Too Much Action Adventure?

Is there such a thing as too much action and adventure?

Definitely!

Let me preface that by saying I love action and adventure with my romance or with humor mixed in even without a romance (i.e. Harry Potter). My favorite movies are the Indiana Jones movies, The Mummy, Night of the Comet, Independence Day, Star Trek. If you've seen them you know they have lots of action and adventure.

Action and adventure keeps me on the edge of my seat. I want to ride by Indiana Jones side to fight the bad guys. I cheer and jump out of my seat when he thwarts them.Then I sigh when sparks fly between him and Marion.

What about you? Do you like stories with constant action? When they don't slow down enough to get much or any emotion, humor, or drama into them? Personally, I'd rather pay my money to go to a Monster Truck Rally if that's all it's going to be.



I like the Indiana Jones movies not only because of the action and adventure but also because of the romance and humor mixed in.

Honestly, I get bored with too much action and adventure. Frankly Transformers II bored me to tears. Although 2012 kept me on the edge of my seat last night I also didn't enjoy a lot of it. I enjoyed the parts that slowed down enough to let us get to know the characters. For instance the crazy blogger who had a refrigerator full of pickles.

I would have walked out of Transformers II except the rest of my family loved it. Especially the men. My husband, unlike me, loves shows that contain constant car crashes, killing, and action.

Maybe I expect too much. Maybe I'm different than a lot of people. I don't like stories that move too slow or too fast. My kids think I'm too tough a sell.

My favorite stories have a good blend of action, adventure, plot, and comedy. If there's a love story included, I'm in heaven.


Recent posts you might like to read:

Nanowrimo Thoughts 

To Nano Or Not To Nano - That Is The Question

Why You Should Consider Library Booksignings

Make Sure Pretentious Words Don't Turn Off Your Readers

Are You Writing Me Into Your Book?

Dont Give Up Too Early

Must Write Must Write Must Write!!!


You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Damned Love Songs!

I turned on the love songs radio station before I started writing today. Big mistake. First, "Tonight's the Night" by Rod Stewart played. I love that song. That doesn't have any bad memories or a particular boyfriend attached so I turned up the station. It reminds me of fun times at the roller skating rink and cruising around Cincinnati when I was still in high school. But then "Reunited" by Peaches & Herb came on. Again, I love the song. But I associate that song with a particular boyfriend, the one I can't seem to forget thirty years later even though I'm sure he's forgotten me. I'm getting better. I go weeks, even months not thinking about him. Sometimes I feel all the mushy feelings are gone, that I've finally made it past the hurt and longing. And then bang! That song comes on and there he is, torturing me. It's probably my fault. He was trouble from the start. I should have run the other way when I saw him coming. Since I didn't, I should have taken a chance a couple years later when I got another chance. I'm pretty sure that would have resulted in nothing or even more heartbreak, but at least I wouldn't wonder for the rest of my life if we could have made it. Damn! Now there's a stupid Air Supply song on and I'm tearing up. "Making Love Out of Nothing At All". I don't exactly associate it with "him" usually, but it is from the same era (late 70's). Then as if that wasn't enough to bring me down and make me feel foolish, "You Don't Have To Be A Star" came on and finished me off. I associate that with my ex-fiance, the biggest jerk in the world (only rivaled by the hubby every now and again). There's no love or mushy feelings left for him. Just disgust and anger. It's hardly consolation that I was an immature 17 and a sucker for a cute face and attention. How can songs pack so much emotion into 3 minutes and so few words? I turn myself inside out for months, sometimes years, to put that kind of emotion into my 40,000 word lus stories. I should have left the radio on my daughter's acid rock station or just turned it off. I'm such a glutton for punishment. Maybe I will go and see "Star Trek" the movie again, even though I saw it yesterday. It's at the 99 cent theater across town. If I go now, I can drive by the dollar store for candy and then immerse myself in a lot of action, adventure, and good old fashioned fighting. I need something to get out of this sorry mood.

