Marinated Publishing

You can't be anywhere in the reading/writing blogsphere and not be privvy to all the self-publishing love it - hate it conversations going on.

When I was a wee child of advanced years (heh), self pub is what a person did because their writing sucked. Self pubbed = can't write. In fact, maybe about 5 or 6 years ago, I mocked a fan fic writer for self pubbing a horrible story because well, the story was horrible and she admittedly was doing it to try and cash in on the fan angle of fan fic.

She didn't know how to write and she seemed rather straight-laced and her book tanked as well as it should. But then a few years later JA Konrath started passing out the Kool Aid and Amazon was handing out the Kindle candy and everything changed.

I wanted to follow the trad route to publication. I'm not a young woman and my dreams have been around a long time. I believed in publishing as that golden tower in New York where agents were dapper and book deals were discussed over martinis and borscht in the Russian Tea Room and it was something.

I wanted that.

So I wrote a little book and got a couple of epubbed offers and I signed with Lyrical because they seemed classy and it was a good choice. I had an amazing editor, Antonia Tiranth and the process was awesome.

Carolyn subbed a story too and joined Lyrical and it was way cool.

Then we subbed our book The Bodice Rippers everywhere and got the best rejection letters ever. Everyone loved it and no one would publish it. So I badly formatted it and we self-pubbed it.

Carolyn has pubbed 4 books with Lyrical. I've pubbed three books with Lyrical, one with Noble Romance, two short erotica with a press that folded and I've self pubbed three novellas and an anthology.

I've gotten really good at formatting. Lea's covers are so excellent that we're trying to launch her as her own business. Antonia, my original editor, is willing to freelance edit for us and so we've decided to be our own business.

MARINATED PUBLISHING

The Marinated is a joke because we (Carol, Lea and myself) met on a fan board for a musical group called Il Divo. Carol and I are fan of the bariton Carlos Marin so we claim we've been marinated.

This is Carlos by the way. He sings even better than he looks which means he's fucking amazing.

Anyway, last night I uploaded a well formatted file of Letters from Greece onto Createspace and Lea tweaked and tweaked the cover to perfection. The ebook is being released on July 9 by Lyrical but we'll be releasing the paperback through Marinated.

After this, we'll be publishing as Marinated only. We have a roster of four authors right now and a release schedule of three definate books and more on the pipeline.

I know I'm crazy excited. I've discovered that the journey of publishing changed in my head from one of being agented and sold to a New York house to one now of endess conversations with Lea about covers, constant tweaking with formatting and planning sessions with Carolyn.

Controlling the writing from the first germ of an idea to the finished product is amazing. I'm glad we decided to take this step.

Stuff and Nonsense

I should have stayed in bed this morning.

It began on the Amazon forums. That's a crazy ass amount of whack-a-doodling. Those people are so freaking nuts. It's like a troll graveyard except the damned trolls refuse to die.

But what got me this morning was someone created a thread pointing out what she thought was plaigarism and was pointed out to her was not. And then (this is the wtf-uckery) mentioned how Janet Dailey had been accused of plaigarizing La Nora because she she kinda copied a paragraph or two.

I'm sorry. Can we all WTF! that one together?

She stole 2 stories outright and was found guilty in our legal system.

Now over on DA they're talking about self-pubbed authors rewriting their books after they've been put up for sale.

Okay.... WTF?!?!?!?!

For sale means complete. Not I finished my first draft and I want to make money. But it might not be done. Or it might. Depends on what kind of feedback I get.

Seriously, my bed looks really good right now.

Some really crazy shit in my personal life which I won't go into.

But we got a dog. That's him in my bed. Under my blanket. On my pillow.

Good thing he doesn't drool. Even better thing: he's banned from my bed so my daughter, her dog and the two cats have all moved into my daughter's bedroom and I got my bed to myself. Yes, After 11 years, I got my bed to myself.

I am not lonely.

Carolyn is supposed to have a/c back today so I'm letting her out of the basement. Also I can't afford to feed her anymore. That woman goes through a shitload of sweet tea and chips.

And I have my book with an editor and I started on Book Two (I'm doing my first series) and I tossed the whole thing because I realized today that I have the wrong heroine. So back to the beginning.

I really should have stayed in bed this morning.

Meet Elle

Elle's Designs

Sometimes you just need a book cover. And if you're like me, you need a few.

So there's this woman named Elle (she's also known as Lea but that's a secret just between us). She makes pretty book covers. She made that one for me (book will be released in August).

