Is it…Can it be…Yes! It’s Five on Friday!!!
This day (and a Friday, no less) seems to be sliding into a pit of murk and dank that would rival the digestive tract of a rancor after Jabba the Hut threw the Empire’s whole rugby team in the pit for losing the Galactic Cup.
(I know–I couldn’t find an accurate still from the movie so went with this cuter version, thus negating the pit of murk and dank. Deal.)
So (aside from cute monsters holding big bones…), what else, thought I, would redeem this icky Friday? That’s right–an old classic–Five on Friday!!!! *breathy, rock star cheer* So let’s see if we can turn this Death Star around, shall we?
1) Loving the new television season. Old favorites like Castle, Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother are always welcome, but we’re enjoying the beginnings of New Girl and Suburgatory (hey–anything with Alan Tudyk in it mist be given a chance. Plus, there is some sharp YA wit remeniscent of Easy A or Mean Girls in here.) Also loving the web series Husbands, by one of my gods, Jane Espenson. Check it out!
2) So I blogged last week about the book I finished, right? Well, I started doing some light editing on it once past the one week mark and find myself delightfully entranced by it. It’s a good sign and I am chuffed.
3) The summer movies are now coming out on DVD–Thor, Bridesmaids, Captain America, Transformers III, X-Men and I’m sure there’s more, but this is already a bounty worthy of much squeeing.
4) Candy Corn. The bags of treats in every grocery store, the flavored lip balms from Avon, the white-chocolate candy-corn-colored yummies from M&Ms–it’s all good, my babies.
5) Cupcakes. Specifically red velvet ones that make your tongue dance the macarena and a little wookie-like sound of happiness trill from between your lips. Like this one:
May the Friday be with you.
Five on Friday: The GH Thankful Edition
So yesterday was the announcement of RWA’s Rita and Golden Heart (GH) finalists. Many wonderful books were nominated, but yours truly wasn’t one of them. Now, where I was a bit…distraught over this last year (but pluckily rebounded), this year I found myself reflecting on more of the pony and less on the pony poo. Allow me to give you my five reasons why it was a blessing in disguise that I didn’t get a GH nom.
1. The first thing that worried me was I understand they want a photo of you in pretty short order. Not only will this be used in the monthly RWR (trade magazine), but it will be projected at the awards ceremony in a size only slightly smaller than a billboard. Sorry, people–wasn’t going to happen. Do you think this kind of beautiful just gets up and slaps itself on my face every morning? No! It takes a team of beauticians, hairstylists, colorists, dermatologists and a Buddhist monk chanting in the corner to make me presentable. Saying “Just take a picture–you look lovely!” is like saying “Just launch the Space Shuttle–it’ll be fine!” So that’s one worry I got to leave by the roadside!
2. The dress. Oh, dear Lord in Heaven, the dress. For those of you unfamiliar with the RWA Nationals awards ceremony, picture 2000 women getting to play dress-up once a year. Yup, it’s like a prom on crack. So if I had been a finalist I would have had to find the dress (floor length, of course) on the chance I won and had to say thank-you in front of those 2000 women. Considering I’m short-waisted and have the skin tone I like to describe as “fish-belly pale”, finding that dress would have required a platinum Visa, several four-leaf clovers, the stylist who did Sandra Bullock at the Oscars and a Buddhist monk chanting in the corner. Now I can just stick with either a little black dress or something easier and much more fun.
3. The shoes. Yes, the shoes deserve their own special mention here. Considering the most formal shoes I own are black, navy, or my rock star boots, I would have to either buy new shoes or wear a dress worthy of a rodeo queen. (Yes, this is Nashville, but I don’t know that even I could take it that far.) And when you wear a 10.5, there aren’t pretty shoes to be had, much less in delicious colors like garnet, peacock, or opal. Not even the Buddhist monk could have helped with this one. No shoes necessary this time, my friend. Me and my boots will be just fine.
4. The appointments at Nationals. As I understand it, there are extra events for the finalists–meet and greets, rehearsal for the ceremony, probably an audience with Nora or something, and lots of other things that probably aren’t quite so made up. But c’mon–all of those extra appointments mean less bar time, and with an Irish pub at the Gaylord Opryland, I know where I’d rather be! Besides, all you’d do at these appointments is make more friends, more writer friends, and who needs that?
