I thought this was an interesting result . . .

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

The air conditioning is working now–I can’t tell you how nice my house feels now.

Bliss.

I’m having fun with a couple of writing projects. I’ll share more when I get further along.

On a weird note, the plastic cover on my laptop keyboard for the letter “I” has fallen off. Anyone have any success putting the covers back on? I could use a tip. Right now, the key looks naked.

The RWA National Conference is a few weeks away . . . where does the time go? It amazes me that it’s the last week of June already. I’m very excited–I’m ready for a break from work, and I’m looking forward to seeing friends I haven’t seen since last year. I’m also beyond delighted to meet Kelley Armstrong and some of the other people I’ve “met” through her message board.

I did manage to get reservations at the conference hotel. I called them directly, and apparently there had been a cancellation. I’ll be paying more for the room than I would have at the other hotel, but it’s worth it to be right there.

I’ve got a lot to do before leaving for Dallas. The first item is getting my air conditioning fixed. I’m sweltering in my house, which is just plain wrong since my furnace/air conditioning unit is all of two years old. That should be fixed on Thursday.

Next week, it’s time to get my hair colored. It amazes me how quickly the gray takes over.

I’m sure I’ll post before I go, but I will have lots of photos and fun stuff to post when I get back!

To celebrate Cobblestone Press’s anniversary, many of the authors are doing a giveaway. Contests only run today, Sunday, June 3, so head over to the Contest Parade forum to check out all the contests.

The prize for my contest is a copy of my e-book The Seventh Sense.

If you sign up for my mailing list, you double your chance of winning! Plus, I often hold contests on my mailing list.

Have fun!

Let me start with a little background. I loved the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was vibrant and original. The fact that I love Orlando Bloom didn’t hurt.

I saw the second movie once. I had problems with it for a couple of reasons: first, I didn’t love the direction they took with Elizabeth. Second, I thought it tried to do too much. It was packed with plot lines. Don’t get me wrong–I enjoyed the movie and found it entertaining. But it lost some of the wonder I’d had in the first movie.

I went to the third movie last weekend. I liked it, thought it was much better than the second movie. It was entertaining, I liked Elizabeth’s journey, and Orlando was great. But I don’t know if I’ll see it again.

Why?

Spoilers ahead . . .

. . . so be prepared . . .

Two words: the ending.

For me, part of the pleasure of the first movie was its feel-good ending. That’s not evident in the second or third movies. With At World’s End, I found myself thinking about the ending for days afterward. On one level, that makes it a success. But it disturbed me.

Not every movie or book has a happy ending, and that’s fine with me. But I’d hoped Pirates 3 would provide a feel-good ending just like Pirates 1.

I write romance for many reasons. One of them is because I love feel-good endings. Life is a cycle, full of ups and downs. Writing romance helps me remember those good times, even when work is hard, health issues are pressing, gas prices are going up, etc.

I won’t argue that the ending isn’t original. It is. I can’t help but admire it on that level. But on a gut level, the movie let me down. It didn’t live up to the promise it made–albeit implicitly–in the first movie.

You may disagree, and that’s fine. For me, I needed that movie to have a happy ending, and I got bittersweet instead.

It reminded me why I write romance–I love happy endings.

I learned about Cobblestone Press in March of last year. I kept my eye on their site, because the professional site impressed me, and I was more than impressed with the covers they created.

When I learned that they would look at short stories, I sent Office Relations. Cobblestone sent me a contract, and Office Relations became my first published story.

It was released the second week of June 2006, the week after Cobblestone Press opened.

Since then, I’ve released two additional books with Cobblestone and I plan to submit more.

Happy anniversary to all the people behind the scenes who make Cobblestone Press a success! Thank you for helping make my dreams of publishing come true.