Sun 27 May 2012
You’ll Never Think About Herbie Hancock The Same Way Again
Posted by angryoldfatman under Humor
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Wed 23 May 2012
Arranging Love?
Posted by Mary Anne under General Writing
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A new piece in USA Today focuses on arranged marriages and some rather deranged opinions that arranged marriages lead to longer lasting love and happiness than love, over-the-top head-over-heels style.
The article first focuses on marriages among member’s of Moon’s Unification Church. It got my attention because the focal couple includes a 23-year-old engineering student. (My home includes a 21-year-old engineering student). The young man asked his parents to find him a wife. They checked with church friends and found a young 17-year-old girl. The couple spent a single day together before their parents demanded a decision about whether they would marry. I’ve spent longer than that picking out a purse.
The Unification Church claims that 70% of its member couples whose marriages were arranged are still together and it points out that 50% of non-arranged marriages end in divorce. The article notes that arranged marriages are also common among Hindu and Jewish couples. Okay, religious ceremonies and rituals tend to be lifelong beliefs, taught in infancy and followed as adults. I may not “get” why anyone would want such a fundamental life decision to be taken out of their hands, but I can respect it as a part of another culture. (I also don’t understand the worship of cows or trees, but I have no problem with people who believe those things)
The author of the article tracked down a psychologist, Robert Epstein, who argues that arranged marriages work because couples start out with low expectations, their families lend support, and love grows slowly. Stephanie Coontz, a research director for the Council on Contemporary Families, notes that arranged marriages are often products of societies where young people have few choices and can be quite repressive for women.
My curiosity over how Unificationists sell arranged marriage to modern children was answered later in the story with a comment that the Church frowns on dating. I bet if you grew up in a town where everyone rode horses, the first car anyone drove into town would look mighty enticing – even if it was a beat up 2002 PT Cruiser like the one I drive.
My take on arranging love and marriage? I agree that an arranged marriage would be an organized, sensible and wholly reasonable way to find a spouse. But I think it’s as likely to lead to love as latching onto the person in line ahead of you at the post office. Love is disorganized and chaotic. It will turn you inside out and your world upside down. Love is an utterly unreasonable emotion — and there’s no better guarantee for a happy marriage or a happy life than spending it with someone who still makes your pulse pound after more than 20 years of marriage.
Love is an unreasonable expectation of a mundane world – and wouldn’t life be a mighty poor experience if we abandoned our quest for it?
Fri 18 May 2012
Fifty Shades of Funny
Posted by Mary Anne under Humor
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I’m reading 50 Shades of Grey now – at least part 1. I haven’t committed to parts 2 and 3 yet. I’m still trying to decide if I love or hate Christian, but have no fear – blog readers will get my full, unvarnished and over the top opinion as soon as I finish the book.
In the meantime, check out this great parody! (BUT ONLY IF YOU’RE OVER 18)
Tue 15 May 2012
Bridges, Beginnings & How Shonda Got It Wrong on Scandal
Posted by Mary Anne under General Writing, Other Entertainment
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Today it was my turn to post over at ADAN. Our topic this month is memories.
Please boogle on over and check out my post about Memory Bridge. And if you’re a fan of Shonda “Sunshine” Rhimes or her new show “Scandal”, you might check out my mini- rant on how I think she got it wrong.
Don’t forget to comment – on writing, memories OR on two of my other favorites subjects: Scanal and Grey’s Anatomy.
So, waddle on over and quack back in the comments on the ADAN blog!!
Sat 12 May 2012
Feeding The Maw
Posted by Mary Anne under The E-book Industry
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I just read an interesting article in the New York Times entitled: Writer’s Cramp: In the E-Reader Era, A Book A Year Is Slacking. It says that authors are now pulling the literary equivalent of a double shift, putting out short stories or novellas or even an extra full-length book every year. Best-selling thriller author Lisa Scottoline says that one book a year used to “saturate the market.” She notes that in the e-reader era, “the culture is a great big hungry maw, and you have to feed it.” Ms. Scottoline now turns out 2,000 words a day by starting at 9 am and writing until Colbert.
Lee Child has increased production too. The author of the “Jack Reacher” novels now puts out digital only short stories to supplement his one book a year. For the love of all ducks in the universe – even JOHN GRISHAM has ramped up production, now turning out a YA “Theodore Boone” novel once a year and one of his (usually) amazing legal thrillers once a year.
The once a year system was created by publishers who reasoned that the public would never be “overwhelmed by content” at that rate. However, in the e-age “today’s readers seem incapable of being overwhelmed.”
At least one mega-author makes two books a year seem like really slacking. Best-selling author James Patterson is his own cottage industry, turning out 12 books last year. He says he’ll do 13 this year. How? Did he clone himself? No – it turns out he has “co-writers” on some of them.
