Monthly Archives: September 2011

John Cusack, a pen and a phonebooth

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You’ll have to bear with me today. I’m a little silly and punch-drunk due to the grueling time at the PITADJ (pain-in-the-a**-day-job).  it is the busiest time of the year for me and I’m down two out of the four folks on team due to maternity leave – so yeah, I’m a little stressed and a lot tired.

Which leads to the fact that I had no idea what to write about today. Not. A. Clue.  So, I do the one thing I always do when I’m stuck (ignore the Main Man shouting “spend money” in the background) – I watch movies.  And I usually go back to favorites, the tried and true – no, new shockingly disappointing flicks for me – I want one that I know will deliver every time.

So, I had a little movie marathon and lost even more sleep but felt a little more human.  And, I felt a little inspired creatively – which was very good for the writing.

The first flick was ‘Romancing the Stone” ( and , no, we are not going to talk about the possible remake with Katherine Heigl who hasn’t made anything decent since she finished “Roswell”). The movie about a romance novelist Joan Wilder and the guy, Jack, who helps her rescue her kidnapped sister and is constantly upstaged by the amazing Danny DeVito. Awesome movie.

At the end Gloria, Joan’s agent is reading her latest-post-sex-with-Jack novel and is sniffling as she says:

Gloria: Joanie you are now a WORLD CLASS hopeless romantic.

Joan: No, hopeful. Hopeful romantic.

Sigh . . . aren’t we all in this business?

Okay, next on the agenda for my personal film festival was an indie adaptation of the classic Pride & Prejudice. Now, no one beats Colin Firth as Mr.Darcy but Orlando Seale fills the role nicely in this movie. It’s bright, cheerful, offbeat and quirky and set in UTAH. It always makes me smile.

One of the best performances is the gal who plays Lydia – who in this version is a husband-hunter following a how-to guide that has all the single girls taking it for the gospel truth.  In one scene, Lydia is disgusted with Elizabeth and Jane’s moping around after Darcy and Bingley and she lets them have it at the grocery store, saying:

“Oh, this is just great girls. Here we’ve just spent 20 minutes picking out the perfect array of romantic items, and what do we come back to find? Two kegs of ice cream, pills for cramping, pills for bloating, and six super size boxes of Tampax? Why don’t we just put up a big neon sign that says, “Men, run for your lives! Menstruating monsters approaching!”

Brings back lots of college memories . . . .

Finally, I ended with my favorite movie of all time: Say Anything.

Now, this movie spawned a 10-year obsession with John Cusack for me. How could you NOT love Lloyd Dobler? The high school everyman who woos, charms and gets the beautiful valedictorian to fall in love with him – classic romance.

Of course, he gets his heart broken and the scene is gut-wrenching because you want Lloyd to get the girl. If he can’t get the girl then any guy who isn’t Brad Pitt is destined to die alone with lots of cats.

So, you have Lloyd in a phone booth. Its’ pouring rain and he’s called his sister to tell her that Diane, the love of his life, has broken up with him and given him a pen so he can write to her. Harsh.

So, he delivers the best line of the movie and rips your heart out:

“I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.”

Sigh . . . .

I don’t care what you think about the hairdos and parachute pants – the 80’s were a beautiful thing.

So, at the end of all that film goodness, I felt better. Relaxed. And, I had a post to write for you guys.

What are your “go-to” flicks?

Robin Mermaid

Coming Out

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First, a little character description.

My mom is five-feet, two-inches tall and mostly round. She smiles – a lot. Her nickname is bubbles. She is a stamping fanatic. And she scares me to the bone. Well, not her exactly, but disappointing her.

So when I started writing, I didn’t tell her. I was too scared that if I never finished it or it never was published, that she’d see me as a failure. When Up a Dry Creek developed into a hot, sexy romantic suspense. Well … I decided to never tell her. After all, our birds and the bees conversation consisted of her telling me, “That’s what sex ed is for at school.”

When I got the acceptance call from Evernight Publishing, I did a happy dance. I told my husband, my friends and my arthritic dogs, but not my mom. She called on the phone that night. We chatted about all the regular things, while inside I was in turmoil. Instead of sharing my excitement about being published, I tucked it away like a dirty little secret. And like all secrets, it  hurt to keep.

Every time we spoke, my lie of omission nudged at me. It whispered mean words into my subconscious about the validity of writing spicy romance. Worst of all, it created a distance between my mother and I.

Then, I was lucky enough to go to the Washington Romance Writers retreat. I spent an entire weekend with more than 100 writers. We talked about the process of writing and publishing. We took classes about character development. We drank wine and imagined an M/M/M erotic romance based on the Three Musketeers.

I was free. For the first time in months, my secret didn’t make me feel less than. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized why – because keeping that secret from my mom took a lot of energy and made me feel bad about myself.

So that day I dialed my mom’s number with sweaty palms and a nervous stomach. When I told her that I’d written Up a Dry Creek and that it would be published, she cried. Not because she was upset, but because she was so proud of me.

Yep, proud.

I’m tearing up typing this because there really isn’t a better feeling in the world that making your mom proud – even when you’re a mom yourself.