It’s the Year of the Dragon in more ways than one.

Monday marked the beginning of Chinese New Year, a 15-day celebration that ushers in the next lunar year. According to the Chinese zodiac, every year is symbolized by one of 12 animals and 2012 is the year of the dragon. The dragon is legendary in Chinese folklore, and those born during dragon years are supposedly powerful, innovative, brave, and passionate. The year of the dragon is said to be the luckiest.

After going to the movies last weekend, I’m convinced it will be the year of the dragon at this year’s Oscars as well. On Wednesday, newbie actress Rooney Mara was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. To say she did a good job in the role of the Lisbeth Salander would be a massive understatement. The character of Lisbeth shows a spectrum of emotions: she’s tough and vulnerable, angry and kind, terrified and brave. And it all comes through on the screen. Mara’s performance was riveting in every moment–and for a two-hour-forty-minute movie that is saying a lot. Set in icy Sweden, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo received a total of five Oscar nominations, including Best Cinematography.

You have to go see it.

You really, really have to go see it, especially if you liked the book. Fair warning, though, there are some very graphic scenes.

Personally, I loved the book, which was written by Stieg Larsson. The Swedish author died before the book was published and never got to see his Millennium Trilogy sell 65 million copies and sit atop the bestseller lists for years. What’s the appeal with these novels? I thought Dragon Tattoo was fresh, suspenseful, edgy, and hard to predict.

Typically when I fall in love with a book, I end up disappointed by the movie, but that wasn’t the case this time. If anything, the movie–which had me gasping, cheering, and (at some points) covering my eyes–was even more impressive than the novel.

To win the Oscar, 26-year-old Rooney Mara will have to beat out Meryl Streep, who has been nominated for 17 Academy Awards. I think she can do it. Have you seen the movie? What do you think?

As a die-hard book lover, I want to take a moment to cheer for the fact that six of this year’s nine Oscar nominees for Best Picture came from books: The Descendants, Hugo,The Help, Moneyball, War Horse and Extremely Loud & IncrediblyClose. Isn’t that cool? I haven’t seen all these films, but I’m going to try to check all of them off my list by the awards show on February 26.

Do you have any favorite books that were made into movies? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Anyone who leaves a comment is eligible to win a $10 Starbucks card and a signed copy of my latest book, SNAPPED.

Okay, even if there were a 12-step program for this addiction, I wouldn’t join. Ever. I love it that much.

What the hell, some of you are probably asking, is Pinterest? Well, it’s so simple, it’s brilliant. Take the nice thing about a social network (sharing stuff with people) and marry it to the idea of a bulletin board where you just share images, broken down into categories (home, photography, books, whatever you can imagine, since you can create your own boards and tailor them)… and you have Pinterest. What they’ve done is make is super easy to collect in one spot all of the images on a subject that you might want to collect… all with the click of a button.

The thing that makes it lovely is that you can follow people who have the same tastes as you, or who are interesting. Or you can just view the general category (design, for example) and see what everyone’s pinning there. See something you like? Well, you can just hit the “like” button, of course, but if you want to remember that image and keep it for yourself, you can simply click “re-pin” it, choose which of your own personal boards you want it on (which category), and it’s done.

But to me, what was loveliest of all was how freaking easy it was to see an image on the internet and just literally click on the “Pin It” button you drag and drop onto your toolbar when you install the button, and bang, it’s pinned. You choose the category, you can write a description of any length (or, not–you can’t leave the description blank, but if you don’t want to say anything, just put a period or dash or any single thing you want and click “publish” and Pinterest doesn’t care.)

Let’s say that you have a project (school, art, home remodel) and you need to keep a bunch of images where you can see them at a glance. You could, of course, download each one and save it to your hard drive in a folder, and view them one by one through various programs, or even as an album (iPad and iPhoto, etc., will do this)… but if you want to save the information from the original source of the photo (for example, a recipe that went with a great photo of a meal, or the how-to instructions for the finished craft project in the photo), then that is a different step than saving the photo itself: you have to copy and paste that information somewhere, OR you have to save the URL–something many photo album storage programs don’t do automatically.

But with Pinterest, whenever you “pin” a photo onto your board, all of that other information stays with the photo, and you can see it when you click on the photo–it’ll take you back to the point of origin for anything you post. Or anything anyone else posts. No more wondering where they got that idea and how to implement it–it’s all there, connected.

For a person like me who thinks so very visually, it’s like being handed the keys to the kingdom. I don’t have to click through a bunch of URLs that I’ve saved to find that one image that I think I sort of remember might possibly be the one I need at the moment in a project… I can now just go to the board/category that image would naturally fall into when I pinned it, and at a glance, see the image, or scroll down, if it’s been a while.

