Wit don't come easy.

This is mostly a me-too posting.
I am sure half the blogging world is posting various greetings and good wishes for everyone to have a safe, joyous, and altogether propitious time tonight.

And I wish almost all the world the same.
I'm too late for my friends in Australia and Japan. They've already set off their glorious fireworks. I saw the pyrotechnics on CNN this morning.

I am so sorry to be late with my good wishes.
Happy New Year
In the Southern Hemisphere!

In truth, though, I am blogging today because of superstition.
Almost as powerful as the tradition about making life-changing resolutions at midnight is the idea that the way one spends New Year's Eve/New Year's Day dictates the pattern of ones days for the coming year.

So, I am being rude to everyone today!
Not intentionally, I'm doing a bit of everything in the hope of being more prolific in 2006.

I've written a chapter--quite a sexy one, actually; fixed the weekend Kedgeree for my husband; paid some bills; snail mailed a letter to a home-bound friend who does not have a computer, let alone the internet; done a sudoku--an easy one, I'm pushed for time; extended a subscription at the last minute; downloaded a contest entry form, so next I'll have to fund my Paypal account because that is the only way to pay the entry fee; signed up for another year with Coffee time Romance; line edited someone else's email to me (I did admit, it's not my day for diplomacy!); checked my yahoo groups account and discovered that I am soft bouncing.... or rather my mail is.

Soft bouncing makes me think of myself on a trampoline.

Now it is quarter past one in the afternoon. Past time I was preparing a light and healthy luncheon for my family.

There is, of course, another school of thought. The Jack of All Trades, Master of None one. Perhaps it is better to do one thing, take ones time, and do it well.

Nah! If I were to do that, it would only be propitious for that activity for the rest of 2006.

You can tell I'm decisive today.

Wit Don't Come Easy!
Whoever coined the phrase Quick Wit? When every word of ones romantic comedy has to be the "Right" word, writing can be a slow process, at least for me. Chosing words carefully is probably also a good idea when writing love scenes.... or blogs, or emails.

Here's to starting the year as I mean to go on, and to making a good start.

Happy New Year!

booksigning down the road

I've signed up to join a multi-author booksigning which will take place on February 11th between 1pm and 3pm at the Barnes and Noble booksellers in West Chester, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati.

Of drains, Favre, and Kedgeree

Dec 25th:

First of all, I wish to thank everyone who sent me kind messages or e-cards, or who entered a contest, or signed up for my newsletter, or visited my blog. I very much appreciate it.

I hadn't intended to do any creative writing today, but I had a rather good, but weird, dream which I managed to transcribe before the rest of the family woke.

Today being Sunday, I observed our own family tradition, and made kedgeree for breakfast, even though we'd be having a turkey-and-trimmings dinner later. For those who do not know, kedgeree is a bit like a spicy paella without the chicken, the vegetables, and the exoskeletons. It is made of rice, onions, five or six assorted types of fish. It is healthy because of the turmeric, garlic, sardines etc.

Since oysters were going in the oyster stuffing at lunch, I used clams and crab and imitation crab (in additon to the kippers, sardines, prawns, boiled egg). The latter works really well in a yellow kedgeree because of the artifical pink coloring.

After breakfast, unwrapping presents, and telephone calls to family, I felt I had to take advantage of the fact that this may be the warmest day locally for the next week, even though it is Sunday and Christmas.

The snow was melting, so I went to check the drains, and found an unbelievable amount of rotting leaves, which I scooped out. No worms, for once, which was good.

Until yesterday, looking out of our windows was a bit like looking out of a dragon's mouth, with very long, twisted and sometimes dripping icicles as draconian dentition.

The icicles had melted and collected into a four inch deep puddle up against the lower level of the house, so I dug a trench (with a trowel) to encourage the water to drain away from my foundations.

By the time I'd finished, I was late getting down to the real work of Christmas dinner.

The other major activity is a jigsaw of Niagara Falls in the dark, which is much too challenging, but we are doggedly persisting with it, and hoping Brett Favre has a good game today, whatever the final score.

Best wishes! Seasons greetings!

Morning person

If I don't write first thing in the morning, the day is lost... at least from an authorship perspective.

I've demonstrated this on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and now on Friday! However, I did learn some very interesting facts about tree sap from The Science Channel.

I also discovered Amazon's Author Connection, and set up my page there, although I think only the Paperback version of Forced Mate will be shown there.

The Epic organization surprised and delighted me by offering to send three press releases about the electronic FORCED MATE's success in the 2006 Eppies, if I could provide journalists' names and addresses, and also a customized quote about me for each of them.... within the week.

A favorite review site, The Romance Studio, also very kindly sent me an offer that I couldn't refuse, also contingent on a timely response.

Also this week, I sent deeply personalized interview questions off to two muscular male cover models who might graciously consent to be interviewed in my January/February and March/April issues of my newsletter, and corresponded with an author who will provide a love scene Sneak Peek for the March/April issue. (www.rowenacherry.com/newsletter).

