bev_vincent's Journal

New treads
My god, tires are expensive. I had to outfit my car with four new ones yesterday as I'd let the old ones go to pot, pretty much.

Has anyone seen The Police on their current tour? They're playing almost literally in my back yard next week (with Elvis Costello & the Imposters as opening act) and I'm considering going to see 'em.

Criminal Minds was fun last night, with the flashblacks to early days of the BAU ("Hey, Baby Girl") and the story of the amnesiac. Regulars leaving cop shows going on rampages seems to be the theme for this year's run of season finales. First there was the guy on Law & Order: SVU and now something similar appears to be in the cards for Warrick on C.S.I. tonight.

I think Fox was right to kill Back to You. Last night's finale was the worst of the batch, in my opinion. It had its moments, but relied too much on sexual humor and not enough on actually being funny.

Caught up on my graphic novel reading, with issues 3 of both Locke & Key and The Long Road Home. I like the story in the former well enough, but am growing impatient at waiting a month between installments for both. I started reading the new John Connolly novel, too, but didn't get very far with it—just the prolog. I've only read one of his books before, the non-series Bad Men, which I quite liked, but I hope I'm not getting in over my head by jumping into the Charlie Parker novels without starting at the beginning.

This morning I finally finished the first draft of the new story I've been working on. It's actually a very well refined first draft, since I've edited the first 7½ of 8 pages several times. It's in the hands of my first reader now and I hope to revise it a few more times and get it off to the editors within the next couple of days.

The past comes back to haunt me
I took the day off from work yesterday to clean out my to-do list. It started with getting my driver's license renewed. I showed up at the DPS office about 20 minutes before it opened. Six or seven people were there ahead of me, and as many more arrived before the doors opened at 8:00. A uniformed officer unlocked the door, came out and said, "The computers are all down." Getting no reaction he continued, "There's a huge storm on the way." More silence. "It's raining right now." Still no reaction. Finally he said, "Okay, I guess you all are serious about being here. Come on in."

Although I got everything on my list accomplished, I expected to get more done with my day. More writing, I mean. I finished up my Storytellers Unplugged essay for Saturday and recorded the podcast, got a rejected short story back into submission, but that was it. Between errands, I watched a couple of episodes of Banacek—the one about the stolen cross and the one about the million dollars that disappeared from the casino floor.

I had a strange e-mail during the day, though, from someone working in the building where the company I work for used to be located, up until we moved into new quarters in 2001. A parcel had arrived there addressed to me. That was odd, as was the fact that the woman somehow tracked me down and was able to leave me with both voice and e-mail. It turns out that e-Bay at some point recently reset my contact information to this seven year old mailing address. I have no way of knowing for sure how this happened, but I am guessing that when I updated my credit card expiration date last month, something else got reset and I didn't notice. I'm really glad they didn't decide to just bounce the parcel back to the sender—I was able to drop in and pick it up. Since I have two other items coming to the same wrong address, I can sleep better knowing that they probably won't be returned, either, though I hate to inconvenience the folks at the other company.

House was really good this week. I got the necklace hint right away, though I didn't know exactly what it meant and won't until the conclusion next week. I like the way they have found different ways to bring the old minions back into the picture, like having Chase know how to hypnotize House.

I also liked NCIS this week, because Palmer is Everyman—the guy like me who witnesses something and can't remember things in enough detail to be of much use to a police sketch artist. (However, I did remember more of the name in the passport from the quick glimpse when he found it—I caught the entire first name and part of the last, but not the country of origin.) Gibbs is so cool in the way he plays the expected role of supervisor, yelling at Palmer for doing what he did and at the same time lowering his voice to show that it's just part of the game and that he has real affection for and consideration of his actions.

Scribner sent me a copy of John Connelly's next book, The Reapers, due out next week, so I think I'll read that one next. I finished the Wambaugh book and was underwhelmed by the "resolution" of the story of the Azizes. The cops really didn't have much to do with it, except for the one guy who ended up being a pawn. And it was a cop out (pun intended) to have Fate wrap things up as neatly as it did.

