Korean Summer

Well, my summer obsession with Kdramas is over.  American television has come back and I'm finally watching TV (admittedly on the internet) in English again.  Even though my love affair with Kdramas is far from over (can we say ADDICTION?), I think I'm off them for a while.  And so, as a temporary farewell to my favorite angst ridden drug of choice, here are a few things I'm going to miss about Kdramas.

1) Piggyback Rides:  Every Kdrama I've ever seen has a piggyback ride at least once. It gives uptight Kdramaland culture an excuse for having two main characters close together before they actually KNOW they like each other.

courtesy of kdramareasons

2) Wide-eyed Kisses:  Apparently, every girl in Kdramaland has never had a kiss in her LIFE until that show.  So when the main man swoops in, she is just SHOCKED.  And hardly moves. LOL  (A variation on this kiss is the "squinty-eyed, OMG, I can't believe I'm about to be kissed, kiss".)

3) Shin Kicks:  Beware, Kdrama males!  If you piss off our spunky heroine, you will get a nasty kick.  And the more she does it, the more you will like her.

4) The Angry Granny:  Is it just me or is every grandma in Kdramaland a cranky oldster?  Seriously, put on your best behavior for these ladies.  That means the DEEP BOW!

5) Bathroom Issues:  Kdramas and their potty humor!  In Kdramaland, heroes and heroines feel it in their BOWELS.  When they are upset or depressed, either they can't go or they go too much!  Hilarity ensues.

6) Sorrow Drowning via Soju:  I read on a Kdrama blog that Koreans are like the Irish with Whiskey, except they prefer Soju.  I have no way of knowing if this is true in real life, but it sure seems to be true for Kdrama land.  This pulls in some of the other elements previously discussed: bathroom issues, piggyback rides, and one that I haven't mentioned—copious vomiting.

7) Manly wrist/arm grab:  We read about them (and let's face it, make fun of them) in our favorite romance novels.  The point where the girl is about to walk away in a huff, when the hero grabs her arm, whips her around, and gives her the liplock we've been praying for!  Kdrama romances are no exception to this.  Most often though, it is followed up by him dragging her off to some private location where he can spew his anger.  One thing you have to admire about Kdrama heroes, they are VERY in touch with their feelings.

8) Heroes that cry buckets:  I love a man who isn't afraid to express his feelings.  If you feel the same way, Kdramas are for you!  Men laugh, rage, confess their love... oh and cry rivers of tears.  I don't know how they do it without becoming severely dehydrated, but it is often very touching to watch.  *sigh*

9) Engrish:  Man, I just can't get enough of Kdrama characters speaking English.  It makes me wonder what our shows sound like when people speak other languages.  I always think they sound cool, but if they are anything like the Engrish in Kdramas, we should all be embarrassed.  (BTW- I searched high and low for a good video example of English speaking, but this is the best I could find.  Sorry about the quality!)

10) Karaoke singing (At the Noraebang!):  This is another element no Kdrama is without.  There is nothing an audience enjoys more than a chance to see their favorite stars (often drunk and off-key) singing their hearts out to their favorite kpop tunes!  Or so I must assume, since they happen in every drama.

And these are just a few of the reasons I love Kdramas.  I actually listed them the other day, and I came up with 45 different Kdrama staples.  I'll miss you Kdramas!

Happy Watching! :)

Mini Update

So, Little C (my new nickname for New Baby) has cut the last of his eight teeth, but then of COURSE, he got a cold, leading the charge in what I like to call "The Battle for Mama's Writing Time".  It's a battle where I admit to few victories, but they are there.  Terris is at 22,225, which is more than it had last week, so YAY!
I also got together with my cover designer to figure out the look for Terris.  Which is very exciting, but at the rate I'm going, it will be another year in the making, so I don't anticipate on needing it any time soon. hahaha  We also figured out a cool look for the angel book, which is going to be something different than anything I've done before now.  It will also have people on the cover.  Another thing I'm not usually interested in having on my covers.  I'm not knocking anyone that has a pretty girl cover, but if you know me, you know I like something a little more abstract.
So this week, my goal is to write at every small opportunity, even if it's only 15 min. and to do what Kait Nolan's awesome entry suggests, which is train my brain to keep in mind my WORD OF THE YEAR: DETERMINATION.

