I am saddened to report, as many people are already aware, that Kate Duffy, editor extraordinaire, passed away Sunday night. Kate was my editor and cheerleader, and boy am I gonna miss her. I'll miss her enthusiasm and sense of humor. I'm sorry I didn't get to work with her longer. She was a strong proponent of romance--there's going to be a huge hole in this industry with her gone.
Smart Bitches has a very moving post about her here.
See you later, Kate. Rest easy now.
A man checks into a hotel while on a business trip and was a bit lonely.
He thought of one of those girls you see advertised in phone booths when you're calling for a cab.
He popped into a phone booth in Albert Street near the hotel and found an ad for a girl calling herself Veronique, a lovely girl, bending over in the photo. She had all the right curves in all the right places, beautiful long wavy hair, long graceful legs... well, you get the picture. He copied the phone number and returned to his hotel.
When back in the room he figures, what the hell, give her a call.
"Hello." A woman's voice answers the phone.
God, she sounded sexy.
"Hi, I hear you give a great massage and I'd like you to come to my room and give me one. No, wait, I should be straight with you. I'm in town all alone and what I really want is sex. I want it hard, I want it hot, and I want it now. Bring implements, toys, rubber, leather, whips, everything you've got in your bag of tricks. Tie me up, cover me in chocolate syrup and whipped cream, anything you want! Now, how does that sound?"
She says, "That sounds fantastic, but you need to press 1 for an outside line."
It took three hours for him to get the courage to check out next morning.
LOLLOL
I watched my first Bollywood movie last night--Jodhaa Akbar. It was a really good film, though because I did see it with my critique partners, we couldn't help but pick at it a little and do our usual version of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on it. It's the first foreign movie I've watched, actually, so of course you have to have subtitles on. But I didn't find that to be too distracting, other than the fact that they kept putting commas in where they weren't supposed to be. But I guess that's the writer in me, to notice (and be bothered by) stuff like that.
And you know me. The lead actor was HAWT, so that made sitting through the movie, even if it had been bad, a worthwhile endeavor. LOL
But in all seriousness, it was entertaining. And the costumes...! Gorgeous.
Jodhaa Akbar. Rent it.
I am really enjoying the TV show Castle. I think even if Nathan Fillion weren't in the title role I'd still like the show. (Barring that whoever else was playing Richard Castle wasn't a total dweeb at the part...) I've also been reading the book written by Richard Castle that ABC is releasing later this month.
I've commented on the book previously. It has some things that make me, as a writer, cringe a little. Like when the POV character refers to herself as "the detective". Or when there's point of view confusion (for example, we're in Detective Heat's point of view and are told "her face was set in concentration". What, is she looking at herself in a mirror?). There have been some typos in the chapters I've read so far; typos I hope have been taken care of in the print copy.
But there's also some really clever writing going on. Really clever.
With the brush cut, she could picture the boy of him on a soccer field or lofting a stick in a hockey rink. But the hardness was what Pochenko was all about now, and whether it came from doing time in Russia or learning how not to do time, the boy was gone and all she saw in that room was what happens when you get very, very good at surviving very, very bad things.
And my personal favorite so far:
The sign said they were on the Cosmic Pathway, a 360-degree spiral walkway marking the timeline of the evolution of the universe in the length of a football field. Nikki Heat covered thirteen billion years at a personal best.
That is some good writing! You want to engage your readers, this is how you do it.
For whoever's interested, the first seven chapters of HeatWave by Richard Castle (copyrighted by ABC Studios) is available at ABC.com. The book goes on sale September 29th.
Say no to negativity. We all experience rejection, and writers perhaps more than people in other occupations. But, as in other jobs, the things that don't work teach us as much, if not more, than the things that do work. And every failure is an opportunity to learn.
Take what's useful from the failure. Find the constructive critique beneath the rejection--it's one of the best ways to get past the rejection and move on. And to help you move on, have some sort of ritual. Other than curling up on the couch for a good cry...
