50 Shades of Gray

Happy New Year!

All of this broohaha over the 50 Shades trilogy. Yes the writer is making millions from it, and wouldn't we all like to. I read the first chapter but it didn't grab me. And I personally find it disturbing that so many female readers enjoy a fantasy about a young, innocent virgin winning over a self-centered, controlling (abusive) man, no matter how hot he is.

I honestly don't read romance or BDSM novels and after considering taking a crack at writing them, I think it's important for writers to write what they enjoy most, not what's currently selling best, because then you're just faking it. And who's got time for faking it?

Hm, yet another three months have passed since my last...

But I'm back with a New Year's resolution. To have a business plan and to implement it in 2013. To step forward with my writing and publishing more boldly, because you can't win if you don't enter.

My little voice tells me to keep writing Ariana's adventures, in subsequent novellas, mostly because she makes me laugh. I'm also developing another series; this one is a sci-fi/suspense one and a complete departure from my Ariana writings. I think it will make a good TV series one day; at least, that's the plan.

Hm, three months have passed since my last post. Okay, so I'm not so good with blogging on a regular basis, but it's nice to see people are still downloading my book. However, since I'm not getting any feedback whatsoever, I assume either no one is actually reading it and/or no one likes it enough to comment. Feeling discouraged overall.

June-uary

It's June here in Van, but feels like January. Hence June-uary. Can't complain. I'm living in fabulous Vancouver, after all!


I am embarking on the second Ariana Adventure, but am still contemplating what plot elements to include. A friend suggested writing more about her relationship with Veronica, the not-good-at-being-bad demon, and I like that idea. And of course there's hunky Const. Daniel. And pain-in-the-ass cousin Emma. And Ted's cute son, Ted Jr. whose sister is, last time I checked, still a bat. We shall see. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Digital TV and Mad Men

We just installed digital/internet TV and I'm not a big fan of being zapped by yet more invisible wi-fi waves, but I do love being able to PVR programs, and the picture quality has improved, despite still having to watch it on a CRT TV. It'll take a while to memorize the new channel numbers, too.

Anyone a fan of Mad Men? I was quite upset, though not surprised, about what happened last night regarding Lane Pryce. And Jon Hamm is just as gorgeous as ever, sigh. Not a bad actor, either. :) He needs to do some comedy soon. Don Draper frowns a lot, and we don't want Jon to get frown lines, do we.

Lastly, while on the topic of MM, as a Canadian I feel compelled to comment on the whole Don Draper's French Canadian wife thing. 1) Her French Cdn. parents were rather inaccurately portrayed, from what I recall. Their accents were more France-French than Canadian-French, but I guess only a Canadian would know that, and even then only some of us. 2) As I read elsewhere from another indignant Canadian Mad Men fan, the name Megan isn't very French Cdn. either. How about Solange, or Marie, or Jacqueline? A bit sloppy and/or negligent in the research department on that one.

Yokohama City. That's Vancouver's sister city in Japan, according to the Consul General of Japan. It's been a while since I've posted. The blossoms have faded, but the warm weather and sun have not, much to everyone's delight. In lieu of those blossom photos I mentioned, perhaps these will do?

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=44202832'
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=6253&picture=cherry-tree-blossoms

What can I say, I'm a little lazy. And not much of a photographer - I'm too busy sitting indoors writing novels! And reading up on other e-book authors making a living writing genre novels. This is my goal, and I better get back to work...

Spring has sprung in Vancouver! There are tons of cherry blossoms blooming and gorgeous pink and white magnolia trees too. It's also starting to warm up temperature-wise (not that Vancouver ever gets very cold, but we do get a lot of rain). I'll upload some photos of those cherry blossoms very soon, before they start fading away. They were apparently a gift from our sister city in Japan (um, can't recall the name of it right now but will try and find out!).

I though I'd also throw in the Wikipedia page about "Van", so you can learn a bit more about where Ariana lives, plus see some current photos of it. Gee, maybe Tourism Vancouver should be paying me a fee for this? Kidding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver

As for some tidbits of recent newsworthy news about us:

1. We hosted the Winter Olympics in 2010, which was...interesting. It was a circus, but most Vancouverites were over the moon to have the world's spotlight on us.
2. Vancouver is a hockey-mad city, and I, too am a Canucks fan, as would Ariana be, if she followed hockey more. Perhaps she will, now that she's dating a cop who is a fan. For those in the NHL-know,  yes, our team was just eliminated from the playoffs but I have faith in them. The darkness before the dawn is a saying that comes to mind.
3. Yes, there was a riot in our downtown core, after the final game of last year's Stanley Cup playoffs. Sounds like it was a bunch of kids from the suburbs who went there, got drunk, were PO'd so they decided to trash the place, which they wouldn't have done if it were their actual home. Then they disappeared into the night, back to their own homes in the 'burbs. That's about all I have to say about that. Bad news is what leads the news, and our city has a lot more positive stuff to offer than that.
4. Having said that, Vancouver is one of the most expensive cities to live in, in North America. Ariana is very lucky that her new PNPI agency is financed by the ghost of a wealthy man who is quite fond of her.

Have any of you who don't reside in Vancouver had a chance to visit us, and if so, what did you think?