Llog
8/6/2008It´s Wednesday and I´m double-dipping on www.thegoddessblogs.com and www.killerfiction.net! A HUGE thanks to my assistant, Kim, for getting me an invite to the goddess blogs! Check it out!
Look at me! Ain´t I somethin?
Les
8/3/2008The conference is over and I´m sitting here at the San Francisco airport watching the fog roll in and delay our plane some more. Oh well. I´m too tired to freak out. It was an amazing conference and I had a great time. I plan to write more once I become conscious. I´m mind-wiped and ready to fall asleep. Check out my blog on www.killerfiction.net on Wednesday for photos of my trip!
Until I sleep,
Les
7/31/2008Wow. It´s actually going to get into the 70´s here today. It´s been wavering between the 50´s and 60´s here in San Francisco. Maybe I can go out without a coat! Woo hoo!
Had a wonderful dinner at Michael Mina´s in the Westin St. Francis with my agent and the other wonderful authors she represents. We got home at midnight.
Busy day today - looking forward to it! I´ll keep you updated!
Les
7/30/2008Helloooooo from San Francisco! Check out my blog today at www.killerfiction.net to see my latest RT review and the results of my cholesterol test!
Les
7/28/2008Things are NUTS here today. I´m getting ready to go to San Francisco (at 6am tomorrow - WTF was I thinking?) for the national Romance Writers of America conference. I LOVE this conference. It kind of recharges my batteries. I´ll have meetings with my FABULOUS agent, my STUNNING editor/publisher, my ABSOLUTELY AMAZING assistant and get to see all my friends! A lot of this takes place in the bar...naturalemante.
The only problem is trying to figure out what to wear. Being that my professional wardrobe consists of shorts, a t-shirt and a pair of Keds, I have to actually dress up now. Tonight I´ll be moaning with despair, slugging back Grey Goose and Tonic as I realize I can´t fit into my favorite stuff.
Good times.
Les
7/26/2008So last night, my daughter has a friend over and this is what they do for HOURS: one is on my laptop in my office and the other is in my daughter´s bedroom on my old laptop and they are e-mailing each other. I´m serious.
This ranks right up there with the time not so long ago that my little girl and her two best friends sat quietly side by side on the couch, all texting each other back and forth on their Nintendo DS´s.
What happened to just talking to the person next to you?
Anyway, I´m getting ready to head to San Francisco for a week for the Romance Writers of America conference. I LOVE SF. It´s my favorite city. I´m looking forward to seeing my other writer friends, having cocktails with my agent, editor, fabulous assistant, fans, etc. I´m also on a panel presenting with my publisher and the killer fiction grande dames.
I´m tired just thinking about it.
I´d better get some laundry done today!
Until later,
Les
7/23/2008It´s Wednesday so check out my blog on www.killerfiction.net. You´ll see the carnage that 97 mph winds can do.
Are we having fun yet?
A HUGE thanks to the Sapps, Uncle Steve and the Welvaert children.
A special HEY to my old friend Nancy - who looked me up after all these years!
Les
7/10/2008It´s hot, muggy and overcast today. I´m freezing in my office because for some reason the ac is brutal in here. The guinea pig has joined me and sits in a little bed in the corner of my desk. We are sharing a snack of carrots, bananas and strawberries. At long last I found someone in the family who likes the same food I do. Sad, isn´t it? The dogs feel that the cushion I bought them for my office floor is beneath them. They are on the couch on top of pillows. Sucks to be my pet.
I´m working on book four and messing around with some other projects. I´m excited because book three, STAND BY YOUR HITMAN comes out at the end of August and the publisher is sending me on a book tour in Michigan in September.
In other news, the kids are at the pool and I´m racing to get more work done before they get home. I´ll let you know how it turns out.
Les
7/9/2008Today is Wednesday so check out my blog on www.killerfiction.net where I reveal the truth about the 10 foot tall mystery plant in my backyard.
Faye and Kay! Had a great time with you last night at dinner!
Les
7/8/2008Another steamy day in the Midwest...aka Africa. Today it is raining off and on, which is good because it´s CLEAN THE OFFICE DAY! Yay me. I got a lot done yesterday but today is all about reorganizing the files. And by "reorganizing," I really mean "organizing" in the first place.
In other news, my kitchen is a mess but my bedroom is clean. This, of course, means it´s the end of the world as we know it. I believe Nostradamus predicted it.
Well, back to work. Until tomorrow!
Les
7/2/2008OMG! I´m so sorry it´s been so long! Another June that ate my brain. Well, I did post on wwww.killerfiction.net so check out my recent adventure at camp.
I promise to blog more.
I promise to blog more.
I promise to blog more....
I promise,
Les
6/18/2008Mr. Phelps...your mission, should you choose to accept it...
Does anyone besides me miss the old Mission Impossibles?
Today is Wednesday and that means I´m blogging on www.killerfiction.net! Today´s post involves my very own Audrey 2. I call him "Al."
Until later,
Les
6/14/2008Where, in the name of Todd, has this week gone? One minute it´s the kids´ last day of school, the next minute I´m weeding in the garden, the next minute Lisa and I are drinking beer with strawberry shortcake - wondering where the week has gone!
And did you know that June is half over??? How did that happen??? I´m starting to believe there may be a time-travel conspiracy on our hands. Yes, that must be it.
Other than that, I´m nursing a cold and it´s a beautiful day outside. It´s 11am and Jack is still sleeping. He might have the right idea. I think I´ll go back to bed....
Les
6/11/2008Today is Wednesday so check out my blog on www.killerfiction.net!
Congratulations to my cousin Todd Cohenaur and his new bride Janice and to my cousin Jeremy Johnson and his new wife Sarah! Welcome to the Smiley´s Janice and to the Johnson´s Sarah!
Les
6/4/2008Today is Wednesday - so check out my blog on killerfiction.net to see how I´m handling my mid-life rennaissance.
NEW & IMPROVED!
I’m going to be adding a fun new page to my website, Langtry’s Larcenist Lines. I thought it would be lots of fun to let you, my adoring fans, suggest a scene from Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy from a secondary character’s point of view.
Was there something you thought I should have added, a scene you felt I didn’t elaborate on enough, something you’re dying to know? Suggest it! To make it even more fun I’m going to let you decide which secondary characters tells the scene. Who’s voice would you like to hear? Romi’s, Carolina’s, Uncle Lou or Grandma Mary? You decide!
Here’s how this will work:
Email your suggestion to: AuthorLeslieLangtry@gmail.com
Include the scene you would like and the secondary character you would like to tell the scene.
Both the scene and the character must be from my first book, ‘Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy.
You have two weeks to send in your suggestion.
On June 18 we’ll provide a list of the suggestions and let everyone vote for their favorite. Voting will last two weeks, until June 30.
What the %$#! are you waiting for?!
Les
6/2/2008I´m X-hausted today. It was a great weekend. Gorgeous weather with tons of time outside. In short, more fresh air than I´ve had in...oh, I don´t know...eons, perhaps.
Saturday, we took the Girl Scouts to Camp for an afternoon of horseback riding and riding the zip line (which I ran for the twenty of us). We got home, covered in mud, bug spray and a little sunburned but happy. So, Tom decides it would be a good idea to rake up the ten billion helicopters clogging the yard.
Maybe I should clarify - we don´t actually have a yard full of crashed helicopter planes. It´s those damned maple tree offspring that the trees have disgorged by the thousands in the last week.
So, he rakes the damned things until he has a knee-deep mountain ridge of them covering twenty feet of sidewalk. Then he suggests I bag them up while he runs to Wal-Mart. Of course, it´s getting dark and we still haven´t had dinner...every muscle in my body hurts and I have dried mud on my clothes, arms and legs.
I actually do this, filling two yard bags. I manage to get dinner on, take a shower and feed the kids before he gets back. He asks me why I never get anything accomplished.
I ASSUME he´s kidding.
I ALLOW him to live.
Sunday morning found us doing the usual - the whole family went shooting at Princeton Free Range. The kids were cute firing their own .22´s - Margaret´s rifle is pink - naturalmonte (sp?). It was fun but we had to cut it short to get home in time to clean up and go to the Cub Scout leadership Potluck at the Sapp´s. I took fruit because I have no imagination whatsoever and I´ve already met my cake baking quota for 2008.
We had a good time and dragged two extremely tired kids through the shower and into bed.
And tomorrow I spend the whole day back at camp getting certified to facilitate the low ropes course. I still have bruises from my canoe certification a week ago.
I´m still tired. Maybe I should go back to bed.
Until later,
Les
5/28/2008It´s Wednesday - so check out my blog on www.killerfiction.net where, in honor of the upcoming debut of my FAQ page, I post some rather infrequently asked questions I´ve had.
No iPod playing because I´m rather dizzy from the Dayquil. I might need a second dose. ;)
Les
5/27/2008What a weekend. A very social weekend with something every single night, but a busy one nonetheless. The big thing was my canoe training at Girl Scout camp, where I managed to get enough bruises in weird places to prompt awkward questions. There are marks on my feet, knees, calves, thighs and elbows and most of them due to trying to re-enter a canoe from the water. And might I add that this was done in temperatures of 68 degrees?
Well, it´s over and once again I can raise my arms above the height of my elbows (which, it turns out, is pretty important for most tasks these days). Yay me.
Until tomorrow.
Les
5/22/2008On iPod - David Cook´s "Little Sparrow"
DAVID COOK WON AMERICAN IDOL!!! WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!
What a great ending to a busy day! I worked all day writing, then had Jack´s Cub Scout bridging ceremony and Margaret and I were just in time to catch Idol.
Now if I only had time to watch my dvr of Cranford on Masterpiece Theatre (the finale I missed Sunday) my life would be complete. Sigh.
Until tomorrow,
Les
5/21/2008It´s the end of the year as we know it...and I feel fine.
Playing on iPod - Going the Distance by CAKE
Today is Wednesday, so check out my blog on Killerfiction.net for my idea of what the show Survivor should look like.
It´s been a killer week. Tom´s birthday, Boy Scout camp over the weekend, my galleys were due yesterday (yes, I got them done), etc. etc. etc.
I´ll try to make a post tomorrow to catch y´all up.
Les
5/14/2008Today is Wednesday - so check out my blog on killerfiction.net to see what my fantasy Mother´s Day would be like. No! It doesn´t involve buff, naked men spelling my name with their bodies on a tropical beach! I´m shocked you would even think that! (Some people!)
