I’m at that place in the book I’m working on. You know, that place. The moment when the hero and heroine, who’ve been sparring and sparking for a good ten or eleven chapters, finally need to be together or they’ll both combust.

In many ways, I think this scene is the most important one in the book.  I know the characters are going to end up together, and the reader knows it, but now I need them to feel it. The reader needs to have a sense that these two people, whether they believe it yet or not, are meant for one another, and no other will do. At the same time, their story isn’t over yet. The hero and heroine have come together, but the building isn’t finished. I’ve got the bed, but I still need walls, a roof, a floor, and windows. And cement. Lots of cement.

The moment isn’t always the first sex scene, however. I was re-watching The Last of the Mohicans the other day, and I can tell you to the second when the hero and heroine have their moment. It’s when she asks, “What are you looking at, sir?” and he answers, “I’m looking at you, miss.” I still get goosebumps when I watch that scene, that moment when you know that whatever happens, those two are going to end up together.

Do you have a favorite book or movie moment, when you don’t just know but you feel that the hero and heroine belong together? Is there a movie where you just didn’t believe it, where the two characters were together because that’s what the script said, and not because they were meant to be that way?

34 Comments »

One of my favorite movies of all time is WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING. I love the themes — of the importance of family, how appearances aren’t everything, and how a pair of workboots can be drop dead sexy when they’re on the right man.

So today’s FROS is about both sexy men in that movie — Bill Pullman and Peter Gallagher!

Here’s a look at Bill with his endearing and oh-so-sexy smile:

Here’s another in case you need a little ‘bump’ this Sunday:

He’s just ADORABLE! I mean, look at those eyes and that smile! I know, I know … I keep mentioning the smile, but it slays me.

But there was another hot FROS in WYWS, and here he is:

Peter Gallagher is pain old hawt. Here’s another pic:

Now you can see why While You Were Sleeping is one of my faaaaavorite movies!

Enjoy your Holiday Teo-Fer FROS, m’dear!

14 Comments »

Hot Cop and I took his daughter and three of her friends to see New Moon last night and we were treated to four tweens dressed in Team Edward and Team Jacob memorabilia who were in complete and utter ecstasy. I can say without hesitation that those chicas have big time Movie Crushes.

Their excited chatter made me remember my own enthusiasm when Star Wars came out and how I fell totally in love with Hans Solo. I didn’t have a Team Solo t-shirt, but only because they didn’t make them.

In recent years, I’ve developed a huge Movie Crush on Strider from Lord of the Rings … oh and have I mention Cap’n Jack from Pirates of the Caribbean?

Have you ever had a Movie Crush? Who was it? Did you buy a poster, t-shirt, or coffee mug in honor of them?

46 Comments »

True Story: Not long after Only Girl moved out, she received this email from someone in the family. I leave it for you to guess who wrote it.

Where have you been? Just because you’re in college now and not living at home doesn’t mean you’re not a part of this family. You are a part of a family and you are missed. What is going on with  you? Is everything alright? You need to come home and spend some time here. What about our family dinners? Do you think we don’t notice that you’re not here? You still have some obligation to us, to your family. I miss you. I just can’t believe you walked away and apparently aren’t coming back. Do you even think about us anymore? Do you remember that we love you? Don’t you care about us at all? You need to come home!

Signed:

Mom

Dad

Number One Son

Number Two Son

The Dog

The Cat

(Only kidding about the dog and cat, but only because they still haven’t learned how to use a computer.)

So who is the author? Did you ever get an ‘are you alive’ letter/phone call/email? Did you ever send one? What was it like when you left home for the first time? I’ll reveal the author at 6PM EST.

62 Comments »

Next week in the US, everyone will meet together to eat huge amounts of food and watch football.  This is called Thanksgiving.

Many will go around their table and ask their friends and/or relatives what they are thankful for.  What follows is usually the mention of big ticket items like jobs, family, health–all great things to be thankful for.