5. The luggage. Let me just say that at the past few National conventions I’ve pushed the boundary of the 50lb weight requirements, and that was just with my biggest event being my editor/agent appointments. If I had social events, group appointments and, lest we forget, The Dress, I would need at least several steamer trunks to carry my ensemble, the accessories, my varying beauty and hair necessities, and last but not least, the Buddhist monk in the corner.
In all seriousness did I want to be a Golden Heart finalist? Hell, yes. But did I need it? No, I sure didn’t. I’m having a fabulous year and a GH nom might have been a little bit of gluttony. Besides, a friend got some fabulous news she’s been waiting on yesterday, and I like to think the universe took any mojo I had going into the GH and gave it to her. And I prefer it that way.
Now, who’s joining me at the bar?
Five on Friday: The Nutsy Fun Edition
1. I entered the Golden Heart yesterday. (Woot!) Right now, that means I submitted my entry form along with the fee. I have yet to send the submissions to the mothership (a.k.a. RWA National offices in Texas), but since I just queried BROKEN this fall, I’m confident that it’s ready to go.
2. People are still finding my blog by searching ‘WTF’– I mean they’re doing this a lot. Guess my theory of random words (Michael Jackson, Phillies, Halloween costumes for cheap) doesn’t really work as well as abbreviated swears.
3. Montana and I are attending a wedding tomorrow (yes, that’s Halloween) where the bride and groom asked people to dress up. I mean they printed “Costumes are encouraged” on the invitation between “at 5:00 in the evening” and “Reception to follow.” I think that is a bold bride. Of course, my first idea was to break out my wedding dress and my costume would be a bride, but remembering how stressed out I was before my wedding, I’m going to take mercy on this bride and just dress nicely. And, of course, I have the boots. (There is a bit of a western theme…)
4. NaNoWriMo starts Sunday. I’m building this into my writing plans, but more for support than word count. Writing challenges make me twitchy, but I love the camaraderie.
5. And, since this is the Nutsy Fun edition, I’m going to end by saying have a Happy and Safe Halloween! Enjoy these amazing (and sometimes twisted) jack-0-lanterns as my treat to you!
And, just so you know it’s still me…
Feel Good Five on Friday
Hello! So wow–how was that Marilyn Brant Week? Pretty amazing, I know. It was such a party that I’ve spent the last week recovering from it, that’s how amazing it was. I think it’ll go down in the books as legen….wait for it…dary.
So, in honor of Marilyn’s awesome book (According to Jane, available at Amazon and major bookstores everywhere) and Friday and everything else that’s good, it’s going to be a Feel Good Five on Friday around here, so kick back, get ready to smile, and enjoy.
Feel Good News: That same According to Jane is #2 on Amazon’s Contemporary Romance list. If that doesn’t get you smiling today, nothing will! Congratulations, Marilyn!!!
Feel Good Read II: “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” by William Kotzwinkle. You may know him as the author of the Walter the Farting Dog books, or even as the writer who novelized the movie E.T., but thanks solely to Montana, I’ve discovered this absolute gem of a book. Here’s a brief description as posted on Amazon: In Kotzwinkle’s merry send-up, the author of the hit novel “Desire and Destiny” is a bear, a real bear, who after finding the manuscript under a spruce tree and attaching his nom de plume, Hal Jam, becomes rich and famous overnight. Obtuse editors, star-hound agents, and a right-wing televangelist and Presidential candidate all warm to Hal’s warm, bearish honesty without bothering to read his book–or to notice that he’s an animal, for that matter. I started this last night and almost didn’t put it down. It’s simply delightful, and possibly more so to those of us trying to write our own hit novels. Sadly, it’s out of print, but you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor if you find it online or at a local used bookstore.
Feel Good TV Show: Really, was it any wonder I was going to pick “Glee” for this? If you haven’t watched it yet, please get over to Fox.com or Hulu.com and watch it. Watch an episode, watch one of their awesome videos, watch anything with Jane Lynch. If it doesn’t get you laughing or singing, check your pulse.
