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Kids and technology

Mr Dee and I have been involved in a long standing argument about Mr 11 and Mr 8.

See, years ago, I told them that when they get money (for presents or for pocket money) instead of spending it on any old thing, they should put it away and save it for something special. Which they did. It’s taken Mr 11 a while to come to terms with not spending impulsively, but he’s been doing pretty well of late.

Mr 8 clicked on to the idea immediately, and since he was four, he’s been saving for a Boeing 747. (He’s always wanted to be a pilot.)

When he was about six, he told us if he carries on saving every year, he reckons by the time he’s 55 he’ll be able to buy his plane. Although we found his plan too adorable for words, we finally told Mr 8 that if he were ever to become a commercial pilot, he won’t actually have to buy his own plane. He’ll fly one of the airlines’ 747s. Both surprised and delighted, Mr 8 immediately came up with a better goal. Save enough to buy an iPad. Mr 11 loved that idea.

I was fine with it – it was the kids’ money after all. Mr Dee was not. He’s of the strong belief that kids shouldn’t have such expensive toys. We argued for a long time.

As luck would have it, just after the iPad3 launched, both boys had saved enough money to buy themselves each one. And then the discussions began in earnest, with the kids joining in and putting forward their cases quite passionately. It took a while, but Mr Dee finally came around. The boys – to their great joy and delight – got their iPads.

But we did put restrictions on them. The iPads aren’t allowed to leave the house. The time spent playing games is limited. They have to use the iPads to read and not just to play. (This was my stipulation.)  Of course the boys agreed.

Not a week later, I was away at conference, and Mr 11 was sleeping over at a friend. Thus began a series of text messages that I just had to blog about:

Mr 11: Mom, can I take my iPad to my friend tonight, as it has my book in it so if I don’t take it I can’t read, and if I lose it I know where it is because it’ll be at my friend. So can I take it pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

Me: You are a big fat brat for even asking. But…if dad said yes, then yes, But…only IF. PS – if you lose or break your iPad I don’t want to hear about it. Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay?

Mr 11: Dad said to ask you. NOW, get off your ass and type 3 letters in this order, Y-E-S. Easy. Now you try.

Me. Hmmmm. I’m trying, but my autocorrect keeps changing the word to no.

Mr 11: Then make them capitals and put spaces in between. Like this: Y E S

Me: N O. Damn, see that darn autocorrect.

Mr 11: Please mom

Me: Yes

Mr 11: So I can bring my iPad?

Me: You can take the iPad. Treat it like gold.

Mr 11: YAY!

Me: Ahem. What about: “thanks mom. I love you”?

Mr 11: Thank dad, love you.

Mr 11: Damn autocorrect

Mr 11: Dad

Mr 11: F*** that autocorrect.

Me: MISTER!

Next time I’m gonna have to argue against the damn iPad!

Jess

The Next Best Thing Challenge

(As posted at the Down Under Divas)

So, Lexxie and Sami have begun this week’s trend at the Divas, and it’s up to me to continue The Next Best Thing Challenge. 

Here’s how it works:

• Answer the 10 questions below
• Spread the fun and tag other writers to participate.

Ready? Let’s begin!

1. What is the title of your book / WIP?

Colors Of Love

2. Where did the idea for this book come from?

It all started while I wrote See You In My Dreams. As soon as I realized that Nathan, the hero fhad two brothers, I knew they both had stories to tell as well.

Seth, Nathan’s younger brother, had a story that just wouldn’t stop teasing me. It begged to be explored and begged to be told. Long before I knew the ending of See You In My Dreams, I knew how Colors Of Love would end. It was working out the middle that was the tough part…until I met Kaz.

3. What genre would your book fall under?

Contemporary, red hot, GLBT,  menage a trois, male/male/female with just a hint of paranormal. (Yeah, this one may be a little tough to put in a box.)

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Holy cow. Good question.

Um….um….um… I have no idea!

5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

I’m gonna go with the tagline on this one:

Their true colors are hidden…until one woman turns everything upside down.

6. Is your book published or represented?

Oh yeah, it’s published and available at your favorite ebookstore.

Not specific enough?

Ok, try Samhain Publishing, Nook or Kindle.

7. How long did it take you to write it?

The first three chapters? About two months. The rest of the book? Two weeks.

8. What other books in your genre would you compare it to?

Duh. That’s a no brainer. Jess Dee’s See You In My Dream. (Except that’s an M/F. This ones an M/M and an M/M/F.)

9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?

This book was inspired by the characters themselves. Soon as I met them in See You In My Dreams, I knew they had a story.

10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest in your book.

It features my favorite character of all. A gorgeous, damaged alpha hero who’ll tug on your heart strings and make you love him – even though he thinks he’s not worthy of that love.

The Blurb

Their true colors are hidden…until one woman turns everything upside down.

Speed, Book 2

Seth Pace, guitarist of the rock band Speed, is a born dreamer, and nothing stands in his way of making those dreams a reality. Except when it comes to band manager Luke Struthers. He’s everything Seth wants in a partner, but even after five years of perfectly explosive sex, Luke refuses to commit.

