Cranky

Dear Channel 9

The Footy Show is not ER. There is no Luka. Bah humbug to you.

Dear Channel 10

House rocks. You win.

PS A reminder

Because I came home last night and found a BIG one of these smack in the middle of my security door chowing down on a poor defenceless grasshopper (half of which is still hanging on my door cos it's gross and ewww a big hairy gross spider was touching it and I haven't gotten around to cleaning it off yet), I am issuing a reminder of Mel's rules for spiders. I was quite clear about these when I moved in. I'm sure I broadcast them on the right psychic frequency for the local bugs but apparently we have some new kids on the block who haven't gotten the message.

For the record I don't like spiders. I'm fine with mice, rats, snakes, lizards and other creepy crawlies. Even sharks (though I'm not saying I want to come across one) but spiders I've always hated. Eight legged freaks is right. I've gotten better over the years but huntsmen (that's what that is for you non aussies who are lucky enough not to have them in their country, a huntsman) still, to quote Buffy, give me the wiggins. I'm amazed I'm not still standing on my front porch going "eeeeeeeeekkkkkkk". Thank God I'd left the porch light on so I didn't go blundering up to it in the dark (ick, ick, ick). Lucky it ran the right way (aka away from me and around the corner) when I bravely banged on the door with my handy gardening trowel). Sorry to my neighbours for the midnight thumpings.

So Mel's rules for spiders.

Rule 1. I know you have an ecological role to play but play it outside my house. Unless you are a daddy long legs or some teeny weeny harmless money spider, if you come into my house, you will die. This goes double for whitetails and the big icky hairy ones.
Rule 2. Outside my house, if you are of the big icky hairy variety, you'd better stay where I cannot see you. If I can see you and you're somewhere I have to be near (like my freakin front door) or somewhere that looks like you might get into my house , see Rule 1. Death, yours.
Rule 3. My car. Do not even think about it. You will die. I will probably crash. It will be bad for both of us.
Rule 4. Addendum for my current crop of daddy long legs. Some of you are getting quite large and doing freaky things like eating your babies. This is gross. If you get too gross, see Rule 1.
Rule 5. Mum, if you read this, picking up huntsmen is weird and wrong and they will too bite you.

To sum up, spiders leave me alone and I'll leave you alone.

PS UGH UGH UGH

Or else

Turns out it's or else. Which in this case has translated to lots of cleaning (always a sign of avoidance ; ) ), not enough sleeping and dinner out last night with friends. Then we went to see Match Point. Interesting. I don't get Woody Allen. Or rather I don't connect with his dialogue rhythms. They jar me. So hmmm.

I have a thing about dialogue. And a thing about rhythm. And when they don't work for me it's the equivalent of hearing or watching someone scraping nails down a blackboard. Lots of wincing. There are some writers I just can't read or really have to wade through the writing to read. It's a rhythm thing and when it's wrong, it's wrong. Others I sail right along with no problems and the best are the ones where it feels completely right.

I thought Jonathan Rhys-Myers did a good job at playing a disturbing character. And now I need to watch Bend It Like Beckham again to get evil Jonathan out of my mind.

Other things filling the not writing space have been contemplation of my house. And things I want to do to it. I so should stop watching Oprah when Nate Berkus is on. He's gorgeous, he's talented and he makes me look at my place and go "I need to do this, and this, and this, and this". Only problem is Oprah does not then come along and give me the bucket load o'money I need to do these things. Or the cute designer to do it all for me.

Maybe in that other life. The one where I have the harem and the big house.

In other news, Aussies have made a stellar showing in the Golden Heart (go Karen and Christine) and Rita finals. Particularly Bron Jameson with a triple!!! final and Marion Lennox with a double. Also up are Lilian Darcy and Anne Gracie. Anne's book A Perfect Rake is one of my faves from last year.

Go Aussie go!

Okay, back to looking for my own rhythm now.

Stuck

Man this week has whizzed by. And tomorrow is my day off. Yay.

The only downside this week has been a distinct lack of co-operation from the muse. Who is currently sitting in the corner doing the muse-ly equivalent of "neener, neener, neener, not playing, nuh-UH".

I know exactly what I have to do to these three chapters. But I cannot sit down and do it. Which I'm sure has nothing to do with the fact if I finish them I have to send them out and the WAITING will start all over again. Or other pending things we are trying not to think about or general puzzlement about where my voice fits. Nooooo.

