This too shall pass...

"I’ve come to the reluctant conclusion that unless I’m willing to write extremely graphic erotica, i.e., m/m/m/f/f/m/m/m/f/BDSM/fem/dom/vampire/shifter/multi-hued aliens with pokey penile appendages/dripping females/menage/multiple/dog sex/butt plugs (not yours, Larry/Jill) – I’m doomed to forever languish in Romancelandia..." ~ Julia Barrett

Exactly...though Julia forgot to mention the heroes need to be deep, soulful thinkers who have learnt from the pain of their twisted, convoluted past and the heroine needs to have a 'daddy' fetish and the stamina of a warthog...

It's what all the romance books are based on...

Life is not a romance novel…

I heard this song as I was driving back from the country yesterday and it took me back to an argument I had with a friend years ago. I was young – 19 - and dumb and travelling the world seeing what it had to offer. I met up with a group of like minded individuals and we wandered through Europe. The argument? Well, at 19, and knowing everything, I said it’s was wrong to deny loving someone because you were scared or insecure as it was not fair on the other person. My friend’s point of view was sometimes its better not to admit to stuff that can hurt you and to just go with the flow – to take what is given and expect nothing so you’re not wounded. I thought she was so wrong. I mean we grow up wanting to be in love with ‘the one’ and why hide feelings like that? What about the other person?

Now older and still dumb I actually understand what this song means. I get it. To me, it’s about packaging your feelings to protect yourself. Some feelings are messy and complicated and it’s better to neatly pack those inconvenient ones up in a box and take and give what you can and yeah – go with the flow and don’t ask for the impossible. Life is not a romance novel.

Amarinda Jones
Penn Halligan
www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book

Marry, tarry, cash and carry…

So I was talking to an acquaintance of mine today about romance books. She reads ‘em by the boatload. She’s read mine. Her main criticism of my books and others on the market today? Everyone is having sex but no one seems to get married much in them. Huh. That never occurred to me as a problem. It is to her. Why? Because her theory is romance means a happy ending and that’s supposed to be marriage and not just sex…sex is good apparently…well it is…but in books specifically as long as the couple get married. Huh again. I wonder if this is a common perception of romance readers or a select few who believe marriage is some goal to be obtained. While I am not about to change who I am or my style of writing, it is food for thought.

Amarinda Jones
Penn Halligan
www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book

Lustful dilemma…

Supply and demand…it’s a pretty simple concept isn’t it? There is a need and the need gets fulfilled. You want something? Someone will supply it to you for a cost. It’s a no brainer. But what if suddenly there is an over supply of the market in, for example, romance books. Let’s say Lustful Literature – no, I have no idea if they exist – decides to shove as many titles as possible onto the market as they can. They even double up with some authors appearing twice or three times in the same month/s. Do you think – ‘wow – those authors are good to be releasing so many books so fast’ or are your thoughts ‘gee, they must have lots of great books to show us’ or maybe you ponder ‘what are they doing? Why the rush? What’s going on?’

Supply and demand always intrigues me. Too much product and you can look desperate and overloaded. Too little product all shoved on the shelves with no back up for following months also indicates desperation. Do you think it’s better to save face and space Lustful’s book releases out hoping to keep the market steady and reliable or is it better to push everything you have out to the public in a smoke and mirrors boy-aren’t-we-busy move? I love smoke and mirrors but blowing smoke is pretty obvious.

Supply and demand – in the current financial global mess – is a balancing act that should be a well thought out move and not an act of desperation. After all, less is more.

www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book

Push it...

So, I’ve almost finished writing the next book and the one thing that strikes me the most is that every single character has an agenda – more so than any other book I have written. I never planned it that way but there it is. Every one of them has a plan to get what they want. Thankfully, those plans all manage to interlock. Go figure. Occasionally I can do this writer gig correctly. Sometimes you can be in the writer zone and it all comes together. Sometimes you don’t have a bloody clue. It’s a hit and miss business. Words and ideas tumble out and you can’t write them fast enough. Other times you stare at the screen and think ‘why am I doing this again?’ But there’s an agenda there that keeps me motivated.

