Drive-By!

Super busy!!!! Work has been slammin'! My mother is here helping with the critter since my sitter is at Disney with her family, as well, so haven't had much time for blogging.

But just popping in and blogging from work really quick. Laura has a blurb and the awesome cover of Vicious Circle by Linda Robertson. I must have this book. God. There are so many out that want right now. So many books, so slim a wallet :(

Life's just not fair!

But go over and check ito out.

I leave with you with one of my fave pics taken on June 17th :) , taken by me. This is me and my little critter.

Embers Cover and Blurb!

Check out Laura's cover for her upcoming release! Is this not freakin' gorgeous! I can't wait to get my hands on this book! Here is the blurb:

"Truth burns. Unemployment, despair, anger—visible and invisible unrest feed the undercurrent of Detroit’s unease. Homes and businesses are increasingly invaded by phantoms and now, with the annual destruction of Devil’s Night approaching, a supernatural arsonist is setting blazes to summon a fiery ancient power that will leave the city in cinders. A sizzling debut from a red-hot new author.

"By day, Anya Kalinczyk is an arson investigator in the Detroit Fire Department. At night—accompanied by her elemental familiar, a salamander named Sparky, and an eccentric group of ghost hunters—Anya pursues malicious spirits. The rarest form of psychic medium, a “Lantern,” Anya doesn’t allow spirits to communicate through her with the physical world like most mediums, she devours restless harmful souls and incinerates them. She’d like to get closer to Brian, a ghost-hunting techno-wiz, but a lifetime of those she loves getting hurt makes her hold back. Her two roles mesh when, on the trail of a serial firebug, she discovers an arsonist is attempting to use the fires to rouse Sirrush, a supremely powerful elemental, from the salt mine beneath the city of Detroit. Anya must capture the arsonist before Devil’s Night, when the spell will be complete and Sirrush will rise to raze the city."

From the Juno Books Announcement, for which blogger will not allow me to post a link, damn it!

Awesome Moments

When I've had a crappy day or I'm in a funk for whatever reason, I just have to think of my little guy and I smile. Last night, he made me laugh so hard, I thought I was going to pee myself.

He was picking the peas out of his mixed veggies and saying, "Peas!" He then went about squishing each one between his little fingers, saying, "Uh oh!" after the violent demise of each pea.

He's too much. He reminds me every day that for every crappy thing, there is a wonderful thing. He's my wonderful thing.

Okay, on a creepier note. This current book I'm writing has a strong element of horror in it. Tell me what the scariest movie or book you've ever read is, and why. Or the scariest scene.

One of the creepiest, scariest scenes I can remember was in 70's movie starring Donald Sutherland. I think it was called "Don't Look Back." His daughter drowns, and he starts seeing a little girl in a red raincoat (his daughter wore a red raincoat, or maybe it was yellow, anyway. . .) everywhere.

He finally catches up with her. She's standing with her back to him and he approaches, telling her that everything is fine, he won't hurt her, and the little girl swings around with a knife and stabs him. It's actually not his daughter but a crazed midget or something.

Sorry, it's been too many years to recall clearly, but it has stuck with me since I saw the movie as a kid.

What scared the bejesus out of you?

Brainstorming

I've spent the last few nights after work looking for brainstorming and mind mapping software. I used to use Microsoft Visio, but when my sister killed my laptop that program went with it.

Yesterday I realized I can just use Word. I'm using Word '07 and they have some nice, simple flow charting tools available. I ended up just using text boxes. The cool thing is that you can modify the shapes of the boxes and move them around. I was jazzed to figure this out. I had tried an older version of word a few years ago but the boxes wouldn't stay where I put them, so I ditched that idea. But this program is great for mind mapping.

I didn't even realize that "mind mapping" was what I was doing. It's just one of the ways I use to plot and get my ideas down. When I get stuck, I can look at the diagram, all the boxes with little notes in them, and I usually figure out where I need to go next.

Lots of writers use index cards, and I think this is pretty similar, only I'm using the computer to do it. I can add colors and effects to the boxes as well, like shadowing and 3D. I use a nice, spooky font for some of the headings, too, hehe. Goofy but fun.

It's amazing how fast 2 hours fly by. Sadly, I have to get to bed before 11 pm so that I can get my butt out of bed and get ready for work, and the critter ready for the sitter's.

That's all for now. Over and out.

Friday!

Quickly posting from work. I can't tell you how happy I am that it's friday. It isn't that it's less work for me, because weekends hold an entire host of things to get done, mostly cleaning and laundry, and chasing a 15 month old is, shall we say, exhausting! But I look forward to being able to space out and think of my current project without worrying about somebody catching me hehe.

I realized yesterday that a manuscript that I ditched may hold some important scenes that I need to modify and fit into this one. When I was writing that one, it seemed meandering and disjointed, and so many scenes just didn't fit. Thinking back on it now, I'm certain that I was trying to work out this current story back then.

At the time I was pregnant and had hormone induced baby brain, which lasted several months after I had my little critter, and it didn't make sense to me. I couldn't figure out why I was writing these scenes that didn't really fit into the story I thought I wanted to write. Now I think that this story was trying to construct itself the best it could.

Stories are organic things, for me, mostly. Scenes, themes, characters, all emerge largely on their own, and the story changes so much from the inception of the idea to the end. It's really a rollercoaster ride for me. Every single story is.

So now I have to open the document I shoved aside for over a year and see what needs to be used.

Okay, this wasn't a quick post. But back to work for me!

Cross your fingers that my little critter goes to bed early enough that I can start working at a decent hour!

Have a great Friday night, all!

Great Info

Awesome link for writers, provided by Laura Bickle! I love writing articles. I eat them up any chance I can. Check it out!

Wow

I finished Lilith Saintcrow's NightShift last night. This is the first of her books that I've read, but it won't be the last. She friggin' rocks.

It takes me forever to read a book because the only time I have to read it right before I go to sleep, and I usually nod off after about 5 pages. So you can imagine.

But this one kept me reading much longer. What an excellent, kick-ass story. I loved it. The only problem is, I have to get all of her books now. I need to read them all. NEED to.

If you like fast paced, exciting as hell horror/urban fantasy, then to run, don't walk, to the book store to get this one. You won't be sorry.