Now that August is coming to an end and summer is winding down, it’s that time again.

Fall?  Sure, but as much as I love heading into soup and homemade bread season, that’s not what I’m excited about.

Back to school?  Not even close, since as wonderful as this always sounds, it really means a lot more work around our house.

My September Blaze release, RIDING THE WAVES?  Oooooh yeah! I’m definitely jazzed about that! I can’t wait to hear if readers like Drucilla and Alex’s story (actually, Alex is being interviewed today over at Romance University)

But… no.  That’s not what I meant.  My big yay and excitement right now is because pretty soon we can start the countdown for Castle’s Season Three premier! Wooot!!!  I love me some Castle and Beckett sparks.  I can’t wait to see how this season kicks off -and if this preview is anything to go by, it’s gonna rock.

What do you think?  Are you looking forward to saying goodbye to August and summer?  Are you counting the days until we get our weekly Castle fix again? Are there any other shows you’re excited to see resume this fall?

I was a part of the Healthy Writer blog’s Getting Off That Roller Coaster presentation at the 2010 RWA National Conference last month in Orlando.   One of the points of our presentation was that many writers (me) tend to spend a lot of their day being sedentary.   Aka, sitting on my butt, writing stories.  I love the writing part, but side-effects aren’t so great (weight issues, slowing metabolism, compiled stress, etc).

One of the ideas I came across as I was researching this was a Tread Desk.  Stephanie Bond mentioned it a few years ago in a workshop I’d attended,  and I’ve run across a variety of versions on the internet over the years.  After mentioning it in my  Healthy Writer post,  I got hooked on the idea of having one. I pow-wowed with my husband, who really can build anything, and he came up with a plan.

He got a length of angled steel, something he called an angle bracket (shrug, the only thing I understand in the hardware store is the garden section) and cut two pieces to fit between the treadmill’s two side bars (the rounded black bar and the squared off silver bar in the photo).  Then he screwed them into place.  He cut a length of wood to fit, and set it on the brackets.  Voila, his job was done   (at least, it is unless various predictions come true and I break my leg.  Then he’ll have to drive me to the hospital)

Then it was my turn.  We’d measured to see where I’d be most comfortable typing, but he couldn’t raise the desktop quite that high because of the metal bars of the heart-rate monitor on the treadmill.  So I used a lapdesk, which brought the laptop to the perfect typing height, and slid the laptop screen behind the heart-rate monitor bar to secure it from slipping when the treadmill was moving.  I can see the treadmill readouts just fine over the top of the laptop, and while the recommendations are to walk at 1 mph, I’ve found that 2 mph is much more comfortable for me.

And for the 6 hours a week I want to use my treadmill as an actual, you know, exercise machine treadmill?  I simply slide the laptop and lapdesk off, remove the wooden board aka the desktop, and voila – it’s back to a regular ole treadmill.  The only concern we have is that once I’m comfortable and not paying attention (which happens amazingly fast) I could bang into the sharp edges of the angle brackets.  Our solution is to get rounded foam, like you see on the bars of kids bikes to keep them from knocking their teeth out, and slide it over the brackets when the desk isn’t in use.  Safe and easy, and again, so very simple!  I’m loving this.

My goal is 3 hours of computer time a day is to be done on the tread-desk.  My record to date (after two whole days) is an hour and a half, which included answering emails, writing two blog posts, commenting on a couple blogs and cruising the internet to keep up with all the current gossip as well as various visits to the Facebook and Twitter.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to critique from here, as well as do any sort of short writing stints that doesn’t require staring off in space.

So… What do you think?  Would you try a tread-desk?  Are you one of those disciplined people who remembers to get up and move around every hour to keep your circulation healthy and your metabolism alive or are you like me, prone to sitting for hours before you remember you have legs?

Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life. ~Wayne Dyer

Harlequin Intrigue author, Paula Graves is hanging out with us today! YAY and welcome, Paula The latest book in her Cooper Justice series, One Tough Marine, is out now and the next, Bachelor Sheriff is hitting shelves in September.

Plotter or Pantzer?
I’m a plotter with pantser tendencies. I tried for a long time to be a pantser, but I never finished anything that way. So I decided to organize my writing and started finishing books. Then I got hyper-organized and started finishing them faster. I like to have a roadmap plotted out for my books. I may still take detours, but I try to hit all my planned destinations by the end of the book.

Alpha, beta or gamma?
Gamma, I think. My heroes are tough, decisive, take charge guys, but they’re not overbearing and they really love and appreciate tough, decisive, take charge women. In my books, they often relate to the heroines as friends as well as lovers, which I think gives them some beta tendencies, but they’re definitely not betas. I guess they’re on the alpha side of the spectrum but not the extreme end.

Light or Dark?
Dark. And meaty. (Sounds like I’m talking about chicken legs). I like stories that explore difficult topics, that show men and women facing some of their deepest, darkest nightmares and finding that core of steel within themselves to overcome the odds stacked against them. I find that kind of story very satisfying as a reader. As a writer as well.

Football or basketball?
I’m from Alabama, sugar. Football all the way. Roll Tide!

Ocean or mountain?
Mountain. I like the ocean, but when I think about my dream place to live, it’s somewhere in the Smoky Mountains, in a big house with a gorgeous view. And a lake nearby so I can go fishing. One of my favorite memories from my youth was a trip to Lake Junaluska in North Carolina. It was so beautiful it took my breath away. I fell in love with the mountains there, and they still call to me even today. Where I live in Alabama, we’re surrounded by foothills, but it’s not the same thing as being surrounded by the enormous old mountains you find farther up the Appalachian chain.

Dogs or Cats?
Cats. I have three dogs I love, along with my cats, but if I could have only one kind of pet, it would definitely be a cat. Cats are my soulmates. I love their independence, their “take no guff” attitudes. They mete out their affection judiciously, but that makes those moments when they hop in your lap for some bonding time all the more meaningful. They can be difficult pets to deal with, especially emotionally. They’re kind of like fictional characters—they tend to follow their own lead and expect you to keep up the best you can, but where they’re going is almost always interesting and worth the ride.

Paula’s offering not one, but two books to commenter’s today. For a chance to win a book from her backlist, answer Paula’s either/or question: Facebook or Twitter?

As a child, Paula Graves’s favorite books were Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries and Harlequin Romances. When she realized there were books that featured both romance and mystery, she knew she’d found her calling. Now Paula writes for Harlequin Intrigue, where she gets to play both matchmaker and murderer and has a blast doing it.  She loves to hear from her readers, who can reach her by clicking the contact button on her website, www.paulagraves.com.

When the world says, “Give up,”
Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”
~Author Unknown

Here’s to hope!!