Day: January 29, 2018

Generosity

This week’s #UpbeatAuthors topic is generosity.

One of the many things I love about being an #UpbeatAuthor is that when I find the topic particularly difficult or elusive, I research it and can frequently come to a new understanding and fresh insights. That’s what happened with this topic.

I learned my faith has a tradition that “it is better to give many small sums rather than one large one. The reason is that by so doing one habituates oneself to giving. The ideal of giving is that it is not sufficient to perform kindnesses; one must strive to become a person whose essence is kindness.”

I love that.

 

December

As if there isn’t already enough to do in the month of December.

December is National Write A Business Plan month. I think this ties in well with setting goals for the upcoming new year, too. On many levels,  it may be the same thing.

I’d like my author goals to be realistic and attainable. I never seem to pad for “life” events and get terribly behind in what I want to do to advance my career. The past two summers have been particularly difficult.

I anticipate putting my new planner to serious use.

Cats in Romance Fiction

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Today is National Cat Day.

One of my favorite fictional cats is Puff from an early Karen Robards novel, Night Magic. The hero is (of course) allergic to Puff, who is the heroine’s pet. The hero is a spy whose former code name was “Magic Dragon.” And (again, of course) the Russians* get the cat mixed up with the spy because of the song, “Puff, The Magic Dragon.”

*The book is from 1988. The Cold War ended in 1991. But then, Russian villains should once more be in vogue.

Another great cat in romance fiction is Elvis from Jennifer Crusie’s Bet Me. A stray who wanders into the heroine’s apartment with the hero, Elvis becomes very protective of the woman he adopts, probably because he approves of her music: she has a thing for Elvis Presley. Elvis the Cat learns to operate the heroine’s CD player, including the volume control. He also knows the good guys from the bad.

Do you have a favorite cat from a romance novel?

 

A Habit That Makes My Husband Crazy

I have one habit that makes my husband crazy. Well, I probably have more than one, but this is a biggie.

I talk back at the TV. Sometimes I yell at it as if it can hear me.

This goes back to a series of TV commercials from the late 1960s to sometime in the 1980s for a laundry detergent.

Why is it the wife’s fault the man doesn’t wash his neck?

National Have Fun at Work Day

Yes! This is a thing–having fun at work.

And, as an author, I can say that frequently I do have fun at work.

  • When something I wrote 5 chapters back suddenly makes perfect sense, and I find I can build off it.
  • When I’m so angry at someone, I name a villain after that person–then do really bad things to them in the story.
  • Daydreaming. Because it’s really plotting. Prove it’s not.
  • Ditto computer solitaire.
  • Losing oneself in research, because learning new stuff is fun.
  • The words flowing, and making sense while they do so.
  • Wearing sweats to work.