USA Today Best of 2012

Friday, January 29, 2010

Deep thought for a Friday

This was forwarded to me in an email list of Larry the Cable Guy-isms, and since I'm at the middle school again today, it seemed appropriate:

"Life isn't like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your butt tomorrow."

I've recently decided, by the way, that one of the sweetest sounds is that of a boy laughing. Not the usual kind of "Hey did you see the Simpsons last night?" laughter, but that kind of giggling they do when they are well and truly tickled. Music to my ears.

Happy Friday!

Autumn Piper
Got romance?






Thursday, January 28, 2010

iPad: It's not a hi-tech feminine hygiene product

It's a real head-shaker for me. How the heck, out of all the millions of words out there, did Apple come up with such a doofy name for its latest gadget?

If you haven't heard/seen breaking news (or you've been on another planet for the last day), Apple is launching a device the ereading community has been anxiously awaiting, named (foolishly) the iPad. You can read the product overview here.

I'll just say right upfront, this honestly does NOT look like a new device to me. It looks like an iPod Touch, magnified. (can you say 9.7 inch screen?) This product does nothing new -- the iPod Touch can do any of these things, including display ebooks! Yes, ebooks from the Kindle store, using a Kindle app.

Another thing this kinda looks like to me is a no-flip laptop.... but... you can buy laptops with 9 inch screens for far less than $499 now, and they'll do more stuff, (although they don't have the touch screen).

But back to my beef with the name. iPad? Really? Kinda smacks of a pantiliner with 3G access (BTW, it looks like while one model of the iPad has 3G, the other is just Wi-Fi capable). So many names they could've gone with: iBook, iReader, iFolio, iBiblio, iLibrary, iLibro, iTouch Mega, iTouch Super, iTouchBigAss, iWeighsDoubleWhataSonyReaderDoes, iJustWaitTilTheAccessoriesComeOut--You Will Be Mega Broke!, iTablet(hello? What, has somebody else already patented that one?), iTouch NoMoreScreenEnvy, iGuysWouldBeTotallyDistractedWithTheAppsIfTheyBoughtThis...

As IF guys will buy it? The men I know won't eagerly tote around anything called a "pad". But hey, maybe adding all the other bells and whistles will entice some dudes. Could be they'll use them as chick-magnets. "Hey babe. Look at me, all readerly. And check out how big my screen is! You do know a guy's screen is in direct proportion to the size of his--"

Pshyeah.

Well, hey. It wouldn't fit into my purse (like my Reader does, and I just can't go to a Texas-sized handbag), so I'm not interested. But plenty of people paid five hundred bucks or more for iPhones when they came out, so Apple's marketing genius just might pay off. And as long as the buyers go on to shell out bucks for ebooks, I'm OK with it. Maybe it'll revive the world economy...

Autumn Piper

Got romance?

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

CataU guest blogger

I'm the guest blogger over at CataUniversity today, discussing epublishing and the genres it's "right" for.

Join me!

http://catauniversity.com/

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Tube Tuesday

Have you seen Fox's new action/adventure/comedy Human Target? If not, you are missing out.

Mark Valley is finally the (much deserved) star of his own show. I've liked this dude since way back when he was Jack on Days of Our Lives (and I was much much younger). Also loved him on Boston Legal, and he's got a list of credits as long as my arm (well, depending on screen resolution and pixel size...) He's great at playing quirky, smart-ass characters, and Christopher Chance is no exception. Plus, now he gets to be a tough-guy too!

The stories are engaging, dialogue snappy, secondary characters are great, and the series pilot had the best fight scene I've ever watched on TV, and possibly the movies. Very well done. Chance has the cutest dog on TV, too.

I think Fox has struck gold again.

Autumn Piper

Got romance?

Monday, January 25, 2010

Tag Talkin'

Check out this post where Gemini Judson discusses book taglines... and one she liked in particular. (no complaints about that from the Patter!)
She's right on the money, too. Using a tagline that "works" will pull a reader into your virtual kiosk, where you've got a shot at keeping her attention with an equally mahvelous blurb.

http://geminijudson.blogspot.com/2010/01/tag-youre-it_22.html

Happy Monday.

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Friday, January 22, 2010

For all the special snowflakes

If you're a writer (or terribly interested in what it takes to become one), here's a link to a no-nonsense post from a fellow author/editor, on the craft and business of writing.

