Dear Carolyn,

Do you think it's possible to have a successful writing career without devoting eery single minute of every single day to it?

I was blog hopping yesterday and read a few different blogs that seemed to share the opinion that if you aren't spending hours a day writing and promoting and being a writer, you won't be successful. And when I say hours a day I mean 18 out of 24 hours and hope your kid can open the Spaghetti-O's can and use the microwave cause Mama is busy.

I can't be that person. (What a joke: trying to keep me out of the kitchen would be equivalent to a criminal act!) And I love hanging out with the kid in the living room and watching some TV with her and being present in her life.

I'm finding that the older I get the less it's about doing things as others tell me to and a lot more about figuring out ways that let me love my life and feel fulfilled.

Yesterday I hit my word count after about an hour and a half of writing. The problem was I felt really burned out after that. (Yesterday I also mopped the floor, vacuumed and killed the fish. It was a very strange day for me, a very bad one for the fish.)

It's only 5:30 in the morning right now and I have a pot of coffee and I'm going to see if I can hit the word count for the day right now. But then I also need to get the kid to school, bake an apple pie, clean the bathrooms and update my Facebook page.

I don't think I can sit in front of the computer for hours and hours without wanting to hurt myself. Can you?

Well, I might never be a million dollar success but I will have the life I want. One that has lots of homemade cookies, a happy kid and some books I wrote. I think that will probably be good enough for me.

Dear Lori

So, here I am, staring Medicare squarely in the face and at the same time trying to learn new tricks.

When I discovered Romancelandia-or whatever the hell they call it-about five or six years ago, I didn't realize how much of a learning experience it would be. Essentially, I've been taking a college-level night course in all sorts of things, taught by people who sound much more educated, if not smarter than me, many of them with a string of letters after their names. They dissect. They opine. They scatter opinions around like confetti. They're really into psychology and sociology and their reviews reflect the serious shit that's found in romance books. They go on and on until my eyes glaze over.

This is all IMO, of course.

I've come to rely on reviews to find new and engaging authors. But I prefer a nice, short review, not a thesis. You know-the good stuff in the book, the bad stuff and why the reviewer thinks this way.

With one exception. SB Sarah. I don't care how long her reviews are; in fact, the longer the better. She writes the best and funniest reviews and I'm never bored. I also never think she's talking down to me or trying to slip in a new curriculum.

It's romance books, damn it!

I read them to escape, to relax and let someone else worry about stuff, or to laugh and cheer the protagonists on. I read them to ohhhh or euwww at strange new creatures or worlds. Instead of 'take me away, Calgon', it's 'take me away, Romance'. Keep the really serious stuff for woman's lit.

So, now I've become picky about what reviews I read. I like Jane's at DA. I've bought a lot more Harlequins than I ever thought I would because of her short, concise reviews. I like Kristy J's reviews; it's like sitting down and talking with an old friend. Same with Sarah T-I've discovered a lot of mystery books through her.

A reviewer, IMO, ought to be interesting and to the point or she does a disservice to the book she's reviewing. I don't want a synopsis (hate the damn things). I don't want a 'this book is great-read it'. How the hell does that help?

There must be some neutral meeting point where the two extremes can blend together to make a concise, entertaining review. And since I vowed never to return to school after getting my ADN in my forties, I stand by my original statement (I'm sure there's one somewhere). I don't want to dissect Romance like we did Oliver Twist in high school.

It's Romance, damn it!

Dear Carolyn,

Happy Mother's Day, hun. I know that for both of us this is kind of a blah day. But I also know that both of us being mother's know how important our choices are and have been for our children.

I really hope that Mollie looks back at her childhood and sees that not only was her mother there for her, but her mother didn't stop reaching for dreams and goals. I hope she can see that age is a number and not a limit. I hope she can see that dreams don't die.

I see myself in her so much. She's crazy funny and sometimes inappropriate as hell. (So me, I tear up in joy.) She's discovering her talent as an actress and the way she savors the humor and is delighting all around her ... well, I'd like to think she learned that at her mother's arthritic knee.