Feel Good News Story: You’ve probably already heard about this–it was everywhere this week (including my post on Facebook), but I find it simply too delightful not to post again. Two drunken idiots in Wales were picking on people on the street when they decided to pick on some cross-dressers. Only they weren’t cross-dressers–they were cage fighters on a night out in “fancy dress.” They started to pick on these supposed trannies, and one of the fighters came up behind the idiots and dropped them with one punch each. It’s just karma in its rawest, most sparkly form, and it’s beautiful. Read the story and see the clip here.
Feel Good Movie Clip: I was introduced to Baz Luhrmann (writer of Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge, and Austrailia) many, many years ago when I saw Ballroom Dancing. Well, the talented Mr. Luhrmann was on Dancing with the Stars a few weeks ago as a guest judge, leading the amazing Barbara Ferrer to write about it on her blog. She also posted the end scene from Ballroom Dancing, and I’m posting it here as my final Feel Good of the day. You don’t need to know anything about it–just watch it, and if you don’t get choked up at the 4:00 minute mark (followed by more around 5:40) with all of the pulsing, optomistic, triumph over anything feel goodness, then I just don’t know.
Have a great, feel good weekend, everybody.
Five on Friday: My Publishing Glass is Half Full
Business first. L.A. Mitchell, who probably shared a past life with me somewhere, awarded me a very sweet award, and I have to give a shout out to her for thinking of me. She has just finished editing hell, so head over to her blog and give her a virtual margarita or something.
Now, on to funsies, starting with happy Friday, and coming up on Sunday, happy March! I was going to do a post on “In like a lion, out like a lamb,” but that didn’t fit me. Almost everything I do is more on the lion side than the lamb, so it was a hard post to flesh out. So, in going back to a golden oldie of Five on Friday, a topic sprang to mind and I knew I had to go there.
In the past few months, the publishing world has undergone some changes, and many fingernails have been bitten and gallons of Pepto have been drunk.
Not by me.
Allow me to list at least five reasons why I’m optimistic not only about the publishing world, but my place in it.
1. I lurk on agent Kristin Nelson’s blog. Some months ago, I read about one of her debut authors, Jamie Ford. Jamie hit my radar not only because of his upcoming book, but because he currently lives in Montana. ‘Nuff said. Well, his book Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was released barely a month ago (January 27th) and it’s debuting at #30 on the NYT hardcover extended list, plus is hitting all kinds of indy lists. Needless to say, the current economy hasn’t stopped him, his publisher, booksellers or readers.
2. Read this from agent Janet Reid’s blog. (Thanks to Jenifer for the link.) Then read this from Kristin’s.
3. Jenny Cruise, Anne (Krissie) Stuart and Lani Diane Rich collaborated on a wonderful book called Dogs and Goddesses. (A basic lighthearted paranormal paperback romance.) It came out February 3rd and landed on both the USA Today (#88) and New York Times (#29) bestseller lists, coming in the next week at #24 on the NYT. Yes, I know some people think, “It’s Jenny Crusie. Of course it’s going to hit a bestseller list.” But it also means people are spending their scrimped and pinched dollars to buy books. That, my friends, is a whole lotta fabulous publishing news.
4. I have to be honest and list one of my reasons for being optimistic is Christopher Moore’s success. His most recent release, Fool, came out February 10th and is currently #4 on the NYT bestseller list. And just like Jenny, I know some people think, “It’s Christopher Moore. Of course he’s going to hit the bestseller list.” Well this is the man who started out in 1991, aka Long Before the Paranormal Craze, with a funny, wild book called Practical Demonkeeping. Followed by Coyote Blue, Bloodsucking Fiends (again, a vampire book Long Before the Paranormal Craze), Island of the Sequined Love Nun and the list goes on. Chris (I can call him that because we’re such close, personal friends, dontcha know…) found his voice, staked his flag on it, and look what it’s gotten him.
And, saving the best for last…
5. On my critique loop, one of our members recently sold her first (fiction) book. Is that amazing? Well, yes, it is to me, but here’s the rest of the story. She finaled in the Daphne Awards in 2005, getting an honorable mention. The editor judging the contest requested the full and it was sent to him in November, 2005. Fast forward to THREE YEARS LATER when he emailed my friend and asked her if it was still available. She said yes, he read it and called to make an offer the same day, PLUS he wants to see the sequel.
If that isn’t a glass half full story, I don’t know what is. Congrats, Barbara!
