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I’m over at the Riskies today, talking word of mouth and good books and stuff.

We’ve had a respite here in terms of frantic frothing about North And South, but that is about to change: My girlfriend, the Super-Smart Lawyer, is coming over on Saturday and we will be watching it.

She has more passion for Ewan McGregor than I do, but we agree on Clive, Heywood Wakefield furniture, the color green, coffee, Mission Of Burma, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (although only one of us kissed a Dap-King a gazillion years ago, and it wasn’t me), red wine and the joy of living in Brooklyn.

Woo. And hoo.

This dreary, raw, cold, nasty day, I’m over at the Riskies talking smack about my heroine.

The Eight Year-Old is back (reluctantly) to school, the Spouse is about as reluctantly back to work, and I am back to whatever passes for normal in my life.

Which means:

1. Stop eating. Just, like, stop already.

2. More exercise.

3. More writing.

4. Less hand-wringing.

5. Fewer neurotic “episodes” (as in, ‘why isn’t he/she getting back in touch? I know, he/she hates me!’)

6. More makeup. Stop looking like a Mom.

7. Less time-wasting. I’m talking to you, Bloglines!

8. More vegetables. I love veggies, but the pesky fridge keeps being too hot or too cold! Luckily, I have me a new fridge come March. Le bliss.

9. Just as much devout attention paid to Clive Owen (the hero for Road to Passion).

10. And an equal amount to Sean Bean (the hero of the next book)

I opened Road To Passion (thanks, cheerleaders!), and wrote a little under 500 words. Which isn’t at all impressive until you know that the Taking After His Dad In The Sleep Department Son didn’t go to sleep until after 10:30. And I curled up in bed with Kresley Cole’s latest around 11:45. So yay me.

The Partner-in-Crime, KJ, FINISHED her darn book, and I have to catch up. Bee-yotch.

Okay, so this is a totally selfish, totally for me post.

I wrote a scene yesterday where my hero sorta accidentally kills a guy. Yeah, I said it. And I need to keep Mr. Momentum going, so I am trying to fire up my imagination with images like this one.

I cannot wait for Sin City 2, btw.

You could win a free book! Not here; head on over to the Riskies, and comment on the super-fabulously nice Mary Blayney’s interview, and you could win a signed copy of her new anthology, signed by all four authors (including Nora).

So, why are you hanging around here?

Okay, I’ll satisfy your fix: My name is Megan, and I am neurotic about my weight, my teeth, if I talk too much or too little, my writing time, how tired I am, how much coffee I seem to need, and how little housework I seem to do despite picking things up all the time. I am not neurotic about how much I love Clive Owen or Sean Bean or how proud I am that I read and write romance.

Now head on over there!

I don’t usually review stuff, except to say ‘yay! I read it! I loved it!,’ which isn’t really helpful for anyone, including me. But I have seen a fair amount of movies, read some books and heard some good music lately, so I thought since I feel as lethargic as someone can who actually bothers to finish writing ‘lethargic,’ that I would do some quick reviews. Maybe incite some discussion.

Shoot ‘Em Up: Abby asked me what I thought of this starring our boy Clive. I think it was a laudatory attempt to take the action movie to its nth degree, but it wasn’t quite clever enough. It was a load of fun to watch, but hardly resonant after. Not to say I won’t want to own the DVD when it comes out, but it was just a fun movie with a lot of death. Plus it had Clive for me, and Monica Belluci for the Loves Pale Women With Dark Hair Spouse.

Eastern Promises: Amazing. I love Cronenberg, apparently, and Viggo Mortensen gets so inside the skin of his characters it is astonishing (Plus he’s really freaking HOT!). This was a lot more memorable and complex than S’EU, with fewer deaths but way more violence, if that makes sense. Not for the weak of stomach.

Agnes And The Hitman: I didn’t care for the first Crusie/Mayer collaboration that much, but Jennie said this one was really good, so I gave it a try. And it was so much fun! A rollercoaster of action (bam!), romance (pow!) and way more death (kaboom!) than is usual in a romance novel. Totally refreshing, thanks for the rec, Jennie.

Beguilement (The Sharing Knife, Vol. 1): Oddly enough, I don’t like Lois McMaster Bujold’s most famous series, the Miles V-whatever his last name is, but I have totally adored her fantasy such as the Chalion series and now this one. She does subtle romance very well, and her world-building is complex and compelling.

Little Miss Sunshine: I was expecting a cute indie film with quirky characters, ooh, aren’t the disfunctional people funny, but this was way better than I had anticipated. This has depth and characterization and you really feel for all of the people involved, and it wasn’t just the fish-in-barrel fun of examining kids’ beauty contests. So, yay! I loved it!

Alice Smith: Amazing artist, her record is being re-released here soon. Alicia Keys meets Melanie, I’ve been singing her songs in my head ever since I first heard it. I love, love, love this record.

Kate Nash: British singer, a clear, pure voice like Sia’s or Bjork’s and with a biting wit like Dorothy Parker. Her record isn’t out here yet, but was #1 in England. Search for “Dickhead” on YouTube for a preview.

Lady Tigra: Oh, lord, totally stripped-down hip-hop, like ESG, only with a good rapper, and her songs are good allthe waythrough, which is just plain awesome. I am completely hooked on this one, too, I can’t believe how good it is.

Okay, so what’s got you stoked lately?

CindyS tagged me for this screenshot doo-hickey.

Here’s how you play:

A. Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun. You can do a screen capture by going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right
side of the F12 key). Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V).If you wish, you can “edit” the image, before saving it.

B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons. Things like that.

C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

D. Add your name to this list of Free Viewers with a link pointing directly to your Desktop Free View post to promote it to succeeding participants.

I tag:
Hm. EKM, Abby, Arlene, Jennie, and Colleen.

The list of Free Viewers so far is:

iRonnie - I Set No Corner
Thess - Thesserie
Rebecca - Skippy Heart
Knoizki - A Dialogue With K
Beng - Kauderwelch
Tina- My Good Finds
Rachel - Heart of Rachel
Alice - Hello, My Name Is Alice
Julia - Julia’s Books Corner!
Darla - Nichtszusagen
Marg - Reading Adventures
Holly - What Were you Expecting?
ames - Thrifty Reader
Dev - Good Reads
CindyS - Nocturnal Wonderings
Megan - Frampton Comes Alive!

I know I don’t need to explain why I chose this picture. Plus I love that olive-y, kinda puke-y green color. And I hate a cluttered desktop, hence the minimal amount of icons (you should see the Spouse’s! Makes me shudder).