• If you’re going to San Francisco …

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    So the annual Romance Writers of America conference kicks off Wednesday in San Fran. I’m not going this year, mainly because of the cost. The conference fee was something like $425 this year, the hotel would have been over $1,000 for four nights, and I shudder to think what the plane tickets would have cost. Gulp! It was just too rich for my blood this year.

    I wish I was going, though. RWA Nationals is always a lot of fun. Book signings, workshops, face time with your editor and agent, publisher parties … there’s something going on all the time. It’s exhausting, but fun. Plus, there are lots of opportunities to get free books. 😎

    But basically, most agents, editors, and authors will be incommunicado this week as they make the trek to San Fran. However, some folks will be blogging during the conference so us poor slobs stuck at home can read all about it.

    Ah, well. Hopefully, I can get some work done on Assassin 2 in the meantime. Besides, next year the conference is in Washington, D.C., a place I’ve always wanted to visit. And the next year, 2010, it’s in Nashville, which is even closer to me. Yee-haw!

    What about you? Are you going to San Fran? Staying home like me? If so, how are you passing the time this week?

  • 891 and counting …

    Finished Echo Burning by Lee Child. This is the fifth book in his Jack Reacher series, about an ex-military policeman who roams around the country.

    In this one, Reacher is hitchhiking through Texas when he gets picked up by Carmen Greer. Carmen has a serious problem. Her abusive husband is going to be released from prison on Monday, and she has no money, no way of getting away from him, and a young daughter to protect. Reacher is intrigued enough to want to help and goes back with Carmen to her husband’s ranch. But soon, Carmen’s husband is dead, and it looks like she killed him. There are also three assassins in the mix who get some new orders — kill Reacher no matter what …

    You know, the more of the Reacher series I read, the more the premise reminds me of The A-Team. Reacher goes somewhere, helps someone straighten out the trouble they’re in, and moves on. Just something I’ve noticed.

    Generally, I enjoy the Reacher series, but this book was disappointing. Mainly because not much happens. Seriously, for the first 75 pages or so, Reacher and Carmen are in her Cadillac driving through the Texas countryside as Carmen tells Reacher about her abusive husband. Then, Reacher’s stuck at the ranch for another 50 pages or so. Then, it’s 50 more pages of trying to figure out if Carmen killed her husband or not. There’s not even a really good fight scene until the very end of the book.

    But mainly, the book didn’t work for me because the plot hinged on one giant coincidence in the middle of the story. A lawyer casually mentions an incident about several Mexicans getting murdered/raped/tortured as they tried to cross over into Texas. Reacher takes this one sentence of information and uses it to figure out what’s really going on. I couldn’t help but wonder if the lawyer hadn’t mentioned the incident to Reacher, if he would have been able to figure out everything else. It really seemed like a stretch to me. I would have liked for Reacher to find the info out on his own somehow. That would have made the story work better for me.

    Also, the speed with which Reacher puts everything together bordered on the superhuman and implausible once again.

    I’ll keep reading the Reacher series, because overall, they are really solid thrillers. But this book isn’t one of Child’s best efforts. The coincidence just ruined it for me. I’ve got to give this one a thumbs down.

    Up next: Something from the TBR pile.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 13 or so.

  • Look-a-likes …

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    Apropo of nothing, yesterday one of the ladies in my yoga class told me that I look exactly like Dorothea Tanning, an author who wrote a book called Birthday that her book club is reading.

    Um, okay.

    I had never heard of Tanning before, so I googled her. Turns out she’s a pretty cool lady — a painter, writer, and more. I don’t really think that I look like her, though, but it’s a nice compliment. 😎

    I was also told once that I look like a young Maggie Gyllenhaal.

    Um, okay.

    I don’t see that resemblance either. But again, it’s a nice compliment.

    So what I was wondering was this — who do people tell you that you look like (famous or otherwise)? Share in the comments.

  • Summer lovin’ …

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    Now that we’re deep into July, there’s actually some stuff to watch on television again. Yeah!

    I’m loving Project Runway, as always, and eager to see what kind of wacky challenges the designers are faced with. Although Suede, the guy who refers to himself in the third person, is a little over the top and strikes me as a Christian wannabe. Time will tell.

    Then, there’s The Closer. Miss Brenda and company are back putting bad guys behind bars — and trying to resist the lure of all those tempting sweets. :scooby:

    I’m also enjoying Burn Notice, although I’m not quite sure where the writers are going with the whole who-burned-Michael-and-why storyline. I like Michael better when he’s just helping people. But Bruce Campbell is always a hoot.

    I’ve also been watching In Plain Sight, the program about the Witness Protection Program and a female marshall who’s great at her job, but not so good at relationships (yes, another cop who falls into that stereotype). It’s been okay so far, but it hasn’t hooked me like the other programs. And I like the marshall’s partner better than I like her.

    What about you? What are you watching and loving this summer?