Squeeee! It was awesome!

Most likely because there wasn't that much Robert Pattinson in it. I'm sorry, but the kid cannot act and it was really painful watching his scenes. My husband put it best: "I'm going to act now...let me show you how emo I can be..." The result is a "serious" look that makes the audience wonder if he's...well...constipated. gah.

The vampire action in this movie was fantastic! I felt that it hit all the really good high points from the book and it was really nice to watch the story unfold without putting up with all of Bella's internal angst (it gets old - my biggest complaint from the otherwise really good series). Kristen Stewart looked great and did a much better job with Bella than she did in Twilight. Further proof that the weakest actor is Pattinson.

There is a reallllllly good sequence showing Victoria being chased by the wolves (and I really want the song they played during that). I'm a little worried about them switching actresses for Victoria in Eclipse. I feel bad for Rachel because the only thing she didn't do well for Victoria was that she wasn't a big name star and that's ultimately why they took the first chance they could to get rid of her. The price of working in a business like Hollywood - they should have worried more about finding a better guy to play Edward...but I digress...

Now...Jacob...how did Taylor Lautner do? Woah! The first time he took off his shirt, every woman in the audience inhaled. I am not kidding - it was really funny! And that kid can act!!!! And he brought up Kristen Stewart's performance, too. You could just tell - she acted a lot more naturally around him than she ever did with Robert. I'd been a staunch fan of Team Edward...until Pattinson. Damn the story, Bella and Jacob should have been THE couple. Leave it to the author to get the story wrong.

Seriously, Lautner's bulking up just made Pattinson seem that much more pathetic when he took his shirt off at the end (and PULEEESE - did we really need to see his pants that frikken low???). I can't rave enough about Aro (Michael Sheen) and Jane (Dakota Fanning). Holy Cow - I was never that scared of the Volturi in the books but this Aro made me sit up and say, "Holy - that's a Vampire!"

One small complaint: Alice, Esme and Jasper's hair all looked better in Twilight. But at least they got Jasper's accent right - can't wait for them to show his backstory.

Bottom line: If you liked the books, you'll like this movie. If you liked the movie Twilight you will LOVE this movie!
Stars: nine out of ten

Yet another reason to dislike Harlequin!

Writers’ Organizations to Harlequin: If You’re Not Going to Act Like a Real Publisher, We’re Not Going to Treat You Like One

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Having a message to convey is no excuse for bad writing!

If anything, it means your writing had better be spot on because you want people to concentrate on what you are saying instead of rolling their eyes at how poorly you said it. I'm currently reading a classic example of how NOT to do it. My husband doesn't want me to finish the book because he doesn't want it to make me dumb - that's how bad it is. He has a point...

Writers tend to assimilate a little bit of everything from their environment and incorporate it into their writing. I believe this woman did exactly that - she must have read This Present Darkness, saw the state of the world today and decided that she needed to send a message to save our children. She wrote a book and (I hope) self-published it. This is the kind of book that gives Christians and self-publishing a BAD name.

I have several reactions to this: First of all, regardless of how poorly it was written, the book is finished. That's more than I can say for my current work in progress - I KNOW how hard it is to finish a first draft, let alone edit it (though I'm curious as to how little editing went into this work - anything beyond spell check would surprise me). Second, I'm holding a copy of her book - proof that no matter what you have to say, someone, somewhere will read it (and like it, if you're lucky lol). I don't like it; I regret every penny I spent on this book. Third, I feel bad for railing against it so much.

That could be because it's a "Christian" book and the fact that I see a little of my (much) younger and more idealistic self in her message. Or it could be because in the back of my mind, I hear "What if that was your book?"

My husband assures me that I write MUCH better than this author. I do not use sentences like:
"That was the final finale of her out-of-body practices."

And if I had a demon general in my work, he would not dismiss his minions this way:
"The demonly horde still sitting in their seats await further punishments.
The leader narrows his eyes with disgust. In a low monotone voice he commands, "Flee from my sight. Your dastardliness sickens me."

