I’d like to send a big thank you out to romance author Ellen Fisher, who took a chance on my book and then said nice things about it, not only on her own blog, but on someone else’s as well.

Thanks for keeping an open mind, Ellen…and for sharing your thoughts.
Your new cover looks great!

Alyssa

I have things to say and ideas to get busy with, but I HAVE HAD NO TIME! In between vacationing, taking an online class, dealing with the business side of self-publishing, and getting my oldest off to kindergarten, my writing has lapsed. I was, however, able to get some good brainstorming done in the dark, during the long road trip between Houston and Dallas. Now if I could just find the time to write those ideas down before I lose them…

That’s part of the difficulty of being an author…thinking of a great character, a hilarious scene, a perfect moment or an “out-with-a-bang” finish and not being able to use it. You can’t write everything, and not all of it works together so you can’t just stir it all together like a pot of gumbo and have all those terrific components work for you. You have to pick and choose, and then you have to buckle down with an idea and write it to the end. I love it when an idea comes to me, and I think “that’d be a great start to a book”. Trouble is, I need a middle and an ending to, and as mentioned above, I don’t even have the time right now to write the ideas down. But soon, I’m hoping, soon.

Right now I’m reading, digesting, absorbing, and processing the unbelievable font of information that is there for the taking on writer blogs, writer loops, newsletters, interviews, and through other sources. You can never run out of ideas, either for stories, how to best write them, or how to promote them. The writers I have met online and in person via signings and my local RWA are the most generous and giving people you could ever hope to meet. In the ultracompetitive world of publishing, you’d think the opposite. But it’s true. So go out and meet one, buy their books, and listen to their stories. Your life will be richer for all of it.

On another, totally unrelated side note, what ever happened to musical numbers in the movies? I love, love, love them both in modern movies and vintage, but they seem to slipping into nonexistence. And it’s pretty hard to put one into a book. Unless it’s an audio book….or unless someone were to innovate a book with an adapter and a little microchip, letting you plug your reading material into an iPod and have it pull the right sing-alongs or background music down at precisely the right moment. Still, without the dancing that’s not exactly a musical number, but it’s an intriguing possibility nonetheless. Until then, I recommend you check out The Backyardigans on Nickelodeon. It’s a show for pre-schoolers, but the songs and dance moves are great, and for now, it’s a great fix.

I was watching The Food Network last Friday night when they replayed a Treats of the Trade special that originally aired in October 2004. The product that caught my eye was Chick Chocolate. Much like Chick-lit, this product was conceptualized with today’s modern woman in mind. Just as a mass-market paperback is too short and stocky to be tucked smoothly into a fashionable handbag, and too much of a struggle to hold open with one hand when you’ve got a Starbucks to-go cup in your other, a regular-issue chocolate bar is simply too much. And you certainly don’t want it melting all over your reading material and much-too-expensive but oh-so-fabulous bag…so what can you do?

Try Chick Chocolate! It’s a culinary invention packaged, marketed, proportioned, and created just for chicks who like to splurge a little on life’s greatest pleasures: pretty, tasty, and sinful.
Offered up in three varieties:

Strong Chick (calcium-fortified with ~50% RDA), Personality Profile: Fit and healthy leader with can-do attitude – approaches life on her own terms.
Nutty Chick (packed with protein-rich, good-fat almonds), Personality Profile: Eccentric, offbeat and lively friend to everyone – loves to have fun and is the life of the party.
Extreme Chick (made with 55% cacao dark chocolate and cacao nibs to exploit the healthful antioxidant benefits of chocolate), Personality Profile: Fearlessly bold adventurer – will try anything once. Wants the best of everything.

Each box contains three individually wrapped pieces of Chick Chocolate (1 oz) to share, savor, or save for later. What’s better than a decadent, stylish, healthful treat? Except maybe a hip, humorous, fabulous read. It’s your life…have them both together!