She also made Caboodle's and Bodice and Gift and well, oodles of covers.

If you know someone who needs a little extra oomph with cover art, send them to our gal Elle.

Isn't that just a gorgeous fucking cover she made me?

In and Out Masterpiece

I have to share this. It made me laugh.

Completely foul so don't watch it at work or around small children.

Hot Tin Roof

Hey everyone!  :-D

I'm still in the basement because we've had no A/C for about a week now. So Lori's nefarious actions were really a blessing in disguise because her basement is cool and my guys bring me lots of fast food so I won't take it into my head to cook again. I think they want me to take up permanent residence.  Ha! I have too much fun messing with their minds.

My thermometer says it's 86.2°F in my computer room. Time to retire to the basement again. Sorry for not joining any parties going on, but you know how that is. I thought I'd acclimatizied to the deep south, but looks like I'm still Canadian after all. Not a bad thing to be at all, but not when it's 95° outside, is what I say.

Fare thee well until cooler weather ....

We Get Mail

Oh, our inboxes runneth over. It's amazing the amount of mail we get. So I thought today I might share some.

Most of the mail begins quite sweetly. My Beloved.... I am writing to you with tears in my eyes as I am the last living relative of Jezumbabwalah Brazneedeshwahalah who died in a fiery plane crash....

I rarely read beyond that because I know that the poor dear is just going to beg for an autographed copy of The Bodice Rippers and the post office has banned me from the place till October because of that little box 'o dildoes incident. It so wasn't my fault they weren't properly off.

Then there's the really complimentary ones....  Dear Lori Green..... do you want to lose that belly fat now?

I know they just want an autographed copy of The Bodice Rippers but since they've hurt my feelings by suggesting I lose Henry (I named my belly fat, haven't you?), well I just can't bare it.

My favorite emails come from my biggest fans: The McCullough family. Here's a rough sample:

Bitch! I contacted the police and they'll be at your door momentarily. If you don't let my mother out of your basement, heads will roll. And I don't mean that the fun way!!

Bitch! Let Carolyn go! I need my supper!

Bitch! The first round of edits is in your email. Love, Carolyn.

Makes me feel tingly inside.

And because I promised naked men earlier, here's some pics.

I'm giving nothing away to any commenters because nobody comments. I might let Carolyn out of the basement later but then again, I might not.

Writing, Like Sex, Is Not Always Best Done Alone

Sometimes they are best when done singly. Trust me, I know where my clitoris is.

But there are those times that a partner helps take you to that place you just can't get to by yourself. Which leads me to thinking about an article I read that the g-spot might not really exist but is part of that amazing iceberg clitoris we have that wraps around us and looks like a wishbone in some drawings. (And don't we all wish a man could find the damned thing?)

But despite my random meanderings, I just wanted to say that I talked to Carolyn today about an idea I had for the series I'm writing and she had some reservations which made me look carefully at the idea and refine it and now I have an even better idea and wow. Thanks Carolyn.

And I really need to get back to writing because my heroine just cold-cocked my hero and you know that's got to hurt. And somehow that makes me happy.

If nobody comments on this post by the time I get home tonight then I'm utting up the picture of the gangrenous penis I've been sending my spammers.

You are so warned.

Reviews: Love 'em, Hate 'em, Got 'em

Well we got a good review:

DeAubrey Digest

And we got a bad review:

Booked Up

However, this is Monday and it's raining and it's the last week of school before summer vacation.

The Stone Crow is officially released today and to celebrate, Once Bitten, Never Shy  is available as a free ebook on Amazon.

Comment on this post someone this week and a copy of my sex-bot story, Captain Caboodle's Oodles of Noodles is yours.

(Links are available on the post below because it's Monday morning and I need to get to work.) (And send me email addresses to send free books to. My email is LoriSusanGreen@gmail.com)

And a fun note: I posted earlier about all the scam emails I get from Craigslist jerk-offs. Well I downloaded the most disgusting picture ever of a gangrenous penis and everyone who spams me, gets the pic in reply. It's just what I do.

Happy Sunday: uh, and some promo stuff

I'm going to ignore the whole Father's Day thing considering my father was an absolute sociopath and so father's day leaves a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.

However, moving on....

