*(that’s a Spin Doctors song, right? Come on, you know you loved Two Princes…)

For the past six months, my clock radio has remained an hour behind.  Since I couldn’t figure out how to make it fall back and asked Zoo a million times and he never changed it, it became a big joke.  And then I got used to it, in that way when you wake up in a panic and see the time and then realize, oh, it’s my day off / weekend, whatever.

Granted, I don’t have days off and weekends and weekdays are quite similar to me, but I remember those days when I was teaching.

So yeah, it was nice to look at the clock and be like, on no, it’s already 3PM…oh wait, it’s only 2PM!

What?  Sometimes tricking yourself makes everything better.

So now, with spring ahead, the clock is correct.  I cannot handle this.  Zoo just laughs and won’t change it for me.  And the only thing that makes it better is that I have another way to drive Zoo crazy.  See, a couple of years ago, we were away for like a month in a state that was an hour behind New York.  For the entire month, I kept my watch on New York time – and so when he’d ask me what time it was, I’d say, what time is it in New York or what time is it here?

Seriously.  I’d do it every time!  Can you imagine how annoying that would be?

So now, when he asks me what time it is, I say, do you want to know what time it would be if it wasn’t daylight savings or the real time?

I have a feeling he’ll change my clock back an hour just to avoid this.

Hey, you’ve got to make your own fun around here…

I like my horoscopes when I agree with them – and I realize how wrong that is.  But I really liked this one from Free Will Astrology (for Aries):

“Controlled hysteria is what is required,” said playwright Arthur Miller in speaking about his creative process. “To exist constantly in a state of controlled hysteria. It’s agony. But everyone has agony. The difference is that I try to take my agony home and teach it to sing.” I hope this little outburst inspires you, Aries. It’s an excellent time for you to harness your hysteria and instruct your agony in the fine art of singing. To boost your chances of success in pulling off this dicey feat, use every means at your disposal to have fun and stay amused.”

I’ve got a lot going on in my writing life and lots of it’s fun and some of it’s hair pulling and that’s basically the norm, the way it’s been since even before I got published.  I can’t imagine it will ever be any different, but as long as the fun is there, then it’s okay.  And I think that sometimes writers forget the fun of the actual writing (I know I do) and that sometimes if you’re all tense and pissed off in general, most of the time you’re not pissed at the external forces in your life…no, it’s that you haven’t written.  You’ve got to think of it like a balloon that’s too full – until you syphon (siphon?) off some of the air, it’s going to be uncomfortable to the point of bursting.  But once you actually write something – anything – there’s relief.  There’s that, oh, that’s what’s been missing.

I used to hate to hear from published writers who’d say, don’t rush to get published because you don’t know how good you have it.  And I still don’t agree with that and I’ll never say it.  What I will say is that you have to love what you do because in the end, that’s going to be what matters.  If you don’t love it, if you don’t get twitchy as hell if you haven’t written, then that means you can quit, and if you can quit, you might be better off. I think Mark Twain has a quote to that effect.

In a way, writing now through Mom being sick reminds me a lot of when I started writing and why – when my daughter was born and she was sick and I wrote to escape but also to be able to stay close to her while I escaped.  I still love hearing from readers who will especially tell me that my work got them through a tough time in their lives, because to me, that’s what I set out to do.  My key audience, in my mind, is me, sitting along by my kid’s bedside all alone at 3AM in the hospital and being able to be there with her and still being able to get pulled into another world.  So that’s my core audience, in my mind, my ideal reader, as Stephen King says in On Writing.  Every writer needs that person to keep in mind because that’s what’s going to stop you from trying to please everyone, to figure out what’s important enough in the story to make that ideal reader love it.

On that note, I have SO much writing to do  Spoke to my editor yesterday about DIRE WANTS and what fixes it needs but mainly she loves it and says it moves very fast and it’s very fun.  So YAY!  All good stuff.

Me:  I want to learn to play electric guitar.