I loved my mother to distraction but she never had a focus or a passion for something. I think that had she loved something she might have had more to hang onto in life.

I hope that when Mollie becomes an old fart, she'll remember how her mother started getting published later in life. I hope she remembers my dreams coming true past the 40 mark (and that includes becoming her mother). I hope she remembers that my best friend was also reaching her dreams at the same time and the bond we share as woman friends also makes the joy double-fold.

I have a hell of a lot to be proud of as a mother. I have a hell of a lot still to do and enjoy. As do you.

Happy Mother's Day Carolyn. You have a lot of reason to be proud. And I love you to pieces.

Lori

Oh Lori!

What a pleasant surprise!!

You're so good to me. I truly am grateful, because my mouth was getting awfully dry. :-D

So - we're all here and almost ready to go. Except for TL, but her day will come. As she herself says:



Well, hell, I was a southern belle, wasn’t I? Southern belles had tough reputations—soft silk covering a spine of steel. Just look at Scarlett. She’d certainly had it worse than me and she managed and triumphed. Even if she did lose her man, something else we had in common. If Scarlett could do it, then by God, so could I.

“Tomorrow is another day,” I muttered, digging in my duffle for clean clothes. “And I’ll be a new woman. Strong. Tough. Oh lord, celibate.” My throat tightened. Used up before I was thirty, because I couldn’t imagine loving anyone but Rhett...Rafe!



Never miss a chance to display the goods, that's what I say. *grin*

Thank you again. Really, this nagging can get exhausting.

Carolyn

Dearest, Darlingest Carolyn,

I updated the blog so stop your nagging!!

If anyone is interested: currently we have

666 Angel Lane, released by Lyrical Press and available on Amazon.

Hot, Hexed and Bothered available by Noble Romance Publishing.

Our piece of shit, The Bodice Rippers available for free on Smashwords.

The Seduction of Lady Bea releasing on July 4 (British woman wooed by Spanish singer out on American Independence Day, go figure).

And on June 6, Sugar B's Back in Town.

August will also see the release of The Trials and Tribulations of a West Coast Southern Belle.

Oh, and we have even more coming. I do promise summer time with the Farts will be full of give aways and awesomeness.

Have I ever lied to you?

Dear Lori

I was prowling around the Lyrical site last night. I do that every now and then. I stare at all the pretty covers and dream.

Used to, I'd stare at my 'coming soon' non-cover for Lady Bea and dream some more. Then, by God, Bea got herself a cover, so now I have something concrete to stare at. And such a pretty cover too. I'm jealous of Bea and worship Rene, lol.

Anyway, I was over there last night and lo and behold, right there beside Bea and her cover was The Trials and Tribulations of a West Coast Southern Belle, in its 'coming soon' phase. But hot damn, right there under the non-cover was a bit of extra information. TL will make her bow to the world August 15, 2011, the month after Bea's debut.

Well, holy shit!!

Okay, I said all that to say this: get the book pages back woman! You'll have 3 damn books out by June and I'll have 2 by August. I think we deserve book pages here at the Old Fart homestead. Fuck the 'official' sites. This is home for me.

I want a book page, darlin'. You control the site, so you'd best get busy. Don't I sound tough? Well, of course, it all depends if RL will let you have the time and all that stuff, etc., etc.

But I hope you can do it, because honey - Sugar B and TL are coming to town! :-)

Dear Carolyn,

Mea culpa. I made a dirty joke about your husband and you punished me by saying I had to get my ass over here and write a post. I know this isn't supposed to be punishment but well, good golly Miss Molly, I ain't got too much to say.

I've been reading so damned much lately but right now my reading is halted. I just can't find myself interested too much in reading.

Instead I'm in that wonderful place where the sun is out, the kitchen is seeing lots of cooking, I have plants everywhere and creativity and fertility is just taking over my life.Fertility or fecundity? At my age the only thing fertile about me is in my own multiplying waist-line. So ha!

Anyway, sunshine makes me happy. Makes me want to clean and cook and write and celebrate. It doesn't make me want to bury my head in a book really.

Although the writing is coming along very slowly and surely.

It's just spring spring spring. I love spring.