And I would have done a little better research to find out that it is called astral projection - not Astro-projection. (Ruh-roh, Reorge!)

Your dastardliness sickens me...

...and book places are dangerous.

I am a member of Shelfari and Goodreads - though I MUCH prefer the Shelfari user interface (it's really, really pretty and easy to use). I think John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton use Goodreads.
(I'm open to friending if you have an account with either website!)

In my search for this VERY elusive book, I've come across TONS of new fiction that I'd kind of like to check out - so my shelves have grown exponentially. Not to mention the books that maliciously seduced my poor unsuspecting heart and came home with me from a couple of recent trips to Barnes & Noble. My credit card company thanks you!

Aside from the usual amazon, yahoo and google book lists, in my search I've come across some other great resources:
Paperbackswap
Fantastic Fiction
WhereTheMapEnds
Christian Fiction Review
Christian Book
and a really great children's bookstore I'd love to visit if I lived in Ohio: Loganberry Books

I really wish they had something like this for music!

And in another thing we've discovered...yeah, it's cheaper to buy online (I know, big DUH!). My husband bought 2 blu-rays the other day (Iron Man and Watchmen) for (some amount) each on the Best Buy website and did in-store pick up (just to test his theory). The discs had the in-store price tags on them when we picked them up - he'd saved $10 per movie. I didn't know the difference would be that huge.

(Despite the couple of books we bought at B&N and this Best Buy test, we usually do order most everything from Amazon, btw - and I get most books I can from the library which delivers to my home for free - woot!) I just downloaded the (free) kindle for PC and got an exclusive kindle-only book (for free) that is part of a series we're reading.

But with all of this looking AT books, I wonder when I'm actually going to have time to READ them? :-D

I'm beginning to think that I dreamed up this book. No one in my family remembers it (mom would have, I'm sure lol)
I found an old calendar tonight (from 1995) and I didn't mention it - which means that I probably got this book in 1996 or 1999.
I've ordered a book from Amazon (actually Better World Books - which is a great seller btw and I highly recommend them!) that is a library guide to Christian Fiction and I have another one that I'll get if the one on its way doesn't have it - hopefully this book will be listed SOMEWHERE! I might just track down the guy that put one of the library guides together - he's a librarian in some small town in Texas last I could find (John Mort)

Alright, nuff about that.

My husband went out today and picked me up a Barnie's Santa's White Christmas latte. It's officially the holidays now - but it won't officially be Christmas until I hear "Feed the World" by the Band Aids. It's tradition. :firm nod:
He also got tickets to a certain vampire sequel coming out next week. Can't wait! :-D

Finally got around to cleaning some stuff up around the house today. Yay. Didn't touch my novel, though (and that's what I'd originally planned to do today *le sigh*)

Sadly, it wasn't the book...neither were the next two I bought:
Patrick S Hirzel:
In an Angel's Hands aka In the Hands of an Angel
The Promised One

I've started emailing authors with books in the genre...I don't know what else to do.
I'm going to post the details here behind a cut and see what happens.

( Book Details )

So! My husband is happy now - well, happier...I still need to plug in the ethernet cable to make his life complete. He FINALLY got his PS3 that he's wanted since it launched. He thanks me for making him wait so that the one he got cost half as much and has much more hard drive space. (Would he have been less willing to wait if he'd known it would be 3 years?) :-)
As promised, the first blue-ray purchased was Speed Racer.

I still haven't written more. (I know, I know!) In the meantime, I needed a "fluffy" book to read - I've been reading Angela Hunt and she's a pretty hefty author. While her books draw me in, they are a full meal. So I took a break for a lighter read and found one in a bag of books that my grandmother had gifted me back in Oct 2007. This was pure frosting. I gagged a lot and laughed my way through it. It was a romance originally published back in 1981 (Love's Encore by Sandra Brown).

