05/3/12
by DT Tarkus
Watching a television show recently, the character said something that resonated with me. “God gave us words. It’s our job to put wings on them.” It prompted me on Thoughtful Thursday to consider a follow-up to an earlier BIOTM post, Three Dimensional Senses (2/29/2012).
05/2/12
Here in Louisiana, the end of April means one thing: The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Lucky ticket holders can be certain they will be treated to great food, sunny weather (usually), crafts, and stellar entertainment including, but not limited to, the music. That’s right. Festivals mean…drumroll, please… Festival People. You know the ones, folks who march to a different drummer, who embrace an inner need to shine. They are the ones standing out in the crowd, that grab everyone’s attention particularly in the mile long line of celebrants waiting their turn in the odiferous Port ‘o Johns.
05/1/12
by Hope Ramsay
It’s Tuesday and I’m supposed to be writing something about a great book or movie, but my plans for this blog were suddenly changed this weekend when Aunt Frances died.
Let me tell you a little bit about Frances. She was 96 years old when she passed away in her sleep. She was nearly blind, but her mind was still as sharp as a tack. Frances is my husband’s aunt, but she and I hit it off almost from the moment I met her back in 1977. Read the rest of this entry »
04/30/12
Yes, it’s me. Carla, the absentee blogger. I didn’t fall off the face of the earth, though I have to admit, I can’t say it’s for lack of trying.
To say my life has been somewhat crazy could be considered by some to be an understatement. Five months ago my husband of eight years told me, “We need to talk.” We didn’t talk a lot before that, not about matters close to us. It was too uncomfortable, so we’d kind of gotten used to living in a state of parallel existence. I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. Just, not that day.
Two weeks later he moved into his own apartment, leaving me with two teenagers from my first marriage, a house, three cats, and no clue what the hell I was going to do with the rest of my life. It didn’t help that I had no clue what I’d done to deserve this. Being told, “It’s not you, it’s me” didn’t explain a lot, nor did it do much for my self esteem. Clearly I wasn’t worth working it out, right? (Don’t answer that. It’s a rhetorical question.) Read the rest of this entry »
04/27/12
A New York Times bestseller many times over, Eloisa James writes historical romance for Harper Collins. A reviewer from USA Today wrote of Eloisa’s very first book that she “found herself devouring the book like a dieter with a Hershey bar”; later People Magazine raved that “romance writing does not get much better than this.” Eloisa wrote her first novel after graduating from Harvard, but alas, it was rejected by every possible publisher. After she got an 
M.Phil. from Oxford, a Ph.D. from Yale, and a job as a Shakespeare professor, she tried again, with much greater success. Currently she teaches Shakespeare in the English Department at Fordham University in New York City. She’s also the mother of two children and, in a particularly delicious irony for a romance writer, is married to a genuine Italian knight.
We’re very pleased to have Eloisa visiting today to discuss her delightful memoir, Paris in Love. Here’s a short blurb about the book:
In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, 
chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog).
Paris in Love invites the reader into the life of a most enchanting family, framed by la ville de l’amour.
Welcome to Blame It on the Muse, Eloisa! We really appreciate you taking the time to be with us today, particularly, since you’re in the middle of a book tour. So without further ado,
What was it about Paris that you loved the most? Was it the food, the shopping, the people, or something more intangible? Read the rest of this entry »
04/26/12
Hissy Fits are Part of the Process
In my last blogpost I wrote about process and watching Tiger Woods go through his to return to championship form. Hopes were high for Tiger at the Masters. Well, not only did he finish 40th overall, he threw what my family calls a “hissy fit.”
I wasn’t watching, but it’s been widely reported “he drop-kicked a nine iron,” or “had a meltdown.” A letter to the editor I saw in USA Today demanded ”something be done” about Tiger.
Glad I’m a writer. At least when I throw a “hissy fit” it happens in private. Although I haven’t drop-kicked my iPAD yet, I’ve been tempted. And let’s not talk about the number of pages I’ve balled up and tossed in the trash after reading them two-days later and deciding they’re total drivel instead of the glowing prose I thought I’d written. Or the chocolate and wine breaks I take when the words won’t flow.
04/25/12
by DT Tarkus
Now that I have your attention …
It’s wacky Wednesday and nothing comes wackier than chocolate covered bacon. I consider myself an affectionado of a food item that along with flour, beans and brown sugar, kept people alive when they wagon-ho’d to the Wild West. You could say our country was founded on bacon. It’s a national treasure, like the bald eagle.
04/24/12
Earlier this month, I betook myself to my first ever Romantic Times convention, an event that focuses on readers, though authors and romance publishing industry professionals are much in evidence too.
So are romance cover models. In years past, the Cavemen from Ellora’s Cave, and other fellows vied for the title of Mr. Romance. That competition was absent this year, perhaps because the traditional sponsor, Dorchester, is no longer with us. Read the rest of this entry »
04/23/12
If Zoo Animals Wrote Books or, My Muse is on Crack
I’m definitely blaming this one on my muse. I’d been missing her (my certifiable little muse) for a few weeks a while ago and hadn’t really done anything to locate her except whine. One day, in the middle of all this, DH and I headed for the zoo. This had nothing on the surface to do with Her, but once on the zoo grounds I kept having these envious thoughts: You lucky buggers (aka, animals), you don’t have to figure out what comes next in your story.
Bingo, Little Miss Muse-thing shows up and asks, “What kinds of stories do you think the animals would write?” (Sure, of course, she waltzes on back when I don’t need her. Typical.) I can’t explain what happened next, but I think my Muse had been, as the kids say, smoking crack. Check this out—Miss Muse’s suggestions for zoo animal plots.
Read the rest of this entry »
04/19/12
Thoughtful Thursday…It’s Not Fair!!!
I think they should rename this season, The Biggest Whiners. Sheesh. Did any of you see this week’s episode? If you didn’t, here’s a quick recap:
The show opened with the five remaining contestants saying they quit. They were upset because they’d just learned that all the eliminated contestants would be returning with a chance to win a spot in the finale. The remaining contestants said it wasn’t fair; those who’d stayed on The Biggest Loser Ranch had to endure the hours of training, the grueling challenges. Read the rest of this entry »
