Jordan Summers

Today is my dh’s birthday. He shares this very special day with his twin, who’s over in Scotland. May they both celebrate many, many, many more years of candles on the cake. Love you.

In honor of dh and the romance he brings to my life, I thought I’d share a bit about how we met. I’d been living out in L.A. and had just moved back to the Midwest. I had left a long-term relationship and was feeling a little shaky. Some people go to counseling in unstable times, I go to psychics. *wg*

Anyway…I went to see a psychic. (I should preface the entry now by saying that I believe that she is the ONLY true psychic that I’ve ever been to.) She didn’t read cards or ask me questions. She simply put a tape into an old recorder, and then began to rock back and forth. Why the tape? Because she blurts out information, so it would be difficult to take notes. During this reading, she told me that I was going to meet a man from far away. Now keep in mind, that my idea of far away was the distance between the coast and the Midwest. I thought that was a possibility because I thought I knew who she was referring to in the reading.

That was until she started telling me that I would be traveling to England. Now I know what you’re thinking, she’s a flight attendant, that’s not out of the realm of possibility. Only one problem with that theory. I worked for a domestic carrier and I didn’t have a passport. So I politely told her that I thought she was mistaken. She didn’t take that well. :-O

She continued to lay out details, including the month I’d meet him, the fact that he was tall, that he had dark hair and lighter eyes. She then said I would be engaged withing five months of meeting this man. At this point, I knew she was full of shit. I don’t move fast on ANYTHING. LOL! I let her finish the reading. She’d said several names, none that I recognized or knew. I paid my twenty-five dollars and left.

Here’s where it gets weird. Months before going to see her, I’d started a visualization exercise. This exercise entailed me picking characteristics for my ‘ideal’ man. Because the exercise was visual, I’d also cut out a picture of a character from one of my favorite TV shows at the time, who represented the characteristics that I was looking for in reality. The TV show was Highlander.

Fast forward four months, I’m at a training class in the middle of nowhere. I’d met a couple of the people she’d (the psychic) had told me about. It’s the month that I’m supposedly going to meet this man. (Keep in mind, I thought I knew who she was talking about.) It’s the first day of class and I get paired with a man from Scotland. His sister’s name just happens to be on the short list of names that the psychic gave me. (Didn’t find that out until later.) One class turned into three. Five months later, we got engaged. My friends and family thought that I was crazy. His did too. We couldn’t have come from more different worlds. (Think Hee Haw meets royal bloodline and you’ll get the picture. *ggg* Yet, we couldn’t be more perfect for each other.

Moral of this story: Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

For those of you in states, like I am, today is just an average Sunday. But in the UK, it is Mothering Sunday/Mother’s Day. This afternoon we phoned Mum to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day. They just returned from the Caribbean, apparently without spotting any pirates. Darn the luck.

Had a super productive day editing. It’s about FRIGGIN’ time. Managed to go through 75 or so pages. I still have two hundred more to go, but at least it’s moving. If I can make the same progress over the next few days, I’ll be finished by Wednesday evening. Wouldn’t that be a dream?

Tomorrow is dh’s b-day. Yah! We don’t have any big plans because we decided to combine birthday celebrations with a friend’s. Our friend just hit a milestone, so we’re going to all go out to dinner next month at a fancy restaurant. Should be fun.

Something I just noticed. I was looking at my calendar and I realized that I have NO IDEA what half the days mean. No, I’m not talking about the days of the week. I’m talking about things like Adelaide Cup Day, Whitsunday, Canberra Day, Assumption Day, Shemini Atzereth and Chatham IS Anniversary. Makes me feel like I’m kind of missing the boat on something. Or many somethings to be exact. Hmm…

This is a day that hits me weird. You may not be able to tell from the photo, but I actually do have Irish in me. Yet, that’s not why I find this day so strange. Today is my nephew’s birthday. Certainly a reason to celebrate. Happy Birthday, K!

