jennafern's blog

Man, what a week.

Let’s start off with the writing stuff.

I sent Lucky # 1 to a new writer friend of mine I met through work. He called me the other day. Said he read about 14 pages. Then he said: “You’re going to be published.” He said he liked my voice and tone. Wow. Right? I was so happy and embarrassed. Having family and friends tell you that they love your writing is wonderful, but I always have a feeling they’re being overly nice because, well they love me. It was wonderful to hear from someone who just met me and thinks I’m pretty darn good.

Maybe there is hope for me yet.

Agent update:
Queries sent: 116
Partial Requests: 9
Rejections: 60
Partial Rejections: 9

Jeeze. After this round of letters, I’m going for publishers. The one good thing to come of this…I’ve qualified for PRO in the Romance Writers organization. Heh.

But you know what? Some of these rejects are piss poor. Seriously…I understand agents are busy people, but you know what? This is their JOB. If you have 100 authors sending you queries every day, that’s 100 people, who are just as, if not, more busy than agents (full time job, writing, querying, family) taking their time to send you a LETTER, and all you can do is send back a slip of paper? Not a post card. A nice printed sheet of paper. A letter, or even an email. A strip of paper. WTF, really? Shame on you. How hard is it to print out a form letter and stuff in a supplied SASE?

At first, I was angry. Then I found myself disappointed. If/when I go back to query agents in a second round, or another project, I certainly won’t be sending to those agents who sent me back a slip of paper. Sure, they probably don’t care, but if word got around about how crappy their responses are…maybe they won’t get those 100 query letters every day and offer them to other agents who respect the time it takes for a writer to send out letters.

Anyway…

Has anyone noticed that the Quantas Airlines commercials are using Men at Work’s “Land Down Under” as their background music? It’s serious, instrumental and classical sounding…VERY funny! Of course now all I hear is Peter Griffin trying to sing it like he did this week on Family Guy…

Let’s go over the rest of my TV week.

American Idol. I told my brother that I heard Jason wanted to leave the show on Monday. Before we watched the show Tuesday, I told him Jason needs to forget his lyrics if he really wants to get kicked off. Low and behold…he messed up. Jason says today that he didn’t do it on purpose…yeah, right.

CSI. It was very funny this week. I was disappointed with Grissom’s line at the beginning…they totally gave it Nick later in the show! Grissom is the punny man damn it!

Smallville. This show just keeps getting better. I’ve said it once before, they’ve taken pieces from early seasons and brought them right into these last two seasons as if they planned this all from the start. I really wonder if they had all this in mind or pieced it together afterwards. Just amazing.

LOST. Wow. I’ll say it again. WOW. I honestly have so many thoughts and theories on this, I can’t even get them out of my head right now.

Survivor. I called my mother, right after Eric gave Nat the necklace and she was already laughing. She didn’t stop laughing for five minutes, I shit you not. Eric is a fucking moron…for real.

I haven’t watch SVU or Criminal Minds for this week, and Moonlight is on tonight. Fun fun.

I’m visiting my mother this weekend for Mother’s Day. She wants to go shopping. I wish I could go clothes shopping, but right now, it would be a waste of money. In another month, I’ll be at least one size smaller. By the end of the summer, I’m hoping another size or two.

I may break down and get some T-shirts and a pair of jeans, but that’s all for now. I hate wearing clothes that are two sizes too big, but it’s better than buying clothes every month.

My trainer is wonderful! She let me use her equipment two extra times this week. Four days in a row I worked out. Whew. Makes for a tired Jenn. I have to be extra good this weekend so I don’t mess up all the wonderful progress I made this week!

I haven’t been spending as much time online as I used to in previous months. I’ve neglected some of my online friends, groups, and message boards…but I have SO many to keep track of and so little time these days.

I’ve been a very bad comment poster lately too. I AM reading all my friends posts on LJ and a big chunk of blog posts on myspace, so keep writing! Just taking the time to comment these days, with my time shorter, gets overwhelming.

Yeah yeah, I know if I cut out TV I’d have more time, but how else am I supposed to relax after work?

It feels like Thursday again.

I’m doing the weekly newsletter for my Star Trek role playing group and watching Survivor. CSI is next. Lost would be a great cap to the night, but it’s a repeat. My old comfortable Thursday’s were much quieter last TV season. Now, my bro is constantly playing Mortal Kombat or Call of Duty…”Get over here!” or “Planting Claymore!” has become permanent auditory background noise in my house of late.

