Quoed by a Pro

So first of all, the Backlist Ba-Dump-Bump got a great response-- I would love to do it some more. Readers, if you have an author you'd like me to feature--ask them about the history of your favorite book and tell them to hit me up! I do like how much people loved this idea--I'd like to see it grow!

Also-- I have a blog up today on Happy Ever After Blog at USA Today.   I'm sort of proud of this blog-- a couple of authors whom I really admire and are not in my genre have been kind enough to tell me that they love reading my work. After I got over the big eyes and the fanning the face and squeeing like a three year old at a unicorn convention, I started to wonder-- what do other authors read when they're not reading "in their genre".  I know I wrote an entire column on reading J.D. Robb and Kathy Reichs. (I was proud to be able to say that Karen Rose, one of the authors who contacted me, was already on my Kindle because het suspense is TOTALLY my candy, and I'd heard good things! She's up next on my queue by the way, after some professional reading I have to do, and I'm SO EXCITED.)

Anyway-- so I asked some authors I knew, and these were their answers, and I'm feeling very proud of myself!  (Also very grateful for the editor, because I think it looks much better now than when I submitted it yesterday. It wasn't supposed to be due until March, and suddenly KAPOW they needed a pinch hitter!)  Author Candy! Go read!

And now for the title of the blog...

So, tonight the kids had dance, and I texted Mate the usual: What do you want to eat?

Him: Noodle House?

Me: Okay.

Him: Was there anything you were going to cook?

Me: Zucchini, tomatoes, and cheese. Do you want to start it?

Him: Noodles. Send the kids in and I'll come out.  (For the record, this is what happens to a lot of my diet initiatives, in case you were wondering.)

So, I get home, the kids run in the house, Mate runs out, and we go on a "mini-date"-- it's sort of a habit we have of running simple errands together so we have time to talk. Anything from a trip to the grocery store to a trip to the bank. The kids are good for a half-an-hour or so, and, hey-- grownup time!

We talk-- what did you do today, did you get to work out, I need to order stuff for RT, this is the project I'm doing now... just sort of keeping each other in the loop.

Him: "So,  you're taking the kids to the art gallery tomorrow?"

Me: "Yeah-- no soccer tomorrow night?"

Him: "Nope, Saturday. And then I'm going to an expo. And we have a party, but I'm not sure I'll be back in time."

Me: "Okay-- well, too bad, it sounds fun, but--"

Him: (And this is where things get cute) "Yeah, oh! And I have an event tonight."

Me: "Like a gaming event?"  Now, it must be said, I remember these from a couple of years of World of Warcraft. It's a new decade, and the game is called Destiny, and it's played on the television (we have a couple) and he's usually talking to his friends. Group play.  It really is a social occasion-- it's the equivalent of going to a D&D party except there's no beer, you don't have to leave the house, and pants are optional.

Him: "Uh, yeah. So, you know. After we get home, if it's okay, I'll just go..."

Me: "BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Him: "what?"

Me: "The mini-date at the Noodle House-- this was so you could go play with your friends when we got home."

Mate, sheepishly: "Is that bad?"

Me: "No. Not bad at all."  Because seriously-- he'd told me what he wanted, helped me go hunt and kill some takeout, and talked to me in a way we don't get to do at home with television and kids. All in all, he'd been a considerate husband, and a reward of play ing with his buddies was only fair. "But it's still pretty hilarious."

Mate: "I'm sorry!"

Me: "Don't be-- I'm just going to think it's cute."

And it was cute. Still is. Goooood Husband-- well done!