The Stone Crow has its official release tomorrow Amazon, All Romance, B&N, Lyrical Press and to celebrate there will be a week long free book on Amazon starting tomorrow:

ONCE BITTEN,NEVER SHY

Once Bitten, Never Shy is six stories written by myself, Carolyn and Lea that are funny, sexy, and uh.... funny and sexy. Mostly mine. Really. My Snow White retelling is worth the price of the book. Yeah, that's right.

FREE.

Also, because next week will be shameless promo week to try and sell The Stone Crow (by me) and Mariposa (by Carolyn) and Captain Caboodle's Oodles of Noodles (by me again because I write more than Carolyn), we'll be giving away

FREE COPIES

of our titles as well as

ONCE BITTEN,NEVER SHY

because we're trying to bribe you to read us.

That's right. Shameless Promo Week.

Be here all week long as we give away books, share our sexual secrets, post naked pictures of male celebrities and

FREE BOOK ALL NEXT WEEK STARTING MONDAY

because we can.

THE STONE CROW: Behind the Story

When God, disgusted with man,
Turned towards heaven.
And man, disgusted with God,
Turned towards Eve,
Things looked like falling apart.

But Crow . . Crow
Crow nailed them together,
Nailing Heaven and earth together -

So man cried, but with God's voice.
And God bled, but with man's blood.

Then heaven and earth creaked at the joint
Which became gangrenous and stank -
A horror beyond redemption.

The agony did not diminish.

Man could not be man nor God God.

The agony

Grew.

Crow

Grinned

Crying: 'This is my Creation,'

Flying the black flag of himself.

from Crow by Ted Hughes

**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

I love poetry. Dark, sensual words that build dark, sensual worlds.

Crow by Ted Hughes is my all time, most beloved book of poems. To understand Crow is to immerse yourself in the journey of Creation told by a completely different point of view.

Crow has lived in my heart for years. And one day I sat down to write a story about a young woman who had a preacher father who stole souls and Crow came to visit. Lodging in my head and story he took flight.

The Stone Crow tells the story of Sara, beginning on the day that her personal saviour, Tiny,  a slow but angelic father figure dies. The god, Crow, appears and tells Sara that her real father is looking for her. Looking to reclaim the souls she stole from him. Looking to reclaim a promise of immortality from the dark god, Morningstar.

There is a triad of gods in my story: Yehuda who creates, Morningstar who destroys and Crow who walks between. All serve a purpose. Without dark, there can't be light. Without destruction, there can't be creation. And without balance, there would not be a world.

I loved writing this story for a number of reasons. Although it's darker than my usual fare, it was important to me to tell a story of violence and sexual abuse. I wanted to write the nightmare that Sara lived.

All my life I've wanted to tell the story of the angel in the corner. It's an important moment in Sara's life, a moment as her real father sexually abuses her where reality changed. It's a moment that happened to me at the same age as Sara in the same circumstances.

In Sara's world horrific things happen yet still there's the promise of light. Another important theme in my life. As profane and snarky and dirty as I am, my belief in Yehuda is strong and important.

And there lays the story of Sara. Living a life filled with violence and death, promised a glimpse of the light at the end of the world and living between discovering love and strength and her own pain and suffering.

A reviewer compared her story to that of Job's and it was a parallel that made me smile.

Available at B&N

Available at Amazon

Scams and Spams

This has nothing to do with books or writing...

I love Craigslist. For those of you not in the good old US of A, Craigslist is a website that is an old fashioned want ads. Every city has one and it's an awesome site.

From Craigslist I have bought my roll top desk, $30., three gorgeous flower paintings for my bedroom $75 and my milk glass chandalier $30. I've gotten more than that and I've also sold some things. We sold Mollie's old Barbie doll house for $50, her old DS for $70. We found a home for our suicidal turtle and I found my current job on Craigslist.

Obviously I use it a lot.

And just as obviously there are a million scammers on Craigslist. The most common are those who write and say they want to buy your item and then want to send a money order or paypal payment and have you ship the item. Of course both methods of payment are bogus so the money doesn't arrive (as in the paypal scam) or it's a bogus Western Union or check or whatever so you have to repay your bank and you're out of your item and the shipping fees.

The newest is now porn spammers and they're driving me crazy.

I have a ring listed on CL. So someone sends me an email (because the original emails are anonymous) asking if the item is still available. I reply and say yes. Now they have y email address. And now I'm receiving between 5 - 10 emails daily from different hotmail accounts trying to get me to sign up on different porn sites because my CL ad makes me sound hot (I guess if chubby fingers is your thing...)