Until tomorrow,
Les
5/11/2008Happy Mother´s Day!
Les
5/10/2008CHECK OUT MY CONTEST PAGE! (Enter - or feel my wrath...) Thanks to my incredible assistant, Kim and my amazing webmaster, Diane - that page is finally up and running. Kim also has me on Facebook now - so look me up there too.
I just sent the last of the kids who spent the night last night home. It was kind of what you´d expect - screaming, yelling, gunfights, dolls, lightsabers and too much time on Margaret´s new microphone (her amp actually does go to eleven).
I´ve got family stuff all weekend starting today and I´m running the zip line out at camp for a girl scout troop so it´s a busy one. I might try to squeeze in some archery time for myself for Mother´s Day tomorrow. Maybe I can get one of the kids to balance an apple on their heads for me. (If you are my mother - I´m just kidding - duh.) Anyway, nothing say´s Mother´s Day like firing deadly missives with lethal force at a foam target. Sigh.
Keep checking back as more is going on with my site. And feel free to drop me a line at leslie@leslielangtry.com.
Ciao,
Les
5/7/2008Today is Wednesday...well, 21 minutes into it anyway. So check out my post on www.killerfiction.net to see how last week REALLY turned out.
Also check out myspace.com/leslielangtry - thanks to my fabulous new assistant - Kim Castillo!
Now off to bed...
Les
5/2/2008I now have FOUR cakes on my kitchen counter. That´s right. FOUR. I´m in heaven.
Margaret (meaning I) survived her birthday. I´m not sure how I managed it, but the house is still spotless. Now Beth and I are off to pick up the giant cookie for the girls´ party tonight.
HUGE thanks to Michelle, who surprised Margaret with an AWESOME Skull Cake! I hated having to eat it. The sacrifices I make for my children...sigh.
Les
5/1/2008That´s it. Margaret is 10 today. A whole decade. I can´t believe it.
I shouldn´t really worry about her being too "grown up" yet. Yesterday in Girl Scouts we invented our own planets. Margaret told the group that her planet´s population are mermaids and that they "poop butterflies."
I´d kinda like to see that.
Until tomorrow,
Les
4/30/2008It´s Wednesday (Happy Birthday Hannah!) so check out my post on www.killerfiction.net. You can see the photo of me in an apron there. You won´t get that chance again - I mean it.
Les
4/29/2008On the iPod - CAKE´s "Never There."
You´re not going to believe this, but I´m wearing an apron right now. And if you are my husband - no, I AM wearing clothes under it. If you are my niece - yes, it IS the one you made for me, thinking I would never have cause to wear it. And if you are my mother, NO, I´m not lying.
I´m having some trouble with photos so I´ll add it later. I wasn´t going to take a picture until Michelle offered to come over to do so. That was when I realized I have no photos of me in an apron. I don´t know why I felt the need to rectify that, but I did. Anyway, tonight is the Boy Scout Cake Auction and since I´m a bit rusty at baking (I can bake, I just don´t like to), I decided to wear it.
My neighbor probably thinks I´m nuts, taking photos of myself (there´s a large window in the kitchen) and then he caught me with my tongue wound through a mixer attachment in a manner that might be misconstrued as lewd. What? It´s cake batter for christsake! I´m 41, not dead.
I´ll attach photos of the cake and me in the apron. I know my mother won´t believe it until she sees it.
Until tomorrow!
Les
4/28/2008Check it out! There´s a photo of me and Jennifer on today´s publishersweekly.com Beyond Her Book Blog! We had breakfast with THE Barbara Vey (as she prefers to be called) and she posted it! Of course, she also said she fell asleep reading my book that night - which she assures me is a very good thing.
Now I´m off to bake a cake that somewhat resembles a crystal ball for the Boy Scout Cake Auction. Wish me luck. I´ll need it.
Les
4/25/2008If you live in the Chicago area, I´m signing books tomorrow, Saturday the 26th, at the Deerfield Hyatt on Lake Cook Rd, from 4:30pm to 6pm! It´s a multi-author signing open to the public so stop by!
It´s 7am and I´m racing around like a guinea pig hopped up on...well, whatever guinea pigs take to get them through the night. Jennifer from my critique group and I leave for Chicago at 9:30 for the Spring Fling Conference and I´m really looking forward to some adult conversation with other writers. Wait, did that sound bad?
Mega thanks to Britney for living at the house and playing with the many animals (who, I just realize, now outnumber the people. wait, does a guinea pig count as a whole animal?) and a HUGE shout out the Sapps who are welcoming my children into their family for the weekend (no indoctrinating them into Scientology while I´m away! I´m talking to you, Bernie!)
Well, it´s time to wake up the kids and get this party (I´ve got Hershey´s chocolate Twizzlers in the car) started!
Les
4/24/2008I´ll be in Chicago for a conference and booksigning this weekend. The signing is 4:30 - 6pm at the Deerfield Hyatt and is open to the public - stop by and say "hello!"
I´m barely moving today. Last night we had a Girl Scout Leader/ Daughter Dodgeball tourney with the girls vs. the moms. It was fun but the best part is that although I have sucked at dodgeball my whole life, I ruled that court last night! I know, not too hard to be a star when you face a group of 9-yr olds, but come on! It was redemption! Well, sorta.
Everything hurts today - especially my neck. And this is from a woman who has been working out four days a week at the Y for the past 2-3 months. I didn´t even know I had those muscles in my neck. Then Tom tells me about some terrorist group in Africa who know what muscle to cut in your neck to make your head fall permanently forward. Great. Thanks for the imagery.
Until tomorrow,
Les
4/23/2008It´s Wednesday - that means check out my blog on www.killerfiction.net!
Welcome home Luke! My niece, Emily´s, husband is back from Iraq! We´re all glad you´re home, safe and sound!
Until tomorrow!
Les
4/16/2008As you can see, I have a new main page on my website featuring all three books! We´re getting there. Check out my blog today on www.killerfiction.net!
Les
4/11/2008I thought y´all might want to see another picture of Luke. Actually, this is a test to see if the picture in a different photo will pop up more quickly.
Les
4/9/2008It´s Wednesday so check out my blog on www.killerfiction.net and take a look at the future ride of Ms. Leslie Langtry. Just try to imagine the car outside, and not on a dealer´s floor. It´s much nicer that way.
This week has already been through the blender - and I´m not entirely sure what that means. Anyway - I´ve got someone doing some upgrades to the site so you might experience some technical difficulty here and there. And I´m working on getting my MySpace page up and running. Apparently, all the other authors do it so I must do it too (and yes, I would jump off a bridge if my publisher told me to). So please be patient and no death threats please. I know, I usually enjoy a good death threat (and who doesn´t?) every now and then but I´m running out of space on my bulletin board so try to control yourself. It´s all I ask.
Les
4/6/2008What a week. I can´t go into details but it was a killer. Yesterday found me out at my favorite Girl Scout camp - Conestoga - going through a refresher course on the zip line and archery. In late May I´ll have training in canoeing and ropes course. I´m gonna be busy.
The evening concluded with my niece, Emily´s, 20th birthday party - CONGRATS EM! I slept like the dead last night, full of fresh air and birthday cake. Sigh.
It´s back to work tomorrow on the new book. This is kind of a boring post - isn´t it? Oh well. My mind has fallen into Shadow and I don´t intend to wake it up just yet. ;)
Until tomorrow,
Les
4/2/2008It´s Wednesday, so check out my blog on www.killerfiction.net where I explore the fabulous, wonderful world of CAKE! Yes, cake is my pentultimate favorite food (except for German chocolate - the coconut is icky - blech).
Until tomorrow,
Les
3/30/2008On my iPod - Ocean Waves. Today´s topic - the writing business.
It´s been a madhouse weekend with me working, kids in and out, parties, etc. Friday, Margaret´s awesome guitar teacher told me he loved the book (Thanks Joel!)but doesn´t think it´s a romance. It´s not the first time I´ve heard that. I´ve also been told it´s not mystery. My editor calls it a hybrid and I think she´s right. I think the borders of the various genres are softening and there´s a lot of crossover right now which makes classification difficult.
I have friends who write the following;
-paranormal, futuristic erotica
-contemporary, romatic mystery
-paranormal, historical romance
-science fiction, horror romance
The list is endless. In the end, what matters is that the bookstores need to know what shelf to put it on and that can make or break a book. One of my favorite lines was Harlequin´s NEXT series. More coming-of-age women´s fiction than romance, one book was even nominated for a pulitzer, it wasn´t really a series book and yet that was where they placed it. As a result, no one knew about it and it didn´t do as well as it would have if put in women´s fiction or literature.
It´s all about the business. And that´s what you have to keep in the back of your mind.
Sounds idyllic, don´t it? ;) Here´s a picture my friend Katie just sent of my book GUNS in the RWA booth at the Public Library Association Conference. Yay!
Until tomorrow,
Les
3/29/2008Is that the date? Yeesh. I´ve got more work to do. I wrote all night last night and took a break only to sex the guinea pig. I actually went to ask.com and typed "sexing a guinea pig." Let me tell you, the images they had were rather graphic(And I write romance). Anyway, since I finally knew how it was done, I sexed Dewey. And while I´m glad to know she really is a "she," I can´t help but feel a little dirty as a result.
Anyway, the dialogue is coming along. The Billy Joel helps but if I listen to too much more I´ll need a cold shower, and that will throw of my mojo. And I need my mojo.
Congrats to my friend, Cheryl Smith, for finalling in the "Between the Sheets" contest! Wow, this whole entry is all about sex, isn´t it? Congrats Cheryl!
Until tomorrow,
Les
3/28/2008On the iPod - Billy Joel´s My Life. Actually, I´m listening to his greatest hits. I saw him twice in concert, and yes, that was back in the ´80s. I´m trying to write romantic, somewhat seductive dialog and Joel always seems to be my muse in that department. There´s just something smart-assed, nostalgic and sexy about that man´s music. Maybe it´s just me.
So, anyway, yesterday we adopted a baby guinea pig from the Humane Society. The kids named it Dewey (after Jack Black in School of Rock). I think it´s a girl. They decided to keep the name anyway. She kinda has a black mask and I thought we should name her GoGo after the teen assassin in Kill Bill, but I was voted down. Without further adieu...herrrrrrrrre´s Dewey.
