Saturday, December 10, 2005
I just finished reading Red Lily...by Nora Roberts
The first book was Blue Dahlia, and the second Black Rose and the last in the trilogy was Red Lily.

I enjoyed all three. Nora's books for me are comfort. Like visiting with an old friend. Her books have comforted me in a lot of stressful times in my life. Rarely does she disappoint me. I know what to expect when I pick up Nora's books. I'm not an avid fan of her J.D. Robb series, it's a bit much for me. Mostly I love how she writes about families.

Nora Roberts is a GREAT story teller. Is her technique perfect? Not by a long shot but she can spin a good yarn. She can hold my attention and make me stay up all night just to turn another page to see what's going to happen next.

Not everyone loves her books like I do and I'm not so far gone that I can't look at her writing objectively. I can. I see the little things. The head hopping (that does not bother me) the easy fixes and the sometimes weak plot lines.

But her stories are not about intricate plots, and perfect technique. No, her books are about emotion and heart and at it the root of it family.

And damn it, she can pull me in faster than a philly cheesteak sandwich at the fair. She has the inanate ability to make me care about her characters. What happens to them, what they have to go through. There are few authors that can do that for me. I'm getting pretty picky in my old age. My neice loves her books too...probably just as much as she loves Nicholas Sparks.

The one great thing I admire is her ability to tell a story within a story. Layering it...spreading it out and dropping clues here and there and by Gawd making you wish you'd waited until all the books in a trilogy were out to start reading them. She did a great job with this in this last series. I love the paranormal overtones, and she even managed to scare me a bit. I slept with the t.v. on last night. (laughing)and lost a good bit of sleep.

Not everyone loves her stuff, especially other writers, but I do. She has a great gift for characterization. A sweet and truly inspiring gift for making characters leap off the page and making you believe that you know them, would recognize them if you saw them in the grocery store. That takes some serious talent in my book. I can over look all the other stuff. Yeppers, I sure can.

But best of all? She made me want to write again. So I have to say thanks Nora...for making my fingers itch to get back to my keyboard.


Friday, December 09, 2005
What I've been doing...
The last month has been terminally busy. I've been working my butt off at the day job. Well, trying to help as much as I can and hopefully managing to help. Not sure about this as I've been knocked out in the bed with a bad case of upper respiratory infection combined with bronchitis. Or so that is what the Doctor told me when I told him I thought that I might be dying. He assured me that I am not, thankfully, and that knowledge eased my mind tremendously I can assure you.

I've been trying to get ready for Christmas and not doing well at that. My house is a ramshackle mess, none of my presents have been wrapped, I'm not even halfway done with shopping, and every bone in my body hurts just thinking about it.

Honestly, tonight is the first moment I've felt like writing anything (including blogging) in a month. I think I have been suffering from too much thinking. Can there be such a thing? Too many stories, too many different plot lines and I ended up stuck in limbo hell.

But I'm slowly but surely trying to get back on track. Got good news today! My sister is going to be having her baby next week via c-section. I'm so glad they are not going to let her go through labor.

More later...miss you all!


Another for good measure
This character is still haunting me. Haunting, haunting, haunting...and won't leave me be. I'll get back to him come January


A picture to make me feel better...

Oh Yeah! This makes me feel....well, a little better. If I could breathe it might help.


My X-mas Ditty
Here comes Santa Claus
Here comes Santa Claus
Bringing cold and rain
Noses are dripping
Eyes are running
Right down Santa Claus lane

So much for cheer
I could use a good beer
Cause my shopping’s not done
This is supposed to be fun?

Here comes Santa Claus
Here comes Santa Claus
Bringing cold and rain
I wish he’d bring me a sunny day
Where I could run and play
Without falling and breaking my rear
(yeah, I did that damn it)

Here comes Santa claus
Here comes Santa Claus
I feel I’m on the run
Cause I’ll never get it all done


My ears are ringing
My pocketbook is empty
And I forgot about those damn reindeer

Note: As you can see I am not feeling well...AGAIN!!! I'm losing my voice, which is not necessarily a bad thing according to my husband. I'm on cold med's so my little ditty is probably not all that it should be but hell I tried. *grin*

Happy Holidays folks!