They let me out of my cage

I went and got my hair cut (OMG is it SHORT) and then went shopping. I braved the hoards and found some great bargains, just not enough. I've been shopping for white pants or jeans and a brown skirt for ages and can't seem to find what I want. But I did put together one outfit, bought one dress (maybe for the Harlequin Party?) and one pair of shoes that doesn't go with anything I own, but they were just too cute.

I really need to shop at a department store where outfits are already put together, because I'm not much good at this. After a dinner of popcorn (yes, I've fallen on bad habits) Rob dropped me off at Half Price Books while he went on to his martial arts class. I bought a book on container herb gardening, one on grilling, and a copy of ONE FOR THE MONEY by Janet Evanovich, which I am analyzing for my workshop. I had forgotten how much I love that book.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kara

Yard Work

I started out just wanting to do a little edging with the weed whacker, but I got carried away. By the time I was done I had edged the whole front yard, trimmed the shrubs, weeded the flower bed (which has no flowers), pulled out several armloads of this noxious vine that takes the paint off my house, bagged and hauled the debris to the street, and swept the porch, walkway and sidewalk. I also picked up sticks and branches from the back yard--a wheelbarrow full--and hauled those to the street. And swept the deck.

This pretty much took all day. I've been exhausted ever since--dehydrated, arms and legs all scratched and insect-bit, muscles aching and a headache from the heat. I've been guzzling water all day and can't seem to get enough. But, oh, does my yard look better. It was starting to be something of an embarrassment.

Next weekend, maybe I'll plant flowers.

I'm going to bed now. It's 8:30. I'm going to try to read (I'm reading an advance copy of Jane Graves's HOT WHEELS AND HIGH HEELS and loving it!). But I fear I'll just pass out!

Thanks for stopping by,
Kara

The History of Bestsellerdom

Because I am an author interested in someday making the NYT best seller list, my sister-in-law sent me a book on tape written by Michael Korda, who not only made it to No. 1 with one of his books, but has worked for Simon & Schuster since 1958.

This is one of the most fascinating, insider's look into publishing I've ever read/listened to. He goes decade by decade, analyzing the books that hit the top of the lists each year and relating it to the culture and current events of the time, and has brought back many pleasant memories. I've been surprised at the number of these books I remember, either because I read them, my parents read them, or I saw the movie.

It's funny to see that the nonfiction list has always been dominated by the same types of books--cookbooks, diet books, self-help books, and sometimes books on war and politics. Religion is big, too. It's really been interesting to see the rise and fall of what he calls "women's novels." They come and go in waves. Same with historical novels. I'm just now listening to the part about the '80s. Since we're talking hardbacks, romance novels won't be discussed as much as they should be. (In the '70s, no mention was made of Rosemary Rogers and Kathleen Woodiwiss, though they had pioneered a brand new genre and sold millions of copies.)

I didn't get a whole lot done today. Been chasing down info for my CPA (eeks, getting down to the wire!) and doing laundry. I polished some pages to take to critique group and fought with my printer, which gets a paper jam every time I look away. Took a nice walk and went to yoga where we did lots of "restorative flow," inversions and twisting because we all seemed to have stiff backs and a case of the blahs.

Hope you're having a great week!

Kara

Time to Proofread

Today was my galley day, which meant I spent most of the day proofreading galleys for ONE STUBBORN TEXAN, due out in September.

Typo of the day: "licking her ear" appeared as "licking her rear." Ewww.

I did a little more work on my storyboard for the new book--I have maybe 2/3 of it done now. But I have several places where I've plotted myself into corners and I have to figure out how to get out of one situation and into another. I'm trying to use the techniques from the plotting book I read last week, and they're a bit foreign to me. But I think I'll get the hang of it.

Rob and I walked to the post office and the Dollar Store today, where I nearly got into a brawl with a large lady with a large purse who decided she didn't want to wait in line behind me and decided to bulldoze me out of the way, using her purse as a battering ram. (Actually, I was ready to let her get away with it 'cause she was really big. Taller than my husband--who was oblivious--and definitely outweighed him. But the cashier pretended the interloper was invisible and waited on me first.)

I finished a T. Jefferson Parker book today. He gets me every time. This was a good one, once I got into it. I was afraid it was going to end badly, but it didn't.

Now I'm listening to a book-on-tape about bestseller lists, written by Michael Korda. It's fascinating.

Thanks for visiting,
Kara

Alone Again

I very much enjoyed having my inlaws here. We shared some good meals, watched some good movies, saw some wonderful art, took long walks and laughed a lot. But it's nice to have the house to ourselves again, too.

Today I worked on some writing exercises, but it's time for me to put that aside and really get back to work on the book, actually plotting the thing out and adding pages. I think I'm ready, now. Later, I built a new cover for a new book Rob is publishing on www.booksforabuck.com. I love doing that.

I also did some reading. I have a new T. Jefferson Parker, who is my current favorite author. He just sucks me into his stories, they are so heart-rending and so believable--even when he has a character who can make it rain! His villains are so scary. He has lots of viewpoint characters and lots of short scenes, and it's so easy to say, "I'll read one more scene."

His characters are in terrible trouble now! Our poor hero has been through so much and I know he's got to go through more before this is over. Sometimes the endings to his books aren't precisely happy so you REALLY don't know that it will come out okay in the end, which just makes it that much more stressful. In fact, I'm not sure if I can go to bed tonight without finishing the book.

Hope you had a nice Easter. I didn't celebrate, really, no eggs or bunnies or church. Just took it easy.

Thanks for visiting,
Kara

Cycling is back--yay!

Page-O-Meter, GOOD HUSBAND MATERIAL: 171/250, 68.4%

It was so much fun watching the Tour of California recap on TV. They use the same music as the Tour de France and it gets me all in the mood. I rode my trainer while watching the race. One of these days I might actually take my bike out on a real road and ride.



The rest of the day was routine. I did my writing, my walking, my reading. I don't hate my book quite as much as before. The Rita book I'm reading is one I did not expect to like. The back-cover copy made it sound deadly dull--woman trying to work out her relationships. But it's really so well written that it's holding my attention, a real pleasure to read.



Rob and I walked to the post office, which was blessedly empty--surprising the day after a holiday. We stopped at the grocery store (again). For dinner I experimented with making tortillas from masa harina. Pretty tasty, but not very pretty. My tortillas come out kind of lumpy-looking.



Oh, one kind of fun things--Nick, my stepson, called from Australia. He says he is doing fine and was just trying out his new Internet phone service. He can call the States for $2/hour.


Thanks for visiting,
Kara