Like characters in a book, everyone I know has an agenda. Yes, yes, I’m sure there are the pure-hearted among us who will say “oh no not me. I’m too nice.” The less pure-hearted like myself would respond with ‘bullshite – you have an agenda and niceness is a front for hiding your real emotions. You have an agenda - you just won’t name it publicly.’ What is it about announcing what you want and being ruthless and persistent to get it? If you’re not hurting anyone else then why is determination to succeed a bad thing? It often amuses when people say ‘X has an agenda.’ They say it like it’s a bad thing. To me, an agenda equates to a goal and we’re always told to have goals and try to attain them. Are goals more acceptable than agendas?

‘Got an agenda? Excellent? Do you ruthlessly plan to pursue it? Better still. Push it to the max. Life is short. Make sure you get what you can with what talents you have. The one person you can rely on the most is yourself. Only you know how far you will go and what measures you will take to succeed. And those who worry about your agenda? That’s their problem.

www.amarindajones.com
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Be daring...read an Amarinda book

What does a writer look like?

Answer? Stuffed if I know. That’s Aussie speak for "Gee golly, I'm unsure of the answer."

Why do I ask? Well, I was chatting to hot erotic romance writer Anny Cook about an upcoming convention that she is attending and the amount of work needed to look a certain way...to look like a writer. Hmm....this confused me somewhat because I assumed other then being clean and neat - having your hair combed and your shoes on the right feet - was all that was required. You know, the whole be yourself thing. Anny brought up something that I had not thought of - some people expect writers to look ‘like a writer’. Now this had me thinking...what does a writer look like?

I went to a convention in Melbourne at the start of the year. We're a casual, relaxed, take-us-as-you-find-us lot in Australia. I don't recall anyone getting all glammed up at the Melbourne gig so I'm thinking it's a cultural perception rather than a law that a writer must look a certain way.

So, are we talking tiaras and feather boas? Spangly, sparkling outfits to catch a readers eye so they remember you were the one who blinded them in your gold sequins? Do you have to look like your genre? How does one look like romance? Horror? Sci-fi? How do you know what will appeal to a wide range of readers with vast tastes and opinions or even if or what their preconceived notion of a writer is? Most exhausting…I say just concentrate on getting your shoes on the correct feet and the rest will follow.

It would be sad to think it's about how expensive or tailored or glamorous your clothes are because your clothes don’t write the books. I also think readers are smarter than that. They would want to meet the author of a book not the author’s clothes. And let's face it, especially in this economic climate, are we so superficial that we measure someone on how they look? I understand the interest to put a face to a name, to see if the person speaks as he or she writes. I get that. I doubt people really care what label you’re wearing or if you hair is the latest style...again maybe that’s just an Aussie thing? To thine own self be fair dinkum. (true)

So, if anyone can advise what a writer looks like I would appreciate it. Yeah, I get the whole smoke and mirrors thing. I do. But wouldn’t you rather someone true and realistic who will speak to you about writing and books then a tarted up kewpie doll who is after your money and will do whatever they have to in order to beat another writer to your book dollars? Not that that happens of course…

www.amarindajones.com
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Be daring...read an Amarinda book

Truth or Sex…

Okay, there’s this man and there’s this woman. They meet. The attraction is instant. He makes her laugh and feel like doing crazy things. She makes him feel strong and in control. He’s sweet and romantic. The way she cares about him makes him feel special. And the sex? Amazing. The hunger they feel for each other is so intense that all inhibition and caution is thrown to the wind. They just need to be together and they will do whatever they have to in order to touch. Is it love? What else can it be? They declare they want to be together forever.

Romance huh? It can be so amazing that it takes your breath away. If this was in a book or a film we’d all want them to get together because what they have is special. It’s the kind of love people crave. But there’s a problem. They’re married, No – not to each other. Yes…hmmm…so, my question to you is how romantic is cheating on a partner? If a romance writer presented the scenario above to you as her latest work what would you think about the hero and heroine now? Can you be romantic and unfaithful? Is this mad love they have still justifiable?

