Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 116

This is a Good Book Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020

Best book I read this week: Crosstalk by Connie Willis. Loved it, even with the quirky relatives (that whole “elderly people are just so cute” is not my fave trope, but it worked here because (spoiler) they turn out to be not that damn cute). Hyperbole and a Half made me think while I was laughing. Skinny Dip was like visiting an old friend (yes, it’s a multiple re-read). Several BookBub romances that didn’t make the cut. The instructions to my new toaster oven. The week has just been packed.

What did you read this week?

Working Wednesday, September 2, 2020

IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL TIME. Except most people aren’t going back. Still, school supplies. A new year. Two months to the election. Forget I said that last one. This week, I’m going to get my living room turned into an office and throw out most of the stuff in the kitchen. (Last week I watched the room spin and failed to recharge my laptop.)

What’s on your to-do/already-did list?

The Horror, the Horror

I’ve been without a laptop since Sunday. I thought, “This will be good for me.” NO, NO IT WASN’T.

But now it’s September which is my favorite month because it feels like a new year (I’ve spent a lot of time in schools) and the weather is amazing and I have Big Plans. Among other things:

• I keep thinking I’m going to put Nita aside and then I think again. At the moment, my qualms are two: this is no time for a old white woman to write about immimgration and this is really no time for anybody to write about a cute cop who shoots people.

• I have to do something with Lily. I don’t know what, since I never had a plot, she’s all over the place, but I either have to pat her on the head and say, “You were fun, kid,” and send her off to the archives, or figure out something useful to do with her. Probably not a book because I have enough of them started.

• I need a new blog project. Bob and I are done with HWSWA at the end of Sept. and I have no idea if he wants to do anything after that and neither do I, but I know I like the idea of having to produce something to a schedule every week. Like do another series binge, maybe. Nah. Rats. I don’t know.

• I need to throw out most of what’s in this house. It’s the only way.

• I need to figure out what’s making me dizzy. It goes away at night but today I got a real shock when the dizzy turned to vertigo. It has to be labyrinthitis, but you’re not supposed to get that twice. Maybe I’m just Special.

I did manage to get most of the recycling out today, so there’s that. And my laptop is recharged again, thank god. But mostly I’m feeling untethered. I must do something productive. Any request? I’m open here.

Choose Your Own Happiness

I wrote a really depressing happiness post. Then I realized that was a contradiction and not helpful and that I should do better, but nope, I got nothing.

What made you happy this week? Secondhand happiness is also good.

HWSWA: Time

The post on Time is up at He Wrote She Wrote Again.

This is a Good Book Thursday, August 27, 2020

I’ve been reading a lot of new romances and old favorites (went back to Murderbot again). Reading the new romances is reminding me why I like the genre and why it so often doesn’t work, so that’s been helpful. And Murderbot is just comforting. Just started Allie Brosh’s book, Hyperbole and a Half and so far it’s as funny as her blog.

What are you reading?

Working Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Bob and I did another HWSWA chat last night, this one on Setting, which will be up a week from Saturday. (This Saturday is Time.). We’re almost done, I think there are only four topics left, and I don’t know if we’ll keep going after that or not. It’s not a very interactive site–problems with commenting, I think–and what we’ve found is that after years of arguing with each other about writing, we’re pretty much meeting in the middle on a lot of things. But it’s been good working on the project, so even if we stop at the end of September, it’s been worth it. I do think the process is more important than the result unless other people, say readers, are involved in the result. It’s a bad idea to waste other people’s time.

So this week I combatted dizziness and talked about setting. What did you do?

Happiness is a Gift from a Friend

My close personal friend, Patricia Gaffney sent me a gift because it didn’t sell at her yard sale:

I’m a big Spike fan, so that made me happy, especially because it came with multiple weapons and those cheekbones. Also, I found the picture above of it on Amazon because I was too lazy to take my own picture of it, and it’s forty-four bucks on there because it’s a Limited Edition, so it’s also Valuable. That’s pretty good for a show that ended seventeen years ago.

I put him on the shelf with my Anya Bunny action figure and my Jane Austen action figure and thought, “Now there’s a three-way.”

What made you happy this week?

HWSWA: Scenes, Sex and Violence, Snark

The new HWSWA post is up. . (Thank you, Jinx!)

Short recap:

• I put up my bit on scenes.

• He put up his bit on scenes plus sex and violence.

• I pointed out that sex and violence wasn’t until next week.

• He said it was on his schedule.

• I gave in and we talked about scenes (a little) and sex and violence (more) and then he used his dog Gus as an excuse to bail and leave me to talk about sex.

• I did some more discussion on action scenes (aka sex and violence).

• A week later he e-mailed me to say, “So it’s sex and violence this week, right? That’s what’s on my schedule.”

• I did not kill him. I was possibly rude, but he still lives.

Next week is Time. Prologues, epilogues, flashbacks, flashforwards. That’s when he dies.

Anne Stuart Has a New Book Out!

Krissie’s new book, THE ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY WORST MAN IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND WALES, is just out in e-book and print, and she has this to say about it:

“I love this book.  Jenny and I went round and round about the hero’s motivation, and I reluctantly gave in because on rare occasions she’s right (but I wrote an epilogue and she’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands).  It’s funny, sexy, and not nearly as dark as I usually write, because right now the world is dark enough.  It’s not going to change your life but it can change your weekend, and there are times when that’s the greatest gift.  It has Jenny’s seal of approval (particularly the supporting characters), SEP loved the title, and I love the book.”

What more do you need to know? Oh, right, the cover:

Buy here on Amazon.