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Writing Identities

I was just reading Nathan Bransford blog at http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2009/05/writing-as-identity.html about writing as an identity. Miss Jones also touched on a different aspect of writer identities on her blog today (Sunday May 10th). I do identify myself as being a writer. I also identify myself as being a wife, mother, daughter, niece, and customer service manager. But do I identify myself as being a swimmer? A bicycler? A scrapper? Not as much even though I like those activity. I really love cats, dogs, horses, and walking. Oh, and Star Trek! Okay, so I do identify myself as a Trekkie. (BTW the Star Trek movie is awesome.) Nathan Bransford is probably right. Writing is a very emotional thing. We put a lot of ourselves into our craft. A lot of the characters are comprised of parts of ourselves. Our thoughts and emotions shine through. It's also time consuming and now that I have a career in writing, I also spend a lot of time thinking about my current as well as my future projects. To touch on what Ms. Jones mentioned in her post, a lot of authors write in more than one genre and thus have more than one pseudonym. That includes me. And yes, I often slip and mention my other name and I don't even try to use a different email. I don't care if my readers or the writing community know who I really am. However, I don't want my day job employer or my church to know that I write erotic romance, especially not the M/M and M/M/F variety. I don't think my boss or my congregation at church will Google my name. If so, it's too late to hide anyway, from internet searches. I also use a pseudonym so that my readers won't be confused what type of book they're picking up when they choose one of my books. Ashley Ladd writes erotic romance. EH writes sweet romance. Additionally, my TWRP Sweetheart editor requested I do not put my erotic writing pseudonym on my sweetheart rose books. I'm a really obsessed writer. Thus I don't merely identify myself as a writer but as a romance writer. Furthermore, I identify myself as an erotic romance writer of M/F, M/M, M/M/F, and the occasional M/F/M. Within that framework, I write just about every subgenre except historical with contemporary being my speciality. Since I am also a Trekkie, I am also a futuristic space romance writer. I've blown up the planet Earth twice so far in my space stories. This theme has figured prominently in three of my stories (one is still in the query process but the other two are available for your reading pleasure - "Last Man on Earth" at TEB and "Eternal Damnation" at New Concepts Publishing). Before I was honored with a publishing contract, I was a writer. I'm sure I'll always be a writer. But since I am also several other things, I think I'm well rounded enough to happily survive and hopefully, not be boring. I want to wish all of the mothers and aunts a very Happy Mother's Day. I've had a wonderful Mother's Day. Although the hubby is off umpiring (as usual on the weekends) my kids treated me to the Star Trek movie and then they made over my garden leading up to our front door. They made breakfast for me and served me in bed. I couldn't ask for more. Well, except to be able to wish my mother a Happy Mother's day. Unfortunately, she passed away twenty years ago so I'm sending my love up to her in Heaven. You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Great unanswered questions of the Universe

I've been pondering the great questions of the Universe. Please feel free to add to the list or to make comments. First, why doesn't Starburst make bags of Starburst candies in one flavor only? I love the strawberry Starburst and I can tolerate the orange and red, but I HATE the lemon Starbursts. I would buy so much more Starbursts if only I could get all strawberry. What's so hard about that? Huh? Starburst Corporation, take a hint! PornfortheBlind.org - Huh? You know that ".org" means the entity is a non-profit as in a charitable organization, right? Since when is giving someone porn charitable? I am an erotic romance writer, but it's for fun. I never thought of it as charitable. My day job is for charity, to feed, clothe, educate, and house people. I had to shake my head and laugh my ass off when I saw this in Scarlet Magazine. BTW, Scarlet magazine is extremely interesting and I think I'm going to sign up for a subscription. Also btw, my short story "Sticky Wicket" which Scarlet entitles "Male Shot" is published in the July 2008 issue of Scarlet Magazine. It's also posted for free reading on the TEB website. Why won't my insurance company not allow me to have ear surgery that I need to stay working in my day job and remain a productive member of society? I mean, once my hearing gets so bad I can't work in customer service or on a phone or with the public, I'll have to go on public assistance. How will that help anybody??? What are they thinking??? Oi!!! Why do husbands think they own the remote control? Why do they think it's okay for them to watch things on TV we hate but that we shouldn't make them watch things we like that they hate? If marriage is supposed to be 50/50, why do they think they're supposed to get control of the TV 99% of the time? Or 100%???? Why are gas and grocery prices getting so high? Is it like Scarlet Magazine suggests in their July 08 issue that wealthy UK bankers gave risky credit to US trailer park poor people to buy brick & mortar houses and when those people let the houses go into foreclosure, the world economy went into a tailspin? What about the greedy Middle East oil barrons? Don't they play a part??? And why aren't we using air cars? See my post last week. Why does my son's job give their long-time employees only 5-10 hours work a week and then hire new employees to do the same job??? Why does lightning strike more in Florida than anywhere else in the world? When is Florida going to drop into the ocean? Why did my builder give us such teensy tiny closets? If Captain Kirk (Star Trek) was such a ladies man, how come we were only ever shown one of his children? (David from the second or third Star Trek movie - Genesis, I think.) Surely he had more??? Where are the Vulcans and why haven't they shown their faces yet? Why do men still earn more than women for the same jobs at many companies? Why do drivers think tailgating will make people go faster? (Personally, I slow down to give even more space between my car and the one in front of me so as not to cause a chain reaction and also to piss off the person behind me who is pissing me off.)

Captain Kirk is my friend

Captain Kirk is my friend.














For real.

I am soooooooooo pumped. I mean it. I'm not being sarcastic.

I'm a huge Star Trek fan. When I was a teen, I was in love with Mr. Spock. I thought Captain Kirk was cute, but I was a Spock woman 100%. Now that I'm older, I like Kirk. Actually, as an erotic romance author of menage, I could see myself with Kirk and Spock (I mean back in their ST days).

I also happen to think Denny Craig (Boston Legal) is downright adorable.

Isn't it cool that we can be "friends" with all kinds of people, even Captain Kirk/William Shatner via the Internet? Specifically, through MySpace.