Not sure what the solution is unless I start drinking very early tomorrow morning. It's gonna be one of those chain yourself to the chair days. Cos I will get this done. Or else.

Not exactly sure what the else is though.

My muse is so much not playing that she sent me another story in a dream last night. Very, very vivid dream and again a distinct point where I thought to myself "this is a story, pay attention". Something to do with a beach with very white sand, a dead sister, two cottages and a hero who I think has a child (so not me). I so do not need another wip right now so all this is getting is some notes. The other books are talking too. All except the one I want, which is kind of just muttering faintly in the back ground while the muse contemplates the unfun-ness of the revisions it needs.

I hate being stuck like this where you can kind of feel it all waiting for you in the distance but it feels like there's something big and sticky and foggy and hard between you and the bit of the brain that writes. Not sure how to shake it. I have fed the Girls the West Wing, Love Actually, Jenny Crusie, Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett they wanted. Not sure what else to do.

Apart from let it suck and just get the words down. Just in case no-one knows this. WRITING IS HARD.

Sleeping is good

Ugh. Up way too early. 11 hour day at work. Need sleep.

Finished Sebastian last night. I'll give Anne Bishop full credit for continuing to come up with very unique worlds and visions. I'm looking forward to the second one.

Also read on the weekend, Lord Perfect by Loretta Chase. Loretta is one of my fave historical authors who writes witty, sexy unique books and LP didn't disappoint. I'm going to have to go back and read it all over again - slowly this time.

And I think all my brain is up for tonight is trashy TV, if there's anything on that isn't related to the Commowealth Games or a repeat.

Technology Part 2. Or “if it’s not broken, don’t FIX it”.

Ah technology. The thing that supposedly makes our lives easier. HAH.
Not only am I composing this on Word for later posting because blogger is down but the saga of digital TV continues.

I duly travelled to the local mall to buy a longer RF cable. Check. Along with a few other things and the groceries. Colour me organised and feeling virtuous.

Get home. Read set top box manual (well, read the one measly diagram that shows how to connect your VCR). Follow diagram with much bending and twisting and prodding of cables through teeny holes in entertainment unit. Switch on VCR. Back to blue screen of death. Sigh.

Check TV. Still working. Check diagram. Have done what it said to do. Jiggle cables, perform short appeasement dance to the technology gods and try again.

Blue screen of death.

Say “BUGGER” several times. Loudly. Scaring cat in process. Create voodoo doll of instructional manual designers and commence with the pin poking. Childish fit over, sit down and google the darn thing. Find another diagram.

A-ha. There’s a whole ‘nother connection needed to hook up VCR for analogue signal. Sigh loudly. Apply more pins with more vigour.

Find original VCR cable, pray it’s long enough and with more bending, twisting and prodding, complete second connection. Turn on VCR again. Hallelujah. It works.

But hang on, that was all too easy. Relatively speaking. Flick through channels on VCR. Note that some of them are notably fuzzier than they were before. Recommence swearing and go back to google. Find Australian government website on digital TV. Apparently this is common. The digital program signal can interfere with the analogue. Either retune VCR or connect digitally. Only hitch being if we connect digitally we can’t tape something and watch something else (which is the main purpose of my VCR thanks to the annoying programmers of Australian TV who insist on scheduling good shows on different channels at the same time).

Sigh, sigh, sigh. Ignore little voice saying “you know, all this time you could have been WRITING”.

Thought of retuning VCR with new TV, new set top box and approximately 3 million remote controls making head hurt. Pause to eat chocolate and vent in blog. Blogger down.

SIGH. GRUMBLE. MUTTER. SIGH.

Decide two crappy extra channels not worth all this hassle. Plan B. Return things to how they were.

Set top box about to go back in cupboard until there is enough benefit to digital TV to make all this worthwhile. Hopefully by that time I’ll be able to afford the sort of set top box arrangement that records programs. I’m sure that will be simple. NOT.

Excuse me, I have to go find more voodoo dolls and pins.

Tutus and technology

I went to the ballet today.

My mum and I subscribe to the Australian Ballet and go five times or so a year. Kind of a gals day out thing, she comes down from the country we have lunch, eat cake and watch the dancing. It used to be me, mum and my sil until my brother decided to get a job in another state. Now it's me, mum and gwen, one of mum's friends.

