Megan Hart

…but hey, it was a heckuva lot of fun. Thanks again to Rachel Kramer Bussel for having me, and to everyone who came out to support me! (Elissa, Stephanie, Morgan…Superman…!)

Interview for Anne Calhoun:

What’s your name? Who’s your daddy? And hey, babe, is he rich like me?
LOL!

Seriously, what’s your name and what do you do?

I’m Anne, but without James and Alex . Most days I’m pretty boring – I write, I cook, I clean, I do yoga and the housewife/mom thing. I work part-time editing audio for presentations and doing transcription to justify a rather obscene Starbucks and shoe habit.

Your first novel is now available from Ellora’s Cave — tell me a bit about Liberating Lacey.

Ah, Lacey. Well, Lacey’s a 36-year-old newly single woman who thinks that maybe she missed out on something when she married her first lover at 22. She goes to a bar and picks up Hunter, a Clive Owen lookalike/younger cop, for a one night stand…except it turns into so much more than just one night. Hunter and Lacey embark on a sexual journey through all of the “firsts” Lacey never explored with her husband, but intertwined with the sex is a profoundly emotional experience. While she’s older than Hunter, the book is more of an exploration of how two people from very different worlds find that those differences just don’t matter when it comes to the strength they can draw from love.

How long have you been writing? Is LL your first novel, or do you have some “drawer babies” as I like to call them?

I’ve been “writing with the intent to publish” (which for me means I stopped whining about wanting to be a writer and started writing) for about three years, and I have SEVERAL drawer babies. I wrote three category novels that didn’t fly and an erotic romance I’m not sure I want to do anything with. When I started writing I felt like a failure if I didn’t sell what I wrote. I’ve gotten much more comfortable with the idea of writing something to explore a topic/theme/situation or, God forbid, learn something about writing and letting the chips fall where they may in terms of sales.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?

Read. I’m currently into historical romance, but I read a ton out of genre. Lots of nonfiction, lots of whatever people recommend. I’m a huge fan of Sharon Shinn who writes fantasy-ish stuff with just enough romance (if you haven’t read Sharon Shinn, immediately order Mystic and Rider and/or Archangel from your favorite bookstore. They’re awesome). I bake bread, and I quilt. I used to knit rather obsessively but I’ve got some repetitive motion stuff going on that’s keeping me from the “chick with sticks” thing.

Do you have links to a website, blog or buy pages?

My website is annecalhoun.com but I’m far more active on my blog at annecalhoun.wordpress.com. That’s the place to keep up-to-date with mememe, and the site includes a Liberating Lacey page with information about music, trivia, and an excerpt. If you’d like to buy the book, go to the Liberating Lacey page at Ellora’s Cave.

Now for the rapid-fire part of the interview:

front or back – front – I’m short
black or white – Is this a formal or summer event? Is it a wedding? Am I the bride? Please God, don’t let me be the bride…I’ve done that once and my advice is to elope. Do not pass Go, do not collect…wait, get the money, but…what was the question?
chocolate or vanilla – Am I wearing black or white? Is this a formal event? Are we outside? Which is melting faster? Is there syrup? Wait…is my kid there? If my kid’s there I’m wearing all the ice cream flavors.
Sam or Dean – Dean, but slut that I am, I’d play rock-paper-scissors with either of them.
Kirk or Picard – Picard, any color, any game
Spock or Kirk – Old Star Trek – Spock – New Star Trek – both. Oh God, wouldn’t that be fabulous?
up or down – hmmmm…I am a tree, an ancient tree, with roots spreading deep down into the ground and branches swaying up in the air. Oooooohhhhhmmmmmmmmmm.
left or right – left. Left wing, left coast and most assuredly left behind.
in or out – In. Definitely in. Wait a minute…what are we doing? Do I have to drive? Am I wearing black or white? Nothing? I’m out.
Star Wars or Star Trek – Battlestar Galactica
Dracula or Frankenstein – Neither. Like human males aren’t difficult enough?

Sorry…I don’t do rapid-fire well!

You stand in front of three doors. What colors are they, what is behind each, which do you choose and why?

The first door is black and behind it is the tar-like, sticky, hot, smelly bog of procrastination. The second door is red and behind it is a red Mini Cooper with a white racing strip with Tahmoh Penikett (aka Helo from Battlestar Galactica) in the passenger seat. He’d holding a bottomless cup of soy chai latte from Starbucks, the key to amazon.com’s warehouse, another key to a suite at Hotel 57 in New York City. The smile on his face tells me I’m going to the hotel before Amazon’s warehouse. The third door is white and behind it is the virtuous life of a suburban mother and housewife who writes romance. I choose door number three…because I love my life.

Anything else you’d like to share with the class? I mean…readers?
Class dismissed!

Thanks, Anne!

M

27 pages yesterday. Just a few more scenes to write and the first draft’s done!

lines of the day: Cassian didn’t know the names of all the forms, just knew his brother had mastered them all. Even without weapons he was deadly. Graceful. Lethal. Those hands had killed. Even now as Jaissan finished, panting, Cassian saw his brother scrub his palms against his trousers.
Some stains are never washed clean.

PS — I don’t like the brother’s name, and I want to change it. Suggestions considered. (Don’t suggest Zachary!)

Back to work…!

