Music Break

Just have to share this song…I’ve been revising to it…

The Importance of Powering Through That Bad Book

Recently, I picked up a book that had a gorgeous cover, intriguing back cover story, and made the NYT Bestseller list.

I’d heard the author speak and was interested in seeing her work. But I have to confess, I put the book back once before buying it.

Something just didn’t hook me. Still I decided to give it a shot.

And I’ve been paying for it ever since.

I’ve put the book down numerous times. It feels like work to read it. I almost quit a hundred pages into it.

But then I decided to keep reading. To analyze what made it so putdownable for me.

I am now done. And I have a long list of complaints:

• The main character isn’t likable
• I cannot connect with her no matter how hard I try
• There is way too much telling and not enough showing of her inner self
• She comes across as whiny and weak
• She doesn’t do much for the entire book
• The love story is so not believable
• The writer keeps telling me about these feelings they have, but I don’t believe it
• I never really saw this love develop in the book it was just bam there
• The hero is so mysterious I don’t know a damn thing about him
• At first this was tantalizing, but by page 200 I’m just annoyed and bored. And uninvested in the outcome
• I don’t get why things aren’t working and it frustrates me
• The only explanation comes in the last 15 pages and it is just a lead into the next book
• The book is nothing like the back cover
• Don’t promise me a mystery with romantic elements and deliver a stalled romance that goes nowhere and a mystery that no one works to solve
• I’m done and I still have no idea what the story is about
• More to the point, I don’t care
• The pacing is SOOOOO SLOW
• Nothing happens throughout most of the book. Like hundreds of pages wasted.
• Things start to get interesting around page 200. Yup 200! Then they slow to a snail’s pace again
• When I start daydreaming about doing laundry and my next blog post, I know there’s a problem
• The last 25 pages were climatic. But getting there was an act of faith and self flagellation
• The writing is so-so
• Tons of clichés and basic descriptions–feels like lazy writing
• Lots of telling instead of showing
• Many unnecessary scenes
• The sentence structure and word usage are very commonplace
• The voice is severely lacking
• I find myself skipping ahead pages to see when things get interesting and have gone 50+ pages ahead and found nothing

I have to say, I’ve learned more from reading a bad book than I do from the good ones. Because you don’t notice everything the writer does right since it’s seamless. With a bad book, you notice every pothole you hit.

Hana Japanese Steakhouse–Restaurant Review

Last week (before I got sick), I went to a lovely Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi restaurant in Connecticut, Hana. I love the website. The sliding doors amuse the heck out of me.

The fact that I could make a reservation via Opentable.com was a definite plus too.

A friend of mine recently ate there and recommended it. And that was my trifecta of events that led me to dinner there last week.

The hostess was super friendly when we (Brett and I) arrived and quickly seated us despite the fact that we were 15 minutes early.

The waiter was very helpful and attentive and we thoroughly enjoyed dinner there.

We started with a hot sake for me and a mixed drink for Brett.

Then I had the 5-piece sashimi (huge, fresh pieces btw) and he had beef negamaki.

Our hibachi cook was funny and talented. I love that there is a bit of a show while he cooks. And Brett and I both managed to catch a piece of zucchini in our mouths on the second try. And nothign went down my shirt this time.

Brett also took a squirt of sake in the mouth. I didn’t since I was driving.

He had the salmon hibachi and I had the sirloin hibachi (below). They came with a ginger sauce and a creamy spicy sauce. Both complimented our entrees.

I liked that we could have white rice, which allowed me to control my carb intake.

For desert, I had green tea ice cream and Brett had the fried ice cream below.

All in all, a delish meal and a nice night out for us.

We are not so old that we use the hazy lens trick. Something got on my cell’s camera lens. But I love the effect.

Behind Schedule…

Do you ever feel like you just can’t keep up with everything in your life?  I’m so behind in the blogs I follow, Facebook and Twitter, I feel like I’ll never catch up.

