Hump day update.

The week started off with a bang. Easter Dinner with the family was good, but it was also the last goodbye for my parents’ dog Max. He was an English Mastiff who got sick with the whole dog food fiasco last year. He hung on long and was still in good spirits when they put him down. He was such a mush and I’ll miss him.

Jericho’s last episode was last night. It was a decent way to finish off the show, though I have a feeling they had planned to have a revolution as part of the third season. Ah well, we’ll never know what the writers had in mind, but I’m sure it would have been good. I always seem to be drawn to the shows that only last a season or two, instead of, say Gray’s Anatomy or Desperate Housewives. No, I go for Roswell and Jericho where food has been used to help bring the show back by the fans. Well, the fans continued to watch, but no one else did. Ah well.

I’m thinking, right now, David Cook is the guy to beat right now on American Idol. He was great last night. Actually, I didn’t really like the very beginning of Billie Jean, but then it was just amazing. Of course, I went online right after and found Chris Cornell’s version. Cornell’s version was more bluesy whereas Cook’s had a rockier edge toward the end. He’s a much better singer than Daugherty. Not sure why everyone’s comparing them. I must say that I like Brooke. She’s very sweet and pretty and nice, but she’s very very good when she’s behind that piano. Jason Castro needs to get off the stool. He can play the guitar if he wants, I don’t have an issue with that. But that song he sang last night was too upbeat for him to be sitting the whole time.

Eh, we’ll see what happens in a few weeks. All the little girls watching will probably try and make David Archeletta (sp) win…bleh. Though, I do like the little comment from Simon about his song choice. Apparently David’s father picked the song. It was interesting to say the least, but it just felt like I was being preached to in church with that version…

BOOK REVIEW!

I finally finished the first Harry Bosch book, The Black Echo by Michael Connelly.

Harry Bosch is a great detective but he doesn’t like playing by the rules or conforming to the LAPD family clique. When he’s called in on a homicide and learns the victim is someone he knew during the Vietnam war, Bosch delves head first into the investigation. With IAD on his ass, Bosch goes to the FBI after realizing the victim might have ties to an earlier bank heist. He’s pulled into a deadly game of cat and mouse, not only with his own department, but a killer who seems to know Bosch’s every move.

All in all, I was kinda disappointed and I’ll tell you why.

The first two Connelly books I read were (at publication time) stand alone books with different characters than his series books (which I hadn’t previously read). Loved both The Lincoln Lawyer and The Poet. The plots were great, character real and gritty, the writing wonderful. This, being one of his earlier books, is probably the reason I didn’t enjoy it as much. He seems to be a writer that learns the more he writes rather than becoming sloppy and lazy like some authors I’ve read. I did notice a similar sub plot with the male-female lead characters in Echo and Poet. And, I saw most of the “bad guys” coming in Echo.

The last thirty pages of the book were great. The first 300+ kept my attention, but I wasn’t as pulled into the story like the other two books. Again, I think it has to do with it being an early book, etc. and it took me a while to finish it as well. I only read it at lunch during work and not on the weekends, which is a long time for me. I’m a mass consumer when it comes to books. Usually when I start reading something I’m really into, I finish it ASAP.

I do enjoy Connelly’s writing, so I think I’ll give Bosch a second chance.

Next on my to read list is Irene Peterson’s Glory Days then Jordan Dane’s No One Heard Her Scream. I
haven’t bought the second one yet because BN didn’t have it at either store I went to yesterday. So, I’ll pick it up this weekend or buy it online.

My ex-roomie and I watched so many depressing movies last weekend. I Am Legend, Atonement, and Becoming Jane. This kinda goes back to those old days when we’d rent 3 or 4 movies and at least two of them had one actor in common. This was James McAvoy’s turn. Ex-roomie and I first noticed him in the Sci-Fi channel’s Children of Dune. He played Leto. He was hot. Well, still is and he’s becoming a great actor. He fits nicely into those period piece movies be it the 70’s or 1700’s. He’s just that good.

I’m dying to see him and Angie in that new hit man movie coming out in May.

I wasn’t too happy with Legend, though, I must saw Will Smith looked phenomenal when he was doing those pull ups. OMG. Yummy. The ending was stupid and that ruined the whole movie for me. Seriously, the end is the make or break of an OK movie, which this was.

Becoming Jane was sad. Unrequited love is one thing. Requited love and unable to get it is just tragic. Anne Hathaway is wonderful, as always, and I enjoyed the movie for the most part. A sad ending, but at least it was a good ending.

Atonement was a good movie too, but then, toward the end it just veered off and didn’t seem to fit. I didn’t like the back and forth time flashback things. 6 years later. Then five minutes after that, 3 weeks earlier. Bleh. That was annoying….

I don’t know if I mentioned watching Enchanted, but that movie was fantastic!! I loved the whole damn thing, beginning to end. My brother, of course, figured out the whole plot within the first ten minutes of the movie. Which is kinda sad, it just shows how many Disney princess movies he’s memorized. LOL. Granted, half of that is my sister’s fault. Little Mermaid was an almost 24/7 thing in our house when she was a kid. Which might explain why she thinks she’s a princess now…

I’m not really in the mood to talk about politics right now, so I won’t.

I haven’t sent out any new query letters this week, but here’s the update.

Queries sent: 73
Rejections: 31
Partial Requests: 8
Partials Rejected: 5

I only have three partials out there right now, so I better get a move on. I know I don’t need an agent to get my foot in the door with large publishers. There are quite a few out there who will read queries and chapters from the slush pile. I might end up doing that at the end of April if I don’t find an interested agent.

My big problem with that is…Once I get a bigger publisher to accept my work (AND THEY WILL! HAHAH), it’s smart to have an agent watching your back. But then, if I do get an agent after the fact: 1. I’ve already done the hard work of finding a publisher. 2. How do I know they really like my work and not just my royalties?

I’m sure if I submitted to Dorchester or Kensington and got a deal of some type the first agent I told this to would jump on the chance to “represent” me. Maybe I’m wrong. I hope, but it would be simple work for them. No query letters to publishers. No phone calls or lunch dates or emails saying “I have this great manuscript.” No. I would have already done all that. They’ve review the contract for me (which could be done by a lawyer anyway), take their commission and be done with it.

I want to find an agent that likes my work. Yeah, yeah, like a needle in a mountain sized haystack right? Well, I have a little more time before I start querying editors at publishing companies.