ROMANCING THE BLOG!

Recently, I was invited to be one of the regular rotating columnists on the new Web site Romancing the Blog, which officially launched on January 25, 2005.

Romancing the Blog has already recruited nearly thirty columnists, ranging from the insightful to those "a bit ranty," and the entire premise looks as though it will prove not only informative and provocative, but also a great deal of fun. Authors, reviewers, aspiring writers, and readers...Romancing the Blog promises to have it all---and to keep us apprized of where the romance genre is headed in the future.

Although my own first column won't appear until the middle of February, I've already written it, in order to get it finished and out of the way, since I've got rather a full schedule at the moment. I have no idea how the post will be received, so I let my husband, John, read it. Afterward, he said, "Well, it's you, and it's true."

I confess I didn't know whether I should take that as a compliment or not! *g*

So I'll just have to wait and see what others think. At any rate, being a part of something like Romancing the Blog will be a new experience for me and one I hope I'll enjoy.

I also hope you'll take the time to drop by, read the columns there, and, if so inclined, post a comment. There are already quite a number of lively discussions taking place, and because of the diversity of the columnists, I think there'll be something for everyone.

Have fun!

ON BEING A GUINEA PIG...

Last week, I became a human guinea pig by agreeing to be a test subject for a new drug that may help people with fibromyalgia. Naturally, because this is a new drug, my family is rather worried about me taking part in this clinical trial, since at this point, no one knows: (1) whether or not this new drug will even treat fibromyalgia, and (2) what its long-term side-effects might be, either way.

So, why did I agree to be one of the test subjects? Mainly because I live with pain and fatigue on a daily basis---both of which are immeasurably worsened by stress---and like all people with an illness, I would like to get well and to help others with my illness get well, too. For one thing, constant pain and fatigue make it difficult for me to concentrate on writing and to work for long periods at a time---and many of my friends with fibromyalgia can't work at all (the "lucky" ones are receiving disability benefits).

This isn't the first time I've tried a new drug for fibromyalgia---although it is the first time I've tried one that wasn't yet even on the market. But since many of the drugs I have tried in the past are now under federal scrutiny for causing heart attacks, strokes, and other undesirable side-effects, I know that just because a drug actually is on the market doesn't necessarily mean it's safe.

Since the clinical trial I'm taking part in is a double-blind study, none of us knows who has got the genuine medicine and who has got the placebos. Only time will tell. So far, I haven't seen any change in my physical condition. So, either: (1) the genuine medicine is not working for me, or (2) I'm taking a placebo and not subject to the euphoria that sometimes results when you only think you are getting a genuine medicine that will help you.

At any rate, for obvious reasons, I've been thinking quite a bit about guinea pigs lately, and I've reached the conclusion that perhaps I've always been a guinea pig...that all creative artists are, in some fashion, guinea pigs taking part in ongoing experiments. Every time we write a book, paint a painting, record a song, star in a movie, etc., we never know what the outcome is going to be---whether critics and the public are going to like or loathe the finished product, whether what we have produced will be judged a success or a failure.

In concert with all this, I've also thought a great deal about the period right after I sold my first novel. I was teaching interpersonal communication at the university level then, and one day, one of my friends and colleagues dropped by my office to congratulate me on selling my first book. Much to my surprise, one of the things he said was how much he admired my courage. I was puzzled by the comment---until he explained that he believed that one needed a lot of guts to put something out there for the whole world to read and critique, that one needed a lot of guts to be willing to take the chance that while one's work might well be a wonderful public triumph, it might also be a disastrous public flop.

To be honest, like many writers, I never even considered that while writing my first novel. I simply wrote for myself---a story I wanted to tell. It was only after the book was actually published and the reviews and reader reaction began to come in that I fully grasped what my friend and colleague had been trying to tell me: I had embarked on a career that would, in many respects, be very similar to the clinical trial in which I am now taking part---and whose outcome (good or bad) I would never be able to predict.

