So many people wake up in the morning wondering, “What is Diane up to?” I thought I would do a Diane Update.
Writing Life: This has been a good month for Riskies, writing-wise. I’m very happy to announce that Harlequin/Mills & Boon have given me another book contract, 4 books and 1 novella (the one with Amanda and Deb Marlowe). (Yippee!) I’m leaving the world of people that began with The Mysterious Miss M and writing what I call my Three Soldiers Trilogy, still in the Regency. Three soldiers experience the same traumatic event in Spain that affects the rest of their lives.
Health and Beauty: I am still trying to lose the weight I’ve put on since 2003 (I won’t say how much but I don’t weigh as much as that scale shows!) My latest attempt is with the South Beach Diet. I’m not following the meal plans, because I am so-not-a-cook, but I am following the food guidelines. Basically South Beach means giving up bread, pasta, potatoes and candy (Sniff!) but it has been surpisingly easy—for the first week. As Keira knows, I also go to Curves. My goal is to go at least three times a week. Burning question–Can I lose the weight by the RWA Conference this summer?
I also caved in to the Leeza Gibbons infomercial for Sheer Cover Make-up. I like it! But I also like Bare Minerals, which I first purchased from an infomercial a few years ago. Here’s a nice discussion of both.
Entertainment: Amanda’s convinced me I should see Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Not hard to do, because I recently saw Enchanted and have become an Amy Adams fan. I LOVED Enchanted! How nice to see a happy movie for a change. Enchanted, by the way, is on sale at Target this week at $14.99! (I have also watched the Kate Beckinsale Emma on Masterpiece and can’t wait for Cara to discuss it!)
Wednesday I am going to see Merriweather Post’s Hillwood House here in Washington, DC. Marjorie Merriweather Post was a great collector of 18th and 19th century European and Russian art. The house features a room with an Adams ceiling, if I am remembering correctly.
That’s it! Breathe a collective sigh of relief that you are now up-to-date on Diane, something I also attempt on my website. By the way this is the last week for my website contest, with a Kathryn Caskie book as one of the prizes.
So….what is your news in Writing, Health and Beauty, and Entertainment? I wake up every morning wondering….
My life in terms of Writing, Health and Beauty, and Entertainment is an open book as far as Ammanda and Diane know. I blogged here about my writing first thing in the morning (pre-dawn) and then going to Curves during the week and yoga during the weekends. I’m on a Bare Minerals kick lately. For TV entertainment, Monday nights are for Dancing with the Stars, Friday nights for Top Chef, and Sunday nights for Masterpiece Theater.
This past Saturday we went to a taiko drumming concerts of masters from Japan, Hawaii, and Seattle/NYC. Every one of the performers was not only a fabulous drummer of various differnet drums, they also had a specialty: dancing, flue (flute), a non-fretted three-stringed guitar, etc. WOW!
A taiko drumming concert, Keira. What fun!
I can’t believe I forgot to put DWTS and Top Chef in my Entertainment section, along with Clean House, What Not to Wear, How Do I Look, and Medium. Oh…and The Biggest Loser.
I’m busy right now visiting with my brother, who just got accepted to a PhD program in theology, and is currently visiting from Berkeley, before moving to D.C….
And I’m having great fun with the recent Lost episodes! (We had a big family gathering yesterday which included lots of theorizing about Lost.)
And, how interesting, I’d resolved to lose weight by National too! We can call it the best new weight-loss program: signing up to go to the RWA National conference! 🙂
Cara
Congrats Diane! So glad to hear your big contract news!
I loved Enchanted too. I took my youngest son. There weren’t too many of the boy persuasion in that theater, but he enjoyed it too!
I’m with you guys on Top Chef–I love to watch that with my dh–he’s picky and it makes him appreciate my cooking so much more!
Congrats on the book deal. Is the Sheer Cover Make-up cheaper than Bare Escentuals?
“And, how interesting, I’d resolved to lose weight by National too!”
Me, too! Too bad we’re not in the same city, so you two could come to my house and bang on my door when I’m slacking on the exercise (or sneaking to eat Easter candy)
The exercise is the hard part for me, as it’s the first thing that gets sacrificed when I get busy/stressed (when, in reality, it should be the last thing I give up). I didn’t make national my goal date, but I will be significantly smaller then the last time you ladies saw me (YEA!!!).
I’m going to walk Lake Merritt tonight (about 3 ¼ miles). It’s a great way to end the day.
than. THAN.
Why do the dang typos only pop out after I hit PUBLISH?
or sneaking to eat Easter candy
Ooh, I was forgetting that today’s the day to buy cheap Easter candy! Well, so much for this week’s diet.. 😉
Cara
Congrats on the book deal. Is the Sheer Cover Make-up cheaper than Bare Escentuals?
Bare Escentuals cost twice as much for the TV offers but what they offer is a bit different. I think the sizes of the Sheer Cover are smaller, but they have a really nice cover-up.
Here are the sites:
http://www.bareminerals.com/
http://www.sheercover.com/
Thanks for the congratulations on my contract. I really am thrilled to keep writing for Mills & Boon, because I think they are terrific!
Yeah! More great books from Diane!