Amanda wuz robbed
In my opinion, at least (re Survivor). I couldn't believe the outcome of the voting, especially after seeing that Erik voted for Amanda, his diatribe notwithstanding. I wonder what would have happened in the event of a tie? Would they have had to try to start a fire in front of a live audience? I always enjoy the live reunion show, because Probst shows far more of his personality than when he's officiating the challenges. I was very happy for James, and intrigued by the way Probst handled Johnny Fairplay, being very dismissive of his participation in the series and issuing a sort of backhanded compliment about his role in fathering a child. I'm not sure I would have recognized either Amanda or Parvati out of context. They both changed their appearances a lot in the interim from the end of the series to now.

I'm reading Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh. It uses the same characters and style as Hollywood Station, depicting the lives of a bunch of cops who work the Hollywood beat. The "crows" of the title are Community Relations Officers (CROs), cops who handle quality of life issues. Though there are a couple of ongoing threads in the book, too much of it seems like anecdotes Wambaugh heard and decided to stitch together into a novel, which aversely affects the book's cohesiveness, in my opinion. And he totally fails with the Flotsam and Jetsam characters, two surfer dudes who also happen to be cops. He was a master of the cop novel during his heyday, but I think he's passed his prime, based on the past two novels, and I won't be picking up a third if there happens to be one.

We watched P.S. I Love You, a romantic comedy starring Hillary Swank that also features Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe from Friends, Kathy Bates, Harry Connick Junior, Gina Gershon and the guy who played the ill-fated Denny on Grey's Anatomy). It's a cute movie, a bit of a tear-jerker, but we both enjoyed it and it has a couple of light surprises.

I'm almost to the end of the short story in progress. I think I've worked out the ending, though that didn't come to me until after I'd shut down the document for the morning. It's going to require a little bit of tweaking of the plot to guide things more subtly in the direction I want to go, but not too much. I hope to finish it off in first draft tomorrow.

I loved all the inside jokes on C.S.I. last week. The jibes at writers, poking fun at other programs, the Poirot-like reveal scene at the end delivered by the killer. Looks like we're back to more serious affairs for the season finale this week.

Erik, Erik, Erik
It was like something out of The Sting or The First Wives Club, the way the four women pulled together to con Erik on Survivor last night. The final ten minutes were the funniest thing on reality TV in ages. You know who I think should win this season? Cirie! She's been the mastermind behind some of the best strategic moves ever. Getting Natalie to help them oust the biggest threat to them in terms of winning challenges was pure brilliance. If only Erik would've stuck to his guns when he told Natalie "I'm not even going to consider that." But she won him over, and the others played their parts brilliantly. It was almost like it was scripted. The juror reactions were priceless, especially James and his "I'm now officially not the dumbest Survivor player ever." Erik's immaturity was his downfall and entertainment gold. He was so burned he didn't stroll down the pier he scooted, almost ran. I can't wait to queue up the behind-the-scenes videos later.

Law & Order was really good on Wednesday night, too. It was an interesting and clever case, and the fact that one of the prosecutors was co-opted to work for the defence added new depth to the characters and their interactions.

And what can I say about LOST other than, wow, what a closing line, after an astonishing final 10 minutes or so. Up to that point, the story was fairly pedestrian, moving along under the force of inertia. I loved the shot of Ben and Hurley sharing a candy bar while Locke was inside the cabin, for some reason. The oddest of odd couples. The revelation inside the cabin was like something out of Twin Peaks. We had hints before that the character sitting in the chair would be there, but still. And his lounging companion. It's hard to wrap my mind around it. Three more hours left until the end of the season. I read in the news today that the next two seasons have each been granted an extra hour so the creators will get their total 48 hours after all. 14-17-17 instead of 16-16-16.

I revised the 900 words from yesterday and added another 1000 to the short story in progress. Didn't quite make it to the end, but the end is in sight. I'm guessing 2500 words for the first draft and perhaps 2000-2200 for the final product. Though it's being written for a themed anthology, if it doesn't make the cut I can think of a dozen other places I might be able to sell this one. I'm really enjoying how its unveiling itself to me.

