Jordan Summers

I’m off to BEA. I’ll see everyone when I get back.

Yesterday I went into work with dh. The office was closed, but we both had work to do. I managed to dig into a couple of chapters and plan to continue today after I clean the house. No, I’m not procrastinating. I just can’t stand to look at the dust any longer.

There are only a couple days left of the Brenda Novak auction. I know money is tight. Everyone is feeling the pinch, but give what you can. My two items are HERE and HERE.

Can you all believe that it will be June in five days? I know I can’t.

My mom’s dad died in WWII. Grandma never really talked about it, but I doubt there was a day that she didn’t think about him. To those near and far, who have served and are still serving, you are in our thoughts. Thank you for a most precious sacrifice. Come home safe. Come home soon.

FINALLY! I would like to present the pre-order for RED. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m aware the cover is not there, but you can see it to the right of this entry. Isn’t it pretty? Doesn’t it make you want to buy it…now? *g*

We went to see Indiana Jones yesterday. It had a lot of the fun that you normally get from an Indi movie. The cast was back with some additions and a few ‘missing’ faces, which were explained quickly. This time the Russians were after the artifacts. Their motivations were a tad unclear, but that didn’t stop the movie from rolling forward. (Keep in mind Lucas wrote this…and the last few Star Wars flicks.)Harrison was his typical Indi. It was nice to see the character back. Everyone was moving a bit slower, but that’s not really a surprise. The special effects got a little over the top after a while and the ’silliness’ factor rose significantly in this installment. The best description for the movie came from dh. He said it’s a cross between the Temple of Doom and the Last Crusade with the emphasis falling toward the Temple of Doom. I think if you go into it with no expectations, then you’ll have a good time. If you’re a long-time Indiana Jones fan, then it’s a must-see. Have a safe Memorial Day Weekend. We’re off to see Narnia.

No, I’m not talking about work. I’m talking about the new Indiana Jones movie. We’re off to see it in a few minutes. I look forward to a couple of hours of escapism. I plan to put up a mini-review when I return. In the meantime, check out this new SFF blog that just started up. Good stuff!

I haven’t been as productive as I would’ve liked over the last couple of weeks so I’m going to start heading out of the house to get away from the computer write.

Brenda Novak’s auction is down to the final days. There’s still time to bid on the critique and the ARC. Don’t miss your chance for me to be crushingly hard on you.

As an aside, did anyone catch Bones the other night? If so, what did you think? This afternoon I’m going to watch the season finale of NCIS. (No spoilers, please.) I hear it left things in quite a pickle. I’m bracing, since this seems to be the year the networks f*ck with everything I like to watch. And yes, I’m still bitter about Moonlight.

A friend of mine and I were talking the other day about the slow demise of erotic romance. (Yes, it’s the same friend.) She theorized that one of the reasons that erotic romance took a nosedive was because of the interchangeable labels (ie erotica/erotic romance). I hadn’t thought about it in that way, but it does make a lot of sense. I’m a firm believer that you should never confuse the reader or mislead them. Every publisher has their own unique definition of what an erotic romance is–same goes for erotica. Some publishers found the terms interchangeable, while others created a clear divide. The problem is that it was never made clear to readers. Sometimes they picked up a book that was labeled erotic romance and got an erotica novel instead. The opposite happened, too. After a while, readers got tired of guessing which book was which and sales gradually tapered off. I should state for the record that I do believe that there will continue to be spicy romances in one form or another from here on out. The door has been kicked down, so there’s no closing it now. I doubt they’ll be labeled as erotic romance/erotica in the very near future.

Could part of this be the over-saturation that ends a publishing trend? Absolutely. But I do believe it was helped along by mislabeling. I know that as a reader I like to know what kind of book I’m picking up. I don’t like surprises. Period. If I reach for an erotic romance, I expect to get an erotic romance. Not erotica dressed up in nice knickers. Same goes if I pick up an urban fantasy. I have very specific expectations for those types of books. I don’t think I’m alone. The problem occurs when those expectations are not met. Hence the danger of interchangeable labels.

What do you all think? Are we completely off base? Or do you see a different reason for the demise that hasn’t been mentioned here?

A friend and I were talking about blogs the other day. (She knows who she is.*g*) One of my favorite blogs to visit is John Scalzi’s blog because he covers a variety of topics and doesn’t let much get to him when it comes to comments. I realized that there are only a few ‘romance’ blogs that attempt that and even they don’t cover topics like Scalzi. It dawned on me that there were a couple of reasons for this, which is what prompted the conversation with my friend. One, is that most (but not all) romance blogs are operated by women and two, seems to come from the fact that they’re tied to romance.

It seems extremely easy to set off a firestorm on romance blogs. Anything with the slightest bit of controversy (ie politics, religion, books, authors, reviewers, movies, etc.) gets ripped apart. It kind of makes me sad because I wish that I could operate a blog like Scalzi’s, but I know it would amount to career suicide. It’s too easy to offend people without trying, and once you do, word spreads. Now I don’t know if sales are effected, but in these economic waters can anyone (especially an unestablished writer) really take a chance?

My mood is a little bit better today. No, I’m still not over Moonlight’s cancellation, but I’ve resolved to simply ‘dislike’ the powers that be. It works for me.

I had to work on a partial yesterday, so I didn’t manage to start my third book. I did get the partial in and it’s being sent out with my other partial, so I now have a few things circulating. Yay! I have finally received the movies I wanted. I find it helps sometimes to get ‘in the mood’ for a book, if you watch films that are similar in setting. (Note: I didn’t say story.) I have friends that watch historical documentaries and dramas before they start their books. It puts them in the right mindset. Other authors put together playlists for their books. I haven’t done that because I find lyrics distracting. In another life, I used to write songs, so it’s easy for me to go off on tangents. I can listen to music beforehand or if there are no lyrics involved (ie soundtracks, classical, etc.), but movies work best for me since they help with visualization. Anyway, those are my plans for today. (ie watch movies and write)

I do need your help. This plea goes out to readers and writers. I am going to try to put together homemade bookplates hopefully without them looking homemade. What I’d like to know is if you’ve seen any bookplates that you’ve liked? If so, why did you like them? What information do you expect to find on a bookplate other than an autograph? Thanks ahead of time for all your help.