Okay, I'm not completely brain dead. Shatner only has about 57,000 "friends" on MySpace. He probably has a PR firm who handles all this. He probably never glances at his MySpace or FaceBook profiles. He may not even know he's got a profile on MySpace. It's time consuming to make friends on MySpace.

Still, it feels cool to say this, which means I'm a big nerd. I know. I'll be a Star Trek fan as long as I live, even if that's till 2000.

I think the law of 7 is neat. I'm sure you've heard of it, also known as the "Kevin Bacon Game".

For the few who don't know of this, it means that all of us on earth are within 7 people of knowing everybody else on earth. It's not so hard to imagine.

My ex-boss knew the Prime Minister of Jamaica who knew the Queen of England who knew the Beatles. Yeah! Just how many people do the Queen and the Beatles know???

So now I have a connection to William Shatner, to Captain Kirk, and through him to Mr. Spock, and through him to all the Vulcans and Klingons, etc. etc.

Have you heard the joke about "Bubba and the Pope"? It's one of my favorite jokes of all times. Here it is. Enjoy!

Bubba was bragging to his boss one day, "You know, I know everyone there is to know. Just name someone, anyone, and I know them."

Tired of his boasting, his boss called his bluff, "Okay, Bubba, how about Tom Cruise?"

"Sure, yes, Tom and I are old friends, and I can prove it." So Bubba and his boss fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise's door, and sure enough, Tom Cruise, shouts, "Bubba! Great to see you! You and your friend come right in and join me for lunch!"

Although impressed, Bubba's boss is still skeptical. After they leave Cruise's house, he tells Bubba that he thinks Bubba's knowing Cruise was just lucky.

"No, no, just name anyone else," Bubba says.

"President Clinton," his boss quickly retorts.

"Yes," Bubba says, "I know him, let's fly out to Washington."

And off they go. At the White House, Clinton spots Bubba on the tour and motions him and his boss over, saying, "Bubba, what a surprise, I was just on my way to a meeting, but you and your friend come on in and let's have a cup of coffee first and catch up." Well, the boss is very shaken by now, but still not totally convinced.

After they leave the White house grounds, he expresses his doubts to Bubba, who again implores him to name anyone else.

"The Pope," his boss replies. "Sure!" says Bubba.

"My folks are from Poland, and I've known the Pope a long time."

So off they fly to Rome. Bubba and his boss are assembled with the masses in Vatican Square when Bubba says, "This will never work. I can't catch the Pope's eye among all these people. Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs and I'll come out on the balcony with the Pope." and he disappears into the crowd headed toward the Vatican. Sure enough, half an hour later Bubba emerges with the Pope on the balcony. But by the time Bubba returns, he finds that his boss has had a heart attack and is surrounded by paramedics.

Working his way to his boss' side, Bubba asks him, "What happened?" His boss looks up and says, "I was doing fine until you and the Pope came out on the balcony and the man next to me said, "Who's that on the balcony with Bubba?"

* So how come I don't know Bubba? I'll have to see if he's on MySpace...

Thursday Thirteen

My Thirteen Favorite TV Shows of All Time I'm bushed tonight, so I'm not going to expound too much. Beyond having an extremely busy day at work, I finished the Heat Wave story I'm writing for TEB and I watched daughter #2 play a tournament game - her team won and she got the game ball for her awesome catching tonight. 1.... American Idol! (Season 4 was the best, but Season 5 and this year are good, too) 2.... Smallville (duh! I love Superman) 3.... Star Trek (the original series) 4.... Star Trek Voyager 5.... Sliders 6.... McHale's Navy 7.... Hogan's Heroes 8.... Charmed 9.... Scarecrow & Mrs. King 10... Lois & Clark (see #2) 11... Star Trek Next Generation 12... Bewitched 13... I Dream of Genie

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Alexis Fleming at: http://alexisfleming.net/blog/

So, here are my 7 random facts about myself.

1) I marched in the 1979 New Orleans Mardis Gras parade as part of the Air Force Drum and Bugle Corps.

2) I used to shoot trap and Jr. Olympic archery.

3) I once fell off a horse in the middle of a riding competition. I felt myself falling and knew I couldn't stay on, so rather than fall on my butt, I jumped off. The judges, of course, asked me why I jumped off. Oy! And the cutest boy in the world was watching. (I guess he noticed me as we ended up necking later.)

4) I have an MBA from Nova Southeastern University.

5) I've only been out of the US three times to visit: Jamaica (for work), Haiti (for work), and Canada (for lunch and one afternoon).

6) I love to play scrabulous and waste too much time playing it.

7) I'm a Trekkie. I also love Star Wars.

Here are my victims:

http://liladupres.blogspot.com/ kimcox.blogspot.com Sher Hames Torres at http://www.theyarnspinners.blogspot.com/ CJ Parker at http://fuguemacabre.livejournal.com/ Billie Williams at http://printedwords.blogspot.com/

Now it's your turns to tell us 7 random things about you.