Links

Romance Writers Unlimited - a great online critique group
Romance Writers of America
Chick Lit Writers of the World - the online chick lit chapter of RWA. Visit the member links page for links to many prominent chick lit writers
DailyCandy - emails about cool new products and special deals
Pub Rants - a chick lit agent who blogs about the biz
Agent Obscura - and one more agent who blogs about the biz (sensing a trend?)
Television without Pity - a recap/discussion site for those of you who like a little snark with your TV

January 2008 Cool Thing 

In honor of all those resolutions to get your finances in order or finally get organized, I'm recommending a book that will help you get your life in order through simple technology and life hacks. It's called Lifehacker the Book . It's got 88 great tips from how to better protect your computer from spyware to how to create a better to do list. For those of you like tracking your work time, she has a simple tool to help you keep better track on the computer. Even if you're not a computer whiz, you can manage at least half of these simple hacks. 

December 2007 Cool Thing

Just in time for your Christmas or Yule shopping, here is the totally awesome money-saver I recently discovered: PriceProtectr. It works with a lot of stores like Amazon, Ann Taylor Loft, Apple, and more. All you do is find the item you just bought, paste in the URL and email address and then it emails you if the price drops within the price protection period. Now that's what I call safe shopping! You don't have to wait to find the deals, because the deals will come to you. It''s only for online stores, but a good deal none the less.

November 2007 Cool Thing

You've no doubt seen her in the new iPod Nano commercial with her song "1234" and wondered who she is. Well she's Leslie Feist and she's this month's cool thing. I saw the commercial enough times that I tracked her down on the iPod site, then I listened to her clips on Amazon, then I bought her album and I love it. Her voice is fantastic and the songs are a mix of snappy and soulful. I highly recommend her for writing music, especially when writing heroines.

October 2007 Cool Thing

This month's cool thing is actually two cool things: Gather.com and GoodReads.com . I'm not very active on either, but they're very cool. Gather.com is like MySpace, but it's for adults, and especially targets readers and writers. GoodReads.com is a lot like Shelfari - which I love. I'll stick to Shelfari for now, but if you don't already belong to a book site, you should join one!

September 2007 Cool Thing

In my youth, I was a metalhead (but a rule-abiding, drug-free, alcohol-free, studious one). One of my favorite bands was, and still is, Queensryche . Last year DH and I went to see them on their Mindcrime Tour (which I've always wanted to see.) If you aren't familiar, they recorded a concept album almost 20 years ago about the corruption of the 80s . They made a follow-up about the corruption of the 2000s. Each album tells a complete the story. Mindcrime II returns to the original characters for an update. If you haven't sampled Queensryche, I highly recommend them. They're a thinking woman's heavy metal band.

August 2007 Cool Thing

Los Angeles used to have a Museum of Sex, but it closed before I had a chance to check it out. Instead I went to the Museum of Sex while I was in NYC. We found out about in the hotel guidebook, if you can believe it. The museum is a lot of fun. The kink exhibit on the bottom floor was a bit too odd for my tastes, but the temporary exhibit on the history of the porn movie was fascinating (and arousing.) Check it out yourself next time you're in the city!

July 2007 Cool Thing

Refreshing Lemon Truffles

3.5 oz. dark chocolate
3.5 oz. Semisweet chocolate
½ Cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp lemon juice
zest of 1/2 lemon to 1 lemon

Cut chocolate into fine pieces and place in a glass or metal bowl.

In a small saucepan, heat cream just until boiling.

Pour cream through a sieve into the bowl of chocolate.

Whisk until smooth. If any chunks remain, place bowl over a pot of boiling water, whisking until chocolate is smooth and glossy.

Stir in vanilla. Add lemon extract, 1/2 teaspoon at a time and whisk in thoroughly. Add lemon juice and whisk in thoroughly. Add 1/2 lemon zest and whisk in thoroughly. Taste. Add second half if necessary.

Chill for 45 minutes to an hour, just until slightly firm, but not too firm to mold.

Using teaspoons, a small cookie/ice cream scoop, or a melon baller, drop small balls of chocolate onto parchment lined cookie sheet. Don't worry if they're sloppy or uneven.

Chill 10 minutes.

Roll each truffle into a rounder ball, pressing and shaping with your hands, then place back on cookie sheet. I recommend using latex gloves for this step. You can find latex gloves in the medical supplies section of your grocery or drug store, or in the paint section of a hardware store. The gloves also come in handy for chopping chiles.

The truflles are rather large and rich, so you can now cut them in half and make them half-spheres or leave them whole.

Chill the truffles overnight.

Consume them quickly or amaze your friends with them. They don't have to know you only spent twenty minutes cooking. Store in the fridge, but they're best served at room temperature.

Makes 16-20 truffles full-size truffles or 34-40 small truffles.

June 2007 Cool Thing

If you prefer your celebrities, fashion, and beauty gossip with a giant side of snark, then you need to visit Jezebel! It's a new magazine from the people who brought you Gawker, a sister blog to my favorite Lifehacker. They cover fashion magazines, beauty magazines, celebrity news, and basically all women's issues, but they don't report the stories, they snark on them! I couldn't be more hooked.

May 2007 Cool Thing

In case you hadn't guessed, I'm a planner. I love to plan things. I make lists and lists of things to do. That's why I love the DIY Planner . I used to have a PDA, but I lost it. Now that I can keep my contacts on my iPod, I find it easier to just carry paper and pen in my purse for my calendar, to dos, etc. The DIY Planner has templates you can download to make your own index card planner! They have full-sized planners, too, but who wants to carry a giant binder around? That's so 1995.

April 2007 Cool Thing

This month I'm sharing a cool thing that I received as a Christmas gift - a Moleskin notebook. These are the little books that Picasso and Hemingway made famous. Well, they're back, made by a company in Italy. High quality and gorgeous. The only trouble is that it's so pretty, I'm almost afraid to write in it. I feel my notes must be worthy of it. So far, they haven't been. I'm working up to it, though.

March 2007 Cool Thing

Once again thanks to LifeHacker, I found a cool new tool called Shelfari . It's a way to let other people what you've read recently. You can leave notes for other fans, review books, discuss them, and create book groups. I'm keeping a list of the books I've read that I really, really liked (and of course, some of my own books, too.)