Being sick only compounds the problem. Now my energy is one-quarter of what it used to be.

Times like this I miss the lack of technology. Remember back in the 90s when e-mail was just starting out? I do. We didn’t have to be on top of everything every second of everyday for fear of missing out on something.

I  don’t know how people  stay on top of Twitter. Probably  because it is my least favorite. I get how amazing the social interaction is, but it starts to feel exhausting.

Fundamentally, I hate the immediacy. The feeling that you must respond right that second or face dire consequences.  And if I’m confessing things, I’ve always hated instant messaging.

Maybe I’m old school, but I believe in focusing my attention on one thing at a time. If I’m having dinner with you, my cell phone is in my purse, not sitting on the table like a third wheel.

And when I log into my e-mail, my status is always invisible. Because I’m in the middle of drafting an e-mail to someone just as important as the person who wants to IM me.

So here’s my plan of attack: as soon as I feel better, I’ll check out the past three days of the blogs I follow and I’ll  get back to Facebook  again. Twitter I’ll never like, but I’ll try to interact more.

I’ll continue revising my novel because that’s the most important thing I can do.

But I’m also going to try to enjoy my life.  Strike a balance between work and play. And realize the day I complete everything on my to-do list is the day I will probably die so I’m okay with that being decades away.

Home Sick

Is there anything worse than being stuck at home sick in the springtime?

Missing Edgar week sucks. Chronic nausea and feeling 90 just make it worse. Thn there’s the gurgly moans issuing from my stomach. And the burning inside my belly is so not fun.

The one bright spot?

My dog, Emerson. He seems to have some sort of innate sense of when I’m sick. Because he always cuddles with me and stays by my side. Reaching over to stroke his soft fur makes me feel better.

Did I mention that my brain feels like mush? Or that I have aches and pains in every joint of my body? Or that  no matter how much I sleep, I’m exhausted?

What really irks me is when I wake up I think I have energy,  but it dissipates within 30 minutes. Now I’m just cranky and achy.  And I feel like I’m on the verge of tears. I really really really hate being sick.

Stomach bugs are the worst. But I’m really grateful that I have my puppy (my seven-year-old puppy) to keep me company. Now I’m going to go back to watching Vampire Diaries on iTunes.

Edgars Week in NYC

I planned to be in New York April 24th for the Edgars week. Mystery Writers of America is sponsoring several events leading up to the Edgar awards on Thursday night.

Unfortunately, I came down with a wicked stomach virus Sunday and had to cancel my plans. So while I’m in bed, the Edgar events are kicking off.

April 25th kicks off with readings at a bar in the East Village

 April 26th is a book signing and the release of MWA’s newest anthology at the Mysterious Bookshop in Tribeca.

April 27th is the Edgar Symposium.

April 28th concludes with the Edgar Awards banquet.

I planned to pop over to the Discovery Times Square Pompeii exhibit too.

Oh well. You know what they say about the best laid plans.

Rogers Orchard

               

 

 There are few places that are indelibly imprinted on my childhood like Rogers Orchard in Southington, Connecticut.

In the springtime, I remember feeding the ducks in their pond. In the fall, picking out pumpkins for carving. In the winter, scarfing down apple cider donuts and drinking gallons of their apple cider.

Even after I left Connecticut, every visit included a trip to Rogers Orchard. As an adult, I loved the apple picking in September.

Now that I live in the area again,  I’m absolutely obsessed with the apple butter. It’s perfect on toast, delicious in yogurt, and I bet it would make an awesome ice cream topping.

Every time I visit the location on Southington Mountain, a  grin breaks out across my face.  Even though I’ve been there hundreds of times, I still love to walk around and  take a gander at all their products. Although now I try to stay clear of the  doughnuts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MacSpeech Dictate Software or How I Wrote This Blog Post

Back in high school, I pulled some muscles in my neck and  shoulder. And I got these lovely things called muscle knots.  They are like marbles inside the muscles. When they go active, they mess with the nerves in my hand.