So, the gossip at work is, married to another X is sleeping with Y who has a wife. No biggie you say? People screw around all the time? Yeah they do. It’s no one’s business? No, it’s not. Gossip is evil? Probably – and for listening to it I’ll go to hell but my theory is as long as I know the consequences of my actions then there's no need to stress out when the gates of hell open up and suck me inside.

Back to X and Y who have this wild passion for each other - I understand people become unhappy in marriage. I understand you can be attracted to more than one person at any time and that someone can come along who is so amazing that you can barely think straight due to overpowering need. And yeah, maybe cheating and having an affair is exciting. I really do get all that – but – if you’re that unhappy or that overwhelmed with desire for another, shouldn’t you do the right thing and talk to your partner? If this new love is so important, isn’t loyalty to your old love just as important?

Passion is an amazing thing but I just wonder about the costs of such an intense liaison. Do you throw everything you have away for the lover you have found or do you keep the lover you already have? It’s just so bloody messy isn’t it? I guess it all comes down to what you will accept for yourself in life and what price you are willing to pay. Would it work in a romance book? I don’t believe so. Why? Because we want the fantasy. We’re prepared to read about the heroine fighting evil with the hero at her side trying to protect her but if he had a wife and she had a husband? Hmmm…I’m not sure we’d be so keen to see then jump into bed regardless how romantically it was written. Fantasy versus reality – choose your poison and prepare for the consequences.

www.amarindajones.com
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Be daring...read an Amarinda book

How many? Care factor?

I finished up editing my Aussie book, Thigh High, due for release in December with Ellora's Cave. Its part of an Aussie series called Going Down Under. Its Aussie themed books written by real Aussie Ellora’s Cave authors. While I always write as I speak, 80% of the time in my books I have to tone down the Aussie stuff due to the fact that most nationalities don't speak as bloody lovely as we Aussies do. Thigh High is set in a small outback town and it’s full on Aussie. But then, that’s who I am. It's how I speak. I have added a glossary though to help translate some of the words.

Anyway, during the editing a friend and I discussed age and sexual experience and what is deemed "normal" for a woman. My personal opinion? Normal is what's normal for the individual. As always I believe age is irreverent regardless what the subject is. Lot's of sexual experience? Happy for you. Hardly any? That's okay. None? I see no problem with that. It annoys me no end when we try to pigeon-hole people into what we think they should be or should have done at this age or that. Why? Are we so perfect that we can pick at others? Well – no.

While all my heroines are smart arse women who have lived life and aren’t about to be messed around by anyone, all of them have different sexual experiences. Some have a hell of a past, others have limited it to one or two lovers, while a couple have been virgins. I think about the character of the heroine. Who is she? How do I want her to be understood by the readers? I don’t think ‘well, she’s 35 and she should have had 7.6 lovers by now ‘cause that’s normal.’ To me, it's irrelevant how many the heroine’s slept with. The main point of the story – the romance – is the romance. It’s about the concept that two people have looked at each other and thought, “This is the one.” Isn’t that why we read romance? We want to believe in that one true love? Is it really important who they have slept or how many?

Romance books cry out for a happy ending. A person or a character’s past is just not important. It’s the trials and tribulations of getting these two people together that is. And I have to ask why a man's sexual experience doesn’t come into question as much as a woman's? I never get comments or hear discussions about who the hero may have slept with or how many at his age and is that normal?

So sex in romance books – she loves him. He loves her. In the end that’s all I need to know.

www.amarindajones.com
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Be daring...read an Amarinda book

So I killed him…

Who? Rodney. Huh? Rodney the toe rag who upset the heroine in the current book I’m writing. Yeah, I don’t mind telling you he’s dead because he’s not at all integral to the plot – in fact he was just a name I used to explain something about the heroine. He was only a few sentences until I got the idea to kill him. Actually, a friend passed the idea on. She suggested murdering a character could be cathartic – that it could help me take my mind off something. She was right. I felt so much better after I killed Rodney.

