Times Flies...

although I can't say I've been having fun. I've had parents who won't believe their children aren't working (must be my fault), health issues, and stress like crazy. On the bright side, I see smoother days ahead (although every time I've said that something else has happened). I'm writing sporadically, which is killing me, and I have no good stories to share about my life right now either. So this is a much belated post and I really don't have anything to say.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
The Texan's Reward by Jodi Thomas (one of my favorite people in the world)
Parallel Heat by Dierdre Knight
Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling (yes, we've finished book one; now it's on to book two)
The Vampire who Loved Me by Teresa Medieros

An interesting experience...

I've been mentioned in a blog. Not about writing mind you, but about teaching. The interesting aspect of the mention is that the author (and yes, she is a romance author) has me saying things that she took totally out of context. I don't know whether to be angry or to just shake my head in pity. She claims I said my eighth grade students are "too stupid" to learn assonance, when what I said was most eighth graders don't know what assonance is (Now be honest, do you?). If I thought my eighth graders were "too stupid" to learn it, why would I bother teaching it? (By the way, there is a difference between knowing the definition of assonance and recognizing assonance-- I teach the latter) This woman has never been in my classroom, never talked to any of my students, nor did she ask me to elaborate.


We were talking about testing and NCLB, which I find a wonderful idea, but totally flawed in its execution. It's like communism--a fabulous idea, but it doesn't work on human beings. In New Mexico at my school, the testing takes four days of lost teaching time, which is longer than any other academic test out there, including the LCATs, the MCATs or any of the boards. We are expecting students to care about a test that in no way affects them (not gradewise, not placementwise) and then basing how we view our schools based on the results of these tests. In addition, the test makes no allowances for students. If education is truly individual why does every student take the same test? I don't worry about my students' performance on these tests because they're the top of the school, but I am the parent of a special needs child who is not and most likely never will be at grade level for her academics and yet she is required to take the test for her age, not her abilities. Her greatest goal is to succeed, and yet the test makes it impossible for her to do so. She comes home depressed and convinced she is stupid.

But back to this author...She is extremely bright, and truly gifted in the academic sense. She doesn't understand (perhaps understand is the wrong word; believe might be better) that most people don't think (I mean literally the act of thinking, not a belief system) the way she does. So she twisted my words and has labeled me one of those bad teachers who just babysits her students and doesn't want to be held accountable for what I do in the classroom.
Hmmm. I wonder what my students would think after they stopped laughing.
--Gabi

What I'm reading now:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Hey, it takes time when you're reading it aloud)
I need to find a new book to start.

One week down, thirty-five to go

I have just completed my first full week of teaching, and I must say I'm exhausted. The kids are interesting, as usual, and I am looking forward to getting to know them better. So far, pretty smooth.
I have a new policy this year. My weekends are for writing, which means I will resent doing the shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc, that usually takes my time on the weekends, but I'm looking forward to devoting two days a week to the craft I love.
And so with no further ado, I'm off to my fantasy world and the stories that I need to finish. They are calling to me.
--Gabi
Books I am reading now;
Edith Hamilton's Mythology (Do I really have to tell you why I am reading this?)
Sari Robbins's More Than a Scandal
The ARC of Linda Francis Lee's The Devil in the Junior League
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (which I am reading aloud to my youngest who is loving it.)

Off to Atlanta...

...with high hopes and big dreams. (In case you didn't know, Romance writerss of America is holding their annual conference there this week.) The worst thing about being a writer is that you can imagine all sorts of scenarios that will never happen, but you hope they will. Like meeting that editor who expresses interest in your book. Like meeting the perfect agent. Like receiving acclaim for books past and books future.
I don't know why I put myself through it. Except I won't let the dream die.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading:
The Princess Bride by William Goldman(fabulous, simple fabulous)

It's 3 AM...

and I'm awake, waiting for the husband to return from London. An international flight, a missed connection...need I say more? Ray Bradbury called this time the hour of monsters. It's when you're awake at three a.m. that your dreams are all nightmares, your troubles are insurmountable, your self-esteem is non-existent. Something about the middle of the night magnifies every thought into an overwhelming issue you will never survive. In the morning you laugh at yourself because nothing you thought about at three a.m. is nearly as bad as you believed then.
But now it's three a.m., and the monsters attack. What if I'll never sell another book? What if my students are horrible this year? What if I'm ruining my kids' lives? What if my kids are lying to me? What if the house never stops leaking and collapses? What if ...
And now he garage door has opened and my husband has arrived home from the airport and one monster has been vanquished.
--Gabi
What I'm reading now:
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azir Nafisi
On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

