Technophile

I hate cell phones. No really. They suck. The reception is bad, they lose service at the most inopportune times, and frankly I don’t want to be connected 24/7. I have never figured out why I need a camera on my phone (I’ve tried to use it, but I hate taking pictures. I used to hate it before every phone had a camera. I had to force my self to remember my camera when we were on our European adventure this summer). I have one mostly because you can’t not have one these days, and honestly, how often do they get used in an emergency? (Parents always say their children need one in case of emergency—really? In a real emergency, they get in the way far more than they help.) I hate the new mentality that everyone MUST be perfect at all times—no more errors allowed, no misspeaking, no tripping and falling—because if you make a mistake your flaming takedown will be posted for all the world to see in a matter of seconds. Really? I though being human was about learning from mistakes, but no one seems to be willing to give anyone a second chance any longer.

I don’t have an iPad, though I crave one, because I just can’t justify it. I work at home. Why would I need a portable tablet? We don’t have 500 TV channels or Tivo or DVR. Our TV is relatively small in comparison to most that I’ve seen. I don’t have GPS in my car (although it was handy in the European rental car) and when I taught, I rarely used technology, although I will admit to looking up facts on the Internet—on those sites that weren’t blocked.

You’d think that I’m a technophobe. I’m not. I honestly think technology can save mankind. I’d rather fly in a plane with a computer at the helm. I’d rather have a robot surgeon. I’d love the see the technology of self-driving cars (keep the idiots from getting their hands on the wheel. BTW, Flying cars? No thank you. Can you imagine what dumbass drivers would be doing up in the sky? You really want that texter behind the wheel of a flying car? I don’t think so.), and smart houses. My husband has a PhD in Robotics. He’s even worse than I about gadgets. Because gadgets aren’t what will save the world. Oh, they’re fun, but is the world really a better place because we can take pictures with our phones? (Although in the case of the Arab spring, that technology was crucial, but that was a mighty powerful exception.) I have embraced Twitter, and FB, and blogging, but they aren’t as important as solar energy or wind power or wave energy.

I guess what I’m saying is I don’t have any problem with gadgets, but don’t expect me to jump into the 21^st century any time soon. I don’t want to be attached to my phone. Or have my picture taken.

--Gabi

Books I’m reading now:

Still working on the Rita books I have to judge.

Why Romance is NOT porn

To all you ignorant, self-righteous dullards^1:

In my last book, AS YOU WISH, the story is told in 306 pages. Of those, let’s say ten are pages of sex³. That’s approximately three percent of the novel. The sex is between two consenting adults who are attracted to each other and end in a committed relationship with each other. Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s usually how a committed relationship expresses itself—with sex. I’ve been in a committed relationship for 27 years and, yes, I still have sex with my husband. It’s the natural progression of showing affection for someone.

Porn is intended to do no more than cause sexual excitement. While passages in Romance may do that, the stories celebrate love, relationships, how those relationships form, and the characters the reader comes to love (we hope), root for, and who earn a happy ending. Most often this relationship is not with the pizza delivery boy or copier mechanic.⁴

For those of you simpletons who still insist Romance is just porn with a prettier name, let me apply your definition to other media:

            Bridesmaids: clearly porn. The opening scenes and then the ones at the closing credits. It’s obvious really.

            Shawshank Redemption: clearly gay rape porn. Forget the message. It’s all about the sex. And those pin-up girls...tsk, tsk.

            Schindler’s List: Again, message unimportant; the only scenes that matter are the ones with sex.

            Notting Hill: there is a sex scene, therefore porn.

            The Firm: in the book Mitch cheats on his wife on the beach, therefore, porn.

            “Afternoon Delight”: Really? Need I say more?

Don’t want to read Romance? Fine, but don’t parade your ignorance. You’re embarrassing yourself.⁵

¹In general I have nothing against nor am I offended by cussing or stronger words, but I don’t use them much myself. I like the extra sarcasm offered by non-profane vocabulary. Shakespeare had insults down to an art without the crude language. As for those words, they have appeared in my books, but not too often; only when I found them appropriate and convincing, as when my two Guards in WISHFUL THINKING are yelling at someone and drop the f-bomb. These two men are essentially military. I doubt they would say, “Gosh darn you.” But feel free to replace “dullards” in your head with any appropriate synonym you might think of.²

²And yes, it is okay to end a sentence with a preposition. That’s one of those fake grammar rules that teachers plague their students with because it’s easy to remember. Others are never start a sentence with a conjunction (I can think of many sentences that are just fine grammatically even though they start with a conjunction) and never split an infinitive (that one goes back to Latin and German construction.)

