I was midway starting to revise my fourth chapter of the day when hubby came home from work this afternoon and says, “Let’s go see Wall-E.” Considering he is not normally the one to suggest we go to the theater and the fact that my brain could use a break after revising three chapters, off we went. It is a mark of good writers and animators when I can feel the emotions of a robot — his wonder, his loneliness, his hope, his happiness. It’s a sweet story of a little robot who just wants someone to love, but there are also a couple of interesting observations about modern society expertly woven into this fictional, futuristic context. Hubby and I really enjoyed the movie, as we have every Pixar film.

I just finished revising that fourth chapter for today. Good thing because I’m getting tired, and that doesn’t make for maximum productivity.

I’m blogging over at the Harlequin American Authors blog today about my fondness for Cinderella stories. Swing by if you have a chance and share your thoughts on the subject.

Time flies when you’re…busy. I finished up the requested revisions to the first three chapters of the outline for my next YA book and sent them back to my editor yesterday. Then, I’ll admit, I played hooky the rest of the day to give my brain a break before diving into the next round of revisions on my second Harlequin American today. I’ve already gone through it once, but now I’m doing another pass of revisions based on the fabulous Mary’s suggestions. I should really count how many times she wrote “more emotion here” and “tone” on my pages. Okay, so while playing hooky yesterday, I did actually clean a couple of rooms of the house. Real cleaning happens when I’m between projects. When I’m in the middle of writing or revising, things just get a quickie cleaning.

But I also watched a couple of movies. The Other Boleyn Girl inspired me to do a bit of research about the British monarchy and particularly Henry VIII’s six wifes, three of whom it turns out were named Catherine. Must have been a very popular name. I liked Scarlett Johannson and Natalie Portman in their roles as Mary and Anne Boleyn, but I have to say that Eric Bana is just way too hot to play Henry. I mean, all the paintings I see of Henry show a portly, red-bearded man. Let’s just say Eric isn’t portly. I’m a fan of Natalie Portman’s, so it was a bit jarring to see her playing such a scheming bitch. Even so, she made you feel her despair and heartbreak when she realized that the failure to produce a male heir was going to lead to her death. Let me just say, what a sucky time to be a woman noticed by the king. I think I would have rather been an ugly peasant, thanks.

Netflix delivered Into the Wild today, and the next few things on my queue are all about or set in Alaska to inspire me as I get ready to start writing YA #2.

I’m late on announcing last week’s book winner, which is Teble! E-mail me with your address and I’ll get the books out to you. Up for grabs this week:

Something’s Cooking by Joanne Pence
Countess in Buckskin by Merline Lovelace
The Family Next Door by Janice Kay Johnson

I got the following from one of those e-mails that get sent all over the Internet, but always think these are pretty funny.

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.

6. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

7. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.

8. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

9. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

10. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

11. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.

12. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

13. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

The Washington Post’s Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year’s winners:

1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

2. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

3. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

4. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

5. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

6. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.

7. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease.
(This one got extra credit.)

8. Karmageddon (n): it’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.

9. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

10. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.

11. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

12. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.

13. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

14. Caterpallor (n.): The colour you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you’re eating.

There were some others that I thought were funny, but I try to keep this at PG blog.

Today I went to my RWA chapter meeting, the first time since March. The two times I happened to be traveling this spring were on meeting weekends. I presented part of the program on judge training for our contest/critiquing. Super critiquer Annie Solomon was the other presenter. It was nice to see everyone and to go out to lunch with the girls. Afterward, I dragged my friend Monica to Barnes & Noble so she could get J.R. Ward’s Dark Lover so she can get hooked on the series like me. She ended up getting the first two, Jessica Andersen’s new book, the first in her The Final Prophecy series, and a Katie MacAlister book. I was sad to see, however, that yet another B&N has removed the series romance (Harlequin/Silhouette) books from their shelves. Sigh.

I meant to put up these pictures a few weeks ago when my rose bushes were blooming. Still, they’re too pretty not to share.