Between the three of us there is much in-depth artistic appreciation, particularly of the cute male dancers ; ) (come back Angel, come back) and giggling at the commentary provided by various oldies who sit behind us at the matinee which generally covers topics such as "this ballet is too long", "what ralph said to mavis's george at bowls", "things were better in our day" and on one particularly classic occasion "you can see her stockings" in scandalised tones (not sure how long it'd been since that guy had been to the ballet).

Today we saw Gathering a program of two works developed jointly with the Bangarra Dance Theatre. The Australian Ballet is a fantastic company and I've seen them perform works choreographed by Bangarra's choreographer before but to see the two companies together, combining the traditions of classical ballet and aboriginal dance was fascinating. There's a completely different physicality to the two but a lot in common. And the abilities of the dancers are amazing. Some of the things they can do with their bodies are just wrong : ) Believe me, I do pilates and ballet dancers do pilates and I can see glimpses of pilates moves in certain things but they do for hours things that make us mere mortals groan and collapse if we have to do 'em for a few seconds.

My muse loves the ballet. Even in some of the traditional, older ballets which we've seen before and which, to be honest, can sometimes be high on the prancing and low on the story, there's always at least one moment where some simple combination of steps or the lift of an arm or the tilt of a head says something that catches your heart. Those are the moments I go for, apart from the general love of dance, the ones that seem to speak directly to the storyteller in me and say something important about emotion or life. The ones that make the girls sigh in satisfaction.

The other thing I love is the use of colours and design. Theatrical design intrigues me. I'd love to have that kind of brain that could say hmmm, if I drape this fabric and light this pale blue and have a shadow here, suddenly a whole scene is evoked. A lesson for writers in setting with touches. Setting is not my forte. I love writers who can do it beautifully like Barbara Samuel but I also don't notice if there's not much setting at all if the characters grab me. Still I'd love to learn that trick of bringing something to life with a line.

So that was most of my day. Up early to do the usual weekend chores, then lunch (with a special guest appearance from my uncle over from Tasmania for the Comm Games) , then the ballet. Then I came home and decided to finally set up my digital TV properly.

A bit of background here. My TV was old and I was thinking it was going to die sometime this year in the back of my mind. My folks bought a pretty big digital TV sometime last year and it worked well. Then Mum decided it was too deep and looked messy (I don't know why, strange are the ways of mothers). So when I went home for Christmas, they'd acquired a new flatscreen TV which is even bigger than their old one, but thinner so Mum is happy. To cut a long story short, they made me a deal I couldn't refuse on their old TV, despite the fact it's really too big for my lounge room (Mum insists it looks better at my place). So shortly after Christmas I had a new TV, along with the set top box you need to get digital TV here. Only problem was they didn't remember the set top box remote and technology being technology, you can't install the set top box without the remote (great design idea - not).

So the virgo twin and I set up the TV non digitally after a bit of cursing on my part. Of course after I'd called her to say "come help" she arrived and two seconds later I realised what I'd hooked up wrong and hey presto it all worked. Maybe she moonlights as a TV technician. The set top box remote was duly delivered a couple of weeks later but I never quite got round to hooking it up. Hello, my name is Mel and I'm a procrastinator... well, actually it was more the thought of more technology hassles. I can follow an instruction book as well as the next person (hey, I can even put Ikea furniture together) but the instruction books for tvs, vcrs and dvds always seem to leave out some basic bit of info.

But tonight was the night. I thought "this looks pretty easy", so I changed the batteries in the remote and set to unhooking the old set up and reconnecting stuff via the set top box. Nothing but a big blank blue screen.

Hmmm.

I jiggled cables, rechecked diagrams and nothing. Cue grumbling.

I rechecked the connections at the back of the TV. Ah. Wrong SCART port thingy used. So I switched it over. Still the big blank blue screen of "ha ha you suck at technology you pathetic mortal".

Cue virgo stubborness. More jiggling. More in vain button pressing.

Grumbling increases to muttered cursing.

Pause to feed the cats who are doing some grumbling of their own about service levels around here.

Go back to jiggling cables. Aha. There's a tiny weeny switch on the bottom of the SCART connector where you would notice it only if you're:
a) insanely flukey enough to find it by sheer dumb luck; or
b) the type of person who thoroughly inspects all the pieces before assembly - I'm a virgo but I'm not that anal, again great design idea - NOT.

Flick switch. Now we have black screen of death "bad signal". But the menu is working so I manage to reset the darn thing and five minutes later it's all tuned in (that bit of the design works fine, so I guess one out of three is better than none).

