Random grouchiness

Must vent. Then I'll move on to book related stuff.

I nearly hit a moron driver on the way home tonight. In a mixed residential-commercial neighborhood, narrow streets, a VW decided to do a u-turn out of a parking spot. Without checking for on-coming traffic in either direction. Despite the fact that it was a compact car with a tight turning radius, the driver still had to make four cuts before making the turn. Why? Because she only had one hand on the wheel. She was busy talking on the cellphone that she was holding up to her ear, and could not be bothered to have both hands on the wheel while making the turn. Traffic lined up in both directions waiting for her to finish, and she was the recipient of several obscene gestures and honks.

Why does Amazon package itty-bitty books in huge boxes? I ordered 5 or 6 books and requested that they all be shipped together. Part of the order arrived today -- a small paperback, but it was in a box that was probably 8.5"x12"x4". They have no smaller boxes to use?

Work was not good today. Pissing contest developed over the dumbest thing. Frankly, if they had enough time to squabble over something so petty, then they don't have enough work to do. I'd be happy to share some of mine.

October TBR contest: paranormal

For AngieW's TBR contest this month (paranormal or fantasy in light of Halloween), I chose to read Jennifer Armintrout's Blood Ties Book One: The Turning. Well, actually, I read and reviewed Charlaine Harris' Grave Surprise, but I was already reading it before she announced the monthly challenge, and it didn't seem fair to use that one.

( Review behind the cut. )

It's cold!

Today is going to get better as it goes along. It must.

It was cold this morning! 35F when I woke up. I lay in bed, contemplating the possibility of the mental health day...except I don't need one. And even if I took a day, that wouldn't be enough to make me truly mentally health. So I dragged myself out of the bed, stepped on the scale, screamed, then hopped into the shower. Only a little behind our regularly scheduled program. I'd have to catch the 6:50 train, but I'd still be at work by 7:30. Wrong!

I forgot that the train does not do well when the weather changes. Breaks down (usually) with the first big weather change each season. The 6:50 was delayed, then cancelled. The 7:19 didn't stop at my station because it was overloaded from earlier stops. The 7:35 express (which is never on time) didn't arrive until 7:50. It was supposed to be local, but it was standing room only when it arrived at my station, and was like a cattle car after more of us crowded on. There were people left at the platform even. But at least it went back to being an express -- like any more people could've crammed on.

But here I am, safe and sound and only an hour late. I'm making some tea and then getting down to work. It's Friday!

What's the time lag between writing and publishing?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I saw another gladiator romance set in Ancient Rome at the bookstore today, and it made me wonder. I can't recall many other Roman-set romances with gladiators coming out in the past, but now there have been two from two different Harlequin imprints (Harlequin Historical and HQN) in the past couple of months, and I'm pretty sure there are more on the way. This is a good thing, I think, but I'm wondering what prompted them. The only "hot" gladiator movie I can think of is the Russell Crowe one from 4 years ago, which leads me to wonder, could these books have been prompted by the movie's success? A year to write, then time to sell, edit, get published? Or is it just a coincidence?