I’m currently using this for fun things: dream-home type of rooms, decor I love, designs I love. Even quotes that strike my fancy. But I already know that I’ll start inspirational boards when I jump back into the rewrite next week, and it’ll be a Godsend when I start a new project. Character inspiration? All in one board. Setting? Ditto. It will save me countless hours of aggravation trying to find/download/save/ the images *and* the pertinent information belonging to the image.

It’s saved me hours and hours of aggravation, already. I’ll be doing a decently-sized remodel of our kitchen, and I couldn’t find some of the ideas I wanted done via websites and blogs and manufacturer sites. On Pinterest, I started scanning the home section and came across a woman whose taste and my own are eerily similar (I kept finding myself re-pinning her choices, and then realizing they were all from the same woman) (Mary Whoeveryouare, I am not stalking you, swearsies)… and anyway, I found exactly the photo I needed on her board, went to the site and sure enough, that was the product I had suspected was out there but couldn’t find. I was able to show that to my husband, who then “got” what I’d been trying to tell him… all from the comfort of my home office. No driving all over town, trying to find what I wanted, or (God help us all), trying to draw it up so that my husband, the contractor, understood it.

Have you joined Pinterest? (It’s faster if someone sends you an invitation. I have a few left. I honestly don’t know how many I have, but if you want to join, mention that in the comments and I’ll send out invites until I run out.)

What sort of categories would interest you? Recipes? Home decorating? Crafts? Travel? Antiques? Quilts? Pets?

See ya there!

Well, technically, it was yesterday, but HORIZON has hit the shelves!

Writing the third and final installment in my AFTERTIME series was an amazing experience for me. Going into it, I had a pretty good idea of how the action would unfold. The world as we know it had ended almost a year earlier. Survivors had carved out new communities and learned new coping skills. I knew what new and terrifying threats the Beaters would pose, as they scoured the land for uninfected flesh. I even drew maps of the journey the main characters would take in these final pages of their story.

But on one crucial point I was torn: Who was my heroine, Cass, going to end up with? The enigmatic Smoke, the man who first helped her search for her missing daughter – or the fiery loner, Dor, who built a trading post from the ashes, then left it behind to pursue a quest of his own?

I know from reading my reader mail that people are divided on love triangles. Many people love them – a few don’t. I consider it one of the highest compliments the series has received that more than one reviewer said something like “I usually hate love triangles but I couldn’t wait to see who Cass would choose.”

Uhhhh….me too.

The problem was that I made both of these men so irresistible that I myself couldn’t decide between them. Even when I reminded myself that it wasn’t really my choice to make, but Cass’s (and that, in addition, these guys aren’t actually *real*) – even then I was stumped.

trying to figure out a love triangle feels like being eaten by a bear...

Suffice it to say that it made the final days of the first draft pretty exciting.  I didn’t know for sure until I was well into the final eighth of the book. Suddenly everything I thought I knew about my characters was turned inside out, and I realized that the choice I was building toward was all wrong. And when I figured it out, I immediately called my agent and said “You’re not going to believe this, but it’s xxx!”

(What – you thought I was going to tell you? Ha!)

I have been combing through my early reviews to see what readers think, and – knock on wood – so far, so good. (See my blog for some of the best reviews so far.)

I’m going to go do a little release-day celebrating now (hint below) but I’d love to give away a signed copy or two of HORIZON. Just leave a comment and let us know how you feel about love triangles – and if you have a favorite fictional triangle, please share!

This weekend it will be 18 months since the event that changed my life forever. I’ve talked about this many times and you guys know the deal. This will be my very last update on the subject. The other day I had my absolute final appointment with the hand specialist. It was a bit emotional. I sort of knew how it was going down but there was this tiny kernel of hope deep inside that just wouldn’t die. More than an hour after signing in at the doc’s office, my name was finally called. A thorough evaluation later and he gave my husband and me his final analysis: This is as good as it gets. Not what I wanted to hear despite the fact that it was what I expected to hear.

I will never again be right-handed.  I am now officially a leftie. The right hand and fingers will never “feel” textures and temperatures the way it is supposed to. I will never be able to properly grip things, turn my hand palm up or rotate my wrist conveniently. I will never be able to make a good fist or spread my fingers apart or do anything at all the way I once did with my right hand. There are surgeries that might help. Tendon transfers and the like. But the potential for making things worse is far too great to take the risk. So, as much as it sucks, this is as good as it gets as far as the docs are concerned.