Digital TV we have lift off. Tthough seriously, it's not much to get excited about - yes the picture is clearer - but given there's maybe 2 or 3 extra channels on the free to air stuff that's about it as far as benefits go until the analogue signal is shut off sometime next decade). Or until I get rich enough to succumb to Hugh's blandishments to get Foxtel.

As an added bonus the DVD still works.

Feeling clever, I turn my attention to the VCR, always a fun thing to play with and retune. Only to find the cable is not long enough to reach from the VCR to the set top box on top of the TV. Sigh. One trip to KMart or somewhere coming up tomorrow for a longer cable.

To sum up, no writing done, ballet two thumbs up, technology two steps forward, one point five and bit back. Typical.

The hard way

So I think I've figured out how to fix the pacing at the start of my book. Problem is the solution is combining three of the first four scenes into one and moving the fourth. Easy in my head. Hard in practice. I'm wondering whether just to write it from scratch or try and combine the bits from the scenes I want. Hmmm. I guess I can only try one or the other and switch if it doesn't work.

The muse is good at offering solutions but then she tends to go and sit in the corner looking superior while I tear my hair out trying to get down on paper her brilliant idea. Oh well, at least there is a solution. I hope.

In other news the Commonwealth Games opens tonight. I'm not a huge sports person so what it means to me mainly is a hard time getting to and from work. Which will hopefully translate into some working from home time. I'm a big fan of the 10 second commute lol. But for all those athletes who've trained and sweated and sacrificed it is a BIG deal so good luck to them all.

Also I was watching something on TV the other day and heard a song that kind of sounded like the music I'd been looking for to set the mood in my fantasy book. Hello google and hey presto, the singer's name is Lisa Gerrard. Her voice is weird and otherworldly/african/asian cool sounding. She's done quite a few things in movie (Gladiator among them) and used to be part of Dead Can Dance. I downloaded the song I wanted from iTunes (yay, we love iTunes) and no, I'm not saying what song but I think she bears further investigation.

Lost weekend

Not lost. But almost over. Three and a bit days have whizzed by. How did that happen?

So what have we achieved this weekend? Friday I wrote, did chores and some other must do tasks (like watch NCIS and Medium - but that wasn't until after dinner). Got some feedback on the partial that made me think that something I thought was true but had been hoping wasn't (I think this is called denial) was true. Further opinons have backed this up. No biggie, just some rejigging to be done. I also scored two pairs of jeans for $60. And a size smaller than I usually wear! Always the way to shop. Of course, all the junk I've eaten this weekend probably means I now won't be able to do them up.

Saturday was crit group day, meeting Freya's adorable new puppy Oliver (who is so cute, he's lucky he didn't wind up in my handbag and living with two cats who ain't keen on dogs), scored a second hand Bamix which I've been wanting, then the gals forced me to eat mexican food and drink pineapple margaritas. It's tough.

Yesterday was HOT. So I slept in, I lazed around. I chatted via email to my brother (who isn't Mr Chatty very often so when he gets that way, it's good. Even though we wind up talking about weird stuff like manuscript format and publishing realities - and he is NOT a writer), did some RWA stuff, I napped, I faffed around on the internet, I had some story insights for one of the books - including the name of a character that I dreamt. Not that I did anything more with them than note them down. Then I did some grocery shopping and then watched The Village. Which was okay but different to how I thought. It looked scarier in the trailers, that's for sure.

Today I will write, do RWA stuff, finish my grocery shopping (aka actually plan my food for the week, seeing as the Commonwealth Games are starting and I'll be working at home a bit), do more chores (as the grey cat and the orange cat continue to refuse to help out in that department). It's raining and cool today which means I don't have to water the garden but do have to use my dryer to dry the last load of washing. I'll call that environment neutral, given I have green electricity.

Writing goals for the rest of the month - get this partial into shape, ditto the synopsis and mail the sucker off. Then I just have to finish it. Then I'm playing with paranormal for a bit.

And yes, I am still reading Sebastian. This week I've been tired and pushed for time. So I've been re-reading other stuff (so far 3 Nora's, Lord of Scoundrels, Undead and Unappreciated) and saving Sebastian for when I'm awake enough to appreciate him.

I also read The Ruthless Groom by Bronwyn Jameson. Bron is a fantastic Aussie Desire author and when I want examples of how a category should work, I often turn to her stuff. She's also a lovely gal.The Ruthless Groom is her latest and, as usual, it was great. Clarified some structural issues for me. aka it's taking too long to get the h/h on the same page. Off to kill some darlings (or at least move 'em around, though one bit which I love will have to go unless it can reappear later in the book). Sigh. Writing is hard.