Until tomorrow,
Les
3/26/2008Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust sit right back and you´ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful Girl Scout trip...That started from this (insert whatever the hell it is here) aboard this faithful...um, minivan.
It´s Wednesday so check out my blog at www.killerfiction.net to hear a hair-raising story about what I did this morning. Early. I mean really early.
Until tomorrow,
Les
3/25/2008Everything´s happening at once, as usual, space-time continuum be damned. It´s the kids´ Spring Break so I rarely see Margaret, Tom´s on the road and last night I was surrounded by four little boys beating the hell out of each other with lightsabers.
At the time I was working on rewrites. I went to bed so proud of myself for getting everything done, until my editor explained that I totally misunderstood and I still owe her about 20,000 words. . .about 40 more pages. Of course, then my agent called to ask me what´s going on and I had to explain that I´m a total idiot and that it was no sweat to get it done. I´ve gotta get crackin. In all honesty, it´s much easier for me to add pages than cut them.
Today, I´ve been working, getting ready for a girl scout event (we´re kidnapping the girls from their beds at 6a.m. and taking them out for breakfast in their jammies - then back to my house for a little spa day. Shoot me. Shoot me now) and I had to take Jack to get a planter´s wart taken off his foot. Damn. That was brutal. Everyone said he wouldn´t feel a thing. Yeah right. Jack screamed while the doctor alternately dug around his foot pad with a scalpel and used what looked like liquid nitrogen. Yeesh. He did pretty well for a 7-year old, considering he told me when we started that "I don´t think I´ll survive the proceedure, Mom." Apparently, he did. And he has the new Star Wars Sith light saber to prove it.
Anyway, back to work. Here´s a picture from Easter of Jack, Emily, Ava and Margaret.
Until after tomorrow morning,
Les
3/22/2008Still have a cold. Still on a deadline. But wanted to let you know that since it´s Wednesday - I´m blogging on Killerfiction.net with my history with guns.
Until later,
Les
3/22/2008Okay, this is ACTUALLY the date. I was obviously confused before - not too hard to believe.
Check out www.dewittobserver.com where you will find an article on me and my father, Larry Cederoth, who taught in DeWitt, IA for 38 years. Yes. I was a teacher´s kid and damned proud of it.
I´ve been asleep for two days with some sort of bug. Mom just took off with the kids for the next two days. Tom and I are sitting here trying to figure out what the hell to do. We are free!
Our first thought was to sleep. But since I´ve been earning my olympic medal in that lately we´re now scanning the movie ads. And may I say - we are horrified by the amount of movies we´ve missed lately. We´ve narrowed our choices down to about fifty or sixty, so hopefully we´ll come up with a compromise. I´m leaning toward 10,000 BC and Tom wants Vantage Point, but hell! Maybe we´ll see both!
I´ll let you know what we decided tomorrow. If we get up in the morning, that is.
Here´s a preview of the cover for book three, courtesy of my publisher.
Les
3/6/2008Ugh. I´m sick. I killed myself at the Y this week and my quads hurt so much I feel like I´m ninety. In addition - I have no voice and swollen glands. I´m just going to curl up on the couch with a box of Thin Mints - that I can´t taste - and a pot of tea.
The dogs went the vet and Lucy has an infection in the folds of her skin. Poor baby.
I want my mommy.
Until tomorrow,
Les
3/5/2008Today is Wednesday and even though I´m on deadline I did submit a short blog on www.killerfiction.net about one of my favorite fan letters.
Until the end of the week!
Les
3/1/2008Thursday was one of those days. You know the type, where you start the day early with a dentist appointment and end it by taking a standardized test with your fourth grader...for fun.
The dentist thing went okay. The family fun night with standardized testing was depressing. You know, I have a masters degree, and therefore I´ve had enough testing for one lifetime...right? I´ve done my time (and hated it). But our school is trying to get parents more involved in understanding how this stuff works with our kids, so they got our kids to beg us to go.
Remember how all we needed to do was fill in an oval with a number 2 pencil? Now, they have to show their work and write paragraphs explaining how they got that answer. So, here´s a question: The bike shop sells bicycles and tricycles. There are nineteen wheels in the store, so how many bikes and trikes are there and how did you get the answer?
Well, you walk into the shop and look. Seemed like a trick question to me. But no, we were told we had to figure it out. I smiled smugly at my daughter and told her to show me how she would solve it. After all - she´s the one who had to take the test, not me. Margaret rolled her eyes and then launched into a paragraph worthy of rocket science physics. In the end, we discovered that is more than one answer that is right and that you get points for how you do it, not just getting the answer correct.
What the hell is happening? Isn´t getting the answer right the important thing?
On a happy note - I got my final edits on STAND BY YOUR HITMAN yesterday. I´ll be working on that this weekend.
Now here´s a photo of me milking an inflatable cow. (My girl scouts make me do this regularly.)
Until tomorrow,
Les
2/28/2008On the iPod - Barroom Heroes by Drop Kick Murphys. What I´m reading - A Fighter´s Heart by Sam Sheridan.
It´s been a busy week. Monday I had an interview on About Books on WVIK radio, Tuesday was the interview on yohowriterslifeforme.blogspot.com, yesterday I had an interview with the DeWitt Observer and today I´m having lunch (and an interview) with Quad-City Times editor extraordinare David Burke!
So, yesterday I went back to my hometown for an interview with the local newspaper. I had a great time with Kate Howes - who´s doing a story on me and my father, the late, great Larry Cederoth. I dedicated GUNS to him and since he was a favorite teacher there for 38 years.
It was so surreal driving through town. And it was the little things that shocked me - like how the Post Office is now Town Hall, and the old Maid Rite I worked at through high school and college is now a Mexican place.
DeWitt is only about 20 minutes away, and it still felt like I was going back in time. Isn´t that weird. I feel old. The reporter, Kate, had my father as a teacher, but a lot of the really bizarre and great teachers weren´t there when she was. Teachers like Jim Raikes, Steven Vermazen, Mr. Bielenburg...all the icons that shaped my high school experience. We did have some terrific teachers in common, like Jim Hetrick, Bob Mundt and so on. I´m going to have to include some of their unusual teaching methods in a book, I think.
(Sigh)
Les
2/27/2008Today is my blog day on www.killerfiction.net, where I have an Ode Upon a Grecian Urn. Check it out! I´ve got more shovelling to do!
Until tomorrow,
Les
2/26/2008Check out my interview on www.yohowriterslifeforme.blogspot.com today. And I´m answering questions on the site today. And it´s actually funny.
Outside - several inches of snow and falling temps. It´s as if Mother Nature is cramming all of winter into the month of February. The bitch.
Here´s a picture of Dave Sweet, Beth Reschke and Lori Sweet and about a million girl scout cookies.
Until tomorrow,
Les
2/25/2008It´s been a looooooooooooooong weekend. In iPod, Amy Winehouse´s Rehab. In hand, a rather large Grey Goose and tonic. The house lies about me in a shambles. Hundreds of Girl Scout cookies fill the dining room table. The living room is covered with what´s left of our Mexico booth for Thinking Day. I think I´m gonna cash in the spa gift certificate for that massage my lovely sister-in-law, Beth, gave me for Xmas.
All weekend the house was full of kids - starting Friday. Saturday, all us co-leaders sorted and loaded 3,000 boxes of girl scout cookies, took them to Beth R.´s house where we unloaded and sorted them for each of the 20 girls in the troop. Then we loaded up my van and I came home and with the help of my niece Emily, unloaded Margaret´s order. Then I tore open several boxes, threw them on a plate and announced "cookie buffet" for dinner. Fifty or sixty Thin Mints later I wiped the chocolate from my chin and headed out to a birthday party for the fabulous Laura L! There I had a few bottles of beer, monopolized Natalie and John´s adorable baby Henry, and came home where I banished the sleepover party to the family room with a movie and went to bed.
Sunday was even more glamourous. Got up, showered and dressed. Braided Margaret´s hair, finished packing for an eight hour day at the Girl Scout´s Thinking Day festival. My sister, Jenny (a major character in book 3) showed up as we were leaving to give us the dvd Muppets In Space (one of my all-time, favorite movies) and to show me her newest tattoo.
Headed to Beth R.´s house and once we loaded up sixteen girls in four vehicles, headed to the location. It was a terrific event. We handed out chicken tacos, fried tortillas with cinnamon, and three kinds of swap pins (a huge thanks to my co-leaders Pam and Lori!). We taught 700 girl scouts how to make tissue paper flowers, our girls wore ponchos and we taught them how to do the Mexican Hat Dance. If I ever hear that song again, I´ll kill someone. In the end everyone told us we had the best booth. Exhausted at 5pm, we loaded the girls and drove back. My girls had a screaming contest. I can´t hear a damn thing today.
By six pm, Tom was home and Bernie and Michelle invited us over for pizza. By the time we got home and ready for bed, both kids informed me they had homework. I was out before my head hit the pillow.
This morning I had an interview on my friend Faye Clow´s About Books program for the local NPR station, WVIK. Now we´re just waiting on the sleet and ice and eight inches of snow to fall from the sky. It´s coming. Thank god I have my drink.
Here are a photo from my weekend:
We few, we happy few...the leaders and girls of Troop #8360 and the booth about Mexico.
Until tomorrow!
Les
2/25/2008Don´t forget to click on the photos to make them larger. Here´s another weekend pic - of me, Laura, Natalie and Henry at Laura´s party. And no, I´m not a giantess. They are sitting down. And it´s the scarf. Orange makes my butt look big.
Les
2/21/2008I´m guest blogging on www.freshfiction.com today - nothing big but stop by and say hello if you can!
Another frigid day in my neighborhood. The weatherman said if you throw a glass of water into the air it will freeze before it hits the ground. Hell, even the icicles have icicles. Last night it was -27. And then my friend, Jenyfer, e-mails to tell me it´s cold in Cairo, Egypt. I ask her how cold. She says it´s in the low fifties.
I still like her, though. ;)
Until I thaw,
Les
2/20/2008Baby, it´s cold outside! Subzero temps - woo hoo! It´s also Wednesday, so be sure to read my blog on www.killerfiction.net.
Until tomorrow!