I still have three programs on DVR to catch up on from last night: CSI, Grey's Anatomy and Without a Trace. I'm looking forward to seeing Linda Hunt's guest performance on the latter, and to find out what the Two and a Half Men writers do with the former.

The vanishing comic shop
So, once a month I make the arduous trek five miles down the thoroughfare, across the interstate and through the back streets of another community to get to the strip center that houses the only comic shop in the vicinity that I'm aware of. I've been doing this ever since the first of the Marvel Dark Tower installments appeared. Before that, I never knew the place existed. Well, now it doesn't. Yesterday, when I went to get The Long Road Home #3 and Locke and Key #3, there was a "Space for Rent" sign in the window. As we used to say back home: There she was...gone! I can't say I'm surprised. It wasn't a very big operation (not like one shop I was in closer to Houston, which looked more like a bookshop with shelves and tables and huge displays. This place was pretty sparse, and any time I went in, not heavily trafficked. I had to wonder how many comics or graphic novels a guy would have to sell in order to pay the rent, utilities and earn a living. Apparently my $8.50 per month wasn't doing it. Guess I'll just have to frequent an online retailer from now on.

I started a new short story this morning, writing about 900 words, which I figure is half the story. It's due very soon, so I have to get my act together. I thought I'd be able to work on it during off hours (evenings, weekends), but I wasn't getting anywhere that way so I decided to put morning session novel revisions on the back burner for a few days, at least until I get the first draft finished. I can edit during off hours, but my overall creativity isn't so good then. I was at a reasonable stopping point in novel revisions, having finished rewriting an obsolete scene. The protagonist of the new story is a bit of a stretch for me, so we'll see how it is received by the editors.

Nothing much exciting on the tube these past couple of days. Nothing comment-worthy. I remembered Back to You last night, a show I seem to have a hard time keeping track of. I think it's funny to discover that Montana isn't really Hispanic, and the gag about the mixed up hormones was decent. I also liked that we see that Patricia Heaton's character can be every bit as shallow as Chuck Darling.

CSI and a half
We had record-setting rainfall yesterday. Glad I haven't gotten around to watering the lawn lately.

Last night's Two and a Half Men, scripted by the writers from C.S.I., was a hoot. There was a guest appearance by the guy who plays Nick Stokes, and the requisite CGI of biological trauma, in this case, food going down Jake's gut and a hilarious forensic depiction of a fart. Turns out I was right about the scam, though I didn't anticipate the lovers-not-family angle. The TaaHM writers return the favor this week on CSI.

The Big Bang Theory continues to be one of my favorite comedies. I think that's because I'm a geek. I'm also going through a 1970s flashback—I bought the DVD sets for the two seasons of Banacek, starring George Peppard. The second season also has the series pilot, which is where I decided to start. I'm halfway through "Detour to Nowhere," the tale of an armored truck that vanished in the middle of the Texas desert (though the desert doesn't resemble the Texas version so much as the California variety). I had a pretty good idea of the solution to this one based on a throw-away comment made early in the case, but I'm enjoying revisiting one of my favorite crime dramas from my youth.

I'm in the midst of rewriting the scene in my novel that is going to take the most work since I obsoleted some of the activity later in the book. It's not going to take as much work as I anticipated, and I hope to finish that off tomorrow and get back to just having to tidy up here and there.

I finished the second Dexter book last night. Doakes takes a big hit in this one. Yikes! I wonder if the actor who plays the role in the TV series has read this yet. Next up: the new Joseph Wambaugh.

Two and a half CSIs
An interesting experiment: C.S.I. and Two and a half Men are swapping writers for this week's episodes. The trailer for tonight's comedy looks interesting but I'm wondering how the comedy guys are going to do on a techie show.

Today it's raining like it hasn't rained here for a long time. We've had promises of rain off and on for many days during the past couple of weeks, but this is the first time the weather has lived up to the promise. I read a statistical review recently that said if weathermen always predicted "no rain" for the last day of a seven-day forecast, their success rate would be better than trying to guess if it's going to rain seven days out.

