Cait Miller's Blog: Sizzling Scribes Blog, page 14

Favorite Movies

I'm interested in learning your favorite movie. I don't go out to the movies. Can't remember the last time I even entered a movie theatre. It's easier to simply rent it directly on the TV. Though I do miss the popcorn from the theatre. You just can't get it like that anywhere else. The one good thing about watching movies at home, the pause button so you can go potty and not miss a scene. The main things I don't miss about the theatre, people talking, cell phones ringing and sticky floors (oooohhh). Occasionally, I find a great movie that I will actually purchase on DVD. There are some I wish I never spent the money on like Due Date. My son said it was funny. I didn't see it, couldn't even watch it to the end. But there are a few that I can watch over and over and over. Here's my list of favorites:
All four Shrek movies. If I'm sick, I curl up on the couch and do a Shrek marathon. my kids hate it. Ever AfterA walk in the cloudsHell Boy I & IIExpendablesGrown-ups50 first datesTrue LiesA Cinderella Story-my daughter & I watch this one togetherThe Proposal (love Betty White) Lady and the TrampThe Mummy I & IIGeorge of the JungleTarzanSherlock HolmesGone with the Wind - this is a given since I'm named after the plantation.
I'm sure I'm leaving something out. Hoping ya'll step and share you're favorites. I'm always looking for a good movie.

Happy Spring!!!!

Happy First Day of Spring!!!!!
I read today that there is a big difference between the first day of spring and the first spring day. This year, it's actually warm in New England on March 20th, but I remember many a snow storm on an April day. In fact, my husband and I bought our first house in the middle of a blizzard on April 1st. Apparently, we were the April Fools that year!
In my story SNOWY NIGHT SEDUCTION the main characters, Jake and Sera, are caught in just such a snow storm. They, of course, find all sorts of things to do to keep warm. Lucky buggers.
I've always felt Mother Nature has a sick sense of humor. I swear she gives us a few really nice spring days just to get our hopes up, the BAM! she slams us with a cold snap. I'm sure there are people in other parts of the country or world who have nice, temperate climates where Mother Natured doesn't slap them upside the head on a regular basis, New England isn't so lucky.
So, wherever you are today, I hope you have a chance to go outside and enjoy some nice weather, at least for a little while. If Mother Nature turns nasty, try Plan B and read SNOWY NIGHT SEDUCTION instead! hahahaha

California here I come!

California here I come! In eleven days I am leaving for the USA. Five days in San Francisco, Six days sightseeing in Los Angeles then on to the Romantic Times Convention. This vacation has been arranged since June last year and now with so little time left I am getting nervous. Those who know me may recall that last year I planned a much anticipated trip to New Orleans before the RT Convention. For almost a year I planned and organized and excitement built for a trip to a place I had always wanted to see. Then, disaster.

The damn Icelandic volcano.

I never got to see The Big Easy. In fact, I barely made it to the Romantic Times Convention. I got stuck in Ohio for an extra night on the way home while sick as a dog with tonsillitis and travelled for 24hrs in the same condition as we circumvented affected airports. In the end I had to travel the last 9hrs by coach and train.

So, as the time of departure ticks nearer this year it's perhaps understandable that I'm afraid to be excited. The earth seems to be a very uncertain place these days. Mother Nature has declared war and I am hiding in a ditch hoping she passes me by this time. Please keep your fingers crossed for me, I'd really appreciate it. All being well, I hope to see many of you in L.A. in a few weeks.
Cait x

It's READ AN EBOOK WEEK!

Betcha didn't even know there was such a thing, did you? Well, there is and we're going to celebrate it in style!

Ebooks have only been around a couple of decades and, as many of you know, have found acceptance only in the last few years. Dedicated readers are slowly giving way to multi-use mobile devices to the point where there are no more excuses for not having a book with you all the time. As long as you have your smartphone, Ipad, Blackberry or netbook, you have an entire library at your fingertips.

This week, the world sets some time aside to celebrate this accessibility. To help out, I'm offering a free download of Kara's Captain , a tale of love that spans two centuries and two modes of reading. Robert Walton comes from the pages of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein , Kara Godwin is the woman he hopes will save him from obscurity (read more in the sidebar). What better way to celebrate future than by reading a story that pulls together the past and the present?