³I counted the pages and it works out to less than nine if we count actual lines, but I’m being generous here and counted the paragraphs leading into and out of the scenes.

⁴ I didn’t mean to single out you pizza delivery boys or copier mechanics, but those are the clichés that pop to mind. And now you know how it feels to be judged on clichés and not substance.

⁵By the way, your parents had sex. At least once. Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah.

--Gabi

Books I’m reading now:

It’s RITA time. I’m reading, but I’m not telling you what. I’ll continue with Discovery of Witches after I’m done judging.

Error Proof?

Here in the middle of January with the sky gray, the air cold, and the day too short, I have finally finished the last iteration of fixing WISHFUL THINKING. I've pored over the galley proofs, corrected errors and sent it back. I'll be receiveing ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) next to send out for review and then the final product, the book itself. The scariest part is that in 320 pages of galley proofs, I found 147 errors. Oh, most of them were commas instead of periods, or periods instead of commas, or missing end quotes (and a couple of missing beginning quotes), but I also found repeated words (I fixed those--and some repeats are on purpose), or awkward syntax, or outright mistakes, like a character standing in one line, then three lines later he stands again.

Collector's card

What's scary is that this book has been through so many reads. Not only by me while revising, but also by two beta readers, then me again, then my editor, then me again, then by the copyeditor, then me again, the typesetter (or person who puts it into the way it looks when printed form--they don't really set type any more), then me again. And yet in that last step I still found 147 errors. Now it goes to print. I honestly believe that no manuscript (of any significant length) can be error-free. There will be typos, wrong punctuation, and other mistakes. That's the reason why I have never read one of my actual books. At that point there's nothing I can do about it, so I don't want to know. I've had another author tell me in one of my early books (pre-Gabi Stevens) that I have envelope rather than envelop. Not helpful. I can't fix it. Maybe if it went back into print, which it won't, but in any case not helpful.

Now, in TEMPTATION'S WARRIOR (now available on Kindle and I'm working on the other formats) if I find errors, I can fix them. That's the nice aspect of self-pubbing.

I know some readers get very annoyed with errors in a published book. Every book will have errors. Especially after writing the thing and reading it umpteen dozen times, you can't see your own words. I guess I'm asking readers to be a little more forgiving. Oh, not if the book is error-laden (and I've read a few of those--that's just wrong) but you really need to overlook a few misplaced or missing commas, periods, and quotes. And I'm not talking about the ebook versions of books. I've had more trouble with the format of books than I care to deal with. (Not my own, other books)

Of course, WISHFUL THINKING will be clean now. I hope. :)
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
11/22/63 by Stephen King
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

The new year

This is the second year in a row that I haven't celebrated New Year's because I was sick. I'm still coughing, but at least I'm healthier now. Except for cancelling our annual game night (we don't party, we play board games...with incredible competitiveness), I don't mind much because, honestly, it's just a date, but it is a traditional party date and I missed that. Twice now. So I think I'm going to throw my New Year's Eve party next week when I'm healthy again and ignore the calendar.

Speaking of calendars, it's 2012.  Are you worried about the end of the world? Me? Not so much. As I used to tell my students when they'd mention that the world was ending this year, it's just the end of a calendar. We don't panic when we throw out our calendar and put up a new one. The Maya Calendar is just a longer calendar. (Don't harp on my accuracy, folks. I'm making a point). So I fully expect to drink champagne Dec 31, 2012, and see January1, 2013 and have my annual party.

Unlike this year.