Fortunately, it was a wonderful weekend. We barbecued on the back deck both afternoons. Also watched a few movies:

Live Free or Die Hard: balls to the walls fun, featuring improbable exploits, the Mac guy from the Mac/PC commercials playing a (oh really?) computer geek, and a feisty daughter. It took me a while to figure out where I knew the bad guy from, but it was Timothy Olyphant who was Pete in Dreamcatcher. Check your brain at the door and enjoy the ride.

Love in the time of Cholera, starring Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men as a man who pines away for the love of his life for over fifty years until her husband dies. However, he doesn't exactly live a celibate life, racking up over 600 conquests during that time, almost all of them brief flings. The guy is actually a little pathetic, waiting until he is in his 70s to truly begin his life. Other familiar actors include Hector Elizondo, Benjamin Bratt and Live Shrieber.

Miss Potter, a biopic about Beatrix Potter. A movie that belies the belief that you need to have conflict and tension to make a film. There is one unfortunate event, and Beatrix's mother is contentious and disagreeable, but basically everything proceeds without hindrance from beginning to end. Still, it's a charming movie, even if I did spend more time marvelling at Renée Zellweger's accent than I should have.

We also watched the finale of Dexter last night. They did an interesting job of preserving much of the novel's intent without being slavishly faithful to it. None of the prosthesis stuff appears in the book, nor does the romance between Deb and the prosthetics guy or the subplot involving Rita's ex-husband. I thought they amped up the Doakes suspicion a lot at the end, more in line with the books than what was shown in the early episodes. And they also tamed down Dexter's dithering over Debs at the end, which I guess is more in line with keeping him somewhat sympathetic. I liked the resolution of the season arc much better than what Lindsay did in the book, though.

The curse of the idol is broken!
I finished the first Dexter novel and proceeded immediately into the second. Good stuff. The ending of the book was a bit of a surprise, especially what happens with his sister and the Lieutenant.

I finally remembered to watch Back to You again. Doesn't look like I've missed a lot, storywise, and I came in at a good time as they tell the changeling daughter who her father is. The flashbacks were funny, too.

LOST was once of those necessary episodes that get us from point M to point N without really being mindblowing. I'm so disappointed in Jack — was he driving a gas-guzzling Hummer? More behind the cut.

( Read more... )

Amanda rocks! She did such an excellent job of acting dejected at tribal council until the point where Jeff asked for the idol. Then she lit up like a beacon and could barely contain her delight once the news sank in for everyone else. Cirie was smart to work things out the way she did—her statement to Amanda that she would be with her if it weren't for the danger that a tied vote would put her in may help her now that the favorites have a plurality again. Erik was so funny when his brother showed up. "That's Jeff Probst. Jeff Probst." What did Jeff say? Something like: "You're a crazy man, Erik." I liked Alexis, but it was probably good for her to go and get some treatment for her leg. She never would have survived a physical challenge. I'm not usually a fan of extra online content, but I really like the video segments for Survivor, especially getting to see the full voting video.

Freezing in Grand Central Station
One of our Easter Lilies flowered this morning. We have several more that are fixin' to in the coming days. The plants seem to get taller every year, despite the fact that they are competing for sunshine with a few azalea bushes and some vines that I wish I could get rid of. The one that bloomed today stands about three feet tall.

Robin Williams was the special sweeps guest on Law & Order: SVU this week. He played a character reminiscent of the guy from One Hour Photo. One neat aspect of the show was that they managed to tie in the famous performance art presentation at Grand Central Station where a bunch of people showed up and, at a pre-ordained moment, froze in place and freaked out the people who weren't in on the joke. If you haven't seen it, check out the YouTube video. It's very cool.

Whenever I see the oddball villains on shows like Criminial Minds, I wonder if there are really people like them, people who are so traumatized that they completely disassociate. I know there must be, but it really boggles my mind that something like that can happen to people. I liked the JJ subplot last night, too, and the fact that all of her profile buddies knew the secret she was trying so hard to hide. Even Reid.

