I’m on the road, so today you get a funny video of a cat. Click here to be highly amused.

On Friday, hubby and I celebrated our 16th anniversary. He took off the day from work, I played hooky from all the many things on my to-do list, and we went hiking at one of our favorite state parks, Burgess Falls. It had rained the previous day, so the falls were flowing nicely. And the park and trail had that damp woods after a rain smell that I like so much.

Here we are at the beginning of the trail. A nice couple took our picture. Usually, we end up just taking photos of each other when we’re out on our own, but we lucked out this time.

There are four falls of various sizes along the riverside trail. This is called Middle Falls.

And this is the big falls at the end of the trail. You can actually hike down to the bottom, but we’d done that before and decided not to this time since it’s a pretty strenuous hike back up. This is the view from the platform that hangs out over the edge of the bluff. Hubby even walked out to the end to take a peek even though he’s not a big fan of heights.

On the way back to the parking lot/picnic area at the trailhead, we walked along the easier route of the service road and came upon this little guy. Hubby said I should say in this post that I kissed the toad, and he turned into hubby.

After our hike, we enjoyed a picnic of sub sandwiches and chips beside the river. It was a wonderful, pleasant day, and I’m glad we got out and communed with nature before it turned off cold this weekend.

I’m blogging at Romance Bandits today about historic events that I remember from my lifetime and asking readers to do the same. So come on over and share your memories.

My fabulous friend Mary, who writes as MJ Fredrick, has a new release out, a fun story with a hunky cowboy hero. So I decided to do a little interview with her about her new offering, Bull by the Horns.

Q. You write wonderful heroes, but Taylor in Bull by the Horns is your first cowboy hero. What made you decide to write about a cowboy?

A. My critique partner, Linda, challenged me to write a novella. I’ve never written anything short, and she thought it would help me with plotting. She challenged each of us to write a story for the Wayback Texas series at The Wild Rose Press. I got the idea and ran with it, including a character from Linda’s story, and I’m the only of the three of us who completed the story! Linda’s is sooo good, too. If only she’d have time to write it!

Q. Why do you think cowboys are such a popular hero type in romance novels?

A. I think it’s because they’re untamed. They travel from place to place, and women like to imagine they’ll be the one to settle a cowboy down. And they live by their own code. They treat women with respect, are forthright and hardworking. That’s what drew Taylor to this life, anyway. Also, they seem to long for a simpler time, and I know that’s been my own feeling lately.

Q. Who are some of your favorite fictional cowboys — in books, on TV or in films?

A. When I was growing up, I spent Saturday afternoons watching Roy Rogers and El Chapparel and Gunsmoke. I kind of grew away from the genre until the 1980s, when Young Guns brought them back for a bit. Paden from Silverado is my all-time favorite cowboy. I love that movie, I love how stoic he was, how determined to do the right thing.

Q. If they made a movie of Bull by the Horns, who would you like to see cast as the leads?

A. Taylor is absolutely Taylor Kitsch from Friday Night Lights. I actually had real person in mind for Lavender. Maybe a heavier Christina Applegate.

Q. What are you working on now?

A. I’m writing my very first historical for Nano. I got the idea three days before Nano started, after having plotted a romantic suspense to write during November. I was teaching my class about Jane Long, who defended a fort all winter long with just her servant and babies for company, and I thought that was amazing. I pictured a man riding up to the fort and falling out of the saddle, and she has to nurse him back to health. I’m having the best time with it, but it certainly is challenging, trying to avoid modern sensibilities in a historical novel. I’m having to learn so much!

—-

I know I for one can’t wait to read the historical, which was my first love as a romance reader.

Okay, readers, you can get your virtual little hands on Bull by the Horns by downloading it at the Wild Rose Press site here.

I used a Barnes & Noble gift card to buy the soundtrack to the movie Twilight today. It’s awesome! It’s a combination rocking songs, softer ballads and folksy tunes. I was only familiar with two of the bands, Linkin Park and Collective Soul, ones I already liked. And it introduced me to some new acts that I’m enjoying.

First up on the CD is the band that Stephenie Meyer loves, Muse. Appropriate band name for a writer to like. Their “Supermassive Black Hole” makes me want to get up and dance, as do quite a few of the songs on this soundtrack. The second song is “Decode” by Paramore, which I just discovered is from my neck of the woods. Maybe I’ll be able to catch a show if they’re playing in town. Paramore is a punk-pop quintet, and they have a second song on the soundtrack, “I Caught Myself.”

Other acts who contributed are The Black Ghosts from the UK, Blue Foundation from Denmark (two more European bands to add to my list), Mute Math, Iron & Wine, and Perry Farrell, frontman of Jane’s Addiction. Rob Pattinson, who plays Edward in the movie, even sings a ballad called “Never Think.” The CD ends with an instrumental track called “Bella’s Lullaby” by Carter Burwell.

I’m glad I got the soundtrack prior to seeing the movie so I can be familiar with the songs already when I hear them in the movie. Only 11 more days until the movie hits the big screen!

I mentioned that we had a group book signing at Sherlock’s Books yesterday in Lebanon, Tennessee for the members of my local RWA chapter. I’d meant to blog about it today, but Jody Wallace, fellow MCRWer and all-around cool gal, already has a wonderful wrap-up, complete with photos, on her blog. You can see it here.

I’ve been so productive today. No, not writing. I’m in between projects at the moment. But I was in full-on cleaning and culling mode. I cleaned the guest bathroom and the master bedroom and have been going through assorted accumulated mountains of paperwork in my office. Why look, it’s the top of my desk! While going through some saved receipts and such, I found some old stuff that is headed toward the shredder. Dude, I even found a receipt for when we used Hotwire in 2004 to book a hotel in Orlando the last time we went to Disney World. Yep, time to chuck this stuff.

