It occurs to me as I blog in three (!!!) different places, that some day I might run out of words. I think about the four full manuscripts I’ve completed, and the dozen or so novellas that have yet to find a happy published home. It’s probably my fault, since I haven’t been terribly aggressive or organized about querying or craft, or consistent in any one genre. Nor have I entered many contests. My luck with the first one I entered (first place!!!) has made me not want to jinx anything.

I recently broke down though and entered Mistress by Midnight in something. Mind you, the book is unfinished and has no plot to speak of, just a lot of angsty, thwarted desire and a generous dollop of indoor and outdoor sex. I want to get it finished by this year’s Golden Heart. My last foray into Golden Heartdom resulted in scores of a 9, an 8.8, an 8.5, a 6….and a 2. Someone did not like Third-Rate Romance, LOL. Which just goes to show how very subjective reading, writing and publishing is. But one judge liked TRR enough to give it a perfect score. That’s the judge I’ll concentrate on when I’m muddling through the mucky middle of MBM wondering what to type next.

But aiming for the Golden Heart presumes I’ll still be uncontracted by November. This summer will mark five years of haphazard writing for me. Those five years include four moves and three job changes. If it sounds like I’m making excuses, I’m not. I’m pretty stunned I’ve written as much as I have, even if you wouldn’t want to read most of it. *g*

Five years seems like a long time. I’ve avoided thinking about how long. But I want to someday see “Maggie Robinson sold the ___th of ______ completed manuscripts. She has been writing for _____years.”

And then? Why, I’ll have to write another book! What if I’ve used up all my words by then, or lost all my marbles? I’ve decided to cut back my MRMR posts to once a week. Maggie Robinson Means Romance on Mondays, with the possible exception of something earth-shattering to share, like fellow Vixen J.K. Coi’s debut My Immortal on May 15 (Check out the dynamite review she got here ). Every now and again there will be a contest. I’ll still post Sundays on Romantic Inks and every two weeks on Vauxhall Vixens. That’s plenty of Maggie, plenty of meaning, and I’ll have more time to focus on the romance part.

I filled out a questionnaire the other day so I could win a bundle of books. One of the questions was, “How many hours do you spend online every day?” I lied and said 1-2 hours. I feel like an alcoholic looking for my next bottle of blue ruin already, but I’ve GOT to limit my online obsession. It’s time to go on an Internet diet. Let’s see how long I last!

Now, if I could just lose twenty pounds, things would be perfect. What do you give up in order to find the time to write, or lose the extra weight? Garciniacambogiatopic.com has the Dr Oz weight loss guide, has anyone read that? Any suggestions as to how I can avoid clicking on to Internet Explorer 1,000 times a day? Do I need to join a 12-step addiction program or where to buy quest bars? Will you be sitting next to me in the church basement?

You remember Henny Penny. She was that chicken who kept running around warning the sky was falling, because an acorn hit her on the head. “The sky is falling” has come to indicate an alarmist who’s lost touch with reality, or a hysterical gloom-and-doomer.

Guilty as charged. Just call me Henny and hand me an umbrella. Lately lots of acorns seem to be raining down. One in four American teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease. Thousands of children in Angola, Congo and the Congo Republic are being cast out of their families as witches and left to fend for themselves, or even killed. An American kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. A survey of American teenagers by the education advocacy group Common Core found that fewer than half the respondents knew when the Civil War (that’s the War Between the States to my southern friends) took place. Twenty percent didn’t know whom we fought against in WWII, twenty-five percent couldn’t identify Hitler. The U.S. has five percent of the world’s population but almost twenty-five percent of its prisoners. Something like 47 million Americans have no health insurance. Gas is $3.50 a gallon. Linens ‘n Things is filing for bankruptcy. The latter doesn’t seem so serious, but there are widespread retail store bankruptcy/closures across the U.S. which is going to impact a lot of people. It’s damned hard to find good news.

I read to escape inconvenient reality, so of course I picked up Paris: The Secret History by Andrew Hussey. Fabulous book, but talk about thousands of years of blood running through the streets (and you thought it was limited to the French Revolution). Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. “We’ll always have Paris” might not be such a good thing, no matter what Bogey said to Bergman in Casablanca.

So, cheer me up—or wallow in the pit of despair with me. What’s your favorite funny book guaranteed to make be smile again? Share your good news or your worries about the future. We’re all in this together. Liberté, égalité, fraternité!

I had a student say this to me the other day, and I wanted to hit him on the head with a big fat volume of the Encyclopedia Brittanica. His class came in to the library to do research for their Pop Culture class, something to do with tying fashion trends and events in history together.

(Did you know when times are tough, people wear longer skirts? I’m not sure I believe that, but that’s what the teacher said. Guess we’ll all be tripping over our hemlines and falling on our faces pretty soon with the way the economy is going.)

Anyway, our library has an outstanding collection of fashions-through-the-decades books, as well as lots of history resources. Nearly every kid turned up their nose at my suggestion to go looking in the 624s and asked for a computer instead.

Now I’m a big fan of computer research. I’m an armchair traveler and Googler extraordinaire. But if I could get my hands on the right book and flip pages, that’s what I’d do first.

I know that to reach young people today, you’ve got to go digital, technological, fast-fast-fast. I blame it on Sesame Street with its bite-size scenes and endless hours of blowing up things in video games. I wonder if romance writers in the future will have to do this:

“Rblla, I luv u. U driv me wld w/pashun. B min 2nite.

So, am I completely archaic— an old lady who’d rather soak in the freestanding bathtub with a book than read it on a screen? Please predict the future of fiction through your crystal ball. Are you a fan of YA literature? I recommend Jennifer Donnelly’s A Northern Light.

Librarian. The Original Search Engine.

Librarians do it by the book.

Library card—better than a credit card.

Librarians have tighter buns.

Librarians do it in the stacks.

Just a little lame library humor. It’s National Library Week. I’m not a librarian, but I play one every day. My degree was in English, but for the past three years I’ve worked in a high school library behind the circulation desk, designing all the displays and running the after school library program and girls’ book club. My official title is Educational Technician III, but basically I’m a library clerk who covers books, stamps cards, nags kids, inventories, straightens shelves, clips newspapers, mentors library aides and keeps attendance records. I love my job because I come in contact with hundreds of students and staff daily. I find weird holidays (Bulldog Day, April 28) and make weird signs. Unfortunately I don’t have time to read on the job, but I can override the maximum check-out limit on the computer and take home as many books as I want.

I also patronize our town’s excellent, elegant library, pictured above. Lately, I’ve tried to cut back on book-buying, and while the public library doesn’t always have the latest romances, I still find plenty to read.

What do you like most about your day job? Do you have a great library near you? Were you the kid who stuck the juice box behind the short story collection?

Congratulations to MRMR’s Poet Laureate, Reverend Melinda, whose name was written on an itty bitty piece of paper and plucked from the pile! E-mail your address for your prize package to maggierobinson8@yahoo.com !