Fabulous Friday

Songs & videos that make me happy:

The Friendship Song by Carbon Leaf from the soundtrack for Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey (actually, kind of a cute movie & chock full of CL songs).

Mairi's Wedding by the High Kings -- not my favorite version of the song; I have a higher-energy version I like better, but still, a good song & the voices of these guys make up for it.

 Tell Me Ma by Gaelic Storm

ALB is a lovely lovely lady with some great stuff to say!

What makes you happy today?

The Arm-Chair Traveler

I’ve been busy trying to organize my documents and whatnot on my laptop here lately, and I’ve been rediscovering things I had forgotten – among them, the very first thing I ever did for Cherie. She was writing a story and needed to know how a person would go about getting from point A to point B in Rome, and what they would see along the way, how long it would take…that kind of thing.

But it set me thinking about bucket lists. How many of us have put travel, whether to a truly exotic location, or simply to places of interest in our home countries, on ours?

I know there are a TON of places I’d love to visit – natural wonders like the Grand Canyon or Hawaii or the Alps, the great art of the world, places where people I admire lived or wrote  or traveled – but the truth is I don’t want to actually GO to those places. I would have to deal with the confinement of travel (I’ve done East Coast to West Coast on a plane, pregnant, with a toddler and a preschooler, and then the reverse by car with 3 kids under 10, my husband, 2 cats, a large dog, and a U-Haul. UGH.) and I really really hate the idea of the seething masses of complete strangers I would have to put up with. I’ve read about the lines to get into some of the major art museums, thanks but no thanks.

And that’s the glory of the internet, isn’t it? We can see all those things we long to see, perhaps at one (or more) step of removal, but close enough for most of us. Many of us might manage to afford to actually make ONE of the trips we long to make (hubby and I want to go to England, mostly because there’s a tank museum), but all of them? I suppose that’s rather like reaching for the stars.

Isn’t there a saying about that? Something about reaching for the stars, but aiming for the moon? That seems apt, somehow.

Anyway, along with sorting through random bits and pieces on my computer, I’ve also been sorting through my ebooks (I suspect this will take For.Ev.Er.) and slowly trying to read them all & make teeny little reviews on Calibre (isn’t Calibre awesome? That they have a place you can do that, I mean, even besides the rating thing, which I don’t really use that much, but I’m trying to). And here lately, I seem to be accidentally reading a lot of travelers or expats or a combination of the two. It’s kind of making me want to go somewhere, but at the same time, many of the stories are all adventuresome, which, honestly? Kids and pets and hubby are MORE than enough adventure for me, along with the occasional trip to meet a friend for lunch somewhere, so that part is less than appealing.

What things are on your bucket list? And do you actually WANT to do all those things, deep in darkest recesses of your heart, or are they more a “reaching for the stars” kind of thing? What have you read that sparked a desire to explore a specific place, or fed that desire, or satiated it? Is it enough to read and maybe explore by computer, or do you need the actual physical presence?

Also, will we be seeing you in October in Chicago? 

On the Big Screen

We've been busy busy busy over here lately, what with finishing up all the things necessary to get Quality Control out and available (by the end of the week, barring catastrophe) on the Cherie front and "101 Things That Can Go Pear-Shaped" on the personal front.

Frankly, Cherie is a Godsend. I would far rather wrestle her words than my kids.

Part of the "fun" this past weekend was my middle child getting invited to a sleepover and to the movie theater to go see the LEGO Movie with his best friend. This is problematic because DinoBoy was the only one invited, but since there's only 20 months between them, VelcroBoy looks on DinoBoy's best friend as *his* best friend, too, so I had a devastated child... which means, you guessed it! I had to take VelcroBoy to see the LEGO Movie. I also took Girl-child, who wasn't pleased with me at all, because if I have to suffer...

But wait! It gets better!

The movie (or the projector, or *something*) wasn't working! So we were told (there were maybe a dozen people in the theater) to go to one of the other movies with the same showtime -- which, since everybody was there with small kids, pretty much meant Mr. Peabody and Sherman -- and that we would get passes to use for any movie, any time. They were able to get the LEGO Movie up an running in time for the next showtime, so the three of us actually ended up watching two movies for the price of one, except it left me feeling exhausted. Luckily, as it turns out, I enjoyed both movies.

I'm really not a movie person. I mean, don't get me wrong. I enjoy watching stuff (especially now that I'm becoming a crocheter; I blame my mom!) but...I don't know. I can commit to hours and hours of reading a single book (sometimes over and over and over again... *ahem*) but the idea of sitting still and WATCHING a screen for 2 hours? Just doesn't do it for me, generally. While I would love to see some of my favorite books brought to the big screen that way, I know that some things would have to be sacrificed for that to happen, and usually the stuff that gets cut is the stuff I most cherish about books -- that chance to see inside a character's head. There's an intimacy to reading, maybe because of the way so much internal stuff is shared, while the external is left to the reader's imagination. That is reversed with a medium like film (or the digital equivalent), where the focus is on the external and you have to sort of extrapolate the internal.