Zoo:  You’re really goddamned nuts, you know that?

Me:  That’s news?

I’ve had people asking if I’m still going to AAD NOLA for the past few weeks now and I’ve been putting off answering because…because for a little while I didn’t know.  And then I knew and I didn’t know if I wanted to share, and that was weird, because I’d always shared a lot on this blog, but that was before the internet became this weird, snarky place instead of the fun, safe place I used to know and love.  Sounds nostalgic, I know – sappy too but hey, I miss those good old days when blogging was all fun and I used to run from blog to blog, checking in on old friends and making new ones.  Today it’s all landmines and reviews and people taking things you say in interviews and twisting them up and just a lot of stuff that leaves me with a shitty taste in my mouth – and I end up just walking away from it instead of continuing to stake my happy little place on the internet.

Anyway, long story longer, I decided that not sharing was giving into all that shit, so I’m sharing.  A few weeks ago, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer during a routine mammogram.  We went together (and I keep telling her that since I saved her life, she owes me, but since she gave birth to me, it probably evens out…)  Anyway, she’s doing well and the prognosis is thankfully (so far) good, but it still means a long road ahead, and since my dad’s sick and I’m an only child, planning any kind of trip in the not so distant future just seems like a foolish move to me.

So yeah, I’m more sensitive than usual (which means I’m really goddamned sensitive) and I’m trying to avoid a lot of online places that will make me even more sensitive.  Which, during release time, is really, really hard.  So bear with me, okay?

Here’s the Dire Needs cover:

And here’s the G rated version prototype:

Fatin has been an integral part of the romance community for years – she owns and runs the RR@H Novel Thoughts and Book Talk blog, is an administrator of the WriteMinded loop, an author assistant and a tireless advocate for romance novels. She is also a friend to many in this community. On Tuesday, March 8th, she lost her husband in a senseless act of violence, leaving her alone with four children. You can read more about the tragedy here.

The romance community would like to rally around her. Therefore, we will be holding auctions on ebay the last week of March. More information on exact days and donations will follow, as well as a link to a hubpage where you can peruse the items that will be up for auction.

If you are an editor / agent / author and would like to donate something for the auction – such as a critique, mentoring, lunches at RT or RWA, swag, signed books, etc., please contact me via my contact page with your donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!

Also, Larissa Ione asked readers recently what type of items they’d most like to bid on, so you might find this list helpful.

Thanks in advance for your support!

A pretty good excuse, right?

It’s launch week for Carina Press, and that means it’s time for Shannon Stacey‘s contemporary romance, EXCLUSIVELY YOURS!

When Keri Daniels’ editor finds out she has previous carnal knowledge of reclusive bestselling author Joe Kowalski, she gives Keri a choice: get an interview or get a new job.  

Joe’s never forgotten the first girl to break his heart, so he’s intrigued to hear Keri’s back in town—and looking for him. Despite his intense need for privacy, he’ll grant Keri an interview if it means a chance to finish what they started in high school.

He proposes an outrageous plan—for every day she survives with his family on their annual camping and four-wheeling trip, Keri can ask one question. Keri agrees; she’s worked too hard to walk away from her career.

But the chemistry between them is still as potent as the bug spray, Joe’s sister is out to avenge his broken heart and Keri hasn’t ridden an ATV since she was ten. Who knew a little blackmail, a whole lot of family and some sizzling romantic interludes could make Keri reconsider the old dream of Keri & Joe 2gether 4ever.

I’ve got my Kindle copy, thanks to the magic of preorder – so go forth and buy!  Because Shannon’s awesome and her books are awesome (love the Devlin books especially!)  I’m diving right in after today’s writing session…

Yeah, okay, so Zoo’s away (I think I just rhymed and I didn’t mean to, but it’s 5AM and I’m not really seeing straight anyway) and it’s been fine with the kid and the dog and stuff for the past few nights.  And last night, the kid decided that she only needed to sleep for an hour and wake up and so I put Elmo on and settled in with an old Linda Howard for comfort because I hadn’t written all day and Linda Howard never fails to inspire me.

