VN2 being shown some cover love

My novel VN2 is being featured at the Romance Lives Forever Blog for their Cover Love.

Bragging rights

About a year ago a studio in Great Britian contacted me and my close friend, Mel, about using a series of character biographies/studies I had developed for the late 80s television series- Tour of Duty. They were releasing the entire three seasons in the UK on DVD, complete with the original soundtrack and a lot of extras that would include my character work. :) The complete series is now out and available and I take great pride in being able to count this under my writing accomplishments and credentials (under my real name) for something that is my real joy when it comes to writing- character development.

I had a great deal of help with these, including not only Mel (who made it all possible) but from the late Lee Russell who was a military advisor for the first two seasons of the series. We still maintain the original website where not only the character biographies were came from, but several other interesting elements for those writing about the Vietnam War. If interested please check out www.tourofdutyinfo.com

It has never been about the destination

This actor I really like and follow avidly says he doesn't understand why anyone would watch police procedurals- they're predictable and always catch the bad guy in the end. Okay, I don't dispute that. But that's not why I watch his series or a couple of other ones I try to catch here and there- it's not about the who done it but the journey the characters take along the way in that 42 minutes. I'm invested in the characters- who they are and what's behind them. That's what the real stories are for me. It has always been about character for me.

It's the same with romance stories. The formula in the end is the same- girl gets guy or guy gets girl (or in my case, guy gets guy!). It's the rule there has to be a happy ending. They are escapism, that's all, pure and simple. But it's not the fact that in the end the two lovers pull it off (or get it off depending on your frame of mind) but the journey that we came along on to see them to that point. Again, it's that investment in the characters, what they do, what draws me that I'm interested in. Not that they fall in each others arms and live happily ever after.

Take Eve and Roarke in JD Robb's futuristic murder mysteries. I know Eve will get her killer in the end- we all do. You don't even have to read the books to know that. That's not why I read them, or look forward to the next one. I read them because I'm sucked into the universe Robb's created and I'm invested in her characters. She's made me do that. I want to know what's happening there. The murder mystery and how Eve and everyone around her solve it is just one element of the fun.

You take a trip, you know how it's going to end, right? You plan it, you go on it, you come home. End of story, right? So why go? We know how it ends every time, so where's the fun? I think we all know the answer to that.

It has never been about the destination, but rather how we got there and what we did in the first place. Be it the twist and turns, partners that snark at each other, or characters so damaged you can't imagine they could ever find happiness again, that's what I'm buying into. Okay, that and some really beautiful travel porn and eye candy in the case of my Monday nights. (Because sometimes being shallow for one hour a week is okay too.)

Saw this article on NBC Nightly News about an organization called Troops Direct. This isn't care packages, but a direct supply line to our front line troops who can't wait and shouldn't have to when it comes to urgently needed supplies. Now I'm a supporter.

Check them out here at Troops Direct.org

So it's a bright, shiny (and right now very cold) New Year? What to do with it? Yeah, there are goals and/or resolutions but I'll be honest, I fail miserably at that stuff. Last year was rough, I made some changes that turned a lot of that around. Now to get back on track with what's important and not sweat the small stuff so much.

Because...

Because I have nothing really interesting to say I'll start with I'm in the middle of an epic pantry cleaning. Note, I don't have a pantry, but what I do have is two large utility shelves that take up a wall in my kitchen. They got out of hand, well, lets say I'm embarrassed to admit how long ago it has been. But now I'm rectifying the situation.

And because I'm being a good girl I'll treat my self to some of Hawaii's nicest scenery out there...

My boys are back on Monday night! How excited am I? Okay, I took Tuesday off. No, really. I did. :)

Arrrrg!

September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Hee! My favorite day indeed, mateys!

Cooler temps mean...

The cooler temps and the shorter days are a catch 22 for me. I love Fall- it's my favorite season but I HATE winter so you can imagine my dismay.

Still- the cooler and shorter days means I get back to doing what I love- baking, canning, knitting and writing. It means my favorite TV shows are back soon too!

Now is when I pull all my research together and my outlines and character bios and get my head back in the game. My focus will be Higher Ground (Sequel to VN2) and my WWII novel- Melody Blue.

I'm also getting back in the mood to knit. To that end I just purchased a lovely new wrap pattern:

Flames of Fall and I'm doing it in Sausalito's Firebird colorway

JD Robb

The new JD Robb book came out this week- I've been reading the "In Death Series" for years. Came across this article on Facebook today about Roarke...

Top Ten Reasons "In Death's" Roake Tops the Competition

Seriously, these books have been around since 1995 and I freely admit that I'm completely invested in all the characters.