On yesterday’s post I mentioned that I was having trouble writing romance – that I likened it to an illness or a commodity and that I had to snap out of that way of thinking due to the whole writing-of-romance-books-thing that I do. Anyway, that all came about due to these dumb arsed feelings I had over someone. I am pretty much over him – he’s more like this annoying thought in the back of my mind. You know when you want to confront someone and yell at them for making you feel horrible – it would prove nothing – because they wouldn’t get it but it would give you a chance to yell loudly and that’s always good. So when the idea came up to kill someone in the book, I thought straight a way of Rodney. He is a piece of pus who made my heroine feel bad about herself and made her cry. At first he was just a reason, then he became a target. I have to admit I really enjoyed killing Rodney.

While I do not condone killing real life, flesh and blood people, I admit to wantonly killing my fictitious character of Rodney for my own benefit. It was symbolic. Rodney had to die so I could move on. Rest in peace Rodney….or in this case pieces…

www.amarindajones.com
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Be daring...read an Amarinda book

Why romance books will save the world...

….Okay, so maybe that's a big call but I have been thinking how the economy is stuffed and how we can help it in our own small way. Romance books are the answer. Romance by itself will not do it. Sure, I could spruik on and on about “make love and not war” but that doesn’t help the economy. Romance can relax people but unless the sales of lingerie and adult toys increased due to said romance then just by itself it's not going to cut it. This is where romance books come in. By getting people buying them and reading them that puts cash back into the economy. No, correct, I do not have an economics degree. I have an airy, fairy arts/sociology/psyche degree. It sounds good but doesn’t mean a great deal….maybe just that you can put initials after your name and tell everyone “BA” means ‘beautifully adorable’. I did attempt to take one semester of economics at University but honestly as soon as I found out I had to calculate things using fractions and algebra and look at graphs and icky things like that I broke into a sweat and dumped the course for fear of dehydration.

So, if you keep a writer writing and buying their books….

- junk food sales go up
- alcohol consumption increases (no, me neither, I’m too pure)
- headache tablets are scoffed like candy
- sales in eye drops increase
- sudden guilty urges to get healthy – due to alcohol and junk food consumption – means writers will buy expensive fad weight loss products.
- new toys will be bought by the writer to make writing easier…at least that’s what they’ll tell you.

So when you go online and buy a bunch of e-books - not only are you saving the planet by being environmentally friendly but you are helping the economy. I am sure that also means we are all one step further away from hell.

www.amarindajones.com
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Go Ahead : Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?

Flaming heck…

Flaming heck it was cold in the mountains on the weekend….it’s just wrong for winter.

Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting.” –Alan Dean Foster

I came home to a messy house. No one to blame but myself. I am a messy person. A friend of mine said what happens when you die and someone has to sort through your assorted junk? Well, I’ll be dead…it won’t be my problem will it?

The other day I got this email from someone I had not spoken to in ages. It came out of the blue and I still don’t know what this person was on about. The email rambled on about nothing that meant anything to me because I had cut ties with this person ages ago. So why the email? Yes – it was one of those WTF moments. I was pissed off at first because I thought who is this person to be disturbing my peace with their childish ramblings about nothing? Why do I have to try and waste my time and decode it? Maybe they were having a cathartic moment. Maybe they were just having a hissy fit. Maybe their undies were too tight. Whatever….next time I am just hitting the delete button because life is too short to deal with people who disturb your peace.

However, a rational friend pointed out that the person who emailed could be venting. Okay – venting I understand. Venting is good. I love a good vent. The thing with a good vent is that it does not have to mean anything to anyone but the ventor. A vent can be about something that happened today or three years ago. A vent doesn’t have to make sense. It’s just about getting all the aggro out by kicking and screaming and swearing and shouting your frustration. My mother used to hold anger in. Sometimes all of a sudden she would just lose the plot and vent angrily about a bunch of things. I would then say to her – ‘how long have you been holding that in?’ I love a good vent but I will do it then and there. I am not one to hold in anger. So, yeah, this email person was probably spitting the dummy about something that has been on her mind and now she decided to have the urge to purge. I just wished she chosen someone who knew what the hell she was talking about because it was lost on me.