Here’s the thing. Today is also the day my Grandma died. It’s been (and I can’t believe that I’m going to say this) TEN years since she passed. Despite the shocking passage of time, it’s still fresh in mind because my mom and I were with her when she died. I am grateful that we got to be there for her (beyond grateful), but I doubt I will ever get her voice, as she called my name repeatedly, out of my head. I tried to reassure her that I was there, but I’m not convinced that she heard me. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. If I could have, I would’ve changed places with her in a heartbeat.

So instead of cultivating a festive mood, I find myself rather melancholy. But I don’t want you all to come here and wade in my negative emotions, so I’m going to send you to check out, Julia Templeton’s entry at the Berkley Babe site and Kathy Love’s updated Impaler (vampire band) site. Happy St. Pat’s.

Seems like epubs are making huge strides right now. Both Loose Id and Samhain have recently been acknowledged by the RWA. What does this mean? That the numbers are starting to be decent for more and more epublishers. YAH! More places to sell work. As for the RWA recognition, that really only helps the authors who are members of the RWA (ie contests, PAN membership, etc.). And I use the word ‘helps’ loosely. *ggg*

I don’t know about you all, but it seems like all the shows except Bones, Criminal Minds, Shark and NCIS have been ‘phoning’ it in this season. There’s nothing new or interesting happening. I used to love CSI Vegas, Medium, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Crossing Jordan, etc. This year, not so much. I don’t know if the writers have peaked or if the actors are tired of doing the same ol’, same ol’. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe my tastes are changing. It’s sad when you look forward to the regular season ending, so that the ‘off’ season shows return.

What shows do you think have lost their compass?



Special Announcement: Heather Osborn (senior editor from Ellora’s Cave) has been officially named as Anna Genoese’s replacement.

The talk went pretty well last night. I spoke about a few hard publishing truths that I’m sure a lot of people would’ve rather I kept to myself. Hopefully I didn’t scare anyone too bad. *g*

As I’ve told you in previous posts, my urban fantasy has been giving me fits. Well last night, before I went to the RWA meeting, I FINALLY figured out what was missing. It took printing out an online urban fantasy story from a successful writer and a bunch of highlighters to do it, but I have discovered the answer.

You cannot begin to understand what a relief this is to my tired brain. It’s been working on this problem for months. :-O It was only when I printed out a few pages of my story, highlighted it, and held the two manuscripts up side by side that I spotted the difference. I guess the lesson here is that when in doubt, start coloring. *wg*

Have you learned anything new lately?

Well, today is the big day that I do my talk for the VOS RWA chapter. As I mentioned before, the subject of tonight’s chat will be about ‘Living on the Edge of Publication’. That’s not what it’s really called, but that IS what it’s about. It’s all those little things that start to happen right before you make your first sale.

The strange thing is after receiving advice from you guys, I realized my road to publication was much different. So I’ve decided to talk about what happened to me first, so that they can see there is no ‘one’ way to tip the scales. The truth is no matter how many positive responses you receive there is still a chance that you will never sell. That’s one of the things that makes this business a bitch. Talent isn’t enough. Timing is just as important. Think of publishing as roping a steer from the ground. Either you’ll be drug over clover, leaving you bruised, but relatively unharmed or you’re going to end up with cow crap and barbwire stuck to your body. Sometimes, it’s a bit of both. *g*

Yesterday, dh and I went to see 300. I’d read several of the reviews about the over use of violence. Personally, I didn’t think the violence was as over the top as the boob shots were, but I guess you have to have something extra in there for all the teenaged boys in the audience. *ggg*

The action begins right at the start, we find out how the king became king (some viewers may find this section disturbing due to the violence with children). The movie then jumps to ‘present’ time, when a messenger arrives to ask the Spartans to acknowledge their leader as the one true god. As you might imagine, it didn’t go over well. *g* From there the story fast tracks to the battle.