I’ve actually been writing. Go me! However, I’m suddenly doing it out of order. But I’m still writing! This one friggen scene just wouldn’t get out of my head. Being stuck three chapters in because my brain won’t think of anything else really sucks. So I wrote the damn thing down. And, of course, I constantly reread scenes I love, over and over and over again, so, I’ve been reading it too.

Now, I’m still kinda stuck at the beginning and I reallllly want to get to that section in the book so I can flesh it out and make it more powerful. Gah! What have I done? I KNEW there was a reason I never wrote out of sequence.

I will admit, reading a teaser by KM Moning got me riled up enough to write that little scene. I even tortured my sister by making her read it. Her words, well close enough: “I fucking hate you. Don’t talk to me.” That means Jenn did good.

Until Warcraft, my sister read a lot. I mean…a lot. At least one, and sometimes two books a day. Every day. All romance. Usually the icky romance I don’t like. Historical: swollen flower petals and pulsating manhood kinda romance. *Shiver* Sometimes she peppers in a contemporary, or suspense-romance, and such.

But, she likes her romance. I’ve been trying to convince her to start a blog and review the stuff she’s read. Ah, maybe one day.

Anyway, she was gushing about Irene Peterson’s book, Glory Days. I blogged about it earlier. I’m glad she read it. I’d liked for her to get back into reading. She’s my test subject for romance. She knows the type of stories and plots I like and she knows how I like my romance. Both reading and writing, because they are two different beasts all together. When I’m unsure of a scene, usually romantic or sexual in nature, I set up the emotional background first. Then I explain what I want the scene to convey. Then I make her read it. Heh. I’m evil, but she’s a good critic and has read enough of the genre to give me the lowdown. She likes her smutt, but she likes it well written.

I’m off to PA for the weekend to visit my mother and nephew. It’s his birthday today!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! So my bro and I are going to spoil him for a day.

So, I won’t be able to write, but I plan on making my mother take me for a ride around town for some more “on location” research for Lucky’s hometown. Which means it’ll be another weekend with me thinking about it instead.

Oh, I have an update on the whole search for an agent. I’m starting to get down again. What I really need to do is take a day and focus on it. I have a healthy list of agents I want to send snail mail too. That’s my next task.

I haven’t decided if I should re-query old agents from back in January. It’s been three months. They don’t have that “if you don’t hear from us…” stipulation, but I haven’t heard from them.

IF I do decide to re-query, should I mention that? Or should I just send it as if it’s my first?

Anyway, here’s the update.

Queries sent: 77
Rejections: 37
Partial Requests: 8
Partials Rejected: 7 :-(

So, now you see why I’m down. My second requested partial is still out there…I’ve got my fingers crossed…

The week started off with a bang. Easter Dinner with the family was good, but it was also the last goodbye for my parents’ dog Max. He was an English Mastiff who got sick with the whole dog food fiasco last year. He hung on long and was still in good spirits when they put him down. He was such a mush and I’ll miss him. 

Jericho’s last episode was last night. It was a decent way to finish off the show, though I have a feeling they had planned to have a revolution as part of the third season. Ah well, we’ll never know what the writers had in mind, but I’m sure it would have been good. I always seem to be drawn to the shows that only last a season or two, instead of, say Gray’s Anatomy or Desperate Housewives. No, I go for Roswell and Jericho where food has been used to help bring the show back by the fans. Well, the fans continued to watch, but no one else did. Ah well.

I’m thinking, right now, David Cook is the guy to beat right now on American Idol. He was great last night. Actually, I didn’t really like the very beginning of Billie Jean, but then it was just amazing. Of course, I went online right after and found Chris Cornell’s version. Cornell’s version was more bluesy whereas Cook’s had a rockier edge toward the end. He’s a much better singer than Daugherty. Not sure why everyone’s comparing them. I must say that I like Brooke. She’s very sweet and pretty and nice, but she’s very very good when she’s behind that piano. Jason Castro needs to get off the stool. He can play the guitar if he wants, I don’t have an issue with that. But that song he sang last night was too upbeat for him to be sitting the whole time.

Eh, we’ll see what happens in a few weeks. All the little girls watching will probably try and make David Archeletta (sp) win…bleh. Though, I do like the little comment from Simon about his song choice. Apparently David’s father picked the song. It was interesting to say the least, but it just felt like I was being preached to in church with that version…
 

BOOK REVIEW!

I finally finished the first Harry Bosch book, The Black Echo by Michael Connelly.