I can't believe how much writing styles have changed over the years! I mean, this reminded me very much of the stuff I wrote in middle school and high school - where the main male character always smirks knowingly/arrogantly at the main female character (like "I know you want me and I can lord it over you all I want"). And the main female character just wants to slap the grin off his face while at the same time feeling powerless under his charming spell...

Then for tickles and grins, I dug out the last story I wrote in high school (maybe even the last story I finished willingly on my own - as opposed to the stuff I wrote in college for creative writing class) and read it. Oh my gosh. It was hilarious - good and yet very bad and yet...redeemable. I might decide to refurbish it as a young adult novel.

The storyline was about some of my experiences in the private high school that I went to but I set it in a summer camp. All my friends were the counselors (as opposed to it being about a bunch of kids in a summer camp). Back then, I read too many books similar to Love's Encore (but with a Christian flavor) and...well, let's just say that the guy I liked at the time would have fit perfectly as the hero in those novels and I was really mean to him. I was so stupid...moving right along

In other news, we've been to the food & wine festival twice this week and plan to go again this weekend (hopefully) and next Tuesday. We're about 2/3 of the way through trying just about everything. Started in France today and (wow!) the Escargots Persillade en Brioche was really delicious!

In the past week or two, I also reread all my old journals trying to find a hint of a book that I've been looking for for 2 years. I read it about 10 years ago or so and the storyline kept coming to mind so I wanted to reread it again but I couldn't remember enough details to find it. My husband finally plugged in some key words in the Library of Congress Card Catalog and we found a book that might be it. I've ordered it through an Amazon seller and it's on its way. I'll keep you posted.

So we've been working on the sleep schedule this week. (gee, never heard that one before)
Somehow we just flipped it and my body is still freaking out. I can't sleep more than 3 to 5 hours at night and I usually nap for 3-4 hours 12 hours later. I'm all confused, tired and bitchy. For now I'm just drifting through the days waiting for some kind of energy to return.

My left eye is tired and dry so it went all red and wonky - missed my bros bday dinner because of it. Still sensitive to light but between eye drops and eye-buprofen, I think I'm getting better. Husband keeps saying, "Let me see it." and I'm like, "Dude, it's still red. End of story." :-)

Finished a good book yesterday: "Canopy" by Angela Hunt. She's just an awesome author - she can take any subject that I'm like "blah" about and make an interesting story out of it. I love updating my husband on the body count - not because her books are bloody but the deaths are just unexpected (like the two books I've read where she offs one of the main characters...what???)

I've got the second book in the weather warden series by Rachel Caine, but I'm not sure I want to read it. I read the first one twice (Ill Wind) because I love bad weather and I really wanted to like the series but it's just kind of eh. So I'll give this book a shot then I'm done or on to the next. We'll see.

My Shelfari shelf has over 300 books...I've forgotten a lot of the Nancy Drew books I've read over the years and the Sweet Valley Twins/High that I dabbled in (forget about babysitters club lol).
I'd love it if I could find the name/author of this one book I read about 10 years ago about an alien that glows pink when he gets mad. It was a funky story in the vein of Frank Peretti but tiny details keep coming to mind so I want to read it again.

My story is in trouble.

And if you are still reading, you have to watch this video http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1922701
A tree electrocutes itself and goes down in a ball of flames. awesome :firm nod:

It's after Oct 1 and this year's nano site is up and running. I'm still debating. I didn't do it last year and I have this *arg* type feeling (it would have been my 5th win). But then I started a real story in March - and I say REAL because it wasn't nano. It wasn't WORDCOUNT... it was story. Nice to have that feeling (which has been missing since, oh...middleschool)

But right now, I'm out of it. I've been focusing on my priorities (well, namely getting to know God) and reading a lot. I don't think about my story nearly as much as I want to and I haven't written anything on it in ...oh... forever. 
I gave a copy of the first part to my dad but I haven't heard back from him and there's a couple other people that got it but I don't know if they've read it yet. Overall, the response was great ("That was great...where's the rest?").

