matchbox twenty — Meika Usher, Romance Author

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope the weekend was long and relaxing for you guys. Mine, well...not so much! But I'll survive!

I had a blast participating in the Page 99 Blogfest -- if you didn't check out everyone's pages, do it! It was fun and interesting and educational. Thanks to everyone who swung by to read my page and for all your lovely comments. Tierney isn't as heartless and selfish as she comes off on that page, I swear!

Anyhoo, the lineup for Monday Mixtape is filled with leftovers from last week's blogfest. My honorable mentions that didn't quite make it to my top ten list. Hope you enjoy!

Addicted - Kelly Clarkson
Who hasn't been in a relationship like this before?
My favorite line: Well...all of it, really.

Cruz - Christina Aguilera

I don't know what it is about this song, but every time I hear it, I want to close my eyes and soak it in...
My favorite line: "As I'm driving I'm captured by the view/So much beauty, the road becomes my muse"

The Difference - Matchbox Twenty

My all-time favorite song by this band is Hand Me Down, but this one is a VERY close second. I love Rob Thomas' voice and he's a great songwriter. My favorite line: "Day breaking on the boulevard/Feel the sun warming up your second hand heart"

Okay, don't you think it's about time I got off my slacker butt and did some honest to goodness blogging? I mean, I flake two weeks in a row on my Wanderlust Wednesdays, and I finished Don't Look Down two weeks ago and haven't written a review for it. Just what is my problem?

The problem, you see, is that my main character and her male lead won't cooperate with me. They want to get all willy nilly with my plot, preferring to argue with each other rather than make nice. Or vice versa. It seems whatever I have planned, they have to do the exact opposite. And frankly, it's driving me insane.

I would just love to throw these two in a room together and lock the door. Tell them they can't come out until they've agreed to cooperate with my wishes. The only problem is, they're fictional figments of my imagination.

Argh!

This is the very trait that gives outsiders the impression that we're insane. We hear voices and argue with them. We get angry and frustrated when these imaginary people won't do as they're told. "Well, they're your characters, why don't you just make them do it?" people ask. And to them, I say, "HA!"

No, make that "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!"

If only they knew, right? If only they knew.

I'm at my wit's end here. I should have finished this novel months ago, but still it drags on. All because Mari and Zander would rather fight like a couple of blue-haired old women in the beauty salon than kiss and make up. So, what do you do when your characters go rogue on you? When they just. Won't. Do. As. They're. Told?

PS: Sorry if I got Matchbox Twenty stuck in your head with my title. Could be worse, right?