Lost again

Sorry, writers of Lost, tonight you are trumped by mint chip chocolate and Pride and Prejudice on DVD. Sometimes a gal needs treats.

There has been a little writing this week, hopefully tomorrow that will improve further. And then Saturday it is the Lulu mexican feast. Roll out the pineapple margaritas.

Um, that losing weight bit...that is not progressing much just now. I wonder why? : )
So margaritas one day then salad for the next seven. But it's worth it.

Oscars, guns and money

Well okay, there's not really guns but it sounds good!

Firstly the Oscars, a recap.

1. Blondes should stop wearing yellow. It didn't work for Renee, it didn't work for Kate and it didn't work for Michelle. Yellow is a hard colour to wear and, imho, it does nothing for pale blondes. Of course, all dresses have to be given the benefit of the doubt that they might look better in person that in photos or on TV but yellow, ugh.

2. George Clooney is hot.

3. Keira looked great (plus yay, P&P now out on DVD in Australia. My copy is sitting on top of my TV calling to me).

4. Rachel Weisz looks great pregnant.

5. George Clooney is hot.

6. Good makeup on Jennifer A.

7. Naomi and Nicole need to start wearing colour and stop swapping boring beige and white dresses with each other. Any colour but yellow. There's so many pretty colours. Try a few. Look at Keira. And Nicole, you looked great in the chartreuse when your hair was darker....

8. George Clooney is hot.

9. Yay, Reese, you rocked in that movie.

10. George Clooney is hot.

And that about wraps it up for Oscar. I missed the red carpet, I was at pilates. And I didn't watch it all, I was sleepy.

For the money portion of our instalment. Pets. Cost. Money. The grey cat has decided that epilepsy alone is not enough entertainment value, no, she needs more. So she's added hyperthyroidism to the mix. Only mild but it means more tablets and regular bloods tests. And blood work for pets costs slightly less than one of those dresses work by the Oscars gals (okay, slight exaggeration but sheesh, next time I'm getting the pet insurance). Eventually it might mean surgery (which does cost the same as an Oscar dress). At least she's not too bad about the whole pilling thing (though this may change once it changes to twice a day and bigger pills than her weeny epilepsy one). Though it concerns me that the pill bottle says "wear gloves when handling"...am I going to absorb this stuff through my skin or are they making safety recommendations based on the general feline population's dislike of pills? I guess I can ask my vet when I take the orange cat in for his quarterly shot of liquid gold- I mean, anti inflammatory.

And now to writing. I finished my three chapters. Yay. So now they are resting a bit and I can play on something else while my backbrain works out the rest of the story. Let's see what the muse fixes on this time...maybe there'll be a gun ; )

Paying the rent

I finished my three chapters so I rewarded my muse with a trip to the movies and went to see Rent. I've seen the theatrical version twice, once in London and once in Melbourne and loved it from the first few notes. Loved the movie too. It's different but I think they did a good job. A movie and a musical are always going to be different but they each have strengths. Much like the difference between a mini-series and a feature length film. There can be two great versions of Pride and Prejudice and there can be two great versions of Rent. And the music still breaks my heart at times.

But what always gets me about Rent is the message. Not just in the story but from the writer. Who died, age 36, the day of its first off-Broadway dress rehearsal. So he never got to see his show in full glory. The message? Don't wait. Go big. Chase dreams. Hold tight to the ones who are important to you. Sure, you've gotta pay the rent and some dues and work hard and hang in there when it seems out of reach and take the scary leaps but you might just end up with something wonderful.

No day but today.

The best laid plans

So yes, okay, I was going to write yesterday afternoon and then read Keri's book last night. But I took a break from writing at one stage, thought "I'll just read a few pages" (aka FAMOUS LAST WORDS), picked up the book and then got up from the couch four hours later. Can I just say, yes she's my bud and all, but damn good book, Ms Arthur. Plus, there's something that's just extra cool about reading a hardcover written by a friend. I mean, I've read almost all of her books in paperback or wip format and I like them all but my brain kept taking frequent pauses to go "Keri's book. Hardcover. How cool is that?"

So Keri is now moved from the 'currently reading' to the 'read in 2006' list. I'm tempted to stage a guerilla raid on her house and get the files for the next one in the series but her dog would definitely bark (well the leaping lab would, fluffy puppy would just lick me to death) and I'd get caught and well, you know, I'll just have to be patient. SIGH.