*warning...this is NOT a fast read, though it will make you chuckle*

http://leslirichardson.blogspot.com/2010/01/writing-how-to-you-are-not-special.html


Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Only 10 days?

Yesterday while I was celebrating my latest contract (Fallen Star Trouble), I realized I have only 10 days until the release of Trouble Under Venus.

10 days? I haven't made bookmarks yet.
Luckily I'm all done with the trailer, though. Here 'tis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcwUKTrKfww

I'm kinda aggravated right now-- this trailer is shown with advertisements because youTube seems to think the music might belong to somebody else (it's a Beethoven piece so it could match a million other orchestras who've produced the piece also). I'm sure this will be a more common occurence now, since I get music from Museopen and it's usually classical stuff.

Grrr.

Autumn Piper
Got romance?

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Too good not to send on

If you've ever peeled a potato...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4W0qIPJmoo

Neat.

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

New review for Piper

I just got a Google alert (authors - if you're not set up with these, you're missing out!) and discovered A Fireman for Christmas got a really nice review yesterday from Mystic Reviews.

Happy Tuesday!

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Nominated

Piper Patter has been nominated for an award as a Kreativ Blogger. 'Scuse us while we try to get our head around what that entails and we'll try to regain control of our collective to-dos by tomorrow to fulfill our obligation to that end.

To those of you with the day off today -- enjoy! To those of you who have to work anyway, enjoy knowing at least you won't get any bills in the mail today!

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Friday Funny

We were driving by the car dealership at night when my daughter asked, "What are all the bright lights for?"

Son says, "To keep people from stealing the cars, stupid."

"How could people steal them? It's not like the keys are in them."

"They pick the locks. Or break the window and start it."

Gotta love this next reasoning: "Who would wanta steal a car with a broken window?"

Happy Friday!

Autumn Piper
Got romance?

Thursday, January 14, 2010

This elevator's going UP

More news about epublishing, today's post is at the LPI blog.

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Busted. Time to get out the bar soap.

Well, Lone Star Trouble just earned its lowest rating to date, a "3 books", which I assume is out of 5 possible.

Looks like the reviewer did not appreciate my heroine swearing like a cowgirl. In fact, she actually used the term "potty mouth". LOL. Apparently Kiersten's language and attitude took away from the love story. (and we all know how girls who use 4 letter words never fall in love) I can respect that some people don't appreciate language. However, I'm not certain how many books without it those people can find to review. And I'm a little surprised the same person who was bothered by swearing didn't have an earful to say about Kiersten's gay best friend. But, maybe the review site wouldn't allow that type of opinion to be expressed. Ah, well. You can't win 'em all, and she did say it was "entertaining".

You can read the full review here.


Autumn Piper
Got romance?

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Turkey Tuesday

Wild turkeys are thriving in our area lately and a family of them (I hate to say "flock" becaause there are only 7 - maybe a "band" or a "gang"?) live near our house so we see them on the way to school and back every day.

Anyway, the kids and I were talking about how for the longest time, these turkeys just scratched and pecked at the roadside, without ever actually being on the road. However, the last few days they've taken up scurrying to the other side the second we're passing them. And hubby said he'd had one of them stand right in the road and look at his truck the day before.

So 'Fuscius Junior says...

...wait for it...

"It was playing chicken."

Autumn Piper
Got romance?

Monday, January 11, 2010

This just in...

Got a nice review for A Fireman for Christmas:

Single Titles


Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Friday, January 8, 2010

New and bettah

Came across a whole new word in the process of editing today. The word I was going for was "confused" but I ended up with "confusted".

And... wow. It just hit me. Confusted perfectly describes how somebody looks when they're totally lost, no?

Love it!

Happy Friday.

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

"The end" is just the beginning

I blogged all about it on the LPI blog.

Hit me!

Autumn Piper
Got romance?

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

OK, this is a fun ride.

Today I got a really welcome, really marvelous package in the mail.

It was my complimentary author copy of Lone Star Trouble, in print. And was it sweet holding the fruit of my labor in my hands? Oh, yeah. It's a lovely cover, and I just got this overwhelming sensation of "mine" and "yes, I really did it!"

So I hauled my butt down to the library to show it off to the local staff, left them a few bookmarks, and generally joined them in the "ooh"ing and "ahh"ing of its loveliness. They were (gratifyingly) almost as excited as I was! And they plan to get a copy in ASAP - either buy directly from me or order it, whichever is faster. Whichever is faster! Isn't that cool?