What does all of this mean to writers like me who are still trying to turn writing into a full time career? I’m hampered by — *gasp* — a day job. I’m a lawyer, but I’m a “scrivener.” Guess what that means I do all day? Yep, you got it — I write. I’m an associate in an office with a talented trial lawyer and we’ve found that his gift of gab and my gift of BS make for an excellent legal team. It’s not the writing I want to do. That I get to do at night and on weekends — until I manage to produce enough content to sell enough books each month to support my family.
I adore the growing appetite for books and think that it’s proof positive that technology hasn’t killed the book – it’s speeding the growth of writing by leaps and bounds. I’d love nothing better than to make a living feeding the “big hungry maw.” But, there’s only one way I’m gonna be able to do it – bionic fingers.
Do they sell those on E-Bay? How about Craigslist? Well, all I know is, if they’re not out there now, once Walmart and Amazon figure out there’s a market – -they’ll be clawing each other to be king. You know, if I could get a percent or two of the new bionic fingers market, I might get my chance to write full time
Thu 10 May 2012
Fifty Shades Of The Back List Bonanza
Posted by Mary Anne under General Writing, The E-book Industry
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This post isn’t about me – although I’m approaching the big “50″ – and there’s no Hawaii involved. This post is to express my joy that a whole new generation is falling in love with some of the romances that made me fall love with the genre enough to want to write my own stories. There’s been a back list bonanza of late. I think it’s hurt sales of newer authors – like me – but I think it’s given a bunch of new readers a chance to find out the truth about “old school” romances.
Back in the earlier days of the genre authors weren’t hemmed in by “should” and “shouldn’t” and they weren’t locked in the prison of propriety that cages us today. Those authors understood that a book was the place where rules didn’t exist and the impossible became the imperative. Writers of early romance fearlessly took us into stories where tall, dark, handsome rogues who’d always gotten everything they wanted didn’t see a reason why the new damsel should be any different. And if she didn’t want him at first, well, he’d see that she wanted him a lot and very soon. Maybe he ripped her bodice — but he didn’t pull out whips and chains. No, the whips and chains in early romance were emotional rather than physical and they were never wielded by the hero – punishment and instruction were masterfully administered by the heroine.
Earlier writers realized that romance novels were the perfect places to turn dark, forbidden longings into the deep throbbing core of lust that would move the readers as it nourished the story so that it could grow and blossom and evolve. They knew that readers would watch the heroes’ use of force the way we all slow down and gape at the scene of a car crash.
Readers would be horrified and aghast, but they’d also be engaged and sympathetic to the heroine’s journey. They’d cheer for her as she fascinated the hero with her charm or her wit, they’d adore her as she grew to do more than enjoy the lust – she invited it. And they’d smile, laugh or even growl as she ground the man beneath a tidal wave of lust seeded with something so new and so foreign that he didn’t recognize it. By the time the hero groveled for the affections of the woman he’d once forced, the readers had more than forgiven him – they adored him to0.
So, to the new generation of romance readers – I encourage you to cast aside your preconceptions and remember that a book is a make believe world where we can enjoy things we’d revile in daily life. In a book we can find a serial killer fascinating and we can delve deeply into the madness that motivates his mania. It doesn’t mean we don’t think real life killers should be locked away. It surely doesn’t mean that when you encounter a serial killer you should invite him in for tea. When the squawkers squawk, you should keep your wits and your reason about you and remember – books are the safe place to explore many things you don’t want to encounter in the hallway of your house.
And yes, Virginia, that includes force – even without the facade of S&M to make it politically permissible.
Sun 6 May 2012
A Wee Hour Tour
Posted by Mary Anne under Personal Life
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A post at 4 am from the City of Orlando, Florida – home of one of the best colleges on Planet Earth – The University of Central Florida. Yes, Virginia, Orlando houses more than mice and Harry Potter. Some very, very smart folks live here too. After all, think of the wizardry it takes to run Disney and Universal and to send men and women to space. I say “takes” for NASA too because the decision to halt America’s space program was clearly, astronomically wrong and I believe it will be reversed sooner rather than later.
Anyway, I waddled away from my point, which is that my family is here to bring my eldest, Zack, a UCF rising Senior, back home to Myrtle Beach for the Summer. Zack’s a mechanical engineering major and has decided to also do “Honors In The Major” so he’ll spend a lot of the Summer researching, studying and preparing to investigate an engineering topic and write a “mini” thesis about it. You go boy! I can promise you that my eldest did NOT get his math and technical smarts from his Mom and if you’ve concluded that my hubby must be a very smart man – you’d be right!
