M.J. Fredrick's Blog, page 61

Summer TV

 

I have a lot more on my Tivo than I thought I'd have on summer vacation. Some shows I watch sooner than others.

I have 4 Leverages on the Tivo that just sit there. On one hand, I watch that one with my husband, so we hold it. But we tend to leave them and watch other things first. Same with Burn Notice.

Memphis Beat I tend to watch quicker, but it's probably my least favorite summer show. I'm actually not sure why I'm watching it. I think Jason Lee is a terrible actor, but I loved him in Earl.

I like Covert Affairs better this year than last, but it's another that languishes on the Tivo until late Saturday night when my husband's asleep on the couch.

We like Alphas. Kind of. But we still have 2 of those on the Tivo.

I like Rizzoli and Isles. I like the friendship and the supporting cast, including the tortoise. But still have 2 of those, too.

I LOVE Haven. LOVE Audrey and Duke and Nathan. Wondering what the heck is going on with the new agent. That one doesn't wait.

The other one that doesn't wait is Falling Skies. I love the family dynamics, the tension—I think this is what V could have been. I love post-apoc stuff, and I love Independence Day. And Noah Wylie's pretty cute as a scruffy and loving daddy.

What are you watching this summer?

Movies

I will say that I've had beautiful days most of my summer vacation. We need the rain like crazy, but I'm trying to look on the bright side.

We got a new TV last week and we've been watching a LOT of movies. Sadly, most of them STINK.

SEASON OF THE WITCH was the first movie we got, the day after we got the TV. I don't know where I got the idea that Nicholas Cage was the witch—maybe SORCERER'S APPRENTICE? Anyway, he and  Ron Perlman are knights in the Crusades. Okay, I'm good with that. The opening scene has witches being hung. Also intriguing. Then Nicholas and Ron are asked to escort a witch to some castle place where priests are (had already lost interest at this point). It's a treacherous journey, yada yada, people die…anyway. NOT good.

IRONCLAD had James Purefoy, so I rented it. It's set in the time of Prince John, and James Purefoy is…heck, I don't know, I turned it off. VERY violent. Like, a guy hacking off another guy's arm, James Purefoy stabbing someone through the mouth. VERY violent. Gross.

BLOODWORTH was a Kris Kristofferson movie. I saw the previews on some other movie and it was about a father coming home after abandoning his family 40 years ago, and since I have a story idea like that, and I like KK and I was kind of envisioning Crazy Heart Part 2…yeah, no. The most DEPRESSING movie about the most VILE people. I still can't get the slimy feeling off me.

Now the good—SOURCE CODE also came Tuesday and it was really good and kept my interest. Lots of trippy twists and turns, though my dh knocked off who-dun-it from the beginning, which makes sense, if you think about it.

This week I have SOUL SURFER and LAST NIGHT (starring Sam Worthington) coming.

What have you seen on DVD lately? Anything good? Anything bad?

And in case you're wondering why Timothy's back, he's my cowboy in my novella. Because of course he is

 

Goals the First Week of August

I finished my third Bluestone book yesterday, only the second project I finished all year. It will  need some work, but I'm going to wait to start revisions when I'm back at work.

This week:

1)      Start a novella

2)      Paint living room, just one wall. Haven't picked out just the right color yet.

3)      Finish judging PYHIAB entries

4)      Inservice on Monday/drop some stuff off at school.

5)      Make 2 skirts—very simple pattern.

6)      Go see a movie—either Captain America or Cowboys and Aliens.

7)      Keep house/exercise. Not sure about dinner, since the boy is heading out to Atlanta. May just let myself be lazy.

8)      Grocery/library

Sneak Preview of MY NEW COVER

I couldn't wait any longer. Isn't it gorgeous? Coming October 24 from Carina Press!

Goals for the Week of TOO MUCH SOCIALIZING

So…how I wasn't going to go anywhere last week? Well, I didn't, during the day, except one day with my mom. But EVERY NIGHT we went somewhere—twice to look at mattresses, once to Best Buy, once to Harry Potter, and one night the dh wanted to look at a guitar, and the music store is right next to JoAnn Fabric, who had a LOT of school stuff for teachers.

We did get a new mattress, and we're thisclose to deciding on a new TV. And I met MOST of my goals last week.

This week will be different—I'll be running around a LOT. Socializing and such, and trying to squeeze in as much as I can in the last three weeks of summer.

1)      Lunch with teacher friends

2)      Winery trip with a different set of teacher friends

3)      Inservice on Wednesday—we need 12 hours a year, and this one is at the missions. Should be cool, and I'm going with some other teachers.

4)      Add 10000 words to my WIP

5)      Judge PYHIAB entries

6)      Deconstruct my previous WIP so I can start revisions

7)      Sew—finish one skirt and get going on another.

8)      Hang with my mom one day

9)      Go see Capt. America

10)   Try to keep up house, exercise and cooking—yeah, not looking good this week!