They went active last week. Which means it feels like someone has slapped my hand for hours. And typing aggravates this.

Luckily, I have MacSpeech Dictate software which allows me hands-free typing. It’s come in super handy for blog posts such as this and for e-mails.

As a basic dictation software, it works well for me. And  I’m super grateful to have it.

But for editing, it takes too long.  Or maybe I’m too impatient. Either way I get frustrated and resort to typing.

There is a command mode for opening different applications and navigating the web, but there’s a  big learning curve there for me. I have managed to master a few commands but I also know this will ease off in a few weeks and I’ll be back to a typing fiend.

However, using this software has cut my typing down by 60%. Which is giving my hand a well-deserved rest.

Funniest thing about the software? It does not like swearing. So my best friend got an e-mail about something being  ”forking” amazing and another friend received an e-mail about how much I hate this  “ship”.

Weirdly enough, douche bag is in its vocabulary.

Overall, I’d say it’s a software worth having if you’re a writer and you want to give your hands a break.

Limitless–Movie Review

Yesterday, Lindsay and I went to see Limitless. The premise  promised a mindbending, nerve invigorating movie. Conceptually,  it rocked.

But the execution didn’t deliver. The pacing felt slow and  I wasn’t that invested in any of the characters.

I think this would’ve been better as a book, where you experience every second of the drug in his system.  Maybe I should check out the book it’s based upon, The Dark Fields, by Alan Glynn.

Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, and Robert De Niro  turned out good performances.

But I just wasn’t hooked  by this movie.

Maybe I had high expectations based on the previews, but I walked out feeling un-satiated.

However, Lindsay did introduce me to a nice theater with five dollar Tuesdays. And I got to spend time with one of my oldest friends and chat about the movie afterwards.

Unfortunately, we ended up at Sam the Clams, where we usually have great food, but this time we didn’t. We ordered the New England clam chowder, but they were sold out.

So we opted for a lobster bisque. Bad decision. The  bisque, if you can call it that, was gritty  and congealed.  There were literally pools of oil  floating on top of the bisque. And it didn’t taste good either.

Then I ordered the lobster roll and spent the next 30 minutes chewing until my jaw ached because the lobster was over boiled.

This is the third Tuesday we’ve gone out and it’s been raining. Maybe mother nature is telling us to switch our girl’s day out to another day.

Best Massage in CT

I’m the biggest skeptic when it comes to finding a new  massage therapist.  Probably because every time I need one, I’m already injured, which means  if they’re too aggressive, I’m screwed.

I have had this problem with my neck  since high school.  Rather I have six or so muscle knots  that pretty much paralyze my right hand. But only when they are active.  Unfortunately, they’ve been active a lot the past couple years.

I’ve done physical therapy several times and  I know all the exercises I need to do. But a good massage tends to yield more benefits than my stretches.  Especially if done together.

Yesterday, I went to Bill Gibbs Massage Therapy  for a half-hour massage. He located on Wolcott Rd in the Salon 69 Spa.  A seven minute drive from my home.

The spa is super clean with soothing music playing. Bill is über chill and immediately puts you at ease.  He asked questions about my neck problem, including what flared it up and what types of stretches I was doing  to relieve the pain.

There are couple private massage rooms with very comfortable massage tables that feel more like beds.

When Bill started the massage, his hands were warm. Definite plus in my book. He worked on the muscles in my neck, shoulders and arms.

He applied the right amount of pressure and I never had to ask him  to ease up. He found all the problem  muscle knots and  worked on each one.

This is one of the best massages I’ve ever had in Connecticut. Definitely one of the top five in my life.

By the time I left, my neck felt looser and longer than it had in weeks. I didn’t have any nerve pain in my hand  and felt  20 times better than when I walked in.

I’m going back on Thursday because he’s that good.