To get a free download of Kara's Captain , leave a comment sharing with us your favorite ebook of all time (and no, it doesn't need to be one of ours). At 9:00 pm EST on Friday, March 18th, I'll put all your names into a hat and my own handsome husband will draw not one, not two, but three lucky winners! Names will be posted here shortly thereafter.

Hooray for ebooks! Play safe,
Diana

Favorite Quotes

I feature a writing quote every month in my newsletter. I enjoy looking for them, finding just the right one for that month. Even though they're geared toward writers, many of the quotes are great for everyday life.
Some of the quotes I've featured so far include:
"What no wife of a writer can understand is that a writer is working when he's staring out of the window." ~Burton Rascoe
"The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes." ~Agatha Christie
"A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one." ~Baltasar Gracian
"Don't tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov
"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." ~Jack London
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." ~Scott Adams (I like this one for my scrapbooking.)
"If the sex scene doesn't make you want to do it--whatever it is they're doing--it hasn't been written right." ~Sloan Wilson
"Writing fiction is a solitary occupation, but not really a lonely one. The writer's head is mobbed with characters, images and language." ~Hilma Wolitzer
"Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money." ~Jules Renard
Is one of these my favorite? Yes and no. I love the last one because it's so true for writers. But my all-time favorite quote has nothing to do with writing:
"A friend is someone who sees through you and still enjoys the view." ~Wilma Askinas
Do you have a favorite quote? Share it with me. And if you want to receive my monthly newsletter, which includes all kinds of goodies along with the quotes, send an email to lynn@lynnlafleur.com.
Lynn

Sanity Savers

I'm overwhelmed at the moment. With work and life. To the point of tears.

Don't worry. This isn't a whining blog. We all get overwhelmed at times so I know I'm in good company.

I've been filling in for the morning shift guy while he's been on jury duty for a month. And at the same time, I got assigned four major shows that will all hit in the next two weeks. I'm working long days. No days off. I get home in time to eat dinner before I have to go to bed so I can get up at 3:00 AM to do it again. It's starting to wear on me a bit.

I find I get a little more nuts—i.e., whiny, cranky, bitchy, teary, sanctimonious, etc.—when I don't take a few minutes for stuff that centers me.

These are my Sanity Savers

A Time Limit: I know the trial my co-worker is on will be done this week and my shows will be done in two weeks. So, it might be a hellish few days but two weeks from today, it's done. I'll cling to that and start checking off days.

Knitting: Spending even a few minutes with my needles and yarn seems to calm something in my soul. I don't even know if it's the act of knitting or just being in my house, alone. I'm your basic introvert so this is the perfect way to re-energize.

Friends: This is one often adds to my busy days because I have to take time to see them but it really does help. I've got three meetings for coffee or breakfast this week. It's on my calendar and I'll just slip away from work for a few minutes and come back calmer.

Writing: I particularly feel this one. When I'm so busy with the day job that I don't have time to write, it weighs on me. Not really a conscious thing but I just get discontented with life. Then I spend a few hours with my characters and suddenly my mind is working again. I've got happy little voices in my head. Doesn't always help with the day job but it makes the time much more entertaining.

So what do you do to save your sanity when you're overwhelmed with the pressures of life? I'm always looking for something new to try.

Dreaded words: Writers Block

Writers Block, every writer suffers from it every now and again. Overcoming it is a problem. I've suffered a bit from this dreaded syndrome this past month. Several times, I've sat with my laptop and attempted to focus, to put something on the page, even if it sounds ridiculous. But it just hasn't come. I've even done the one thing I hate...I've written a couple of outlines hoping to jumpstart the process. It produced nothing but frustration especially after reading the paragraphs I'd written. Ugh, it read like CRAP. Ever wonder if writer's block syndrome is related to the season (winter in particular)? You look outside and see nothing but white. No birds chirping. No flowers. No warm sunny glow seeping through the window to warm your face and uplift the soul. And no matter how many times you wipe the floor, some loving family members trods in tracking clumps of dirty snow without regards to what you've just done. I've gotten to the point, I just keep towels on the floor and swap them out for dry ones. I'm just praying the washer and dryer hold out from towel overload. I can't just blame the hubby and teenagers. I've got three dogs who traipse in and out constantly. Wish I could teach those little buggers to wipe their feet and dislodge all snowballs from their fur outside the door, not in. Maybe, I'll just have a Guiness and hope that ignites the brainwaves to communicate with the fingers and press the right keys to create an awesome story.