Latest book now on my Nook and I can't wait to get into it!

Ta da!

I love to can my own jams and fruit butters. This year I wanted to try some new recipes and this is the first one- Pumpkin Butter. If you don't know what it is- well, you spread it on bread, toast, english muffins or bagels. My son loves peanut butter with apple butter sandwiches. This s a slow cooker recipe and my house smelled delightfully of pumpkin pie for the better part of the day. :)

New review for VN2

From Dark Divas' Reviews- VN2 get 5 Divas and added to reviewer's all time favorite read list. :)
Review by Dark Divas

Writing and knitting

Higher Ground is now officially under way. I'll be juggling this along with studying for my medical coding specialty credential in cardiology. (For those of you who didn't know, I'm a certified professional medical coder and biller. It pays the bills.) It's part of my two year plan to get out of my current situation in order for me to get more time to write. I've done this before, I can do it again. Although I would pick the hardest specialty credential out there. Oy.

When I'm not writing, researching or studying, I knit. I'm not very good. Not like my friend HCat who can knit ANYTHING. God, she's amazing. I do love knitting lace projects though and this piece will be a very pretty scarf. I got the yarn in Alexandria, VA last fall at a store called Fiber Space.

Eye Candy Friday, posted on Saturday

Okay, I'm trying to make Fridays eye candy day for me. But I ended up staying way way later than I planned on at a friend's little wine and snark party on her deck last night. Which I needed, the snarking anyway. (I settled for diet coke instead of wine) Anyway, it was almost midnight before I got home.

I also had to take the late shift at work. The last hour our phones are still on at my regular job (Yes, sadly, I have a regular job I hate, but I digress...) is the longest hour. We all rotate this, so I don't have to do it again until July. But there is only 4 of us in the office, which is cavernous when it's that empty. So I worked on the sequel to VN2- which I've tentatively titled Higher Ground. Thank god I always keep a flash drive in my purse. I've got two new characters and a couple of complicated plot lines I'm intertwining. Thankfully, it made the last hour go by much faster.

I've had to focus on one of the many writing projects I've got going on. I was too scattered and really not gettting anywhere. Right now Higher Ground seems to be the one yelling the loudest at me for attention, so it's the one I'll run with for the time being.
Anyway, my choice of eye candy for this week- Sergeant Zeke Anderson (as played by Terence Knox).

Scripts

Way back, around the time my son was born, I not only used to write novels and short stories but television scripts as well. My son turns 26 next month soooo, you get an idea of just how long ago that was. It was a different world then and well, television script writing isn't a wide open market like it used to be. Most series these days have a writing staff that pens their episodes- freelancing isn't nearly as easy.


Don't get me wrong- it wasn't easy 25 years ago either. I did manage to sell one script and from that, got some decent part time work over the next few years until the television series landscape changed.

Because of this, I love to collect scripts. I have boxes of them from favorite shows as well as from series I worked on. Pilot scripts and the even rarer series "bibles" were a favorite of mine. I love going through these and seeing what scenes were cut or what was rearranged. In pilot scripts, if you're lucky enough to get one of the earlier drafts, you get to see the character progression from the original concept to what we see on televsion. And you often get a sense of those actors who put their own personality into that character, making him/her that much more real and deminsional.

Oh, the series I got lucky enough to sell to once upon a time? The Equalizer. In all honesty, what I sold was heavily over written and really what ended up on television was the basic overall storyline I had come up with. And a few pieces of dialog.
Bumper Sticker Wisdom: Drive like you stole something.

My choice for eye candy tonight:
Stephen Caffrey as Lieutenant Myron Goldman- this is my Ian Davidson.

Reality television, reality in characters

To me, there are two types of reality television- the kind that has a prize at the end (Survivor, Amazing Race) and what I consider to be reality TV- that being The Deadliest Catch for instance.

I admit it- I love The Deadliest Catch. It catches these guys in the rawest of moments and well, if you ever wanted to see some characters, tune in sometime when one of the captains has a total meltdown. Or it's high seas and a guy gets swept overboard. This stuff isn't staged, it's not contrived, it's real people in what has to be one of the most insane jobs out there- crab fishing in the middle of winter off the coast of Alaska. Seriously.

I like real characters, and I like to write characters that are real and not apologize for them. I like my guys to be guys- to really walk the walk and talk the talk. And since I write about men in the military, trust me, they don't get much more real than that. Not everybody likes that, or agrees with it and striking a balance between keeping it real and too real can be a challenge sometimes.

