TBR Challenge: Cowboy Boss

I am once again attempting to take part in the TBR Challenge, this year MCed by Wendy the SuperLibrarian.

This year, I am not going to choose my books ahead of time. Who knows from January what books they're going to be in the mood to read come June? I am just going to go to my massive TBR pile, which now includes books 2 years old on my Reader, and see what I feel like reading. Therefore, so as to not fail this challenge in the first month, I have pulled the underbed storage box out from under the bed (the one that doesn't hold Christmas wrapping paper), and discovered that there are not as many books in it as I thought there were. But I found one to read. I am going to copy SuperWendy's format for the actual review--at least partly.

The Book: COWBOY BOSS by Kathy Denosky

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Silhouette Desire #1457, August 2002, Out of Print, but available in e-book format. :)

Why was it in my TBR?  I know Kathy. She's a friend of a friend and a nice person. When I see books by people I know, I tend to buy them.

The Review:  Back of the book:

Gentle-hearted Faith Broderick had come to the Triple Bar Ranch to start a new life, not to get involved in a matchmaking scheme intended to get Cooper Adams to cast off his bachelor coat-of-arms. But suddenly stranded with the seductive cowboy, Faith yearned for the domestic dreams she'd put aside. Soon neither could hide the passion that raged between them.

Cooper wasn't planning on heading to the hitchin' post. Yet, with her warmth, lovely Faith filled his home and the lonely corners of his heart. Cooper knew he'd better watch his step—because promoting Faith from employee to wife would be far too easy to do....

This is a nice book. Faith is nice, Cooper is nice. Even the stereotypical crusty old ranch hand who sets up the stranding plot is nice, if crusty. The story was a series of romance novel cliches to give the leads a chance to lust after each other--the "catch her naked in the tub" scene, and the "watch him do manly stuff without a shirt on" scene, and even the "falling on top of each other cute and sexy" scene. But that was about it. Everybody was so nice, there wasn't much conflict, and what angst there was seemed easily brushed over and set aside. I really wanted to like this book more than I did, because I like Kathy. But it was just too...nice.

So. Here is where I depart from SuperWendy. I don't give grades to books. (Okay, yeah, I do put stars on them over at GoodReads, but my stars are more shiny than most people's. The like is higher.)

And that's it. My first TBR Challenge review of 2011. I will try my darnedest to keep it up this year. We will have to see how that works...

In other news, all is quiet on the parental front--though that isn't necessarily a good thing. It's just a thing. And as I am going back over the Big Book I finished last year, I am discovering a lot of drivel, and also a fair bit of "Wow, that's really good. I wrote that?" So now the trick is getting rid of the drivel and making the good stuff still work.

Lazy week

It has been a lazy week. I am ashamed for being so lazy--and yet...

It felt so good! I sat goofing off with the laptop in the living room where I could at least be in the same room with the family, if not actually speaking to them. (I did not actually use my feet on the laptop...) I think sometimes it's fill-the-well refreshing to just be a lazy lump. And sometimes, it's just being lazy. The trick is figuring our which state you're in when.

I did have appointments three afternoons after the dayjob this week--two doctor and one to get my hair shortened. (I look lovely now, have no new skin cancers and will see what's wrong with the sore toe when the x-rays are examined.) That took up much of the after work time this week.

Next week, I am doing a workshop on writing action, so need to pull it out and spruce it up.

Oh-- We have an official due date for the new grandbaby. She (or maybe he) will arrive via C-section, because big brother did, on Feb. 16. I need to make my plane reservations so I can go up and help. Mostly chauffeuring big brother around, I think.

So I guess I'd better get all my work done between now and then, huh? Yeah, I'm just being lazy.

What's next?

So. The new year is actually here, and it's time I decided what I was going to do with it.

First thing I have to do is catch up with the parents' insurance and healthcare issues. That's ongoing, and complicated. And messes with everything else. But it has to be first. I'm their oldest child and that puts me in the organizational seat. And anybody who knows me knows that organization is Not my strong suit. (sigh) But they're my parents, and they took care of me, and now it's their turn for me to take care of them. That's just the way it is.

Next, I have to get my book typed up and revised and off to the agent. HAVE to. I'm almost a year behind when I thought I could get it to her. It's written. Just needs to get polished. And in readable format. That sort of thing. There are other book things I need to bring up with her, also.

After that--well, I want to get through the TBR challenge for a whole year. I always start out with grand ambitions, then things fall apart partway through.

I want to clean up my office. And I want to rediscover the joy of writing. Of plunging into a story that appeals to me, just for the fun of it. When I actually find time and energy to write, I do have it--fun--it's just that time and energy have been a little short to come by lately.

Oh. And I need to find time to get my Comcast e-mail straightened out. It doesn't work, hasn't for months, and it makes it a pain to do e-mail. Better put it on my list. If I don't, it will NEVER get done. I live by my lists. :)

There are the other, more usual first-of-year goals: Lose weight, eat healthier, enjoy the moment, etc., etc. And those are all in there too...but these others are the ones I want to give the weight of words. They are the things I need to do, for me.

How 'bout y'all? What's on your list?