Next showing-off stop, the school district office, where I had to share with a few of the staff (who were also gratifyingly impressed, and excited about that marvelous image of Cleve's chest). More bookmarks entered circulation. I think it's time to fire up the printer and that neato paper cutter I got for Christmas... Oh, and I've got a few copies sold, as soon as I get them here!

Overall, it was a quit satisfying day. My copy is now standing at attention on the kitchen counter where I can ogle it at will. And dream of visits to the local bookstores and other places I might con into stocking my stuff.

So far, so fun.

Autumn Piper
Got romance?

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Return of the Grind

Back to the usual today, but here's a nifty gift a pal shared with me.

It's called Inkmesh. Remember all the nifty shopping sites where you can find compared prices all over the net for a particular item? Well, Inkmesh is all about ebooks and who's selling them for what price, in what format, and how it's been rated. SuperNifty!

Have a good one.

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Not registering on the suckometer

Today's no ordinary Monday. Not only is it the first Monday of 2010 (I really like the symmetry in this year's number for some reason. It feels right...) but it's also the Day After I Finished Writing a Novel.
Why is this a big deal after all the novels I've written? Well, between you, me, and the internet (gate posts are sooo last century) it's the first time I've finished a novel in 2 years. Yep, 2 years ago I finished Trouble Under Venus and it's been something of a dry spell ever since. So yeah, getting to The End was a pretty big deal for me (even though I don't, in fact, type "the end" at the end of my stories. Pretty much, I think readers can figure out it's the end when there's no more story left).
Furthermore, I no longer experience that pang of sadness at the end of a story, for fearing I'll miss those characters terribly. Because you know what I've learned? If I contract that book, I will be seeing lots and lots of those characters in the next months. And afterward, I'll be doing interviews for them and explaining how their story came to me and.... nope, I won't really be missing them.

Now I get to The Reason I Let Stories Cook Before Sending Them to My Editor:

There I slept, pleased as punch with myself, when en el noche media I awoke to the realization that I'd left a pretty big loose end. Oops. Of course, I'd never saddle my editor with all the silly mistakes I make during composition either, and I've got a couple of rather heated argument scenes (and the Big love scene) which need more stage direction and sensory details. So there's still some work involved before I get down to the actual work of doing edits with someone else involved. Still, I am done writing it.

So happy I'm off work for another day...

Happy Monday!

Autumn Piper
Got romance?

Friday, January 1, 2010

Dishin'

A Happy New Year to you! I won't bore you with my list of resolutions. Today I'd rather dish about last night's Rockin New Years program.

But first, let me just say it's so awesome waking up to a tidy house -- we did the ole Emergency Clean last night after inviting friends over for a rather impromptu snack/TV fest. I love Emergency Cleaning! So much done, in so little time... and I'm much more apt to throw away stuff instead of finding a place to stow it. :)

Now, back to cute little Ryan Seacrest. Man. He's so darn smooth and at ease...
Dick Clark looks much better than he sounds, but seriously, I'm impressed as hell that he's still making it to the New Years bash. The guy is 80, and has been hosting the New Years bash since 1972!!
And he still looked better than Jennifer Lopez last night. Whoa. Doesn't she have somebody on her staff to help her choose costumes? Wasn't so bad while the fur coat was buttoned, but... The floofy fringy thing looked like the wrong side of an ostrich. What the heck was that? And when she shed it, oh my. The unitard beneath was simply a "tard" choice. Probably 1% of the celebrity population can carry off a bodysuit, and she's not there anymore. It didn't even fit right. Yeesh.
Keri Hilson? She's got a pretty decent bod, but the weird boy-brief cut of her leather bottoms didn't do a thing for her hips or thighs. A bikini cut would've looked good, and maybe that costume wasn't available in bikini cut, but for God's sake, was there a shortage of stuff to wear this year? Did she not look in a mirror with it on?
Fashion Do's for the night included Fergie, who looked hot in everything she wore, and little Selena Gomez, who was dressed just right. And of course Ryan and Dick, impeccable in their host suits.

One huge gripe my daughter and I both had? No footage of the ball dropping. At all. The whole countdown and ensuing seconds after were dedicated to all the smooches going on. I'm all for smooches, but, come on. The ball is like, the climax. What gives?

Anyway, have a happy holiday weekend, and do be safe.

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!