Les
2/18/2008It´s been a busy weekend with two days off of school, bad weather and a house full of kids. This week will be no slouch either - As you know, I blog on Wednesdays at killerfiction.net. On Thursday, I´ll be blogging on freshfiction.com and on Tuesday the 26th, check out my interview on yohoawriterslifeforme.blogspot.com!
On the homefront, we´ve had nothing but snow and ice for two weeks. Add the subzero temps and you have all the makings of Hell, my friends. You thought it would be hot there? Oh no! Bitterly cold, break-your-neck icy and enough snow to shake a stick at (if you´re into stick-shaking, that is). And just wait until it all melts! Then the flooding starts. Too much fun to be had in the midwest these days.
Until tomorrow!
Les
2/13/2008It´s Wednesday - so check out my blog on www.killerfiction.net!
Until tomorrow,
Les
2/9/2008I had a book signing today with my friends Kimberly Cates and Susan Carroll. It was so great seeing everyone who came by! One woman - the first one there - really made my day. She was a brunette in a red sweater and she was so encouraging and supportive it was awesome. A huge thank you to you!
Anyway, the kids are spending the night somewhere else, I have new magazines and lots of shows on the dvr. I´m just going to relax tonight. Here´s a photo of Kim, Sue and Me at Barnes and Noble.
Until tomorrow!
Les
2/6/2008We´re snowed in today so no school.
Check out my blog on www.killerfiction.net. I´m sure you will be able to relate to the experience in some way - even if the only thing you find in common is the business of killing zombies.
Michelle - read the blog.
Until tomorrow - I´m off to have a heart attack shovelling!
Les
2/2/2008Happy Groundhog Day Uncle Mike and Uncle Dave!
Have you ever forced yourself to read a book you absolutely hated? Well, not if you´re sane you haven´t. (And I´m assuming you are - although - sanity is highly overrated.)
Unfortunately, I´m judging a contest and while the first book I read was okay, the second book was a complete mess. I just can´t stand books where the adult heroine spends the ENTIRE BOOK whining about how her man "done her wrong" (especially when it´s not even a big deal what he did) and launches into a 300 page pityf*&%k of feeling sorry for herself.
And she put her family and the hero through the worst layers of HELL. Then the hero, who I thought should´ve hired the Bombay Family to take her out (and she definitely would have qualified in my opinion) takes her back! I can´t give you any details because it would give the book and contest away. Suffice it to say that I HATED this book.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRG!
It was torture just to finish the damn thing. Thank Todd I did at mindnight last night or I would´ve probably soaked it in meat and let the dogs eat it.
Yeesh. Am I worked up or what? Isn´t it funny how the written word can get you stirred up in the right or wrong way? I much prefer the right way. ;)
Very rarely do I dislike a book and I try to never rant about it because these things are subjective and obviously it appealed to someone because they paid to publish it. But writing this up was certainly cheaper than the rage therapy I´d otherwise need.
Thanks for listening to the crazy lady rant! I´ll end on a rainbow pony kind of note. Hey look! Babies holding hands!
Until tomorrow!
Les
2/2/2008I almost forgot! Margaret has Hannah and Emily sleeping over and they wanted me to post a photo of them. Here they are, embarrassing me at Hobby Lobby a few weeks back!
Les
2/1/2008Nothing on the iPod - just the soothing, ocean-like sounds of the furnace.
We got five inches of snow last night. It was beautiful all afternoon. I spent the whole time snuggled up on my yummy leather sofa (the color is "grizzly") with the laptop, working and watching the snow fall outside my window. I´ve attached a photo of it below.
Of course the downside of snow is, in fact, snow removal. I was all set to go out and shovel this morning before the kids went off to school (and count it as my work-out in an attempt to avoid the YMCA today). Just as I was putting on my boots, the Fabulous Bernie Sapp appears with his snowblower, taking care of the sidewalks, driveway, - everything! Yay Bernie! Bernie and his son appear in my latest book as Bernie Paulson and Louis. His wife, and my good friend Michelle, is fodder for another book down the line in the Bombay series - I´ll tell you more about that later.
Yes, as I´ve mentioned before, I definitely use parts of people (makes me sound like Frankenstein. Mwah hah hah hah!) I know in my books. And I think it´s impossible not to. But be careful not to read too much into that, because there´s a fair amount of invention involved. That´s what I do, make stuff up. And a lot of it is made up. Funny how I used to get in trouble for doing that as a kid...
Well, back to work. Until tomorrow!
Les
1/30/2008Check out my blog on www.KillerFiction.net today! Gotta get back to work!
Until tomorrow,
Les
1/28/2008MY BOOK IS OUT! MY BOOK IS OUT! Guns Will Keep Us Together has hit the shelves and already I´ve heard from so many people telling me how much they loved it! Yay! I´ve had offers to guest blog on other blogs and so on! By the way - I LOVE hearing from fans and I always write back - so if you´re wondering if you should or shouldn´t write - DO!
This last weekend was busy as the kids and I, along with my niece and her baby went up to an indoor water park in Dubuque, Iowa. We met Dad and Sheila and my brother Seth, his wife Kayla, sister Sara and her beau Drew, and all the kids. We had a good time - it was far too short. I got to hold babies - which is great since I don´t plan to have anymore. Here´s a photo of the kids.
Now go buy my new book!!!
Until tomorrow,
Les
1/23/2008Today is Wednesday...funny how that comes around so often. I blog on www.killerfiction.net on Wednesdays so check it out!
This one´s for Todd. Hey Todd, guess what? Okapi butt.
Until tomorrow,
Les
1/21/2008It´s been one helluva week here! I´ve been working to polish up STAND BY YOUR HITMAN, trying to get promo ready for GUNS WILL KEEP US TOGETHER - which comes out Saturday, selling girl scout cookies - last week for that, among other things.
I just got my author copies of GUNS and am such a dork - I carry it around wherever I go. I need to find a way to suspend both books around my neck. Wouldn´t that look awful?
Reviews are coming in and they are awesome - so I´m apparently not a total one-hit wonder.
Romantic Times magazine wrote; "The second chapter in this fresh and wacky series delves deeper into the politics of a family-run industry. Langtry’s ability to make this lethal and outrageous clan both funny and somewhat endearing is a testament to her style. Who knew the assassination business could produce so many laughs?”
And The Mystery Gazette said, "The return of the Bombay family, who’s DNA contains killer genes, makes for a lighthearted fun tongue in cheek tale. Bringing in a funeral director into the family completes the process value chain as the final output of the Bombay products would go to her or her peers (family discount for bringing in business). Delightful Dak understands the vision of his family of assassins is kill is or be killed so as he courts his burial lover, he knows he must say to her ´SCUSE ME WHILE I KILL THIS GUY. As wacky as the first, Leslie Langtry provides an amusing Pulp Fiction"
So, no pressure for book 3 at all. I´ve been also kicking around the concept for book 4 and I might even have a complete synopsis worked out soon.
But all of this is overshadowed by the fact that Jack´s car (well, it´s really a submarine with wheels) won "Best in Show" at the Boy Scout´s Pinewood Derby Saturday. He´s pulling a Leslie by sleeping with the trophy. Yay Jack!
Until tomorrow!
Leslie
1/16/2008It´s Wednesday - so check out my weekly blog on www.killerfiction.net if you want to find out how boys and men are universal, and thankfully, penis sheaths are not.
Here´s a photo of Margaret on Christmas Day with her new guitar, slippers and hat. And no, I didn´t dress her that way.
Until tomorrow,
Les
1/15/2008It´s that time that fills every Girl Scout Leader with dread...Girl Scout Cookie time! Dun...dun...dun...
Okay, so it´s not that bad. In fact the only scary thing is that we have to wait until the end of February to enjoy them. I ordered 15 boxes - but that´s not just my favorites - it includes the kids´ favorites (which I have to admit, are also my favorites). I´m of course rather loyal to the Thin Mint but the Thanks-a-lots and Lemonades are lovely too. Margaret´s doing well on her sales so far, but it´s nothing until we have the cookies in our hands.
In fact the day the cookies come in, we usually have what we call "Cookie Buffet" for dinner that night. What? Doesn´t everyone do that (she asked with a doe-eyed innocence).
Until tomorrow,
Les
1/11/2008Let me tell you about a writer´s brain. It´s a very scary place that I wouldn´t recommend visiting. My stupid brain kept me up until 2am this morning. Of course, it got me out of excercising with Michelle and Beth, so maybe there´s something to that ;)
A huge shout out to my friend Faye Clow, who is retiring as Director of the Bettendorf Public Library. I´ve known her for a while now - when I first started working in literary arts. She´s been on many of my committees and I´ve been on her radio show, "About Books." She´s a good and thoughtful friend, a fellow knitter and extremely smart and funny. Tom and I are going to her retirement party tonight, where I can say all these things in person, but I wanted to acknowledge her outstanding contribution to the literary arts in the Quad Cities. I can´t imagine that anyone could take her place.
And now for something completely different...a photo of a misspelling on a sign at the Sears Tower.
Until tomorrow,
Les
1/10/2008I wish I could post the video I took last night of my kids sobbing over having to eat their peas. It´s hilarious. Jack and Margaret just sit there, like they are at the Wailing Wall bemoaning a savagely murdered pet. I filmed them to show them how ridiculous they looked. I can´t wait to serve them carrots tonight!
Oh, and Mom, sorry about all those times I got dramatic over lima beans at the table. Boy you weren´t kidding when you told me that having kids would be your best revenge. Did we really act like that? You know what´s cool though? My kids didn´t even THINK about feeding their vegetables to the begging dogs when I supposedly "left the room." As I recall, Jenny and I used to...um...maybe that´s a conversation best had on another day.
Here´s a photo of 9-year-old Conor being wanded by security at the Sears Tower. Apparently, he was the only one of us who looked dangerous.
Until tomorrow,
Les
1/9/2008Today I blog on www.killerfiction.net - so be sure to pop by and read it! Especially you, Mom.
Here´s another photo from our trip to Chicago. There´s many more where this one came from! Lucky you!
Les
1/8/2008School started back up again yesterday. YAY!
Last week we went to Chicago with Bernie, Michelle, Conor and Ian and had a great time visiting the Star Wars exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry (dull name for a museum, eh?), shopping on Michigan Ave., and climbing the Sears Tower (not like King Kong - but that would have been cool). We ate, and ate, and ate (like King Kong).