I have a sinking feeling that Charlie and his mother are being set up for a scam on Two and a Half Men. Charlie has just lent the daughter of his mother's new husband $50 K, and his mother didn't sign a prenup, supposedly because her new husband trusted her. But what if he's really broke and is after her cash? Now she isn't protected, either. I know, it's deep thinking for a sitcom, but I wonder how this is going to play out.

Getting near the end of Dexter #1. The ice truck killer case has taken an interesting fork compared to the TV version. So, this is cool—in the next few days, I'll be treated to two completely different resolutions to the same story, with the season finale on Sunday and the book finale probably today.

Book revisions proceed apace. I'm about 1/4 of the way through the manuscript.

Dearly Devoted
Amazon is offering a free download of the new Steve Winwood song Dirty City, with Eric Clapton on guitar. I like it .

I watched The Sontaran Stratagem episode of Doctor Who last night, the first of a two-parter. Good to see Donna's grandfather again. I think the Doctor should take on a geriatric companion one of these days. The guy's a hoot and there would be all manner of opportunity for new kinds of gags and themes with an elderly man in the TARDIS. The episode itself is classic.

I thought someone was supposed to die on NCIS last night. Or am I misremembering the trailer from last week?

I'm about halfway through the first Dexter novel and loving it. There are subtle differences to the TV series, but the plot is staying reasonably close to what was televised. Dexter's relationship with Rita is a little different—he is actually more connected to the kids than to her. So far no mention of his sister's relationship with the prosthetics guy or the subplot concerning his real father, but there's still time for those, I guess. His current escapade, though, the impromptu killing of the janitor, seems unique to the book.

Another chapter edited this morning. I think tomorrow is when I hit the chapter that needs all the work. Fun, fun, fun.

Current Music: Steve Winwood: Dirty City

Darkly Dreaming
Editing is moving right along. I reached an old chapter this morning, one that was written a long time ago as part of a short story. In my memory it was going to require a lot of work because I had an impression that the voice was different from the rest of the novel, but it only needed to be toned down a tad. There still is one chapter I know I'll have to rewrite substantially, but so far I'm just moving around sentences and paragraphs, adding a bit more detail and deleting the sort of blather that often ends up in a rough draft.

My short story "Ten Little Phobias" was accepted by Afterburn SF yesterday. The story was written a long time ago for a science fiction anthology that never got off the ground. I polished it up a little once I got the rights back and sent it around to a couple of places, but it's an odd amalgam that didn't seem to fit anywhere. The story is a science fiction riff on a classic Agatha Christie novel. I think it will be published this time next year.

I received my contributor copies of Cemetery Dance magazine #58 last night. My column is really dated—The Gunslinger Born #1, Blaze and Duma Key weren't yet published when I wrote it, and The Talisman was still planned as a miniseries for TNT. I also have a feature review on a hot new book that wasn't out yet when I wrote the piece: Heart-Shaped Box. My column for #59 will be similarly dated, but I'll be back on track for #60, as I haven't written that column yet.

I started reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter last night, the Jeff Lindsay novel that is the basis for season one of the TV series Dexter. I'm watching the series in edited form on CBS and it's getting down to the wire. Next Sunday is the two-hour season finale. Very good series, and the book is moving along well, too. It's an odd place to be, inside Dexter's head. I have the second book on deck, assuming this one plays out well.

House, M.D. was back last night after hiatus. It's an interesting show in that the characters are completely unreal. The dynamics between House, Wilson and Amber (aka, Cutthroat Bitch) are risible. The way House treats everyone is beyond the pale. And yet the show works once you accept the rules. The bit where his team thought he had syphilis last night was hilarious.

It will be interesting to see where How I Met Your Mother goes after the ending of last night's episode. The bit with the goat was just plain weird, though. Big Bang Theory was pretty funny in its own peculiarly geeky way.

I finished The Monsters of Templeton last night. Quite a good book. The multiple voices from the main character's history are very well done. You need a genealogy chart to keep track of everyone—fortunately one is provided and updated throughout the book. The main character is very likeable and her arc is satisfying. It's not an ohmigod-this-book-is-fanatastic book, but it has some interesting rewards as a reading experience.