Remember that little kernel of hope I mentioned before, it just won’t say die. It won’t. I asked the doc if there was ANY possibility whatsoever the situation could change. His answer was vague and noncommittal. His advice was, however, to the point: Do not get your hopes up. Bottom line, I can keep trying. Placing my hand on the keyboard and trying to make the fingers type. Picking up the fork and attempting to actually use it rather than drop it. I can preserve in my endeavors to use my hand and MAYBE, big, fat maybe, it will work a little better someday. MAYBE if I keep fighting my brain and forcing it to acknowledge that this right forearm and hand really are there (it feels like a prosthetic), it will one day admit defeat and recognize the limb I was born with more than half a century ago actually belongs to me! Meanwhile, we must continue to do the stretching and strengthening exercises three to four times each day to prevent further tissue loss and stiffening. I am incredibly thankful that I have a left hand! Thank you, God, for recognizing we would need a pair.

So, what’s a girl to do when defeat is staring back at her with a triumphant look? KICK BUTT! So what if I have to use my left hand for EVERYTHING I do? So what if I can’t write my stories the way I used to? So what if my hand and arm look weird? This is who I am now and until I can do differently: THIS IS THE WAY I WILL DO IT!

And just so you know, my new series is kicking butt, too. Both OBSESSION and IMPULSE have remained in the top ten bestselling romantic suspense books on Amazon for seven straight weeks. OBSESSION has been in the top 100 bestsellers on Kindle for fourteen days! I am so proud! Late next month the third book in the series, POWER, will be available. Today I am thrilled to announce that OBSESSION is now available in print! One of today’s commenters will receive an autographed copy of the trade paper edition! So be sure to comment! That little pink and white logo you see on the spine is the logo for my very own publishing company — Pink House Press!

fBesides writing the next story, I have lots of plans for spring this year. We’re finally moving into the “dress up” stage of our renovations on this old house. Lots of stacked stone and shrubs and roses! Lots of mulch! And other fun things. I’ll be posting pics and talking about the work so be sure to stay tuned! Two weeks from today I’ll give you a sneak peek at the cover for POWER and some insights into the coming titles in the series (RAGE, REVENGE and REDEMPTION are up next and they’re going to be red!).

Be sure to leave a comment to be entered into the drawing for the trade paper edition of OBSESSION. And please say a prayer for the folks in Alabama, especially in the Birmingham area, who suffered so much on Sunday night during the storms. We’re still healing from the horrors of last April.

Until next time!

One of the things I love about the Murder She Writes authors is that the women they write about are strong and self sufficient. I’m guess that my own skewed vision of “the damsel in distress” may have been irrevocably altered by a lifetime love of James Bond movies.

It’s been over half a century now since the very first Bond Girl — Honey Ryder, played by Ursula Andress in a white belted bikini accessorized with an assassin’s blade — graced the silver screen and launched a million erections. Sauntering in from the surf just in time for the Sexual Revolution, Bond Girls weren’t considered sexist, but sexy.

But these women were much more than arm charms. When they were good, they were great: not just in bed, but in the field, too. And when they were bad, they weren’t just naughty minxes, but deadly villianesses as well.

The films’ screenwriters (adapting Ian Fleming‘s’ classic spy novels) never met a double entendre they didn’t like. Seriously: with names “Pussy Galore“, “Holly Goodhead” “Plenty O’Toole“, “Bibi Dahl”, “Kissy Suzuki”, “Strawberry Fields”, “Molly Warmflash”, “Xenia Onatopp“, “Fatima Blush”, “Bambi” and “Thumper”– and let’s not forget “Mary Goodnight”), what guy isn’t going to get the wrong idea?

(Note to all aspiring thriller writers: think porn, not corn…)

My own favorites were “Solitaire”, “Domino Vitali, “Jinx” “Paris Carver” and “Vesper Lynd”. Those names have an air of mystery about them, a promise that trouble is just around the corner.

Now that Daniel Craig has completed a third Bond film, and contracted for five more, I’ve been give the best of both worlds: more Bond Girls to inspire me — and the best guy candy ever.

Here’s to a few more tasty Bond-Bonds,

– Josie

CONTEST QUESTION!

Have a great Bond Girl name?
Post it below, for a chance to win a copy of my book
THE BABY PLANNER.

BONUS POINT!

When writing The Housewife Assassin’s Handbook, I considered giving my heroine a name worthy of a Bond Girl. But because the series is also a tip of the chapeau to
television’s domestic goddesses of the 1950s,
I chose the name Donna Stone.”

Email me at MailFromJosie@gmail.com
with the television show that also had a heroine by that name!

____________________________

WINNER TO MY LAST POST’S CONTEST:

EDIE RAMER.

Edie, please email me with your home address!