Five Reasons I (Heart) Heidi Betts
Hello, faithful blog readers! I call you that not only because that’s who (and what) you are, but as a way to butter you up for my apology. You see, my editing muse has grabbed me by the hair and is riding me like a wild mustang, complete with spurs and a crop. But, as disturbing as that visual may be to you, I like it. I have been editing, plotting, and creating up a storm on my current work (the afore mentioned BROKEN) and it feeeeeels sooooo gooooood! So while I’ve been locked deep in my editing like a lot of you have been wrapped in warm, fluffy quilts this winter, I’ve also been shamefully neglecting my blog-hopping duties. I humbly beg your forgiveness and promise to come play more in another week or two. Until then, know I adore you all and everything you post is brilliant, insightful, and utterly delightful.
Hollister: Mr. Lewis? How’s it going so far?
Edward: Pretty well, I think. I think we need some major sucking up.
Hollister: Very well, sir. You’re… not only handsome, but a powerful man. I could see the second you walked in here, you were someone to reckon with…
Edward: Hollister.
Hollister: Yes, sir?
Edward: Not me. Her.
Sorry—I’ve always loved that scene in Pretty Woman and since I was sucking up to you, thought you might appreciate it, too. Anyway, on to business.
Today is a wonderful day here at Pam Writes Romance because I get to bring you more of the Sweet and Spicy Goodness that is Heidi Betts. Heidi has a fabulous, sexy, yummy book coming out on February 3rd and for those of you still curled up with those fluffy quilts, a few pages from this are going to have you throwing them aside and grabbing your knitting needles! And since it’s Friday and I haven’t done a Five on Friday for a while, what better way to combine those into a spectacular post titled Five Reasons I (Heart) Heidi Betts!
Number One: Re-read this and tell me she’s not wonderful.
Number Two: Since I bought her—(If you flinched at that, you didn’t read Number One, did you? Go back and read it, then continue. Go ahead. We’ll wait.) Okay, as I was saying, since I bought Heidi last year, I have been a frequent guest in her dungeon and let me tell you this—if you want to comment on an award-winning, multi-published author’s blog and be welcomed with open arms, this is the place for you. I not only gained a fabulous new author with Heidi, I gained a friend.
Number Three: Heidi has a wicked sense of humor. (And her mother does, too, but that’s a whole other post…)
Number Four: Heidi can write sexy romances like Michael Phelps can swim, Robin Williams can do stand-up and Beckham can bend it.
Number Five: If you haven’t been able to tell by now, Heidi is just a wonderful, sweet, warm and funny woman. She rescues cats, volunteers her time to unpublished writers, and loves Joss Whedon. You just can’t get much better than that.
Come back Tuesday for Heidi’s guest appearance at Pam Writes Romance. You’ll get to hear about her new Chicks with Sticks series for St. Martin’s Press and the background of these funny, sexy stories. And if that’s not enticement enough, she’s going to be giving away three books.
Okay, make that Six Reasons I (Heart) Heidi Betts.
Five on Friday: A Blog about Nothing
Hello and Happy Friday! Since it’s the weekend, we’re going to take things a little more lightly here at PamWritesRomance and just do a breezy Five on Friday. I mean, who wants to go into the weekend all bogged down with writing angst, right?
1. Business First
I was tagged by my wonderful blog buddy Lainey who wants me to list 6 goofy/unusual things about myself, so you—lucky, lucky, reader—get a list within a list!
1. I use body English when I park. Don’t know why, but so far it’s seemed to work.
2. I don’t know specifically how I do this, but there must be something unique about how I pack sandwiches in tinfoil, because Montana says by that alone, he could pick my sandwich out of a Boy Scout Jamboree.
3. Of scents/flavors I really don’t like, peach and raspberry top the list.
4. If I’m in a convenience store getting a soda, 99 times out of 100 it’ll be a swamp water. (Also known as a graveyard mix.)
5. I can roll my tongue, roll my r’s (aka perform an alveolar trill), double tongue and triple tongue.
6. I grill an awesome pizza.
I’m supposed to tag six other people, but most of my blog buddies have been tagged, so I’m going to leave it as do it if you’d like to (either on your own blog or in the comments). I encourage everybody to at least make a mental list of their 6 things—it really was fun to do.
