(Via Lainey)

1. I was reading Jane Eyre, Count of Monte Cristo and Don Quixote by the time I was eight.


2. I met Katie Couric one year in Lexington, Kentucky. She was there for the Derby; I was there for a business conference.


3. I have never had any piano lessons but I can replay any piece of music I hear, though I cannot read music.
   
4. For about a year, I was the mistress of a Lebanese noble,who showered me in platinum jewelry and Chanel Allure.


5. I eloped to Vegas when I was six months pregnant.

So how well do you know me? Try your luck, see if you can spot the lie!

It isn't launched officially yet, but check it out!

Love it!

I saw the song like a month ago, though, on a TV at the mall. Just sayin'. Springboarding off December's blog (I just never get tired of that song), I give you this and this.

That could be my theme song, except I never was on the Chess Team or in AV Club, never been to a Ren Faire, don't speak Klingon, don't know how to code stuff on computers...uhm... how nerdy am I, exactly? Let's find out!



Come to that, I don't know how white I am either since I'm not sure who my daddy is. Anyhow, let's give Al his street cred -- he can rap, ya'll. Who knew? Even Chamillionaire said he was amazed the man could lay it down like that. And White and Nerdy is his first top ten hit! That's a huge achievement, considering how long he's been in the game. His first hit was My Bologna back in 1979. He actually pulls off the white-ghetto look pretty well. Daaaaamn!

Moving on.

Your Alibi is done.

[Moment of silence.]

Any beta readers in the house? Shout if you wanna.

And writers write.

Whatever else is going on or going wrong, we write.

So I did.

I'm happy to say I have three chapters left on Your Alibi. Just three. I wrote as many this weekend, so it's been productive.

It's almost time for me to say goodbye and bon chance to Sean and Addie.

I'm going to miss them.

Sorry.

I know I have people who check my blog regularly and expect it to be interesting, but some things have happened that I can't think about, let alone put into words. If I write it down, then it's real, y'know? At this point I'm still waiting (and hoping) for it not to be true; I don't know how long my mental adjustment will take.

It's been hard to write because I need a certain lightness of heart for Your Alibi, and that's just not happening. I'll push through it, though. I have like six chapters left. I just have to make myself do it, even though that's going to be like rubbing salt on exposed nerves. I don't much care about finishing this novel, but I'm not a quitter, never have been, so I'll tough it out. After this, I'm going to work on something darker. Probably I'll do what I did with Falling and just start writing, see what happens.

I know this is cryptic, but I feel like I owe my readers a semi-coherent explanation. What it boils down to is that I lost someone I love, and that's never easy. Anyway.

A few points of interest:

1. Got new furniture for the den. Mmm, suede.
   
2. Got a new TV for the den. Mmm, 46 inches.
   
3. Going to Puerto Vallarta next week. Mmm, seven days on the beach.
   
4. Going to Chicago in December. Yuck, snow.
   
5. Going to Paris in May. Très bon!
   

So what's new in your world? I got nothing.

And the hardest part
Was letting go, not taking part
Was the hardest part

And the strangest thing
Was waiting for that bell to ring
It was the strangest start

I could feel it go down
Bittersweet, I could taste in my mouth
Silver lining the cloud
Oh and I
I wish that I could work it out

And the hardest part
Was letting go, not taking part
You really broke my heart

And I tried to sing
But I couldn't think of anything
And that was the hardest part

I could feel it go down
You left the sweetest taste in my mouth
You're a silver lining the clouds
Oh and I
Oh and I
I wonder what it's all about
I wonder what it's all about

Everything I know is wrong
Everything I do, it's just comes undone
And everything is torn apart

Oh and it's the hardest part
That's the hardest part
Yeah that's the hardest part
That's the hardest part


--Coldplay

In preparation for my trip, I went to the salon yesterday, where I had the works: fingers, toes, highlights, cut and style. I always get a French manicure / pedicure; the white tips look especially adorable on toes.

I'm taking off shortly for LA, and I'll be too busy having fun *cough* I mean researching Your Alibi to get near a computer until at least Monday. Until then, try not to miss me too much and talk amongst yourselves. Here, I'll give you a topic. Why do women complain about their asses when many men like big butts? Discuss.

Via Lovely Salome.

#1 - One book that changed your life: The Complete Collected Poems by Maya Angelou. Am I supposed to write something witty here? First, the person who bought me this book, I love more than life itself. I can't read a line of poetry without thinking of him and what he means to me. But beyond that, this work utterly shines. I have seldom encountered such pure and earthy grace. It was from her writings that I extrapolated my personal philosophy: "I am not perfect, but I am me, and that's enough."

#2 - One book that you've read more than once: The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee. I just never get tired of that book.

#3 - One book you'd want on a desert island: SAS Survival Guide: How to Survive Anywhere, on Land or at Sea by John Wiseman. This seems like a no-brainer. If I'm on the desert island, I'll need to know how not to die there.

#4 - One book that made you laugh: $how Her the Money by Stephanie Feagan. All three of her books cracked me up, really. Pink is awesome. I wish she would take off like Janet Evanovich because Stef does it better.

#5 - One book that made you cry: The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee. Fucking book should come with a no-HEA warning label. Still kicks ass, though.

#6 - One book that you wish you had written: The Rule of Four by by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. Brilliant, spare, elegant. Deftly written, but almost elegiac in some ways. A lot of people are hard on this book and they call it Da Vinci Code derivative and boring, but others seem to get it. For instance, a reviewer on Amazon writes:

I consider this book to be one of those rare jewels we come upon so rarely when scouring bookshelves. This becomes palpable from its first pages for not only is the story original and intriguing but it is also beautifully written; the language is cultured and each word seems to fit into each phrase as a neatly cut gear. The last but perhaps most important point is the research that dwells behind this magnum opus as the subject of the book (a book itself, the Hypnerotomachia Poliophili, only recently translated) really exists but is so little understood.

#7 - One book that you wish had never been written: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. The woman should still be on the dole; the only good to come of her hyper-hyped piles of pestilence is the well-written slash fic.

#8 - One book you're currently reading: Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. I want to like this. I love his other stuff. But I start reading and my eyes glaze over. This has happened like ten times. Could it be...this is book is... (no, don't say it)... boring? I said it. I'll keep trying.

#9 - One book you've been meaning to read: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark. I have this huge honking black book sitting on my shelf and I'm intimidated by it. They tacked the word "literary" onto it and now I'm afraid it will be dry and have scary big words and be (worst of all) boring as hell. So it keep staring and I keep giving it skeevy looks out of the corner of my eye. This has been going on for at least two years. We'll see who breaks first.

#10 - Tag Five People: Lorelie, December, Lainey, Michele, Jacqueline! Meme this.

Here's what she came up with, based on my feedback. I love both of them! How in the world can I ever choose?