I was hoping not to do this, but I have to. My book is due in 8 days and I just don’t have the time or the energy to blog, too. So the blog is on hiatus until Wednesday July 2nd.
Archive for June, 2008
Hiatus
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Patience Pays Off!
Saturday, June 21st, 2008Whoo hoo! There was a movie I saw on late night cable like forever ago that I didn’t record and then kicked myself ever since because it was never released–not on tape, not on DVD. It’s called Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains and stars Diane Lane and Laura Dern as well as some guys from bands. It’s not the best movie in the world–that’s why I opted not to record it at the time–but something about it captured my imagination.
I’ve made several searches online, looking for a copy I could buy. Amazon had a listing, but with a link to “email me when it’s available,” not a “buy” button. I clicked it and waited. Nothing. Information I found said that the studio couldn’t get clearances on all the music in the movie and that’s why it couldn’t be released. I figured someone, somewhere had to have a copy. I searched harder and found a site that sold DVDs of movies taped from television and not available anywhere else. I debated, but thought there’s no way I’m giving these people my credit card number.
Finally this morning, years after I asked Amazon to notify me if the movie was available, I had a note in my inbox. Yes, it’s true. Patience is rewarded. The movie is scheduled to be for sale in September. I already reserved my copy.
I have no doubt that after all this, I will be hugely disappointed. How can it be anything else when I’ve spent so long looking for it? And I’m going by my memory of one viewing years ago, late at night. Oh, well. At least my quest will have ended and I can move on.
Reviewed by the Chicago Tribune!
Thursday, June 19th, 2008Sometimes insomnia pays off. :-) I was looking around the web tonight and I found an absolutely great review of In Twilight’s Shadow in the Chicago Tribune. It was published in the June 14th issue, so now I have to hope my relatives who subscribe to the paper didn’t throw it out yet. This is one for the scrapbook.
Here’s what the Tribune said:
Non-stop action, magic-laced suspense and some sizzling sexual chemistry fuel “In Twilight’s Shadow,” Patti O’Shea’s latest inventive paranormal romance.
Read the Full Review.
This morning was the first day the sprinkler system ran on its own. It was pretty slick and I’ll confess that I’m a big enough geek, that I was pretty excited by the whole thing. :-)
I also am coveting my mom’s peonies. They’re beautiful right now and we didn’t have a chance to split any out for me last year. We’re going to try again this year, but I bought two yellow plantings to put in the ground this fall. My mom doesn’t have yellow and this is a hybrid between the tree and the bush so it’s supposed have strong stems.
I then stumbled across this gorgeous amaryllis, and even though I already have two pots filled with six amaryllis, I am coveting this new plant. I even found it for a reasonable price in the wholesale catalog I received. You know, that makes me wonder, have I ordered so many flowers that nurseries believe I’m a landscaper? Yikes!
Adventures in Lawn Maintenance
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008I thought I might have a story to tell today and I was right. I decided last summer to get an in-ground sprinkler system installed in my yard. This way I know my flowers will get enough water and I can start to work on making my grass look better. It did not come out of last year’s draught in good shape at all. I’d hoped it would come back this year, but it did not.
So today was the big day my system was set to be installed. My dad as usual was acting as construction supervisor. They were originally supposed to come in the afternoon and be finished around 5pm, but the company called on Monday and asked to start in the morning. They’d send a technician back at 3pm when I got home from work to run through the control box with me. I’m thinking, how hard can this box be? And I think I can figure out the instruction book, but whatever. My dad wanted me there for the box run-through.
There I am at work, frantically running around, trying to do six million things that managed to pile up on my desk, and the phone rings. I never like it when the first thing I hear is, “The good news is….” Okay, so what’s the bad news.
Despite the fact that all the utility lines going into the house were marked, the guy managed to sever the cable and phone lines. Apparently, he got just a little too close. When my dad reported in, he’d already called the cable company and they couldn’t come out until Wednesday–before 1pm they promised. That means no baseball on while I write! That means no e-mail or internet! He’d taken out the primary (cable) and back up (phone line for dial up) internet systems.
I didn’t expect to still see the guys there working when I got home, but they weren’t quite done yet. And they patched up the break with tape so that I can have cable until Comcast can get out here and repair the line. The phone guy showed up around 4:30 and that’s fixed.
So I am online and I do have baseball (even though the Cubs are losing as I write this), but the patch slipped once before the crew left, so the possibility is still there that I could lose it again. The guy said he only misjudges and cuts a line about once a year. Gee, great, it’s my house that gets the yearly boo-boo.
I hope I love the sprinkler system after all this.