Big Brother came to a hasty end last night. I wish they would do a two-hour finale show so there would be more time for post mortem. By the time the winner is announced (and they shoehorn in another prizewinner) with only five minutes left, pandemonium ensues and it's all very interruptus feeling. I'm glad Adam won, but I wouldn't want to have to be on the other side of the grilling the jurors gave them. That was rough.

I watched episodes two and three of Doctor Who yesterday. I'm happy to report that they are much better than the premiere, though I am far from sold on Donna Noble as a companion. The plots carry on past her strident, pushy character tics. I think honeybees are going to play a role in the series this season. There have been two conspicuous mentions of them already.

It was 54° this morning when we went to breakfast. Brrrrr. Cool weather seems much colder after it has been warm for a week or two. I ploughed forward with novel revisions this morning, but progress is slow. I'm rewriting a lot, and I seem to plagued by homophones of late. Maybe it's a symptom of fatigue or aging.

Jason, jason, jason
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Survivor was case in point last night. Don't frickin' trust anyone. Geez. That should be branded on everyone's foreheads before they're dropped on the island. He wanted so much to be like Ozzie, and in the end he was. The show is starting to take on an Amazonian feel, and I don't mean the river. I wonder what's going to happen with James's finger. It looks bad. At least he's getting some (bat) protein. He should have listened to nurse Cirie, though. I was impressed by the way Erik stepped up last night. I would never have considered him a threat in challenges before. I nearly went into diabetic coma just watching 'em eat cake, though.

Yesterday afternoon I spent three hours talking about writing and mystery fiction with a panel of seven other writers and an audience of approximately thirty at the Tomball College library, an event organized by their reference assistant. It was a blast. Panelists came from as far away as Dallas. We spent the first hour fielding questions from the moderator about the myth or reality of how much authors borrow from their pasts and presents in writing. Then, after a snack break sponsored by the Friends of the Library, we opened the floor to questions and engaged the interested audience until nearly four o'clock. At first I was worried that the panel would outnumber the audience, given that the event was on a weekday afternoon, but it was well attended and, by all reports, a success. I sold and signed four books, too, which more than covered gas to get there and back again.

I'm up to Chapter 4 in novel revisions. Still hoping to get through the first draft during the next month.

LOST was boggling last night. The more we learn, the more questions we have. Michael Emerson is so, so good as Ben. That little smirk after his meeting with Sayeed that says so much. He's lethal, but also vulnerable, and never moreso than last night. I firmly believe we will end up rooting for him in the end, which will be quite a creative feat on the part of the storytellers. When all is said and done, I'll want to go back to the beginning and watch straight through the entire series to see new light through old windows, or vice versa. One of the most telling scenes from last night for me was Sayeed's reaction on seeing Ben. He wasn't angry. Wow.

C.S.I. was very good last night, too. I think I'd put Drops on suicide watch, though. Poor guy. A bastard, but still...Next week, it's green blood and the return of the aliens theme. Must be something about living in the desert that makes people alien-crazy. I haven't gotten around to watching Grey's Anatomy or Without a Trace yet. Busy Thursdays are back.

The final three
Got some good work done editing the novel this morning. I'm not polishing at this point, but sanding down the rough edges. If my agent likes the book enough to suggest revisions, that's the stage where I'll really knuckle down and give it my best, but right now I just want to fix stuff and get it into presentable form.

Speaking of knuckles, I have regained the full range of motion in my index finger after scalding it about 18 days ago. Hurrah.

I was surprised by Ryan's decision to trust Adam in Big Brother given what he said in earlier discussions. Sad to see Sharon go—she was the feistiest of the players, the most inoffensive (except when her voice went up into dog-whistle range), and the most honest, which was probably her downfall at the end.

NCIS was really good last night. I thought they were going to use it as an excuse to get rid of the director, but when they turned it around on Tony, that came as a surprise. And then Tony's last moments with Jeanne, also fine writing. And McGee's jury-rigged computer—priceless. It was an excellent showcase for all the characters as they met with the FBI guy.

