Pistols at Dawn

Fellow American Title II Finalist, Michele Ann Young's first book is now out! Pistols at Dawn is a Regency set historical full of danger, romance and intrigue. Read all about it here on the Title Wave blog.

Cat Crap Part II (or Day 4 and counting...)

Yup, the suitcase is still unpacked. Thank God I have company in this rather little bizarre habit of mine. Hellloooo Erin and Ellen! Actually, Everybody Loves Raymond (a really funny sitcom that is no more) had an episode about just this (the wife leaving her suitcase out for a bit after the vacation was long over) But I promised MG (Mike Geraci) I'd unpack it this weekend.

Now, on to Cap crap part 2. For those of you that read my blog about Cap crap part 1, you know that I sort of smashed my 2 cars together after being distracted by Lucky the cat's crap in the garage. Well, Lucky has struck again.

I came home from work Friday morning, totally exhausted after 12 hours of birthin' babies, only to discover a really bad smell when I walked in the house. (MG swears it wasn't there when he left for work.) Now, MG leaves for work about 6:30-7:00 am. I came home about 7:30-7:45, so Lucky only had about a 3o-60 minute window to do the deed. I followed my rather spectacular olfactory talent (the one that apparently you have to be female to have) directly to the source within seconds. Lucky had crapped all over my beautiful Ralph Lauren queen sized bed comforter. The one I bought just a few months ago.

I almost killed that cat.

Thank God that he was no where in sight.

So, I did the best I could to scrape the stuff off, heaved the 100 lb ( I swear, it weighs a ton) comforter off the bed and dragged it to the laundry room, which of course, is on the other side of the house. This is where things started to go wrong. If I had been thinking, I would have stuffed the comforter in the my car and driven to the nearest Dry Cleaners. Now, in my defense, I did read the laundry tag on the comforter. I SWEAR it reads, "May wash in delicate cycle in Extra Capacity Washer--yes, Maria, this means your Super Duper Kenmore Washing Machine".

I swear, that's exactly what the tag says.

Thus, I load up the washing machine with cold water and Woolite, and begin to stuff it in my machine.

Maybe, just maybe, I get about a fourth of it in, before I admit to myself that the tag must be wrong. My Super Duper X-tra capacity Kenmore just isn't going to do the trick. So I leave the the section of the comforter that Lucky liked best in the washing machine to soak and go off to have a bowl of ice cream . Somehow, the ice cream makes me feel much better and I go off to sleep because I have to work again that evening.

I wake up at 2 pm with that awful feeling that something just isn't right. Oh, yeah, I think to myself, I have about half my comforter stuffed in my washing machine full of water. What to do next? I come up with a most brilliant plan. At least, it seemed brilliant at the time. I decided to drag the comforter out of the washing machine and toss into the kid's bathtub. This seems rather logical to me. Doesn't it? I mean, surely, the bathtub is large enough to hold the comforter and it's just down the hall from the laundry room. Yes, perfectly brilliant. I can hand wash the comforter in the tub. A most excellent plan.

Now, of course, suffice it to say, that if while dry, the comforter weighs a ton, it weighs nearly 2 tons wet. It takes me and my 15 year old son to pull the comforter out and drag it down to the bathtub, where I discover that, yes, my bathtub is too small to hold the comforter to wash. Sigh...

This is where the story gets too long to blog about. Let me just end with this.

End Result:

Comforter is now washed and drying in a rigged up apparatus that MG set up in the garage (because you know that my Super Duper X-tra capacity Kenmore Dryer isn't big enough to hold it.)

And... somehow, in all my gyrations (although I'm still sticking to my story-- I NEVER tried to actually wash the damn thing) the spin cycle in my washing machine is now broken. The little black belt that does something beneath the machine burned out. This is a most bizarre coincidence, in my opinion...

Cat crap tally for June:
2 dented up cars
1 broken washing machine

It's a good thing I love that cat.

Day 1 and counting...

Okay, Mel, I'm back. Thanks for the blog patrol duty!

So I go back to work today. This means that vacation is officially over and the battle of the suitcase begins. For some odd reason, I have a mental block that involves unpacking my suitcase after vacation. This drives Mike Geraci crazy.