It’s been an interesting trip, largely in the sense of the old Chinese curse. We left home very early on Friday morning and should have arrived here in the late afternoon. Should have andwould have, except for the tire blowout we had on I95 near Richmond Hills, Georgia – a suburb of Savannah. My smart hubby managed to keep his cool when the tire exploded as we were doing about 70 mph in the center lane of 95. He got the car off the road and changed to the temporary spare and we boogled into Richmond Hills for lunch and a tire change. Lunch was great and if you’re ever in that city, DO go to Southern Image for a buffet of old time Southern goodies that will knock your culinary socks off. But don’t ask the good peeps there to recommend a tire place. We did, and the store with the sign advertising “speedy service” took over 2 and 1/2 hours, meaning that we didn’t make it to Orlando until about 9 pm.
The good part of the late arrival was that the day’s graduation activities at UCF were over by then and we were able to drive and pick Zack up right in front of his dorm – saving Zack the really long walk we’d planned so we could avoid the traffic hassles. But we got the eldest and drove on to Altamonte Springs to the Embassy Suites. We’ve loved it in the past, although recently had been staying at the La Quinta near UCF because of the proximity – and its excellent staff. But all hotels near UCF were booked for graduation, so we returned to the Embassy in Altamonte Springs.
The first problem at Embassy is that we stayed at Embassy – not that its a bad hotel – we love it normally. But we’ve reached the stage where we now need 2 rooms so that everyone has a bed. I’d tried to economize by booking a suite with 2 double beds and the sleeper sofa standard in the den at Embassy. BAD MISTAKE. First of all, those beds are not double beds. They’re more the size of the overgrown twin bed in Zack’s dorm. Second of all, DH and I are used to our Queen bed from home and can not occupy an overgrown twin bed with any degree of comfort – especially when the room is constantly HOT. I DON’T DO HEAT WELL. NO ONE IN MY FAMILY DOES HEAT WELL. WE ARE SOUTHERN SO WE WANT OUR INTERIOR SPACES KEPT AT THE TEMPERATURE OF A MEAT LOCKER.
Despite my repeated requests, Embassy never even sent an employee up to check the air conditioning, so obviously they made no attempt to fix it. But the hotel room heat wasn’t our only fun on the trip. Nope. The hotel is also undergoing renovation. I knew that from the website but foolishly assumed they would renovate unoccupied parts of the hotel. Not so. Despite the lying sign in the lobby claiming that the 4th floor is under renovation, we know that the 2nd floor was being worked on as well as the 3rd. How did we know this? From the constant drilling and hammering as well as from the construction workers in the hall right outside our room. We occasionally shared elevators with them and I’m not blaming ‘em. Far from it. If you ever want to hire a bunch of hardworking guys find out who this hotel is using because those dudes were hammering, sawing and drilling until after 6 pm on Saturday.
To put the “cherry” on top of our trip, Zack, the eldest, was trying to play a prank on Sam, our youngest while we were in the car between Orlando and Altamonte Springs. Zack ended up hitting Sam in the nose, causing a nose bleed and a panicked mother who is still asking Sam if his nose is “happy.” Thankfully – it is happy and Sam is okay. My DH yelled at everyone – ordering that none of us touch anyone else in the family. Hmm……. don’t think he thought that one through. (Of course, he was joking and making a Cosby reference.)
Last night hubby and I crammed into the oversized twin bed and sweated our way through the night. However, while the men were out seeing a movie and my muse was on my shoulder whispering fast and furious, I discovered that the den area was a little cooler than the bedroom. For that reason – and because my hubby has to drive for 8 or 9 hours tomorrow and needs his rest, I decided to sleep with Sam on the sleeper sofa. Sam slept there peacefully last night. Uhh, bad idea. Sam is 14 and has 14 year old bones, but his mother does not.
The sleeper sofa where it’s impossible to sleep is the reason I’m up at 4 am typing this blog post. I’m also going to do a little writing, although I think muse is passed out somewhere – I’m pretty sure she is because she’s a heck of a lot smarter and sturdier than me!
I’m also ready to head back home to Myrtle Beach. I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. “There’s no place like home, no place like home, no place like home.” Hey, if I could only find some ruby slippers maybe I could save hubby the drive and get us back to Myrtle at the speed of OZ.
Does anyone know where I can find a pair of magical ruby slippers? If they’ve got ‘em anywhere – surely it’s in Orlando!!
Tue 1 May 2012
Guessing Grey’s: Season Finale Thoughts
Posted by Mary Anne under Other Entertainment
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If y’all have been keeping up with all the links I’ve been faithfully posting at the QA Facebook page, then you know that Shonda promises that this season’s finale will be a real tear jerker. If you had ”liked” QA on Facebook, then you wouldn’t have missed any of the links that support this story. I’m not gonna add ‘em here – go dig on FB. And be sure to “like” our page while you’re there so you don’t miss out again!