Harry Bosch is a great detective but he doesn’t like playing by the rules or conforming to the LAPD family clique. When he’s called in on a homicide and learns the victim is someone he knew during the Vietnam war, Bosch delves head first into the investigation. With IAD on his ass, Bosch goes to the FBI after realizing the victim might have ties to an earlier bank heist. He’s pulled into a deadly game of cat and mouse, not only with his own department, but a killer who seems to know Bosch’s every move.

All in all, I was kinda disappointed and I’ll tell you why.

The first two Connelly books I read were (at publication time) stand alone books with different characters than his series books (which I hadn’t previously read). Loved both The Lincoln Lawyer and The Poet.  The plots were great, character real and gritty, the writing wonderful. This, being one of his earlier books, is probably the reason I didn’t enjoy it as much. He seems to be a writer that learns the more he writes rather than becoming sloppy and lazy like some authors I’ve read. I did notice a similar sub plot with the male-female lead characters in Echo and Poet. And, I saw most of the “bad guys” coming in Echo.

The last thirty pages of the book were great. The first 300+ kept my attention, but I wasn’t as pulled into the story like the other two books. Again, I think it has to do with it being an early book, etc. and it took me a while to finish it as well. I only read it at lunch during work and not on the weekends, which is a long time for me. I’m a mass consumer when it comes to books. Usually when I start reading something I’m really into, I finish it ASAP.

I do enjoy Connelly’s writing, so I think I’ll give Bosch a second chance.

Next on my to read list is Irene Peterson’s Glory Days then Jordan Dane’s No One Heard Her Scream. I
haven’t bought the second one yet because BN didn’t have it at either store I went to yesterday. So, I’ll pick it up this weekend or buy it online.

My ex-roomie and I watched so many depressing movies last weekend. I Am Legend, Atonement, and Becoming Jane. This kinda goes back to those old days when we’d rent 3 or 4 movies and at least two of them had one actor in common. This was James McAvoy’s turn. Ex-roomie and I first noticed him in the Sci-Fi channel’s Children of Dune. He played Leto. He was hot. Well, still is and he’s becoming a great actor. He fits nicely into those period piece movies be it the 70’s or 1700’s. He’s just that good. 

I’m dying to see him and Angie in that new hit man movie coming out in May.

I wasn’t too happy with Legend, though, I must saw Will Smith looked phenomenal when he was doing those pull ups. OMG. Yummy. The ending was stupid and that ruined the whole movie for me. Seriously, the end is the make or break of an OK movie, which this was.

Becoming Jane was sad. Unrequited love is one thing. Requited love and unable to get it is just tragic. Anne Hathaway is wonderful, as always, and I enjoyed the movie for the most part. A sad ending, but at least it was a good ending.

Atonement was a good movie too, but then, toward the end it just veered off and didn’t seem to fit. I didn’t like the back and forth time flashback things. 6 years later. Then five minutes after that, 3 weeks earlier. Bleh. That was annoying….

I don’t know if I mentioned watching Enchanted, but that movie was fantastic!! I loved the whole damn thing, beginning to end. My brother, of course, figured out the whole plot within the first ten minutes of the movie. Which is kinda sad, it just shows how many Disney princess movies he’s memorized. LOL. Granted, half of that is my sister’s fault. Little Mermaid was an almost 24/7 thing in our house when she was a kid. Which might explain why she thinks she’s a princess now…

I’m not really in the mood to talk about politics right now, so I won’t.

I haven’t sent out any new query letters this week, but here’s the update.

Queries sent: 73
Rejections: 31
Partial Requests: 8
Partials Rejected: 5

I only have three partials out there right now, so I better get a move on. I know I don’t need an agent to get my foot in the door with large publishers. There are quite a few out there who will read queries and chapters from the slush pile. I might end up doing that at the end of April if I don’t find an interested agent.

My big problem with that is…Once I get a bigger publisher to accept my work (AND THEY WILL! HAHAH), it’s smart to have an agent watching your back. But then, if I do get an agent after the fact: 1. I’ve already done the hard work of finding a publisher. 2. How do I know they really like my work and not just my royalties?

I’m sure if I submitted to Dorchester or Kensington and got a deal of some type the first agent I told this to would jump on the chance to “represent” me. Maybe I’m wrong. I hope, but it would be simple work for them. No query letters to publishers. No phone calls or lunch dates or emails saying “I have this great manuscript.” No. I would have already done all that. They’ve review the contract for me (which could be done by a lawyer anyway), take their commission and be done with it.

First things first.

Yesterday, I started Lucky number 3. Five pages! I went to bed happy.