Goals for the Week I'm Not Going ANYWHERE

Last week was CRAZY what with the couch and all. I went to the mall four times in three days. I NEVER go to the mall. So this week, I'm staying put and writing.

Okay, I'm going ONE place after today. But that's it. That's IT.

1) Add 10K to the third Bluestone book.

2) Tear apart the second and see where it can grow.

3) Celebrate my son's bday today. Mom and BB are doing all the work, so….

4) Grocery store/library

5) Do a class over the phone for an old HS friend who's teaching writing to HS kids.

6) Go see Harry Potter. (This will be in the evening so it doesn't count as going somewhere!)

7) Sew! I haven't sewn all summer and I have four pieces of fabric for skirts.

Go antiquing one day with my mom.

9) Try to keep up the house. I've fallen woefully behind, with edits, writing and promo.

Don't Look Back, from The Wild Rose Press

YEARS ago, I had a dream about Jack Bauer. Terrorists were coming and we needed Jack and he wanted no part of it. (Who could blame him?) In my dream, a kick-butt heroine kidnapped him and convinced him he was needed.

Then I woke up. And for a couple of years I tried to work that dream into a story. I don't remember where I came up with the idea for Africa, except that it seemed dark and mysterious. Two movies provided me with my character backstories: Clive Owen's Beyond Borders, about a doctor who ended up providing intelligence (among other things) to the CIA while working in dangerous parts of the world, and Bruce Willis's Tears of the Sun, where an Army Ranger (I think) tries to rescue a village from warlords in Africa. I gave my heroine Clive's backstory, with a lot more motivation, and Del has Bruce's, with a less cheery ending.

Instead of Jack Bauer, I used Gerard Delaney, circa Reign of Fire, as the model for Del, and Evangeline Lilly (Kate from LOST) as the model for Liv.

This book took a long time to come together, and was inspired by many different things, but I'm very pleased with the final result. Don't Look Back was my 2006 Golden Heart (R) finalist.

Blurb: When her best friend is kidnapped in Africa, Dr. Liv Olney must return to the scene of her own horrific captivity. The only man she trusts is former Army Lt. Gerard "Del" Delaney, the man who rescued her. Even with him, she can't relinquish control of her emotions, needing to keep painful memories at bay.

Del takes honor seriously, but sometimes neither honor nor humanity are found in the orders he receives. In exile after a court martial that stripped him of everything, he misses his son and his country. When Liv asks for help, his instinct is to turn away. But her courage reaches out to him and he cannot refuse, especially when she promises that she can help clear his name so he can go home.

Together they travel to Africa, where they fight warlords and monsoons, and learn to trust and hope that, together, they can find happiness and peace.

Buy Link: Don't Look Back

Excerpt: The jungle closed around the rutted road, but offered no relief from the heat. Del preferred the direct, dry heat from the sun rather than the liquid heat of the jungle. At least he no longer had to squint against the sun. How the hell had he forgotten sunglasses?

He'd forgotten the denseness of the Amadanian jungle, the multitude of the shades of green. Apparently, so had Liv. She practically lay across his lap to look out the passenger window, watching for wildlife. The dappled sunlight lit the dozens of colors in her hair, bronze, red, gold. Her excitement in light of their mission was kind of sweet.

"Did you see that?" Her voice held a breathless awe when she smiled up at him.

He hadn't. He hadn't taken his eyes off her, the thin sheen of perspiration on her freckled skin, the fine curve of her ear, the plushness of her lower lip. Hell, he must be lightheaded from not taking a deep breath for the past ten miles.

Or maybe from the blood settling much lower than usual.

And now the smile…the smile hit him in a place he'd forgotten he had.

"What?" He hoped she didn't notice the gruffness in his voice. He clenched his fists so he wouldn't scoop that lock of hair back from her face.

"The most brilliant colored bird. I don't know what kind."

The enthusiasm in her eyes dimmed as she realized that she was invading his space, her breast against his arm, her breath stirring the fabric of his shirt. She straightened. Not far, sure, because there wasn't room in the truck. His libido smacked him for making her move away. He shifted before she noticed the effect she had on him.

"Sorry." She pushed her hair back from her face with a fluttery movement. "I get—it's one of things I love about Africa, the wildlife."

"There's more than that, surely." He disliked her melancholy tone, but his job wasn't to cheer her up, to care how she felt one way or another. She had dragged him back here, but he couldn't think of her as the enemy.

"Not much to love, not after what I've seen." She flushed then, realizing what she'd said, and edged closer to Pete.

"How many times have you come back?" Del couldn't remember the last time he'd initiated a conversation or the last time he'd cared enough about another person to ask a question.

She looked out the window on Pete's side, averting her gaze, as if she couldn't let herself reveal too much. She shrugged. "A dozen times, maybe?"

Surprise bucked in him. "That many?"