The RWA National Conference is now less than five weeks away, and one of the things I look forward to as a purely fun event is the Harlequin publisher party. It’s a full-on dance party, and I do love to dance. When I was in college, some friends and I would go to a club called Cheers to dance. But when I went to the Harlequin party last year, I figured out it had been probably 15 years since I’d gone out dancing. Good grief, how did those years fly by so fast!? But I boogied for hours nonetheless. It wasn’t until I got back to my hotel room that I felt the effects. My feet were throbbing so much I had a difficult time going to sleep. But hey, I’ll do it again this year.

And speaking of dancing, does anyone watch America’s Best Dance Crew? Hubby started watching it first last season, and I caught the last few episodes — enough to make me a fan of both Jabbawockeez and Kaba Modern. Season 2 started last night, so we watched while hubby also surfed the Internet and I browsed through my latest issue of BookPage to see what new books were hitting the shelves (multi-tasking, you know). Last night’s performances can be seen here. They were enough to make Super Cr3w and SoReal Cru my early favorites though I also really enjoyed the performances of Phresh Select and A.S.I.I.D. If you watched it (or if you even go to the link above and watch the short performances), let me know who your early favorites are.

In writing news, I just finished and submitted by revised essay for the Supernatural anthology being published by BenBella Books next year. The ever-wonderful Mary is also reading my revised ms of The Willow Creek, which I hope to finish revising based on her comments and submitted well in advance of its July 14 deadline. The rest of today’s schedule includes doing research for my next YA book and working on revisions to that book’s outline, just in case you were wondering.

Sometimes I think my two editors’ brains are connected even though they don’t work for the same publishing company, don’t even live in the same country. I’ve been working on revisions to my second Harlequin American (The Willow Creek Cafe) and finished them this morning so I could send them to Mary for a read-through to make sure it all still makes sense after cutting some material and adding some new scenes. Only a few hours later, my YA editor e-mailed with revisions to my second YA book (Arctic Heart). So those are due back in a week, but before that I have to do revisions to my Supernatural essay for BenBella Books. Hmm, I think perhaps I should change my middle name to Revisions.

So, I’m thinking about learning how to do podcasts so I can start putting some on my site. Has anyone reading this ever created a podcast? I don’t know the ins and outs of how to create the proper types of files and how to put them on my site. Must investigate. And if you were to listen to short (like five-minute) podcasts on an author’s site, what would you want her to talk about? I’m thinking about doing a variety of things, but nothing is firm in my mind yet.

First off, the books. Last week’s winner of three free books is Jane! I’ll get them in the mail to you this week.

Up for grabs this week:

Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught
Guarding Jane Doe by Harper Allen
Undertow by Dixie Browning

And now for the music. This is the song I’m currently playing a lot, “Breath” by Breaking Benjamin.

I’m blogging over at the Romance Bandits today about my adventures in traveling by car and train since I don’t like to fly. Come on over and join the fun!

I came back from an appointment this afternoon to the sad and surprising news that Meet the Press host and NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert had died suddenly today of a heart attack. Not only is this sad for his family, friends and co-workers, but it’s also a sad day for quality news coverage. I was trained as a journalist and have worked at newspapers and a magazine, but in recent years I’ve become disillusioned with much of the news coverage and the “journalists” who deliver it. Granted, I’ve worked in the print journalism field and most (but not all) of my ire has been directed at TV journalists, some of whom I’d swear have never darkened the door of a journalism school.

Tim Russert was the type of journalist all journalists should be — dedicated, prepared, one who digs deep for the truth but who doesn’t delight in the discomfort or downfall of others (even if he was holding their feet to the fire), one who loved it instead of loving having their face on TV screens across America. It’s a little ironic that he came to his signature coverage of politics and politicians after working in the political arena. Maybe that’s what made him so good at it. He knew the tricks and talking points they used and didn’t let them get away with it when they faced off against him across the table.

And what’s really touching is that from all accounts, he was a genuinely nice guy, a wonderful family man, and a thoughtful and true friend. Not much makes Andrea Mitchell lose her composure, and she nearly broke down while talking about Tim on TV this afternoon. Same with many other top journalists who I could tell were struggling to share with the audience their memories of and respect for their colleague, their friend.