Anyway, it has me considering not posting on CL anymore because the spammers have just become too much. I used to email them back and be rude but now I delete and get annoyed.

Damn it.

The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St James

A Canadian friend of mine recommended this book and then DA did an author interview and I knew it was destiny. I was meant to own this book.

My Canadian friend insisted the title should have been The Haunting BY Maddy Clare, because Maddy is the ghost. Connie's a librarian, so she should know. ;-)

The book description:

Sarah Piper's lonely, threadbare existence changes when her temporary agency sends her to assist a ghost hunter. Alistair Gellis-rich, handsome, scarred by World War I, and obsessed with ghosts- has been summoned to investigate the spirit of nineteen-year-old maid Maddy Clare, who is haunting the barn where she committed suicide. Since Maddy hated men in life, it is Sarah's task to confront her in death. Soon Sarah is caught up in a deperate struggle. For Maddy's ghost is real, she's angry, and she has powers that defy all reason. Can Sarah and Alistair's assistant, the rough, unsettling Matthew Ryder, discover who Maddy was, where she came from, and what is driving her desire for vengeance-before she destroys them all?

This was a thoroughly satisfactory read. Three lonely people, each of them damaged in different ways by the War, come together and despite the horrors they encounter, manage to resurrect their hope for the future and lay demons of the past to rest. Not all of the demons but as Alistair said, each man's war is different and affects him differently from any other.

Maddy is a dangerous entity, strong and vengful and capable of murder. This is without a doubt a horrific story. Yet the horror is counterbalanced by the very realistic love story. The juxtaposition of Sarah falling in love and Maddy's madness is horrific in itself. Maddy herself is haunted by her past and has no control over her emotions.

This is the author's first published work but it would be difficult to tell. The writing is fluid, the historical bits were correct as far as I could tell and I liked her voice. Sarah was a pleasure to read, a woman who had no hesitation, despite the time period and her upbringing, in getting physical with the man she loved. Her common sense and lack of hysteria made her a strong heroine and I rooted for her all the way.

I can't wait for Ms St James' next book.

Amazon

B&N

Kobo

(Could not find the book on ARe)

Captain Caboodle's Oodles of Noodles

Barnes & Noble

All Romance eBooks

Amazon

Finally, it's out there and for sale. Whew.

This was one of those books I started just to have some fun. And then I entered a little contest before it was done and the editor picked it as a finalist to get a read from an Ellora's Cave editor. So I finished it and sent it to the editor and never heard back.

It's true. It was sent to Ellora's Cave on Feb 1 and today is June 10 and I've still never heard from them.

My computer died in the meanwhile and the thumb drive that had all my writing disappeared. Lost in the great void. So I wrote EC and asked if they could send me a copy of my opus. They did with no mention of it's status.

So I hired an editor. I bought cover images and went to our amazing Lea who made that beautiful cover. (Wait till you see what else she's made. She's amazing!!!)

We buffed this baby and I HTML's myself into a coma.

And she's finally available for sale.

Why? Because it has an ordinary woman, a sex-bot and food. It's my fantasy life right there.

Captain Caboodle's Oodles of Noodles. It's just what I do.



Swoon Worthy Moments by Lea

I don’t want to state the obvious here but I’m a girl. Hardly newsworthy but what I can no longer deny is the fact that I am a ‘girly’ girl - seriously. You wouldn’t know it to look at me and of course I’ve been known to cuss like a sailor but deep down I’m just a big pile of goo.

I’ve always suspected of course (I cry at commercials or trailers for movies at the cinema) but it hit me earlier today when I was watching an episode of the Practice. All it took was three little words. And no, it wasn’t ‘I love you’, it was ‘I’ll take it’. Let me set the scene.

Violet has started sleeping with a younger man (Scott) after she and her hubby separated. They didn’t do IT straight off, just kinda hung out together for a bit first. Anyway, in TV land time, they’ve been at it a while and she’s loving the freedom of sex without commitment etc. He on the other hand has decided that he would like to start to bond with her son, have her meet his friends etc.

Throughout the hour she’s obviously thinking about this and after spending a night with her son and husband she goes to see Scott and tell him the truth – she’s in it for the hot, mind blowing sex and that’s it (paraphrasing here lol), she then says it’s either sex or nothing. That’s when he says ‘I’ll take it’.

