Thursday, March 26, 2009

Brad Pitt Eat Your Heart Out

God, I heart the Internet. Look what the HELL I found last night....!In what universe can you locate a photo of your dad's 1940 high school basketball team with just a few clicks (and...okay...EXPERT searching skills) ????? (Yes, I'm still fanning myself over the discovery.) And while we're at it...CHECK OUT the come hither stare...and the swoopy hair. By the way folks, we're talking a tiny town (I mean, TINY) in North Dakota. Not exactly headline making stuff, here.

Unbelievable.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Forgot To Post A Pic


Did I mention a road trip? Last weekend, high school buddy Randi and I darted up to Santa Ynez for an overnight stay at--where else--the Chumash Casino and Resort Hotel. As we headed for the VIP/Guest happy hour, these cows (not to mention the green, green, grass) caught our attention, so I snapped a photo with my cell phone.

Guess they were on their way to happy hour, too.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Children and Art

According to Stephen Sondheim (Sunday in the Park With George, sung by the character of Dot), we can only leave two things behind--children and art. I've already screwed up the first part of that equation, and I'm not doing so well on the second.

Yeah, feelin' pretty guilty on both counts.

Especially when I'm reminded that during my childbearing years, I shoulda ponied up 2.1 kids to keep average. Oops!

But what of this other stat recently released by the Feds: Last year, 40% of all births were out-of-wedlock.

Yikes.

Seriously?

Is it me, or is that just plain sad?

We gotta combo of situations influencing this trend. One, after a steady decline, teen mom birth rates were up. And two, more women in their 30's and 40's chose to become single parents. Finally, lots of happy couples just didn't bother to tie the knot.

Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore, that's for sure.

Hard to believe that in the 50's women not only married their "baby daddies,"--they also had, on average, FOUR children a piece. ('Course the 50's were also famous for the rise in popularity of stuff like Miltowns--forerunner to Valium--which is probably the only way to survive four kids with your mental faculties intact, but I digress.)

Anyway, I guess the good news is that we're having enough babies to replace ourselves...but hell, OctoMom covered that with one pregnancy, didn't she??

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Contract's In The Mail...

That's the heads-up email I got this morning in response to my 24th submission to True Romance Magazine. This one's a wedding-themed story for the June issue. Meanwhile, the 23rd submission hangs in limbo--hopefully, only for a short while before it too garners a contract since, after all (as my editor duly noted last month) they've bought everything I've shoved their way thus far! (Wow--just could NOT figure out how to punctuate that last sentence. Go for it, Blogreader Joe.)

Even better (okay, just a TAD better), than receiving the contract notification, was the arrival of a check in the old mailbox yesterday. Somehow, the payment for one of my October stories had gone astray but now it's back where it should be--namely, in my bank account. So the cool thing is, I still have another one to go for this month--January's payment.

Which means...come on, people...you KNOW what it means when the writing $$ actually appear to add up to something....don't you?

Right! Time for a getaway!

Ahhhh..................sunny Puerto Vallarta......and I. Can't. Wait.

Monday, March 16, 2009

From The Life's So Short Department...

What age do you have to get before you start scanning the obituaries with more than casual interest?

Whatever it is, I'm there.

Not that I peruse the entire alphabetized list...you know, the freebie section. But I DO check out the ones set apart by pictures and column-length copy framed by heavy borders.

So on this particular Sunday, it was a photo that initially caught my eye. I gave the face only momentary attention, not registering a connection with the dark curly hair, the horn-rimmed glasses, nor the smiling moustached man staring back at me.

Next, I read the name--not a particularly unusual one--and the age: 70. In other words, obviously not in the realm of someone I'd have known.

But, wait.

I studied the photo again...combined it with the name...let the subconscious do its thing...and CRAP.

Sure enough.

An old boyfriend. Someone I'd dated back when I was about 28 to his 43. Yikes. How'd he get to be 70? Worse, how'd he get to dead?

I was curious about how his life had unfolded over the years. Had he married? Had children? Been happy?

In order to gather pieces of the puzzle, I put Google on the case. Bottom line: yes, no, and yes. Most fascinating of all? He'd become a thoroughbred horse owner--to the point where he went back to school in his mid-sixties to obtain formal training. I even came across a post of his on a site devoted to Seabiscuit--the passion in his words were both inspiring and sweet.

Anyway, a life well-lived, I think. Good for him.

Friday, March 13, 2009

New Blog!

Came back from my 6-week check-up with Dr. Schwartz and had this thought: why not consolidate all my cosmetic surgery posts onto one blog for...I dunno...posterity, I guess. So, ta-da. Here it is: www.re-inventingrandy.blogspot.com

(They just make it so easy to create a blog, plus it's free, so why the hell not? I could create blogs all day!)