The Dearth of Good Romance Movies

I just read an article about Hollywood making fewer and fewer romance movies. Nobody is writing original screenplay, and the romance stories they do film don't make a lot a money...except for a few like Sleepless in Seattle or Titanic (which people call a romance so I won't argue that definition here) or While You Were Sleeping. The article goes on to quote Nicholas Sparks, that lone voice in the romance field (heavy sarcasm), and his reason for the dearth of romance in films is because the stories are too hard to write and too few people do it well. I will agree with him here, but let me go on to post my own theories. The reason romances don't do well for the most part at the box office is because they don't film good stories. Why don't they turn to those authors who know how to pen great romances? Why hasn't Susan Elizabeth Phillips's Ain't She Sweet been turned into a movie? Why haven't Jenny Crusie's works hit the silver screen? Why isn't Linda Howard's Mr. Perfect a film? Hollywood overlooks a major source for stories by overlooking the genre. You can't tell me that a romance wouldn't be successful if they would just pick the right property. And Romance (the genre) has loads of ideas to pick from.
And is it a coincidence that "dearth" and "Darth" only differ by one letter? Hmmmmm...
--Gabi
Books I'm reading now:
Threshold by Sara Douglass
Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
Size Twelve is not Fat by Meg Cabot

Some interesting writer links...

Did you ever want to know the inner workings of a publishing professional's devious brain? Did you ever want to know what they really think about so many of us writers? Combine the answers to these two questions and you've found my newest obsessions--Evil Editor and Miss Snark. (Perhaps obsession is a harsh word, since I am looking for a new agent and a receptive editor for my work and you never know who might be "listening" in.) Evil Editor is an actual NY editor who doesn't pull punches and often has me laughing til I snort with his inner thoughts about queries. Miss Snark is an actual NY agent who does the same. I love reading these blogs and have honestly learned a lot from both of them (and had my daily doses of schadenfreude--look it up). You can find these two at the following links:
Evil Editor
Miss Snark

Another great site I'm hooked on is Kristin Nelson's blog, Pub Rants. An agent in Denver, Miss Nelson offers much information about the biz, although I don't get my daily dose of schadenfreude from her. (Again, look it up.)
Pub Rants

These sites have links to other interesting sites too. So if you want a chuckle or two and some great information about publishing, visit these sites. I know I do.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
Bump in the Night--Anthology
Quirky Kids--a text I have to read for a class I'm taking--way to ruin a summer by having required texts to read.
The Explosive Child--see note above

But I'm Writing !!!

Eruption looming...

Well, that sounds rather personal. How should I explain myself(because I'm not talking about pimples, boils, diarrhea, or volcanoes)? Have you ever felt there is so much more inside you than anyone knows (I'm also not talking about wierd psychopathic homicidal tendencies)? The edge between normal and look-at-me-world-here-I-am. That's where I've been living my life for the past three years. Not so deep within me is the song (metaphorically speaking) waiting to explode. I'm trying to be patient, trying to keep my feet on the ground, doing the day job, etc., but all the while thinking IT has to happen soon. I keep waiting for the next step in my writing career, the one that will elevate me to the next level.

I'm ready.

On second thought this idea reads rather scary, but don't worry, I'm fine. (My mother recognized this force in me, but never understood it either.)
--Gabi

Books I'm reading:
Hidden Secrets by Cait London (No offense, Cait, but aren't secrets supposed to be hidden, 'cause if they're not, they're no longer secrets? P.S. The title is no reflection on the quality of the book. They had to name it something, right?)
Parallel Attraction by Deidre Knight- what fun!
Ransom by Julie Garwood-a book I thoroughly enjoyed. I miss these kinds of books. What happened to these kinds of romance that don't feature vampires, werewolves, too much sex and have a plot instead of "exploring your feelings."

Mood Shifts

Have you ever had a day where just the sunshine alone can make you happy? The kind of day you want to bottle and save for when things seem to go wrong? The kind of day when the sky is so blue it's almost painful? A rare day. Today was such a day. Just lovely. The kind of day you can only appreciate because you have bad days to compare it to. I keep telling my children this. That one can't be happy if one is never sad because then happiness means nothing. It becomes the everyday, the mundane, the boring. We need to have good AND bad, happy AND sad, and all those other opposites.

Don't ask me why I've waxed philosophical, except that it's just that kind of day. Hope yours was good, too.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading:
I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov (got to keep teaching those eighth graders something)
Codename: Blondie, by Christina Skye (with whom I had a lovely conversation when she was in town for her book signing. Thanks for listening, Christina. I truly enjoyed talking to you.)
Green Mansions, by WH Hudson (for a book club, but it's just too dense for me.)