We've got the vouchers to renew our Disney annual passes (just need to go there and trade them in) so we'll be able to visit Disney anytime until about January 2011. Looking forward to hitting Epcot for New Year's Eve again. We went to the Food and Wine Festival the other night but the only thing we got was the Quesadillas from Mexico (ohm nom nom nom!!)

Then we got POURED on, starting about 10 minutes before Illuminations. Of course we didn't have the rain ponchos but that's why I made sure NOT to wear white. A bunch of us waited it out under an overhang in South Africa, but it didn't really let up.
So all in all it was fun, but not something I want to repeat. We looked like we'd jumped in a pool. Not wet...SOAKED!

I rejoined Shelfari but I wish I hadn't left: it's freaking hard trying to remember all the books I've read. (I gave up on the Nancy Drew list lol) Let me know if you have/are interested in an account and I'll add you to my friend's list. Same thing with Facebook.

OH! I knew there was something else. Freaking FLASH FORWARD!!!!! Holy cow what a show. Two episodes so far and my husband and I have talked about that show more than any other. Cannot wait for each week! Anyone else watching it?

Also watching The Biggest Loser, Amazing Race, Top Chef, The Mentalist (very disappointed in the season opener - and *darn* because it was such an awesome show last season!!! What did they do to the writers???)
And starting this week: The Next Iron Chef.
Eureka was great this season...can't wait for next time.
...This concludes our broadcast...

6 months ago today, I started this story again. It's still not done but it's a good bit different than what I wrote up at first even that short a time ago.
Love it, just need to finish it.

Sleep schedule: I never know if I'm napping or going to bed anymore. I only got 4 hours of sleep last night and then took a 3 hour nap - prolly would have been longer because my husband woke me instead of me waking up by myself.

I'm devouring the next Angela Hunt book (Face? The Face? gah it's to far away to go look at) and staying away from my story. I think I wisely do that when I'm this tired and drained because that's when I don't think it's good.
I do have more scenes to add and rework (and dangit, my character is getting dragged through the wringer).

...hmm. I came here with a coherent thought, now where did I put it?

So, I finished the 40 Days book today then immediately read another book.
My Faith has grown quite a bit.
But of course, I'm still human and I have a lot left to learn. (yay!) :-D

I've read a lot in the last few weeks too:
Breaking Dawn (completing my rereading the series)
My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent - WOW!! Highly recommended
Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
A Time to Mend by Angela E Hunt

I would have loved Ill Wind more if she hadn't been so worried about dropping you into the middle of the action. I had no idea what was going on for the first third of the book (about like Michael Clayton) but just like that movie, the payoff was quite good! I'm requesting the rest of the series.

I've broken through another block (almost all the scenes I have to write/rewrite now seem to start off with a block grrr) and came up with a great weapon idea that necessitates another scene and will add dimension to the final battle - which I'm still stalling on.

But, today (if you can call it that - it's 4 AM and I've been up since just after 8PM), I am happy!
Our sleep schedule could not be more effed up but ya know, we're working on it.

Food and Wine Festival starts Sept 25th.

I'm off to work on my novel...or start cleaning the house, whichever option falls under my hands...

Life is good.
I've completed Day 16 of the 40 Days book I'm working through.
I stopped the walking, though -- did something extremely stupid and burned my feet. But the blisters are gone now, so I'm going to get back to it (firm nod).

I did manage to break through the block I had (and screwed up the sleep schedule in the process, c'est la writing, lol). The scene is...interesting. Finally allowed the stereotypical "older, wise man" to get a little angry with the MC as she deserved it a bit. She messed up some stuff for him and he'd been letting her off too easy before. Can't have that happen. So, yeah, now it's fixed.
My husband and I are still editing our way through it and one of these days, I will finish the final battle...I will, I will.

