Song of the Times...

I'm taking this idea from Emma. It's ok though. She gave permission so I'm not stealing!

Here are the rules:

1. Go to this link at Pop Culture Madness (scroll down - see the list of years on the left? And make sure you scroll down to the actual years, not just the decades, it’s kind of far down on the left.)

2. Pick the year you turned 18

3. Pick five songs from that year

4. Wax nostalgic about each song and why it’s special

5. Pass it on

Cotten Eye Joe - Rednex
What can I say about this song? I live in the south, and even here it was annoying. It sounded like a hoe down mixed with techno or something. Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from Cotton Eye Joe... I never really got the point of this song. I guess that's not very poetic, huh?

We've Got It Goin' On - Backstreet Boys
I rode the NKOTB train, so by the time the Backstreet Boys came around I was disenchanted with boy bands. But I do remember sitting on my hubby's (at that time my boyfriend) couch watching MTV and making fun of their video... You know, back when MTV had music videos on... Novel idea, I know.

I Could Fall In Love - Selena
My darling hubby and I had been dating about a year at the time this song came out. And of course, what starry eyed adolescent in the throes of puppy love could resist it? Not I. But at least we turned out to be the real thing! I also remember this song playing at our prom. Not because it was a sweet ballad but because my best friend who went with one of my hubby's friends was being dragged all around the dance floor as he did a warped version of a Tango. It was definitely a memorable moment!

This Is How We Do It - Montell Jordan
Was there ever a pep rally where this song didn't play? Not the year I turned 18. This high energy sugar pop song would pulsate through our gym several times each month in hopes of jazzing up our school spirit. I'm not really convinced it ever worked... But I got out of class to go sit in the gym and watch people do weird stuff, so I never complained!

One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men
I will admit something terrible. I thought this song was Corny and overly sentimental when it first came out. I'm not sure if it was the song so much as the artists singing it though. But then, in June my dad had a massive heart attack and spent 3 months in ICU with us thinking he wasn't going to make it and this song touched an entirely different cord with me. Thankfully, he recovered enough to spend another 2 1/2 years with us. But this song hasn't ever been so Corny since.

Now you do it and let me know when you do so I can read yours!

April

PS Thanks, Emma! That was a fun trip down memory lane!

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April

What Did He Say?

Ok, I've been bad blogger lately. I know! I'm hoping to make the rounds this weekend because I have a LOT to catch up on.

We've been busy... Doing what you ask? Lots. Including watching tv, though not TOO much ;o). But while watching the tv, hubby and I picked up on a commercial for a new tv show coming to CBS this fall.

It's about a Cuban family who are apparently really wealthy. Other than that, I don't know what it's about. Because every time it comes on, I get distracted by one little word... The last name of the FAMILY the show is centered around. It's spelled Duque. And pronounced "Do-kay". And if you grew up in the early 80's the word bears and VERY close resemblance to a word for "poop".

Every time the guy says, "The Duque family..." Hubby and I of the five year-old mindset, break into laughter. And they say it over and over.

So I have to wonder is the usage of that word just such a bygone that it didn't occur to them? Is someone playing a terrible joke on the producers? Is my mind just so lost right now that I'm drawing lines of association where there is none?

Have you seen the previews? If not, visit here to see one. What do you think?

Special side note: I DO realize this is a real name. Please do not be offended by my post. There are also people with the name Butt... I have a good friend with it. And she laughs about it too. It's really the overly dramatic nature of the previews combined with the name :o)

April

A Change of View

So I was having trouble with a scene the other night. It just wouldn't come. I even sat and stared at the computer screen, but nope. It wouldn't happen. Then a voice from some talk some time in the past came to me...

If it's not working try changing the POV.

So I did and guess what... It worked! I was shocked. I had originally been writing the scene from the hero's POV. Mainly because I felt like I had spent long enough in the heroine's. But really the scene is more complex and emotional for the heroine.

I realized in hindsight that the reason I kept getting stymied is I wanted to write something about her thoughts. But I kept having to stop of course. Obviously I was more connected to her than him in the scene and I guess that means the reader should be too.

What about you? Have you ever been stuck in a scene and switched the POV and it take off for you?

April

PS I'm now more than 30% through... Finally this sucker is moving some!

Lost Letters...

First it was "E", now it's "N" and "S" is soon to follow... Slowly but surely all of the letters are disappearing from my keyboard. There are all of the usual suspects... Buckley could be sneaking into the living room and licking them off of the keyboard (he licks everything else, why not?) of course that would require him to open the laptop, which is probably too difficult a task without opposable thumbs.

