Fun Stuff

Books, A Love Affair

I’m having a love affair with books. What we have is precious, a once in a lifetime romance. I always have more than one book going at a time in order to keep a well-rounded, healthy reading life. (P.S. my mother says that if I spend as much time and energy on exercising as I do on researching, acquiring, and reading books I’d be in great shape.)

My categories:

The romance novel. This one is partially research for my own writing but mostly a fun, tittilating read. I devour these books. I have to read them within days or else they consume my mind, making it impossible to think about anything but the book.

The non-fiction book. This is usually on my current, personal research topic. At the moment I am researching relationships, dating, and media. You would not believe the number of fascinating books on this topic that have come out in the past year.

The bed stand book. This is also a non-fiction book and, frankly, one that puts me to sleep. I find it relaxing to fall asleep to a book. Though sometimes I start to dream, wake up, and continue reading and often I can’t distinguish what was in my dream and what was in the book.

The self help book. I know. You’re thinking – what can you possibly have to improve about yourself? You’re perfect already.

The book needs to go back to the library but I’m determined to read it before the due date. This happens more often than you’d think.

There you have it. The books of my reading harem.

Things I Love – October Edition

Things I Love

  1. Inside Amy Schumer. Amy, you are an empress of comedy. I literally could not forget some of your skits even if I tried.
  2. The “What Not to Write” post series by Smart Bitches Trashy Books. Cave splooge, Twinky metaphors, and calloused naughty bits. I thought I would fall out of my chair from uncontrollable laughter.
  3. Rainbow Rowell. Every time I find out about a book by her that I haven’t read I’m like “wait, WHAT?? How did I not know this existed!!!”
  4. The Michigan inter-library loan system. Even though it’s going down for a month and I have no idea where to get my fix of books that aren’t available in my local library system.
  5. Cider mills, apple orchards, pumpkin patches, pretty much anywhere they make and sell pumpkin doughnut holes. Yum.

 

There’s Some Weird Stuff Out There

This is the beginning of another blog post series I’m embarking on. In this series I will fill you in on some of the strange and unusual sub-genres that exist within romance. You don’t have to be a romance reader to know the basic ones – contemporary, historical, chick lit, erotica, etc. Those aren’t what I’m talking about. I’m not even talking about the cross genres, YA paranormal romance for example, or stand alone books that don’t fit into any category. I’m talking about sub-genres that have multiple books within them, as in more than one author thought it was a good idea to write this type of romance novel.

The first category I’ll be exploring is one that, if you know me at all IRL, you’ll have heard me talk about because I cannot get over that fact that this is a thing: Dinosaur Erotica. As in books that feature a human-dinosaur relationship.

Let that sink in for a moment. Human-dinosaur romantic/sexual relationship.

Here are some of the books in this sub-genre:

Taken by the T-Rex by Christie Sims (she is actually dinosaur erotica’s most prolific author and has a whole range of books about a whole range of dinos)

Space Raptor Butt Invasion by Chuck Tingle (a series of dino/man erotica set in locations from outer space to a corporate boardroom)

Seized by the T-Rex by Roxy Stone (a dino horror erotica)

A Billionaire Dinosaur Forced Me Gay by Hunter Fox (the second book is set in space)

Jurassic Jane Eyre by Carrie Sessarego (this is exactly what you think it is, Jane Eyre travels back in time to the Jurassic period)

And many, many more. Most with ridiculous, overt, pun-filled titles. I can’t say I’d recommend any of these books but they do serve as a fun tidbit to share at parties when the conversation lulls.

I do have to give a special shout-out of to Smart Bitches Trashy Books for first introducing me to dinosaur erotica. My life has never been the same.

 

The Art of Adulting

I have been working on the art of being an adult. What does being an adult even mean? To me it means autonomy, taking responsibility, and paying a lot of bills.

In some ways I’m doing a fine job of adulting. I pay my bills (mostly on time), make my own decisions (after much consultation), and cook my own meals (occasionally). I still, however, do not have a washer or dryer and cart my laundry to my parent’s house every few weeks. I sleep on a futon and ignore my dirty dishes until I can’t use the sink faucet. So I’d say it’s about 50/50 right now. I may act like an adult but I live like a college student. And you know what? Right now, it works for me.

Note: This piece was originally published in April but, due to user error, it showed up as a page rather than a post. The author would like you to know, she no longer sleeps on a futon. She now has a mattress on the floor.

Summer?

