What was begun as an online journal of the books I read evolved...or maybe it devolved...to also feature behind the scenes goings-on at All About Romance from my perspective (mostly based on my personal feelings - okay, it's a personal pity party); topics I've gone over ad nauseum in commentary at AAR, including the nature of reviews and online behavior; and my non-cyber life (including family and items in pop culture that capture my interest, which is just about everything).

Please do not violate my trust. I restricted certain AAR-related and personal entries for a reason...to keep them as private as possible. Now that my blog is read-only, to access restricted entries you must already have a password; if you do, hold onto it so that you can continue to read restricted entries.

This blog is not part of All About Romance. I ask that you keep comments or questions regarding restricted blog content off of AAR.

Below you'll find the blogs I visit, broken out in my own odd little system of categories.

March 2007



No Ten Foot Poles Available

Wednesday, 28 March 2007 3:44 P GMT-05
Based on such vibrant discussion in recent weeks on various AAR forums on the topic of "Avonization", I had what I thought was a brilliant idea: ask some Avon authors to give their side of the story, even if they felt they had to do so anon
Category: AAR
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Talibanistan?

Tuesday, 27 March 2007 11:55 A GMT-05
We took most of our troops out of Afghanistan when we went into Iraq.  Now much of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is called "Talibanistan", with safe haven for a growing al-Qaeda.  We were told our troops would be gre
Category: Personal/Political

Anna Nicole & Britney Spears

Monday, 26 March 2007 5:22 P GMT-05
A few weeks after the February death of celebrity train-wreck Anna Nicole Smith, Newsweek columnist Anna Quindlan wrote The Gossip Minus Guilt. In her essay Quindlan theorizes that, "The peeping-Tom trade has been outsourced to the paparazzi. In
Category: Personal/Political
Comments/Trackback (5-0)

New protected entry online

Sunday, 25 March 2007 1:47 P GMT-05
Blog-city's new system does not indicate to casual visitors when a protected entry has been posted.  So when I post a protected entry, I'll not only send an automated email to all those with access to such entries, I'll post an entry
Category: Blogging
Comments/Trackback (3-0)

Dead Sexy, Amanda Ashley

Friday, 23 March 2007 11:20 A GMT-05
Dead SexyAmanda AshleyGrade: DSensuality: SubtleWhat a disappointment this book was! In January 2006, I wrote about Desire After Dark, another vampire romance from Amanda Ashley. I'd enjoyed the book for it's old-school feel, and was surprise
Category: Reading
Comments/Trackback (2-0)

Drop Dead, Gorgeous! by MJD

Thursday, 22 March 2007 5:30 P GMT-05
Drop Dead, Gorgeous!MaryJanice DavidsonGrade: BSensuality: Warm Drop Dead, Gorgeous! is a sequel to Hello, Gorgeous!, which also earned a B from me.  I know that these days it's un-p.c. to love MJD given "bad author behavior",
Category: Reading
Comments/Trackback (2-0)

Thank God It's Friday!

Friday, 16 March 2007 5:09 P GMT-05
I'm so glad it's Friday.  The past few days have been intensely stressful because of the message board situation, and it wasn't until I'd already taken them "live" that I realized we still have a big problem to overcome
Category: AAR
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A DIK Read

Thursday, 15 March 2007 5:38 P GMT-05
Earlier this year I had the great good fortune to read an ARC of Samantha James' The Secret Passion of Simon Blackwell. Since it'll be released in a couple of weeks, now's a good time for me to extoll its virtues.My history with Samantha
Category: Reading
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The Best Laid Plans...

Wednesday, 14 March 2007 4:28 P GMT-05
I'd planned to start blogging about books today, but the message board situation so frustrated me that I spent the day looking into alternative systems.  I actually tested two companies today.  The first was too complicated and the othe

Two Topics: ATBF MB and Protected Entries

Tuesday, 13 March 2007 2:06 P GMT-05
It's indeed unfortunate that hwforums has been suffering cyber flu lately...we posted a new At the Back Fence column yesterday, but because the board was down or slow, nobody was really able to p

HOLD!!!...updated [again] mid-afternoon

Monday, 12 March 2007 3:52 P GMT-05
There appear to be bugs in the blog-city system for registering/approving people so they can read protected entries.  It's probably best at this time to hold your efforts.  I'll repo
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Protected Entries

Sunday, 11 March 2007 1:00 A GMT-05
After spending an hour or so this morning writing a password-protected blog entry, I discovered that blog-city's recent upgrade changes how protected entries work.  For one, they are no longe
Category: Blogging
Comments/Trackback (5-0)

Flowers for Matthew

Wednesday, 7 March 2007 1:00 A GMT-05
Many critics say that Newsradio went downhill in its last season.  I'm here with proof that it did not...one of my favorite episodes is Flowers for Matthew, which you can enjoy by viewing th
Category: Entertainment
Comments/Trackback (2-0)

Amazing Grace

Wednesday, 7 March 2007 1:00 A GMT-05
Over the weekend we saw Amazing Grace, a new English movie (starring a handsome Welshman) about the abolition movement in England at the end of the 18th century and early part of the 19th century.&nbs
Category: Entertainment

What AAR Is...and What It's Not

Monday, 5 March 2007 11:01 A GMT-05
AAR's mission is to provide a back-fence atmosphere, a sense of community for lovers of romance novels, to provide honest, thoughtful and entertaining material in order
Category: AAR
Comments/Trackback (2-0)

Respect

Saturday, 3 March 2007 1:46 P GMT-05
As long as romance novels account for more than half the sales of all paperbacks, does it really matter that, as one poster (and former AAR staffer) contends on the ATBF MB, no romance novel awards are respected outside the romance novel community?&n
Category: AAR