2. Fall Line-Up
While stalling the other night, I came across the Knight Rider premier. All in all, it wasn’t half bad! (Of course, I’m still in mourning for Wipeout, but we can’t have it all, can we?) Other than that, I’ve got nothing. I really don’t watch dedicated series while they’re on—if they’re that good, we’ll buy them as a DVD set, and so far it’s been pretty hard to top Deadwood and Buffy.
3. Gratuitous Cat Humor
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4. Movies
I’m happy because we’re finally getting into DVD season of the summer blockbusters, starting with Iron Man coming out this Tuesday. And then there are some great movies coming out this fall, like James Bond and Transporter 3 (which looks much more like the original Transporter, thank God!) Too bad there’s no Harry Potter, but that will be something to look forward to next summer, I guess.
5. Autumn
Crimeny, I can’t believe it’s almost October. Of course, since it’s supposed to be 103 degrees today, you can’t really blame me for having trouble with my seasonal or calendar adjustments. The good side is it’s going to be cooler soon, and I do so much better with that. I’m looking forward to writing more, editing, getting the house in order, and doing all of those other organizational things. I still have to decide if I want to enter the Golden Heart (but I have until November 17th) and start getting some Christmas gifts. I’m not doing NaNo, but I will be cheering on my writing buddies who are, and believe you me, finding something to rhyme with protagonist is going to be a challenge.
Happy Friday, everybody.
It's Time.
I know. Your first thought on reading this blog’s title was “Yeah, it’s about dang time you posted again, you lazy slacker!!!” And that’s what makes this title so great—it covers everything, including that it is indeed time for me to post again. Perhaps after reading this post, you’ll understand a little bit more about why the lack of posts lately. (Though you’re pretty much all writers—I already know you understand how writing is like riding a roller coaster and I’ve been going through a loop-de-loop for the past month, but I get ahead of myself…)
It’s time to be done with my current book, the rom-com-para-lite. I’ve written and edited and polished and edited and queried and submitted and been critiqued and re-edited and re-polished and re-edited and re-polished and queried and submitted and more with the re-editing and re-polishing. This week I’ve sent out my Nationals submissions and where I’ve been convinced to give this sweet and snarky manuscript a few additional chances during the month, I eagerly look forward to letting it rest. Which leads me to…
It’s time to finish my dark historical. You remember this one, the one I was zipping along on when I started this blog in the spring? I’m really excited to get this book finished, for a variety of reasons. First, I love, adore and need this book like it’s dark chocolate, chai tea, and Chinese food all rolled into one. This book has haunted me not only in not finishing it before July, but since I first came up with the barest idea of it years ago. It’s time. Second, I have a wicked reward already in place for it (but you’ll have to wait to hear what it is!), so starting tomorrow, the fingers hit the keyboard. Third, it’s going to take me about a month to finish it, so that’s good timing as far as my submissions go. The optimist in me says by that time, people will be asking for the full manuscript in addition to the partial submissions I just sent out and I’ll need to get started on rom-com-para-lite #2. If I don’t have the dark historical finished before then, I may burst into tears.
It’s also time for an earlier historical to get the makeover it’s been needing. Montana and I had quite a conversation last night about how it’s probably going to be easier and better in the long run to consider the current manuscript I have as a 100,000 word outline than to try and edit it into shape. It’s starting to come to me like the dark historical came to me and I’m drooling to get started. Either I have an agent and/or editor interested in me and get to do the lite stuff, or I get to dive into the dark and murky waters of historical romance. I am so in a win-win it’s not even funny.
And it’s time to get back to the business of writing. I live for Nationals, but let’s admit it—it messes with your schedule something fierce. Maybe it’s the timing of finishing post-Nat
ionals business, maybe it’s because it’s back-to-school, but I feel the need to really immerse myself in my writing—that means writing, submitting, getting my space more comfortable for The Girls, getting my mind set for the next step, everything I need to do to be successful. And I’m ready for it. I want it, need it, got to got to have it! (It makes sense if you say that last sentence like James Brown.)
So what about you? What’s it time for in your world?
Tags, Kids and Words
It’s Friday, so time for another Five. This week doesn’t have a theme other than catching up, and I figure that’s something every writer could relate to. So without further ado, The Five on Friday Catch Up Edition.
