Thursday, May 31, 2012

Things to do in Detroit if your day truly sucks...

Okay, so my latest revisions of my latest manuscript were returned by my editor. With constructive criticism, but no 'Yay, it's awesome, I totally want it' sentence. Which makes me feel kind of bad, but I totally understand.

Or, I did understand until I got into the parking lot and discovered that some idiot had scraped up against my front bumper. On my brand new-to-me car.

Now I'm not okay with anything.

Woe.

Luckily, I have fancy cheese, Seinfeld reruns on TV, and a cat the size of a hippopotumus to keep me company.

Any other suggestions?

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Oops

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy. I was a bridesmaid in a wedding, in a cave, on a mountain, in ohio, with no cell phone reception. Now I'm back! Woohoo! Detroit! Also, I have the day off work, and it's raining. Boo.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Crepes in Detroit!

So, today I decided to take myself out to breakfast someplace awesome.

Awesome in Detroit can be hard to find, unless you're looking for hunks of fatty meat torn out of iron boned elephants and burnt over an open fire, or amazing middle eastern food.

So here I am at 'Good Girls Go to Paris.'

So far, incredi-awe-mazing!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Fireworks!

I love living in downtown Detroit!

There are freaking fireworks outside my window!

They've got to be less than five hundred feet away!

Holy moly!

Fireworks!

Real fireworks!

I can't find my phone or else I'd take a picture!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Too Hot to Handle!

Too Hot to Handle--Buy it Now on Amazon!

Hey everyone! Giving the craziness that is online publishing it only makes sense that my book got to one platform before the others (coming later today), and given the obsession with which I kept looking for it... um... it only makes sense that I found it on Amazon before it was on B&N or even my publishers website.

Crickets chirping while I turn red with embarrasment.

In any case, here it is! Too Hot to Handle! Go buy it! Only, I don't want to seem pushy, so look at the super awesome cover, read the nifty blurb, and then... go buy it!

http://www.amazon.com/Too-Hot-to-Handle-ebook/dp/B0083NTXQ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337171972&sr=8-1

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Best Muffler Place in Detroit

My car's exhaust system went wonky last week. By 'wonky' I mean entirely too loud for words.  It was the exhaust pipe, and there was no crossing my fingers and hoping it would go away.

I called the fancy auto shop over in Grosse Pointe. They claimed not to fix exhaust pipes. Which was less than helpful. They gave me the number of a muffler shop they recommend, but when I called that number no one answered... on a Saturday morning. Which was even less than less than helpful.

Enter the internet. I found a place with good reviews--multiple good reviews--and I called them up. I was like 'holler, I've got this problem. Do you think you can fix it?' and they were like 'Who knows, we rarely take the word of somebody's random friend, but it bring it down and we can take a look at it right now.' And I was like 'Sweet!' (In this creative retelling I'm clearly stuck in the nineties). So, I hopped in my car and drove up to Six Mile.

Mild digression, for those of you who don't know, Detroit has all these streets called 'miles' that are based on how many miles they are away from some park. Or something.

Six Mile looked pretty good to me. Cute, working class, well kept bungalows, and a nifty muffler place. I parked, went in, and the woman behind the counter's jaw dropped: 'You're not from this neighborhood, are you?'

Admittedly, it was Saturday and I was dressed in my Saturday clothes (yay, saturday!). Blue jeans, converses, a shiny blue LLBean backpack with the name 'Scarlett' embroidered on it (if you go to LLBean outlets you can get monogrammed stuff that people returned really really really cheap), and a wine red cut off t-shirt with a screen print of a dandelion on the front. Oh, and my ray-bans. My Saturday clothes totally blend in a Massachusetts college town, but Detroit's a different world.

After admitting (gulp) that I lived Downtown, I gave the woman the okay to fix my car and asked her if there was a place nearby where I could get coffee while I waited. 'Coffee?' Yep, it was Saturday morning and I'd gone to the muffler place before eating breakfast. Coffee was necessary. She stared at me, eyes wide, for a few minutes before finally admitting that there was a waffle shop down the street and a coney island next door.

