A rose, by any other name...

I'll admit it. I have a TERRIBLE time naming my characters.  It's like naming children (which also took us months). The names have to be cool enough that readers don't pause and thing, "Really?"

For example: Howard. He had a very cool nickname ("sixpack"), but when I first read Howard I stopped reading and thought, "Huh."  Howard.  BUT, this is a kickass book, so everyone should read it anyway.

But I can't name a hero "Frances" or "Maurice"...not easily anyway.

And what about the women? So far I have Lily and Annabelle and Olivia and Chelsea.  They practically named themselves. I have no idea where the names came from, but they work. Mostly.

What about you? Do you have an easy time naming characters  When you read, what are some of your favorite names? Or least favorite?

Feel Like a Woman

*cue Shania Twain song here*

The last couple of days I seem to have been bombarded with various points of view regarding what it means to be a woman. Not in the literal sense of course, but what it means to take pride in yourself. To be strong (both emotionally and physically). To be fit. To be a good mother. A good wife. The list goes on and on, but you get what I mean.

What stopped me in my tracks yesterday was the question about being ashamed of being a sexual woman. Feeling okay to ask your partner to up the kink in the bedroom, or try new things-even vanilla things, but new vanilla things.
You see, good girls don't talk about that stuff.
Right?
Go ahead, I'll wait while you finish laughing.

I'm not talking about whips and chains...unless you're into that stuff, in which case, more power to you. I'm talking about feeling powerful and able to take charge. Being comfortable being the instigator of whatever floats your boat.
Often times I see women who point towards their partner, saying he doesn't make them feel comfortable. Or, they point to him while saying they just weren't raised that way. Whatever.
I think this is why we like our heroes the way we do. The alpha bad boys with a good heart who just know what we want without communication. They touch that spot-right there-just the right way without any direction at all. It's like they have an inner GPS for the woman's body, or their woman's body at least, and they wield that knowledge to bring us to our knees.

Here's a reminder though...those guys are fiction. Not to say there aren't many wonderful amazing men out there. There are. But, we can't put our satisfaction or happiness solely in their hands.
We need to be strong enough to take charge. To tell them, even if we're blushing the entire time, that we'd really like to try that thing that was described in that book.
Heck, if all else fails, hand them a copy of that book, marked to that page and flee the room to pour yourself a glass of wine while he reads it. Men are simple creatures. Sometimes we have to be specific if we want something.
But, trust me. You will be happy you did.
Even if you were blushing the whole time.

What do you think? Should a man be able to read his woman's mind and just know what she wants? Or should we women stand up and take ownership?

More soon,
Carmen

The Great Time Suck...it's not what you think

As I sit down to write this blog I'm once again reminded how computers are supposed to make our lives easier. All our information is stored right there at our fingertips, easily accessible...except when it doesn't work. This morning I sat down to a blank screen. Not the blue screen of death, but a blank You-Aren't-Smart-Enough-to-Figure-This-Out screen.
Damn it. After copious amounts of coffee and muttering under my breath, I finally gave up.
Yes, that's right. I dragged my nine year old out of bed to fix it for me.

THEN, it was time to work. Simple blog post and hopefully a couple hundred words on the page before I needed to herd the troops to the car for school.
But, I couldn't get on the internet. Oh, it was connecting fine, but apparently my firewall didn't like Google Chrome. Or IE. The error message said that my security software thought I was being hacked.
Lovely. And good on them for protecting me, but how do I fit it? AND, which one is it? Because, yes, I have two. I don't want two different security software setups, but I had one and then the hubby upgraded to another, but the other one didn't get removed so now I'm doubly protected.
It's like a chastity belt for my computer. NOTHING is getting through there.
Even me.
So. Finally got that fixed (don't ask, I have no idea how) and here I am. Ready to blog. For the next 5 minutes before I have to put my mom hat on to feed the kids breakfast, make lunches, make sure everyone is wearing clean underwear...you know the drill.

Tell me about your best time management tips and time saving strategies! I'd love to hear from you...if for nothing else, just so I know I'm not alone.

More soon,
Carmen

You did what? WHERE?

As the saying goes; What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.  Unless, of course, you are a writer. Then Vegas is a mecca of ideas and plots just sitting there for the snatching. A glittering vista in the desert (at night anyway-during the day Vegas looks decidedly worn) just waiting to capture your imagination.

Since we were there for Hubby's birthday/our 10th anniversary I didn't get to do much actual writing. I did scribble ideas and snippets of conversation into my notebook. And I talked. To everyone. Well...not quite everyone. I was very interested in the locals. What brought them to Vegas. (In the case of our gondolier at the Venetian, he was a dancer in the Celine Dion show. No shit. His name is Pepe and he's AWESOME. If you go, ask for him.) What made them decide to stay. (Almost everyone over 30 said they stayed because they got married.)

And then there's the dancing girls. They're everywhere. Some look fresh off the bus, others look like they've weathered the storm and have been searching for...whatever it is they're searching for, for a long, LONG time. (These girls were obviously the 'fresh off the bus' variety).

But, here's the other thing I started thinking about...settings. Vegas has a huge persona all on it's own. It would have to be a strong story to be set there. But the trend I'm seeing lately is for small town romances.  Not necessarily rancher/farmer stuff, but small towns where the Chief of Police falls for the woman who comes back to take care of an aging aunt. Something like that.  Are small towns just easier to write due to their innate charm? Or is it because we can shape them how we want and make them fit with the story, rather than force the story to adapt to the setting.  Maybe it's a bit of both.

Okay, that's enough of my rambling for today...I need to get back into the swing of things back in the real world and find something to feed the kids.

Carmen