1. My first, is actually a true first. My friend Marilyn tagged me on Monday and it’s taken me until now to respond. I offer large sums of apologies to her and offer here my very first tag. It’s called the 1-2-3 tag and it goes like this:
Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to the person who tagged you once you’ve posted your three sentences.
Of course, I have to be difficult when doing this. When they say to find the fifth sentence, I want to know if that’s the fifth sentence regardless or the fifth complete sentence. Because that makes a difference on what the next three sentences are, right? For the sake of the post, I’ll pass that little bump and go (finally) to the sentences. My nearest book was Life of Pi by Yann Martel, given to me by a dear friend when I was visiting my parents. (It was on the coffee table because it hadn’t gone very far after I’d unpacked.) Page 123 is at the beginning of Chapter 37 and my three sentences are:
“HUMPF! I’ll try again. HUMPF!”
I’m not kidding. These are my three sentences. If you want me to err on the side of three sentences after five complete sentences, you could add this line: “He was too far.”
So, for the sake of a little more interesting post, I’ll do the 1-2-3 tag again with the book I’m currently reading, A Lick of Frost by Laurell K. Hamilton. Knowing Laurell, this could be a very spicy post, so brace yourselves.
“He’d jokingly said, “You promised me sex, but I know you, you’ll get distracted unless I stay by your side.” It was a joke with some bite in it for Rhys and me. But Doyle said yes to his staying with us too quickly.”
Much better, yes? And now I get to tag others to play. Oh goody–duck, duck, goose for blogs. (Insert evil laughter here.) I’ll tag Caryn, Robin, Melissa, Ilana, and Jenifer.
2. Speaking of evil laughter and Caryn, I think she’s probably chortling mightily over her NKOTB influence. This morning I saw a news clip of them opening the stock exchange yesterday and they were the Friday musical performance on the Today show on NBC, so they plugged them to boy band death. And yes, with every clip was the catchy refrain of “The Right Stuff.” (Not to be confused with the book and movie of the same name dealing with the birth of the space program.) So guess what song I can’t get out of my head this morning?
But I’ve learned that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Pop culture plays a huge part in my writing, from inspiration to instruction to replenishing the creative well. I’m approaching the midpoint of the current WIP and I’ve had thoughts of scenes bounce in my head, so I decided to write them down so a) I wouldn’t lose them and b) so I could see where I was headed. The funny thing was, in looking forward to the next 30,000 words, I have a scene I call “The Princess Bride Scene” and one I call “The Dodgeball Scene.” (And no, I’m not telling you about either.) These aren’t rewrites of scenes from these movies, (frex: “Hello, my name is Jane Doe. You killed my father and now I’m going to kill you.”) but more scenes of my book that were inspired by other scenes (and music and books all jumbled together) I’d taken in. So, for all I know, somewhere down the line, a boy band or a really irritating earworm is going to be in one of my books, and the evil laughter will return. At Caryn.
3. For my goal of 20 pages this week, I’m at 17 and that includes 2 this morning because I got up early and felt amazingly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. In writing a new scene last night, I discovered one of my secondary characters wanted his own POV and I’m glad I listened, because his scene is just going fabulously! And he’s whispered in my ear before, so I know there are going to be some other scenes I can write for earlier in the book as well as going forward. Woot!
4. I’m also really happy because my romantic comedies are still alive and well in my head. I’m starting to hear the beginning strains of the next one, so I think I’ve hit that wonderful balance that’s going to keep me interested and fresh. I’m estatic because that’s my ultimate goal: write one romantic comedy and one tortured historical a year. Another woot!
5. Stay tuned for my Tuesday Ten. I’m going to be interviewing a debut author (who is fabulous!) so I’ll be branching into new territory here. I’m really looking forward to it and I love celebrating newly published/signed authors. Please come back and celebrate her with me. (And no, I’m not telling. From pop culture I’ve also learned how to do the tease and make you want to come back to see who it is. Tricky, no?)
Thanks for coming to play. I hope everybody has a great weekend and makes their writing goals. Me? Yeah, I’ll hit 20 pages, but Montana has promised me my picnic regardless. Now you know why I write romance.
Pamela Cayne 