Wednesday's Whine.

Sorry ladies, it's not the type you have with cheese. Although, maybe if I had myself some of that.....
*sigh*
Where to start? It's my day to blog and I've got nothing. Nope, I'm left without words. I can see you're all shocked beyond belief that I would be speechless, but that's the way it is. I've got no words for here, no words for my characters and no words for conversation. Well, actually I have a couple but they're usually in the form a biting someones head off! There are lots of headless bodies around my house right now.

Back to no words for my characters. I'm hoping it's the post-holiday letdown or the pre-Nano jitters because right about now everything I've ever written sux and I'd throw it out the 11th floor window except that's illegal and would get me sent to jail and then there'd be no hope of finding words to get me out of there. I've never had a problem like this one before. I'm always, ALWAYS, been able to go off and write on another of my wip's if I get stuck. Not this time. This time I'm not only chucking ALL my writing out the window I'm chucking out the dream of getting published. I often find myself disappearing into some books for review or personal enjoyment at times like this and then I find my words coming back and off we go again.

No this time. This time I'm reading books that have been recently or not quite released and I'm discovering that our standards in published material is dropping. And I'm not just talking about the plots, characters or the authors skill at weaving a tale. No, I'm also talking about typos and plot hole. BIG plot holes! How does a hero have a truck on one page and a 4 door sedan on the next? How does that get past an editor? And we won't mention him getting the truck back in the later chapter, or that the book was under 100 pages! I know it's got to do with money and profit and mass production but come on, where are the standards?

I don't read much in the way of paperbacks anymore because not only have they become over priced but there not worth the money I was handing over. Why would I spend my hard earned money on books that are basically the same just with different titles and author names? The genres I like to read are becoming very much 'formula' written, and I understand that we're all in this to make money but 'following' the trend to this extent just stops people from buying.

The big market at the moment is the paranormal genre and I gotta say I love me some paranormal but..... Everyone is writing them. And in the last few months I've only read one that has stood out as a great book and I'll be looking for the next one in the series. Yes, that's another thing everyone is doing. Series books. But even with those I'm finding myself getting let down. By the third book, sometimes the second the author has often got very little plot and is clutching the coat-tails of the first book to keep it flying. I don't want to say that they're all like that but it's starting to look that way and I'm over spending money only to be disappointed.

Where have all the keepers gone????

I want to find myself sucked into a story so much that the house could burn down around me and unless the book catches fire I don't even notice. I want something that not only engages my mind but my body as well. I want to feel goose bumps on my arms as the heroine walks down a dark street, I want my heart to race when she's forced to run for her life, or feel the heat of the sun on my skin as she strolls along the beach, the flutter of her pulse when the hero steps from the surf all bronzed and glistening as the water slides down his body.

I want great books!!!!!

So here's the challenge, tell me the best five, unforgettable books you've ever read. I don't care if they're recent releases or from years ago. Well, you might get in trouble if I decide to hunt one down and can't find it because it's so old but I still want to know. I want to know what you think of the latest books you've read, have they been a bit of a let down?

Now that you've given me some words to soak up get going and write some of your own. Get those original, soul gripping stories down. Get them submitted and give me something decent to read again. And just maybe, with all your help I'll find the words to write my own again.

It's Wednesday. Time is running out. Saturday is rolling around far too quickly and with nothing to say it's looking pretty bleak. So I'm taking the next few days off. I'm giving myself permission to forget all about writing 50,000 words in one month and I'm off to soak up the world around me. If I'm lucky it'll give Mr. Muse something to work with. If not I'll be the one crying in the corner on Saturday night with wine bottle in hand and cheese on the plate.

RC