Terry Odell's Blog, page 310

Connecting the Dots

Quick house progress: after two quiet days, the workers were back at floor installation yesterday. The noise of power saws and power guns, the pounding of rubber mallet on floorboard getting it into place, and their radio. The smell of sawdust, of burnt wood when they cut the bottoms off trim so the new floor would fit, and of varnish, where they were redoing the door jambs. It's not quite

For "Other" Press Six

Thanks to Kerrie for her post on technological advances. I think I'm going to piggyback on that topic.
Note: Today's a grumble day, so if you want writing, come back tomorrow.
After a productive weekend, I was looking forward to yet another day of relative quiet. Only one of the workers was scheduled, and he was going to be doing electrical and touch-up painting, which meant another day free

Going By Way of the Dodo

Today I welcome Kerrie Flanagan to Terry's Place. She's reflecting on a simpler time as a freelancer and sometimes secretly wishes for those days again.
I long for trips to the mailbox to see if a magazine editor responded to a query. But alas, those days are gone. I must admit, I jumped on the email bandwagon as soon as I could. I pushed the envelope and called editors to see if they would

If It Ain't Broke...

What I'm reading: The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames.
If you haven't checked in over the weekend, you might not have seen my new blog design yet. I'm going to call it a work in progress, because I haven't figured out how to interpret the "simple" directions provided by Blogger. It's been trial and error more than anything else. My knowledge of HTML consists of being able to put words in

New Look?

Found an entirely new blog design system. Probably spent too much time playing around. I can't control all the elements--at least I haven't figured out how, but this seems to work. Any impressions? FAnd as long as we're on the subject of blogs, I was interviewed about blogging here. I wouldn't mind a comment or two.

Friday Field Trip - Florissant National Monument

Last Sunday, we went to a new favorite breakfast place in Florissant. Afterward, we went to the nearby Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. I'd suggested the excursion, since there is an easy 1-mile loop walk through the petrified forest. And it's not Florida, so the weather was pleasant.Although it was a National Parks Free Weekend, since it's someplace we figure we'll visit many times, we

Men Aren't Women With Chest Hair

What I'm reading: Risk No Secrets, by Cindy GerardA quick recap: Sexual Tension is about the magic between two characters. It's layered. You have to consider awareness, language, and the ability to get into the characters' heads. Yesterday, I covered her discussion of awareness.Today, we'll start with language, both in dialogue and narrative. If you're going to be writing sexual tension and sex

It's Still About the Sex

Thanks to Julie for being my guest yesterday. A great post. If you haven't read it, you should. And, you should also read Monday's post, plus the 12 Steps to Intimacy (there's a link in Monday's post) if you didn't read them Monday.In addition to doing her workshop, Linda Howard was generous in answering questions on all aspects of her career. She admits to being a total "pantser" and writes by

Sex and the Single Mother

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming best-selling author Julie Leto to Terry's Place. She's tackling the topic of surmounting non-sexy character situations and writing a sexy book. My readers have certain expectations of my books, particularly when I'm writing for Harlequin Blaze. The line is super-sexy and focused, oftentimes, on how the sexual attraction between a man and a woman leads to a

Survival: It's All About Sex

What I'm reading: Storm Prey, by John SanfordNot much to update on the wildlife front - a raccoon got into the hummingbird feeder again. We've been bringing it in at night, but apparently not early enough. And I did spot a coyote on our way to breakfast Sunday.On Saturday, I drove all the way into the Springs to attend a workshop presentation by best-selling romance author Linda Howard. I've