Hope all of you are doing well in your respective goals, and sorry to those of you I've sadly neglected.  These days I'm moving through a haze of exhaustion, with not a lot of time left over my my ROW friends.
Happy Reading!

Attraction vs. Instalove

I met my husband 10 years ago (TEN, wow!  That went be quickly!) in a study session for my college chemistry class.  (I know, chemistry. hahahahahaha  Heard that joke a million times, moving on.)  I met him and it was like, BAM!  It was like those cartoons where the character gets hit over the head with a mallet and sees the stars twirling around their head in circles over and over again.  That is how strong my attraction for him was.
After that, even though we were in two different majors and only shared one core class the entire rest of our college careers, I saw him everywhere.  At the library, at the Student Union, walking to and fro from our different classes—I'd never seen the guy before IN MY LIFE and suddenly, I couldn't go a day without spotting him.  Sometimes, not even an hour.  It was WEIRD.
I don't believe in soulmates.  Never have, never will.  I don't believe in love at first sight.  But do I think there's a possibility that you can meet someone and feel over-the-top, can't-think-about-anything-else attracted to them?  Heck yes, I do.  It happened to me.
My husband and I saw each other every day that summer, we said,"I love you," at six months and FOUR YEARS LATER, we got married.  Everyone's journey to love is different, but my love story is what I based Nikka and Zyander's love story on.
If you've read the series, you'll notice that neither of them have(thus far) said, "I love you."  In the first book, they are together for all of a week before they spend the rest of the book separated.  (Sorry if that's a spoiler!)  It would be odd for them to say they loved each other in a book where they only spend a week together.
In Aeris, they have more of an opportunity to get to know one another, but I still don't see them as being intimate enough for a love confession.  They are getting there, but these things take time.
My point, and I do have one, I've thought carefully about how I want the relationship between my two characters to proceed, and in the end, I decided to write what I know.  What I know, is that it takes time to fall in love and to say the words.  Attraction happens in an instant, but true love takes development.
It's sad that we live in a world where characters come together for A DAY, and tell each other, "I love you." I just can't picture that, myself.  It's sad that we live in a culture that judges every other story based on another one they've read.  Either love happens too fast to be believable, or not fast enough.  I'm sorry to admit that I've been pretty judgmental about that myself.
Think carefully, when you write, about how quickly your characters become intimate.  Fast or slow, make sure that you have a good reason for it, in your mind.

Happy Reading!

Beauty School Dropout...

This song (one of my faves from that great musical Grease) has been running through my head as I contemplate the various things I've dropped out of, lately.  Camp Nanowrimo, for one.  I've considered even dropping ROW80, since I'm woefully behind on any goals I set for myself, but then I remember my Word of the Year: DETERMINATION. 
Firm or fixed intention to achieve a desired end...
My desired end is to finish Terris and the Angel book.  I need to just focus on writing whenever I can.  Even if it's only a couple of hundred words a day, if I can write that much, so be it.  I hate feeling like I am back where I was last year: tired, exhausted, stumbling over myself to get any little bit of writing done.  
New Baby isn't a baby anymore, he just turned 1 and he's got 7 of the 8 teeth he was working on, so I'm hoping there is an end in sight—a lull in the storm of GETTING ALL THE TEETH.  The 5 am wake up time that worked so well before he was born is obviously not working when I'm getting an average of 4 hours of sleep a night.  I've been using up my valuable naptime writing space to sleep, so really, it's here and there that I can eke out a few words.
It's not all bad, however.  I finished part one of Luka's story and I've started in on Nikka's.  The buildup for this go around is going to be a little bit like Compis, so the pacing is slower for her story.  Some of the readers liked that and some didn't, but I can't help it.  The story must be told as it should be.  Luka's story is action-packed enough to make up for her slower first part. Luckily, her second part will pack some punch. Zyander is kind of a mix of both.  He's got a LOT going on in Terris, so I hope I do his storyline justice.
Aeris is still selling like hotcakes, which is fun to watch.  Amazon sales prices confuse me.  First Compis was full price, then $.99, then full price, then $1.03 (of all things) and now it's back to $.99 again.  Who knows where it will be tomorrow.  Odd.  I would just like to say, I have nothing to do with that.
Here's hoping I get more written next week and will actually FEEL like posting my word counts. :)
Happy Reading!