Last night, I had a dream I got an agent. Then I woke up pissed off.

Anyway, I read a book when I got home from my dad's house around 3. I finished it a little while ago. I'm going to put it on my list, but I'm not going to review it. Reason being, I think it was poorly written.

I will tell you it was Harlequin Blaze book (I stole from mom#2), and figured it would be a nice fun read for the afternoon. The story premise was a good idea, but I couldn't help how crappy the plot was set up.

This came from an author with 30+ Harlequin novels!

I tried to read "Romance" books when I was a teenager. That's ALL Mom#2 used to read. She belonged to the club, got wine glasses--the whole nine. I remember reading one, about a Scottish Highlander time travel. It was decent, but eh. Too much old school "Romance" writing. Her slick petals, his rigid manhood...ugh, gag me. So I went the Suspense route and stayed there for the most part.

I've picked up a few Romance books over time, nothing ever caught my fancy. Then Chic Lit came around. I read Jane Green and Jennifer Weiner's first few books, then eh.

When my sister started getting heavy into Romance novels, I tried a few others. A Paranormal, a Historical, and eventually a Vampire one. The Vampire one stuck, probably because the writer captured the way I've always wanted (Good) Vampires to be. Rugged, Kick ass, no holds barred. Hot. Yum.

So I tried the Erotica one the other day, fell flat, then I get to this one and now that I’m done with it, I'm like WTF.

I know there are typical formulas for romance, boy meets girl, attraction but complications, teasing, sex but not really committed sex--more out of desperation, need, or fear, then the threat, climax, relief sex, second unneeded climax, SUPER surprise that usually ties hero and heroine together! (Which I spotted a mile away.), tie up loose ends, and either an “almost happy” or “happy ever” after.

18 pages in, I almost decided to give up. I can't say why, it might give away the book. Let's just say, I put it down to a minor detail being over looked and moved on...

In this one, it was a girl in trouble, she meets the boy who, of course, is the only one who can help her. Attraction is instant. Personal internal voices are the same tired thing over and over again. "Yes, she was beautiful, but he had a job to do." "Oh, he was hot, but she had to focus on her problems." Blah blah. Attraction grows. Threats get bigger. She turns to him, he "helps” her but winds up "giving her" the wrong idea, despite the fact they can't keep away from one another. Miscommunication and anger makes them turn away from each other instead of toward each other and the threat keeps getting bigger. They fall back into the comfort of each other for a moment, then the big bad wolf shows. He's taken down, after a fight, and all seems well. They have, oh-ah sex in the aftermath of the danger. Then the surprise second climax hits. There's other bad guys! Oh no! Then! The big OMG!!! surprise that's supposed to leave us jaw-dropped. It left me rolling my eyes. After the second climax, things settle, the rest of the loose ends tied, others left open for a sequel. This one had an almost happy ever after which was the only refreshing thing in the book.

The writing wasn't bad. It wasn't great. The character's "headed" somewhere just about every time they moved. The attraction was handled well, but the situations the author put the characters in didn't seem believable. The dialogue was fine. The relationship’s between secondary characters was good. I saw a few little head hopping scenes, but I think that may have been a format problem or a missed break in the paragraphs. (I hope)

I really have a problem when I read a book like this. Good story idea, not particularly well written, and I think of Play Nice, my first book. That was...five years ago and I KNOW I'm 1000% better now than I was then. So my question is, how do these authors write 30+ books for the biggest Romance publisher in the business and turn out crap over and over again. I can't see any of this person's other 30 books being better if this is her latest. WTF?

Seriously? What is it?

Is it luck? I don't have any of that, never had. So if that's it, I'm fucked.

Persistence? I've been at it seven years, do I need seven more? If so, that's all right, I’ll keep plugging away.

Is it more reading? They say you should read more to write better. I read more and get aggravated because I feel so passionate about my writing I can't believe it's not as good as some of this other...stuff.

I take out every instance of passive voice that haunts me. My dialogue (I'm told over and over again), is a strength and believable. I show and show as much as humanly possible. My characters are always complex and multi-dimensional, with full back story and whatnot even if the reader never sees it. I know my characters, maybe not everything about them, but enough to make them as real as possible. My plots are cohesive, well researched, and follow through the whole story. I don't throw in stupid sub plots just to pad the book. (Though, I have been accused of it in the past.) I don't always tie up EVERY loose end, because you know what, you can't really do that in life, so why do it in a book?

