Today’s winner of the Dirty Little Lies Week Giveaway is: PAM. Pam please email me your address and I’ll get you your prize. As for the rest of you, leave your comments here to be entered into tomorrow’s giveaway of this fabulous new release!
In other news. Today is also a doubly important date: it’s Sailor Boy’s Birthday, AND the day I turn in Secret Society Girl 2. Happy Birthday, Sailor Boy! I love his birthday, because it means the start to the part of the year where we are the same age. Yes, I’m petty like that.
So, yesterday, I went over to Panera to grab a sandwich. I was bundled up in my iPod, as usual, and so I didn’t notice at first that the man in front of me in line was screaming at the attendant that he was going to call the police. Apparently, he’d left his laptop on one of the tables in the restaurant, and it was stolen. Finally, the manager came over and took the man aside, where he continued his tirade. The manager was all, “Well, we take no responsibility for items left on tables. But sure, go ahead and call the police.” The weird part about it was that the shape of the man’s threats were such that he seemed to be saying that if the manager failed to produce the laptop like, right now, he’d be having HIM arrested for the theft.
So anyway, I’m standing there, with my scratched, year and a half old, clip-broken off iPod, and this other dude comes up to me and says, “Nice iPod. I just bought one like that.”
Me: “Cool.”
Him: “But it was stolen here yesterday.”
Me: (holding iPod closer to my body) “Wow, really?”
Him: “Yeah. I was downloading music and I left it plugged in and someone took it right off the table.”
Me: (thinking: his iPod was stolen off the table, but not the computer he plugged it into? And what is with people leaving their electronics lying around? I point to Mr. I’m-Calling-the-Police.) “You should talk to that guy. He just had his computer stolen off the table here too.”
Him: (looks at guy. dismisses him. turns back to me.) “Really?”
Me: “Yes, really. Maybe it was the same person. He’s calling the police right now. You should talk to him. Oh look, you’re up next.”
Seriously, though, was that guy insinuating that I’d stolen his iPod because I happened to be standing there with an iPod? Like they’re rare or something? Everyone in the place had one! You know, at the time, it didn’t occur to me that that was what he was getting at until he totally didn’t seem to care about a fellow victim and just wanted to talk about how his iPod had been stolen.
The reason why it didn’t occur to me that he was accusing me was because the state of my iPod is so totally not “brand new” and also, they don’t even MAKE my model of iPod anymore and haven’t for the last year (it’s an iPod photo, which was replaced by the iPod video). So I couldn’t take seriously the idea that he’d have a valid claim against a person who happened to be standing in line at the busy downtown Panera wearing an outdated iPod which features, among it’s thousands of tracks, the audio books of the entire Chronicles of Narnia series, not to mention Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Peter and the Shadow Thieves. I mean, that shit takes at least a day to upload. And everyone else in the store had an iPod too. And why did he think my iPod was “like his?” I totally can’t tell iPod model on sight, other than the obvious full size/mini/shuffle thing.
But I digress. The point is, don’t leave your electronics lying around in coffeeshops, and definitely don’t do it at my local Panera, because it’s apparently lift-a-laptop central over there.
PS: In passing, I’m going over some notes that my critique partners have left about SSG2. BOTH, in one particular scene, ask me “How long has passed? A few days? A few weeks?” I’m not exactly sure how to handle this. Usually, I’d add in something to the effect of “A few weeks later…” but that won’t really work here. Why? Because the scene STARTS as follows: “The next few weeks passed…” How much more explicit can I get? How is it that they both missed this? We writers spend so much time thinking about our first and last lines, and people skip right over them…
August 31st, 2006 at 7:48 am
Diana!
Now that I’m done with my back-to-back deadlines, I had time to read your book and I LOVED it! Just wanted to let you know…
Congrats on finishing the sequel!
Lauren
August 31st, 2006 at 7:50 am
Congratulations, Pam.
Happy Birthday, Sailor Boy!
And woo hoo Diana on turning in SSG 2 today
August 31st, 2006 at 7:54 am
Congrats on turning in Secret Society Girl 2! Happy birthday Sailor Boy!
August 31st, 2006 at 8:28 am
Congratulations, Pam!!
Diana, big YAY on turning in SSG2 today!! Does this mean you’re off your book diet now?
A Happy Birthday to Sailor Boy! Make sure to spoil him rotten!
August 31st, 2006 at 8:30 am
Diana,
Thanks, you just made my day!
And congrats on finishing book 2.
August 31st, 2006 at 8:32 am
perhaps you just have that shifty thief look about you *snicker*
Happy Birthday Sailor Boy!
congrats Pam!
Congrats on turning in SSG2! Does it have a title yet? hmmmmm?
August 31st, 2006 at 8:39 am
Happy Birthday to Sailor Boy!
