Long time no post!  Mea maxima culpa!  *wink*  Real Life ™ has been insane and it’s become one of those things where Real Life ™ and Writer Life ™ has blurred into one!  Which is exciting and scary at the same time, lol!  I’ve finally admitted to friends and family that I read romance novels.  Say it loud, say it proud.  It horrified a professor that I do this and not something weighter like immersing myself in Forester or Woolf.  While I do appreciate Woolf and Forester and numerous classics and modern novels, there’s times when nothing beats a good romance novel (or a bad one if you’re in a mood for a laugh).  That said… do you feel any writing is art or just elevated forms, as the nabobs say?

Some days, you really need to just say screw it and do something for just yourself.  Ignore the phone, ignore non-vital appointments, pick up a book and read or whatever makes you happy.  I’m in a lull before the storm right now (have four major papers due, about to tell my favorite students I have to put their class on hold for the rest of the semester so I don’t suffer in grad school, about to start some major editing on Unseelie…) so I’ve decided that tomorrow is my “screw it” day.  After the acupuncture appointment (which I find to be very relaxing, actually), I’m coming home, getting a glass of sweet tea and a good romance novel, and spending the day vegged out.  I highly recommend it to all…

www.newyorkhack.blogspot.com is, in my opinion a fascinating and amazing blog. The woman who writes it has just had her book, Hack, published and it’s all about her experiences as a female cab driver in New York.  Her blog holds nothing back and she’s nothing if not blunt, which I really respect.  Anyway, check out her blog and support her book by purchasing a copy toute de suite!

I’m reading a lot of Virginia Woolf right now and there’s a very interesting article about Virginia and Leonard (her husband) and why they founded Hogarth Press and how it moved away from it’s original purpose and the outcome of that.  I’m not much of a modernist nor am I much a fan of the style but reading about the Bloomsbury Group and this press that was founded so that writers could write FOR themselves rather than FOR someone else got me thinking: how much has the publishing world changed in the past 100 years?  A LOT.   Do writers today really write for themselves more than our literary ancestors or do writers today aim for pleasing a mysterious other, this publisher or agent or audience we have yet to meet?  Well, that’s trickier.  I think all writers start out writing for themselves and those that are truly blessed and very lucky continue doing so.  You can pick up any book, I think, and know just from a chapter or two if it was written out of passion or because the author just wanted the proverbial paycheck.  Maybe I’m growing cynical in my third decade, ha ha, or maybe I’m overanalyzing styles and perceived tones.

Today, ladies and gents, is the big 3-0 for yours truly!  I dreaded this one for ages but now that it’s here… it isn’t so bad. One day in and I’m still alive!  Now I just celebrate this one nine more times and I’m good to go!  Today was a heavy writing day but not the fun kind.  This was the academic kind… which I suppose could be fun, too, for some folks.  I don’t much enjoy picking a book to dry bits until all that’s left is dust.  But one does what one must and hopes to learn something from the experience.  Right now, I’m learning Virginia Woolf and Tiramisu are a great combination for study breaks.