One GREAT thing

Another rough week. Ky ate grapes which are incredibly toxic to dogs.  48 ours on IV to flush his kidneys, lots of drugs and time spent running between the emergency vet clinic and his regular vet.  Honestly, it's been a rough four weeks for pets around here.  The great news is that he not only survived but seems fully recovered. He also got over his aversion to being crated. As he typically destroys every crate/cage he's entered, this is a very good thing.  All of the human food has now been hung from the ceiling or cupboards like we're cacheing for bears.Whatever works.

I have a great reason for low word count this week. There wasn't a lot of sleep happening here until Friday.

Today, I printed off the document, settled on the couch with Ky under one hand and Eliot on the other.  With the race on in the background I fleshed out two scenes, about eight pages.  More importantly, I was able to see, and fix, the problem that's been staring me in the face for the last couple of weeks. Let's hope the solution lasts.  As the distraction is gone, I imagine productivity will return.

I've had to cancel my vacation and next week's kayaking tour of the harbor but listening to Ky breathe, feeling his soft fur beneath my fingers, even smelling the clinic smell on him makes it all worth it.  One look at the shaved forearms and I know how blessed I am to still have him in my life.

Grapes bad.
Emergency vet clinics very good.
End of story.

Sports writing

I'm not sure why I'm surprised to see my Twitter full of authors watching sports.  My first year of college, we were required to cover the local hockey team for the cable station.  First year students were cable runners.  I argued that I knew more about the sport than the guy on camera two.  He didn't know where the blue line was or why it was important. Aside from the fact that it's a giant line of blue painted right onto the ice, I was offended.  It took months for me to convince anyone that my point was valid. I showed up, pulled cables and discussed team strategy in the pre-game meeting. Because I had paid that much attention to the game, I was pretty good at anticipating what certain players would do with the puck once they got it.

Eventually, I challenged the guy on camera two (who went on to be a brilliant cameraman in LA so it was only hockey that failed him) to a quiz about the game. I managed to convince the teacher that IF I was  the winner, I could take over camera two. I won. Hands down. Then I set my sights on colour commentary.  Part of it was the challenge, part of it was true interest.  Of course, I ended up in the booth.  Feedback to the station was remarkably positive.  I say remarkable because my voice is not suited to on-air.  There was no disputing my knowledge.

None of that would be necessary today. Women have come a long way when it comes to sports broadcasts.  It was always ridiculous to assume gender had anything to do with knowledge in any field.

So why does it surprise me that so many romance authors love sports?  Few of them write them.  The bias still exists in publishing.  But I've been tweeting back and forth with a NASCAR team during the races lately and my head is spinning with a story idea as a result.That tends to happen no matter what subject I'm interested in - stories are everywhere. It doesn't mean that I'll do anything with that idea. Although...I do have NASCAR story started in the older files on my computer.

How do you feel about sports in romance novels?

Cars going through inspection at Indy 2013