Another mild digression, 'coney island' is Detroit for 'diner.' Except, diner's fluctuate in price and relative excellence. Coney islands are universally cheap and greasy.

Off I went, next door to the coney island. Cheap coffee, two eggs, and corned beef hash, all for under six bucks. I sat at the counter and talked to the regulars, old guys who used to work in auto plants. It was fun. I love talking to old guys in diners coney islands.

The muffler place did great work in less time than they'd estimated. I had a nifty breakfast. All in all, it was a pretty good Saturday morning (well, I had to pay for the car repair--which isn't cheap--but still).

I got back downtown and told a friend I'd gone up to six mile to get my car fixed. His jaw dropped. His eyes went wide. 'Six mile? How the hell did you find a muffler place on six mile?'

My Cat Has Crazy Pants

My cat has crazy pants, and I'm not talking about the denim jeans he's currently crouched on malevolently... staring at me... eating the pocket.

For those of you about to ask, I didn't leave anything in the pocket.

Still, those are not his crazy pants. My cat is part Maine Coon, a breed for being moody and enormous. He's also part Siamese, a breed known for being incredibly loud, moody, and too smart for their own good. Whoever let a Maine Coon and a Siamese breed should be forced to listen to a cat racing around their studio apartment at five in the morning...

Wearing his crazy pants.

Oh, wait, must go, it's one of his three minutes a day to be friendly and I don't want to miss it.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Writing and rewriting.

I'm feeling frustrated today. I've been working on my craft, doing the whole bit. And I feel like I'm not improving at the rate I would hope. Sigh.

I'm sure other people get the exact same frustration sometimes, which is why I am reaching out.

Comments? Questions? Suggestions?

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Today I Was A Grown Up

I got my car fixed today by a frabjous (shout out to Lewis Carrol) muffler place up at 6 Mile today. It made me feel so grown up, and then it made me feel so broke!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Action!

It's a beautiful day in downtown Detroit and I'm outside in the sunlight. On days like this you forget about the rain and the crime rate. The weather's great. The people are friendly and the sky is blue.

Seinfeld reruns

I was supposed to wrote last night. I really was. Instead, I watched seinfeld reruns and ate guacamole. It was awesome.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

This is becoming a regular feature! Manuscript roundup!

1. Too Hot to Handle is coming out in May. Too Hot to Handle is coming out in May! Too Hot to Handle is coming out in May! Make room on your Nook, Kindle, or IPad because Too Hot to Handle is coming out in May!

2. Pop Star has been edited and resubmitted. Yay! Progress on my part!

3. I'm in the process of editing my Las Vegas suspensiness!

4. Billionaire's Baby Surprise is done! Finished! Finito! Everybody has personal goals. They have professional goals. Their political and professional goals clash. Drums sound. Horns play. (Okay, I'm making up that nonsense about the drums and the horns). It ends with big gestures on everyone's part, and the band plays. (Again, there is no band at the end of the BBS).

5. Stuff.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Geographic Necessity that is Detroit.

When I say that I live in Detroit, I mean inside the city limits, wayne county, I can use the giant scoreboard from Comerica park as a nightlight.

So, I'm being pretty freaking geographically specific when I use the word 'Detroit.' For instance, I do not mean Royal Oak, Dearborn, Novi, Troy, Grosse Pointe (Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe Woods, Grosse Pointe Pain-In-The-Butt), or Toledo.

I am willing to consider the inclusion of Hamtramck and Highland Park into my concept of Detroit because, well, duh, but other than that... if you can catch a Smart bus at any time of day then you should probably start telling people you live in south eastern Michigan.

Not Detroit.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Cajun Food

Ok, boys and girls, I've found my new favorite takeout place. Halfway between my work and my home. Cajun food. It's not the best cajun food in the world, but--let's be clear--I live in Detroit. Which means that it's the best cajun food for eight hours.

The only other great ethnic food I've been able to find around here is middle eastern. Best middle eastern food ever.

Have you ever seen the rain...

Seriously, it's raining in Detroit.

I've been cold and wet for two straight days, and I can't wear my new cute shoes.

Tragic.