“There is nothing more galling to angry people than the coolness of those on whom they wish to vent their spleen” Alexandre Dumas Père

Flames…are more flames better than one? What am I talking about? The other night I got this email asking was I happy with one flame or two? Yes – it has been a confusing couple of days for me. I eventually worked out that I was not being asked if I was a pyromaniac – it was about sex. Yes, tricky huh? Flames equal sex. Remember in the old soap operas when the camera used to pan to a burning candle in the bedroom of the lovers and you knew from that they were having sex? Sort of similar.

My Cerridwen Press books – under the name Janet Davies – where released at All Romance e-books. Click here if you want to see the flame thing. They have one flame. That indicates heat level – as in sex – not as in my toes are cold and I am cranky. One flame means pretty tame. Well, yes – my Cerridwen Press books have tame sex. For more sex see the Amarinda books. Interestingly enough, I get feedback from readers who say that they have read my Cerridwen books after the Ellora’s Cave books and apart from the level of sex, they have the same feel as the Amarinda books. Well – yes – I am the same person but I recognize some people want different things in books. So, I give you a choice between genres.

Back to the flame thingy. I said I was okay with the one flame. Some authors are not though. I asked some writers why they felt they needed the extra couple of flames. One author pointed out that some of her books, although tamer sex than an erotic novel, needed to be changed in heat level to stop unsuspecting readers picking up a one flame book and getting a two flame book. In essence not getting what they paid for. Fair enough. Another author emailed me privately and said it was all about sales and that the more flames they had the more the book they would sell because people wanted to buy books with sex in them. O-kay. At least that is in-your-face-honesty. She wants to make money so she wants more flames on her book to induce people to buy. I can’t fault that logic. And yes, writers write for money. You all know that. I hope that her readers aren’t too pissed when they get a 1 flame book expecting 3.

So what’s in a flame? Any opinions? Are you a one flamer like me or do you demand the whole match box be lit up?

“One thing I don't understand is sex is legal and selling things is legal but selling sex is illegal.”
-- George Carlin quotes

I mentioned I was going to the Australian Romance Readers Convention in Feb 09 in Melbourne, Australia. Click here to find out more. I just have been speaking to a bunch of Aussie Authors on a Yahoo loop. It good to see so many Aussies writing romance and doing bloody well at it.

That’s it. I am going out now to get the washing off the clothes line – no - please do not get too excited at the glamour of my life.

Sunday – may yours be peaceful and housework free.

www.amarindajones.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AmarindaJonesNewsletter/
Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?

Bodice ripping….

“A sexually explicit romantic novel; usually in a historical setting and always with a plot involving the seduction of the heroine.”
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bodice-ripper.html

With hand on my heart, I confess, I write bodice rippers. Gasp! Shock! Horror! How dare I, an erotic romance writer, say that? Well firstly, I dare a lot and secondly, I believe some romance writers are taking the bodice ripping term way too personally…my opinion of course.

Although I do not write historical romance, bodice rippers are contemporary romance too. I have read lots of great e-books recently that are bodice rippers even though the authors may not like to think so because the term ‘bodice ripper’ is perceived negatively. I can’t see why. A bodice ripper to me is all about passion. It’s about wanting someone so desperately that clothes may be ripped in the overriding urge to touch and taste or long held defenses dropped because the need to be with the one you love overrides anything else the scares or
worries you. Bodice ripper = passion. And the thing is it’s not always men ripping the clothes off the ‘scantily clad’ heroine. A lot of heroines do their own ripping - and come on, isn’t it sometimes fun, silly and exciting ripping the clothes off the one you love/lust after? There’s something so wildly frantic about it that’s both hot and amusing. Actually one author emailed me to tell me she liked the term and ‘thought there was something fun about it.’ She is right. You remember fun don’t you? It’s when we don’t take things seriously and we lived life on our own terms without worrying about what others thought.

Are my books great works of literature that can compare to Shakespeare, Austen, Kipling? Well of course not. Will they save the world? No. What they are aimed at is giving someone a chance to relax for a couple of hours by dissolving into a romantic fantasy and forgetting all the other crapacious stuff they have had to deal with that day. When I get letters from people telling me they enjoyed my book, I think - great – the reader got some level of enjoyment out of it and my job is done. I don’t believe my books, and some others I have read, are meant to be taken seriously. Sure most are based on real life, and in some cases my own, but they are for entertainment – for the ‘what if’ factor – the adventure. If you want to call that bodice ripping – go ahead – be my guest.

