Cowgirl Contemporary Fantasy

Tonight, I was completely thrilled to receive the Versatile Blogger award from a blogging buddy,  Anassa .  Here are the rules, which I lifted from her post to make sure I did it correctly. The rules for this award are: Thank and link to the person who nominated me.  (You rock, Anassa!) Share seven random facts about myself. Pass the award along to 15 new-found blogging buddies. Contact those buddies to congratulate them. Okay, so here's the seven random facts: I have a mirror image identical twin.  Our crooked teeth are on opposite sides, as are our cowlicks, she's left-brained, I'm right-brained, and some of her internal organs are actually flip-flopped on the wrong side. I love burned cheese. I'm terrified of the ocean, mascots (also Mickey Mouse), heights, and handsome men. I once shaved a shower curtain.  Don't ask.  It made sense at the time. My great uncle was suspected of being part of the plot to assassinate JFK.  He also was in ...

Tweet I spent my evening cursing vociferously after my enthusiastic, but ham-fisted, attempt to finish two choral compositions.  When the tirade faded, I had a thought about plot tension. I loved watching Lost.   Between smoke monsters, fantastic characters, and the altered laws of physics, trying to figure out what the hell was going on was half the fun.  Just when one question was answered, three more popped up, making for some serious, drawn-out tension.  Alas, the shrieks of outrage on Twitter after the last episode showed how many people were disappointed by the ending. Because I'm cheap as hell and a huge fan of many shows that aren't on cable or network TV, I don't have live TV, just Netflix.  I just got into Bones .  The sexual tension between Booth and Brennan is fantastic.  Two great characters, an interesting premise, and many, many layers of plot make for an engaging, addictive show.  I've been devouring episodes whenever I ...

I've been diligently working on new blog posts, but my fibromyalgia is flaring and the symptoms are not passing.  I'm having a very hard time working and concentrating, so I apologize for the delay. My goal is to have the next installment of the "Author's Guide to Psychopaths" up this week, but if something doesn't change soon, I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again. Thank you for understanding.

I keep a close eye on my blog's stats.  I've noticed that I have a large number of readers in Russia, and readers from the U.K. are a very close second. Thank you for stopping by.  I do appreciate it!

As I lay sleepless due to the throbbing in my joints, I had a very long night to reflect.  My screeching nerves decided that Brandon Sanderson got something very right in his novel,  Elantris . Pain. Sanderson's protagonist, Prince Raoden, is stricken by the Shaod , a terrible affliction that renders its victims immortal, freakish, and hungry.  He is thrown into Elantris, a decaying city whose wonder can no longer gleam through the filth.  The Shaod leaves them without a heartbeat.  No injury will heal, and the pain of each injury never fades.  Eventually, the cumulative agony from hundreds of small injuries, coupled with an unrelenting hunger, drives them mad. For me, it started with low back pain, then constant headaches.  Soon my hands were always cold.  Then, I broke a bone in my foot from walking crookedly.  Most of the time I could ignore it, or at least put it to the back of my mind, but even if I wasn't consciously thinking abo...