So what is thrilling?  What visuals stir the senses?  According to the article, “folded laundry.  Maybe in a wicker basket.” 

Ah, yes. 

Intriguing.

I watched the video, and I kept picturing Al Gore saying “Lock Box”.

As a reader, I’m not that fascinated by the idea of a more interactive book, my imagination has always been better than almost anything I’ve seen on a screen.  But as an author, I do like the idea of embedded author notes, videos, character notes, maps, or Easter Eggs…

When I was in my 20s, I wanted my own software company, a Red Porsche (911 aka the BubbleButt, not 944), and a maid.  When I was in my 30s, I wanted to see the world, have kids and have a maid.  Now, in the 40s, I actually only care about the maid.  (THAT WAS A JOKE.  KIDS, DH, I LOVE YOU MADLY).  I have always believed that a romance novel was a fairly empowering device on many levels.  In most cases, it is the heroine who is the catalyst for changing the hero.  In the best sorts of romance novels, the heroine is a force to be reckoned with.

Kathleen as CEO!

I have read and enjoyed romance novels that I wouldn’t consider empowering, the ones where the hero is all-powerful and the heroine is merely a lamp-post in the story.  By and large, I can’t glom a lot of stories like this, because eventually they do start pissing me off.   What’s fun in one book, starts making me self-analyze in Book 2, and by Book 3, I start questioning why I are still reading this and if it makes me a bad person, much like watching a Scream movie marathon.  HOWEVER, I think the reasons I can’t do a glom is because that in the 20s, I wanted a Red Porsche and my own software company.   Inherently, I recognize the disconnect between my own life goals (at one time) and what I’m reading on the paper and yes, it will begin to bug me.

So, the flipside of this is, if I didn’t have those particular life goals in my 20s, if instead I craved a more traditional life, a family, a husband, I don’t think I would question anything because there is no disconnect in who I am.

As people, we tend to grativate toward newspapers, blogs, friends, who reinforce what we believe is right.  One of the worst parts of the Internet is that we can always find newspapers, blogs, or online friends who reinforce what we believe is right, and we forget that we are all different.

Several years ago, I was talking to my dermatologist and she asked if what I did ever became boring, writing the same story over and over again.  I explained to her that everyone’s story is different.  Each person has a unique love story, because while we may share subsets of belief systems: the same set of goals (i.e. a Red Porsche), the same set of fears (sharks), or the same things that piss us off (Congress), the way these pieces come together is always guaranteed to be unique.

So, while I don’t worry too much about the feminist-anti-feminist mores of romance novels, I do wonder how things like this will shape the future.  Woman have surpassed men In Advanced Degrees.  From the HuffPost:

Among adults 25 and older, 10.6 million in the U.S. who earned a master’s degree or higher were women, compared to 10.5 million men. Women, however, still lag men in subcategories such as business, science and engineering.

In terms of finishing college, women surpass men in earning bachelor’s degrees, by 1.5 million.

In about twenty years from now, sitting in corporate america, women have better resumes than men.  In about twenty years from now, we will see a lot more women in top jobs.  In about twenty years from now, little girls growing up will see a lot more women CEOS and they will be wanting Red Porsches as well.

What I do wonder is in twenty years from now we will see more romance readers wanting career-oriented women (i.e. ‘that’s my world; I want to read about it’) or less (i.e. ‘Calgon, take me away!’).    So, what do you think?

I do make a lot of lists. I never do free writing. I am not of fan of beating myself up, because I bruise easily.  I think tomorrow I will read a page in the dicionary.

I agree with most of them, but am wondering why “EAT MORE SPINACH” is missing, because that’s my thing to do when I start to lose the edge.  Eat Spinach. )

Apparently “Mommy’s Time Out” wine is not happy with “Mommyjuice” wine and dragged them into court, suing over the use of the word ‘Mommy’ in conjunction with wine.  I confess to having purchased “Mommy’s Time Out” for a friend (and I swear it was for a friend), but I think I would pass on Mommyjuice, which sounds slightly subversive, maybe it’s just me.

If I had to name a wine, I would name it Water, so when people ask what I’m drinking, I can smile and say, “Just water.”

But there are times, when I’m scared or shocked or anticipating disaster that my mouth engages without the rules. 

When I write, I usually try and use the vocabulary that is appropriate for the character.  We have ideas in our head about swearing (or at least I do).  Higher class, higher education usually swear less.  Sometimes a male will use swear words to show dominance or arrogance or toughness.  A female might do the same.  Swearing as an intimidation tactic. 

There are readers who complain about swear words in books or movies.  I know I HATE movies with a whole lot of extraneous swearing.   What do you think?  Does swearing bother you in books?  In movies?  Or do you consider it authenticity?

Apparently, the FAA has been attacked by another case of sleeping sickness.  DC, Reno, Seattle, Lubbock and Knoxville were all  reporting cases of sleeping-traffic-controller disease.  The FAA says, put another controller in the tower, but I can think of a gazillion ways to prevent sleep:

1.  Put newborn baby in tower

2.  Leak the tower phone number to charitable tele-marketers.

3.  Give the controllers a DHARMA like environment where they must push the button every 108 minutes or else the tower will blow.

4.  Attach a mild electric shock to the air controller's chair.  If no one is answering the phone, activate the charge.

5.   Every seventeen minutes play Crazy Bob's furniture commercial at standard cable volume. 

All of these solutions are inexpensive and effective, and today I'm announcing the creation of my exploratory committee to run for President of the United States.

I don't know how I missed this on Monday, but David Brooks, the NYT Op-ed columnist, discussed "I Is An Other" by James Geary, a fascinating book on metaphors, putting them under a verbal microscope as it were.  I think I want to get this book (it's on KINDLE!).  There's this bit:

When talking about relationships, we often use health metaphors. A friend might be involved in a sick relationship. Another might have a healthy marriage.

Instinctively my contrary minds want to think of a relationship metaphor that involves something unhealthy.  A twinkie.  Their love was like a twinkie.  Sweet, full of chemicals, able to last decades without going stale. 

I like this one bit from Brooks:

Most of us, when asked to stop and think about it, are by now aware of the pervasiveness of metaphorical thinking. But in the normal rush of events. we often see straight through metaphors, unaware of how they refract perceptions. So it’s probably important to pause once a month or so to pierce the illusion that we see the world directly. It’s good to pause to appreciate how flexible and tenuous our grip on reality actually is.

It made me think of metaphors from a writer's perspective.  I always knew to use metaphor as a way to shape a character, to give the reader an insight into the way my peeps view the world.  However, I guess there's a bit of flim-flammery in metaphors, too, an authorial sleight of hand to refract perceptions whichever I choose.  Fascinating.

I’m pretty sure this sign is at LAX.  I remember the sporting bats, but I must have missed the catapults.

Source: failblog.org

Tired of the same ole, same ole.  Are you one of three Americans dissatisfied with their job?  If so, then do we have the solution for you! 

Virgin Galactic (because you know, Virgin Atlantic doesn’t sound ‘stellar’ enough’ is looking for pilot-astronauts.  My favorite line from the article?  “Prior spaceflight experience is desirable.” 

I wish I wrote sci-fi/fantasy, because I could SO make a story out of this.  Working Girl with an inter-galactic twist. 

Source: www.universetoday.com