--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
Winning the Wallflower by Eloisa James
11/22/63 by Stephen King

Random movies

While visiting family in California, my husband was flipping through channels and happened upon Casablanca. What a great movie. I was quoting the lines ahead of the actors (I'm sure it was totally obnoxious), loving the the humor that was thrown in throughout, enjoying Bogie and Bergman. I don't have cable TV at home, so I don't have that accidental access to great classics, but seeing Casablanca again made me think of other great, great movies that I love and I will watch every chance I get. These are oldies: nothing after 1970.

The Bridge on the River Kwai--Great actors, great story, great suspense, amazing movie. And the music is unforgettable.
The Great Escape--What a thrilling story. And again, the score is phenomenal.
The Magnificent Seven--I'm not a Western fan, but when it's done well, you can't beat a great Western. And have you heard this musical theme?
The Dirty Dozen--It's just fun. Turning bad guys into heroes. What more could you ask for?
It Happened One Night--if you haven't seen this classic comedy, quick, find it, watch it. It's said that Bugs Bunny was based on Clark Gable's role.
Bringing Up Baby--Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant in a zany comedy. Too fun.
To Catch a Thief--Again Cary but this time with Grace Kelly. During the filming of this movie she met Prince Ranier and soon after became Princess Grace.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers--musicals aren't for everyone, but this one is such a great romance. (Okay, you have to suspend disbelief a little, but I love it)
Singing in the Rain--perhaps the best movie musical ever made. It certainly tops my list.
Psycho--still one of the scariest movies I've ever seen.

I've left off so many. What are your favorites? I would love to see some oldies I've missed.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
The Bad Luck Wedding Dress by GeralynDawson

Best cookie recipe ever

I don't cook or bake much. Really, I have burned water. (Making hummingbird nectar--almost burned the house down). But these cookies are the simply wonderful Rich, buttery, and not too hard to make.

Buffett's Sugar
Cookies

1 lb. butter

2 C. powdered sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. salt (you can leave this out unless you use sweet butter)

1 tsp. vanilla

4 C. flour

 

Cream butter and powdered sugar.  Add egg,
and mix well.  Add salt, vanilla and flour (add the flour 1 cup at a time
and blend between cups).  Roll dough on a floured surface 1/4 in.
thick.  Cut into desired shapes.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes
(depending on the oven) until slightly golden around the edges.  Cool on rack, and decorate as desired, or freeze and decorate
later.  These cookies freeze well and are also good plain, without the
icing. 

 

Cookie Icing

Combine 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (sifting
makes it smoother) with a couple drops of vanilla or other flavoring (I use
vanilla), and enough milk (2-3 Tbsp.) to make a smooth, slightly runny
icing.  Color if desired.  Decorate with colored sugars, sprinkles, crushed peppermint, etc. while the icing is still wet.  Allow time
for icing to set to a firm, smooth, glaze finish, especially before
packaging.  Once iced, these cookies store well and stay soft for several
days in a tupperware type container.

Credo (Partial)

In this season of reflection, family, and festivities, I thought I'd post something about the things I believe. No, not religion, but random thoughts and ideas.

• I believe everyone has the right to their own opinions, but too many people don't know what an opinion really is. You don't have the right to ignore facts just because you don't like them.
• I believe no one should aggrandize themselves at the expense of others.
• I believe life is not fair, but that doesn't mean there isn't joy in it.
• I believe celebrities have the right to keep their lives private if they choose. However, even if they go public,  I believe I don't want to hear about it. Entertain me. That's enough.
• I believe vanilla is better than chocolate, umbrella drinks are better than wine, and books are better than movies. (Hey, this is my list. You want to make your own? Leave a comment)
• I believe laughter works miracles.
• I believe that just being human comes with responsibilities.
• I believe space is scary. (I hate the idea of Earth floating in a vastness coldness. The moon in the sky during daylight hours freaks me out when I see it because that's when I see the universe and I don't want to.)
• I believe dark humor can be really funny.
• I believe that people are not created equal. Some people are smarter, or faster, or prettier, or stronger. But that doesn't make anyone better than anyone else.
• I believe my book is just as valid as your book. (Or movie or song or TV show)
• I believe you can judge a book by its cover. But that doesn't mean your judgment is correct.
• I believe you can always learn something and should.
• I believe the day I stop dreaming is the day I should die.
• I believe this list has gone on long enough...for now.

--Gabi
Books I'm reading now:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman