Kate Noble's Blog, page 33

The Social Network

I don't know if this mind-blowing news has made the internet rounds yet, but I have joined Twitter.  I'm fashionably late to the party… to the point of showing up when the host is out of chips and dip and the only alcohol left is the emergency case of Canadian beer, but hey!  I showed up.

And man, is Twitter a rush.  A crazy, cocktail party cacophony of information rush.  So, I thought I'd give you a little rundown as to how my first week on Twitter went.

MONDAY:  Go to Huntington Gardens with Liza Palmer.  Take picture above.   Get utterly convinced by all the delightful things she tells me that I Must. Join. Twitter.

MONDAY NIGHT: Sign up.  Aw crap — someone already took the handle @KateNoble.  Must adjust.  Choose @katenoblewriter.  Immediately regret my lack of capitalization, but its too late now.

MONDAY NIGHT CONTINUED:  Spend a solid hour trying to sync my Twitter feed to my Facebook profile.  While I'm doing this, I am watching Last Tango in Paris.  There are too many subtitles for me to follow either properly.

MONDAY NIGHT EXTENDED:  At last!  All synced!  Now, I troll for friends to follow.

I have no friends. 

Oh, no, wait!  There's Liza!  And Megan Crane!  And Sarah MacLean! (At whose site I will be blogging next week!  I am quite excited.)

It's nearly 1 am.  Boyfriend drags me to bed.  He has a big day tomorrow — Call of Duty: Black Ops comes out, and he reminds me again that he paid the extra $0.99 to have it delivered early.

TUESDAY:  Wake up, and immediately check Twitter.  Seriously.  Before I even turn on the light, or put on my glasses.  This could become a problem.

TUESDAY CONTINUED:  People are saying Hi to me!  And following me!  Hi Katiebabs!  Hi Smexybooks!  Smart Bitch Sarah!  Michelle Rowen!  Wait… you mean I can follow Elizabeth Hoyt and find out what she does all day to write those awesome books?  Um, YAY.

TUESDAY, SOME MORE:  Not entirely certain how to engage people on Twitter, I post a picture of my messy office.

TUESDAY, MOVING ON: I go mad with power!  I do a giveaway!  I decide to giveaway a free book when I hit 50 followers.

I hit 50 followers in less than two hours.  My heart doesn't stop racing.

WEDNESDAY:  Wake up and check Twitter again.  Boyfriend moans in pain, as the light from my iPhone woke him up and he stayed up until 3am the night before playing Black Ops.

Have a business lunch with Megan Crane and Liza Palmer, wherein we introduce Megan to Princess Cake.

Megan and Liza tease me about my messy office, which apparently is neat in an incredibly OCD way.

Get home and I have 10 more followers!  Yay!  I must be doing this right!  But wait, this Twitter thing is teaching me stuff.  Like about the Authors After Dark convention.  And that messed up book that was being sold on Amazon but has since been pulled (apparently, other disturbing things are still up on Amazon, but let's stay on topic).  And that Rubicon was cancelled (boo!).

I, however, tweet about princess cake.

THURSDAY:  I have 69 followers.  Somehow, I think this appropriate for a romance novelist.

The constant stream of interesting tidbits that link to wider articles is a wealth of information.  But also, a time suck.  I have to learn to manage my time with this and try and get work done.  Decide on a mealtimes basis: check Twitter while I eat breakfast, then put down until lunch.  Then after lunch, put down until evening emails.  This'll work, right?  I won't miss anything cool? Better check in on Twitter really quick, just to be sure.

FRIDAY: Checking Twitter in the morning makes me almost late to pick up Mom and Dad at the airport.  My mother reminds me that she can read my tweets when they repost to Facebook.

I spend an hour resetting my Facebook to repost selective tweets only.

Definitely feel like I have a handle on Twitter now.  I know about hashtags, memes, replying or reposting with or without quotes.  Hell, I even posted a picture.  All and all, I think I'm doing well.

I now have 71 followers.  I'm almost sad to see 69 go.  But onward and upward!  If you're interested in seeing my silliness on a daily basis, come follow me on Twitter!

Even with all this excitement, I actually got a little work done this week.  Looks like my Nanowrimo project isn't as behind as I thought.  Still behind, of course.  Because I'm me.  So more writing this coming week – and I'll be blogging at MacLeanSpace on Friday, home of the awesome (*cough* NYT bestselling *cough*) Sarah MacLean, so stop on by.  And maybe I'll have some fun updates on the next book…

Until then, happy reading everyone!

Romance Novelists' Day Out!

Not quite as hijinks-riddled as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but still….

A few weekends ago, I went to go see the Fashioning Fashion exhibit at the LACMA, with a bunch of romance novelists.  (Super huge thanks to Sara Lindsey for inviting me, and Sabrina Darby for organizing the entire event!)  You ever want to see a bunch of historical romance novelists, for lack of better term, turned on?  Take them to a museum.  With dresses.

Fashioning Fashion is a huge exhibit at the LACMA, detailing the changing silhouettes in women's and men's clothing from the 1700s to the early 1900s.  In other words, perfect for a bunch of detail conscious historical romance writers.  My period is late regency/early Victorian.  The dresses around then looked like this (be warned: these pics were all taken on my phone, thus the lack in quality):

Slightly muttoned-sleeved, but not as extreme as they would become in the next decade.  Also, its close to, but not exactly the super-high empire style with tiny sleeves that typified fashion just before this era, aka What Every Jane Austen Heroine Wore:

(note to self:  I must write in more Indian shawls.  Apparently they were very popular, and quite pretty.)

There were literally over a thousand pieces displayed, including parasols, fans, reticules, men's and children's clothing, but I have to say that my absolute favorite piece (which happily fit into my time period, hooray!) was this gold threaded dress from Portugal from 1825.

I mean, seriously. It has a matching turban and fan.

The Fashioning Fashion Exhibit is up at the LACMA now, so I highly recommend any romance novelists (or aspirers to the title, or anyone who likes clothes in general) in Southern California go for a visit!

More writing this week.  (I'm behind in my Nanowrimo count, but dammit all, I will prevail!)  I have coined a new term for the feeling of staring down the unending parade of Things to Do:

Urgleflat.

Pretty evocative, don't you think?

Happy reading everyone!

November Giveaway!

Alright kiddies, its that time again – I was delinquent in my reading this month… again, some more… but my delinquency is your gain, dear readers.  Due to my bargain with my boyfriend, this month, I have THREE books to give away!

And the three books, chosen randomly out of the magic bag, are:

The Guardian's Honor by Marta Perry (who I sat next to at the Berkley signing at RWA in Orlando – suffice to say, she's awesome.)

The Perfect Poison by Amanda Quick

Suddenly One Summer by Barbara Freethy

If you would to enter for a chance to win one of these books, just leave me a message through my contact page, specifying which book you would like, and answering the following question:

What is the title of my Spring 2011 release? (hint: the answer can be found here, towards the end.)

The contest will be open until Friday, November 5th!

In other news, its November tomorrow, which means NaNoWriMo!  And this is the first year I'm going to be giving it a shot.  The aim of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word book in a month.  (A month!  That's all?  Gah!)  Well, my books tend to be twice that, so I'm either going to try and complete half a book, or one shorter (secret for now!) project.  I have until tomorrow morning to decide.  The pressure!  Any advice?

Until later, happy reading everyone!

Double Standards, or My Friend Joshua

I have a friend, Joshua.  He is good-looking, burgeoning on his late 20s, and generally a fun person to be around.  So its no wonder we enjoy hanging out with him.  Really, to my girlfriends and me, he is not only a friend, but something of a pet.  A mascot.  A puppy.

Or, maybe a wombat.

Nah, let's stick with puppy.

And given his puppy-like nature, it stands to reason that he would be amenable to female company.  In fact, he is something of a serial monogamist.  He had not been without a steady girlfriend since college.  The relationship with his last girlfriend, whom he was with for 3 years and co-habitating, ended about 6 months ago.  It was at this time that my friends and I intervened.

"Don't become serious with anyone for a little while," we said.  "Learn to be self-sufficient."

"In fact, sow some wild oats.  Don't start dating someone until you've slept with at least 5 other people."

A dictum to which Joshua has adhered with aplomb.

BUT – Joshua and I were discussing this earlier, and he said something that struck me:

"Dude." (because he's the type of guy who says dude and can get away with it.)  "You would never have given that advice to a girl."

And I was puzzled.  I would give the same advice to a girl… wouldn't I?  I'd like to think so, but the fact of the matter is I would have phrased it more delicately, something like, "Maybe you should try dating casually."  And so, by the time said hypothetical friend told me she was hooking up with the third random guy, I would likely be affronted.  If this was a romance novel, we would expect the heroine to be in love by the second guy, at the very latest.  But as we all know, real life isn't like romance novels.