It could be the little elf un-helpers who come in while I'm asleep and put tons of grammatical errors in my wip (I know they exist, that's the only explanation for why my story would read, "He kissed her perched lips..." Perched on what? Her face?).

Or it could be the effects of the sugar sprinkles I dropped on the keyboard last Christmas. They put the "A" key out of commission for a day or two, so you never know... That was interesting trip to the computer repairman!

Oh the woes of a writer with disappearing key labels... If anyone sees them about somewhere, maybe struggling to escape the overly packed bag of a mischievous little elf, please let me know... They're missed and I'm willing to go to great lengths to bring them home!

April
Yes, that's correct, I write fiction. I know it's hard to tell, so I thought I should clarify.

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April

What do you get...

When you take a normal, hometown boy and send him through intensive police training, followed by extensive Special Ops training and then toss him into the midst of the 80's drug scene of Miami followed quickly by eight years in the jungles of Thailand? One hell of a DEA agent!

Our speaker this past weekend was terrific. We all promised to share as little of the details as possible so he isn't brought before a committee. So here's Ten things I learned:

1. No boat, sorry Sarah. But he said when he was assigned to Miami, it was actually very Miami Vice like. Large expensive boats, designer clothes and lots of drugs and money.

2. His biggest irritation with media representation is procedure issues. He said most everything you see or read has tons of procedural no-no's which may have occurred 10-20 years ago but would NOT occur now-a-days.

3. It was very easy to tell that he loved the thrill of the job. This is a man who lives for life on the edge. He'd talk about things he'd done, situations he'd been in which were to say the least unbelievable and then, as we're all gasping in horror, he'd say, "It was GREAT!"

4. He said what he didn't like most of the time was bureaucracy.

5. I didn't get the chance to ask him what goes through his mind right before he busts in to a room, but I get the impression that, "Let's Rock and Roll!" Wouldn't be too far off. I thought it'd be, "Oh s*%&" But after hearing him talk, there was apparently only one "Oh S#$%" moment and he didn't think that until AFTER he was already in deep doo.

6. Another interesting thing we learned. Scarface... not so off the mark. That was sort of scary.

7. He says the biggest problem for DEA agents is that they deal with a lot of drugs and a LOT of money and they see the lifestyle that money brings, day in and day out. They even pretend to be living it then go home to their modest little house. But often, the lure of the money is too much and they become corrupt.

8. Thailand I can't talk about much... because I don't think I'm supposed to. And you don't know how difficult that is for me, because it's the most exciting stuff! Maybe I'll put it in a book, slap the word "fiction" on there and no one will know any better :o)

9. He's not single. He got divorced in the middle of his Thailand assignment and eventually had to have his family flown home on an emergency flight when a general didn't take too kindly to the way he was wiping out his heroine business. But after leaving that assignment (no, he didn't chicken out or give it up, he was sent home because people wanted him dead in a bad way)he eventually made it back here after assignments elsewhere in the US and retired to PI work. He met his current wife at a local gym and they began dating... All together, his life seems to have taken a decidedly calmer turn.

10. I thought that while there were alpha men out there, they weren't as "alpha" as what I'd read. I was wrong.

Debby who arranged this speaker (she found him while researching a book) calls him Batman. To his face. He just smiles. Definately Batman.

April

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April

How Did That Happen?

Okay, so I've blogged until I'm blue in the face about not getting to write. But I did some writing tonight and decided to update my word count. It was at 16,250. When I went to calculate my count as of tonight it was 22,500. And I thought, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? I guess little by little I added 6,250 words. Which makes me a VERY happy girl. So now I'm off to celebrate by going to sleep!

Keep the questions for the DEA Agent coming! I'm going to sound like the smartest attendee or like a stalker, I'm not sure which! :o)

April

It's ALMOST the weekend!!

Work has been CRAZY BUSY! So writing has been crazy low. Now it's almost the weekend and hubby is dragging me out of town for baseball. One day I'll have a free weekend to write.

Not next weekend though. Next weekend is my RWA chapter meeting and we're having a DEA agent speak. He's actually killed people. And he's rather nonchalant about it. Apparently taking out an entire building full of drug manufacturers in the jungles of Asia is everyday business. I can't wait to hear the stories he has to tell, but I'm having a hard time putting together a list of questions...

So I thought I would seek your help. If you could ask a DEA agent anything, what would you ask?

April