We went down to his mom's place on Thursday and usually do a lot of story discussing on the long drive (3 hours one way). But this time, I was surprised to find that I didn't really have any major questions. That means, the story is really working well and we've hashed out just about every motivation we can think of. (I'm still so excited about it)

Unfortunately, I didn't get Breaking Dawn back. I'd been waiting for it to finish my reread of the Twilight series. Just as well, I'm very into my own story at the moment. So, I've requested it from the library - can't imagine why all their copies are checked out... I should have it before too long though. :-)

Experienced a weird phenomenon after this trip. We were only gone for one night but I feel a teeny bit like a stranger in my own house - like I can't remember the routine I had just two days ago. How bizarre. The last time I experienced this was after living with my best friend in another state for a month and a half when I was seventeen - BEST. SUMMER. EVAR!!!

The best way I can describe it is that I feel like I've changed. I am not the same person who walked out of the house on Thursday.
While my husband and I were down there, we ended up being too hot to sleep and had what felt like a HUGE argument. Wasn't bad enough to wake anyone else in the house but it kind of touched on some pretty deep feelings/fears that we've never talked about. Of course, when the dust settled, we were both still standing there, still loving each other.

We've had some yelling matches before so I don't know what was so different about this one but it's like I've experienced a paradigm shift.  There's definitely been a deepening our our relationship this year.

Now we are debating whether we're going to run over to Mini MegaCon. It's for novel research since my story opens at this very convention. I've never been to one before but I think the little details I've captured are just fine. (I'm surrounded by people who've been to beaucoup conventions). So I'm going to do an experiment... I'm going to post the first chapter of the book with the convention details in a friends-only post. Anyone who has been to a convention can tell me how well I did (or how widely I missed the mark). Opinions are welcome. I'll compare notes after I get back from MMC.
(lol - that TLA to me is main male character...I'm such a nerd).

Right now, I'm predicting that the most significant details I'll add will be the smells. I figure it shouldn't be too bad since the A/C should be going full blast, but I've heard and read horror stories (by now in the convention circuit, people have not washed their costumes and FL summers are hot and humid...) Maybe I'll concentrate on the food court scents. :-)

So, I'm making changes. I know, I know..."been there, done that, orchestrated the screaming and bought the T-shirt." But I AM serious this time. Day 5 serious. :-D

The key is to not make too many changes at once.

So, I've made them all: I get up early, clean my house from top to bottom, eat a balanced, nutritious breakfast, head the PTA, the neighborhood watch and the HOA. For lunch I meet friends at the club to play tennis, squash, racquetball and badminton. After a quick shower from which I emerge with shampoo-commercial gorgeous hair, I drive to the beach and spend a few hours under an umbrella with shades, a hat, and SPF 600 (rubbed on by the cute cabana boy, of course). I don't step a toe into the water. For dinner, I cook up a storm--for I am Betty Crocker, hear me roar! Then I clean my house from bottom to top, perform my nightly soul, body and spiritual cleansing routines and get to bed early for that all important beauty sleep. Stepford, eat your heart out!

Yeah, right.

Seriously, I am doing some things differently now: Morning is actually my morning again (for a solid week and a half now. whoo hoo!), I am reviving my spirit - made it to church this weekend for the first time in about a year, and I've started using the other hallway in my house to walk everyday (kinda can't make any excuses when it's that easy!).

And I am happier for all of this. One thing at a time... one day at a time. I still have a TON of growing to do but I'm amazed at what I've learned in the past 5 days.

The one thing that is still up in the air is the story. I've got to find what happened to my creativity. I have to rework a scene from early in the novel and of course, I still have to finish the ending. I feel like it should be easier than this...
If you see my Muse, please tell him that I miss him and just want him to come home.

So, firstly -- Stephenie Meyer is about to be sued over plagiarism. Thing is...