Good luck to everyone determined to lose weight.
I’m in birthday mode here. Having two kids born a week apart was cute when they were babies but now I’ll be baking cup cakes ’til the cows come home and planning birthday parties. Sigh.
We’ve also started our fundraising planning for our September event. We are kicking it all off with a Bike Tour next month.
Got Enchanted for the cherubs. They’ve seen it three or four times already. They only got it yesterday.
I love the Austen experience on Masterpiece Theatre. ‘My Boy Jack’ and ‘A Room With A View’ should round things off nicely. I also discovered a 1999 movie version of Edith Wharton’s ‘The Buccaneers’. Makes me almost want to get Netflix. Maybe I’ll reward myself with it once I finish revisions. Yes, I’m still revising. I think I’ll adopt ‘Writing is rewriting.’ as my mantra.
Huge CONGRATS on the contract O Divine One! Anything that keeps the Diane Gaston books coming is a winner for me! The trilogy sounds fantastic. I cannot wait.
Let me see – I need to go on a diet, I need to get more exercise and I need to try a new brand of makeup. Does that count?? Not that I am doing anything about it, but I know I NEED to!
I have no cable out here in the boonies, so I have to watch what i can get. I really wish I could get some of these great shows you are all talking about. I do watch The Biggest Loser and Dancing with the Stars. I LOVE Moonlight and hope it gets picked up. I love the original CSI and am watching Dexter.
I watch the Brit Coms on PBS – Keeping Up Appearances and Are You Being Served?
Haven’t bought Enchanted yet, but I will. Need to buy Atonement as I have not see that one. Bought Death at a Funeral and have watched it more than once because it is just so damned funny!
Finishing up the first run at Lost in Love (my novel) and I running straight into revisions on it. Also started a Regency Gothic and have a few chapters of that one knocked out. I am trying to schedule more time for my writing and trying to keep the DDJ from interfering.
I got my Five Year Pin and Plaque from Wal-Mart today. Please GOD don’t let me be there long enough to get a Ten Year Pin!
Oh and unless the GH calls go out tomorrow I will be at work and hopefully busy enough to forget about it.
O Doggie One, is there a Target near you? Or is Walmart selling Enchanted for $14.99, too. Because it was twelve dollars more at another store.
Oh, and acknowledging a problem is the first step to fixing it!
Good luck on the GH Calls!
Santa, my sisters were born a day apart, and a little more than a week from my mother. I always felt left out…and another way to look at it, is you get the cupcake cooking done all at once.
Let’s see, Writing, Health, Beauty, and Entertainment…
On the Writing front, I’m not in the GH this year, but I did enter the science fiction/fantasy category of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association contest. As it’s the first time strangers will read my alternative history, I’m extremely nervous. (Finalist announcements are still a ways off.)
Health: Need to lose weight, having been gently taken to task by my doctor at my last physical about the gradual upward creep of the scale numbers and my less-than-ideal bp and cholesterol numbers. But the hard part is finding the time to exercise and eat right, what with the working full-time, having the preschooler, and writing.
Beauty: My hair is a very dark red-brown now, and I like it.
Entertainment: Way too much kid TV.
Diane wrote:
So many people wake up in the morning wondering, “What is Diane up to?”
That is so weird! I did wake up this morning wondering “What is Diane up to?” followed by “Wait a minute, Diane Who?” I then spent the whole day puzzling over which Diane I was wondering about. And finally, I read your post, and everything became clear!
Thanks, Diane. That’s a load off my mind!
Congratulations on the book contract! And on your many health, beauty, and entertainment goals/achievements. 🙂 My regular exercise program (ha!) has been sacrificed to a lot of travel over the last two months (and it’s not over yet, alas!). But, on the other hand, I did see Enchanted on an airplane, so it’s not all bad. On the beauty front, my hair remains approximately the same color it was this time last year. Whether that is good or bad I leave to others to decide.
For Easter we made German Potato Salad, which was a hit with all Cara’s relatives. Or at least no one complained about it to our faces, and most of it was gone when we left. But health food, it ain’t.
Todd-who-believes-that-most-food-is-improved-by-large-quantities-of-bacon-fat
Late to the discussion, but congrats on the contract, Diane!
Put me in the trying-to-lose-weight-by-RWA bunch. I’m usually very good about exercise but the various germs my kids and I were trading over the last months set me back. The funny thing is that when I’m not exercising right I eat *more*, maybe because I have less energy.
Anyhow, I’m pulling out of that slump and have lost 6 pounds so far. 🙂
Weight loss category: Diane, Elena, Cara, Susan W, Amanda, Kalen, doglady, and TODD, who has to lose weight after all that German potato salad! And who wounded me greatly when he didn’t immediately know he was thinking of THE Diane.
Diane wrote:
TODD, who has to lose weight after all that German potato salad! And who wounded me greatly when he didn’t immediately know he was thinking of THE Diane.
Yes, that was very foolish of me, indeed. I have since posted a note on the ceiling, so it will be ready the next time I wake up.
As for the German potato salad, I am experimenting with a new diet in which I only eat things made with bacon.
Todd-who-thinks-it-makes-about-as-much-sense-as-The-Zone