bookmark_borderPress Release

From Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Regal Crest Enterprises is happy to announce the acquisition of “Butch Girls Can Fix Anything”, a novel by Paula Offutt.

“Butch Girls Can Fix Anything” is a lesbian romance set in the fictional town of High Pond, NC. It follows three females as they learn not only about the others, but about themselves. Kelly Walker can fix anything-except herself. Grace Owens seeks a stable community of friends for herself and her daughter. Lucy Owens wants help her with fourth-grade math. As their stories unfold, each must deal with her own version of trust, of risks, and of what makes someone strong.

“Butch Girls Can Fix Anything” will be released in the Yellow Rose line, Regal Crest Enterprise’s lesbian romance imprint, with a tentative date of February 05, 2007.

About joining the RCE team, Paula says “This is just the beginning of what I hope will be a wonderful, long relationship with Regal Crest.” RCE is extremely pleased to have Paula join us and we believe this will be the first of many great books from this talented author.

Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC

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Like, wow. Isn’t this freakin’ great?? I’m going to be a book-published author! I’ve been on a high for a week now. I’d be all calm then it’d hit me again like a cattle prod.

bookmark_borderEnd of an Era?

Widow of Martin Luther King dies

Coretta Scott King, the widow of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King, has died aged 78.

Mrs King had carried on her husband’s work for racial equality after he was assassinated in 1968.

She fought successfully for a national holiday in memory of him and founded The King Center in Atlanta to preserve his legacy….

News of the mother of four’s death was reported by former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young to US network NBC television.

Mr Young, also a civil rights campaigner, said Mrs King had died in her sleep on Monday night. Mrs King had been in poor health in recent years.

She suffered a serious stroke and heart attack in 2005, and earlier this month missed the public marking of her husband’s birthday for the first time in two decades.

(full story)

bookmark_borderMore On Time

I am over at Wikipedia, looking up time stuff–in particular circadian rhythms. The science of studying circadian rhythms is called Chronobiology or Chronomics.

The University of Virginia has an interesting section called Biological Timing Tutorial, in addition to a decent glossary of time/circadian terms.

Another term used is biorhythm although there are skeptics who say it is not a science but a pseudoscience.

I am not a morning person. I am more of a night owl. My most creative time period is from 4-6pm until at least 1am. I also do not like sunlight. I wear sunglasses even when it is raining (I am of the opinion diffused lighting is worse than non-diffused). I also have sleep apnea, but I don’t see how that could be related to my night-owl-ness since I can snore loud enough to rattle windows no matter where the sun is.

What has always bothered me is that everyone is so concerned with getting the circadian rhythm reset either through light therapy or other means. Insomnia is a greater concern, true, but what if I get my 8 hrs in the day time? Not much can be found about night owls. I am still looking.

(as an aside, the Skeptic’s Dictionary has an entry for alien abduction. Not sure if I want to read it or not tho) 😉

bookmark_borderAlien Abduction

Last night, I went to bed the same day I got up. Very rare for me.

Then I slept 12.5 hrs. Another rarity considering the dogs.

I think I’ve been abducted by aliens and one of them was crazy enough to try and take control over my body.

bookmark_borderTime In a Bottle

If I could put time in a bottle
I’d spend every moment with you…

(or something like that)

When writing, time is important, at least to me as a writer. I sometimes get hung up on it, trying to keep track of the days of the weeks and the months and the seasons and… When I read, I do the same thing. If it was Friday night in the last chapter, it better be Saturday when they wake up the next morning.

In BG1, most of it takes place in the late fall through winter. The follow season or two are much faster. Which means I had to correctly place the holidays and make sure they put on coats. Since it was winter, the days are shorter so there would be less time for outdoor activities. In BG2, it is mostly late spring through winter. Hotter’n heck. So when they dress up to go out to dinner, they won’t be wearing turtlenecks.

I try to not mention time since that means I would need to keep track of it. Readers want to get lost in your story and little things like time will pull them out.

But time has to be mentioned, else there is no base, no foundation. If they go outside with jackets on, will they smell the flowers from the hanging planters on the porch? If they sit on the back porch and watch the sunset, then they’d see the sunrise from the front porch.

I am blah blah-ing about this because I am fussing at myself.

