random link -- I hope you're braced for dangerous levels of cuteness. I bring you this thing because authors are all supposed to have a cat that they ramble about. If you don't (maybe someone in your house has allergies) click until you find the perfect kitten, and then you can blog about your fantasy feline friend. You're welcome.

random update -- Got an e-mail from Agent L, who reports that her colleague liked Guide so much, she read it three times in the last week. Yes, I know, Guide is already sold, but Agent L is perusing a number of my books. I'm still waiting for news on one submission, and I've been invited to write a book for Liquid Silver for their Terran Realm urban fantasy line. I'm putting that on my plate along with everything else. After a lot of thinking and some wise advice from Carrie (which I chose to disregard), I'm tackling My Valentine next.

My Valentine is the sequel to Guide, starring Darnell Valentine and Maya Hanoush. I'm scared of this book, ya'll.

Darnell is black, but I get him better than the heroine. I picture him looking like a cross between Kadeem Hardison and Mario Barrett, but with short dreads. He and I will do okay -- he's a stockbroker and a computer geek. Never had much luck with the ladies until recently. Now he imitates the other players on scene, but it's not really him, and he's been in love with Maya since they were 16.

Maya is way outside my experience. I have her look figured out -- cross between Shakira and Norah Jones, but she's tall, almost six feet. She's mixed Hispanic-Middle Eastern descent, and she has a rape in her past. Maya lives in NYC in the aftermath of 9/11, so I can't imagine what she goes through on a daily basis. She's an attorney, working for a big firm, but I don't think class limits the pain and discrimination you experience. She does pro bono work on the side, in private, helping battered women. Anyway, I'm gonna cowboy up and brave this thing, though. I hope I write it as well as Ann and Olivia, my marvelous Loose Id editors, think I can. If you have any advice for me, I'm all ears.

random endorsement -- I'm gonna share another guilty pleasure with ya'll. I'm a secret Ashton Kutcher fan. He's like Keanu, only he's goofy-cute instead of being a block of wood. Funny thing, almost any movie I pick up that has him in it turns out to be better / funnier than I thought it would be. I made fun of Dude, Where's My Car when it came out, and then I watched it. Uhm. I'm calling it a cult classic. No, you can't ask how many times I've seen it.

Anyway, I watched My Boss's Daughter last night and it was 100% funnier than I thought it would be. It wasn't a lame romantic comedy at all; it was instead a screwball comedy (and I love those!) If you want to laugh, check it out. Where else can you find an owl on crack?

And that's it for today. I'll close with a random quote:

"I discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, 'To hell with you.'"
-- Saul Bellow

Labels: Random Tuesday