That said... what are your favorite book-to-screen adaptations? Least favorite? Book/series you'd most like to see in that medium?

My answers: Honestly, pretty much anything BBC touches -- I love the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle Pride and Prejudice, Jeeves and Wooster, anything they do with Agatha Christie... But I also really love some of the 90s updates of classics -- 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless. My least favorite, probably, is the Harry Potter series -- love the books, love the movies, but I have to work really hard to mentally separate the two and try to look at them as totally different things. As for books I'd most love to see? I don't really know the answer to that yet. I'll think about it.

Work in Progress Wednesday: Attempting Zumba for the First time...

No, this isn't a video of me. It's a video of the type of fitness training one of the mc's of an upcoming novel is going to find and fall in love with... so I figure I'd better get some hands on experience with the whole Zumba phenomena, right? 

Have mercy. Class starts at 6:15 am. Meep!

Today's class will be the second one I've ever taken. I'll stop by later and tell y'all if I live to tell the tale, lol, as well as give you a sneaky peak of the story a scene very like the one above happens in. :) 

Tuesday Newsday... Dun-dun-daaaaaaaaahhhh!

Some days you just really need a cute sloth around your waist to announce the truly important stuff with a bit of panache. 

Right?

So, in the news this week: 
1) I did pick up a GoodReads Story... I couldn't pass up on Angelique's amazing pic and prompt combo. I've begun plotting, and should have the story written (if all goes according to plan) by the end of the month. 
*sheesh, stop snickering...sometimes my plans work out!*

2) Still working on edits to ARTBU and CRANES... 
*the edits that will not end... Kidding, they will end, eventually*

3) Next up? More stuff and nonsense. I've got two sekrit projects I must wrap up by the end of the month, and two re-writes also due--that's in addition to the two edits listed above. 

4) Panic and flail. That's what one does when going to school full-time *15 credits* and trying to keep up with an insane writing schedule. 

Pfffttt, I got this. 
*gasp*
No, really. 

5) Thank my lucky stars I have such an awesome minion.

6)REAL NEWS, finally!! I am going to GRL. I am also bringing one of my *as yet to be unveiled* cover-cabana-boys. He he he. I promise to tell you when his cover goes up. 

And that's it for the week. :) Unless something absolutely awesome happens midweek, in which case I'll fill you in then.

Oh, and it's my birthday today. Happy birthday to me!! I have the best job in the world, I love my kidlet, and I am having a blast in school. And, as a special it's my birthday prize, the first to comment on the thread below with the title of my latest release *hint, an anthology with Jambrea Jo Jones and Kendall McKenna* will win a cute little stuffed wolf. 

Have a great day babies, and wring all the joy possible out of the moment you are in. 

~Cherie Noel

What makes me a grumpy reader (and baker)

OK, so baking is kinda my thing (what can I say? Kneading bread is an excellent stress release, especially when your kids or hubby or cats or pups are being PITAs and you really just wanna HIT somebody...).

Anyway, I was reading something the other day (not you, Boss Lady! Promise! I would let you know if it was you before it got that far, presuming it was something I beta-ed!) where one of the protagonists came home at, like, 6:30 and his dinner date was supposed to be getting there at 7 for a home-cooked meal. All well and good, except -- well, his meat (*snerk*) was still in the freezer, and all he had that was more or less ready to go was salad fixings. Anyway, long story short, at 7 on the dot, he was showered, shaved, changed, and had a full meal, including homemade-from-scratch bread, some sort of casserole-y dish, a salad AND a homemade dessert, all on the table ready for his guest.

Does anybody know how he did this? Because seriously? I need to know! I am forever having to feed my kids sandwiches or omelets at least twice a week because homework runs over and this happens and the cat hairballs on the carpet and and and resulting me in having all of 30 min before our regular dinnertime at 6. And dinner can't be late because VelcroBoy has to be in bed by 7:30 or OMG the morning is impossible!

So, if you know a recipe for a yeast bread that goes from "pulling the flour out of the cupboard" to "fragrant rolls in the bread basket on the table" in under 30 minutes, please would you share? Pretty please?

That is one of my hugest pet peeves in reading. I'm not a gourmet chef, by any means (lack money, time, and people who would EAT gourmet if I made it), but I am pretty decent at basic cookery. Yet so often, I'll see something in a book where I just know the author has seriously NO CLUE. Like, they'll make creme fraiche, but it'll be spelled cream fresh. Or the bread will take 20 min to mix, knead, rise, shape, proof and bake. Or they'll cook something in a way in which I have never ever heard of it being cooked (although to be fair, if I'm unsure I'll usually Google it first, just to see if maybe it's a gap in my education, rather than a gap in theirs).

