Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 95

Working Wednesday, June 30, 2021

I’m working on not melting like the chocolate on my bedside table and figuring out how I REALLY feel about the first episode of Loki and considering new crochet projects even though I have thirty or forty started. Mostly I’m sweating. It’s a little better now, it’s down to 80F. Of course, it’s also midnight here . . .

What did you work on this week?

Heat is an Excuse . . .

I realize that some of you are dealing with 110 degree heat, so my paltry 91 degrees will get no sympathy, but it’s basically too hot to type, so the Loki posts will start Friday because after 94 on Wednesday, we’ll get storms that will knock things back into the seventies, thank God. In the meantime, it’s not enough that Emily has stopped trying to snuggle up to me to sleep–it’s adorable but what I need right now is not a furry radiator–and has chosen the top of a cabinet which is much cooler. Go, Emily. What I need is a refrigerator cat.

And it’s only June. Sigh.

Happiness is Cat and Dogs, Living Together

I’ve always thought the enemies-to-lovers romance was a kind of bias-to-understanding story, close-mindedness to open, if you will. Which brings me to my bedroom.

A couple of months ago, I adopted a stray cat with only three paws but a lot of attitude (pretty sure she’s a Maine Coon). She was scrawny and wary and she had no idea what a litter box was for, but she needed a home and I had one for her, if I could just convince her to stay (and that the litter box wasn’t her bed).

After trapping her inside (she wasn’t amused) I won her over with expensive cat food and fresh water and a heated cat bed and she had the back bedroom all to herself so life was good. Then Krissie came to visit and the dogs and I had to get out of her bedroom and back into the summer bedroom with Emily. There were a few tense moments, but that’s all behind us now, probably because the dogs are very mellow (well, Mona is mellow) and Emily after months of good eating is now bigger than Mona and roughly the size of Veronica. And now when I sit in bed and look out at the tree tops of my back yard I have three roughly fifteen-pound pets snoring in harmony.

That makes me happy.

What made you happy this week?

Other Emily news for those who have been asking:

Emily was a stray for at least two years (according to my neighbor) so she was never going to be an inside cat completely. She wasn’t crazy about the dog door (neither are the dogs, too much work) but something clawed a huge hole in back door so she can get in and out at will. The thing that’s important is that she always comes back, and most of the time she doesn’t bother to leave. Emily knows a good thing when she has one.

They’d met before this and had pretty much decided on staying five cautious feet away from each other, Emily glaring, Veronica hot to lunge but knowing she’s not allowed, and Mona perplexed, but it’s been a week now and they’ve settled in. They’re not exactly buddies, but I’m thinking that they might come to like each other, curl up together, accept that even though cats and dogs living together appalled Bill Murray, it can be done if everybody is just open-minded and remembers that the woman telling them “NO” when they begin to narrow their eyes is their source of food, this will all turn out just fine.

Now my only problem is the raccoon that keeps coming in to eat kids’ food. Yes, I’m sure it’s a raccoon, I caught the little trash panda in my kitchen, trying to open my bread box. (The day before he’d knocked it to the ground and lunched on my sour dough.). I’m pretty sure that’s where the hole in my back door came from. The back of the house is going to have some interesting moments when Rocky meets the dogs, so it may all work out just fine.

How much is this like an enemies-to-lovers romance? Well, they’re sleeping together now, so I’m pretty sure we’ll get an HEA. (Yes, that’s Emily’s paw on Mona’s neck. Gently.)

This is a Good Book Thursday, June 24, 2021

Ever have one of those days? I had one of those weeks, which included no internet. I could go on about how most of real life is THWARTING me, but I won’t. I’ll just say that I didn’t read much this week; that sums it up for me. A week without reading is like a week without air. Or sleep. Or chocolate.

What did you read this week?

ETA: I’M SORRY I MISSED WORKING WEDNESDAY. AND WAS LATE ON GOOD BOOK THURSDAY. I SUCK AS A BLOGGER. And at a few other things, but why dwell on those?

Happiness is Jennifer Nettles Singing “Come On, Eileen” with Sara Bareilles

This music video makes me happy whenever I play it, so I showed it to Krissie, and it made her happy, too. Here’s lookin’ at you, Argh.

What made you happy this week?

(Note: Huge apologies for getting so far behind on the comments that there were fourteen pending by the time I looked. Krissie and I kept talking, which is another thing that made me giddy with joy, so that Two Things for happiness this week.)

