This is a picture of the oldest piece of gold jewelry made in the Americas. Why isn’t there more pre-Colombian romance? Why no books about Incan princesses running off with poor (yet handsome) Llama shepherds?

People seem to think that there wasn’t much going on in the Americas before the Europeans came, but its not true. The natives of North America had a better and more balanced diet than Europeans and they lived longer. The Aztec calender is more accurate than the modern one. Archaeologists have found toys with wheels in Mayan cities so the wheel was a known technology, but the Americas lack large beasts of burden that Asia and Europe had which made wagons or carriages pointless. The natives were more adapted to their environment then Europeans in Europe were at the time. Europe was going through a long cold spell and farmers didn’t want to change to better suited vegetables because of tradition (especially in France) and many people died. The humble potato saved millions of poor people in Europe from starving and it was developed and changed by the Incas into many different varieties that could be grown almost anywhere.

Its almost as if I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. Thank you, History Channel.

I wish my chihuahua had the discipline to mediate. Murphy is a sweet and lovable pooch, but getting him to do more than get off the couch and lick your face is difficult. Ewok, my Pomeranian and Murphy’s overlord, had to get pulled out of training school. She didn’t want to get off my lap around the other dogs and she doesn’t like any authority except her own.

I’m really bad at keeping a blog.

I only occasionally think that anything that I’m doing or thinking is really interesting enough for an entry (because I can tell a one heck of a rambling anecdote which was a skill taught to me by my grandma who talks so much that the tellers at the bank try to hide from her) so I’ll write a entry and then just erase it because its just rambling on. Much like that last sentence.

Or, its like when I first tried to publish this entry the internet pulled a fast one and lost half of a really long entry that I thought was fun and I wanted to post. I never know how I upset the Internet Gods, but I’m willing to sacrifice a few .JPEGs to regain their contrary and ever changing favor.

So, I’ve come up with a blogging plan inspired by my love of wacky internet pictures and articles. Not only to I write a different kind of romance, I also like to laugh and, while my books never are “funny”, I tend to write characters who try to keep the humor up too.

I wrote a whole long thing about the stories that I’m working on (”The Dark Path” & “Edging The Abyss”) and what draft I am on (2nd & 5th respectively), their genres (paranormal/menage & lesbian/futuristic/fantasy), and then about the early brainstorming sessions when how the Dark Path characters surprised me on their sexuality. I had hoped Misty would be a lesbian and Devon be her straight sidekick until they both got a craving for the old pulsating member. After that I wrote about the setting of “Edging the Abyss” (think fantasy version of Detroit, controlled by a tyrannical vampiric nobility, where magic and machine are mixed).

Anyway, I am alive and well.

I’ve lived in small rural towns all my life until I moved to a small city and I still get excited when I see signs of wildlife in the city. This picture is from Iowa City where apparently bald eagles are common. Bald eagles?!? I can just imagine the old ladies who feed the pigeons in the park throwing fish bits to a flock of eagles. My city never gets that cool. Though, every once in awhile I see a coyote.

When I was young, my family lived out in the middle of the desert so I would see jackrabbits, cattle, vultures, spiders, snakes, and various rodents on a daily basis. One horrible anecdote about that house I have is the night that I woke to find two wolf spiders walking across my back. I may not miss the spiders, but it gets depressing sometimes without my animal neighbors.

Source

My guilty pleasure is celebrity gossip.

Maybe it is in my blood because my grandmother has a excellent collection of old National Enquirers going back into the 70s in the attic. I would go to the store with her and we would get an issue and she would read it while I colored in my high chair. I fit into that thing until I was eight and I was so sad when I finally had to sit in a real chair.

Give me a celebrity blog and I’m a content. Add in some Milano cookies and I’ll have a nice little afternoon.

Anyone else want to confess their own guilty pleasure?

Yes, I know, I was MIA. If you didn’t notice my last post was about writer’s block and that took some time to overcome. I’m not sure if other people feel this when they have writer’s block, but I creativity went in other directions. I painted more and I did some photography, but it just wasn’t the same as getting the words down on the page. Every time I opened up the word processor, I was stuck. This blog entry explains my problems. It was so frustrating because I could walk down the street and would describe what I would see, the leaves rustling in the trees and the reflection of the street lights on the road after it rain, with ease. Maybe some day scientists will find out how to trigger the muse.

