up some original sounds for
his new album. But when he finds a naked, sunburned and self-proclaimed average
girl in his holiday cottage, he happily exchanges seclusion for sizzling
passion.

The ingredients for a sexy, scorching relationship are in place, but the recipe isn’t complete with out a legend, a mysterious taxi driver and a shimmering aquamarine…

Let me know: is it hokey, jokey or okey-dokey? Thanks blog-buds!

Storyboarding Day 1 and Shopping 101

Between last evening and this morning, all the storyboard students had the opportunity to introduce themselves. I was very happy to see some familiar faces on the loop (Hi Red, Linda and Joan!!) as well as some amazing talented multi-pubbed writers and even a striking screen writer.

Armed with my shopping list, my 3 year old helper and I hit Staples for a foam poster board and a basket full of multi-colored post-it notes.
I love office supply stores and couldn't help going a bit nuts. Instead of ONE foam board, I got a 3 pack. Hey- you never know when you're going to need a foam core board, am I right?? And in addition to the 3x3 post-its, I got 4x4 lined post-its in blue, yellow, gold and orange so I can organize all my other to-do and project lists - yipee!!
AND some new pens, despite the fact that Santa had put some in my stocking,
AND another giant calculator because I misplaced the one I had (ironically, I found it when I got home in the place I'd decided to keep my *new* giant calculator... go figure),
a duotang to keep my course notes in,
some new print cartridges for my printer, in case I should run out of ink while printing course notes for my new duo-tang
AND, *deep breath* a 2 GB flash drive because it was purple with swirls and looked totally cute (even my 3 year old thought so!!) - and it even came with a lanyard so I can wear it around my neck (though why I'd want to do that I don't know - but I did,... all afternoon),
AND - yes, there's more - little colorful tab-sized post-its in case I want to mark a specific page in my course notes in my new duotang.

You should see me in a hardware store :D

Fess up - what's your weakness???

New Year, New Look

I was getting tired of the orange, but too lazy to change the entire format, ... just the THOUGHT of entering all the info in my sidebar was just too daunting!
I was aiming for a calmer, more relaxed look. What do you think of the blue? Easier/harder to read? Your comments are always appreciated ;)

* * *
The Wii tourney was a blast. Between chatting, noshing and drinking, the Wii play went on for about 6 hours! And I managed to not look like too big a fool - in fact, I scored a record high (for me) in bowling and managed to smoke everyone in target shooting.
Tennis and cow racing,... not so good.

I can't recommend this gaming system highly enough -- and this is coming from a person that SUCKS at everything SPORTS and video-gamish. I'm hooked ;)

* * *
Before the insanity of Christmas started, I signed up for a course on Storyboarding. I don't regret signing up, but regret the timing. I'm so geared up to begin my novel tomorrow - but the course starts today!! Again, so little time, so much to do/learn...

Otter Love

This clip was picked as one of the best on YouTube in 2007. It's been watched over 9,000,000 times!! Only three of those by me ;) so far...
Enjoy:

Monday's Coming! and Reading Goals for 2008

Is it wrong of me to be counting down the hours until Monday?
As much as I enjoy sleeping in until 8 (or 9, as was the case this morning), I crave the routine of the regular 'work' week. I've blogged about this before, so I don't want to beat a dead horse, but dayum, Monday can not come soon enough.

We're having some friends over tonight for a Wii tournment of fun. *place thumb and forefinger against forehead to form L-shape*
I've been brushing up on golf, but I'm a total loser at tennis, and the fact that you have to get out of you seat and simulate the action of swinging a racket makes me look like a fool AND loser. There's a mental image that will have you cringing tonight!

This weekend, the goal list begins with work on edits for Law of Averages, followed by undecorate the Christmas tree and shovel the heap of fallen needles off the floor. And if I can find a few moments of solitude, I'd like to begin the first book of 2008 - a Susan Elizabeth Philips, whom I've never read before - Breathing Room.

I was going to do another 50 book challenge for 2008, but I'm a little worried that writing a novel and novella and reading 50 books may be too lofty a goal. Perhaps I'll target 25 (2 books/month) and hope for more. Meanwhile, the TBR pile continues to increase at a rate far higher than 2/month! In fact, my Six Degree of Sexy sisters, with their prolificiousness (made up word alert) may grab everyone of those slots!!

What are YOUR reading goals for 2008??

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy New Year and all the best in 2008 to my blog-buddies, met and pre-met :D

It's been awhile since I blogged and blog-hopped, but I've been having fun hanging out with friends and family these past weeks. I love this time of year because of that -- catching up and socializing with people -- there never seems to be enough time for this during the year. Why is that, I wonder? I think I should add 'more socializing' to the resolutions list.

And speaking of resolutions, do YOU have any? Come on, I want to hear them. At least one. And don't give me the 'I don't do resolutions' business because that's admitting that there's nothing about you that you're willing to change, so if you aren't already perfect, you're in denial. Or lazy - LOL

I have a few. And no, I rarely keep them (see 'lazy' above) but at least I'm willing to try :)

Personal Me:

1. lose weight (pretty much a yearly resolution)
2. socialize more
3. go to the gym or do some kind of exerise EVERY DAY (that include's Wii golf!!)
4. get more sleep (not sure how I'm going to pull this one off, but I'll try)

Professional Me:

1. 2008 is the Year of the Novel. I'm going to write one. YEAH! Target - 75,000 words by July, so I have something to pitch at RWA Nationals.
2. write another novella for EC

Santa was kind enough to bring the Kinsons a Nintendo Wii. Smart man. It's SO MUCH FUN. Go buy one, now, if you haven't got it yet. We've been doing lots of virtual sports (which I'm surprising okay at - I've even beat hubby in golf!) and Super Mario Galaxy. SMG is great for problem solving and dexterity, so I have no problem letting my 8 year old at it for hours. I can't wait for him to go back to school so that I can have a turn!
If you have a Wii, here's were I ask you to recommend games. Thanks!

I'm blogging at Six Degrees of Sexy tomorrow (Wednesday) on writing about exotic locales. Please stop by and holla.