Jun 16, 2007
There is nothing so sweet or sexy than watching a guy with a little kid. According to MSN’s Erika Rasmusson Janes, here are the signs to look for if you’re wondering if your man is dad-material.
1. He treats his mother well.
2. He’s selfless.
3. He’s not easily grossed out.
4. He’s a great uncle.
5. He doesn’t mind taking direction from his partner.
6. He likes ketchup.
Now, go forth and multiply! Happy Father’s Day! Any favorite fathers in favorite books?
A father carries pictures where his money used to be. ~Author Unknown
Jun 14, 2007
I have been tagged by several people on this Eight Random Facts thing. There are rules. I can’t follow them. I don’t have eight people to tag because they’ve already tagged me. If I tag them back we’ll all wind up revealing 64 random facts right on up to infinity, which is a sideways 8, as I have previously posted below in Eight Days a Week. Whew. But I will do my quasi-confession, just for the fun of it. You will be astounded and stupefied with the knowledge, I’m sure.
1. I skipped fifth and seventh grades, graduated from high school at 15 and college at 19. For this reason, I always feel like the youngest person in the room even when I am really the oldest. And I’m still smart enough to know I’m definitely not the smartest.
2. I dropped out of an MSW graduate school program when my work study required me to drive a blind social worker around and I didn’t have a driver’s license. She would have been a better driver.
3. I was a Brownie but never flew up. Cookies were only 40 cents a box when I sold them.
4. I was Alice in Wonderland, Katrina van Tassel (Legend of Sleepy Hollow), Miss Higa Jiga (Teahouse of the August Moon) and Stella (Streetcar Named Desire) in school plays and acting classes. No typecasting for me.
5. I have never tried sushi and I never will.
6. I am very distantly related to the painter John Trumbull (Declaration of Independence). In high school, my etching won an art prize. Old John and I could have discussed techniques if he hadn’t been really dead.
7. In college, I was second runner-up to the May Queen. The first runner-up was a professional model. The queen was the most popular girl in the school. I contemplated what I could do to seize the crown (fire ants in the strapless bras, spray paint disguised as hairspray, hiring a hitman, etc.), but I was a good girl. A picture of the three of us was in the New York Daily News and Newsday.
8. I once had lunch with Jackie Kennedy’s half brother and a table full of elementary school kids.
Now, what’s one weird thing you’d like to share about yourself?
Jun 6, 2007
I’m always looking for love in all the wrong places. As a romance writer, I read a lot of marriage-sex-and life-oriented stuff, trying to stimulate my recalcitrant muse. I came across an article in The New York Times recently called “A Date with Destiny.” Apparently every engaged couple in America wants to get married on July 7, 2007. 7/7/07 has vast appeal (far more than 6/6/06, the author Michelle Higgins noted—Satan sucks).
I got to thinking about lucky numbers, about which I obviously have no clue, or else the Maine Lottery Commission members would be on my doorstep with one of those giant cardboard checks. But eight was a big number in my family. My birthday is October 8 (write that down), October also being the 8th month in the original Roman calendar. My dad’s birthday was August 8, my mom’s January 28. They were married on March 8. We lived at 81 Lincoln Boulevard. So far 8 has not panned out for me with the ponies or Powerball.
Eight is a lovely number, looking like infinity. The No. 8 tarot card means strength. In China, it’s a lucky number because it sounds like “wealth” or “prosper.” In the middle ages, 8 was the number of “unmoving” stars in the sky, and represented the “perfectioning of incoming planetary energy.” I don’t know what that means, but it sounds good. There are a zillion interesting math facts about 8, but since I stopped teaching Title One math, I’ve shut that part of my brain down.
How to transfer all this digit data to writing? Apart from checking my word count every paragraph, hoping somehow those 250 words were really 2500, I wonder if I should set a daily numerical word goal. For the past few weeks I’ve been doing VaNo with the Romance Vagabonds and some other Vanettes. We tantalize each other every day with number of words written and snippets. Thus far I’ve ranged from a few hundred words to over 4,000. I am consistently inconsistent. Christina Dodd aims for ten pages a day. Many writers don’t let themselves leave their desks until they’ve typed 1,000 words. Keeping that pace, you can complete a book in three to four months, maybe even finish three books a year. Right now, I’m happy if I write a little every day.
How about you? Daily goals? Deadlines? For those of you who did NaNo/VaNo, is it helpful to have the pressure? Do you have a “best” time of the day to write/get stuff done? I seem to be fresher before I go to work in the morning. Do you have a lucky number or a lucky anything?