It's not like I'm messy or anything. We've been back from Acapulco since Sunday and I've cleaned, done laundry, bought groceries, etc... but for some reason the idea of unpacking my vacation suitcase completely wears me out. I think this is definitely one for Freud.

Speaking of vacations, I had a fabulous one! Acapulco is absolutely breathtaking, although the heat and humidity was a killer (and this coming from a Florida girl!) So hot was it? It was so hot, that within 2 minutes of getting a soda with a glass of ice, the ice would be completely melted and you'd be looking at drinking that "Coca Cola light" lukewarm. The first thing I did when we got to Atlanta was get an ice cold soda.

I did manage not to get sunburned this year (Thank God) Although I do have this mysterious little red burn next to my collar bone on the left side. You know, right next to where the bathing suit top strap is? How is it that one teeny tiny section where you don't get the sunscreen on well enough can burn like that? Kinda shows you just how well the sunscreen actually does work. I would hate to be that red all over.

Let's see, reading done on vacation:

Much Ado about You -- Fabulous! Next trip to the bookstore, I'm getting the next book in the series--Kiss Me, Annabel.

Macbeth-- Yes, I actually reread Macbeth while on vacation by the poolside. My current wip has a bit of a Macbeth theme in it and thanks to some inspiration from Louisa, I decided to read it again. And am I glad I did! I had forgotten just how much I really loved the play.

More vacation stuff to come...

Hurry up.

I know you're home now...so you may as well get back into the groove of the blog-o-sphere.

We need pictures and details.

Now.

Out of the Closet Reply

If you're looking for Maria....You'll have to search here:


She's busy right now soaking up the sun and flirting with the pool boys. I'm jealous. I tried to convince her to let me go as her oldest daughter, but that didn't fly. Humph.

Anyway, she'll be back sometime next week.

TTFN

Cat Crap

It almost ruined my day. Ruined and almost being key words here.

Yesterday was just another day in the Geraci household. Mike was out of town again, on business, and I was running Kevin (14 year old son) to a tennis tournament. Lucky, our beloved family cat, had apparently gotten trapped in the garage and did what he normally does when he gets nervous. He crapped. Not pretty little hard turds, like Lizzy, our not-so-beloved family cat does. No. It was a runny mess. He not only crapped all over the garage, he also did a nice little pile right on the my son's tennis bag. After a few expletives and disenfecting the tennis bag, we piled into the Expedition where then, in my haste, I promptly ran smack into the other family car.

Yep. I ran right into my own car.

Now, this probably wouldn't be so bad, except that when I realized I had done this, I tried to go forward, and God only knows how, ending up "hooking" both cars together. The right rear end of the Expedition was now linked to the left rear end of our little Suzuki Forenza.

After freaking out for a few seconds and cursing Mike Geraci (afer all, if he wasn't out of the country, he would have been the one taking Kevin to tennis, so none of this would have happened. Right?)I called AAA to come help.

"Your car is what?"

"It's hooked to my other car."

"Uhm... ma'am, how did that happen?"

"I ran into it."

"Oh. Well, so , do you need a tow truck?"

"I need something."

"Hmmm... there's a 2 hour wait on tow trucks. But I can get you a guy with a wench within the hour."

"Yeah! A wench, whatever that is, it sounds good!"

About an hour later, this kid (he looks about 18) shows up with the wench. "Wow. I've never seen anything like this before!" (insert excited voice)

"Want to take a picture?" I ask.

"Uh, no, ma'am."

One hour later (in 90 plus degree Florida heat and humidity) poor wench boy still can't get my cars unhooked. So he calls for one of the popular tow trucks. Another hour later, tow truck guy comes.

Tow Truck guy, whistling under his breath, "Wow. I thought I'd seen it all!"

"Can you get the cars apart?" I ask, praying he'll say yes.

"Uhm, we can try. But first, we need you to sign this waiver."

So I sign the waiver that basically says that in trying to get the cars apart, I understand that they could do mega damage to both cars.

After about 30 minutes of pulling and tugging, my cars are free!

Both guys and their AAA approved trucks head off. "Have a nice day, ma'am!"