Two months? No way has two months passed.

So now it really has been a while since I've written. What can I say? The school year is winding down (19 days and counting), summer and the end of allergy season are just around the corner, and I'll have the days free to write (when I'm not taking the last required class I need for special certification to teached gifted students in this area).

I recently watched the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice again, as well as the newest version starring Kiera Knightley (a girl entirely too pretty). I must confess I like both versions. The five plus hour long A&E version is richer and does star Colin Firth, but the new one is livlier and the actors are more the correct age. And you have to love Dame Judy as Lady Catherine DeBurgh.

I also recently viewed Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which I didn't like all too much the first time I saw it, and now twenty years later, I still don't think it a great movie. But my husband was actually in the senior class in San Diego that Cameron Crowe joined when he did research for his book. No, don't bother to look for a character based on my husband, although he can tell you who the real life people are the movie characters portray.

We have a movie night every weekend with our children to expose them to great films. We've seen Schindler's List, His Girl Friday, Mask of Zorro (hey, I didn't say they were all serious movies--I like fun movies), Stand by Me, and Field of Dreams (which is not a baseball film, I don't care what anyone says) among others. I love movies. Always have, and I suspect we have quite a few more to view before we even start to become bored.

So if you're reading this, what movies would you recommend as must-sees?
--Gabi

OK, so it;s been a while...

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but it sure feels as if I have. Life gets busy spots and suddenly more time passes than one is aware of. We're nearing the end of February and I have little to report. I'm reading Huckleberry Finn again with my students and finding it as amusing and powerful as ever. Haven't seen any movies lately--except I watched Sense and Sensibility on DVD not too long ago--because I'm completely caught up in the Olympics. My father was a huge fan of the Olympics, and now every time they're on, I feel so close to him and his memory. I can remember watching with him when I was just a girl, and in 1972 we visited the Munich Stadium before the Summer Games of that year (so vivid in my memory because of that trip and the sad events of those particular Olympics). I love the Olympics, but I really miss the way they used to cover all the athletes, instead of just the US. OK, they always had a US slant, but we heard so much about other athletes as well.
Stay happy
--Gabi

Books I'm currently reading:
Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Sex, Lies, and on-line Dating by Rachel Gibson
Some Enchanted Evening by Christina Dodd (which I've already read, but had to re-read for my romance book club)
Widows of Wichita County by Jodi Thomas (Ditto--see above)
Midnight Magic by Shari Anton

A day in the life...

A holiday from work and I was looking forward to spending the day writing. It would have been better ("Mom, can you take me to the mall?" "No.") if the children hadn't spent the morning ("Just for half an hour. I need jeans" "No.") begging me for food ("Really, Mom. I haven't been anywhere this entire weekend. Can you take me to the mall?" "No."), favors, and entertainment. ("What if I did a favor or a job for you in exchange?" "No.") My husband's car was leaking oil so HE came home for lunch ("What if Dad drops me off at the mall and you just pick me up?" "No.") and then daughter number two came home from camping this weekend. ("I need to be picked up now." "Right"--sigh. "Hey, can you drop me off at the mall while you go pick her up?" "No.") Then I actually cooked dinner, because I don't when I'm working all day. ("Mom, I really need jeans." "We were just at Western Wearhouse last weekend. Couldn't you have bought jeans then?" "These weren't holey then. Besides, I can't shop there." "Yes, but you were at the mall." "I didn't know I needed them then." "No.") So I'm signing off right now, grabbing a cookie and writing in bed--I do have to work tomorrow. ("Can you take me tomorrow?" "No.")
--Gabi

Procrastination, thy name is...I

I'm giving a talk tomorrow night at a local Hastings Bookstore, and while I have a title ("Who needs Grammar? That's what an Editor is for" and other Ways to Sabotage Your Career), I have no idea what I'm speaking about. Oh I'll have something by the time I show up, notes, ideas, etc., but the talk would go much smoother if I were better prepared. But it's late, and I had laundry to fold, and I have to work tomorrow. I'll be fine once I get started, but I don't know why I'm putting myself through this. I actually like to give talks, but I usually am better prepared.

Having said that, I am also leading a local romance readers' group on Tuesday. I've read the book, but I haven't prepared anything for it either. I might be forming bad habits here.

Recent reads: Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie, Falling Awake by Jayne Ann Krentz, and currently I'm reading I'm No Angel by Patti Berg.

--Gabi