**Swoon**

Sure, it’s probably not going to end with a walk down the aisle and kids but in that moment, I was just all gooey and girly. Especially so because in an earlier episode, before they had slept together, Violet had been beaten and gone around to his place and he said words to the effect of they didn’t have to sleep together or anything but he would be there for her, for whatever she needed. He had me at that line.

Whilst neither line was a declaration of love, just the way they were spoken and in the context of the scene around it, I found them both to be romantic. It got me to thinking then about other lines, be it in movies, books, or even real life that are swoon worthy.

Sure, there is the obvious ‘you complete me’ or ‘you had me at hello’, but how many more have there been? I suspect, for me at least, that it doesn’t always have to be a romantical line or even said in a romantic setting. Something like ‘Nobody puts Baby in the corner’ will do.

How about songs? The only song I like by the Doors is ‘Hello, I love, won’t you tell me your name’. I get a total kick out of that. Hmm, it might even make a nice story... lol.

Because I have a mind like a sieve, I’ve completely forgotten the other quotes I wanted to use, but they were good – trust me J  So, who out there has more suggestions? I know the Old Farts did a post not long ago (April 28) about using gestures to say I love you, rather than words. What about ways to say it, without saying it?

The Stranger

I try never to catch the early bus since all the seats are taken by the time I arrive. I hate having to stand, my feet hurt at the end of the day and trying to stay balanced as the bus hightails down the highway is a pain in the butt.

Today was one of those days. I got off fifteen minutes early and a small voice in the back of my head urged me not to rush. I would have been happy not making the bus but despite my lack of trying, I arrived just as the bus did and as usual, I was the last to board.

Thankfully I was able to stand by the back door and not crowd between seats. It wasn't so bad since I could hold onto the door handle and with my other hand brace myself on the metal balustrade. I was only carrying a purse so there was nothing to weigh me down.

I was surprised to discover that standing next to the door also provided a small amount of pleasure in having air blowing around me. As I was wearing a dress, there was a nice sensation in having small whispers of air blowing up my skirt and cooling my legs.

I wasn't able to take my Kindle out and read since I didn't want to lose my footing if the bus suddenly slowed so I just stood there and watched the cars that we moved past. Since the door is all glass, it felt almost like a special tour just for me. I could get full views of vehicles and their drivers and feel almost like a voyeur in the middle of Seattle.

We approached a white truck and it took me a moment to recognize that the sight changed. The driver had his elbow in the open window and as we neared him, the arm was a complete sleeve tattoo which was bright and different than any of the other commuters I'd seen. I was fascinated by him and when we came abreast I wasn't displeased to see he had long, dark hair that he wore loose, an eyebrow piercing and a small beard.

The truck was older and well used while the driver was young and possibly less used than the impression he tried to make. I immediately started to write stories in my head about the driver, a sad pasttime of most writers, so I was surprised when I recognized that the truck and driver were still in my view.

I was even more surprised that he glanced over at me. Apparently just as I was having my interest piqued by this stranger, his was also being tapped. We actually looked at each other, me on a crowded bus and him in his old white truck.

I don't know how long we would have kept it up but the bus needed to change lanes and the flow of traffic demanded acquiescence.

I know there's a story there. But more, I knew there was also a connection that made little sense but happened all the same.

When Characters End

I've been writing a book that I've really enjoyed writing. It has a lot of smexing, family angst, Hollywood, a little more smexing and well, this is the most fun I've had writing since ages.

So I'm at 50,000+ words and the hero is taking the heroine to the gym so they can have a workout. No smexing, actual grunt and sweat work out. he reason I'm doing this is because I saw an awesome video of my imaginary boyfriend working out and he was flipping a 500 pound semi tire back and forth. And I was impressed.

So I want my heroine to be impressed too. After all, a 500 pound semi tire is not generally something that one usually sees a man flipping around.

But then I was wondering if I was adding it too late to the story. After all, I've had all the angst and now I'm going to start working on the resolutions and developing more character musculature mght be a bit much.

I'll be adding that today. I'm betting that Carolyn tells me to take it out. We'll see.

Does anyone think that characterizations are only a beginning of the book thing? I'm finding my characters are still developing and the book is more than half done.

Go visit Carolyn at Nerine Dorman's blog. She's talking about dragons, inspiration and why mountains don't make her think of sex.

Really. They don't.

Carolyn Not Talking About Sex

A Tale of Two Views

I was reading a review thread the other day. The book under review was Nalini Singh's newest, Tangle of Need. 

Tangle of Need

(OMG- on a side note, this new Blogger makes it so easy to do links!! Bless you Blogger, bless you.)