I need to apologize to the great people who helped my writing like Celia Kyle and Selah March for just disappearing for a few months. Sorry, guys, life got a little too crazy. My sister is having a baby and the experienced manager, at work, up and quit. I’ve been writing very little except for the last few weeks until I focused on one story. I do have good news as I finished the first draft of ‘The Dark Path’ which is a dark paranormal story.

I did a lot of reading when I wasn’t trying to write and I discovered a good author, Guy Gavriel Kay, who certainly can weave a good yarn.

You sit down at the computer and open up your word processor. You stare at the blank screen before suddenly remembering that you forgot to tend to the cactus in the bathroom. Cursing the hustle and bustle of modern life, you go and water the cactus, ignoring that the house is quiet and that the cactus doesn’t really need to be watered. Finally back at the keyboard, you bite your lip as the blank page stares at you. Thats when you remember that you haven’t organized your CD collection in years. You make a note to write later, but things keep popping up.

That happen to anyone else? I’ve been riding high on a bad case of writer’s block. The silver lining is that I have a very clean closet. Where does it hit you? I, usually, am fine until I get to the climax of the story and then every word is like pulling teeth.

I’m a perfectionist in weird ways. I don’t really care if things are cluttered. I don’t have great handwriting. I’ll go to the store in sweats and big sunglasses without a problem. But, I have to get the resolution and climax of the story just right. That means in an hour I’ll have around two paragraphs written because I’ll re-write older sections or re-write new sentences again and again. By then, I’ll be so frustrated that giving the dogs a bath seems like fun.

I have my word processor open, but I just remembered that I have clothes in the washer.

I saw Stardust on Friday and I loved it! Stardust is a fantasy adventure that is perfect for romance lovers. Tristan (Charlie Cox) is a hopeless romantic who vows to go on a quest to prove his love for a girl in the village. An this quest, he grows up and becomes a man. Claire Danes plays sassy heroine who doesn’t let the hero, Tristan, get the best of her as she is dragged along on his adventure. Michelle Pfeiffer  and Robert De Niro give great performances and you can tell that they had fun with the material as they chew the scenery. Genres are mixed and matched in this one. The movie is based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, who is a genius, so Stardust is one of the few original movies out today.

My personal kudos to Michelle Pfeiffer who has been in not just one, but two good movies this summer. Hairspray was also a blast. We all cheered at the end of it in the movie theater.

Pulse by Anisa Damien is like falling into a James Bond movie or something directed byMichael Bay which isn’t a bad thing. Its a Tryst so the story is short so the plot moves very quickly. Though there is a big silly misunderstanding, I don’t mind since in the heroines’ shoes, I would have scurried about like a chicken with its head cut off. Except I would have already jammed a hand into my purse, looking for my phone so I could call myMama. Pulse is a solid C+ book.

Gabe and Cassidy Sabastien nee Raleigh are divorced, but even with the papers filed they still have a strong attraction to each other. They divorced because Gabe couldn’t providethe stability that Cassidy needed. So, when Gabe disappears for a while, Cassidy says ciao. Little does she know that Gabe is a secret agent with the US government.

Maybe, I’m biased because I’m recovering from having my tonsils removed, but Pulse was just what I needed. Its sort of cheesy, it doesn’t push any boundaries, and the HEA never reallyseems too out of reach, but its a good light read to pick you up. The dialogue is pretty slick and gives the characters a little more depth than they would have with another author. Its the sort of read that you want on a sick day.

This is my first AA romance, but, shock and gasp and surprise, it wasn’t different from anything with a white couple. I may not check out more of Anisa Damien, but I’m sure to check out more AA romance. Hopefully, with a paranormal twist. No offense to Anisa Damien, but she seems to write more suspense than I am into.

Pulse is a respectable triller. Its not rocking the romance boat, but it doesn’t insult the reader’s intelligence. Cassidy and Gabe are a fun couple that you know are going to get back together and they don’t annoy you while they’re doing it

What do you think of this book? You can buy Pulse by Anisa Damien at Cobblestone Press