What about you? For the sake of future releases, what drives you batty in a book? How can you tell when the author has no frickin' clue and didn't bother to do research? Let us know!

SHRUG IT OFF Blog Tour

We interrupt your normally scheduled Tuesday Newsday with a hot Mischief Corner Books offering from the delectable Mathilde Watson. Don't be alarmed, the normal news will resume next week... what's more, according to my pal Angel Martinez, this blog tour is a definite newsworthy event. So slip into an easy chair, cuddle up with your fave warm beverage--cause babies, it's cold outside--and get ready for the latest installment of the SHRUG IT OFF TOUR...

Greetings, and welcome to the third stop in the SHRUG IT OFF tour!

Today I want to thank Cherie for being my host!

Heya, Mathilde. Thank you for stopping by and letting The Writing Cave be part of your awesome tour. Do you have anything you want to share with the readers right up front?

Sure, let me start by explaining how the tour works…

At each stop along my way I will randomly select one commenter to receive a free ebook from my backlist, AND, at the end of the tour, everybody who leaves a comment at any of my stops will be entered for a chance to win one of two $10 gift cards to All Romance Ebooks! Just be sure to include your email address in you comment so you can be contacted if your name is selected.

For my first stop I visited with my good friend Angel Martinez and I introduced Stephen and his constant companions. You can check that out here: 

http://angelmartinezauthor.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/the-first-stop-shrug-it-off-blog-tour.html

And on my second stop I introduced Connor at Iyana’s Rainbow: http://iyanajenna.blogspot.com/2014/03/in-spotlight-mathilde-watson.html

But maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself. I should probably give you a quick rundown on SHRUG IT OFF, right?…

* * * *

BLURB:

For Stephen, dating is more than a challenge, it’s a nightmare!

All he wants is a man he can talk to, someone he can laugh with and be himself around. What he’s got instead is an incessant running commentary on everyone and everything. The meddling guides posted on his shoulders each have their own ideas of what Stephen should be looking for. From the right he’s urged to find a man like himself: confident, successful, and upwardly mobile. The little devil on his other shoulder is only interested in a guy’s face and what he’s got below the waist.

The two can never agree on anything—until Stephen meets Connor—and then things get really interesting…

* * * *

In SHRUG IT OFF, Stephen is plagued by the constant interference of a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. Most people can’t see or hear their guides, they only feel their promptings with what we call our conscience.

Today, I’d like to talk about the inspiration behind SHRUG IT OFF.

Growing up, I was a huge fan of Mickey Mouse and his friends, especially Donald Duck.

One of my favorite Donald Duck cartoons followed a teenage Donald as he rebelled against his grandmother and went fishing instead of going to school at the urging of a devil on his shoulder. A bedraggled angel with a dented halo sat on his other shoulder trying unsuccessfully to get him to do the right thing.

Of course, it has been many, many years since I last watched that cartoon. My memory was triggered more recently by an intentionally bad horror-comedy—MY NAME IS BRUCE.

I love Bruce Campbell. I’m not going to lie about that.

I am a HUGE fan of bad B action movies and Bruce Campbell is the king of that sort of thing…

So one day I turned on the TV… and guess what? MY NAME IS BRUCE was playing.

So I watched it.

Somewhere along the way Bruce is confronted by an angel and a devil over each of his shoulders and he proceeds to argue with the two of them.

It made me laugh. And then it made me think of Donald Duck… And Pinocchio… And then my mind conjured up Stephen…

I had a lot of fun adding attitudes, motives, and faces to the feelings and emotions that drove Stephen’s actions. I had to do double duty, giving his conscience a say and then having him react…

I know Donald, Bruce and Pinocchio are not the only poor suckers out there who had to do battle with angels and devils—if you have a favorite example I would love to hear it!

And, even if you don’t have an example to share, I’d love to hear from you. Remember, if you leave a comment and include your email address you will be entered to win prizes!!

* * * *

Thanks again Mathilde for stopping by. It been fun having you here at the Cave. Can I get you a top off for your drink before you go? It really is chilly out, and I'd hate for your or any of the boys to get cold! No? Okay, then, I look forward to seeing you at the next stop! 

For Info on were to find this devilishly enticing story, check out the following:

SHRUG IT OFF is available through Mischief Corner Books: https://mischiefcornerbooks.weebly.com/store/p40/Shrug_It_Off.html

All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-shrugitoff-1439693-149.html

And on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IQBF7SA

You can find Mathilde Watson (that’s me!) online at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathilde.watson.author
Website: http://authormathildewatson.weebly.com 

 * * * *