After a childhood ravaged by abuse, Luke knows he’s a potential danger to anyone foolish enough to love him. Seth is safer without him, but Luke has no idea how to cut him loose painlessly. Until he spots Seth’s kind of woman—pretty, smart, friendly. The plan: seduce her into a sexy threesome, then leave the two alone to fall in love. Problem solved.

A night of excitement with the two hottest men on the planet? Yeah, baby! Yet Kaz’s inborn ability to read auras tells her something isn’t right. It’s obvious Seth and Luke are madly in love, but subtle clues in Luke’s aura signal he’s up to something. She’s not sure what, but if she doesn’t do something quick, the two men she’s quickly come to adore will wind up without the happily ever after they both deserve.

Product Warnings: One man + one man + one woman = a whole lot of steamy two-way and three-way M/M & M/M/F sex, a hero or two to drool over, and a heroine who recognizes true love when she sees it.
——————-

Read it.

You’ll love it.

Oh, and I’m tagging:

Maggie Nash, Selena Illyria, Lila Dubois and Jambrea Jones

Jess

—–

The Spanish Computer

LOL, I received this in my inbox.

Loved it!

THE SPANISH COMPUTER

A SPANISH Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.
‘House’ for instance, is feminine: ‘la casa.’
‘Pencil,’ however, is masculine: ‘el lapiz.’
A student asked, ‘What gender is ‘computer’? Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer’ should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.
 
The men’s group decided that ‘computer’ should definitely be of the feminine gender (‘la computadora’), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;

2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)
The women’s group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine (‘el computador’), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;

2. They have a lot of data but still can’t think for themselves;

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems,
but half the time they ARE the problem; and

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won.

Jess

Cartoons for the twisted mind

For those of you, who like me, enjoy your humor with a little twist…enjoy.

Jess

Currently loving…an awesome book series

A couple weeks ago I finished reading Maria V Snyder’s YA Study series, and cannot explain how much I loved it. I finished the first book in a day, the second book the next day, forced myself to take a break between books two and three, and then missed the characters so much, I read the third book on day 4.

The books are magical. Literally. I think if I tried to describe them I would not do them justice, so rather read the blurb from the first book, Poison Study, and see for yourself:

Poison Study:

Choose: A quick death or slow poison…

On the eve of her execution for murder, Yelena Zaltana is offered an incredible reprieve – on the condition that she becomes the food taster for the military leader of Ixia, Commander Ambrose.

Avoiding poison is the least of her troubles, however… General Brazell, father of the man she killed, has vowed bloody revenge; she’s beginning to have feelings for her captor, Valek; and someone is plotting the downfall of the current regime.

In a desperate race against time, Yelena must learn to control the growing magical talent within her and master the demons of her past. The Commander’s life, the future of Ixia and all those she loves depend on it…

————–

Go ahead. Read the first book. You will love it.

The nice thing about this series is that Ms. Snyder follows it up with a whole new series “Glass” – about a character we meet in the Study books. She brings us right back to magical world she’s created, and generously lets us meet up with all those wonderful characters from the Study series.

But please – don’t make the mistake I made. Don’t read Glass before Study. You’ll enjoy all six books way more if you read them in order.

Happy reading,

Jess

The Queen Of Procrastination

I’m not sure if you know this about me, but I consider myself the queen of procrastination.

Truth be told, I’m only writing this blog post now because I have a massive deadline looming, and I’m finding everything in my power to avoid settling down and meeting the darn deadline. (I’m pretty good at this tho. I’ve convinced myself this is my pre-writing time. My time for getting my head together, gathering my thoughts and getting into the groove.)

Anyway one of my getting-in-the-groove habits is to check blogs from the previous day to see if I’ve missed comments etc. So I was over at the Down Under Divas and happened to notice the search term “Procrastination” was used by five different people to find our blog. Fascinated, I too typed the word into Google to see how quickly it would lead me to the Down Under Divas.

It didn’t. Well, not after pouring through six or seven pages of Google search results. (So I have to commend those searchers’ perseverance in finding the Divas. They must all have searched for way longer than I did, making them true procrastinators.)

But what I did find was this hilarious clip by Ellen Degeneres. The second I saw it, I had to post it to my blog.

Enjoy.

Jess

Just for fun

With thanks to Selena Illyria for passing this on to me.

Enjoy.

WHY BEING MARRIED TO A WRITER ISN’T ALWAYS A GOOD THING:

Jess

WIN A KINDLE

Participate in International Heat’s

Red-Hot Premier Celebration

This fall, the gals at International Heat have LOTS to celebrate.

As a result, we’ve decided to share in that celebrating with you.

For the month of September we will each be featuring an inside peek at our new season releases. For each Red-Hot Premiere blog, there will be a daily prize. Simply leave a comment to be entered. Commenters will also be entered into a Grand Prize drawing for a Kindle which will be announced on October 1! Join the party and the fun! The first Premiere blog arrived on September 6, so be sure to check it, and all the following blogs, out.

Not sure where to go?

Here’s the link:

http://internationalheat.wordpress.com

GOOD LUCK!

Jess