"J. Craig Williams, who represents "“The Nocturne” author Jordan Scott, told Reuters by phone that the passages in question involve *[few]* (emphasis mine) word-for-word similarities but that the two books have similar plot and character points."
"In a cease-and-desist letter Williams sent to Hachette Book Group, he provided comparisons from the two books of a wedding, a sex-on-the-beach episode and a passage where a human-turned-vampire describes the wrenching change."

omg. Give it a rest, bitch! This is clearly a ploy from one disgruntled unknown who wants to make a quick buck on the back of another author's success because her own crappy book didn't sell.

HOWEVER...
I myself, have been rereading the Twilight series (just finished Eclipse) and have cringed at every word or idea that I've found that seemed similar to things in my own novel. To that end, I've made a few changes to ensure that I didn't unconsciously copy her work.
I'll be watching this lawsuit closely, but I'm pretty sure that it will fizzle out when the judge throws out the frivolous piece of shit (and his client... er, I mean...)

SECOND -- OMG, I've picked up a SCARY vampire novel!!!
The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
My husband has been reading it and I picked it up this afternoon because I have to wait for more books to read. (My MIL still has Breaking Dawn and the books I've ordered from the library won't arrive for a while yet).

Anyway, I'm 125 pages in (yes, I said I picked it up just this afternoon). I've put it down for now, this is not something you can/should read at night. Nuh uh!!! No way!!!

But, I am recommending it. It's really good and will put the intimidation factor back in Vampires. Let's just say that this guy wouldn't sparkle--but he does arrive just before a Solar Eclipse (omg, Stephenie should sue *dies laughing*)
Srsly, it's CREEPY!!

Flying over, seeing it  from above is breath taking, yet deceiving. It's so small, like a miniature whose full scope can't be ascertained. It's like looking at New York City from the air: you can't really appreciate it until the plane descends and you realize you're in it. And then it's so huge, there's no way you can take it all in.

When you're there, you don't ever want to leave. There's a peace, an earnestness about the place that sinks into your very being and won't let go. You just want to live your life always within its boundaries. There is nothing beyond...
Like Pleasantville, the road ends. There's nothing unexplored without - only within - the huge world within...

And then the walls of your reality are shattered. You find that you've been living in the shell of an ever-changing, morphing, living, breathing Being. The fire ignites and everything that you held true is gone in a flash, never to be reclaimed.

Welcome to the Total Perspective Vortex...

Dear Muse,
I'm trying...I really am. But this scene is just too much for me to write. I've done everything to stall for having to do this - why does there need to be such a huge battle?

I miss you, please come back. I'm actually editing now - line by line. First 2 chapters done. I've got new motivations to incorporate that do make it all better but are sucky to insert this late in the game - though I know they won't be the last...

I need sleep, my schedule has been all over the place and I don't even know what day it is. Two years ago this month, I finished the short story version of this novel and sent it out but no one read it. Please don't let that happen again.

K thnx bai...

The Author

Hard to believe that 6 years ago, my sister and I had driven up to Illinois to be there for the birth of my best friend's first child. Her mom and I were listening outside the door when he was actually born and the nurse said, "Here's your baby."


So here's to you, Ben!! Happy Birthday!!!

Four months ago today, I quit Facebook. (We'll just skip over the part where I've returned to it a little bit lot in the last month.)
Today, I'm over 118,600 words and I've gone through everything that I had handwritten from March to April. Now, I'm officially flying without a parachute.

All that remains is the final (EPIC) battle and the fallout from that. (King's got to officially get his crown and stuff, you know.)
Then I need to edit edit edit.
I love this story. *sniff*

The sequel is already lining up and threatening to beat me to a pulp. It's a LOT darker than this one and I'm hoping I'll fare through it with a shred of my sanity left.

(I need to clean my computer--I just tried to delete a spot on my monitor...) *shakes head*

This is another Literal video (not sure if it's done by the same guy) for the song Total Eclipse of the Heart.

And this is Epic: Darth Thriller...  The groove is strong with this one.
(careful, starts off loud)


Enjoy!