She turned back. He might have imagined it, but he got the feeling she was assessing him. "There's a lot of work to be done."

"With the World Health Organization, or with whoever you work with now?"

She didn't answer and looked away.

"I didn't recognize you at first," he said after a bit, and cursed himself. Of course the last time he'd seen her, she'd been swollen, scarred, bruised. Why would he recognize her?

She glanced at Pete, then back at him. Maybe she didn't want to discuss her own hostage experience in front of the Ranger. He respected that. But she slid a finger along her temple, then the length of her nose. "The plastic surgeons did a pretty

good job putting me back together."

At her invitation, he looked at her scars—the outside ones, anyway. The fine one along her temple, the other one across her cheek, pale and thin, the one bisecting her left eyebrow. Her nose didn't look like it had ever been broken, except he'd seen the evidence. "It changed you."

She snuffled a laugh, her gaze straight ahead. A hint of the flush still stained her cheeks. "Five days in a terrorist camp. Yes. In many ways."

"I'm sorry." He wanted to smooth her hair against her head, down her back, draw her into his arms.

Wanting.

God, who knew it could hurt?

She turned and the shine in her eyes was both familiar and frightening. "Don't be. You saved me."

She looked at him like he was a hero.

He'd thought she was smarter than that.

What Were You Doing 20 Years Ago?

I…was waiting for my son to be born. I'd been in the hospital all night–my water broke at 10PM. By this time they had me in one of those cool LDR rooms, but a few hours later he went into distress, and all the childbirth classes I'd dragged myself to were for naught as I had an emergency C-section. I remember they showed him to me, then carried him off to clean him up and he did a fountain imitation, all over the nurses! Later that night I finally got to hold him, and I kept dozing and the nurses wanted to take him because they were afraid I'd drop him!

20 years later…I picked him and his girlfriend up from the airport after midnight. They'd spent the weekend (and her birthday) in Denver. Then I waited for him to come home after he took her home. Today she'll come over, they'll play video games, then we'll go out to eat. I haven't gotten him his card yet, but did get him the Blue-Ray of the extended edition of LotR. He should like that!

Here's the child I am TOO YOUNG to have!

Decisions, Decisions

So around midnight Saturday, I checked the price of the couch I want, and it was on sale $500 off. The website said it was ONLY on sale yesterday, so after we went to the grocery store, I dragged my husband out to Macy's to look at it.

Well. I have two chenille sets, one in dark green and one in yellow. (Yellow! What was I thinking!) This set was also chenille, but broader, and the blue had flecks of brown in it. Do not want. Also, I'd heard microfiber was easier to clean. Yes, it attracts cat hair (what DOESN'T? Okay, leather, but I don't want holes in my couches, either) but they say if you spray static guard on it, it's easy to clean. So we found almost the same style in microfiber. We looked through the available colors, decided on olive. I don't want a brown couch. My whole house is either blue, yellow or green, and I have light pine hardwood floors, and all my furniture is pine.

So I had my credit card out. I've hated my yellow couches for eons. There's not enough room, they're yellow, etc. Then I asked the dh if he thought olive was the best. So we put it off until today. I'm going with my mom in a bit to look at them. I promised her breakfast. At 2 AM last night, I was second-guessing myself. I don't NEED new couches. I WANT them, but don't NEED them. The ones in the back room are 12 years old, the ones in the front room are maybe 7 or 8. I'm not even sure the one I want, which is a sectional, won't overcrowd my living room. I mean, I measured it and all, but…

So I may or may not have ordered a new couch by the end of the day. I HATE making decisions.

And of course if I get new couches, I might start wanting a new TV.  This one is 10 years old, and I'd love an HD….And the boy will be moving out at the end of the year and may need couches….

How do you make decisions like this? How old does your furniture have to be before you replace it?

Goals for the Week My Son Turns 20!

I KNOW! :::SOB:::

I'm too young to have a 20 year old son! He went to Denver with his girlfriend this weekend because it's HER 20th birthday (older woman—by 3 days) and he'll be back tomorrow night at midnight.

Last week I did pretty well, but didn't sew. Hope to remedy that this week. I have 3 skirts I want to make before school starts. My summer is half-way over.

1)      Aim for 1500 words a day on my WIP. 2000 isn't letting me get my sewing in.

2)      Storyboard my last WIP so I can be ready to work on revisions.

3)      A winery trip I the hill country with the 4th grade teachers—past, present and future.

4)      Celebrate the boy's birthday.

5)      Maybe get a new couch. The one I want is on sale today only for 20% off, but I'd have to order over the phone. You KNOW I love using the phone.

6)      Judge contest entries. I sent back my Maggie entries and now I'm getting PYHIAB entries. I only judge during the summer, though. It's the only way I can.

7)      Sew

8)      Keep up the house. I've been doing okay keeping it up but can't get into deep cleaning.

9)      Continue exercising.

10) Grocery/library