I wrapped up that story that was giving me fits yesterday. It came in nearly 11,000 words longer than I expected. But hey, since I was flying by the seat of my pants with that one, it’s to be expected some things would change. When I write the longer books, I have to know more about the story than just the opening scene—which was all I had when I started The Marathon Menage.

Anyway, I’m going to visit the 5-year-old and hear straight from the horse’s mouth how her first week of school went. On the telephone, all she could talk about was her excitement over riding the big kid’s bus. I’m sure I’ll have better success directing the conversation toward more enlightening subjects when we’re together. Yeah.

To keep OUR conversation going, how about you tackle this simple little question. Inquiring minds want to know…

If you could know one fact about every person you meet, what particular fact would you want it to be? (Assume that the other person would not have to be aware that you know this fact about them.)

Okay—no boxers or briefs!! (That was the first thing that popped into my head.)

I know you want to learn who won yesterday’s prize, but you’ll have to read to the bottom to find out!

The red-headed hellion called to tell me that the five-year-old is safely at school. There were tears in her voice. It’s the little one’s first day of kindergarden. She’d gotten up at the crack of dawn, had her clothes on and her backpack slung over her shoulder. Kel had to disappoint her by telling her she needed a bath first.

After the call, I walked outside with the Sheltie. He’d spent the night cowering next to my bed because of last night’s thunderstorm. As I was coming back into the house I saw a cluster of daddly-long-legs spiders above my doorway. Okay, so I know most people would grab a broom or the hose and brush them away, but I stood beneath to watch them. Most of them were clustered very tightly and looked like a big hairy armpit that was vibrating. You’ve seen the way they dance, right? Bouncing together. The ones not clumped together were lined up with one leg touching the next one. It kind of looked like group foreplay.

I know that was wierd, but I love to watch things. Don’t much like bugs, but I will pick up crickets trapped in my pool and set them on the ground. One day, the five-year-old was outside with me and got down on her hands and knees to get eye-level with a caterpillar. Her lips were moving, so I walked closer. She turned, scowling at me. “Why won’t it talk back?”

It took me a minute to answer. I was fighting laughter because we’d recently watched The Bee Movie. Once I had control, I told her she couldn’t hear it because its mouth was too small. I know, bad Nina.

My daughter still gripes about the little lies I told her when she was young. To get her to brush her teeth I told her there were little bugs in her mouth that would eat her teeth if she didn’t brush them away. When she was eleven and sitting in Health class at school, her teacher asked the class if anyone knew what caused tooth decay. Yeah, you can guess what happened. It was like a scene from The Water Boy. “My mamma said…”

Yesterday’s winner of a free download of Love Bites is (by random number generator)…Sonya!

I’m at Sia McKye’s blog “Over Coffee” and would love for you to drop by and say hello! I’m talking about when inspiration strikes.

I’ll get back to the rock. Promise.

This past week I pounded out two chapters on the sexy, as yet unnamed, ménage and wrote a 13-page fairytale called The Obedient Wife, which I submitted for a call for submission. I’ll let you know how that goes. I spent two 14-hour days in front of the computer Thursday and Friday because I didn’t want to slide on either of my goals. And I’m feeling it today—I woke up with back and neck aches and my right hand feels like someone stomped on it. I know, cry me a river.

Friday night was my monthly FAR Live Chat. Thanks to everyone who came. And congrats to Amy and Cathie on their prize wins!

Yesterday, I attended the Diamond State Romance Authors monthly meeting in Little Rock. We’ve got a slate of officers for 2010, and I’m nominated again to be Program Chair. If anyone has ideas for a dynamic topic I can add to the schedule for next year’s meetings, I’d appreciate it, because the well done dried up.

Sis came down for the meeting and followed me home for the night. We spent an hour and a half in the pool where she regaled me with her favorite Jeff Dunham routines. Had to finally get out of the water because one more joke and I would have had to add more chlorine.

This next week, it’s more writing, and I really do need to do a little shopping for the trip I’m taking September 1st. I’ll be heading to Seattle to a retreat on a lake with six writer buddies. Squee! And the 5-year-old starts kindergarden. God, I hope the teacher doesn’t have to send home a note with her on the first day. She told her mother the day before yesterday that when Mom died she’d bring daisies to put on her headstone, but that Mom would have to stick her hand out of the dirt to grab them. Think she might be a “Mini-Me” in the making?

