Another addition to the TBR List

PARTY by Tom Leveen looks phenomenal.

It's saturday night in Santa Barbara and school is done for the year. Everyone is headed to the same party. Or at least it seems that way. The place is packed. The beer is flowing. Simple, right? But for 11 different people the motives are way more complicated. As each character takes a turn and tells his or her story, the eleven individuals intersect, and reconnect, collide, and combine in ways that none of them ever saw coming.

Anyone read it yet? The author wrote an article about manuscript-readiness for WriteOnCon that was funny as hell. Read it HERE.

The Dreaded Day Job

The day job. Torture of all tortures.

SIGH. I've been caught in the day-job-glue-trap since (roughly) Memorial Day weekend and haven't been able to get out.

And I really, truly, have nothing to complain about. I have many friends have are forced to schlep into Manhattan on the subway to work at a job they hate, for people they hate, doing work they find uninteresting, for a wage they think is unfair. I'm fortunate enough to not be one of them.

I work in my family's business. I'm an attorney, so the work (at least to me) is always interesting and stimulating. My hours are flexible. Working for dad gives you the ability to say, "Seriously, Dad? Can't I do this tomorrow? Would it kill you to wait a few hours?" (Nonetheless, it also gives him the ability to call you at 11:00pm at night and dump a whole crapload of work on your plate....which negates the whole "DAY" job definition, but I digress.)

However......HOWEVER......HOWEVER. No matter how fantastic the job, how great the pay, or how wonderful the people you work with, when that day job takes you away from your true passion--the one job you wish you had more time for, the job you feel you were born to do, the job that you'd stay up all hours of the night doing without even looking at the clock once-- it sucks. Yes, the day job has thrown a serious monkey wrench in my writing/reading/blogging time this summer and my level of resentment is sky freakin' high at the moment.

Anyone else have a day job they both love and resent all at the same time? Hop on my misery train for a few stops and tell me about it!

If you missed WriteOnCon, go check it out now

Folks, the WriteOnCon annual online conference last week was A-MA-ZING. For those of you who weren't able to participate in any of the live forums or chats, don't fret. You can still read the transcripts, and also browse through all of the articles, blogs and vlogs from participating authors, agents and editors at WriteOnCon's website.

It was seriously a wealth of information packed into three days. But most importantly, it was pure INSPIRATION. So many helpful tips and kick-in-the-pants speeches from authors. I needed that!

WriteOnCon Conference is HERE!!!

I've taken a painfully-long break from blogging in the last three weeks or so to tackle the growing mountains of work for my dreaded day job. (Barf. More on that necessary evil at a later date.)

In the meantime, I wanted to remind you all that the WriteOnCon online writer's conference starts tomorrow and lasts until Thursday, August 18th. It's an amazing experience, all in the comfort of your own home. No plane tickets, train tickets, hotels, or cramped conference rooms.

Details? Click here.

Monday Musings on HP and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

I finally managed to see Deathly Hallows this past weekend. Sigh. Feeling a little melancholy that this is all over. So I'm trying to cheer myself with a few light-hearted observations regarding aging in the movie.

1. Why, oh, why will they insist on giving Ron Weasley the absolute worst haircuts/hairstyles known to man? Even in his future "19 years later" state, his hair looks like a toupee.

2. Harry is hot 19 years later.

3. Ginny looked like a Stepford Wife 19 years later. (Again with these crazy hair styles.)

4. Hermione looked like...well, Hermione, 19 years later. They could have given her some more wrinkles, don't you think? I mean, a french twist in your hair doesn't automatically make you 36 years old.

5. Young Snape looked...really, really weird. Almost like they were trying for different camera angles to make his face look thinner and younger but it didn't quite work. It looked like his face was melting. Too much makeup maybe?

After all is said and done, I thought the movie was fantastic. My husband, who hasn't read any of the books, was a little lost at times. It's really not a movie for a non-fan.

Monday Musings on Summer Vacation

I've been struggling lately with getting this rewrite of my manuscript done. It's killing me. And I think I've figured out why. It's my kids. Their summer vacation is messing with my writing mojo.

A few thoughts:

1. Who invented this summer break thing? Didn't they know that parents LOVE school?

2. Would it be so bad if I hide in my office and just slide plates of food under their doors to keep them fed? Probably not okay, huh? Hmmmm....I'll have to rethink my strategy.

3. Summer Day Camp is a great invention. But not if pickup time directly interferes with my two year-old's nap time. Hell-oooooo, nap time is my only time to get work done! Can't these camp people keep up with my program? Sheesh.

4. Evenings would be so much more productive if I didn't have to catch up on the summer boob tube with The Bachelorette (damn that Bentley!) and Big Brother (Branchel is back, OY VEY!). Purely self-destructive summer vacation behavior on my part.

5. There is a Christmas morning for parents and it's called BACK TO SCHOOL DAY. I, personally, can't wait for it to arrive.

Mourning Harry Potter All Over Again...

I'm just as excited about the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 as any other HP fan. But there's a small part of me that feels some strange kind of longing for it not to be over...AGAIN. It took me three weeks to read Deathly Hallows. I probably could've tackled it in a few days. But I dragged it out on purpose. I just didn't want it to end. And I had such a sense of loss when it was over. I loved the book and loved the ending (even the notorious epilogue) but I still felt unhappy about the whole thing. I suppose it's kind of like when you're best friend is moving away because they got a great job elsewhere. You don't want them to go but you know it's inevitable and really the only choice.

So, with a heavy heart, I will drag this experience out in the same fashion as I did the reading of the book and will not see the movie until next week. I'll revel in everyone's stories about it and read the reviews and then go see it later.

I am, however, super thrilled when I see pics of my favorite HP kids such as this one.

Dude. Hermione? Are you in there? Or is that Gisele? Seriously, Emma Watson looks fabulous. I knew she was a beauty but this is ridiculous! And how cute are Daniel and Rupert? So sweet.