Like I mentioned in the last post, this story wasn’t particularly deep. The point was to show how the battle changed the course of Greece and subsequently the world. Gerard Butler did a really good job at pulling emotions from a script that didn’t hold many. You felt his torment, his love (for his wife, his child, his men and Spartans in general), and his ultimate triumph of spirit. I got choked up a couple of times. The movie was violent, but in a strange graphic novel sort of way. You see a lot of horrendous injuries, but they don’t ‘look’ real. (At least they didn’t to me, but if you’re squeamish, then you may want to think twice about going to see this film.)

Visually, this movie was STUNNING. They muted the colors and then carefully chose items to emphasize. These items, such as the crimson Spartan capes, were vibrant and really helped set the mood of the entire picture. Overall, I enjoyed this film. I didn’t know if I would after reading several of the reviews. I’m glad I didn’t let them stop me from going. One girl described the film as ‘ab’tastic’. *ggg* It’s definitely that and then some, since Gerard has a nude scene. But that’s not why you should go see this film (although that’s a pretty darn good reason ;). You should go see this film because there hasn’t been anything like it created. It WILL change how movies are made in the future.

It’s strange, but dh and I haven’t managed to get to the movies in a long, long time. As many of you know, we are BIG movie fans. So it’s felt odd not going. The trouble is there hasn’t been anything particularly interesting playing at the theaters…until now.

I don’t expect the story in this movie to be very good, not because the story it’s based on isn’t interesting, but because the focus seems to be on special effects. All I’m hoping for is to enjoy those visuals and come away mildly entertained. I’ll let you know how it is tomorrow. Til then, have a great weekend.

A friend of mine, we’ll call her Paperback Writer, suggested that I talk about the Writing Road Less Traveled. I thought it was a good idea, since that pretty much describes my life for the past year and a half. When I started out in the business, which wasn’t long ago, I wanted to be a romance writer. I couldn’t wait to join RWA and all its many subgroups and go to a Romantic Times Convention. Everything was so magical and new. Yes, I had fairy dust in my eyes and had yet to realize it.


The industry was starting to change, as it tends to do, and ‘new’ genres were beginning to appear. Mainly erotic romance. I liked writing hot, so I thought it would be a good fit. I joined several groups and dove in feet (or pick your favorite appendage) first.


For a while, the water felt fine. There were lots of other swimmers, so I didn’t feel alone. Heck, I never even thought about sharks. (That’s a major accomplishment for me, considering how obsessed I am with those fish. I continued to splash, trying my hand at various genres. It was only after a year or two that I realized the water wasn’t quite as warm as I recalled. Around that same time, I spotted the first fin as it breached the surface. I reacted to this primal sight like any other sane person. I swam like crazy. But here’s the thing, no matter how hard I paddled I couldn’t seem to reach the shore.


I treaded water for a time, watching as one by one the people around me were either rescued or they were pulled under, never to be seen again. No one seemed to notice me struggling. It was as if I’d become invisible. Perhaps I had.

It was at this point, with the sharks circling closer and closer, that I gave up and began to float. I contemplated my lot in life, while staring at the clouds. I never forgot about the sharks, but I did choose to ignore them and the remaining swimmers around me.


I realized that I’d created this nightmare scenario and I would be the only one who could get me out of it. I stopped floating and decided to stand. (Everyone knows that most shark attacks happen in waist-deep water.;) With my feet tucked firmly in the sand, I proceeded to leave all the struggling swimmers behind and forge a new path to the shore. It was hard to let go of the groups that introduced me to the joys of the water and taught me how to swim.

I can’t say that I wasn’t scared walking alone. Hell, I still am. But sometimes in order to survive we have to let go of everything familiar and take that first step toward dry land.

From the shore, I watch the water sparkle enticingly. It calls to me like a siren, lapping at my feet, trying to lure me back into the shadowy depths. I realize that no matter how tempted I am, I cannot go back in. For if I do, I will drown.