It beats me why we as romance writers – or just people in general – worry about tags. So someone calls your book a bodice ripper and you stamp your feet in angst. Why is it their opinion important to you? Are you worried about being perceived as a fluffy, air head romance novelist? If someone can tell me why it’s a negative term I would like to hear it – really I would. I just don’t understand why romance writers get so upset at it – so either tell me in the comments or email me privately on amarindajones@yahoo.com.au

You know the thing to me as if you have strength of character then what people think of you, other than those you love, is irrelevant. Who is the most important person when it comes to your book? The reader. Did they enjoy it? Do you think they care if it’s called a bodice ripper? Of course not. Readers will read what suits them regardless of a ‘tag.’ The term ‘bodice ripper’ only has what meaning you choose to put to it. If you want to follow the crowd, you’ll think it derogatory. If you want to be your own person, you’ll know it’s so much more than that. People are always going to want to put labels on things – let ‘em. I always say people have to have a hobby.

So yeah, I have written bodice rippers and I will write more and I will not fall apart of someone labels them as such. Life is too short to be worry about crap like labels.

I thought this was interesting – click here – for real life bodice ripping. And to have a laugh at some silly covers – click here.

Two things happened today – one was annoying…I had a flat tyre. I was driving along singing loudly to the radio and someone was waving frantically at me. If just smiled and waved back as you do at crazy people who are gesturing and pulling faces. As I headed down my street I heard this strange noise. I turned the radio down and heard the ka-thump ka-thump of useless rubber. So I had to get the auto club out to fix it because, even though I know how to change a tyre, I won’t. Why? Just because. Then I had to call up the nearest tyre place and see if they had a tyre to fit Ida, my car. “What sort of tyre lady?” Er, it’s round and black. “Yeah but what kind?” The usual I guess – rubber with a tread. Men – don’t they ask silly questions? Anyway, after much time and money expended, tyre fixed.

However, much more importantly something was reinforced to me today and that was you never really know what is going on in someone’s life. You only ever see the outer shell of most people don’t you? A friend told me something about her life that made me mad and upset for her. I would never have guessed this thing otherwise. So once again it made me realize that people hide lots of stuff under the façade they show the world – stuff that never sees the light of day. Sometimes it’s a bloody complex and sad world isn’t it?

Shortest day of the year today… had to frigging happen on a Saturday didn’t it? Just as well I gave myself a 15 minute early mark from work yesterday to make up for it.

www.amarindajones.com
Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?

Rave on...

I heard this report on the news. Click here for more. Is the world going to hell in a handbag or what? $6.9 million was spent on a painting. Yes – a painting. It will not save the world, feed the hungry, aid medical research or help the various crises/threats that abound. This to me is a case of Nero fiddling while Rome burns. I love art. Gauguin, Renoir, Van Gogh – fabulous. But for god sake $6.9 million on a painting?? How can that possibly be justified as anything but plain and utter greed? How nice it must be to be so rich you can throw money away like that. Yes, I am sure it’s an ‘investment’ but I have to ask isn’t investing money in people and fixing problems a tad more important? And yeah, there will always be problems but if you have that much money why not put some – not asking for all - back into actually doing something for someone other than yourself? I am sure whoever bought it thinks it looks lovely hanging in their living room but bloody hell shame on you for wasting money like that.

I always go for a walk in my lunch break for exercise and to get out of the office. Of late I have noticed a Mr Whippy van driving around with its tinned musical recording blaring out
'Greensleeves', as they do. Do you have Mr Whippy vans? I’m not sure if they are worldwide. Maybe they are known by a different name where you are but basically they are mobile ice-cream vans. I work in an industrial area. I would have thought there would not be much call for an ice-cream van. It always seems like something you see in suburbia on the weekends in the summer - not winter and in the heart of industry. Yet there it is and people mill around it, in their fluorescent safety uniforms, steel caps etc buying ice cream with rainbow sprinkles on top. This is an area where fried, fast foods are the usual menu du jour - meat peas, chips (french fries) and Chiko rolls. What's a chiko roll? 'Not 100% sure…could have anything it in but generally it has meat of some description, cabbage and maybe onions - all mushy inside - and then it’s all deep fried. I don’t ever eat them. They are pukeable to me yet they are wildly popular. As for ice-cream –it seems to be a big seller with the workers. Maybe it's a reminder from childhood when ‘Greensleeves’ plays. Who knows? It just seems funny and quirky and that’s refreshing.

