I'm Back

Here I am in Las Vegas:



These are some photos of Bellagio, outside with the dancing water and of their spring garden:














And finally the deadzone. It looks nicer than it is, trust me. This is where we stayed at stateline between Nevada and California. No internet, cracked and pealing wallpaper, stained carpets, and various other questionable things.



I had a lovely time but ended up losing several hundred dollars to Las Vegas. "O" was pretty cool, though somewhat bizarre.

Today I received the cover for His One and Only. There it is to the side on the right. I must say Drew is totally wrong. He looks NOTHING like the character in the book. But the guy representing Mark, the attorney is nice.

I Don't Have Much

Not really much to report. Working on 3 different stories at the moment. My “plan” is to have at least one of them done by the end of the month. Hopefully more than one.

Wednesday morning I am leaving for Las Vegas. Early. We are driving which is about a 5 hour drive. It’s not as bad as it sounds, promise.

As previously noted, at least until the dead zone on Saturday, I will have my laptop with me. Trust me, the baby goes with me. I am going to “try” to get some writing done, but if not I will be reading some. The Kindle is coming too.

And still waiting for two covers. I got spoiled for a while because Amber Quill used to get my covers done fast. Not so any more. I have to be patient.

Unless I have news, though, I probably won’t update the blog. Won’t be any excerpt this week either. If I win a jackpot I’ll keep you posted. I’ll post pictures of my adventures when I return.

So This Is What Is Happening

Next week, Wednesday-Sunday, I will be going to Las Vegas. We (me, mother, sister) are staying at Bellagio. Gorgeous hotel. I've never stayed there before as it's too expensive for me, but since my sister is paying, I am happy. She's going to a lawyerly conference and asked my mother and I to accompany her. She has to work, me and my mother get to play. Sweet deal.




Anyway, I've decided to finally see "O". I've wanted to see this show since in opened in Vegas many years ago. I saw the original Cirque de Soliel show they did in Vegas when it first opened, Mystere. I loved it, but even then in the early-mid-nineties, it was expensive. My friends and I splurged. When "O" came out it was Cirque in water and I wanted to see it but it came out at like $100 a ticket. Trust me, couldn't do it, and no one else I knew wanted to spend that kind of money either.

Now many years later, I've decided to treat myself and see it. It hasn't come down in price either. In fact, the orchestra seats are like $165. Needless to say, I decided I could handle seeing it from the theater's balcony. I was able to get 25% of the normal balcony price so I am seeing it for $80. Still a lot but more doable for me. And what else would I do with that $80 besides throw it into a machine not likely to give me any money in return. At least with "O" I expect to be entertained.

I'll be seeing it by myself, but that's okay. My mother is of the mind that she goes to a place like Vegas to gamble and nothing else. We are lucky if we can tear her away long enough to sit and eat a meal. The thing about my mother though is she is eighty-four now so she can't go as long as she once did. I'm not seeing the show until 10pm so I suspect by the time I am out at around midnight she will have already gone back to the room and bed. My sister will often go to shows with me but this time she has decided she needs to keep an eye on my mother and so I am going anyway. Go me! as Shayne would say.

I'll be bringing my laptop so I will have access to the internet and my computer for at least some of the time. Saturday night (May 8) we will be staying at Stateline (Nevada-California border) and I know from past experience it is a dead zone. If you've seen the area, it really is, in more ways than one. But it is about a good 60 miles closer to home on the way back and at like $45 a night to stay there a good $200-$300 cheaper than another night at Bellagio. But trust me, there is a big difference. LOL.

Anyway, though I am bringing my laptop to stay in touch, chances are I won't be writing any hot and heavy sex scenes between Mason and John with my mother and sister right there. So, it is my intention before next Wednesday to have another chapter of The Beach House done. I have done two so far and am working already on that third. It would be even nicer to have a fourth one done, but I'm not holding my breath. The requirements are I must have at least 18,000 words and it can go up to 39,999. I've got more than 6,000 words done already so I don't see myself having any trouble with beating the deadline of July 01st by quite a bit.

The good news for those interested in Jude is I finished a new chapter on his story. I’d like to have it come out late summer, early fall given the time of year the events take place, but we will see.

Tomorrow's excerpt will be a surprise. To me too! LOL. Haven't decided.

Ratings

I seem to be particularly gabby today.

I’ll be away from home for a few days. Taking a little trip with my family. Should be fun. I’ll have my laptop with me but doubt I will visit every site I usually visit. Have to have some time for the actual trip (Sin City).

I signed up for the reader sites Library Thing and Goodreads last year. I remember finding Library Thing because of Elisa Rolle’s reviews and I think I found Goodreads because Ava March mentioned it to me.

Anyway, as I think anyone who writes ought to also read, especially in the genre they write if they are an author, I find the sites quite fascinating.

If anything it has been my experience those that are on Library Thing are a bit harsher with their ratings than those that are on Goodreads. Don’t know why that is, but that’s what I have found with the genre I read and rate there, M/M romance. But even on Goodreads I am amazed when a book that I absolutely loved didn’t appeal at all to someone else. I wonder what they didn’t see that I did. But such is life. We are individuals with differing tastes. Much the same way I love lobster and someone else hates it. Sure, I can think they are a bit insane.

But it also makes me wonder about ratings. On Goodreads, if you pause your cursor over an unrated book it will tell you that one star means you didn’t like it, two means it was okay, three means you liked it, four means you really liked it, and five stars means you thought it was amazing.

Now see I think this causes a lot of people who really liked a book that might have normally given it five stars to give it four simply because “amazing” is pretty damn subjective. So I ignore what Goodreads says what the stars mean and go with my own.

1 star – hated it (reserved for books I really, really didn’t like)
2 stars – didn’t like it (reserved for books not for me but someone else might like it)
3 stars – average (probably most people who read the genre would like it, some more than others)
4 stars – liked it a lot but there were one or two things preventing me from giving it a 5 star rating)
5 stars – really enjoyed it, would recommend it to readers of the genre, very well written in my opinion
5 stars –books-i-really-loved – these are the books I could gush over and read again and again.

There are books I give really high ratings to and then my jaw drops when someone else gives it 1-3 stars. Say what? I’m learning to deal with it though. Just because I am a gushing fangirl over the book doesn’t mean everyone else has to be.

What prompted this post? Well, there was a book I loved. I’ve already read it a few times. It’s part of a series in fact and I loved both books. Someone else I know on Goodreads gave it a three and this person has loved books I probably would give twos to and someone else didn’t finish the book (this person rarely likes any books though so it’s not surprising and even less likes books I do, we obviously just disagree).

There are millions of people who love the Harry Potter books and millions too who probably wonder what the fuss is all about. Ah, well, such is human nature, I suppose.