The calendar may say July but I still hear people talking about what they’ll do when summer starts. Probably because it’s cold. The air’s cold, the bay’s cold, and I’ve only worn shorts once. Yet we carry on with our summer adventures because we’re northern  Michiganders! It’s what we do.

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Photos – beach sunset, pet sitting beach day with Lily the dog, on a walk with Harry the dog, and wine tasting at Willow Vineyards

RT – The Photo Edition

tamora

 

Tamora Pierce and I, hanging out in the bar, talking about Alanna!

 

meg

 

Meg Cabot and I at her Princess Diaries Fan Party.

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My advance copy of the last Princess Diaries book that I won in a raffle.

steampunk

 

My fellow aspiring authors and I, all dressed up and ready for the Steampunk Party.

 

fascinator

 

My handmade fascinator from the Flaunt Your Fascinator party with the lovely hostess, Eloisa James.

 

 

books

Just part of my brand new book collection! The rest arrived in the mail yesterday and it was a perfect early birthday present. Now I need to see about getting a second bookshelf to fit all my new acquisitions.

RT Top Ten

Top Ten RT Booklovers Convention Moments (in no particular order)

1. Making a new friend on the shuttle from the airport. This then led to making many more new friends. By Wednesday we’d formed a posse. By Friday we made plans to all come back next year!

2. On Saturday I was walking through the bar when I happened upon Tamora Pierce, sitting alone and reading. I was all ready to keep going but my friend stopped me and persuaded me to ask for a photo with her. I am so glad I did. She told me about her process writing Alanna and her early days of trying to get published.

3. As I sat in the bar on Friday night, wearing my Princess Diaries tiara, I saw Meg Cabot. She noticed me too, called me a princess, and gave me a royal, princess wave.

4. Erica O’Rourke, a published author I met at the RWA Chicago North Spring Fling conference last year, offered to help me reach my goal of pitching a finished manuscript at next year’s conference. She said she’d be running registration the first night and would ask to see my book.

5. In one of the panels, an author made a careless comment that was potentially insulting to many of the audience members. Cherry Adair called her out on it and masterfully defended not only her own writing but that of all the writers everywhere.

6. Many of the panels surprised me by how good they were. In particular, the panel on writing LGBTQ characters and the BDSM panel blew me away. I heard from authors who were passionate and knowledgeable about their genre and their craft.

7. Heather Graham’s supernatural western party was fun, campy, and highly entertaining. I especially loved it when a little girl in a tutu and rain boots won the costume contest.

8. The comedy panel was everything I wanted and more. If I can write anything even half as funny as the women on that panel, I’ll be doing well. Any of their books I haven’t read yet are shooting to the top of my TBR list.

9. Being the crafty gal I am, I couldn’t resist making fascinators with Eloisa James. It was a delightful hour filled with ribbons, glitter, fake flowers, tulle, and historical romance authors!

10. I spent another spectacular hour with my favorite bloggers, the women from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, knitting and talking about Outlander. A knitting book chat with my favorite snarky bloggers? It honestly doesn’t get better than that.

#RT15

This week I’m writing from the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Dallas, TX. I love conferences. They are full of creative, introverted, weird, wild writers seeking support, inspiration, and new knowledge of their craft. Upon my return, I fully intend to write a top 10 list of my favorite moments this week. In the meantime, here’s a teaser:

Yesterday, I fan girled out (as we at RT are calling it). I was able to see one of my absolute favorite authors, the humorous and sensationally talented, Tamora Pierce. She was everything I didn’t expect and more. And yes, folks, I brought my well worn copy of Alanna from home and I WILL get her to sign it!

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Thank you to Tamora Pierce for this unsolicited photo I took at the panel.

Library Book Sale

I love book sales. I live for book sales. Last weekend I went to the local public library sale. I got out with only 5 books and they were all ones I was already going to read. I know, I can hardly believe it myself.

I’ve been meaning to post photos on here so here we go, this is my hull from last week:

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Processed with VSCOcam with m3 preset

When The Internet Seems Unhelpful

I haven’t been on my schedule lately because, as with most people, a holiday, even one you only sorta celebrate, brings a whole lot.  A whole lot of people, food, board games, social outings, talking, hiking, and drinking.

This is just a pop in to say that when the internet seems unhelpful or unfriendly or full of terrible comments and ads, I like to read the Chicago Writer’s Conference Facebook page.  Whoever they have running it is a beautiful curator of writing and reading related information.  I am so glad I found their conference by chance and continue to be apart of their goings on.

https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoWritersConference