A Slice of Orange

By Cait London

I’ve just interviewed Neil Olafson, Marcus and Owen Shaw, all jean-wearing hero-protagonists. Matched with psychic triplets, Claire, Tempest and Leona, respectively, in AT THE EDGE, A STRANGER’S TOUCH and FOR HER EYES ONLY, these men do wear their jeans right; they are also connected within the trilogy. The trilogy’s story arc concluded with FOR HER EYES ONLY and is a perfect time for a masculine-style roundup:

Setting: Owen Shaw’s Lexington Kentucky horse ranch. At sunset, we’re sitting on the spacious remodeled front porch of his home, overlooking fields of Kentucky bluegrass. There are six pairs of men’s work boots with a whole lot of blue-jean covered legs attached to them resting on the railing in front of the men. At a strategic point (where I can enjoy the visual buffet), I begin the interview:

Cait: Thank you in advance for agreeing to this interview. If at any point you’re uncomfortable, please let me know.

Neil: Glad to help.
Owen: (Nods in agreement)
Marcus (smiling) : Just keep it clean.

Cait: Agreed. Let’s start with this: I was really disappointed in the latest Indiana Jones movie, rather Harrison Ford’s trousers, his khakies, whatever. In previous movies, the leg cut seemed wider, more masculine. Everyone has aged a bit, but the closer trim of his pants leg didn’t appeal to me. I can’t remember the waistband on the others, but I don’t think the pleated-waistband look suited him as well either. Any comments?

Neil (a Montana workman, who builds “teardrop” custommade campers) : He should have worn jeans. They’re durable. You can wipe your knife blade on them and not worry about damaging them. A man always wipes his knife on his pants. I wear carpenter jeans sometimes. Looser fit…place to hang the hammer on the leg. But then, I wear bib overalls, too, and coveralls.

Cait: Good thought, and btw, I know that knife is used for absolutely everything. Let’s expand the difference between bib overalls and coveralls, something you zip up—you evidently do not need to wear jeans or other pants beneath the bib overalls, but coveralls…do you wear other pants beneath them?
Owen (smiling indulgently. He’s in investments and flips real estate): Cait, that’s like asking a man if he shaves before showering or after. Coveralls are just good…cover, protecting your other clothing. They’re a little warmer in hard winter or in bad wind chill conditions. You wear khakies in cold weather and you’ll freeze your—sorry—off.

Cait (laughing): Oh, I can follow that thought. But I like where this dialogue is going. Now ‘worn’ jeans, stonewashed, bleached, blue jeans, denims, wider leg, denim washed, what kind of jeans, belt or no belt, cuff or no cuff, pressed to a knife point or not? Let’s freewheel this. Inquiring minds want to know.

Owen (nods): Okay, since you asked…. I’m opposed to that lightweight denim stuff that’s okay for women. Decorative patches are okay for women, too. In fact, I like them, if they’re in the right place, emphasizes the sway of their hips. If you have a good pair of Levi’s® or heavy duty denim, you can wear it until the knees give out. Then you can cut them off for swimming.

Neil: As a single guy on the prowl, I ironed my jeans for a night out. The rest of the time, I just shook them out good, smoothed them, and folded. A man should always have a good stack of folded, clean jeans. Women seemed to go for the sun-scent, not the fabric dryer stuff. I’m not much into men’s scents, but I always hang my jeans on the line—well, sometimes they freeze stiff in Montana’s winter.

Owen: Agreed. Some guys don’t know where to quit on scents. I ironed my jeans and shirts, too. Times were tough early on, and I learned a lot of iron-on patches and got pretty good with the whole patching thing…have a pretty nifty, well-stocked sewing basket, too. I had to do a lot of my sister’s stuff.

Marcus (Lake Michigan owner of Greystone Investments): Me, too. Sometimes I miss ironing. It’s good therapy. I’ve got a super iron now…it practically flies…not much on steamers. I like doing laundry, too. Tempest has the cutest—never mind.

Neil and Owen grin at Marcus, who says: Okay, shut up. I slipped for a minute. You asked about waistband pleats—

Neil (laughing): Sure, change the subject.

Marcus: Lay off….Waistband pleats are okay. I wear them sometimes, but they aren’t for everyone.

Owen: Moving from the farm into business investment types, I had to study what works for me. I needed a business look. You have to be in shape, lean maybe, to wear pleats. An overweight guy wearing pleats, below a bulging gut, takes a lot away from his presentation. Sometimes the crotch almost reaches his knees. Not a good look.

Marcus: That’s why I invested in an employee gym. I run a company where quality is sometimes presented by the sale employee’s look. If worn wrong, on the wrong body-type,pleats do nothing. Wrinkles in the crotch area—

Neil: Wrong all the way around. Some men think it emphasizes their package—excuse me, Cait.

Cait (rapidly taking notes): I’m fine. FWIW: women notice a lot about a man’s ‘package’ and his belt, wondering how it unhooks.

Marcus (smiles dreamily): Yeah, they do.

Cait: Onward….Belt or not?

Marcus: A belt makes a statement. No sans-belt slacks for me.

Owen: No righteous western man would go sans-belt.

Neil: Uh-huh. Belts and belt buckles do make a statement.

Cait: Personally, I’m fascinated with suspenders attached to beltless jeans. Verry sexy. We’ve got a lot of material here. Anything to add about jeans snaps, zippers or buttons?

Marcus (grins): With zippers, you have to pay attention.

Neil (shrugs): I’m a snap-man, myself. I like to leave my jeans waistband open after a shower. Less constriction, dries my skin faster.

Owen: When I had my first dress slacks fitted, I almost clobbered the right-or-left person doing the crotch fitting. You don’t have to worry about that with jeans. What was that about suspenders and jeans?

Cait: Just a personal preference. Those thick red ones are—mm…. So overall, belted jeans, pressed knife-sharp for a night out, in dark heavy denim, dried by sunlight, rank the highest?

All men nod and Cait says, Okay, thank you. Next time, we’ll deal with hair styles. Or maybe undershorts?

The men stand, their expressions closed, and fold their arms over their chests. Taking the hint, Cait says, “Oh. Okay. I really should go. Thank you.”

Cait London’s psychic triplet trilogy concludes with FOR HER EYES ONLY. Previous books: AT THE EDGE and A STRANGER’S TOUCH. The author of almost 70 romance novels in different subgenre, she enjoys writing, painting, and photography. For more, visit CaitLondon.com or her blog at http://caitlondon.blogspot.com/

By Laura Drake
I sat in a meeting room full of hospital CFOs today, listening to a round table discussion of the financial crisis, and how hospitals can survive in the current market conditions. By the end, the smell of desperation overrode the air conditioning, and I was glad the only knives at the buffet were made of plastic. No, this won’t be a rant on Wall Street, or even politics (God forbid) so read on.

I wondered what to blog about, and found myself thinking about Debbie Macomber’s talk about trends in the publishing market at our Birthday meeting. Given the current environment, I’m going to make a few guesses as to what will be ‘hot’ next.

First, I believe the Romance genre, as a whole will see a surge in readership. I remember reading that during the Great Depression, the movie industry boomed; people spent what little money they had to escape for a while. They’re going to look for just the kind of “feel good” stories Romances are known for.

I’m not going to make a guess as to which genre within Romance will do well, but I think comfortable stories about simple people who find their courage during trials will be popular, weather it’s a Fantasy, or Regency. We’re seeing an increase in the popularity of “back to basics” like knitting, gardening, coupon cutting and the like. I think this trend will somehow be reflected in reading as well. If the trendy, frivolous, overindulgent heroine weren’t dead before, I think she will be now.

You may not agree with me, but the facts of the economy are bound to factor into reader’s tastes, and it bears some thought. Take care of yourself and yours, try not to worry, and remember one of my favorite sayings…

That which doesn’t kill you makes for good plot fodder.

by Kitty Bucholtz

Ask me what my current favorite piece of software is and I’ll practically yell, Scrivener! (Okay, if I could find a way to compose a story in Excel, I just might do it. Jump in here, Marianne – wouldn’t that be fun??)

I returned to the Mac universe a couple years ago and a screenwriting friend told me about Scrivener. Though not screenwriting software per se, Scrivener was designed specifically to work on large and/or research-heavy writing projects like novels, screen plays, research papers, etc. by a software developer with “lofty writerly ambitions.”

I’d been getting lost in my piles and files and was more than willing to take a chance with a 30-day free trial. Boy, it did not take me 30 days to fall in love! First, the tutorial is one of the best tutorials I’ve ever used! It explains every single thing the program will do and encourages you to go do it right now. I’ve referred back to it several times because it is so comprehensive and easy to use (unlike most “big name” software companies’ tutorials I’ve used in the last ten years).

The number one best thing about this program is that you can keep everything in one file. I’m talking about the word processing you typed into Scrivener, Word documents you also had, pdf files, audio and QuickTime files, pictures, web sites – everything! Just drag and drop the file from your desktop. Instead of multiple files in multiple formats open in multiple programs, you now have every single piece of research, every character chart, every version of every scene and chapter, your notes on your outline or synopsis – anything you want, you can keep there in your file. To the left is a list of everything you’re storing there. Create folders to organize your work according to research, chapters, notes, whatever.

Want to see a picture while you type up a scene description? Or review a piece of research while writing about it? Split the screen and type in one half while you see the picture or other document in the other half. One of those people who is always forgetting to save just before the power goes out? Scrivener saves automatically every time there is no keyboard activity for two seconds. Afraid you’ll make a change and wish you had the old version? The snapshot feature saves a copy of what you’re working on in case you want to refer to it later – or revert to it.

Tired of trying to move scenes around and getting all confused? Make each scene a separate document within the file, go to the corkboard view, and move the “3×5 cards” around to your heart’s content. Wherever you move the cards in card view, that’s where you just moved the scene. Didn’t make each scene a separate document? Use the split feature to split them up.

Wish you could tell at a glance what scenes are finished and which still need work? Use “Status” to track your work using built-in labels like “First Draft” or custom labels like “Add Research.” Want to know if your hero managed to drop out of the entire middle of the book? Mark each scene with color labels with the name of the POV character. Check out the outline view to see how many scenes in a row you have with Joe, or realize Mary went missing for eight scenes. Track anything you want to track this way!

Can you see now why I fell totally and completely in love? But how many children, you ask, will I have to sell to be able to purchase this dream software? It’s only $39.95! And because the designer built the software to use himself, you can be assured there are no bugs or glitches. I’m telling you, run – don’t walk – to the web site to check it out for yourself!

Don’t have a Mac? Visit the Links page for suggestions for Windows-compatible similar software. There are also links there for similar software for Mac, too!

Kitty Bucholtz is a co-founder of Routines For Writers, a new web site to help writers write more. She writes fun romance and light urban fantasy novels. Even though she loves talking about, writing about, and teaching about writing, she’s pretty sure she knows at least three people who aren’t writers.