Doing without

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Hello from the chilly Northeast! We have gotten our full share of winter in the last month, and I don't think it's going away any time soon. Recently, we had an ice storm and the power flickered on and off all night. We were the lucky ones who didn't lose our electricity, it got me thinking about those who had.
Also recently, I lost my cell phone and was without one for a little over a week. Suddenly, something I had done without for the first 20 years or so of my life seemed impossible to do without.
We've all had days where the internet has gone down at work, the dishwasher has broken, or maybe simply enough, the cable has gone out. Annoying, but not life altering, right?
I'm not so sure about that.
I read and write a lot of science fiction/fantasy and I'm always fascinated by stories of worlds where they've gone from having huge scientific advances to nothing. How do people survive? What coping skills do they have to form to thrive? I'll admit, if I was dropped in the middle of the woods, I would probably die. I have a vague idea of how to start a fire and might remember a little bit about finding north, and in a pinch, I might even be able to create a lean-to that could last if the wind didn't blow too hard, but I'd die of starvation and caffeine deprivation in two days, tops.
Now losing my cell phone isn't the same as surviving in the wilderness, but it makes you think, doesn't it? How long could we go without our computers, cell phones, and GPSs? And now that I have a Kindle, waiting for a book to come in the mail is just barbaric.
In my book SLOAN'S HEART, the two main characters, Sloan and Mary, are two space cruiser personnel who get stranded on a hostile planet and must do without any technology whatsoever. It's definitely a learning experience for them, but an exciting one for sure.
What three things could you never do without? What three things could you give up without too much angst?
And could you survive if we lost it all?

The End. Just two little words but perhaps the most exhil...

The End. Just two little words but perhaps the most exhilarating a writer can write. Well I think so anyway. The blog this week is late because I had the very great pleasure of writing those words this week. The third book in my Shifting Magic series is FINALLY done. I spent most of every free day last week sitting glued to my laptop while the words just poured out of me. This book has been my nemesis. I thought this writing thing was supposed to get easier with time? Was it the story? The characters? Or just life getting in the way? I think it was probably a combination of things that made this the hardest thing I've written. Whatever the block was, for some reason it finally cleared on the 4th of January.

The End.

It's been a long time since I wrote those two words and it felt good. There were tears even. I know that there is still work to be done on this book. As the saying goes, this is where the hard work begins. It still feels damned good to write those two little words.

Who am I?

I'm in the closet. Did you know that? Oh, you know Diana. Maybe you've even met her at one of the conventions or at a book signing. She's friendly, enjoys the company of her fellow Scribes and all the readers and loves her Guinness.


But Diana is only one side of this author. You've probably figured out "Diana Hunter" is a pen name, a nom de plume, a pseudonym. When I sold my first book to Ellora's Cave (Secret Submission), my husband wasn't sure he wanted his family name dragged into the world of porn (oh, how much he's learned in the past eight years!). Besides, I have a day job as a high school teacher and with the subject matter of my books better suited to 18 year olds and older, life could become difficult if I used my real name.

But then again, life has been sometimes difficult because of the separation of me and me. I have to constantly remember what Diana knows that I don't. Or that I do and she doesn't. And that's another thing. I drive my kids nuts when I speak of myself in the third person ("Diana has a conference this weekend, so I'll be leaving after school on Friday," gave my daughter fits this past autumn.) There are times I'd love to come out of this cramped little space and rejoin the two parts of my life.

I can't even use the distintion "real life" vs "other life". BOTH lives are real, both are me, both are embodiements of my own personality. Who you see at the bookfairs and conferences is the same person you'd see if you came to visit me at school. There are things I'd love to discuss with you (readers) that I can't because my hand would tip and people would put two and two together and come up with my given name. So there are several frustrations to using a pen name.

I console myself with the fact that I have lots of company in my closet. Heck, many of our founding fathers wrote under pen names to protect their reputations (can you say "The Federalist Papers"?). Some writers hid their gender (George Elliot), some needed to save the family name (Moliere), and still others slanted their stories toward specific readers and so needed a name suitable for children's books (Dr. Seuss).

In fact, when one starts looking at

PS. Be sure to check out the links above. You'll spend hours at Dr. Seuss's site just playing around and several hours more at Saki's site reading all the free stories! Play safe!