August 31st, 2006 at 8:47 am
Weird stuff at your Paneras. I do think people develop a false sense of security when they frequent a place. An ipod is probably easy to pick up and conceal, but it takes a nervy theif to walk out the door with a laptop. Irate customer #1 was being a jerk, but probably was still in the throes of denial. Annoying customer #2 there’s not excuse for.
Re your “several weeks later” issue, I think sometimes you do have to hit readers over the head with the passage of time — that and location, too. So often I am taken out of a story because I get confused about when and where the protagonist is and have to go back a few pages and figure it out.
Huge congrats on turning in SSG2, and happy brithday to SB.
August 31st, 2006 at 8:48 am
Gawd, could I possibly have made more typos in my post?
August 31st, 2006 at 8:59 am
Looking at your picture again you do have a very wily and deviant look about you. I can certainly see why you of all people would be singled out as the theif.
Congrats on getting the second book submitted and a big Happy Birhtday your Salior Boy!!!
August 31st, 2006 at 9:05 am
OMG, Diana, that’s nuts. Sounds a little like what happened to us. ‘Santa’ brought my oldest daughter an iPod for Christmas last year. ‘He’ had Rinkie-Dinkie Princess Girl engraved on the back. Ummm…her nick-name we gave her the day she was born. This summer (note the passage of time. LOL) she was playing a basketball game in another city and dropped her iPod in the parking lot. A car ran over it and totally smashed it. My hubby arrived late, saw it and brought it into the gym. Welp, some girl on the other team said it was hers. Accused my hubby of taking it out of her parent’s car. Mind you, hubby is 6′8″ and most grown men don’t stand up to him. So this little chick-a-boo had her parents confront him. Call him a thief. Her team was losing and this was halftime. There was a big crazy scene wiith the game refs involved, and my hubby finally said, “You want this trash, here you go Rinkie-Dinkie Princess Girl. Oh, wait, that’s my daughter’s name.” Everyone smirked and laughed at her. They ended up losing 68-31.
Happy Birthday to Sailor Boy!
Congrats Pam!
The passage of time is a hard one. If you’ve already got it…? Weird that they both skimmed right over it and didn’t catch it. Sometimes to keep a scene grounded with both place and time (if time has lasped or location has changed), I’ll use it more than once, but in a very brief way. Possibly a quick thought, or relating it to something else, or a reference in dialog
Congrats on getting finished, BTW.
August 31st, 2006 at 9:16 am
Grrr… of all days for my email server to go down.
August 31st, 2006 at 9:32 am
>>How much more explicit can I get? How is it that they both missed this? We writers spend so much time thinking about our first and last lines, and people skip right over them…< <
Ummm…did I miss that? That’s not like me. But, in my defense, I have to say that this story is so @#$%^&* riveting that I’m eating it like a piece of double-layered chocolate cake. Honestly, poeople. This book (SSG2) is going to make SSG look like “See Spot Run.” LOL!!! Heart palpitations, chest pains and gut punches. They’re all in there.
August 31st, 2006 at 9:37 am
Don’t you love turn-in day? First of all, you have the pleasure of meeting a deadline–a total gold star moment. Second, you have the even greater pleasure of getting to cross that finish line and collapse. Hope you’re planning at least a few days of total indulgence and pampering–you deserve it!
HB to SB.
August 31st, 2006 at 10:07 am
interesting ipod story. people can be so strange at coffee houses. i love to go and write there but am almost always approached by someone a little odd. Last guy was absolutely fascinated by my little word processor. Go Figure!
August 31st, 2006 at 10:14 am
Funny story, Diana. People are so strange. Happy Birthday to Sailor Boy and congrats on finishing the book. Can’t wait to read #2!
August 31st, 2006 at 11:05 am
Congrats, Pam!!!
Happy birthday to Sailor Boy!!!
Hooray for it being turn-in day for SSG2!!!
As for the weirdos at Panera… well, I think weirdos says it all.
(And could I have used many more exclamation points? Sheesh.)
August 31st, 2006 at 11:28 am
Happy Birthday to Sailor Boy. I’ll be celebrating along with you since it’s my birthday as well! *g*
August 31st, 2006 at 11:32 am
I’m sorry, but if you’re enough of a dumbass to leave your ipod or laptop unattended in busy cafe/restaurant, you deserve to have it stolen. And Diana, I bet the weirdo was trying to pick you up
I have a confession - I’ve read and enjoyed several of Julie’s Blaze books, but I hesitated about the Dirty series, and here’s why - I’m such a strict romance reader, I really shy away from books that aren’t strictly romance and don’t guarantee HEA. Yes, I know it’s closed-minded, but what can I say, I like the familiar. However, I did read SSG and LOVED it - thought it was such a blast, but i admit I would not have bought it had I not been a regular blog visitor.