I haven't trusted polls since I read that 62% of women had affairs during their lunch hour. I've never met a woman in my life who would give up lunch for sex.”
--Erma Bombeck

There was a poll the other day asking something along the lines of whether you read romance books or not. The inference was if you do then you are not very smart. Naturally romance writers were up in arms. Yet I wasn’t. Why? Because it’s just a poll and readers aren’t stupid. They will read what they enjoy regardless what some poll says. It's like anything in life - someone can say 'Oh, I hate XYZ and everyone who likes it is stupid.' Good for 'someone' having an opinion/making up a poll but I will still like what I do regardless of a poll. I will still have my own thoughts. I will still like what I like because I like it. And yes, some people think romance books are stupid. They are entitled to their opinion. I do not agree. Think about it - if one genre has lasted longer than any other in written form, be it books or song, its romance. So I am not getting pissed off at a poll. They will have a poll tomorrow on asking people to vote on whether red toe nail polish is sluttish and does pink equal purity? Whatever…opinions are given everyday, mine include, and the world still turns because people have the power to think for themselves. Let ‘em put the poll where they like.

I bought a new wallet–come-purse all in one thing. My old one gave up the ghost. I emptied all the stuff out of my old one and I came to the conclusion that I collect a lot of crap. I believe I have the world’s record in courtesy cards – you know, buy so many get one free or a discount. Some are from places I cannot remember even going to. Many I do not use and yet I could not throw them out because I never know when I will have the need to buy a coffee and a muffin in a suburb I swore blind I would never venture into again. I also found obscure measurements written on small bits of paper. What are they for? A logical person would have written something like ‘window measurements’ or similar. But not me. I am the woman who thinks she knows everything. I stuffed them into the new wallet because maybe one day I’ll be looking for a measurement for something and one of them may be it…just which one I’m not sure. I also decided to clean out my handbag. I found three small pocket knives, a plethora of pens, probably 50 safety pins chained together, a sewing kit, band aids, many rubber bands and aspirin/meds, amongst other stuff. If a major catastrophe happens tomorrow, I am the woman you want at your side as I will built a shelter in what is in my handbag alone. Did I chuck anything out? Would MacGyver? No – exactly.

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Someone smashed through the railway boom gates at the Geebung railway station…yes, Geebung - what an interesting name - very Aussie. Anyway, I got stuck in traffic because of it - police and drama ensued - but I didn’t mind. These boom gates are the most frustrating in the world as they seem to go down every couple of minutes and you are stuck waiting for a train that takes forever to pass by. These gates piss people off. Yes, I know they save lives. I agree we should have them but in the same token I can understand why someone lost the plot and struck a blow for the rebellion. No one seems to know who did it. No, they didn't think rationally and yes they are probably regretting it albeit with a small smile of satisfaction on their face.

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I had to have a blood test before work this morning…just a check to see if my blood is still blue. Actually, like many women I have a deadly slow metabolism and I am on thyroid meds. Anyway, I wandered in and there was a big, beefy man sitting in the waiting room, hunched forward, head in his hands and people attending him. OMG! What happened? Was he attacked? Did he had to fend of off Mothra and was wounded somehow? No, it was a needle. He passed out at the sight of it. Everyone is scared of something aren’t they regardless how big and tough they are. But all things medical interest me. I watch the needle go in and see the blood. It assures me regardless how I feel I am still alive and that’s a good way to start the day. I used to give blood until the blood donor service here decided anyone living in the UK between 1983 – 86 cannot give blood. Why? There is still the slightest fear of the whole mad cow disease thing that happened over there. So to anyone who thought I was a mad cow…maybe you’re right.

End of ramble…

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Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?