This is a Good Book Thursday, June 17, 2021

So the plan was that Krissie would guest post today, but then we watched Loki and disagreed about that and it slipped my mind.

What did you read this week?

Working Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Krissie came to stay yesterday, and the house is a nightmare but she’s such a trooper, she just sat on the bed and drank iced tea while I tried to find the floor in her bedroom. Also the dogs and I moved into the back room with Emily, and things have been tense. Emily leaves them alone but Veronica barks at her, which annoys her so she leaves. Even as I type, Veronica barked at Emily. Emily ignored her. Veronica is just going to have to cope. Next we go out to breakfast to talk about books and food and everything else, which is not work, but this is late so I needed to explain why. Krissie is here. We’re talking. (Emily just tried to climb into my lap, I think she’s getting the hang of this not-a-stray-anymore thing.)

What did you do this week?

Happiness is a Fancy Tea Kettle

You know that old “what’s the one thing you’d save in a fire” question? After the dogs and cat, it would be my laptop, let’s be practical, but that whole “one thing” misses the important stuff by piling all this doom and smoke on the question (I know about smoke, I’m going to be cleaning up soot forever). A better question is, “What do you have that makes you happy when you look at it?”

I have a retro teakettle that I’m bananas about. A bag with a typewriter on it. Another bag with a typewriter on it. The extremely ancient peonies in my front yard. It’s that whole sparks joy thing.

What made you happy this week?

What Makes a Good Love Interest?

I was going to title this “What Makes a Hero?” which is a lot punchier, but since “Hero” implies male and not necessarily a romantic figure we’re going with “love interest.”

At base, a love interest is somebody the protagonist falls in love with, so that’s where we’re starting. The next question, the interesting one, is “Why this person?” Granted this is going to depend on the protagonist (and the writer), but there must be some criteria across the board. It’s when I try to pin it down, that things get slippery.

For example, “loves her/him/them to the point of madness” sounds good, but that’s a stalker, too. Almost every passionate criteria comes with a side note of “until it goes too far, then it’s scary.” Who decides what goes too far? The protagonist (and the writer). Some people like those can-he-protect-her guys, but they always come across to me as you-stay-right-here-while-I-do-the-exciting-stuff-in-your-story.

But the opposite is true, too. The kind, feminist, altruistic billionaire gets my side-eye for being too damn good to be true. (That’s true of protagonists, too; I started to lose my enthusiasm for Mika in The Book of Firsts when she turned out to be able to fix anything and was close friends with a movie star who showed up just in time to solve a problem . . . uh, no. Good thing the rest of the book was fun, although those three love interests were rich, smart, independent, loyal, musically and artistically gifted, and adored by all and it was still a good book, so . . .)

So I’m left with “doesn’t kick puppies” as my line in the sand for love interests. Along with the obvious stuff like “doesn’t eat the brains of the innocent” and “can understand and respond appropriately to the word ‘No’.” But those are negative statements, I need some positives. So, uh . . .

• Actually listens when the protagonist says something.

• Makes mistakes (aka “is human”) but fixes said mistakes and apologizes sincerely to anyone they/she/he may have maimed.

• Is vulnerable

• Does not fall for a Big Misunderstanding because he/she/they has an IQ above 80.

• Is kind to puppies. And children. And the protagonist.

• Is, at base, possibly hidden beneath a prickly/cold/sarcastic/silent exterior, a good person; that is, not homophobic, racist, sexist, classist, or a smirker.

The problem is getting a list that’s an attempt at universal. For me, a great love interest has a terrific sense of humor and can banter all night, but that’s not a universal. There have been some pretty famous dour love interests–Heathcliff comes to mind–and some pretty entertaining villains–Loki for example–so “sense of humor that leads to banter” is a lousy universal criteria for a good life partner. (Trust me on this.)

So what do you think? Would you argue with my choices? Do you have better ones? (I know you have better ones.) And beyond that, what are the love interest personality traits that are your personal kryptonite. (Mine would be sense of humor and banter and never lying and not being a billionaire and never smirking and . . .)

Speak up, Argh. What makes a good love interest?

Edited to Add:
I may have missed “good in bed.”

Sometimes a gun is not a cigar.

This is a Good Book Thursday, June 10, 2021

Thanks to Gary, I’ve started reading Zoe Sharp’s Dancing on the Grave and Bones in the River. Nothing like finding a new great writer.

Also I bowed to peer pressure in here and read Winter’s Orbit and had a marvelous time. And wow that was her first book. Highly recommended.

What did you read this week?