Much About Little
Sunday, June 15th, 2008Sometime yesterday my brain shut down and it never rebooted itself. I’ve been pushing it all day without much success and this blog entry is one more thing that it can’t seem to get it moving on. For around an hour and a half, I’ve been sitting here with this window open, trying to think of what to say.
Not much is going on in my garden right now. I had to cut down the allium flowers because they were going to seed, and while the columbine is blooming, nothing else is. I suppose I could report that my tree lilies are coming up (6 of the 
or that the tree peony seems to have survived being broken during that storm we had a week or two ago. But that pretty much hits the highlights in a couple of sentences.
I haven’t seen a movie in about forever, haven’t read a book in longer than that, and I’m not even getting loop email because I went no mail on all my Yahoo Groups. I could probably manage to talk for a few paragraphs about the weather–I am from Minnesota after all–but most people outside of the Midwest don’t find weather to be as interesting as we do.
So where does that leave me? Without a topic. Maybe once my brain starts working again.
Free Book!
Friday, June 13th, 2008For those of you who’ve wanted to try one of my books or if you’re someone who’d like a digital copy of In the Midnight Hour, head over to Tor.com and register. Every Friday they send out an email with a link for a free ebook. Next week is Midnight Hour. It’ll give you a chance to read one of my stories and get to know my writing.
We had another pounding rain storm go through on Wednesday night, but luckily, the garden survived with no new damage. The leaves from the flowers that had been flattened with the first storm were flattened again, but I’m not sure it matters at this point.
I also did a recon on the tree peony and there appears to be growth beneath the point where it broke after the previous storm. With a little luck, next spring there will be a new flower. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.
It’s a stunningly beautiful day here. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and there’s a pleasant breeze. Perfect weather for sitting out on the deck, sipping coffee and vegging out. I, of course, will be inside writing. 
School on an MP3 Player
Thursday, June 12th, 2008I had a really cool discovery this week–iTunes has university classes and lectures available for free! I love learning new things and have a wide variety of interests, but I don’t have time to indulge them by going back to college, and to be honest, I’m way too lazy to return to homework and papers. Been there, done that.
These university classes, though, seem like an ideal way to get the education without spending the money, taking a test, or worrying about school deadlines. Heck, I have enough writing deadlines to worry about. I already have a degree, so it’s not like I’m looking for the credits from attending anyway. I already downloaded a class on the Roman Empire. I can’t listen to it right now, but it’s on my iMac, waiting for me.
The other cool thing is that I can hear lectures from universities I never considered attending–Yale, Stanford, UC Berkley, to name a few.
Okay, I’m sounding like a commercial. I don’t mean to, especially since I haven’t listened to a single file yet, but I didn’t know this existed, so I thought maybe others didn’t either. One of the really cool things I noticed is that they have lectures on topics I could use for research. Some of them actually touch on components that are in synopses that I’ve already written, but haven’t sold yet. See? It is a writing topic. 
One drawback, I think, is that if you don’t have an iPod (and I don’t), you have to listen to it on the computer. Since I have a really hard time staying tethered that long unless I’m writing, I don’t know how that’s going to work out for me. I guess I’ll see once I have some free time again.
Shark Encounter
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008Mother Nature’s Wrath
Monday, June 9th, 2008I posted my beautiful peony pictures at the end of last week and that might be the only flower that tree ever produces. Thursday, late in the afternoon and into early evening, a storm rolled through. It brought torrential rain and strong winds. All my flowers took a beating. The foliage from the allium plants were beaten to the ground, some of my little bluish-purple flowers were on the ground, and even the lilac bushes next door looked beaten by the time I got home from work Friday afternoon.
I went out and checked the tree peony on Saturday. I didn’t think it was a positive sign that the flower which had been facing southwest was now facing northeast. I was right. It’s broken. If it had broken higher up on the stem/trunk, I would be more optimistic, but it snapped less than 3/4″ from the ground. I think that’s too low for it to recover. I just feel sick about it.
So far, I’ve left it alone and I guess I won’t touch it at all, hoping that somehow it can recover by itself. I’m not all that hopeful, but miracles happen. At least I had one flower and I got out there to take pictures of it.
BTW, for anyone who’s interested Giveaway of the Day has book inventory software available today. I have not downloaded this software myself and I’ve never used this program, so I’m not endorsing it, but if you’re looking for a way to keep track of your books, this is free for Monday. It’s worth checking out at least.
Flower Time
Thursday, June 5th, 2008I have to share pictures of my tree peony–it finally bloomed! It looked awful when I covered it last fall and I didn’t expect it to survive, so this single flower is a huge deal!
This is Tuesday:
And this is Wednesday:
It’s a good thing I got pictures right away. It poured here this afternoon and evening, and from the window, the peony didn’t look too good. 