But getting back to Grey’s, the finale this year is so sad that the cast cried at the script read-through. For the love of all ducks – the writers cried when they read it! Do you know how hard it is to make a bunch of hardened writers cry? What is Shonda doing to us? I hear she just adopted a new baby. Maybe Shonda is thinking that if she doesn’t get any sleep this Summer – none of us will either! To achieve this mass emotional break-down Rhimes “kills off’ a major character in the finale and ends it with the lives and fates of many of our faves in jeopardy.
So which of our favorite Docs is heading off to give the Angels a hard time? I hate to even guess. Seriously. Seriously. I love all of them in different ways for different reasons. I’ve watched Grey’s since the episode it debuted and most of the Docs have grown to feel like old friends. For that reason, if I had to pick one to die, it’d be April or Jackson. I haven’t grown as close to them as the others. Jackson’s a cutie pie, but he’s no McDreamy and despite her last episode “bad girl” turn, my history with April is mainly finding her annoying. So my first choice in the deathstakes would be April with Jackson coming in at number 2.
But we really can’t always get what we want, can we? (The fact that I’m still trying to get to a point where I write romance full time proves that one to me.) If someone else has to die – someone I know and love – my first choice for that would be Chief Webber or Alex Karev. I’d cry for either one, but both of them really feel kind of at the end of an arc. Yeah, I’d like to see Webber kick up his heels with Jackson’s Mom some more and Alex’s peds turn has gone a long way towards making him less terrible, but neither is so intimately involved in the show that I’d miss ‘em each time I watched.
What scares me the most is imagining that Shonda would do away with one of the real core-crew. If Mer or Der dies or their contracts aren’t renewed then the show is over for me. I don’t think it could survive the loss of either and I wouldn’t care enough to stick around and watch the others try to muddle through whatever 1 or 2 seasons they might manage without Mer/Der. I’d hate to see any of the others die, either. Okay, Shonda says a bunch of the others will be in jeopardy at the end of the finale - I get that. But there’s a big difference between having some fly off to practice somewhere else and having them die. A BIG DIFFERENCE. I’ve seen hints from Rhimes that some of our faves may fly off and then come back after they find that the grass really wasn’t greener after all.
Like I said Mer/Der leaving would be a deal breaker for me — either of them dying is unimaginable. It’s hard, so very hard, for me as a writer to picture Rhimes killing off the couple she built the show around. If she does it I’ll see it as assisted suicide. To me it would mean that Rhimes really wants to go off and work on her other shows but can’t leave Grey’s in anyone’s hands but her own. The other death that would be almost as hard as Mer/Der would be Cristina. I understand that Sandra Oh wants to leave, but if she must – let her fly off to start somewhere else, giving the viewers hope that we’d see her practicing in another City and that she might return. I could possibly even tolerate that with Mer/Der – provided they weren’t gone too long. A character I can logically see going out in some heroic manner is Owen – his bravery under fire would ring true to character.
Bravery under fire – did I say that? Yes, I did. Shonda has hinted that the finale – titled “flight” – will be reminiscent of the ferry crash or the hospital gunman – though it won’t be either of those things. A lot of people think it may involve a plane crash. That’s possible, but this week’s epi precedes the finale and it’s called “migration.” That seems to mean that people will be heading off to other places. But they’re all heading off to different spots for interviews and it’s unlikely – possible, but unlikely – that so many would be on the same plane. That makes me wonder if its either 2 planes colliding with each other on a runway – or possibly a plane or more crashing into the airport. The latter makes the most sense to me. Another possibility is that it’s a terrorist take-over of the airport where most of the residents are waiting for flights and friends or family are there to see them off. That would involve some very tense scenes, gunfire, and the possibility that someone would die a hero – which is the only death I can imagine Shonda choosing for one of her main characters. I’ve even given some thought to the possibility of an earthquake or a tsunami following an earthquake – either might allow for a kind of “flight” that would end a life.
The only thing I’m certain about is that I’m stocking up on tissues for the finale. If it turns out that there’s terrorism or some kind of show down at the airport – I only have one question: HAS ANYONE HEARD WHETHER BRUCE WILLIS HAS BEEN BOOKED FOR A CAMEO?
Mon 30 Apr 2012
Welcome Back to an Old Friend With A New Vibe
Posted by Mary Anne under General Writing
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The award-winning “Romance Divas” blog is BACK!! It’s been on hiatus to get all gussied up and it’s looking and feeling mighty sharp.
If you’re looking for insight into the romance industry, you can’t beat the Diva’s advice and knowledge of the profession from pubbed to indie and back again. Today, they’re also dishing on fun stuff, like, how TV can help writers compose authentic, believable dialogue. Readers of this blog know what show I had to suggest as having great dialogue, right?
Waddle on over to read my Grey’s comment and leave a comment about your favorite TV spot for dialogue. Be sure to mention that the crazy duck lady sent you -