In case I don't get back to blog before Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa and the Saturnalia, I wish everyone reading this a very happy weekend.

I don't like Mondays

I don't!
Unless, that is, I get a lot of writing done.

Today I wrote seven new pages for INSUFFICIENT MATING MATERIAL, which is the sequel to FORCED MATE, and is basically Survivorman with Sex. It is actually a lot more than that, but I'm not trying to sell Insufficient Mating Material to anyone except my editor.

Seven fresh pages is OK. It's 1,700 words, and the protagonists weren't simply passing the time of day. The heroine was seriously upset with the hero for not telling her that he'd shot down a couple of people --his own troublemaking sister, and the heroine's ex-- and marooned them on a desert island.

Later in the day, my child --school is over for the winter holiday-- and I got out our artificial off-white, white tree, and we decorated it with dark sapphire blue, silver and white baubles .... we also added non-color coordinated plastic lizards, snakes and frogs, because my child thinks these creatures are cool.

Christmas is a time for give and take.

Me (not to be mistaken for an E-book cover model!)

I thought the pink hat photo would look good against the black background!

This photo was taken at the Pebble Beach concours d'elegance a couple of years ago by professional photographer Bob Puffer, who kindly gave me permission to use the photo.
You can't tell that the misty background is 18th Green at the Lodge, looking towards the sea containing bobbing knots of kelp and a few sea otters.

If you were wondering, that is why I wouldn't dream of trimming the photo, even if only I know what it is that you can't see.

The hat is a hand-me-down from my mother, who needed one for my wedding but otherwise is not a hat person. Inspired by the famous photograph of Princess of Wales wearing her pearls knotted down her back, I flipped up the brim at the back and affixed a bow-shaped brooch of mother of pearl and tarnished silver--I love the color of silver tarnish!

That is the color I gave to my FORCED MATE hero's eyes.

The dress was given to me by my maternal grandmother when her vital statistics shifted with age. My bust was, and still is, approximately in the right place for this dress, but I always found the dress more comfortable with the mandarin collar unbuttoned.

I love this dress. It reminds me of wisteria or one of those pastel-flowering vines that grow all over aged, ochre hued Cotswold stone buildings in Shakespeare country, with a touch of silvery green aspen leaves, and English sweet peas.

I have a paintbox of colored tights that I can wear with it, depending on my mood and the gravitas of the occasion. I figure, if Christian Dior makes opaque colored tights, they can't be a fashion No-No in all circles, nevertheless I am careful where I wear my elderberry purple tights.

:-)

E-Books, and good looking cover models

A couple of days ago, I was honored and thrilled to learn that the electronic version of FORCED MATE is a finalist in the EPPIEs, in the Science Fiction Romance category.

Google News link

Has anyone tried clicking the Google News link on the right hand side of my blog?
Has anyone tried it on anyone else's blog?

Is looking at someone else's News-reading preferences only of interest to sinister organizations???

While setting up this blog--and I do apologize for the very self-serving first post-- I clicked the Google link and found myself on a Google News page. Apparently I have the power to rearrange the news to my liking.

Almost immediately, I set about trying to get rid of President George Bush (photo of, on telephone, looking just as happy as a driver on a cellular phone). In case anyone thinks I'm being political, no, I am being very superficial and ...er... romantic. You see, I like good looking, bad boy heroes who wear very few clothes in public.

World leaders don't usually meet all of my criteria.

I decided to put in news headlines about e-books, books, best sellers, space etc in my efforts to bump President Bush.

Did I succeed in affecting the most important stories of the day? No. However, I did find plenty to interest me lower down the page.

I came upon several articles about e-books!

To read a novel on a screen is an appalling idea, the author seems to feel, if I have understood him correctly.

http://www.it-director.com/article.php?articleid=13014

He invites readers to comment. As an EPIC member, and author of two e-books, of course, I disagree. If you, dear reader, disagree too, I do hope you will either try this link or go to my Google News page and see if the article is still the most current E-Book news that Google could find.

MATING NET author's first official blog

I write as Rowena Beaumont Cherry when
my stories are Darker,
or don't conform in some way
to what my idea of what a traditional romance should be.

In the case of MATING NET,
the gorgeous bad guy gets the girl...
at least he gets her first.


Whether or not he gets to keep her is for the reader to find out.

MATING NET is a short story,
published by NewConceptsPublishing.

It is about an alien royal family which rules a high tech
feudal society, and --yes-- they have excessive mating
instincts, so it is categorized as SFR.


Here's one of my favorite reviews:


FIVE STARS

Romantic science fiction fans will want to read this powerful deep tale (and its predecessor FORCED MATE). The story line loaded with non-stop action .... Rowena Cherry is one of the best sub-genre writers due to her skill at placing the heroic characters in impossible scenarios as she has with the delightful MATING NET.
~Harriet Klausner, Affaire de Coeur













My website is www.rowenacherry.com
My newsletter is www.rowenacherry.com/newsletter


Links:
http://www.livejournal.com/~agentobscura