Friday Favorites – Love, Laughter and Writing

I found so many great blog posts this week via Twitter, I don’t know how I found time to write. I found myself laughing a good deal this week, which was much needed since I chaperoned two separate field trips on back-to-back days.

Love–

Moriah Densley has a post on the modern gentleman. I’ve never thought much about it, but there is something to be said for a man who acts with manners. Some of the things she mentions, I don’t take notice of, but the sight of a big, strong man holding a baby? Totally hot.

Over on 400 days ’til 40, there’s an awesome post on love vs. lust. Part of what I love about being a romance author is the rush of new love. By the end of the story, readers have to believe that the characters will survive together beyond the newness of lust. The post points out that it’s in times of hardship that a relationship is tested. Excellent points.

Writing–

Kat Latham has an interview with one of my favorite authors, Louisa Edwards. I love Louisa’s books. I haven’t yet read her current book because when I met Louisa at RT last month, she said it was a cry book. Although I really want to read it, I need to be in the mood for crying.

Merry Farmer has a post on how difficult it is to come up with a good title. As much as we’re all told not to judge a book by its cover, the title is our first impression of a book. I, too, suck at titles. When I’m working on a WIP, the file is saved under the heroine’s name. The book that Kensington will be publishing later this year went through 3 titles with me, and then my editor said it would change again. I was totally okay with that because as I said, I suck at titles. We finally did come up with a new title. I’m excited to say my debut release will be called MORE THAN THIS.

400 days ’til 40 also had a post this week on ebooks. I’m a pretty new convert to ebooks. I bought a Kindle last summer and began reading ebooks because I saw a huge market there and so many books sounded interesting and I wanted to read them. Now, of course, being an ebook author, I’m even more invested.

Jenny Hansen had Margie Lawson do another guest post, this time on using humor in your writing. Really, you can’t go wrong with a post on Margie. Every time I take a class with her, or read a post, I learn something new.

Laughter ––

On feeling old. Over on Buzzfeed, there’s a list of 48 things that will make you feel old. Admittedly, most of the items did make me feel old.

Then, on Limecello’s blog, Carolyn Crane wrote about pop culture references and why so many of them won’t work. (They’re too old)

And finally, this brief article about Will Smith’s visit to the White House, made me smile. Will’s son Jaden really wanted to ask Obama about the existence of aliens. Will told him absolutely not. Jaden’s response? How much trouble will I get in for asking? That’s the kind of response I’d get from my kids. They’re all about weighing weather the crime is worth the punishment.

Do you read ebooks? Or do you still only hold paper? What would make you switch?

How Do You Know It’s Love?

image courtesy of http://thepittsburghlitterbox.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/that-bob-marley-love/

Do you ever feel so far behind that you’ll never catch up? I’m feeling a bit like that now. The kids were on Spring Break last week, and while I love having them around and we did lots of fun stuff, my regular routine suffered for it. I feel like I’ve been really slacking on the blog here, but if something’s gotta give, I admit, this will be it.

I did manage to finish the latest round of revisions on my manuscript (woo-hoo!). So I at least don’t have to think about it again until I get it back from Beta readers. I stumbled around my WIP for a couple of days trying to figure out how to fix the beginning and move forward.

Then tonight, while my daughter was in dance class, it hit me. I got so into the groove of writing that I lost track of time and had to stop mid-sentence when class ended. Isn’t that the best feeling in the world? (not the having to stop part, the getting in your groove) I didn’t want to stop, but you know, I had to get kids ready for bed and finish up work for my day job. But that scene is hovering over me pulling my attention. Right now, all I really want is to go back and write. Realistically, though, I will probably wait until morning because there’s always more to do around here (like the pile of laundry on my bed).

At this point, you’re probably wondering what the heck any of that has to do with today’s blog post, especially when looking at the title. You see, earlier today, while I was procrastinating instead of working on my WIP I perused some web sites to get ideas for the blog.

I like to play around on StumbleUpon. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t understand how the whole thing works and I’m sure I underutilize it, but it’s perfect for searching out ideas to spark a blog post. Today, it led me to a great site called ThingsAboutLove. This site has some awesome sexy photos and cute quotes and basically it’s a treasure trove of romance.

They have a post called What Does Love Mean? See How 4-8 Year-Old Kids Describe Love. We’ve all seen quotes like this and some are pretty funny, but one caught me totally off guard and I fell in love with it:

 When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.

You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.

billy – age 4

First, a 4-year old said this. That alone is pretty amazing. But more than that, I love the concept. I totally want to use it in my writing. It gives me chills just thinking about the possibilities. I would love to meet young Billy because I think his quote gave me the inspiration to tackle my WIP today. Although I’m not in a place for his quote to be useful for my characters, I think it hovered in the back of my mind as inspiration.

Where do you get ideas or inspiration? Do you have a favorite quote about the meaning of love?

Love at First Sight

Happy Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate. Personally, I don’t expect much. I buy small

image taken from http://www.proprofs.com

gifts for my kids, but my husband and I don’t really exchange gifts. Some years we swap cards, but sometimes not even that. I guess I’m not very romantic. (That’s probably a bad thing for a romance writer to admit.) I’m also not big on surprises.

Thoughts of Valentine’s Day and love got me to thinking about love at first sight. In many books, the hero and heroine will fall into insta-lust, you know, that immediate I-want-to-get-you-naked attraction. That’s biology (or maybe chemistry). Although I can’t remember experiencing it personally, I can believe it happens.

Love at first sight, on the other hand, I have a harder time swallowing. Even as a teenager, the idea of falling in love with someone the first time you meet, didn’t make sense. I hated Romeo and Juliet. (No guy was worth offing myself over.) Even now, while reading a romance, where I know the hero and heroine are going to get together and find happiness, if one of them starts thinking of a happily ever after in the beginning right after they meet, I’m groaning. I don’t see how you can really think you’re in love with someone when you know next to nothing about them.

But then I got to thinking again… I met my husband just over 2 decades ago. We became friends quickly, but didn’t date, even though we were attracted to each other. He had just enlisted in the Marines and was leaving to boot camp in a few months and was busy sowing his wild oats. I wasn’t. At the time, I didn’t think much about our relationship and what it meant. I knew we had something special, but I didn’t consider love. I didn’t believe at love at first sight.

When it was time for him to leave for boot camp, January first, he was supposed to call to say good-bye. He didn’t and after waiting and waiting, I finally called him to find out that his departure had been bumped. I was really upset when I thought he left without saying good-bye. I had waited for his call. I never waited by the phone for a call from a guy. No guy was important enough to waste my time like that. Besides, I had only known him for a few months.

Yet I did.

Looking back, knowing what I know now, I still wouldn’t say that it was love at first sight, but I think that on a very basic and instinctive level, I knew our relationship was different. Somewhere deep down, I recognized that we shared a connection even if I didn’t admit it or address it.

On the first night we met, he came into the hot dog stand where I worked. He made me laugh like no other guy had (not an easy task, let me tell you). I let him stay after we closed and I walked him part of the way home. I lived much farther and his house was on the way.

As an adult thinking about how crazy stupid that was…I don’t know. He could’ve been a bad guy. I walked alone with him (and one of his friends) down a pretty empty street at 11 o’clock at night. If one of my daughters did this, I might be tempted to do her bodily harm for being stupid.

But in my gut, I knew I was safe with him.

How weird is that?

Maybe a writer’s way of explaining that in a shortcut version is to call it love at first sight. I still groan at the idea, but in my old age, I’ve accepted that some things are inexplicable and should just be enjoyed.

Do you believe in love at first sight? How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?

image take from http://www.superiorsilkscreen.com