The next question seems to be whether or not Harlequin will actually pay attention, or just keep digging....
Steve Taylor #55: OK, that "flight of fancy" was cute... and a good warning for writers!
xeger #177, and all those with vari-colored soups: The old MIT slang was "rainbow snarf". I saw a fair bit of that at the Harvard co-ops, too.
The idea that the parent company was the driver on this makes sense. I suspect somebody up in the bozosphere there went from "why shouldn't we get some of the profits from the vanity market" to "... and we'll get synergy by linking it to our established brand!" But not being actually involved in the romance-publishing business (aside from owning it), they failed to realize that it does matter how you handle these things, and that there was a damn good reason why Random House hadn't tried to exploit that "synergy" with Xlibris.
So instead, they (1) get dysergy instead of synergy, (2) shack up with an outfit that's well known as sleazeballs... and (3) may well kill their original brand altogether.
If they'd started off with a proper "Chinese wall" like Random House, they wouldn't be in this fix (but would Author Solutions have accepted that?). Now, I suspect they'll need to dump the whole deal ASAP if they want to salvage anything at all.
Newsweek isn't taking her too seriously either.
Serge #160: I concur: "Beginning?" Not the first time, you've even gotten me going on occasion!
Velma #124: I am feeling oddly flat much of the time.
Um, that would be exhaustion! Try to get some sleep when you can, and once he's home, do your best to recharge.
I'm still wishing you the best.
SylvieG @7: My condolences. My cat is around 15 years old, and I'm dreading the time when she passes. All I can say is that as with humans, your pets live on in your heart, and so you are more for having known them.
Whew. I'm wishing strength to both of you.
Dammit, not again! I don't have anybody to pray to these days, but I do hope things work out for the best.
Paula Lieberman #830: Indeed, those are the main issues why I just went to Bed Bath & Beyond for a kitchen scale, and bought a bunch of other kitchen stuff while I was there (bamboo cutting boards, mixing bowls, measuring cups). I didn't even consider the "gourmet" or specialist type stores, much less hunting through downtown C-ville. This despite the sensory overload I always get in big-box stores -- at least I could find what I wanted quickly! And being able to look up online what scales BB+B had was also a major plus....
Nicole: My sympathies and well-wishes for Null's recovery. That said, it sounds like his accident may have been a "Black Swan" type, something that can't really be predicted. I know I've* nearly-sprained an ankle just by stepping on it "wrong", with no warning (and my ankles are normally pretty strong).
The big thing to realize is that "training" an uncooperative creature without having to hurt it, is very dependent on having a strong power imbalance on your side. Infants, dogs, cats, and older kids, are all dependent on you, and you likewise control their environment (both roughly in that order). F'rex, the reason I can call my cat back from the front yard is because she knows that if I have to, I'll go out and pick her up and carry her in. (Despite having an abundance of claws, she's too old and lazy to argue with that -- and way too dependent to run away!)
Compare to the difficulty of arguing "territory" with a raccoon, which is strong, smart, and independent -- and worse, it has its own environment to retreat to.
Lee #683: Amen! (so to speak. ;-) )
My own open-threadiness: Today I baked my first loaf of bread in some 15 years! (Not counting a brief fling with a bread machine. Not the same!)
It came out edible, though not perfect -- looks (and tastes) like I didn't put enough salt in. Well, that's one reason I only did one loaf for starters (also, I only had one pound of flour on hand ;-) ). This begins my getting in practice for Thanksgiving, as I've been requested to provide fresh bread for the family's dinner.
Terry Karney #651, Abi #657, et al: ISTR from my brief scan that they did in fact make a distinction between, , "a character happens to be black" vs. black-fetishizing being the point of the story. I also recall that the phrasing suggested that the list was in (excessively-)specific response to people posting stories that she considered kinky.
I agree that the attempt at an exhaustive list of kink is futile and pretty silly (heresiarch #656 FTW there), but I felt a bit sorry for her, trying to build a forum to her tastes and not getting any takers, eventually being frustrated to near-madness.... ;-)
The real lesson is that nobody wins at rules-lawyering! Given the blog deletion, I'd guess she in fact gave up in the end.
Terry #635: abi #638:
Hey, "wha"t's the problem? This guy wants to make a place for basic vanilla slash -- it's right there in his page title -- I just think it's sad that he's gotten so little comprehension (or co-operation) that he's had to start listing fetishes and kinks to define their absence.
Marilee #621: I noticed and complained to them after I posted. Mom's given name is properly spelled "Etta".
An amusing web gizmo to provide some encouragement, and I don't see it posted yet:
Write Or Die!
Wesley #599: Cool, and congratulations! As it happens, I just got back from a reception for my Mom's first "official" showing (with four other artists), at the McGuffey Art Center. ("The Land Below -- Aerial Views" is her series.) She's been both painting up a storm, and working her way into the local "scene", since she moved down here, and it looks like that's starting to bear fruit.
heresiarch #587: What a strange, insane mix of grumpy grandpa-ism and adulation of self-annihilation.
Yeah...
Craig R. #590: He's just a wanker
That too! I mean, I actually read through the article, and that's 5 minutes of my life I'm not gonna get back! Really, I have trouble taking him seriously. I think the CO response is about right -- getting called "Mr. Tight-'Tocks Crankypants" is all the attention he really deserves.
But then, I've previously revealed that I use The Qte for a mental health supplement. ;-)
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