• 905 and counting …

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    Finished Swine Not? by Jimmy Buffett. Not sure if I’m mentioned this on the blog before or not, but I’m a huge Parrothead. I’ve got all his albums and all his books, and one of my dreams is to see him live in concert. So anytime Buffett comes out with something new, I buy it. (Much to Wheezley’s chagrin. He is not a fan of the Buffett, although he was nice enough to buy me this book anyway).

    Buffett’s previous books have been about kooky characters doing kooky things in the tropics. But Swine Not? is actually a kids’ book about a Tennessee family who moves to New York. The family has a pet pig named Rumpy, and since their hotel has a no exotic pets policy, they’re forced to hide Rumpy from the hotel staff — including a psychotic chef who’d like to make tenderloin out of poor Rumpy.

    The story is sort of in the vein of Stuart Little, as Rumpy explores New York and looks for his twin brother. There are talking pigeons and more. Also, the chapters alternate between Rumpy’s point of view and that of Barley, one of the kids who’s obsessed with soccer.

    It’s a cute story, but nothing really new or different happens. If you’re looking for another life-in-the-tropics novel by Buffett, you’ll want to skip this one. But if you or your kids like pig tales or talking animal stories, you might want to pick this one up (or try the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, which is quite good). But overall, Swine Not? was cute enough for me to give it a thumbs up.

    Up next: Thrill Me to Death by Roxanne St. Claire.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 18.

    What about you guys? What are you reading right now?

  • Just a reminder …

    That I’ll be signing books on Oct. 18 (this Saturday) during the annual Women’s Expo at the Meadowview Convention Center in Kingsport, Tenn.

    The event starts at 10 a.m. I should be there for most of the day (although I will be taking a lunch break at some point). Other authors scheduled to attend include Julia Quinn, Teresa Medeiros, and Lora Leigh. Should be a good time.

    Also, I’ll be signing books on Nov. 1 at Mountain Empire Comics in Bristol, Tenn. Not sure about the time yet (got to figure out my work schedule first). More details to come.

    Hope to see you there! 😎

  • ·

    Unstuck for now …

    So I did some work on Assassin 3 this weekend. I didn’t get a lot of writing done, mainly because I got stuck — and basically rewrote the same three chapters three different times. Sigh.

    I usually don’t do that. I just go on my merry way, keep writing, and make a note to fix it later. But this time, I felt like I couldn’t go on without fixing the scenes — right then and there. I needed to know what I was doing with the story at that point so the rest of it would flow smoothly. I was stuck, in other words.

    So how did I change it? Well, first I had Gin (the assassin) eating dinner in a restaurant while she’s waiting for a guy at another table to go the bathroom so she can kill him in there. Boring, I thought. I needed a better setting than that. So I changed the restaurant to a riverboat casino. Much more unique and interesting, and much more in keeping with the Southern flavor of the series.

    Which, in turn, meant I had to change who Gin was eating with from her love interest to Finnegan Lane (Gin’s best friend/handler). Only since they were on a riverboat now, they weren’t even eating dinner. I’ll stop here to keep the confusion to a minimum. But the changes went on from there.

    But now, I feel like I’ve finally gotten a handle on things and can write the rest of the story. At least until I get stuck again. :rolleyes:

    What about you guys? What do you do when you get stuck on something or at work? Do you plow on through or spend time fixing it until it’s just right?