The holidays were great - the kids are happy, we had friends and family over, and ate, and ate, and ate (are you seeing a pattern here?).
Now, I´m working all of it off at the Y every day and trying to live off of grape nuts cereal. It´s rough going - both literally and figuratively.
It doesn´t help that the weather here has been bizarre. In one week it was subzero temps, followed by 65 degree weather. I´d hazard a guess it has something to do with the impending apocalypse.
Here´s a photo from our trip!
Until tomorrow!
Les
1/2/2008Yeesh. I seem to be only blogging on Wednesdays. The holidays are almost over so I will definitely pick things up. Until then, to tide you over - check out my weekly blog on KillerFiction.com. You´ll see the same photo I used here last week - but the words are new.
I´m off with my family to spend a few days in Chicago before school starts again.
And here is a photo of my husband, Tom - wearing pink, fuzzy slippers on Christmas Eve.
Until later,
Leslie
12/26/2007It´s Wednesday and Christmas is finally over! Check out my blog today on www.killerfiction.net on the joy of seeing your children open their presents and how that joy is then sucked out of the room when you have to actually put them together.
I´ll be back on schedule tomorrow! Meanwhile, check out the Spartan Leonidas Santa ornament Uncle Steve made.
Leslie
12/19/2007Don´t forget - it´s Wednesday. Hey, remember the Mickey Mouse club - "Today is Wednesday, you know what that means! We´re gonna have a special day?"
Okay. So maybe I wish I didn´t remember that. Anyway, check out my blog today on KillerFiction.net. It´s Christmassy.
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
12/17/2007Crap! (Those of you who know me might be startled I used such a tame word for swearing. But I´m trying to deal with what Margaret calls my "swearing issues.")
Today, Tom and I will be running about to finish up the xmas shopping. I did almost everything online this year and have it already, but there are a few thingys here and there to get.
It was a killer weekend. Saturday, we went to a roller-skating birthday party for a friend. And as I fastened wheels to my children´s feet, I realized we had never taught them how to skate. I felt like a complete and utter failure as a parent as I watched them crash to the floor, again and again, for four hours. Tom and I tried to help them - when I realized I probably hadn´t been on skates for fifteen years. Eventually, we all got the hang of it. Although I must admit - the skate place´s decor looked eerily just like it did in the 1970´s when I used to go.
Sunday was a day for playing in the snow. By the way - never, ever, ever dare a nine-year old to hit you in the face with a snowball - because the minute you do - she´ll nail you...twice. You know what´s sad? Being so tall it takes you twice as long to scoop up a snowball (the kids can do it in twice the time) and then your back aching as you try to stand erect again.
Youth is definitely wasted on the young.
Until tomorrow!
Leslie
12/12/2007It´s Wednesday! You know what that means! Well, besides it being garbage day. It´s my day to blog on www.killerfiction.net. Tune in as I take down the Girl Scouts´ Safety Regulations regarding playground usage, ala Morley Safer. Okay, so it´s not 60 minutes, but it is fun.
Until tomorrow!
Les
12/6/2007Nothing on the iPod - I´m currently going through my silent period - kind of like Picasso´s blue period, except without the um, color.
This week has been madness (it sure as hell ain´t Sparta) - eight million things to do between writing and the kids. I managed to twist my knee somewhere along the line and now it cracks when I bend it and aches at night. The writing is going well (that´s for Mom. Hi Mom!) and I´ve managed to keep everyone alive, homework done, hats/coats/gloves/boots every day, but my house is definitely suffering. At some point I have to unload and load the dishwasher before the lot in the sink sprouts legs and begins skittering around the house.
Jack has his first wrestling meet tonight. I had to buy him a ... what do they call it? Unitard? Tardlet? Oh yeah! SINGLET! (Although I kind of like Tardlet.) After school we have to get the shoes. This will be interesting since Jack has no interest in sports beyond karate. I know nothing about wrestling except that it was really big in my high school. So, we´ll see what happens. I´ll let you know.
Until tomorrow,
Les
12/5/2007Remember! Today is Wednesday and that´s the day I blog at killerfiction.net! If you want to read about my sordid failures on the road to success - check it out. I´ve attached a photo of me and the other Killer Fiction Divas (sadly - minus Bethany) at our Publisher´s party in Dallas last July.
Until tomorrow,
Les
12/4/2007I had a dream last night. Well, I actually have lots of dreams every night, but for some reason, the only one I can remember is a dream where I went to the gas station - filled the tank, paid for it and left. Yup. That´s it. Maybe I´ve been lost in my characters´ world too much lately and my brain is trying to bring me back to earth. Or maybe getting gas is a secret fantasy of mine. That would be very, very sad. Romance writers are supposed to have much richer (at least more interesting) fantasies. I´ll have to work on that.
Here is a picture of a bassett hound enjoying the fire I SET in the fireplace.
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
12/3/2007I guess I´m just one of those binge and purge bloggers. I need to remedy that.
First - a belated congrats to my wonderful friends Natalie and John on the birth of their son - Henry! I´m trying to locate a copy of Brannagh´s Henry V for them.
Okay, so we had one hell of a winter storm this past weekend. And of course, with all the ice, we lost power for about three hours. Tom was out of town and the kids were panicking (don´t know why - we didn´t raise them to do that). I calmly found all the camping lanterns and lit a nice, big, warm fire in the fireplace - our first in the new house. That combined with the iPod playing xmas music by Dino and the Chairman of the Board seemed to calm them down a bit. In fact, here´s a conversation I had with my kids;
Margaret: This is just like living in olden times!
Jack: Before electricity - when you were little, Mom!
Me: Um, we had electricity. I´m not that old.
Margaret: Well, other than that - it´s just like the old days - just like in my Laura Ingalls Wilder books!
Me: Well, except for the fact they didn´t have batteries and l.e.d. bulbs for the lanterns and 2,000 songs on an iPod - sure. It´s just like then.
Jack: Can you teach me how to whittle by the fire, Mom?
Me: I don´t think that´s a good idea. But we could read.
Margaret: I know! Let´s watch a movie!
Me: We can´t. There´s no power.
Jack: Let´s watch a video on the computer!
Margaret: Yeah!
Me: We can´t. No power means no power. We can do other things though, like talk.
Margaret: I´m bored.
Jack: Me too. Let´s play a video game.
At this point, I worry about the future of the human race.
But the fun didn´t stop there. Later that night, I received calls from Uncle Steve and Mom. Both seemed surprised that I survived. Both were very surprised I could start a fire in the fireplace by myself. I guess that can be substantiated. After all, I´m only a 41-year old, mother of two, girl scout leader, with a master´s degree, who is certified to teach archery internationally, and can fire a handgun with deadly accuracy. It´s amazing I lived this long.
If I survive the night,
Leslie
11/14/2007Stupid Girls by Pink playing on iPod
Check out my blog on www.killerfiction.net - where I blog on Wednesdays and you can check out photos of my office. That´s right, Mom, it´s finally almost, mostly unpacked.
By the way, did you know if you click on the photos - you can see them larger? I know this will sound stupid, but I didn´t know that until today.
My apologies to Michelle for this morning. I was just sitting in the family room in my Maleficent jammies (they´re psychadellic!)answering e-mail and watching the news when she shows up at the door.
Her: Hey! Are those really your jammies?
Me: Yeah! What´s up?
Her: (pause) You forgot you were taking me to drop my car off at the dealer´s.
Me: (insert sputtering) No! Of course not!
Her: (looking me up and down)
Me: I´ll get dressed right now.
Okay - so it wasn´t exactly those words. I think I shouted apologies from the bedroom as I threw on some clothes and a baseball cap. I felt pretty stupid. She only reminded me like...twice a day for a week. Anyway - I got her there, apologizing all the way.
I´m leaving you with the view from my office window, inside and out.
Until later,
Les
11/13/2007Samite of Uganda playing on iPod - very nice...
The first thing I did when I got back from exile last week was clean out my office. Today I totally geeked out at Office Max, so I am starting to feel organized - a new and improved Leslie. I´m such a dork about office supplies. When I was a kid, I used to buy pads of forms and receipt books and my sister, Jenny, and I would play "office." Of course - no one told me then that it was, in fact, not fun to play office, that paperwork was a drag, blah, blah, blah.
We had a pretty eventful weekend. Friday I went to lunch with friends, Michelle and Bernie and our combined brood. Spent the afternoon raking until my arms fell off. The kids helped but I´m afraid to admit too much since child labor laws are so strict and all.
Friday night a group of us went to a trivia night fundraiser for DeWitt Youth Football - a HUGE shout out to Tami Delaney, Theresa Cahill and Diane Pritchard! Our team did pretty good - we came in 2nd out of 25. Not bad. Then we drove back to the Quad Cities and watched Todd knock down a portion of a replica of the Berlin Wall (apparently it was the 20th anniversary of "Mr. Gorbachev...tear down that wall!) for $2. After all, it was his birthday.
Because we felt we hadn´t punished our bodies with enough alcohol, Saturday night we had an impromptu gathering of the Welvaerts and Sapps. Of course, after a few drinks the stun gun came out. Big props to Todd for actually stunning himself (I was impressed) and even bigger props to Bernie for being smart enough not to.
Spent Sunday recovering from the aforementioned parties and what later turned out to be the flu. Jack was home sick yesterday. And here I am, full circle with the shiny, new, office supplies.
I´m such a geek.
And now for something completely different...a man using a hammer on a cheap, cinderblock mock-up of the Berlin wall.
Until later!
Les
11/13/2007Now playing on iPod - T.S. Monk
I almost forgot! Big congrats to my friend Kimberly Cates for her 4.5 star review (the most you can get) and for being a TOP PICK in Romantic Times Magazine for her latest book - The Perfect Match! Buy it today!
And because I can, here´s another photo of Todd in the parking lot of the Bier Stubbe.
Les
11/8/2007Well, after two days at the lovely Abbey, I´m going home. Tom actually said I could stay another day, but it´s just far too tempting. Isolated hotel rooms are crack for writers. I don´t want to become an addict. That and I´m worried about what the house must look like after two nights of my absence. Actually, I´m even more concerned that I´m worried about what the house looks like after two nights of my absence. And there was no ghost chicken last night. That´s got to be an omen that it´s time for me to go.
I´ve gotten a lot done - so it was a good thing (as my evil nemesis, Martha Steward would say).