I've learned that I write what I like and I like gritty characters that aren't necessarily popular or score high on the warm and fuzzy meter. But they are three dimensional and realistic and someone I can see and hear and feel because it's a more honest character, if that makes any sense at all. And an honest character, a believable character, well I'm all over that.

Side note:
In today's news- NC passes its law stating that a marriage is between a man and a woman. *sigh* I keep hoping that someday everyone will come to understand that the definition of love doesn't begin and end with gender.

Today's bumper sticker: The moment that little voice in your head says "Yep- you're going to hell."

When you got nothing to say...

Okay, so I'm not very good at keeping up with this- the author side of my life. And I know this and I think, geesh, what is so hard about this?

Part of it is, the silence on the other end. I call it the crickets. I have a lot of those going for me. And the truth is, it's hard to write anything, want to write anything when you think no one is listening.

But the other part is, I feel like I've got nothing to say. That there isn't alot here to get excited about- you know? And I mulled this over today when I did my usual two miles, the fact that I'm an author but a lurker and quiet. Which isn't doing me a whole helluva lot of good, now is it?

I can have things to say, when I want to. I'm passionate about character, it's what drives me when I write. And as I thought about that, I thought about some other things so I sat down this evening and made up an outline for myself. Because I'm all about outlines, mind you. And came up with several things that I can work with and talk about and simply get out there.

Because the truth of the matter is, if you've got nothing to say, who is going to listen?

So, one more time, I'm gonna give this a try and see if I can at least get something out there, three to four times a week. No less than two times though, I'm try to make that at least.
So um, hello, once again. I'll start out with some of my favorite eye candy and we'll see what happens from here.
Seriously, they just don't get much cuter than this pair .

Alex O'Loughlin

So I'm an author but I'm a fangirl at heart and I admit it. Those that know me know I'm in love with Hawaii Five-O and the two leads, Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan. It's not high drama and I don't watch it for that- instead I enjoy the eye candy, the bromance, the carguments and the chemistry of the cast, especially between Alex and Scott. Oh yeah, the scenery that is Hawaii is pretty spectacular too.

It's fun, even when some of the episodes are more serious than others. It makes Monday nights eye candy night for me. A bowl of popcorn and some grins as Steve McGarrett and Danno Williams snark and make the occasional air heart at each other. It makes Mondays something to look forward to.

And although I've become a huge Scott Caan fan because of this (sexy things do come in small packages, ladies…) I came originally to this remake because of the very handsome aussie- Alex O'Loughlin. He brings a lot of sweet, sexy and goofiness to the table and well, Steve McGarrett never looked so good. This ain't your mamma's Five-O!

So I'm a bit heartbroken to see the news break last night that Alex just checked himself into rehab for a developing addiction to pain killers. He had suffered a shoulder injury last season doing one of his own stunts.

Alex O'Loughlin checks into rehab.

One of the things I loved about the show was the openess of it when on location—offering amazing access to fans/tourists who could see the on location filming, up close and not behind barriers a few miles away. It wasn't only that, but how, often between takes, Alex and Scott would come over and greet the fans, sign autographs and pose for pictures. It's nice of them. Sure, we as fans are the ones who make the ratings, but not all actors appreciate that. The entire cast is appreciative and well, that's refreshing.

Hawaii Five-O with it's iconic theme song and stunning high definition shots of some of Hawaii's most stunning views is also good business. It's provided jobs and a huge boost to tourism that Hawaii is extremely thankful for. It's been a win/win for everyone involved. Series like Lost may have been filmed in Hawaii, but Five-O is Hawaii in all her picture post card, surfing, hula hip shaking glory. And when you live in upstate New York like I do, you can appreciate drop dead gorgeous guys on the warm sunny beaches of Waikiki that much more in the dead of winter.

I'm sincerely hoping this is a bump in Alex's road that he'll overcome and come back stronger for. I give him a lot of credit for deciding to do something about it now rather than gut his way through the rest of the filming schedule that would go well into next month. I very much want to see Steve McGarrett back in all his tattooed glory, whipping off that shirt and trading snarky remarks with his Danno about tossing suspects into shark cages or hanging them off roofs.

Because, really, the alternative is a Monday night without Hawaii Five-0 and I can't bear to think about that.

This day in Vietnam

Vietnam- March 3, 1967- USAF jets pound various Red River Valley targets, 40 miles from Chinese border.

This day in Vietnam

Vietnam- March 2, 1967- Village of Languei, 15 miles south of DMZ is accidentally bombed by two US F-4C jets. 83 civilians killed, 176 wounded.

This day in Vietnam

Vietnam- March 1, 1967- The 173rd Airborne Brigade is ambushed near the Cambodian border, suffering heavy casualties.