Green is all there is to be
So sez Kermit, at least. Happy Earth Day.

Received notice this morning that Hotmail will no longer support Outlook Express as of June, which is how I read my e-mail on a couple of computers I use, so I upgraded to the new Windows Live Mail, which looks more or less like...Outlook Express. The installation imports everything from OE, including old mailboxes, contacts, newsgroups, e-mail accounts. The layout is a tad different, but there's not much of a learning curve to get up and running. Apparently the change is because OE was never designed to handle mailboxes the size that Hotmail and other web-based e-mail providers now allow and it would be too difficult to change it. So far, so good.

I had my first experience with online piracy of one of my works. Some helpful individual had posted the complete text of From the Borderlands on the German filesharing site rapidshare. I looked up the site's abuse policy, found their succinct instructions about how to report violations, sent them what they wanted and voila! This morning the files were no longer being shared. I didn't receive a direct response to my complaint, but this will do. Unfortunately, the book had been online for the better part of a year before I noticed, so it's a bit of barn door slamming.

On Thursday, from 1-4 pm, I will be one of the invited speakers at the mystery writers conference Myth or Truth: How Our Past Influences Our Writing at Tomball College in Northwest Houston. Guest speakers will explain how to write and publish mystery novels, with a book signing at the end of the program. Refreshments will be served. Admission is free. Location: Tomball College & Community Library, Meeting Room, L129 on the first floor. The following speakers will be in attendance: Bill Crider, John Foxjohn, Russ Hall, Ayn Hunt, William Manchee, Rosemary Poole-Carter, Jo Ann Power, Leann Sweeney, Bev Vincent, and Gayle Wigglesworth. For more information, contact Georgia C. Owens.

The Monday night comedies were hitting on all cylinders last night. The ending of HIMYM was a bit of a surprise. Maybe that explains why Ted always refers to Robin as "Aunt Robin" in the future scenes. I liked the bit with the Russian janitor on Big Bang Theory and whenever Charlie's therapist is part of the show it goes up a notch.

Currently reading: The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff.

Honker. Big freakin' honker.
Back to work revising the novel this morning. Slow but steady wins the day, or something like that. One section will require substantial renovation, but I'm not sure I'll get to it this week. In the first draft, I left the setting vague because there were some details that might have made it difficult to set the book in Houston. However, now that I know what happens in all of the story, I feel confident I can put it in Houston without stretching too many rules.

Soaked my hand last night and most of the scab from my scalding injury two weeks ago came off. I can now bend it almost all the way. The remaining scab keeps the skin a little tight, but a few more days and it should be mostly back to normal.

The nominations on Big Brother went as I expected. I was also right in assuming that Ryan and Adam conspired to split the vote to force Sheila to cast the deciding vote. Now all that remains to be seen is who wins PoV. Unless it's Ryan, the winner will be the person who chooses who gets ousted. I'm rooting for Sharon. I thought the ending of last night's episode was funny. For the nth time, Sheila was in the diary room ranting about having to be shackled to Adam, only this time the camera pulled back to show that she was, in fact, shackled to Adam.

We watched No Reservations with Catherine Zeta Jones and Abigail Breslin on Friday. A cute movie, nothing outstanding, but just cute and feel-goody. We picked the 1990 version of Cyrano de Bergerac with Gerard Depardieu on Saturday. I'm pretty sure we've seen it before, be we like Depardieu. His death scene was a little bit much, but otherwise a fun movie, especially when he was on a roll, dissecting an adversary with his words. I also liked the scene where Christian interjects comments about his big nose into Cyrano's description of his daring deeds the night before.

This probably sets some sort of record for me. I received Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman on Thursday, read it on Saturday, posted my review on Sunday, sold the book later that day and shipped it off to the buyer this morning. I've come to accept that I won't reread most books I buy any more, so I sort of borrow them for a brief interim and then pass them along.

The podcast version of my Storytellers Unplugged essay "Why Write Short Stories?" is now available via Podango and on iTunes.