The good news:
1. both cars are driveable.
2. Only the little Suzuki needs body work.
3. With hubby out of the country, I think I can get it fixed before he gets home and discovers it.

So no one was hurt and I provided an entertaining story for the AAA people to laugh over. All in all, it could be a lot worse.

Woo Hoo!

Okay, so I'm not such a blog dummy after all. I finally did it! I was able to upload an image to my sidebar. This might not seem like a big accomplishment to most people, but believe me, for me, it's big.

I have my wonderful RWA Online friends, Lucy and Kait to thank for that. Lucy for suggesting Kait, and Kait for talking me through the process. Thanks!!

Speaking of blogs, here's a fabulous one hosted by the editors at Avon Publishing.

What I'm reading

Isn't this a gorgeous cover? Since I'm computer addled and can't quite figure out yet how to do this on my sidebar I thought I'd put the picture up here. So far, I'm really loving this book!

Madame Mirabou's School of Love
by Barbara Samuel

Sometimes real passion means living the life you’ve always wanted.

Nicole Bridges still can’t believe she’s taken up residence in a Colorado apartment complex nicknamed “Splitsville.” She’s still reeling from her husband’s affair, a divorce she never saw coming, and having to leave the upscale, comfortable world she helped make for her ex and their teenage daughter. With little money, even less work experience, and no idea what to do next, she takes tentative steps–if only to keep her head above water.

Along the way, Nikki unexpectedly finds herself falling in with eccentric new neighbors–and being seduced out of her funk by a charming, elusive ex-Londoner. And through her delight in the sensual elements of perfume, she will discover the courage to form bonds she never imagined. When a discarded flyer printed with the name “Madame Mirabou” provides the spark of inspiration, Nikki dares to blend the fragments of her life into a fragrance that’s uniquely and passionately her own.

Writing Snappy Dialogue

My friend Gina blogged the other day about the film Casablanca. It was a great post. One of the things she talked about was the wonderful dialogue in the film.

So here I was, writing a crucial scene (aren't they all?) between the hero and heroine in my new historical wip, and I thought, what better timing is this? It really got me rethinking about how to write good dialogue.

I'm a firm believer that no matter what genre you're writing in, audiences of today want to read dialogue that they can identify with. So even though I'm writing about a man and a woman who are living in 1815, and I have to make their dialogue sound realistic for the time period, I also have to write dialogue that rings a cord in my reader's psyche.

I heard once that if you want to learn how to write good dialogue then you should read screenplays. Which has always made a lot of sense to me. But I think you can probably learn just as much (and have a lot more fun while you're at it) by watching those old movie classics from the forties.

If you want to learn about writing snappy dialogue, there's no better movie in my opinion than the 1940 screwball comedy, His Girl Friday. I watched the movie again the other night after reading Gina's post (it just so happened that I had it on my Netflix list and it was at the house--talk about timing!)

The plot is simple: Cary Grant plays a suave, but tough newspaper editor who finds out in the opening scene that his ex-wife and star reporter (Rosalind Russell) is going to get remarried and is quitting the paper. Well, with just one sophisticated cock of his eyebrow, we know Cary Grant isn't about to let this happen. What follows is 90 minutes of the most delicious romantic comedy you'll ever watch.

One of the most fascinating parts of the film is the breakneck speed of the dialogue. My netflix cover says this: One archivist actually timed the hurricane delivery of the actors at 240 words per minute, about 100-140 wpm faster than the average speaking rate! But as a writer, what fascinates me the most isn't so much the fast delivery, but the fact that it's funny, smart and filled with sexual innuendo. So even though this movie came out a couple of decades before I was born, and the references are outdated, I can still find lots to identify with. And that's what I want to do with my own characters in my own stories. I want their dialogue to resonate with my readers. And what better way to do research, than sit in front of the tv with a bowl of popcorn and a great old flick?

American Title II Winner Announced!

Now that the Romantic Times Convention has come and gone, I can finally announce who won the American Title II contest. It was Gerri Russell with her wonderful Scottish medieval manuscript, The Warrior Trainer.

It's been a long six months and while a part of me is sad the contest is over, I'm thrilled that Gerri's dream of publication is going to come true in January of 2007!