Goals for the week:

1. Clean, cull and reorganize my office. This is a big job. Things accumulate when I’m on deadline, and it seems like I’ve been on deadline most of the year. Which is a GOOD thing.

2. Clean the remainder of the house.

3. Revise and send two synopses to my agent.

4. Catch up on lots of reading — books, magazines, my Buffy comics, etc.

5. Watch and clean off the rest of the TiVo because I’m basically going to be gone for two weeks after this week.

6. Exercise every day.

7. Finish up a contract job for work.

I’m slow getting some of the photos up from many of the events I’ve been to lately. Just seems like there’s not enough hours in the day. Anyway, about a month ago, I did a signing at the public library in my small hometown in Kentucky. Family members, former teachers, high school friends and other members of the public came out to hear me speak a little bit and then get their books signed. It was a wonderful event, put together by Regina the Fabu Librarian. Here are a few shots from the evening.

I got a little giddy seeing this sign (above) outside the little library where I did many research papers for school.

Two of the many friends in attendance were Allison (left, with her daughter), my oldest friend, and Kim, who I used to go “muddin’” with. Hey, it’s the country, and there wasn’t much to do besides ride three-wheelers through the mud. It’s funny because I just recently found a photo of Ali, Kim, and another friend, Kristy, who couldn’t attend the signing because she was working, from when we were all in the high school production of The Miracle Worker.

Another friend, Chantel, surprised me. I don’t think I’d seen her since we graduated more than 19 years ago. Once upon a time, she convinced me to jump the railroad tracks in my car. It’s a wonder we didn’t hurt ourselves or kill my poor old car.

Here’s Allison with two of our high school teachers, Mrs. Brock (left), who taught German and geometry, and Mrs. Hodges, who taught trigonometry (otherwise known as the subject that kicked my butt). Mrs. Hodges was also our academic team (quiz bowl) coach.

Here I’m signing a book for my Aunt Marie, one of Mom’s sisters.

And here are my two aunts named Doris (far left and middle; one is Mom’s sister, one is married to her brother) and my cousin, Debbie.

And here I am with Mom, posing with the nice sign that Harlequin made for me. Dad was there too but doesn’t like his picture taken.

Thanks to Allison’s mom, Laurel, for taking all but one of these photos. Thanks to Regina the Fabu Librarian for taking the one of me with the sign.

I went to see the folks today, and during my many hours in the car I listened to a couple of PotterCast podcasts. I was excited to hear there was a new international teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which is set to be released next summer. I just watched it online and have to say the movie looks like it’s going to be fantastic! Check it out.

When a story ran in the small, weekly paper that serves my childhood hometown, I heard from lots of people I’d not heard from in years. I reconnected with some of them at a recent signing I had there (which I plan to blog about sometime this week), but I also heard from another person who grew up there who now lives in Mississippi. She and her husband own a DJ business, and she wanted to include me on the site along with some of my thoughts about how music can be tied to romance. She e-mailed today to let me know the info is up on the site. You can see it here.

Speaking of promo, if you’re within driving distance of Lebanon, Tennessee, you might want to scoot over to Sherlock’s Books this Saturday between 1 and 4 p.m. I, along with several other authors, will be signing books. The headliner is local author Sherrilyn Kenyon, a New York Times bestseller with her Dark-Hunter series. But there will be several other authors there as well. Remember, books make GREAT Christmas presents.

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged about my TV watching, so I thought I’d start a few posts about what I think of the fall TV season so far. Let’s start with Monday nights since, well, it’s currently Monday.

First up, we have Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. There’s speculation that this show might not make it another season, in part because audiences are cooling toward shows where there’s a big, continuing mystery and you have to keep up with every episode, but I still enjoy it. I particularly like the addition of Brian Austin Green as Derek Reese, John Connor’s (might I say hunky) uncle. Who knew David Silver from Beverly Hills 90210 would end up looking like this?  I still like shows where girls kick butt, and both Sarah Connor and the Cameron the terminator do so, repeatedly. Plus, I’m just glad Summer Glau (Cameron) has a regular acting part because she was awesome on Firefly and Serenity. It’s kind of funny that this small, delicate dancer has played two totally kick-ass heroines. Hmm, now that I think about it, they’re both emotionally detached too, for different reasons.

Next up is Prison Break, which according to a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly is one of Stephen King’s absolute favorite shows. Here’s another one that I enjoy, but it has that continuing “What the heck is going on?” thing running through the storyline. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the last season because, seriously, how many seasons can a show called Prison Break run? I mean, it’s in season 4 now. I just want Michael and Lincoln to bring down the company, Michael to be okay and live happily ever after with Sara, and Mahone to live.

Gossip Girl is still dishing out all kinds of soapy drama set in rich teenland. I’ve gotten behind on watching this. There are five episodes on my TiVo. Will have to watch some before next week because I have it set to just record five at a time. I enjoy it when I watch it, but obviously it’s not something that’s calling my name each week. But I write for teens and try to watch as many teen-targeted shows as possible.

Finally for Monday, we have Heroes. Yet again, it’s the continuing story of the “What the…?” variety. Just when you think you know who the bad guys and the good guys are, whoops, they switch. We’ve gotten glimpses of dark Claire, and good Sylar. Dude, did my head just spin in a complete circle? It certainly keeps me guessing, though I have to say I don’t like icky, bad Mohinder. But hot Mohinder in that one episode where he injects himself, that’s okay. This is another show that has suffered a drop in ratings from its exciting beginning (I’m wondering if LOST will suffer the same fate when it returns). I just want this and all these types of shows to wrap up all the questions before they get canceled. I HATE getting caught up in a show that has lots of questions only to see it canceled. Like Invasion and The Nine

So, anyone watching these shows? What’s your take on this season so far?