Happy 2nd birthday and weekend update

Today’s the big day; our little girl is 2! What a wonderful age. She’s very independent, communicative and funny. The dh put photos of her on his photoblog from two years ago today and today. Hard to remember how tiny she was then.

Weekend update: huge progress on forming a new special interest RWA online chapter with worldwide membership. There are currently over 200 members and things are taking shape rapidly. It’s very exciting to have the opportunity to be among the founders of something on this scale. It has tremendous potential to benefit our subgenre.

Romancing the Blog has the amazing Monica Jackson’s first contribution posted this morning. An excellent article and very timely, too. Check it out!

Booksbooksbooksbooks

We took a trip to Waldenbooks yesterday. Haven’t been there for a few months, so I had a nice surprise! Last visit: one shelf for EC books, total selection of about 5 titles. Clerk explained they can’t keep them in stock, they sell too fast. This visit: nearly 1/4 the shelf space in the entire romance section dedicated to EC books! Row upon row of titles.

I checked to see if they had Legendary Tails II yet; they don’t. They do have all the other Ellora’s Cavemen anthologies in stock. But it was just wonderful to see all those ankhs! Looking at so many print titles together gave me a mixed sense of pride and book greed. So many of them I don’t have yet and I wants them, my precioussss.

I’m born to be wild! and other news

First item: I’m born to be wild! PaperBackWriter says so. How incredibly cool.

Second: Fallen Angels Reviews gave Dangerous Games 5 stars! Reviewer Jean says:
“I really enjoy Ms. Teglia’s books, and this one is no exception. The book has a believable plot, with just enough twists and turns to keep the reader interested, but what I enjoy most about this author’s writing is her great skill at characterization and dialogue. Drake and Melinda behave like real people; their characters have that extra something that makes them fascinating, so that the reader is drawn into their world and empathizes with their thoughts and feelings. The many male/female love scenes are explicit and very sexy and are woven into the story seamlessly. This book is a keeper as far as I’m
concerned, and I recommend it highly.”

That made it a lot easier to shrug off the other review I got for DG yesterday. Just as an FYI, I understand the reason for the mixed reviews on this book. It’s a good, strong book and nobody has complained about the craft aspect of it. The complaints have been about the erotic aspect, and this is understandable because the erotic element plays to a particular type of fantasy. It happens to be a common fantasy, in the top 10 reported, but it is by no means everybody’s fantasy. To those who enjoy this kind of fantasy, it’s the book they’re looking for. For those who don’t, it just won’t float your boat. On a happy note, both reviewers who did not get their boats floated still liked it overall. But it’s not PC and the type of fantasy it involves is very obvious in the blurb/excerpt so there are no surprises for the reader. Which is probably why readers have been unanimously enthused. They got what they expected or were able to skip it if it wasn’t their bag. Reviewers don’t always get to pick their reads.

Third: The fledgling special interest erotic romance writers RWA chapter is making rapid progress. By power of sheer numbers and name-dropping we ought to be a major presence at Nationals. Any interested potential members, you are welcome to join with the following understanding: our goal is to be a recognized RWA chapter, which means RWA membership will be required when the group is approved. RWA annual dues are $75 and dues for our chapter are yet to be settled since we’re figuring out what our expenses are right now, but a typical chapter membership is around $20. So please do join but if you’re not a member of RWA, be prepared for the future dues requirment. If you’re interested, apply here for membership in our new group. You must be approved by the moderator before you can enter the group.

If I only had a brain

I could blog away the hours, planting metaphors like flowers, kabbitzing ’bout the rain
I could be so very serious or funny or mysterious…if I only had a brain!

This is one of those mornings where I’m trying to figure out where I left my brain. Maybe I dropped it somewhere during my cleaning binge. In which case, it could be under the couch.

I have some Real Work (TM) to do, and I need gray matter to do it. Maybe if I just start working, my brain will show up for duty. Hey, it could happen.

The pregnant writer at work

Sometimes it is just pathetic, being at the mercy of ruthless hormones. Here’s how yesterday went.

Sane writer me: I feel so much better! That virus is like a bad memory. Cool, I can get back to my story now. Lessee, I left the heroine…

Hormones: You feel so much better. That virus is like a bad memory. Good. CLEAN THE ENTIRE HOUSE WITH A TOOTHBRUSH. NOW. Also, it’s time for you to wash the baby’s clothes, set up the bassinet, and pack your bag for the hospital.

Sane writer me: But there’s plenty of time to clean and do all of that stuff. I want to write!

Hormones: Too bad. We’re in charge now.

So. Zero words for yesterday, but you can now eat off my floor. Assuming anybody besides our cats would want to. I’m hoping that those hormones will now shut the hell up and let me get something important done.