I got the new cover for my book that comes out this friday. Leita Stevens, my stepmom, did this for me. She’s a cover artist at Cobblestone Press. Take a look at this!
I’m sorry, but he’s just hawt. And I think his eyes are following me. Yum.
So, I worked today. Whoopie. I’m so tired I think the bags under my eyes have bags. Ugh. People who have kids and work two jobs, I bow before you. A supplicant to your greater abilities. I must have been born with the slacker gene or something. I blame my mother. I don’t know why, except she’s convenient and not here to defend herself. Can’t blame dad, cuz the stepmom occasionally reads this blog and, well, she might tell on me.
What was the point of this random post? None.
I do believe I promised news of my trip to California. One: the interview went fairly well. I can’t say more until I know more, but they should get back to me this week. I’ll let you know. Other than that the family was awesome. They threw an inpromptu family reunion together for me. I was overwhelmed and really happy to see all my crazy peeps.
Good news: My uncle is getting married to a really nice lady and I might even be in the wedding. Why is that good? I only have to wear jeans and cowgirl boots. Note to self: buy cowgirl boots.
Spent quality time watching TV with the Mad Madam M. Always fun and enlightening. I found a new show to like. We’ll see how it goes.
Okay, so it’s a quick trip to the other side of the Ohio River…I’m going to see my little cousin matriculate from The Ohio State University. I’m way proud of her, too. She’s getting a bachelor’s in English with an emphasis in education. She about to be a teacher. Go, Emily!
Can I get Hoot-hoot? (Inside joke between me and her)
I’ll be outta town until Monday night so my Monday post will probably be late, late, late. Have a fantastic weekend!
Also, go to the World-building workshop Shawn and I put together in the Romance Diva Forum. Go, now!
I’m baaaaaaack! I had a great vacation in Amarillo and I want to go back. Work is icky today. Gaaaah!!!
As with all road trips, I come bearing stories and lessons learned:
1. In Oklahoma at dawn, if you’re on the OK/Arkansas border, watch for strangely happy men in trucks. He pulled up next to us on the freeway going 75mph and at first I thought he just wasn’t wearing a shirt (the man had a beer-gut and a half!) until he thrust his hips up to wave his penis at us. He had the goofiest grin on his face too! Never had a man wag his wang at me from a moving vehicle (a hotel balcony, yeah, but not a truck). My cousin (who drove with me) and I looked at each other to ask “Did you just see that?” I mean, 13 hours straight on the road can mess with your mind, but we both saw it so…EEEWWW!! LOL!!
2. Oklahoma City is non-hick (which surprised me) and is a fantastic place to stop for coffee and ice-cream (the cousin and I had opposing cravings)
3. The 24-hour Wal-Mart in Little Rock, AR is on exit 156, not 157. The gas station attendant sent us to 157 and we ended up in a severely ghetto portion of town where gas station attendant #2 of the evening gave us the proper directions. On our way out of the gas station we were propositioned by a man who couldn’t speak English, but got his point across rather eloquently with crude hand gestures. If that wasn’t enough, we had a man with a gold-coated-and-diamond-studded grill (i.e. his freaking teeth) offer to sell us CDs out of the trunk of his hoopty pimp-mobile. I think we laid rubber peeling out of that place. The Wal-Mart was actually in a nice area of town, only one exit further up the freeway. Oi!
4. Nothing is more beautiful than the Memphis skyline when you’re escaping Arkansas (and it’s Wal-Marts).
Best place names:
I’m going on vacation!!! Yay! My fabulous cousin and I will be road tripping to Amarillo, Texas to visit her mom. Woo-hoo!
Those of you who read my blog have seen that on Sundays I do a column “Sunday Funnies” where I offer up a quiz/comic/something that amuses me.
On Sarurdays, I will now be featuring a weekly review called “Get Snark.” This is my attempt at snarkalicious humor toward a book/book cover/movie/whatever. While I’m on vacation, I’ll kick off 10 whole days of snarky fun (I leave on Thursday, so you still get me for a few more days). And, if that wasn’t fun enough for you, the Mad Madam M will be coming over to guest snark. That’s right, people! She’ll be here on this blog! Lucky you!
See? And you thought I’d forget all about you while I was gone! ::tsk, tsk::
My stepmom liked my website and it looks like I might be helping her design hers. She rides horses (on top of being a talents graphic artist — I know, b*itch, right?) and I think she needs one to promote her horseback riding lessons. It sounds like fun. I’m sure she could figure it out using FrontPage, but she doesn’t know html coding and I do. My dad does too, but asking him for assistance is kinda like sending a sloth in to fight fires — the intentions are good (you sent someone to stop the blaze), but the execution may not help you in time. Dad, if you’re reading this, I’m still waiting for a reply to my email in December. And October. And August.
Men are driving me crazy lately. Not that this is especially unusual, but they REALLY are making me nutty lately.
Exhibit A: Went on actual date with Stealth Date Guy and he made a move. I was so not interested by this point in our date (was VERY sure we were destined for nothing more than friendship) and now he won’t stop hanging around. Don’t get me wrong, I love male adoration, but Learn. To. Stop. Boys.
Exhibit B: Grandpa called. Now, I love my grandparents. Anyone who’s read any part of this blog knows I worship the ground they walk on. He calls at midnight my time (on a work day!) and just wants to talk about my day. Yeah. ‘Night Gramps. I need sleep. I know he was probably bored, but he couldn’t have called three hours earlier? It’s not like he’s not retired!
Exhibit C: Talked to younger stepbrother on the phone about trying to make it out to California for his high school graduation (he’s the baby of my family). He gives me this song and dance about how people are graduating all over the world on that day, so it’s no big deal. I have to give him the speech about how I hate graduations so I wouldn’t go to all those other people’s graduations if you paid me. I’m going to his. I get a totally bored “wow, I guess that makes me special.” GAAAHHH! Had to get off the phone before I said something he’d regret. Putz.
I mentioned last week (for those of you who pay attention) that I might have an idea for Harlequin’s new dark paranormal line. I had to get permission from the stepmom to use a character she’s been drawing for years. The character was basically kidnapped as a child and used as a concubine. Now, she’s an assassin and her former lover is trying to kill her. See? That’s dark stuff right there. Details are being hammered out, but I like the story so far.
Here’s some pics:
I have so much work to do right now, I run around like the friggin’ white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland shrieking “I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date!” Work is booting me in the bum lately. So, this is all the post you get. Here’s a happy hour dose of the stepmom’s newest artsy-fartsy stuff:
I’m trying to come up with some interesting new sub-elements/scenes to beef up my wordcount. My crit. partner will probably give me some suggestions on this area, too. And here’s half-naked man to cheer me up (courtesy of the step-parental unit). So what if she says he’s being drugged and tortured in that tank? He’s still nek-ked!
The Novelty Girls