I even attempted to write something specifically for Harlequin last year. They turned me down. Humph! Okay, I admit, the novel wasn't very good and the plot was kinda thin, but that seems to be the trend for these little 70k word books. Thin plots, OK characters, eh dialogue and happy endings. So that's what I tried to give them. Nope.

I. Just. Don't. Get. It.

It's frustrating. It's annoying. It's actually kinda insulting. No, I am not the greatest writer and never will be. But I will always try to get better. I will always want to learn how to write the best way that I can be. I just have to believe, somewhere deep inside my cynical little heart, that someone will believe in me too, one day. I love my family and friends so much for telling me how much they enjoy my writing. I love it when people I only know online or don't even know tell me that they enjoy my writing.

I only want to write. That's all I want to do. Writing saved my life more times that I'd care to admit. Without writing, I know I wouldn't be the person I am today. I never would have sorted out my wacked out head as a teenager. I never would have realized my mistakes as a young adult. I would have made the same stupid mistakes over and over again. Writing helped me learn how to deal with people. Writing helped me learn how to listen. Writing helped me vent when I had no one to talk to and still does. (Like right now! LOL)

I want to put a smile on someone's face. I want to draw them into a dangerous and exciting world. I want to make chills run up their spine. I want them to fall in love all over again. I want them to see themselves in the same situation and relate. I want them to want to be my main characters because they're so kick ass. I want them to read something I wrote and feel touched, inspired, happy, maybe sad, or healed, but mostly entertained.

I don't want to be rich and famous. I'd be perfectly happy with "writing for a living" and semi-well known. I know there are MANY authors out there, some I know personally, who make a good living writing without having to be on the NY Times or USA Today bestsellers list. I would be fine with that.

I guess my biggest problem is two fold. #1. If a good 30% (made up number) of the books out there are crap and I'm a better writer, why aren't I getting book deals? And #2. If 30% of the books out there are crap, and mine is crap, why can't I be one of that 30% of crap gosh damn it? LOL

I know. I know. Never give up. Never surrender. I won't, at least until the last shred of my sanity hangs loosely by a thread. I just wish it wasn't so hard and mocking at times...

Queries sent: 60
Rejections: 23
Partials requested: 5
Partials rejected: 4

I got a partial request yesterday. The agent responded today saying she liked the work, "I think they're quality but not really the kind of thing I'm good at." Then she gave me another agent in the office to send to! Woot! That felt nice. I've got my fingers crossed.

I read Decadent by Shayla Black today.

Blurb from book: Kimber Edgington is a virgin with a crush-on a pop star with a penchant for threesomes. Determined to prove that she's woman enough for singer Jesse McCall, Kimber turns to bodyguard Deke Trenton for sexual education...lessons that include his super-sexy friend Luc. Though she's saved herself for Jesse, Kimber soon learns that he's not the man adept at stoking her aching, endless need. That's Deke, and he can't resist when Kimber begs for more-and more.

I did read this book in one sitting. Initially, I bought the book 1. because I liked the idea of a virgin and threesome. (Yeah, I'm demented like that) and 2. I'm still "branching out" when it comes to reading and I haven't read an erotica novel before.

The first thing that gave me pause was Kimber. For some odd reason, and maybe because of the uncommon name, I couldn't for the life of me get the picture of stupid Kimber from Jem and the Holograms out of my mind.

You know, this one:

Anyway, once I got over the Red-Headed Kimber weird thing, we meet Luc and Deke. They're cousins. Hot cousins. One night, the other day in every contrasting sense. Kimber tells Deke what she wants. He's not sure she knows what she's asking. Luc seems ripe and ready to go, but Deke freaks poor Kimber out and she high tails it out. Eventually, Deke gets her to come back, agrees to her conditions--mainly that she wants to stay a Virgin for Jesse, and takes her home.

The instruction begins and Kimber can't help but face the building feelings she's having for Deke. Angsty love-hate plays a big part in the one on one relationship between them but the secrets Luc and Deke are keeping from her ultimately ruins the agreement before it really heats up. Kimber leaves, goes to meet with Jesse. For some reason, she thinks she loves this guy. He's a tool, but at least she's woman enough to see it and gets the hell out. Only problem, this is where the book begins to falter for me. This subplot carries over into a subplot about Kimber's father's and she finds herself possibly targeted by a man furious with her father. That subplot carries over into the relationships  between Kimber and her brother's and everyone's preconceived notions about Luc and Deke.