And Gus is all kind of running around and knocking his bed across the room for no reason and I finally get him settled on my bed where he procedes to squash my legs.  The kid was already squashing me because we’re all together because Zoo’s away and I realize now that this is crazy on my end but it’s too late to change.

So then something catches my eye and I look up at the ceiling and there is a spider up there.

I’ll let that settle in for a moment.  Because those of you who’ve been reading this blog for a while (or Writeminded) know that I cannot handle spiders or crickets.  (Or butterflies, but that’s more of a gross me out thing and I could deal with a butterfly in the house, because even though it’s a worm with wings, I know it won’t kill me. ) But the crickets at least stay in the basement, while the spiders seem to feel they can have run of the house.  I’m guessing the warm weather brought them all out of the woodwork.

So, it’s kind of right to the side of the bed – I can’t reach it.  I can throw a shoe at it until it falls but it could fall on the bed and that wouldn’t be good.

And it’s staring at me.  Black and white and tarantuala-sized.

Okay, maybe not that big.  Maybe.

And I’m like, okay, I can do this…it will move away and I can live and let live and it won’t eat me while I sleep.

And THEN I look at the big light that hangs over the bed and there is ANOTHER spider, crawling around.  It’s like a spider family reunion and Arachnophobia (which is a surprisingly funny movie) all at once.

I now realize I could die.

Gus, of course, is no help, as he has not even bothered to wake up and realize that we are in imminent danger.  I think about texting Zoo and telling him to come home immediately, but figured by the time he got home from Florida it wouldn’t work in my favor.  Of course, I did text him with a scream about spiders.

Anyway, so in a moment of brilliance (these do not come often, trust me) I race downstairs for the vacuum.  I hate our vacuum – it’s a canister and a pain in the ass but I haul it up the stairs and turn it on and get close to ceiling spider.  It knows it’s going to die and doesn’t try to fight the suction.  The other one on the light is still running and romping and playing until it sees me with the hose – then it goes still and gets sucked into the void.

Of course, then I worry that they will escape at night and bring the rest of the spider family to my ceiling to kill me.  I know they’re sitting in the vacuum bag, plotting.  I’m totally going to need a new vacuum.  And Zoo can’t ever leave the house again, unless he leaves behind someone to kill the spiders.

and time makes lovers feel, like they’ve got something real, but you and me we know we’ve got nothin’ but time…oh, sorry, having a Boy George 80′s moment.  I still love that song.

Anyway, here’s the deal – I want my cube clock back.

Seriously, I’m pretty good with new technology.  I switched from a PC to a Mac without much issue, I’ve installed software and moved from a Blackberry to a PalmPre with few difficulties.  I can work a remote, set my DVR.

I haven’t been able to work an alarm clock since my Sony cube.  I’ve had that cube since before college.  Which, was a while ago.  Quite a while ago, and I can’t believe it’s still working.

See, it was on my side of the bed until Zoo and I had to switch sides for the kid.  And then since I was staying home and he was the only one going out to work, the clock stayed on his side.  And then I bought a new clock.  A big, shiny new clock that I didn’t know how to set.

Zoo set it for me and it took me the better part of six months to realize he’d set it to a Spanish radio station.  I couldn’t understand any of the songs when I woke up but I’m not a morning person and just assumed that I was really tired.

I have four new clocks – four perfectly good clocks and I can’t work any of them.  So, last week, I bought a new Sony cube.  I figured – it’s the cube!  Probably as easy as my old cube…a perfect solution.

I still can’t work it.

I know you’re saying to yourself, why doesn’t she just give him the new clock and take back the old clock? And I have no answer for you.  It’s not like the clock is being held hostage or anything.

As long as I’m confessing, I might as well admit that most of the time I end up watching the commercials on the shows I’ve DVR’d because I forget they’re recorded shows.  Just me?  Yes?