A Wrinkle in Time

All I want next Christmas is a time machine.

I don't mean the H.G Wells type that takes you back into the past, although that would be useful to observe the world my characters live in. What I want is the sort of Time Turner that Hermione has in the Harry Potter series. A nice little hour glass so that I could do an hour's work and then flip it over to do another hours work in that same hour.

Because there are never enough hours in a day to get through everything. I'm sure this is a familiar lament for most of us but right now I'm really conscious of it. I'm trying to write my new Molly book, but slower than normal because I have to stop after about 3 pages because my wrist hurts too much.
And at the same time I'm conscious of all the things I should be doing to promote my books. I read other writers' blogs about what works for them in e-book promotion and Facebook and Twitter and I wonder--do these people ever sleep?

Facebook I really like because it connects me with people I consider my friends and readers. And it only takes a minute or so to read and post. Twitter I'm sure is wonderfully useful if one has a zillion followers. I don't have time to search out those zillion to follow and thus to follow me in return. And I haven't caught on to the use of hashmarks or whatever they are called.

I'm part of the fabulous Jungle Red Writers blog and have to comment daily even when it's not my turn. I try to post on my own blog at least once a week, which is not enough but it's all I can manage. Apparently I should be reading other people's blogs daily and making witty, intelligent comments on each of them, thus leading people to my blog.

Then there is Amazon. I'm supposed to comment on relevent online communities, to Tag books similar to mine, to keep up my Amazon page, even to post phoney reviews of my books under other names. (not going to do the last of these)

What I need is a full time secretary who knows me well enough to be able to comment as I would have done. Or maybe just a time turner.
I'm off to Tucson tomorrow to speak at a fabulour Brandeis fundraising luncheon. It will be a terrific event but it's taking time from my writing.
Anyone have a time turner they can lend me?

Mordor is Real

Okay, I believe. Mordor exists. Sauron is real. Not just because there is so much evil in the world. I have more positive proof than that.
It would take an inspired evil genius to invent the internet and thus make us slaves to our computers for hours each day instead of getting out into the fresh air and interacting with each other.
And it would take an even more inspired evil genius to invent Twitter and enslave us by getting constant tweet updates on our cell phones.
How do I know Sauron is behind this? The language is a dead give-away. Take the latest twist on Twittering that I've been introduced to: HASHTAG.
a HASHTAG is a mark one makes before a word so that the tweet is relayed to everyone interested in that particular word. Example #books. #Rhys Bowen.  #bestseller.
But

Isn't HASHTAG one of the words that was written inside the One Ring? Has the evil one sneaked other Mordor words into our vocabulary? Is the entire poem from inside the one ring out there somewhere on the internet? Will the next new aps be burzum ishi-krimpatul? Is that volcano that keeps spewing out ash in Iceland really Mount Doom?

Don't say I didn't warn you.

And on a cheerier note: I have a lovely new website, designed by Sue Trowbridge. Please go over to http://www.rhysbowen.com/ and take a look!