Having learned my lesson that books that don’t guarantee HEA can be fun too, I think I’m ready to get DIRTY. You’ve sold me, Diana.
August 31st, 2006 at 11:55 am
Gah! It’s so not fair that Marley makes me want to read SSG2 RIGHTNOWRIGHTNOWRIGHTNOW!
August 31st, 2006 at 11:58 am
Hey, Diana, congrats on SSG2 and Happy Birthday to Sailor Boy (a fellow Virgo!).
I’m with Jami; I think he was trying to pick you up.
I read an article recently, can’t remember where I got it, but it talked about these cables you can get for when you take your laptop to a public place. It can’t be cut (or not easily and quickly) and it anchors your electronics just like they do in electronics stores. I’m not much of a sit in Starbucks and type kind of person, but I thought about getting one just in case. 
August 31st, 2006 at 12:21 pm
Jami, you should totally read the Dirty books. They are muy caliente.
Annie, No Wright, No Wright? Huh?
Lynn, where do you anchor the cable TO? I take my laptop to coffee shops, but I keep my hands on it at all times. If I get up, I take it with me.
August 31st, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Wow - congrats on getting the book shipped off - what a load off! And happy birthday to Sailor Boy - so glad you now have time to celebrate with him!
August 31st, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Rule of three, girl. You gotta tell us dumbarse readers three times that way we’ll manage to see it at least once.
August 31st, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Happy birthday Sailor Boy!
August 31st, 2006 at 2:04 pm
Now you made me go search for it. I couldn’t find the article, but here’s a site that features several cable locks. You would wrap it around the table, most likely, or to some other stationary object. I realize someone could take a tiny Starbucks table with them, but not if all you’re doing is getting up to get a refill.
August 31st, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Hurray for SSG2!! Can I beg (or borrow, or if necessary steal) an ARC? In return I will don the green eyeshade and do my best to certify it error-free (or at least call attention to the Old French spelling arabesques!).
August 31st, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Congrats Diana!!!!
I leave stuff on coffee shop tables often (to pee, to get refills) but NEVER electronics. (and never my wallet)
I figure if someone wants my sweaty gym clothes or the manuscript pages I’m editing, or maybe a notebook, they can have it.
Not that it wouldn’t piss me off or set me back a few hours to lose that stuff… But I guess I value losing the table over losing some paper. My palm on the other hand? Or my laptop or ipod? I take those with me, for sure!
Have fun celebrating deadline day and Sailor Boy’s birthday!
August 31st, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Happy Birthday Sailor Boy!!!!
Congrats Pam!!!!!
August 31st, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Happy Birthday SB! Many Happy Returns.
I just hate it when I’ve put something in my WIP and my CP or DD or a beta reader misses it. Sometimes just changing the syntax of the sentence makes it work, or sometimes making the time passage reference bigger. “It takes about four months for a tadpole to become a frog, but it only took a quarter of that time for me to realize…” (of course you know I’d never use that line…heh heh).
BTW, I had to look up Panera. I’m thinking there it is again, another word you don’t know… (I’d had to look up lycanthropy after reading ALGs blog so I’m feeling particularly illiterate today). Fortunately, it turns out we don’t have Paneras on the left coast. We have Panaderias here.
August 31st, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Happy Birthday Sailor boy! Hope you had a great day and your evening is even better.
Congratulations, Pam!
And a big congratulations to you, too, Diana!!
August 31st, 2006 at 8:44 pm
Congrats on finishing, Diana!
Jami, you totally should read DLS. I’m a romance preferer, myself, but that one had enough for me.
Renee, geez, louise, about those people!
Re: the time passage–maybe if it’s slightly further into the sentence or paragraph somehow, it won’t be so easily skipped over by readers who read too fast?
August 31st, 2006 at 9:04 pm
Yikes, I would never dare to leave anything of value unattended in a coffee shop.
And not for nothing, but that guy accusing you is weird. I would never approach a stranger and accuse them of stealing something.
It’s too bad you couldn’t take a page from that cell phone comercial where the guy says it is a theft deterrent and tells his friend to go ahead and try to steal it…then he hums it at his head and clocks him. LOL!!! Now that would have been funny.
August 31st, 2006 at 9:06 pm
I just realized I forgot to sign my last post…. Sorry
Kelly
August 31st, 2006 at 10:47 pm
I loved Dirty Little Secrets, so LIES has to be awesome! Can’t wait to read it! - Shannon
August 31st, 2006 at 11:33 pm
Happy Birthday, Sailor Boy and larramie!
Congrats Pam.
August 31st, 2006 at 11:44 pm
Congrats on finishing and subbing SSG2 and happy birthday to Sailor Boy!
Congrats to Pam :o)
Hope you won’t get accosted again at the coffee shop over your ipod. That’s just weird!
September 3rd, 2006 at 6:15 am
Congratulations, Pam!