Writer, heal thyself? No, Writer Plot Thyself?

bookmark_borderWhat a Ride

Now, I admit, I am out of some of the loops. I am not all that familiar with the more on-the-edge rock groups and grunge and most certainly know very little about rap.

Apparently there is a thing called ‘crowd-surfing’. What this is is when someone is carried across the crowd, over the crowds’ head. Never knew there was a name for it.

Check this out:

photo of an outdoor rock concert from the view point of the band. the crowd is holding a man in a manual wheelchair and passing him around up over their heads.

Now, I am all for inclusion and I reckon in the crowd, that’s the only way he could see any of the band. And, after all, they lowered that one guy through the roof on a pallet.

I came across this at WheelchairJunkie’s forum. Someone said they’d have to try it, what’s the worst that can happen. Someone replied with this:

photo of a rock concert with the view from the audience. the crowd has tried to pass someone in a wheelchair over their heads but it looks as if the person, and the chair, is about to be dropped.

Hey, like I said, I’m all for inclusion.

Sources:
WheelchairJunkie thread
WCJ original of the first image
WCJ photo album
ConsumptionJunction, the original source for the second image

bookmark_borderWriters’ Real Life

I have several on-line friends who are writers.

There’s Sophia, who recently got married.

Then there’s Erin, who is a new mom.

And there’s Heather (aka Kaitiana) who is also a new mom.

And there’s Jess (aka Irysangel), who is like me, just lucky to remember recent events. 😀

At any rate, I caught Heather/Kait in the Forward Motion chat room tonight and we got caught up. I’m putting up an image page of her, the husband, and the alien.

I need to poke around in my bookmarks and find those for Erin, Brian and Ender.

bookmark_borderGay Rights

From MyWay News:

Washington State OKs Gay Civil Rights Law

By RACHEL LA CORTE

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – Before he died of AIDS, the state’s first openly gay lawmaker asked a friend for a promise: that he would keep working on gay civil rights legislation. That was more than a decade ago. Now, the legislation Cal Anderson championed, 30 years in the making, is about to become law.

“I remember the day that Cal told me he didn’t have much longer to live,” said Rep. Ed Murray, a Seattle Democrat and one of four openly gay lawmakers now in the Legislature. “One of the things he asked was if I would continue work on this bill.”

On Friday, the Senate passed the legislation 25-23, with a lone Republican joining Democrats in voting in favor. The House approved it 61-37, and Democratic Gov. Christine Groggier said she would sign it Tuesday.

(full story)

Slowly this nation is realizing that discrimination in any format is wrong. Punishing people simply for who they choose to love is so very wrong. As for religion, Jesus the Christ was a liberal by every definition of the word. He hung out with the social outcasts. He got pissed at people making money in the name of God.

From Stonewall to now, the fight will continue until freedom is for all people.

bookmark_borderRemembering

From MyWay News:

Challenger Crew Families Mark Anniversary

By MIKE SCHNEIDER

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – The widow of Challenger’s commander laid a wreath of roses and carnations at a memorial honoring fallen astronauts Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the day the space shuttle lifted off from a launch pad a few miles away and blew apart 73 seconds later.

June Scobee Rodgers, whose husband Dick Scobee was the shuttle’s commander, recalled waiting for the launch that chilly morning with other family members of the crew, including 12 children.

“Our lives were shattered, but over the years that followed the families persevered with tremendous success,” Rodgers said. “I believe those parents launched aboard Challenger would be proud of their children.”

Seven astronauts died in the explosion, and the images of the shuttle bursting apart were replayed over and over to a shocked nation.

(full story)

Can you believe it has been 20 years? Where were you when it happened?

I was in college, at an early morning class. We were expecting snow so I had a small radio with me and a headset. I went to the professor and handed him the headset, shocked.

bookmark_borderWatched Pot…

Amazing what happens when you just leave something alone and let it settle.

Like, Lorna makes this Pennsylvania Dutch thing called an “Abee Cake” or something like that. It gets better the older it is. I’d call it a coffee cake I guess.

Chili is like that too. I think it is better the next day than the first.

I’ve left BG2 alone for a while, letting it stew, getting BG1 out of my mind. I opened it up today and I’ve like what I’ve read so far. I’m not changing much, just correction some errors and loosening up the dialogue.

I think I’ll stick with the current plot and just write it from where ever I feel it got lost.