Enough gushing. Net effect, less writing than one would hope. So now today is definitely finish the damn chapter day.

To top off my Saturday (after watching NCIS and Medium taped during the week) I started reading Sebastian by Anne Bishop and I'm liking it so far. But on a purely selfish note I would like to say, please Anne, more books in the Black Jewels world. I love that world. Which got me thinking about worlds and what it is that draws you in to one versus the other when they're done by the same author and how frustrating it must be for an author who wants to play in different worlds but people keep saying "more of the same, please". Note to self, keep 'em guessing and diversify early.

But back to the worlds thing. I'm trying to work out what it is that sucks me into them. Obviously for the Black Jewels there's the Damon factor (he ranks highly on the list of fictional characters who I have dibs on if they ever step out of the book - of course in his case, that would be step out of the book and be in love with me not Jaenelle, I have no desire to die ; )) ), I'm wondering if that's it. Some characters you fall for more than others. And some authors have the same wavelength as you do when it comes to characters so they'll create ones you consistently enjoy. And others have wavelengths that sometimes cross and sometimes don't. I have a couple of authors where I like all their worlds equally and will read anything they write and some where I have FREAKIN' ADORED one world but have been okay with, 'meh' or disappointed with the others. So how do you keep creating worlds that keep clicking with your readers (who want to keep reading about the characters they love) but that are fresh (so you as a writer don't get bored or repetitive)? Keep changing worlds? Juggle worlds? Something else to worry about at 2am in the morning. And it's not just fantasy/SF/paranormal that has this problem. Wah.

And to close - today at least - here is the list of fictional characters who are mine, mine, all mine ; ). Shan yos'Galan, Daav yos'Phelium (Liaden world - Sharon Lee and Steve Miller), Damon Sadi, Lucivar Yaslana (Black Jewels trilogy, Anne Bishop), Phin Tucker (Welcome to Temptation - Jennifer Crusie), Aragorn (as played by Viggo, duh), Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly/Serenity), John Crichton (Farscape), Lupe dy Cazaril (Lois McMaster Bujold - Curse of Chalion), oh and the guy Billy Crudup plays in Almost Famous (Russell Hammond, that's it, I've always had a thing for musicians). And now I sound like a complete hussy. And that's not even the full list. Obviously in the world where these guys come to life, I'll need a harem....and a big house and lots of money and hey, I like this world, where is it? lol

Typical

The muse hardly ever cooperates fully. I'm creeping along onto the end of my three chapters but this book is turning out to be a bit angstier than I was expecting. Which makes me laugh because the last time I tried to sit down and write a more angsty hero it turned into the book from hell and I still haven't gotten it right. But this guy, he's definitely got some brooding going on.

Interesting. Plus the muse was throwing up snippets from yet another wip during the week, one I was hoping would stay quiet for a while longer. No such luck. Hopefully this weekend will consist of writing and lots of sleeping. The combination of last weekend's early mornings and late nights and a busy week with a bit of a cold has left me kinda tired. Slept almost twelve hours last night so that should help catch me up a bit. This little gal needs her sleep or the results ain't pretty.

I did manage to read two of the books I bought last weekend. One was the Lion's Daughter by Loretta Chase, which is a re-release of an earlier book and good fun (but my heart still belongs to Mr Impossible) and the other was Moon Called by Patricia Briggs which was great. I've read some of her straight fantasy stuff before and enjoyed it (Dragon Blood and Dragon Bones in particular) and Moon Called is an excellent leap into urban fantasy (I'm having a great run with fantasy at the moment, yay) with a great heroine and two potential heroes who are both kind of cool.
More please!

Next on the list is Full Moon Rising (finally), a book which I have read snippets of in crit sessions and am dying to read straight through. There goes my Saturday night : ) !

PS I'm stealing Keri's idea which she stole from someone else (the internet, it's great lol) of keeping track of my reading for the year. Unless it gets out of hand...

PPS We're now several weeks into rating season for TV. Here's an update. I love House, Medium, NCIS. Will keep watching - ER. Undecided - Commander in Chief (it's no West Wing but I've only seen one episode). On probation - Lost (given it clashes with Medium and now, (yay ABC) my beloved West Wing, it needs to pick up fast to keep my attention (or some naked Sawyer might do it) I can be shallow).