Anyway, Dr. Schwartz says I'm healing well (good news!), and that I should feel free to exercise (BAD news!). It's amazing to me that he maintains I'm still not where I'll be six months from now--that the funny stuff I feel behind my ears is NOT bunched up hidden skin but merely SWELLING. And that the area under my chin will continue to firm. I'm tellin' ya, the human body is...well...like I said, AMAZING. Especially when you consider this PARTICULAR human body is in its sixth decade. (Okay, HOLD ON...think about it. Age 1-10, FIRST decade. Age 11-20, SECOND decade...that's how you can be in your fifties but your sixth decade.)

Geesh.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

From The Pop Culture Wires....

I suppose you'd have to be residing under a rock to have missed the news flash, but just in case...I'm thrilled to report the dismal economy has NOT negatively impacted the likes of Paris Hilton (well, at least, not that she's aware of.) Yes, the girl who has everything--including this snappy little Bentley custom painted to match her lust for all-things Barbie--just ordered a diamond-encrusted dashboard to be shipped from Britain and installed here in L.A.

Vive la recession!

Saturday, March 07, 2009

What Could I Say--Part Two

Him: Did you do something to your eyes?

Me: Huh?


Him: Did you do something to your eyes?

Damn...the bartenders always know....(and while we're at it, wouldn't it be nice if I could grow some lashes??)

Thursday, March 05, 2009

See, Here's The Thing

Recently, it came to my attention that a certain publishing house is currently acquiring a sub-genre of romance for which my fourth manuscript is a perfect fit. So, get thee to the post office, right? Um, not so fast. Without naming names, this is the publishing house that's had a partial of my first manuscript for over two years, and no--I have it on good authority, it's not lost--so, does it make sense to send them something else?

Should I also add that I heard--straight from an editor's mouth--that the house has all the authors they need in the sub-genre?

Conflicting messages.

Bottom line--I can sit here, making up reasons not to submit (and establish 100% odds of rejection--as in, you can't get a yes on something they haven't seen)...or...get in line with another manuscript.

What the hell. Nothin' to lose.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Here's An Observation

How weird is this? Yesterday, I started a blog post about The Bachelor, got distracted, wrote a note about it to some girlfriends....and lo and behold, the note to the girlfriends was infinitely more entertaining and better written. I hate when that happens. Guess I'm self-editing too much here.

Anyway, I abandoned the topic (yeah, I know, pass the handkerchiefs).

Not that I have anything else of substance to report on. Oh, wait. Except to say I'm still in the running at Karin Tabke's First Line Contest. (Yay, me!) In fact, I'm one of the 15 finalists (down from 100 entries). This sucker goes on and on, huh? I have to say it's been an interesting writing experiment, though.

Oh, and I got my comp issue of April's True Romance with "Leave It To Lucy" (they kept my title) on the cover, so run out and get yourself a copy.

Meanwhile, I'm back to working on JATAOMM which, by the way, turns out to be all messed up (ha, go figure). Remember, I actually semi-pre-plotted this manuscript (complete with fancy spreadsheet). Well, I've written about 75 pages and I'm supposed to be at chapter 7 and turning point one. Instead, when I properly formatted the pages, I had the 75, but I'm at chapter 11 and I still haven't reached the turning point. Yikes. Can you spell R-E-V-I-S-I-O-N-S (don't have to, I just did it for ya). I've no idea when this book took off on its own and left my control. The good news is that I'm FINALLY at the part I've been looking forward to writing--the fun and games part, as Blake Snyder puts it. (Hint: picture the roadtrip from hell with your ex while you're in the throes of menopause...okay, I guess the premise doesn't SOUND fun, but that's the challenge!)

Monday, March 02, 2009

Movin' On

I suppose, now that it's friggin' March, I should get back to the business at hand. After all, the site's called Randy Writes Romance, not Randy Indulges The Need To Share Every Last Intimate Detail About Herself. If and when the spirit moves me, I can always return to boring--I mean, MESMERIZING--y'all with the subject of my face lift, right? Cuz it's MY blog, and I make the rules. So there.

In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out the best way (yeah, I know--probably the labeling feature) to group the posts together. And at some point, I'll post the video in the sidebar, because otherwise it'll disappear into the archives.

Which brings me to answering a question someone must surely be asking...

...and that is: why? Why did I blog my face lift? Why did I post unflattering photos? (Why didn't I learn whether face lift is one word or two?)

Well, aside from being painfully honest (and, trust me, it's not a virtue--more like a genetic screw-up), I did it because I felt strongly about sharing info with other women (hey, and maybe men) who are trolling the internet, casting about for stories on cosmetic surgery.

But, like I say....time to move on. (Um, cross your fingers something writing-related magically turns up...)