Picture a multimedia short story trailer
This is pretty cool. Here's the multimedia trailer for my short story Groundwood, which will be published at Wrong World in July.

Current Music: Fanfare for the Common Man (ELP)

Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie
When will they ever learn? I got a laugh out of James muttering that he thought he was the stupidest Survivor player ever until Jason made that "bone-headed" deal, but Ozzie qualifies as a runner-up for sure. It was a brilliant move orchestrated by Cerie, it seems. Pure strategy and well played. It was definitely time to either make him cough up the idol or go to level the playing field. It will be interesting to see the repercussions. It would be in the remaining players' best interests to expose the mastermind at the next council so Ozzie will know who was responsible. He was p-i-s-s-e-d pissed. And can Eliza's eyes get any bigger? The idol is still hidden back at the camp—I wonder if someone will find it. The "Ponderosa" videos reveal an interesting side of the show we haven't seen before.

Eli Stone had a great season finale last night. George Michael has gotten a lot of air time out of that series, and nary a mugshot among all that face time.

My review of Trauma by Patrick McGrath is now up at Onyx Reviews. I started Compulsion, the new Jonathan Kellerman/Alex Delaware novel.

Guess they didn't get the memo
Our Easter lilies are fixin' to flower sometime within the next week or so. These were discards from a local church event several years ago, and we never expected them to last so long. Not only have they lasted, they've reproduced, something I never expected a bulb flower to do. Anyhow, they're way off schedule this year, in terms of their names.

Why Write Short Stories? is now up at Storytellers Unplugged.

I finished reading The Secret of Lost Things last night. I haven't decided if I actually liked it a lot or just liked it enough to finish it yet. It's a literary "found manuscript" story, by no means a thriller, and the McGuffin remains off screen the entire time. The protagonist is a nineteen-year-old Tasmanian dropped into NYC by herself who goes to work at a Strand-like bookstore where her coworkers include a transgendered individual, a miser, an albino, a bouncer and people who are generally nuts about books, and not necessarily in the good way.

Very pleased with the eviction on Big Brother last night. She was totally blindsided. I think Adam and Ryan got together and planned to split the vote so it would be Sheila who had to make the final decision. I was surprised by the HoH outcome, though. I was rooting for Sharon, and she would have gotten it if not for the "trick" question about the guinea pigs. She totally fluffed the tie-breaker question, though. I'm guessing it will be the two women on the block come Sunday. That puts Adam under pressure to perform well at PoV, but then gives him the deciding vote as to who makes up the final three.

Criminal Minds was fascinating this week. A different kind of a school shooter, and one of the behaviorists identifying with the criminal more than usual. There was some odd writing near the beginning when the team analyzed the scene and then repeated what they were saying to the cop-of-the-week, who was standing right there listening the whole time. Felt like they were padding out the show's running time.

Another Boston Legal, another soliloquy. It was a touching episode, nicely countered with Jerry and Karl's daffy cases. I liked the out-of-the-box reference to the strike by Jerry. Reminds me of the time Alan finished off one of his closing arguments by saying something to the effect of "We're going to get letters over that one." The "meta" aspect of the show is one reason I like it. Another is the cooler than cool friendship between Denny and Alan.

My mostly spoiler free review of A Very Tight Place is now up at CD's blog.

Jailhouse rocks
I'm not sure about Catherine Tate as the new companion on Doctor Who. The jury is out. We'll see. After two excellent companions in a row, she's got big boots to fill—and all I've seen so far is a big mouth. I like her grandfather, though.

Remember when women going undercover in prison was good clean fun? Like when Charlie's Angels did it in their neatly pressed (and cunningly unbuttoned) blouses and coifed hair? Law & Order: SVU put paid to that lie last night with a gritty, harrowing episode.

Final four tonight on Big Brother. I'm hoping Natalie goes to sequester. I'm betting Mattie is praying she doesn't show up. Adam hides his light under a bushel, methinks. He solved that puzzle in half the time as the next closest competitor. I was sure Sharon was going to win that one.

Tomorrow is my day at Storytellers Unplugged. This month: Why Write Short Stories?