Friday morning at the convention, the finalists had a breakfast that I had hoped to attend, but unfortunately, work and family obligations kept me away. But I plan to make up for it by partying in Atlanta this July when I meet up with the finalists who will be attending the RWA National convention.

Reading about Gerri's experience brought a big ole fat lump to my throat.

Oh, and check out the beautiful cover Dorchester designed for her book!

Felt like being sneaky

I haven't hijacked Maria's blog since she unveiled her new look, so I thought today would be a good day to pop that cherry.

Here's another picture of Clive, courtesy of our CP Louisa. (who still doesn't have a blog so I STILL can't link to her) Clive is currently Maria's inspiration for her latest Regency Set Hero. MMMMMM and what an inspiration he is...

And let me tell you, this is a story you won't want to miss.

Louisa (from here on known as "the blogless one" or TBO) is writing a story about a Big Demon who is also a hunka-hunka-burnin' love. Anyone familiar with All My Children will recognize this sexy actor :
and since I just finished reading her love scene, I can honestly say, I want myself a demon lover, too. TBO is a helluva writer.

My current hero is a combination of two men: Jude Law and Heath Ledger. Who wouldn't want some of that?

My new Look!

Thank you Gemmak Designs!

MI 3

On Mel's recommendation, I went to see Mission Impossible 3 on Mother's Day with Mike and the little kids (ages 13 and 14-so I guess not so little)

It was great. Lots of action. And I mean, lots of action. My favorite part of these movies is when they do the mask bit. You know what I'm talking about. When they "create" a perfect image of someone with a rubber mask (but you actually know it's the actor playing himself)

Phillip Seymour Hoffman was a great bad guy. And Tom Cruise, well, he was Tom Cruise. I'm convinced the guy must have found the Fountain of Youth. He's like 42 and still looks 12. Although a very hot 12.

I give MI 3 a big thumbs up. But, I must warn you. There's lots of explosions. My friend Cindy from work is convinced that Tom has put subliminal messages promoting Scientology into the explosion scenes. If I start acting weird in the next few weeks, then we'll know she was right...

Wrong!

Mel has said she will never again watch American Idol after Chris got the boot last week. And we both said we wouldn't watch Survivor again if Danielle won the million. She didn't. Which means we'll still be watching the show, but it was close. Danielle and Aras in the final 2 was just wrong. It so should have been Terry and Cirie. They were by far, the best players out there. But as usual, those who fly under the radar get rewarded. At least both Terry and Cirie won cars, which is a bit of a consolation. And at least we got to hear Shane one last time. No matter what anyone else says about it, I still like him.

Internet Junkies Anonymous

You know you are hooked to the internet, when...

You get in the car with your laptop, drive to the nearest hotel, then hang out in the parking lot just to use their wireless internet connection. Yup. That's what I've had to resort to in the past couple of days just to get my fix (said hotel was the one we stayed at recently when we were remodeling our floors) Yes, I know, I could probably go to Starbucks and have a cup of java while legitimately using their wireless internet, but somehow, this hotel parking lot thing seems a lot more fun.

For someone who spent most of their life without the internet, you'd think a few days without it would be a piece of cake.

Wrong.

I'm dying out here. For some reason, Tuesday morning (My God... has it only been 3 days?) I woke up to no internet access. I think it has something to do with that pesky modem/router thing set up in the den. After figuring out that the cable wasn't out and playing with said modem/router for half a day, I finally gave up and let Mike Geraci take over. A new router and modem later, it's still not working. Hubby promises he'll have it all taken care of this weekend, or early next week at the latest. Let's hope he's right, because I'm beginning to scare myself.

That said, I'm expecting a new "look" for my blog. I wanted something fun, something that said a little bit about my personality and what I write, so I requested a blog makeover from Gemmak Designs. If you go down to the lower right hand corner, you'll see her In Process column. I'm currently in process! Marcia--that's me. Sigh. I'm not sure why Maria looks like Marcia to so many people, but I'm used to it. I gave her a few ideas, color schemes, etc and I'm anxious to see what she comes up with.

NO!!!

God Lord. What the hell is that ???

