Here's an interesting article about the difficulties inherent in attempting to write sex scenes. Specifically, good sex scenes, the ones that don't pull the reader out of the story because he or she is too busy guffawing. Apparently, there is an annual award for the worst of the worst: the Literary Review's Bad Sex award.While these nominations ( Read more... )

I'm preoccupied with reading and writing. I've been reading several different books, depending on my location: the third in the Botswana series by Alexander Smith (Morality for Beautiful Girls), a trashy romance novel I'm too embarrassed to even mention, and I'm also reading kijjohnson's next novel in draft, Kylen: The Moveable City. Oh, what fun! I'm ( Read more... )

Happy birthday to my best friend, kijjohnson. And look! I got you the BEST PRESENT EVAH! A shiny new President!

Saw kijjohnson this morning, who has spent the past two weeks in Rice Lake, Wisconsin with her parents, to help out since her mother suffered an injury. She came to town and stayed with her brother last night, and then met me for breakfast on her way to the airport to fly back to Seattle. She looks great, as usual. We talked about the book she's working on ( Read more... )

arian1 updates here that it turns out it's the tibia, and not the fibula as Kij said when we spoke previously. This is good news, as apparently it means a smaller cast, but she still has a long recovery ahead of her. She's heading home (after groceries), so watch for updates on her own journal.

Edited to add: Nope, Kij says it's the fibula. She's ( Read more... )

My dear friend kijjohnson broke her leg climbing last night. She called me from the hospital but had to cut the call off as she is still dealing with being at the hospital. It's her fibula, near the knee, and she has a sprained ankle as well. She's going to need a full leg cast. She was worried because her gym just replaced the pea gravel with mats, which ( Read more... )

See what I received in the mail yesterday!

(For those not familiar with this custom between kijjohnson and me, read the entries tagged "Friendship Ball ( Read more... )

(kijjohnson, this one's for you.)

kijjohnson turned me onto this song, and I like it a lot. It captures what it's like to be a decent person working at a soul-sucking job while dreaming of a better life. In fact, I find it downright endearing. It's surprisingly touching; listen to it/download it here.

( Here are the lyrics )

Here is her account of our day together. I am particularly smug about the coat we found for her, reversable acid green/forest green double-breasted, pea jacket style. It looks stunning on her ( Read more... )

but last night, I was seized by an overwhelming feeling of, 'I'm so goddamned tired of being the grownup ( Read more... )