But today, I want us to be thankful for the little things.  For instance, my list of the little things in life that I am thankful for are:

1. Peanut M & Ms (or M&Ms with peanut butter, either way)

2. The sound of a loon drifting off the water

3. Flannel pajama bottoms

4. When little boy sweat smells like sunshine (haven’t smelled this in a while, but I remember it well)

5. Really good coffee (like Jamaican Blue Mountain)

6. A fan in the middle of a hot flash

Tell me, Goddesses, what little things are you thankful for?

76 Comments »

You may think that I am jumping the gun with a Christmas post, but I really am not. For me gift buying season is not only underway already, it is almost over. I have nail this down early because I have to mail the gifts. So right about now every year I get antsy and nervous, and hear time ticking.

My dream is to come up with clever gifts. Distinctive. Something the BIL will think is cool but he would  not have thought to buy himself. This is hard, and I have had more misses than hits over the years. Even the hits might have only been hits in MY mind. The giftees may have only been polite when they squeed over my brilliance. Despite my spotty success with this, I do try.

For example, one year I gave my siblings archival photograph albums. I bought them from a company that sells stuff to museums, and sent along a note to each sibling explaining that a selection of the best memories should be stored in this album for preservation for future generations. I was very pleased with myself that year. Who knows if they ever used them.

Years ago I tracked down a lap desk before it was even clear anyone made them. I watched DH writing on the couch, his paper on a book, and envisioned a lap desk. I did find one (they are easy to find now, but not then) and he did use it, so I felt quite pleased with myself. And last year I got my oldest son a fountain pen. He is a writer and journal keeper, and it struck me that he had probably never written with “real” pens and ink. I think he liked it. If not, at least I felt smugly clever.

So I am working on my list for this year now.  I will probably get one sister a soft ruana. DH bought me one a few years ago and I live in it in the house now during the winter.  It is cozy when needed and easy to cast off if the temperature rises. It can be worn over a coat if it is really cold outside. I think my sister will find its flexible warmth as appealing as I do.

Other than that, though, time is passing and I have no idea what gifts I will give. I have not had any “aha” moments when a great gift solution pops into my head. And since I have at best three weeks to do this now, I am looking to steal your ideas.

What was the most clever gift you have received? 

What gift have you given that was perfect for the giftee?

Have you seen anything in the stores recently and thought “That is cool. I’ll have to think of someone to give it to.” 

What is the oddest or funniest gift you have received?

What is on your “want” list this year? (I want a timer that does not make noise until it dings. I am going to use it to cut down on internet play time. Set the timer and when it dings, back to work! That is the theory at least.)

51 Comments »

I am a runner.

Well.  Not actually a runner, but someone with aspirations of being a real runner, of being the sort who wakes up early Saturday and thinks, Yeah, I think I will run that marathon this morning after all, and then does, and later, wears yoga pants everywhere because she looks so good in them.

That is my aspiration, but the reality is that I get out there and slog around the neighborhood, running four minutes, walking one, because if I don’t take those little walk breaks, I will pass out and they would find my lifeless, sweaty body sprawled by the mailboxes.  I never seem to improve my speed or distance, and while I can run more than four minutes at a time, I generally don’t, because it is so damn hard.  Real runners make it look so easy.

In many ways, writing is just as laborious as running for me.  I always start off great, but then I get to about page 100 and things bog down.  I don’t know how to get to where I am going, and it’s so hard I don’t even want to try.  I have written over twenty books, and this happens each and every time.  Writing is not easy for me.  It is really, really hard.

I think my true talent is perseverance.  Perseverance is what enables me to sit in my (new Steelcase ergonomic) chair day after day and stare at a blank computer screen.  It is what stays with me until I figure out where the book is going, or until I push through a chapter I’m stuck in and still have a very long way to go until the end. Perseverance is also what makes me get out and try and be a real runner several times a week.

I also have a talent for being stubborn, which is good when used in a proper setting and context.  I  am good at being the center of attention, even when I don’t want to be.  I have talent for putting aside petty differences and being an adult when the situation warrants.  Haha, kidding!   I don’t have that talent at all.

Everyone has hidden talents.  What are your obvious talents and your not-so-obvious talents?  Everyone probably has a list of talents they wish they had.  What talents do you wish you possessed?

52 Comments »