So, what´s next? Parent-teacher conferences this afternoon, filling in my Neilson ratings diaries (and lying about all the porn I watch), polishing what I´ve written these past few days until they are true works of genius (or at least - make my editor not regret the advance she paid me), and mastering the ability to say "red buick, blue buick" three times fast. In fact, I´d be happy if I could just say it once.
A shout out to old friends - Jon, Jackie and their children Jonna and Jensen!
Until tomorrow,
Les
11/6/2007I´m on day two of my self-induced monastic retreat here at the lovely Abbey Hotel in Iowa. I´m getting work done. I´m getting fat from the gourmet food and I´m pretty sure I heard a ghost chicken last night. Of course that´s just me. Other people probably get the ghosts of the nuns who lived here praying over them...I get a ghost chicken.
Anyway - I´m having a wonderful time and working hard. I´ll leave you with a photo of my room (I cleared out the bottles of absinthe before taking this picture).
Until tomorrow,
Les
11/5/2007I´m soooo excited! We´re a Nielson family! Well, for two weeks. Apparently the Nielsen ratings people, in their infinite wisdom, have seen the light and chosen us to survey for two weeks. They want to know what a typical family in the midwest watches. And we´re soooo normal, what with my husband being a bodyguard and me a romance writer. Yup. Just like everyone else...right? Anyway, I´m excited too because it´s always the stuff I love on TV that doesn´t make it. I guess we have a strange taste in TV (or as I prefer to think of it - pure genius).
On another note, I´m off to spend two nights in seclusion at a local hotel. It´s an 18th anniversary gift (Oh my god! We´ve been married for 18 years???) from Tom so I can finish book three - STAND BY YOUR HITMAN - which is due on shelves next summer. It´s a great gift - although a little strange. I mean - he´s sending me away for our anniversary, so there´s that. I´m looking forward to two full days without the constant interruptions of \\"Mom! Mom! Mom!\\" and the dogs having to go out (and subsequently - back in).
When I get back I get to start the Nielsen diary. So cool! I´ll let you know how everything turns out!
Until then, Enjoy this photo of a pug in a Maleficent head thingy.
Les
10/31/2007Happy Halloween! For those of you who´ve noticed, I´m not blogging on KillerFiction.net today - but if you´re a writer you should check out today´s entry. One of our Dorchester authors needs your help and some great people are stepping up to help. Especially of interest is the opportunity to present your work to a Dorchester editor. Check it out.
Yesterday we had the Girl Scouts over for a Halloween Party and they decided to mummify me with toilet paper. Check out the photo below for the results.
So, I´m about to take the kids out trick-or-treating, then will begin gorging on their candy once they go to bed. This will be followed with a November 1 morning of extreme regret. It remains the scariest way I can celebrate.
Until tomorrow!
Les
10/29/2007Yeesh! It´s been ten days! I´m a bad, bad, um, lloger. I´m actually on a deadline, but I wanted to check in. Thank you all for your condolences on my grandfather´s passing. He was a great guy and this will be the first time in 9 years I haven´t taken the kids to see him in their costumes for Halloween. Thanks also for the congrats on the birth of my lovely niece Emily´s daughter Ava. Ava´s father, Luke, is over in Iraq and Em & Ava are staying with Mom until he gets back next spring. I´ve gone over there last week to help out during the day. She´s a perfect baby with tons of hair. I´ll post a photo.
Anyway, back to work so you can get STAND BY YOUR HITMAN to read next summer!
Adios!
Les
10/19/2007It´s been a very eventful week, with the loss of my Grandpa and the birth this morning of my lovely niece Emily´s daughter - Ava! My photo attach thingy wasn´t working earlier this week, but I´ve been assured it is now - so herrrrrrrrrre´s Ava! She´s winking in one pic and with my sister (her grandma) Jenny.
Tomorrow is the Hannah Montana concert and Sunday is the Dad´s Club Halloween Parade so it will be an eventful weekend. I´ve started drinking now.
Until later,
Leslie
10/16/2007The new llog changes are done! You´ll now find the last entry first and photos added! It´s been a while but now I´m baaaaaack!
Last week was really tough. My Grandpa passed away. It was very sad but a good thing. He wasn´t himself and dealing with dementia. He had a long, wonderful life and I´m happy for him. He is missed.
I also had a deadline to check and get the galleys for GUNS WILL KEEP US TOGETHER back to my publisher. It´s actually hard to re-read my books. I always want to change things. It´s tough to focus when you want to re-write everything. Still, I caught a few problems so it was worth the eye-strain.
If you read my blog on killerfiction.net last week, you saw this guy. Outlaw - the post-it horse. It´s such a great photo - I´m posting it again. Enjoy.
Until tomorrow (when I´ll be funnier - I promise!)
Leslie
9/25/2007Check out my interview on Naughty Nikki Duncan´s Romantic Realm of Shadows website. I have an excerpt from GUNS WILL KEEP US TOGETHER that can only be seen there.
In other exciting news - Book 3 (or Missi´s Book - as I´ve been calling it) has a title! STAND BY YOUR HITMAN will be out July ´08. I´m not quite done with it, but will be soon and once it´s approved by my super-fantastic editor you can find an excerpt here.
And don´t forget to check out my Wednesday blogs on www.killerfiction.net.
In other news - it´s raining today, the kids are in school and I´m sitting here on the couch watching the UPS guy circle the block over and over. Of course, I´m expecting a shipment from Amazon or I wouldn´t even notice. That song "Wells Fargo Wagon" from the musical THE MUSIC MAN (it´s an Iowa thing) keeps running through my head. The box contains (or at least I hope it does) the new Lord John Grey book by Diana Gabaldon, MONTY PYTHON SINGS, two new books on knitting bags, and of course - YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Ah. The classics.
Until later,
Leslie
9/20/2007I´m baaaaack. We spent the weekend in Arizona. I´ve posted the details to the blog yesterday on killerfiction.net. Remember - I blog every Wednesday so be sure to check it out!
I´m working on titles for book three and the synapsis too. Yeesh - why is it so hard to distill your entire book into a couple of pages??? I used to be good at that kind of stuff. Oh well. That´s just the way it goes.
We had a girl scout meeting yesterday and are working on our Horse Lover´s badge. So, I dragged one of Margaret´s giant, plastic horses to school (earning me some bizarre looks from the other parents) and we proceeded to use a chart to find all the parts of a horse. Of course, I remembered too late that the parts labeled "buttocks" and "breast" would send the girls into hysterics. You´d think 4th grade girls would be above that - wouldn´t you? No such luck. AND they all wanted to be the one to point it out to the other girls.
My second error in judgement was in selecting the cowboy song ( a requirement of the badgework) for the group to learn. I thought it would be fun to do "Ghost Riders in the Sky," what with Halloween coming up and all. AND I had that song on cd (Johnny Cash - duh!). Well, the song has the word "hell" in it. And most of the girls aren´t allowed to say that word. Which means they shouted it when they got to that part - which was when the parents walked in, of course.
Someday - they´re gonna boot me out of Girl Scouts for that.
Until next time,
Leslie
9/12/2007Damn. I just wrote a brilliant blog and accidentally deleted it. I hate when that happens. On the iPod - soundtrack from Apolcalypse Now. (I love the smell of napalm in the morning)
So, went to see Shoot Em Up last weekend - and it was AWESOME!!! We went with Bernie and Michelle and the four of us laughed all the way through it. Actually, we were the only ones laughing. I think we were the only ones who saw it as a comedy. (What is WRONG with people???) Anyway - go see it!
We´re leaving tomorrow to go to The Manatee´s wedding in Phoenix, with Tom´s partner Eric and his wife Carissa. I´m soooooo excited! I know this may sound pathetic, but I´m 41 and I´ve never been to AZ. The big event will be helicoptering into the Grand Canyon! To me, the world´s biggest hole in the ground is like the George Clooney of American sights. I know I´m going to be totally starstruck.
Tom´s taking Wagner´s "Flight of the Valkyrie" thinking he can con the pilot into playing it (so he can live out his Robert Duvall fantasy - no doubt). So, today is all about the packing. What does one wear to helicopter into the Grand Canyon? My hiking boots are too heavy to pack, and I think my Prada shoes would be overdoing it a smidge. I´ll have to give that some thought.
Anyway - I´ll try to post some pics when I get back!
Dun dee dun dun dun
Dun dee dun dun dun
Dun dee dun dun dun
Dun dee dun dun dun!
Les
9/5/2007IT´S SEPTEMBER ALREADY???
I had an interesting Labor Day weekend. For the fourth year in a row, we (my intrepid leaders - Lori, Pam, Beth and me) took 17 screaming, squirming girl scouts camping. We hiked, cooked over campfires, swam in the pool, fed horses, rode the zip line, took a late night hayrack ride and learned archery. (Sorry, no knife throwing - that´s only in the book...so far, that is.) We found bats, deer and coyotes and got to hold spiders, walking sticks (the bug, not the actual stick), snakes and cicadas. And of course, it was the world´s largest slumber party for two nights.
I love the annual camping trip - we have a great time, and then the leaders crawl home to shower and sleep longer than Jerry Lewis does to prepare for the telethon. And I must say that I´m very proud of my girls. They don´t scream when they see bugs, bats or snakes (here´s a hint - girls think they´re cute) and they are adventurous enough to leap off a 20 foot high platform to zipline 40 feet over the forest floor.
I only had one small problem, and that - of course - was on the last day. I was teaching them archery in groups of five. For some idiotic reason - I picked the smallest girls first. Which meant they had a LOT of trouble pulling the bows back. I tried to help but in the end, I had five very frustrated girls. The couple that managed to let an arrow fly also managed to get stung by the bow as it slid over their arms. (Did you ever notice that the armguards they give you are completely useless?)
The second group fared slightly better, with more bruises and tears of frustration. By the time I was working with the third group, one of the girls comes down from the lodge to say all the girls up there are crying because of archery. Great.
Fortunately, the last two groups did a lot better and managed to score a couple of bullseyes. (They liked posing in front of their targets pretending the arrows were running through their necks, arms, etc. I won´t be showing those pics off anytime soon.) Better yet, one of the first girls rejoined us and tried again - also scoring a bullseye. The adults finished the session up, and I realized I had some seriously lethal co-leaders.