That's just one of the reasons that I screamed NO! when Shane's flame was snuffed tonight. Love em, hate em, or think he's ready to be Baker Acted, it doesn't matter. He's one of the most entertaining Survivors ever and I'm going to miss him.

Tonight, in some sort of weird power play, Aras and Cirie turned against Shane. I'm still not sure why, except I guess they think that whiney, spoiled Danielle will be easier to beat in the final 2. But for Aras to say that he can back out of his alliance with Shane because Shane wanted to take Courtney to the final 2 is just bull. Aras really disappointed me tonight. He was a total ass.

I really hope the final 2 are Terry and Cirie. Both of them have beat the odds and deserve to be there.

Lucky Break

My friend Jan Conwell's new book just came out today! I had the privilege of reading the first couple of chapters last year while she was working on it and it was fantastic! It's available through Triskelion Publishing.

Here's the blurb:

Fiona Wright has no money and no job, but plenty of unpaid bills. When she’s offered a lucrative job teaching aircraft maintenance, she takes it—qualified or not. Will McCrae, assigned to train her, is her perfect idea of Mr. Wrong.

TSgt Will McCrae's job is to turn a flighty, overdressed, neo-hippy into an Aircraft Maintenance instructor. Despite his misgivings, when duty calls, he answers, strictly by the regs. But how exactly are the regulations going to help him, when she walks through his classroom door—and into his heart?

A little Inspiration can't hurt

Especially not when it comes in the form of Clive Owen.

So I'm trying to write 2 things at once. My new historical, In Love and War, and keep up with my contemporary, The Chruch of Bunco. In order to get my mind going in the right direction I really need a strong visual picture to keep me on track. Since my hero in In Love and War is physically modeled after Clive, what better way to keep things straight than this picture over my computer?

WOW

Terry is this season's Survivor super stud. No doubt about it. I think the man pees testosterone.

But last night proved that Cirie is mentally in control of the game. She single handedly got Courtney's flame torched. Did you see the look on Shane's face? Huh? He was totally stunned. Go back to your blackberry, Shane, Cirie will tell you who to vote out next week, cuz I have news for you. She's planning to take you to the final 2. That is, if she's smart. Which the woman has definitely proved she is (and she can catch fish, too)

With the annoying Courtney gone, the most logical person to take into the finals will be Shane. Anyone, even Shane's imaginary blackberry can beat Shane.

The question is now, what will win out: Terry's brawn or Cirie's brain? Stay tuned till next week...

Would I do it again?

Gina announced on the American Title 2 loop the other day that Dorchester Publishing is now calling for entries for the American Title 3 contest, which really brings home the fact that American Title 2 is over. Almost, that is (The winner of AT 2 is still to be announced during the Romantic Times Convention in May taking place in Daytona Beach).

The news made me a little melancholy. Has a whole year gone by already? And why does time seem to move faster as I get older? And more importantly, knowing what I know now, would I enter AT 2 again?

I can answer that last question with an enthusiastic YES.

Now, I admit, there are times when I went a little wacko with this contest, which my wonderful friend and cp, Mel can attest to . Remember Mel, on pain of death you can never repeat anything I said during the time period I now jokingly refer to as "those crazy 48 hours". But other than that, I can absolutely, positively say the contest was one of the most positive experiences of my life.

Some of what I learned:

I received validation as a writer. I thought I had a pretty good story, and I thought I was getting "there", but having a publishing company think my ms was good enough to publish feels pretty damn good.

I learned all about deadlines. When people at RT say ASAP, they mean yesterday :))

I REALLY got to know my story. Having to write character sketchs on your hero and heroine in less than 75 words can make you get awful cozy with your own characters. Oh, and can you send that to NY ASAP, please?

I had a great excuse to tell people that I'm a writer. A lot of people already knew, but a lot didn't.

I learned tons about self-promotion. This was painful for me at first, and it's still not my cup of tea, but I'm getting there...

I got this great blog :))

I got to know 10 of the nicest, most supportive writers ever--my fellow American Title 2 finalists.

And last but certainly not least, I learned that my friends rock, which I knew, but I truly didn't expect the level of support I received from friends and family. And that, made even "those crazy 48 hours" worth it.

So for those of you thinking about entering AT 3, I say go for it! You never know what great things just might be in store for you.