Some of the conversations she had with her father and brothers was creepy. While I myself happen to be very open talking about sex with my parents, I don't think any father would say "He's had a hard on for you..." to his daughter no matter how macho he might be. I digress. Something bad happens to Dad. Kimber finds herself under lock and key and in the bed with Luc and Deke. Jesse continues to hound Kimber, telling how much he needs her to change. Kimber confesses to Luc that she's in love with Deke. They scheme together to get Deke to take her virginity, knowing he'll never get over the past unless he does.

After Kimber tells Deke she's pregnant, all the secrets start to come out. Luc has a secret. Deke has a secret. Their reasons for always sleeping with the same woman comes to light. Neither reason is quite good. Only after a third life-and-death situation, do Kimber and Deke get together....

I had a big problem with the subplots. They seemed like they were thrown in there just to make the book more exciting. I don't think it was needed. The relationship between Luc, Deke, and Kimber worked well on their own. The sex was good and believable. The emotions were raw and powerful when they were all together. I was kinda hoping the three of them would end up together. I enjoyed the first half of the book much more than the latter. While I understand erotica books are supposed to be hot and steamy (which it was), I think having real world subplots with little meat draws away from the great characters Black created. Tension does help to build great sex scenes, but sometimes they just get in the way and that's kinda how I felt while reading.

All in all, I enjoyed most of the book and think I might try another erotica book in the future. Maybe.

I’ve said before my love of reading and writing started with Nancy Drew. While it’s technically true, I hadn’t realized until recently that I already had a love of mystery books way before I met Nancy.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned my childhood fascination with Encyclopedia Brown. I remember going to the library and getting new books every week and it was always an Encyclopedia Brown book. At first, I couldn’t figure out who the culprit was. Eventually, I got to the point where I would go back and read parts to see if I remembered a clue correctly, and tried harder to solve the mystery. Soon, I was figuring it out pages before being told. I read however many of them I got my hands on back in the early 80’s. I think I must have stopped reading them when they were too easy but I honestly don’t remember.

I was twelve when Nancy hooked me back into mysteries. I read and actually kept every Nancy Drew book at the time. I had my own bookshelf; all the books were in number order. White, pretty little pillars of my accomplishments. I was reading real novels! These mysteries got a little too easy after reading about twenty or so of them.

One day, I learned of the book trader. Bring your paperback books in for credit and get other used books in return. Excellent! I brought my stack to there. (I think they might still have a few copies of them left over…) I found my next author. Mary Higgins Clark. (I also started reading Star Trek books, but that’s a different story.)

At sixteen, her books can be pretty scary. I started with Where are the Children? and devoured everything after that up until her latest was coming out at the time, Loves Music, Loves to Dance.

These weren’t the same types of mysteries, rather moved toward the suspense genre. Still, I was able to figure out some of the bad guys before they were revealed the more I read. I stopped reading her in the mid 90’s as I had discovered other authors like Stephen King, John Grisham, Iris Johansen, Catherine Coulter. Aside from King, I noticed a trend. I liked death, violence, suspense, and mystery in my novels.

After those authors grew stale for me, or I lost interest in their characters, I searched for something new. A friend of mine gave me Eyes of Prey, by John Sandford. Once more, I was hooked.

I went through all available books straight through, once more, until I was caught up with the series, then subsequently waited for all the new releases.

I just finished Invisible Prey. Woot. I just read it…all…day…long. Okay, I read a chapter yesterday, then picked it up this morning. Finished it in between commercials during American Dad…anyway, I digress.

Sandford’s novels are called Lucas Davenport Mysteries. Well, because Lucas has to solve them. After reading the first book, I was utterly confused. Sandford, after teasing for a while, tells you who the bad guys are. Maybe not ALL the bad guys, but the ones Lucas is chasing.

Sometimes, I still get aggravated when he doesn’t put it together faster, even though I love the way he does it. I know that’s selfish of me because I know more than he does, but still…I can’t help myself. It took me a while to stop trying to figure out the whodunit part and focus on the howwhydunit part.

So, usually when I do something like watch a movie, or TV show or read a book, I like to reminisce if you will. As I write this, I’ve come to realize that Sandford keeps my attention because I don’t have to try and solve the mystery, I just have to watch someone else do it. With all those other writers, it became too easy. The red herrings were so obvious they slapped me in the fast the instant I met them. Perhaps this is because I read most of their books one after the other and honed in on the writing. Maybe they just got lazy. Maybe I was just dating those books until I found something better.

I admit, I am fickle and narrow in my reading selection for the most part. I have expanded my genre range, and have "read" outside the box. However, I only have five authors on my must-buy-as-soon-as-the-fricken-book-com