So, the archery attempt was not nearly as popular as the other activities. But now I know that I need to whip my little Amazons into shape. I´m checking into a local range for some assistance this winter. After all, they ARE my troop. And they need to be able to launch enough arrows to "blot out the sun," so that we can "fight in the shade."
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
8/29/2007Well, the kids have started back to school (yay!), the Brownies have bridged to Junior Girl Scouts (this past Monday) and we are getting ready to take the whole troop camping this weekend for three days. This will be our fourth year camping over Labor Day Weekend at the local campsite and even though it´s a lot of work - we have a great time with the girls. Come Sunday afternoon when we return, I might feel a bit differently when I´ve gone for two days without a shower, marinating in bug spray having had a couple of hourse of sleep each night (spent on a thin cot mattress on the floor) - but I am looking forward to it. My job is to run the zip line, teach archery and attempt to teach the girls to start a campfire. We also swim, hike, feed the horses, cook over an open fire, play games, sing songs . . . I know! Makes you want to join us, doesn´t it?
I was at a friend´s house last night when another friend (a boy scout leader) said she read my book and loved it, but is afraid of my girl scout troop. Cooler words were never spoken.
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
8/22/2007It´s been a looooooooong time since I´ve llogged! Mostly, that has been due to my life-=and-death struggles with our router. As I speak, I´m sitting cross-legged on the washer in the laundry room, physically hooked up to the modem, while Tom´s on the phone with the Phillippines about our router. Doesn´t that sound like fun? My butt hurts.
The big news is that I got the final edits to my editor on book 2; GUNS WILL KEEP US TOGETHER! Now I´m trying to finish book 3. The fun part is that everyone who´s read ´SCUSE ME now wants to read GUNS like, yesterday.
A big shout out to my critique group - who came to my house last night and blew the stereotype on writers by NOT drinking any of my booze. Well, Theresa and I were drinking but I think people just expect that. It was a great meeting and I´m looking forward to the next one.
Don´t forget to check out killerfiction.net - where I blog on Wednesdays. Wait...that´s today. I guess I will be on this washing machine a little while longer.
Until the router and I can come to some sort of agreement -
Leslie
8/12/2007Well, today I had my first hometown booksigning. It was great! Thanks to everyone who came by and bought a book! And while it was wonderful to have friends and family there - it was really exciting to have people who didn´t know me buying the book. I mean, these people weren´t threatened with bodily harm or bribed by my mother - so that meant a lot.
So, tonight we´re opening the champagne to celebrate. I thought I´d get this blog done now before I´m too blotto to write anything remotely coherent. It´s really good champagne and I don´t have the tolerance I had twenty years ago.
A cyber-toast to all who read this. Tomorrow it will be back to work!
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
8/11/2007MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!
Check out www.killerfiction.net! It features six of us Dorchester authors who write humor/mystery/romance; Kathleen Bacus, Christie Craig, Jana DeLeon, Gemma Halliday, Bethany True and moi! I´ll be blogging on Wednesdays.
Also - I´ll be signing books at the Davenport Barnes & Noble tomorrow at 1:30, and at the Davenport Borders on Saturday, August 25th at 2pm. Stop by if you can!
Until tomorrow!
Leslie
8/8/2007On iPod - Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin. Go figure.
This is for Mom, who reads my LLOG daily and reminded me this morning I haven´t written in a while. Sorry! I´ve been secreting myself away in a room at the local library working on book 3 and working on edits on book 2. Tom takes the kids to the pool or the dog track, voodoo rituals, wherever - so I can get my work done. School starts in two weeks, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
In the meantime, this has been one AWESOME week! ´SCUSE ME made the local Borders Bestsellers list, at #3 and I´ve had an avalanche of support from friends and family! (Of course, I´m a Leo - so I don´t want it to end.) I have my first signing on Sunday at the Davenport Barnes & Noble at 1:30 - and my birthday is next week (sadly - I´m asking for a meat freezer).
We´re also trying to catch up on movies (can you watch 300 or Hot Fuzz TOO much? Not possible.) - especially Deadwood Season 3. I LOVE Al Swearingen. And I´m totally hooked on AMC´s new series Mad Men. And, the director´s cut of Kenneth Branagh´s Hamlet comes out on DVD next week (Woo Hoo!) My DVR has a huge backlog of The Daily Show, Colbert Report, The Closer and Ghosthunters - all of which I need to go through - but work comes first (see how I threw that work ethic in there?).
I LOVE getting e-mails from people who´ve read the book - so keep writing! And if I haven´t seen you in years (are you paying attention Scott W., Beth L., Al H. and Jim W. to name just a few!) GET IN TOUCH, DAMMIT!!!
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
7/31/2007This is it! My launch date! Today is officially the day the book magically appears in stores. Interestingly enough, Borders sold out two days ago and had to rush in a new shipment. They´d better because my mom is dragging everyone she knows down there. I based Gin´s mother, Carolina Bombay on her for a reason.
I had lunch with Jodi - fellow author and friend who came up with Langtry as a pen name. I had a glass of wine to celebrate. Tonight we´ll watch 300 over and over while I drink a currently undisclosed number of Grey Goose and tonics. "Ready your breakfast and eat hearty, for tonight, we dine in HELL (or, at least, Moline - I´m thinking McDonalds)!"
A HUGE shout out to Cassie Ryan and Susan Carroll - two friends whose books also premiere today!
Until tomorrow!
Leslie
7/26/2007First of all - a HUGE shout out to my niece Emily and her fiance, Luke - Congratulations on your engagement!
Secondly - I´m not really sure what day it is because I´m spending these lovely summer days on the sofa reading Harry Potter 7. This is my first real break. I wonder if I fed the kids?
Until it´s over!
Leslie
7/21/2007Wow. I haven´t blogged since Tuesday. Bad author! Bad, bad author!
Well, it´s Saturday and a beautiful one here in the Quad Cities. No humidity, high of 80, sunny, perfect. If I didn´t have all these kids around I´d make a tall, cold vodka lemonade. Sigh.
The thingy at the library went really well. It was fun. I have no idea if it went well or not - people tell sometimes tell you you did fine just to make you feel better.
Now I´m just sitting on the sofa, researching piranhas. I´m going to use some in the book I´m currently working on. It kind of reminds me how odd writers must look in public sometimes. I mean, we are usually nose-deep in research and sometimes people might take what we are reading the wrong way.
Like at the conference, for instance. The maid came into the hotel room and I was busy reading. She looked at me kind of funny, then went into the bathroom. A few minutes later she asked me if I was from the Dallas area. I said that I wasn´t and she breathed this loud sigh of relief. I didn´t think much of it until I put the book down. There, in large letters on the cover it said, "Understanding Poisons." Oh.
I was reading the same book in a restaraunt on Tuesday and the waiter asked me why I was reading about poison. "I´m a writer," I said sheepishly. He didn´t appear to buy it. And he looked very carefully at each glass before clearing it. I don´t know - maybe I just have one of those lethal-looking faces?
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
7/17/2007I´m speaking at the Bettendorf Library tonight about breaking into mystery publishing. Should be fun. I´ll let you know if I survive. I think they want me to talk for 2 hours. I should probably start drinking now.
Back to the conference - did I mention how amazing it was? The first day, my fabulous agent took her clients and their editors to a spa for a full day of treatment. We sat around in bathrobes having various things done - I had the hot rock massage, hydrating facial and seaweed wrap. The spa is ranked 4th in the nation by Conde Nast. My aesthetician told me (as she covered my body in bright green slime), "Y´all are the most fun group we´ve ever had!" She said they normally get business people, not romance novelists. We were rather loud.
That was followed by my first booksigning - see previous post. Everything about the conference was great, from hanging out with the friends I see once a year, to the Kiss of Death - Death By Chocolate Reception to the RITA Awards.
Meeting the other Dorchester authors and hanging out with them at the publisher´s party was incredible! I absolutely ADORE Farrah, Gemma, Jana and Kathy! These women are not only very talented writers, but a lot of fun. In fact, I think we may have been a little loud at the aforementioned party. But come on - doesn´t everyone talk about carnies and chimps dressed as clowns? Anyone?
I even had stalkers! Two wacky chicks I met at the KOD reception started following me! They were awesome - so at the final night festivities I stalked them and begged them to get their picture taken with me.
I´m basically technology-challenged - but I´ll try to get some pics of the trip up soon!
But before I go, I have to congratulate Gemma Halliday on her Readers´ Choice Award and Jenn Stark on winning the Golden Heart! Can I get a woot woot?
And thanks, RomBabes, for once again making me feel like one of you!
XOXO!
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
7/15/2007It´s late and I just got back from Dallas and the Romance Writers of America Conference. It was amazing! ´SCUSE ME premiered there - well, at least 24 copies did. So, I got to do my very first signing for the Literacy Signing benefit we do at every conference! I´ll try to post a photo later. Anyway, it was pretty surreal to hold my book two weeks before it actually comes out!
So, there I was, giddy and nervous, waiting for the first person to come along to buy my book. And there she was. I sat there so excited if I was a dog I´d be wagging my tail. She came over and leaned in and asked me, "What is your hero type?"
I kind of panicked. I mean - what the hell? Then I realized I had to actually come up with an answer, so I blurted out, "He´s an Australian bodyguard." She leaned back and said, "so he´s a warrior type." I was a little confused and responded, "um, he´s a nice guy..."
Thinking this was the end of it, I sat back. She leaned forward again and asked, "What is his motivation?"
"Uh, he´s in love with Gin Bombay?" I answered rather weakly. She then said, "Oh. I´m looking for a swashbuckler," and walked off.
I told this story at the conference and no one had ever heard of this type of thing happening before. So, of course it would happen to me!
I´ll post more stories tomorrow - it was a crazy, wonderful, fabulous week.
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
7/9/2007I´m getting ready to leave for Dallas tomorrow for the Romance Writers of America Conference. I´m really looking forward to it - lunch with my editor, breakfast with my agent, seeing all my friends again. It´s an amazing conference and this is my fourth year going - my first as a published author. Wonderful writers like Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jennifer Cruisie, Bob Mayer and Nora Roberts will all be there.
It´s really cool to hang out with 2,000 other writers for a few days - discussing chocolate addiction and wearing t-shirts that say "Romance Readers Love Doing Research." (I´ve got two of those.)And I´ve never been to a conference before where there are workshops for discussing euphemisms for the penis, how to write a scorching love scene, how to poison your victims, how to dispose of a body, and so on. I´ll let you know how it goes - ´SCUSE ME premieres at the conference, so by tomorrow night I´ll be holding my book in my hands. Then it will all seem real.
