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’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.

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.

Do both guys and girls get tattoos on their lower back in the UK? I’m looking at a badly photoshoped picture of him and Robbie Williams grinding (don’t ask) and he has one so I’m a little confused because in America that is strictly a lady’s tattoo area.

This is a navel gazing sort of meme, but what aren’t? I was tagged by the lovely, Celia Kyle. I’m not going to tag anyone per say, but if you want to do this meme then just comment and I will link to you.

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Instructions: When this meme is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside the tips you especially like.

Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general.

After that, tag five other people. Some peeps say ten, but whudeva!

1. Look, read, and learn. - http://www.neonscent.com

2. Be EXCELLENT to each other.- http://www.bushmackel.com

3. Don’t let money change ya! - http://www.therandomforest.info

4. Always reply to your comments. - http://chattiekat.com

5. Link liberally — it keeps you and your friends afloat in the Sea of Technorati. -http://chipsquips.com

6. Don’t give up - persistence is fertile. - http://www.velcro-city.co.uk

7. Give link credit where credit is due. - http://www.sfsignal.com

8. Pictures say a thousand words and can usually add to any post. - http://scifichicki.com

9. Visit all the bloggers that leave comments for you - it’s nice to know who is reading! -http://stephaniebooks.blogspot.com

10. When commenting on others’ blogs, a few kind words go a long way. **** - http://shelflifeblog.blogspot.com

11. When you’re starting out, comment on all the blogs you like to read; that way the bloggers will know that you exist! - http://astripdarmchair.blogspot.com

12. Make sure you check your links! http://superfastreader.com By way of explanation–when you cut & paste the text of a meme, you don’t get the underlying links. If you just see text, you need to turn the text into links manually. If you see hyperlinks, you can cut & paste from the Page Source to get the HTML code and preserve the links. In Firefox, you can use Command/Apple-U to see this. The whole point of a meme is to spread link love, but you need more than just the text to do that.

13. Give your blog a theme/focus; make a niche for yourself. - http://www.theaccidentalnovelist.blogspot.com

14. Post on your blog daily and if not daily then at least 3 -4 times a week. Readers will not continue to come to your blog if there is not something new to read and comment on. And while you’re at it throw in a contest or two. - http://vickilane.blogspot.com

15. Be yourself. When you’re acting like something you’re not, people see through it. Nobody wants to read a fake blog. http://www.avarosejohnson.literalseduction.com/blog

16. While being yourself, sharing info, and educating others in what it is you know…don’t share too much personal information. Blogs swim in a big world of crazy and we don’t want to wake up with a big ass crazy fish on our front step, now do we? http://celiakyle.com/pornwithaplot

17. Pictures of attractive, half-naked people is always good. http://arinrhys.literalseduction.com

SHARK WEEK HAS BEGUN!

Okay, maybe, I’m just really geeky, but I look forward to Shark Week all year along. Anyone else with me?

A clip from one of the new documentaries. Its short and pretty interesting.*

*ITS THE ULTIMATE FIGHT BETWEEN THE WORLD’S TOP PREDATORS: SHARKS AND ZOMBIES!!!!

…I’ve never seen empire waisted underwear, but its apparently what a ‘getting-around guy needs.’

Hey, doesn’t the guy in the tightie-whities look like Mr. Big from Sex in the City? Weird.

I have a new series of blog entries called Vintage Ad Thursday. Gee, I feel a little like Conan O’Brien. If you read the fine print you’ll notice that Mrs. Ruth Long wants your picture and in exchange she’ll send you these miniature mammals. Obviously, this woman is a marketing genius. I think this would be the best promotion for a new writer because who doesn’t want a monkey or a tea cup Chihuahua? And, with limited supplies, you’ll have the readers rushing for it like its 1996 and you have the last Tickle Me Elmo! I wonder why magazines today don’t try to give you tiny creatures in exchange for your picture and address?

I’m thinking about getting this haircut, but I want it a little longer, like, at the shoulders. Isn’t Rihanna gorgeous? She may be our only hope is breaking the R&B juggernaut, Beyonce, hold on the pop charts.

Cathy Clamp gives the “straight scoop about the RWA changes”

 I’m alive! Hey, ya’ll! I haven’t posted here for awhile, but I have posted vaguely incoherent posts and replies at Romance Divas. I blame the painkillers the doctors put me on.

Anyway, I’ve been reading during my convalescence. I’ve given the Nocturne Silhouette category a try and have enjoyed the hell out of them. Another thing I’ve read is the Phaze Fantasies 3 anthology which is a m/m book. That was a fun read. My two favorite stories were by Selah March and James Buchanan. They were both so unique. Selah’s was a hardboiled noir-y tale with grit and darkness and a lot of wit. James’ was different because it was a romance in the magical realism genre which suited the historical Mexican time frame. Both stories had a good romance with complex characters and really brought something new to the table. Great reads both.

The RWA is having its national conference so, of course, drama  is on the horizon. All the RWA recognized epublishers have lost recognition in a stunning change of policy which equates epublishing and vanity press because epublishers tend to sell most of their books through their websites. Ouch. Naturally, Romancelandia is up in arms.