Now, I understand that this is something that we who are creative artists simply accept and live with on a daily basis. Do we consciously think of ourselves as guinea pigs? No, I doubt it. I know I never did before. But now, I realize that is exactly what we are.

I'm taking part in the clinical trial because I want to help myself and I want to help others with fibromyalgia. I write because I like to entertain myself with stories and I like to entertain others with stories, as well. Maybe this new drug won't help me or anybody else, either. Maybe my stories won't entertain me or anybody else, either.

But being a guinea pig, that's a risk I'm willing to take. I don't know if that makes me courageous, as my friend and colleague once said, or just plain foolish.

But that, too, is a risk I'm willing to take.

ICY RECEPTIONS.

This past week, Kansas got hit with one of the worst ice storms in its history. It didn't, of course, even begin to compare to the tsunami that struck southeast Asia or the flooding that inundated Europe. But still, it was a deadly weather phenomenon, knocking out power for over 50,000 Wichitans---my folks included. My husband, John; son, Shane; and I were lucky---we lost our own power for only a couple of hours. But my folks lost theirs for a couple of days and were compelled to come to our own house for warmth. As a result, I wondered how other elderly people (my folks are in their seventies) were faring and what, if anything, was being done to help them.

Fauna and flora suffered, too. Animals froze to death, and so many trees were downed from the weight of the ice that the damage to the region has been estimated to run over $10 million. Our Chinese Pistache tree lost a huge branch, which fell on our roof, and the only reason it didn't cave in our roof was that John's ham-radio antenna broke its fall (the antenna was totally crushed, however). The entire top came off one of our pinoaks and toppled into our pond. Large branches on other trees, such as our rowan, were split, and had to be sawn off for safety. We still have a lot of clean-up to do.

Speaking of icy receptions, Kansas wasn't the only one getting one lately. Jon Stewart's bestselling book AMERICA (THE BOOK) was recently given the cold shoulder by Mississippi county libraries, who banned the satirical textbook for its superimposing the faces of the U.S. Supreme Court justices on naked bodies. Readers are asked to match the nine robe cutouts on the facing page to each justice "to restore their dignity."

Whether or not one agrees with Stewart's own brand of humor, book banning is never a good idea, since, among other things, it means that only a few individuals who stock bookstores, libraries, and other book outlets are making decisions for the public at large about what they can and cannot read. Personally, as an adult, I like to do my own thinking and make my own choices. If a book offends me, I can choose not to buy, read, or otherwise support it, and everyone else is also free to do the same. So, although these librarians may be well intentioned when it comes to Stewart's book, perhaps they ought to be taking a good, hard look at Ray Bradbury's classic and still-chilling FAHRENHEIT 451 instead.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, I didn't intend to be away from my blog for so many days! But life, stress, pain, and the holidays decreed otherwise, unfortunately. I hope you all had happy holidays and are looking forward to a prosperous new year!

One of the gifts I received this year for Christmas was THE SIMS2. My husband, John, gave it to me---a trifle early, so that I would have something with which to occupy myself while laid up in bed, due to my suffering very badly from my fibromyalgia. I enjoy playing computer games and, having often played THE SIMS, was looking forward to THE SIMS2. It didn't disappoint, and I have had a great deal of fun building my first house in the new game.

The front of my first SIMS2 house:



The back of my first SIMS2 house:



A closeup of my house's summerhouse in the backyard:



One of the benefits I receive from building SIM houses is that they enable me to actually produce 3-D models of many of the houses I write about in my novels. This particular SIM house (built on a 5X5 lot), for example, is a manor house in THE CRYSTAL ROSE, the book I'm currently writing for MIRA Books, and which will be published in 2006. In my novel, it's called Drayton Hall, and it sits on Dartmoor.

I also make SIM people who are actually characters from my novels. Sometimes, in the game, they do things differently from the way I had originally envisioned they would behave, and I make changes in my books as a result.

I don't know any other writers who play THE SIMS or THE SIMS2. But for me, it's not just a game; it's one of my favorite writing tools!

Happy New Year!