My March, 2007 book from Harlequin/Kimani Press, Just About Sex, is now available for pre-order from Amazon. I just posted an entry about it over on my plog. Here’s a link. Check it out if you have time!
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0373860110/ref=pd_rvi_gw_3/104-0320588-6767952

I think the following says it all, and much better than I ever could: Give Thanks When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself. –Tecumseh Have a wonderful day!

I spent most of the day today formatting and sending my very first newsletter. This was a long, tedious process since I’m not the greatest with computers - passable, but not great - and I wanted my inaugural newsletter to be perfect in every way. I formatted and edited, revised and deleted, and basically worked myself into a tizzy about the whole thing. My obsessive-compulsive gene kicked into overdrive, and it wasn’t pretty as I typed and typed, ignoring other things that needed to be done like, you know, writing a BOOK. Still, I managed to produce a decent newsletter that was cheery and, more importantly, brief. Finally, when every carefully chosen word was perfectly aligned, I sent the thing out and breathed a huge sigh of relief that the whole newsletter ordeal was behind me. I spent approximately three minutes giddy with happiness, and then I realized: I accidentally sent the thing to EVERYONE. No, not everyone on my Ann Christopher list. That would’ve been good, but no. I sent it to pretty much EVERYONE I’ve ever exchanged an e-mail with. Amazon, the American Girl Doll company, the good people at Target’s customer service department. Not just the people who actually WANTED to receive the newsletter. EVERYONE. So if I accidentally sent you an e-mail newsletter and you didn’t want one, please accept the following apology: I’m sorry for being such an e-mail/newsletter doofus. If anyone would care to share a G-rated embarrassing incident, I’d sure love to hear it right about now.

For all these years, I’d foolishly thought my opinion of O.J. Simpson couldn’t sink any lower, but he proved me wrong these last several days. Good sense and common human decency has prevailed, however, and I’m glad. Really, really glad.
Here’s a link: http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-11-20-oj-canceled_x.htm

Well, I did the teaching thing again this week. I hit the road and drove up to the sea of red that was Columbus (go Buckeyes!) to teach my SCENTS & SENSIBILITY craft workshop to the Central Ohio Fiction Writers branch of RWA. This lovely group of women welcomed me and made me feel right at home as I told them everything I know about infusing writing with sensorial detail. Questions were asked and answered, examples given, books awarded, and chocolate consumed. A good time was certainly had by me and, I hope, by all. So that was the teaching part. Here’s the student part. Bob Mayer and Jenny Crusie have a couple websites for their various projects, one of which is He Wrote, She Wrote.
Here’s a link: http://www.crusiemayer.com/blog/

These two fabulous teachers have posted a rough syllabus and are going to spend all next year?fifty-two weeks, give or take - teaching writing tips to peons like ME. For FREE! If anyone has a question, all they have to do is post it in the comments box, and Crusie/Mayer will answer. I can’t believe this amazing good fortune for us fledgling writers. After taking the Crusie/Mayer workshop two Saturdays ago, I spent last week reading Mayer’s Writer’s Digest book, THE NOVEL WRITER’S TOOLKIT. If you’re a writer, you need this book. It?s so full of fabulous, practical information that my head is still spinning from trying to soak it all in. So, yeah, I’ll be a student in their class. Can’t wait to see what else they can teach me. What about YOU, all you writers out there? What’re the names of your favorite writing books?

It’s been a busy week. First I taught my NO MORE LAZY SCENES craft course online to the Outreach International Chapter of Romance Writers of America. I was fortunate to have roughly twenty-five engaged and enthusiastic students study the structure of scenes and sequels with me. They did homework, asked challenging questions, and soaked up information like greedy little sponges. Teaching these online classes is a lot of work, but I really enjoy it because it gives me: a) the chance to pass along what I’ve learned; and b) feel like I actually know something about writing. The feeling never lasts long. Yesterday I attended the Jenny Crusie/Bob Mayer all-day writing seminar. Crusie and Mayer, you’ll recall, are the bestselling collaborators on this spring’s romantic adventure novel, DON’T LOOK DOWN. They are also phenomenal teachers who covered a wide range of topics - everything from characters and plotting to pacing and unity. I already knew lots of the stuff they covered. I didn’t know lots of the stuff they covered. *Sigh* I spent the day soaking up information like a greedy little sponge and thinking about all the aspects of writing a writer needs to master. Here’s what I’ve already studied: Scene and structure; Goal, motivation and conflict; Plot; Setting; Pacing; and Characterization. Here’s what I still need to study, or study further: Scene and structure; Goal, motivation and conflict; Plot; Setting; Pacing; Characterization; Viewpoint; Dialogue; Voice and style; and Theme. *Sigh* Learning about writing is, I suppose, one of those lifelong things like yoga. You can never learn it all. Or like tae kwon do, where the learning really starts only once you get your black belt. That got me to thinking about other lifelong journeys in learning: Cooking; Parenting; Crocheting. I’m a beginner at all these things, I suppose. But I’m learning. What about you? What are you working on these days?

I’ve joined the community at Access Romance, and am blogging about my fondness for anti-hero Luke Spencer today. Stop by if you have a chance!
http://www.accessromance.com/blog/