I think I mentioned earlier that Romantic Times Magazine has an article, review and two ads about the book. Tom was in L.A. this week and he couldn´t wait until he got home to see it, so he and his partner, Eric, hit every bookstore in Orange County. It must have been a shock to the bookstores´ staffs when these two bodyguards in suits came in asking if they carried Romantic Times Magazine (and, I might add, they didn´t explain why they wanted them). I guess it took them two days to locate one.
(Hi David! Thanks for telling me you read my llog! xoxo)
Until after Dallas,
Leslie
7/7/2007I´m such a dork. I hit Borders this morning to see if the latest issue of Romantic Times Book Review was in and it was! I´m a subscriber but it hasn´t come to the house yet. Anyway, there I am with the kids, opening the magazine to see my article in the clubhouse section and the review and ads further back. I was so freaked out I ran to the info desk where my friend, Howard was working. He was on the phone so I showed his fellow employee the magazine and said, "That´s my book!" She looked at me, "the book you´re looking for?" "No! That´s the book I wrote!" Howard got off the phone and was excited too (it´s really just a matter of time before he sees his name in print).
I was bouncing around like a blithering idiot. When I got up to the checkout, I showed it to the woman who rang me up. I´m such a dork. But this is proof that none of this has been a dream. There, in color/black and white is my book. It´s real! It´s really happening. The process has taken a whole year, but now a national magazine tells me I really am a published author.
A huge shout-out to my friend Susan Carroll - whose cover of her newest book THE HUNTRESS is on the front of the magazine and who also got a wonderful review! HU-AH Airborne! SF, Ranger, Halo, Scuba, Pathfinder!
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
7/2/2007Sorry about the delay. Vacation was a mix of sunburn, toxic pool water and kids who thought we should only sleep three hours a night. Fortunately, there was plenty of vodka and 300 on pay-per-view (ours for 24 wonderful hours!) or the adults might not have made it. We had a great time and came home completely exhausted to find a boil order notice for the next 24 hours on the front door. And so it goes...
Oh well. The good news was that I did get the cover of my second book - GUNS WILL KEEP US TOGETHER - from the publisher and found out about my 4-star review in RT. Here it is;
“Talk about your killer dynasties! The Bombay family really takes the cake. Debuting in a most distinctive fashion, Langtry introduces an amazing heroine whose family values include assassination 101. Darkly funny and wildly over the top, this mystery answers the burning question, "Do assassination skills and Girl Scout merit badges mix?" One truly original and wacky novel!” —Jill M. Smith
Not bad, eh? I´ll try to get the new cover up soon.
As for the vacation - I´d never been to the Dells before. What a weird place. Anyone with an idea of any sort can build it here, charge $15 and make some serious money. This one tourist trap was basically the white house, upside down as if a tornado blew it all the way from DC. I was obsessed.
I did drag my family to the Museum of Historic Torture Devices. Let´s just say the drawings from the Middle Ages were seriously graphic. It makes me wonder about the psychos who invented this stuff. But it did give me some ideas for my books - maybe I can write the trip off?
Who thinks Wisconsin Dairyland and imagines a total freakshow? Only in the Midwest. We are a bizarre lot. It comes from living in the middle of nowhere with blistering, mosquito-infested summers and frozen wasteland winters. Oh well. It might be a fun retirement idea. I´ll take any suggestions for my own tourist trap at leslie@leslielangtry.com. Why should retirement be dull?
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
6/26/2007It´s 10:30 at night and I´m packing for a trip to the Wisconsin Dells tomorrow with my husband´s family. My daughter´s first track meet was tonight and lasted until 9pm - with 95 degrees and high humidity. I felt like a moldy glass of George Dickel´s Sour Mash, but she did an awesome job - way to go Margaret!
I´m pretty excited because reviews on ´SCUSE ME are coming in! Publishers Weekly actually reviewed it (according to my fabulous editor and super cool agent - that in and of itself is a miracle - it was one of only four mass market books reviewed) and they said...ahem, "The beleaguered soccer mom/assassin concept is a winner, and Langtry gets the fun started from page one with a myriad of clever details, like the Hello Kitty phone perched in our heroine´s "death lab."
AND, I just found out I got a 4-star review from Romantic Times Magazine (August issue)! The highest anyone can get is 4.5 - so that´s pretty damned good! There´s also a small article on me under RT Clubhouse - so be sure to check it out. I can´t find a copy yet, so I don´t know what the review says exactly - but it must be good - right?
Well, it´s late and I need a shower before our VERY EARLY MORNING tomorrow. I´ll give you some more scoop from the Dells.
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
6/24/2007Ahhhhh. The sound of silence. I haven´t heard much of that lately. My daughter and I just got back from three days at Girl Scout Camp. We had a great time - a HUGE shout out to the other moms in my SHE & I group - you guys were awesome! High Five! (Ooooooh! Oh laylay! Oh laylay ticki tonga!)
It was kind of jarring to compare camp now with the way it was when I went. You are no longer allowed to climb trees (not safe), touch toads or cicadas (hurts the habitat), run . . . ever (again with the safety thingy), and in order to swim in four feet of water you have to be able to do four laps without stopping (by the way - I´m nearly six feet tall and felt a little like an idiot doing that one). To use the diving board in the ten foot by ten foot deep end - you have to tread water for three minutes.
Now, I know that it only takes one lawsuit for an extremely harsh rule to come into play - but come on! When I was a kid, we were constantly running, climbing trees and picking up toads and bugs. No one gave us swim tests for water we could stand up in on our own.
Which begs the question - when did camp become so un-camp-like?
I shouldn´t complain. I ADORE my local scout camp. And we did get to do things like zip line, archery and canoeing. Granted, we wore safety gear that would rival a samurai´s armor. And I know that in order to comply with national accreditations, these camps need to buy into a series of rigid rules that would´ve made the nuns from THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS beam with pride.
But what´s camp without chasing fireflies in the dark? Climbing a one hundred year old oak that generations of campers have climbed before? Stuffing dried cicada husks in your tentmate´s pillowcase? Smuggling liquor in via a shampoo bottle - wait - that´s something else (hi, Kate!).
I guess I´ve finally become one of those parents who wistfully say, "when I was a kid, we didn´t have helmets/lifevests/wrist guards/or rules."
Sigh.
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
6/18/2007There is no iPod playing (there is only Zul). Actually, I´m pretending that the sound of tennis shoes thumping around the dryer is really a collaborative piece between STOMP and Phillip Glass.
Somebody asked me today how I came up with the idea of a soccer mom/assassin. She wasn´t the first person to ask that. In fact, one of the editors at RT (Romantic Times) Magazine asked me that just recently.
I guess part of it comes from the fact that I kinda, sorta am a soccer mom. (The job´s really more like that of a roadie and my kids participate in karate instead of soccer - but that´s just splitting hairs.) And the assassin part comes from a number of things - my twisted sense of humor; my undergrad degree in political science; my husband´s encyclopedic knowledge of assassination with his library of several hundred books to back it up; and maybe a teensy, weensy, not-worth-even-mentioning-at-all-really, curiousity about the subject. (Actually, I think it´s absolutely perfect. What soccer mom doesn´t wish she could wax people now and then?)
The weird part of this story is that I was working on something completely different at the time. My critique group was having a weekend-long plotting retreat and I was working on something else. I got home, went to sleep, and had a dream about a family of assassins whose business dated back to 2000 BCE. The name "Gin Bombay" popped into my head and then I couldn´t shut the characters up.
Writers know what I mean here - it´s like schizophrenia. Your characters pester you to write their story until you do. That´s exactly what happened. Gin talked to me so much (and she had some really killer material too) I had to drop everything and crank out the first chapter.
So, imagine my crit. group´s surprise when I show up the next week with a chapter for a completely different book. Actually, they loved it - told me I´d finally found my voice - and voila! The Bombay Family Saga began.
When I sold the book to Dorchester, my lovely and extremely talented editor asked if I was interested in writing Dak Bombay´s story next, maybe followed by Gin and Dak´s cousin - Missi? Of course I said yes.
My cousin, Wendy, says, "You can´t pick your family - but I´d pick you." She also came up with the "You can´t pick your family - but you can pick them off" on the back cover of the book. In this case, I can take my family and turn them into your average, run-of-the-mill assassins. It´s like therapy without the expense.
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
6/15/2007Well, it´s 7pm and I´m sitting down to get some work done on my third book. Both kids have friends over so my iPod is drowned out by the Disney Channel Games in the living room and many bloody lightsaber battles outside my window. Oh well. It´s just the Sex Pistols on the iPod, so I wouldn´t understand the words if I could hear them. (Diction, Sid, dammit!)
I´m hoping to sneak down here more often, but Tom is a task master when it comes to unpacking (we moved last week). I mean, come on! It could take years to unpack everything - right?
The boys just now brought me a bird they accidentally stunned with the aforementioned lightsabers. I got up to direct them to the door (that sounds better than what I really did - which was scream, swear and kick them out) when I discovered that the girls found some styrafoam the movers left and proceeded to shred it all over the couch. I sicked Tom on them and fled to the office. Yeesh.
Damn - they know how to pick the locks! How in the hell did they learn to do that? The neighbor boy just asked me 1) do we happen to have any shrink rays on hand (of course, we´re fresh out at the moment)? and 2) can he write a note to the bird apologizing for hitting it?
This time, I slammed the door.
Okay, where was I . . . oh yeah. I´ve had a couple of e-mails asking me what my writing process is and I actually get that a lot so I thought I´d mention it.
There is none. Zip. Nada. I´d love to say that every morning I come down to my taffeta-covered fainting couch dressed like Marie Antoinette and swoon until the muses inspire me - or I start at midnight, dressed all in black, chain-smoking those weird, little brown cigarettes - drinking absinthe until the creative juices overflow (or I pass out - whichever comes first).
Actually, sometimes I write in the morning. Sometimes it´s afternoon, and sometimes after 8pm at night. Sometimes I write for several hours, sometimes only two. It depends on what´s going on with the family, errands, laundry and whether or not I have to clean up cat vomit. That´s it. I know, you were looking for something more exciting, but that´s it. Sorry.
Until tomorrow,
Leslie