M

Yes, I know it was aired weeks ago…but the truth of it is, I was kilt too ded to really describe my feelings for it with any sort of coherency. Yeah, like I’ve ever been coherent when talking about Supernatural. That show makes me crazy like a FAWX.

Here’s the thing:

I LOVED IT.

Every second of it.

I really thought they were going to leave us hanging with the les freres Winchester at odds, and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have stood it for the summer. I’d have just passed out in a pool of my own tears and not been heard from again until the fall premiere. I don’t like the brothers at odds — even as it makes for delicious emo drama angst, I can’t stand it! Sam and Dean should be there for each other no matter what, they are brothers!!!!!!!!

!!!!
!!!
!!
!

I loved that Sam was beginning to doubt. I never hated Ruby but I’m glad she got her comeuppance when it turned out she was bad. I’m glad Dean called his brother from Heaven’s green room to tell him he was sorry, even if the message never got through. I’m glad Castiel defied his superiors to help them.

Lucifer rising? Will they put him back in the ground? I’m not sure I like the idea of the final season being all about Lucifer walking the earth, but you know what? Supernatural hasn’t led me wrong so far. Any time it looks like they’re going to start in on something I don’t think I’ll like, they take me there or someplace else, and it’s all good. It’s better than good, it’s fucking awesome.

I spent the entire episode writhing in my seat. At one point Superman said “are YOU possessed?” I think he wasn’t even kidding. At the end of it, fade to white, screen goes blank, I literally SCREAMED. Just like last year, when they left Dean in Hell. But louder. With more angst.

Then I went upstairs and texted my friend at the retreat and just said “Oh my fucking god.” And she hated me because she wasn’t watching it until the next day. And then I had to CALL someone else so I could squee about it.

That is how much I loved the season finale of Supernatural this year. I turned me into a gibbering, writhing, screaming mess and I’m not sure I’ve recovered. I can’t wait for season five which is going to be so, so bittersweet, knowing already it’s the last one.

God. I don’t think I can stand it. Don’t get me wrong — I’m not of the mind they should just keep going just because *I* want them to, or any of us want them to. The J’s probably need to get moving on other parts of their careers, and I’d rather — MUCH rather — have the show end the way it should rather than be stretched out just ‘cuz. In fact, since every other year it was a question of “if” they’d return, not “when” I view season five as a sweet, sweet bonus to be cradled to my bosom and made pie. I will cherish every single second of it knowing it will be the last time I watch a new episode of Supernatural.

Gawd.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to survive it.

In other news, the Star Trek exhibit was pretty cool. I thought seeing the new Star Trek on the IMAX screen would be super cool, but even 40 foot Zachary Quinto was just too much. It was all too big. I know, right? Can you believe I’d ever say such a thing? but the IMAX just isn’t that great for seeing long movies…I mean, every seat was packed, they’re not comfy, they spilled all the popcorn beforehand so we couldn’t have snacks and getting out to use the bathroom in the middle was a nightmare. Even so, the third viewing was as exciting and delicious as the first two, and I still loved it. Just not as much as I thought I would seeing it so huuuuuuuge.

Also, I got to sit in Captain Kirk’s chair and on the bridge of the Next Generation’s Enterprise. Um, yeah, it was pretty freaking cool, too, I don’t mind saying. Don’t hate on me because my ass touched plastic that Shatner’s ass touched. Or maybe he never did, maybe it was just a replica. I dunno. It said it was the real thing. Either way, it was nifty and I had a great time. The only thing was, they didn’t allow photography, you had to get your picture took by wandering photogs and then buy them. Which of course we did. But I don’t know where they are, so I can’t upload them to show you. Sorry. I know you all wanted to see me in the Captain’s chair. It was really cool.

Did I mention how cool it was?

I’m not sure it was as cool as this: But lemme tell ya, if they’d had a chief science officer there to accost it might’ve beat out Star Wars.

M

Just so you know, I basically despise sitting by the pool. I’m trying to write. I think this will be better than going to the lake was but even so… And the snack bar is closed !!!!

So. I gleaned my Twitter, I unsubscribed from almost all the blogs I was reading on my Google Reader, I haven’t open LJ in over a week…I cleaned out both Gmail accounts, filed stuff, repaired my disk permissions, cleaned my office.

I have a very, very short time in which to finish the first draft of this book, and I aim to do it.

Now, understand, the books aren’t DUE for awhile, I’m in no danger of not meeting my deadlines. I just have kids who will be out of school very shortly and my time is almost impossible to manage with kids running in and out — rather, I can manage my time. I just can’t manage it to be uninterrupted! So it’s important I finish the first drafts of my books so that I can spend my “leisure” time editing and polishing, much easier to do with interruptions.

So anyway, if I’m not around a lot for the next couple weeks, if you even notice, this is why. And if I’m following you on Twitter and I’m suddenly not, it’s not that I don’t like you. It’s that I like you too much, I guess, the allure of Twitter being what it is, the less I have to “just check real fast” the less likely it is I’ll even log on. After all, I barely logged on for the entire time I had it until just a couple weeks ago! I might even delete it from my phone.

Yep, it’s called simplifying and stripping down and getting down to business. I’m going to finish up all my administrative work here today and then do some writing. I’m going to maybe hit the pool later, but I can write there. Maybe. Maybe we’ll go see Wolverine, too. Can’t write there, but maybe I’ll come home inspired!

I have pictures to share from the Star Trek exhibit but I haven’t loaded them on my computer yet, so….yeah.

M