Sizzling Summer Reads Party!

Play and win awesome prizes! http://www.theromancereviews.com/event.php

Check out the prize list! (partial thus far)

My book, Hey, Nobody's Perfect, will be a prize feature on June 12!

Just register at The Romance Reviews (free and easy), log in, and you can enter for fabulous prizes!

A Bird in the Hand...

...is better than one in the attic.

Last night I heard a bird flapping around in the attic space. I went out on the deck and could see it behind one of the vent screens, so I pulled out a corner of the screen so it could get out. Instead, it panicked and flew up higher into the attic space. So I went upstairs, opened the door to the space, left the room light on and went back downstairs.

I waited a couple minutes then went back upstairs. I could see the bird thrashing around behind a window shade, so I reached up and caught it in my hands. I loosely cradled it as it flailed around because I wanted to sure not to hurt it.Went back downstairs where dh opened the back door and I "tossed" the bird into the air. It quickly flew up into the trees. Happy ending!

Book Endings

Don't cheat when it comes to endings.

Don't write that wild adventure only to have it turn out to all have been a dream. Readers will be disappointed, even angry, and editors will disapprove.

Do make your ending believable. Yes, the ending can certainly be a surprise, but it has to make sense within the context of the story.

Don't make the ending too easy. If problem could have been solved anywhere throughout the story by the main character clearing up a misunderstanding, the ending is weak. (TV sitcoms rely on the easily-cleared-up misunderstanding way too often! But that's television comedy.)

Do have the main character be the one who is most affected and who is the one who solves the problem. He/she can have some help, but no magical outside force or overeager parents saving the day, please.

Stop when the story ends. Yes, readers may wish for more, because they've been involved with characters throughout the book and are reluctant to say goodbye to them. But once there's been a resolution to the problem, that's it. It doesn't really hurt to leave the readers wanting more, as long as the story has reached a conclusion.

Little Miss Fluffy-Bottom

Otherwise known as Colette (the cat).

We adopted Colette, our gray kitty with white chin and paws, when she was about 9 months old. She was very timid and quiet, and someone had shaved her tail. Her fur was said to be medium-length.

Well, once she made herself at home at our house, Colette was no long shy, retiring and quiet. She became one of the most playful, meowiest cats we've ever had. Oh, and that medium-length fur? Let's just say that is now long. Very long.

Fortunately, Colette loves to manage her fur and can spend what seems like hours grooming it. Occasionally I have to brush her, but that's in the summer when she's been outside gathering all sorts of plant-and-tree debris in her lovely locks.

Colette's fastidiousness extends to her toilet habits. Though she is an indoor-outdoor kitty, she will come into the house to use the litter box. I guess, like many humans, she prefers her own bathroom.

Unlike previous cats who have resided here, Colette is not a fighter. Oh, she will chase another cat out of the yard--if that cat is smaller and easily intimated. With some cats her own size she simply stares at them from afar, occasionally hissing or growing from that safe distance. If another cat seems at all threatening to her, she is up on the shelf outside the kitchen window in almost an instant. We've never had to take her to the vet to treat a wound inflicted by another cat.

From inside the house she will get excited about seeing birds on the deck. But outside she takes that watch-from-afar stance. Maybe the fact that some of the crows out there are as big, if not bigger, than she is has something to do with that. In any case, the birds are safe from her.

Colette takes forever to settle in when she wants to sleep on my lap. She meows and head-butts until I pick her up and place her so that her head is in the crook of my arm. Then there's some more (demanding) meowing until I scratch her head and chin and she finally falls asleep, stretched across me until it seems as if she is at least 3 feet long!

Needless to say, with Colette there is rarely the dull moment. :)

Treat Your Writing as a Career

Even if you have a full-time job.

You might not have a lot of time to write, especially if you have a job, be it full time or part time. Or if you're an at-home Mom. Or for any number of reasons, your writing time may be limited.

But even if you can write only an hour a day, or even only an hour a week, treat the time as you would the time you put in at any other job. Don't skip it on a whim. Don't tell yourself you'll put in twice as much time next week to make up for not writing this week.

Sure, there will be sick days and even vacation days. But only when you are *really* sick should you skip your writing time. And schedule vacation days from writing as you would from any other job.

Mark your writing time on the calendar or smartphone or however you keep track of anything important. Because your writing time is important--or at least it should be, if you really want writing to be your career.

The Romance Reviews Anniversary Party!

Non-deep Thoughts

- I went to San Francisco. I found someone's heart. Now what?...

- Protons have mass? I didn't even know they were Catholic.

- All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.

- If the world were a logical place, men would ride horses sidesaddle.

- What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free?

- They told me I was gullible ... And I believed them.

- Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto a freeway.

- Two can live as cheaply as one, for half as long.

- Is there another word for synonym?

- Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all"?

- The speed of time is one second per second.

- Is it possible to be totally partial?

- What's another word for thesaurus?

- Is Marx's tomb a communist plot?

- If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales?

- Show me a man with both feet firmly on the ground, and I'll show you a man who can't get his pants off.

-It's not an optical illusion. It just looks like one.

- Is it my imagination, or do buffalo wings taste like chicken?

- Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone.

- What if there were no hypothetical questions?

- One nice thing about egotists: They don't talk about other people.

- When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail.

- A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries.

- What was the greatest thing before sliced bread?

- My weight is perfect for my height -- which varies.

- I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

- The cost of living hasn't affected its popularity.

- How can there be self-help "groups"?

- I planted some bird seed. A bird came up. Now I don't know what to feed it.