Men and Women--different sexes or different species?

My older sister once said to me that marriage was a barbaric institution and men and women were really never meant to live together. At the time, I was dating and in the midst of new love so I thought she was just being an old married woman.

After twelve years of marriage, I have to wonder if she might have been onto something. . .

Let me preface this by saying, I have a wonderful husband whom I love with all my heart and I think we have a pretty solid marriage based on mutual respect and values not to mention good sex.

That said, there are times when I could happily beat him with a stick.

Men and women just think differently. They have different meanings for the same words and a totally different understanding of time. Now, this may be generalizing a lot, but it’s my blog so I can do that!

Let me give you a few examples. . .

Men- I’ll be back in ten minutes. This really means, I have no idea when I’ll be back, but I think it will be less than an hour unless, of course, I run into someone I know and we have to solve the world’s problems.

Men- Just let me watch the last two minutes of the game. This really means the last quarter/half/two innings etc. and will take upwards of half an hour and at least two more drinks.

Men- I just had a beer or two with the guys. This really means I had less than a case of beer and you should be glad I didn’t end up on stage with the stripper like my buddy did.

Men-I cleaned the kitchen. This means, I put my dishes in the dishwasher.

Men- I was watching the kids! This means, I was asleep on the couch, but in the same building as the children when they set fire to the cat.


I think the divorce rate would go down significantly if all married couples lived in duplexes—men on one side, women on the other with common rooms in the middle. Women could decorate with all the girly frou-frou things they wanted and put up towels no one can use with the soap no one can use and men wouldn’t be mystified by items in the medicine closet. Men would be able to burp and fart and watch TV in their underwear while leaving towels on the floor and eating directly out of the carton/bag/box. Everyone would be happy.
What do you think?

Itchy Feet

Once again it's time to exercise my itchy feet: at stupid o'clock on Tuesday morning I am leaving for Orlando Florida! Going from a sunny, but cool, 10 degrees in Bonnie Scotland to a hot and humid 27 degrees. I love my home town and my beautiful country but every once in a while I have to get out of it and travel, to see and do something different. In this case I will be visiting the magical world of Disney and as many other theme parks as I can squeeze into the first week. The second week is reserved for the annual Romantic Times Convention - an event that I look forward to with more anticipation every year.

Truthfully though, the destination isn't the be all and end all for me. What I love is the whole experience. Even the terror of the Trans-Atlantic flight. I love the planning of the trip - even when I procrastinate so often that I have to do a last minute rush. Buying new clothes and trying to fit everything into your suitcase (I do NOT understand the concept of packing light). I like researching things to do and see, the anticipation of it, the excitement. Everything that comes before you actually get there and experience it all first hand. I'm not lovin' the fact that I have to leave the house at 2.30am to check in for a 6.30am flight but what the hell, I probably wouldn't sleep anyway (see previous note about Trans-Atlantic terror).

What about you? Do you share my feelings? Or is the thought of travel and everything that goes with it just a nightmare you wish you never have?

Hope to see many of you at the Romantic Times Convention in Orlando this year whatever your feelings.
Hugs,
Cait

Of clutter and escapes...

With a new release coming next week (STRESS RELIEF on April 17th; no cover yet or you know I'd post it), I should be going full-tilt into promo-mode – getting my name out there and letting readers know there soon will be another Diana Hunter novel for their enjoyment. And I will – just as I’ll let know people know I’m a finalist in the Best Writer category at the Bondage Awards (if you want to vote, you can, by the way. Just go here and scroll to ‘Best Writer’ and choose me from the drop-down menu. You can vote once a day).

But recently I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the crush of online information. For example, I like my Twitter account, but decided I really didn’t care what some people had for breakfast and so stopped following about a dozen people. I belonged to a list-serve for my day job that only seemed to clutter the email address I got just for them. The flaming and sometimes unprofessional attitudes only served to tick me off –and for what reason or to what avail? None. Bye-bye list serve!

The level of stress in my life has dropped dramatically this past week because, besides these actions, I’ve also unsubscribed from several lists I wasn’t really following anyway. I went no-mail on a bunch of others and added others to my RSS reader instead of getting the emails to further streamline my time. I truly feel so much less burdened. It isn’t that I don’t care about any of these topics, rather that I just am spread too thin and as a result, am not able to go deeply into any of them. My interest can only be superficial and time-consuming and that only leads to frustration. If it is true that, “where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise,” then I’m choosing to be blissfully ignorant of some issues regarding the state of publishing today, the machinations of educators who can’t be professional, and what people ate for which meal.

So what have I done with all this time? Believe it or not, I gave myself back nearly an hour a day. I’d like to say I’ve spent it writing a new book and next week, I promise, I will. But this week I went for a walk in one of my favorite worlds: Uru. Telling a story in a non-linear fashion has always fascinated me and the Myst series remains one of the most well-done examples of this budding genre. It was a wonderful escape and makes me long to write the fantasy I started a while back.

Which brought me to a decision: after I finish my current work-in-progress (which should be by the end of the month), I’m going into a world of my own creation for the summer. I’m immersing myself in a story that has been niggling at my brain for too long and is now insistent. At this point it’s a fantasy with erotic elements rather than a straight erotic romance, so who knows where it’ll end up once it’s done. But I’ll worry about that later. For right now, I’m planning to leave the real world behind and live in my imagination for a while.

And to think – authors are not only allowed to do this, but we’re encouraged to! I love being a writer!

So what about it? What are your favorite de-cluttering activities – and your favorite escapes?

Play safe,
Diana