Back to that rock…

I went outside the meeting yesterday (yes, to have a cigarette!) and strolled past the vacant lot next to the library. This bright red rock lay on the flat dirt and gravel and I couldn’t resist hefting it back to the meeting. (Who does that?!) It’s big, my empty coffee cup is pretty large. I don’t know what I want to do with it, but it matches my bedspread.

I’m sneaking out to play with the members of the Diamond State Romance Authors today. While I’m gone I have a question for you to ponder.

If your taste buds could be altered so that the taste of any one food would be dramatically intensified whenever you ate it, which food would you choose?

Just a quick note: Tonight, I’ll be holding a live chat at Fallen Angels Reviews. It’s at 9 PM EST and I will be offering prizes!

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t keep up on what’s the latest of anything. As for movies, I don’t know they’re out there unless someone on Twitter oohs and ahs over it—or it ends up on DVD and Columbia House sends me the announcement.

Yeah, I bought into the Columbia House scam, but I appreciate the service. I don’t have to know what’s hot. They’ll tell me. And I’ve been watching my DVD collection steadily grow. Of course, I need all these movies for genre research (tax deductible that way!).

So, what have I bought lately?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He sees dead people…and they annoy him.

The logline for Ghost Town was what sold me. And I wasn’t disappointed. Was it the best movie I’ve ever seen? No, but the performances were very good.

Ricky Gervais plays a Manhattan dentist who’s in a people profession, but he doesn’t like people very much. He’s lonely but doesn’t know it. The scene where he’s preparing for his colonoscopy had me in stitches (I could so relate), and the fact he dies when he’s having it done (for seven minutes)—sorry, would you want that in your obituary?!

When he wakes up, he’s seeing ghosts—not scary ghosts, but exceedingly annoying ones. They haunt him, wanting him to help with closure for loved ones. The romance aspect was nice, and it was the plot point that gets him to reevaluate his life, but not the main impetus of the story.

If you haven’t seen it, rent it. I’m glad I bought it because I know I’ll want to watch it again by myself in the dark with a bowl of popcorn.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lee Holloway has a few strikes against her when she applies for a secretarial position at the law office of E. Edward Grey. At first the work seems quite normal but soon in between typing filing & coffee making Lee & Mr. Grey embark on a more personal relationship together.

Sounds innocent enough, right? But you know why I wanted this one. Just the photo of Maggie Gyllenhaal crawling on her knees through an office to deliver the mail—oh, my God. I knew it would be kinky, but add James Spader to the mix, and I had to OWN it. Maggie’s character is very damaged. She cuts herself to feel anything. She’s deeply depressed.

Until she begins to work with an enigmatic man who has managed to chase off every secretary he’s ever had. She finds out why when she gives him a letter filled with typos. The spanking he gives her opens up a whole new world of delights for her. Nuff said? This one I will watch over and over. LOVED it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

So what have you watched lately?

But I’m worried about Mary Shannon.

You know, the U.S. Marshall in In Plain Sight. The woman’s got big problems, many of them caused by her own bad attitude, but she’s lying in a hospital bed with the doctor’s waiting for her to get strong enough so they can perform the surgery to save her life. Last night she was shot in the series season finale, and the bastards at USA are going to make me wait until Spring to find out whether she makes it.

Okay, so I know it’s just TV and if they renew the show, she has to live, but there are sooooo many other plot threads left dangling after that wacky season that I don’t want to wait until freaking Spring!

Let’s talk about her family. Her mom’s an alcoholic who went through rehab this season, and I can only hope she falls off the wagon again because Leslie Ann Warren was delightful as a lush. Her sister escaped the federal drug charges against her…or has she? The relentless FBI guy wants sis as much as he’s gunning for Mary now for aiding and abetting.

Mary’s adorable Latino boyfriend, Raphael, proposed and moved in with Mary. And anyone watching the two of them together knows they will never make it to the alter. He’s a nurturer and she can’t stand being taken care of. Rafe and the sis however… I think we see that coming!

Her partner is my favorite part of the show. We’ve had hints all along how much he’s into Mary. This season, while toasting her engagement to Rafe, he said he loved her, but everyone listening assumed…love like a friend. We, the audience, knew he’s nuts about her. Mary hasn’t a clue and treats him like an annoying flea.

Then there’s Stan her boss, the adorably sexy little Jack Russell who’s wonderful to watch when he’s laying into guys heads taller than he is. He’s sexy when he gets all riled up and his new admimistrative worker, Mary’s estrogen rival in the office, can’t resist his appeal from time to time.

Then there’s the tantalizing thread of her missing father who’s on the run from the law—see why I love her? Her life’s a complete mess.

Mary, Mary, Mary….what will I do until Spring?