Someone posted that Singh tells more than shows, which sort of shocked me at first. Then I thought - so what if she does?

I don't have distinct memories of the Psy/Changling books (which makes re-reading them even better). All I remember is enjoying every last one.

I've never understood why 'telling' is such a sin. After all, writers are supposed to be storytellers and that art started out as an oral tradition which involves much more telling than showing. Imagine the props!

I'm all for understanding a character, I really am, but I don't need to know their every last thought. I don't need to have them lust voraciously every damn time they see each other. I don't need a blow by blow description of a fight or a war . A story can be a tale with pertinent parts highlighted for a more indepth analysis and showing. What the hell's the big deal?

Is this 'show not tell' a rule for romance only? You'll have to excuse my ignorance; I've never written anything but romance and wondered if I branched out into science fiction, for example, would the same rule apply?

So, the person who critiqued Singh about telling, she reads the books anyway. What does that say?

It says maybe Nalini Singh knows exactly what she's doing.

I haven't read this particular book yet; I aim to change that this weekend. Anyone that has read it - can you tell me what's up with that cover? I've seen no mentions of the cover. What's that damn red thing supposed to be? I have to say, he doesn't look like an alpha male, lol.

Jude Outlaw by Jan Springer

This was an Ellora's Cave freebie and quite possibly one of the top 10 worst books I ever read. It was short which is the only reason I finished it but it was so awful, so retched, that I couldn't fall asleep for hours because I was trying to think of how many ways to call  book rancid.

In a nutshell, the book takes place 8 years from now and most of the female population of the world has been killed by a virus and now with only a few women left, they're considered things and the government not only sanctions rape but demands it. The only way a woman is safe is if she's 'owned' by a group of men and they have videos proving they're taken her in every orafice at the same time.

Did I mention this is supposed to be erotic romance?

The hero was a brutal asshat, the heroine was nonsensical, the plot fell apart in a million and one ways and the basic premise was so disgusting, so horribly wrong in every way to try to create a romance or even something sexy that I was in shock that it was even written or published.

God. Now I want a gallon of brain bleach, a vat of aspirin and something to wipe the stench of this story away forever.

Friday Randomness

~~I finally read the MacKade Brothers books by La Nora and enjoyed them muchly. Interestingly, the two books that were Carolyn's favorites weren't mine and the two books that were mine weren't hers. I love me some Carolyn but I do question her taste. Heh.

~~I finally figured out one of the reasons I love the Isaac video (see post below) so much. That is besides the joy of sweetness and romanticism of it. It's that Isaac really isn't in it. It's not all a huge ego thing and look at me. Very awesome and about love and family. How can you not love it?

~~Why do so many people do so much complaining on Facebook? If your friends list was say, 30 people and you know them all since high school, okay, that's one thing. But when you have 2,637 friends and a bunch of them are authors and strangers (most of them in fact) then why are you posting about your horrible neighbors/bad breath/erectile dysfunction?

I see Facebook as a friendly tool but not a place to bemoan my saggy boobs or the fact that George Clooney got a restraining order on me. I've decided to unfriend anybody who annoys me now. I should be down to just me and Carolyn in a day or two. And soon it might just be me. Heh.

~~Regarding Carolyn, she's still very much alive, so those of you who are worried, don't be. The gag isn't too tight and we feed her once or twice a week. When we remember.

~~My current WIP is going well. Thanks for asking.

~~Some writer out there in cyberspace did a brilliant blog post about people not liking your book. She put it in wonderful perspective. Some people don't like bacon, some don't like chocolate, some won't like your book.

Carolyn and I had an interesting experience that was the flip side of that. There's a lovely young woman who on Goodreads rated both of our books 5 stars but gave some true classics less than that. I mean, she gave my upcoming The Stone Crow 5 stars and Robert Heinlein like, 3 stars. And I saw where someone gave Carolyn's Trials and Tribulations of a West Coast Southern Belle 5 stars but gave the brilliant Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen 3 or 4 stars.

Certainly I'm flattered to see my writing get 5 stars in someone's eyes but um... well, you get my drift.

~~Mollie and I are going to see Snow White and the Huntsman tonight. It's the first time we're going to a movie that isn't made for children. I'm very excited to see if she's going to be able to enjoy it (she wanted to see it more than me). I'm really hopeful. If this is the end of Alvin and the Chipmunk movies and Jack fucking Black, then my life just got so much better.