I did a very quick poll (of my office mates) and after thinking about it for a minute, every one said they would recommend wild-oat-sowing for a woman, but not a defined number, and certainly not one as high as five.  Everyone acknowledged that this double standard existed, but none of us could figure out why.  Why is it ok for a guy to sow his oats with five or more women, but a woman only to sow with less?  Why is The Situation a stud and Angelina a ho? (I didn't call her that.  The Situation did.  In an episode.  Oh my god, did I just call this guy 'The Situation"?  Twice?)

So, since this double standard remains unresolved, I have decided to do away with it.  All hypothetical female friends who have recently come out of long-term relationships?  Get your groove thang on.  All romance novel heroines in similar situations?  I will totally read your story.  In fact, I may just find it a refreshing change.

And as for Joshua?

Well, he'll be fine.

Until next week, happy reading everybody!

Torture. (And then, Kitties!)

This has been a torturous week for me.  Because its been a week that I felt like I wasn't able to write.  Oh, sure, there's nothing physically stopping me from writing – I haven't lost a thumb or any such thing, and I'm a dedicated two fingered typist, so I don't really use my thumbs anyway – and of course, I could have carved out an hour or two here and there to help me meet my goals this week.  But the truth is – I didn't have any goals this week.  I look at my desk, and saw the MOUNTAIN of stuff to do and it was too much. Seemingly insurmountable.  And as such, why even bother trying to do it?

And believe me, that feeling of utter incapability is torture.

I write this not to get you, dear reader, down.  I write it to inspire myself.   Often times I forget that to tackle the large projects, I have to break them down into little ones.  Whether it be making dinner for 40 (which I have never done, and making dinner for 2 frightens the hell out of me), or starting work on a couple new projects at once.  I write this to make a clean slate with my muse, promising her that this week will be better, and accomplishment will occur.

And now, to lighten the mood, here's a picture of my friend's new kitten.

Work work work for me this week, but I do want to say thank you to everyone who entered my October Read Down the Pile giveaway!  Next one is Nov 1st, so keep your eyes peeled.   And to everyone (especially the winners of the giveaway) Happy Reading!

October Giveaway!

I only managed to read three books this past month, which means, according to my Read Down the Pile self-challenge, I have three wonderful books to giveaway!   And chosen completely randomly out of the pile, the three books are:

Still the One, by Robin Wells

Dangerous Desires, by Dee Davis

Never Marry a Stranger, by Gayle Callen

All you have to do to enter to win is send me an email via my contact page, specifying which book you would like, and answering this question:

Is Kate's hair naturally curly?

Hint:  the answer can be found here.

The giveaway will be open through the weekend, so happy entering, everyone!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I am a TV junkie.  Its really quite sad how much TV I follow, and how long I have nurtured my addiction.  As a child, I could have gone outside, gotten some sun, played soccer in the yard… but no, there was too much good stuff on TV!  When I was 16, my mom, fed up with me constantly commandeering the TV room, (and since I still managed to get pretty darn good grades), bought me my own tiny little 14 inch TV/VCR combo.  I watched the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice on that TV, on a borrowed copy...

The Scarlet Letter

I don't know about you, but I am dyyyyyyyyyyyyyying to see Easy A.  Come hell or high water, I am going this week.  Easy A is loosely based on The Scarlet Letter, but set in modern high school – which is probably a far more believable adaptation that the last time they tried to make The Scarlet Letter, with Demi Moore.  (They tried to makes puritans sexy.  Brains across America exploded at this contradiction.)

This got me thinking about when I read The Scarlet Letter, which was in high...

Audiobooks Don't Count, Right?

Thanks to everyone who entered my September giveaway last week!  The next one will be at the beginning of October.  As you know, I'm making an effort to get The Pile in manageable shape, I'm giving away a couple of books monthly, if I don't meet my quota of reading 6 books in 4 weeks.

Normally I don't have a problem plowing through books, but recently something has changed.  And I think I know why:

I used to get a lot of reading done on my way commute.

In New York, I took the subway everywhere, ...

Giveaway Day!

Oh, August went by so fast!  My goal of reading six books was sadly not met, I only read four.  Therefore, by the terms of the challenge laid down by my boyfriend (who plays far too many video games than can be healthy, who is he to denigrate my To Be Read pile?  …But I digress…) I will be giving away the two remaining books.

But how to choose which books?  All the books I got at RWA are books I want to read!  There's the Elizabeth Hoyt – oh, and the Jane Porter… so really the only fair way...