Aaaahhhhh

Kicking back tonight and relaxing. Niiiiice. I added a few more songs to the playlist and changed the title of it. I noticed tonight that most of the songs are pretty sexy, so I called it the Sexy Playlist.

Okay, off to continue my relaxing. I won't think about the book. Nope. Not at all. I refuse.

Still not thinking about the book. Or the 30,000 to 40,000 words I need to add to it, or the scenes running through my mind. Uh uh. *shaking head*

Not one bit. Nope. *Straight face*

Like a Marathon

I've had a few people who are not writers ask me if the nano widget meant that I was *the* winner of nano. No, I'm *a* winner. It's like running a marathon. Anyone who reaches the finish line during the race is a winner. So there are many winners. We don't know how many yet.

I'm a little tired, though. *Does a slow circle and falls face down on the floor*

Woohoo!

I did it! I did it! *Pointing to the Nano Widget* See? Teehee!

Almost There

Two more days. Almost at the end of the Nano challenge. Kind of burned out so I'll keep it short. New playlist is up. It's shorter so I'll likely add to it. I have one Christmas song on there that I actually like.

Okay, over and out.

Sparks and Dark Oracle Available for Pre-Order!

Laura Bickle's Sparks is availabe for pre-order at Amazon. It's the second in her Anya Kalinczyk series:

The adventures of Anya Kalinczyk - spiritual medium, fire investigator, and ghost hunter - continue as Anya investigates cases of spontaneous human combustion. Expect a lot of salamanders behaving badly when Sparky lays eggs in Anya's bathtub.

Laura's novel Dark Oracle is also available for pre-order from Amazon. Dark Oracle will be released under Laura's other alias, Alayna Williams. Here is the summary for Dark Oracle:

Can an oracle change the future she sees?

Tara Sheridan swore off criminal profiling years ago. By combining Tarot card divination with her own intuition, she narrowly escaped the grasp of a serial killer who left her scarred for life. She put down her cards and withdrew from work and society. Now, Sophia, a member of an ancient secret society connected to the mythic Delphic Oracle, asks Tara to find a missing scientist who has unlocked the destructive secrets of dark energy. Tara resists— she fears reawakening her long-buried talents and blames Sophia’s Daughters of Delphi for the death of her mother. But, grudgingly, she agrees to search for the missing scientist, Lowell Magnusson.

Tara travels to Las Alamos National Laboratory, the location of Magnusson’s disappearance. She meets the serious, impatient, and highly attractive Agent Harry Li— and re-encounters her old partner, Richard Corvus. Corvus is now chief of the Special Projects Division, a position Tera might have held, had she not dropped out of investigative work. Corvus considers Tara mentally imbalanced and not to be trusted— but it may be Corvus who is untrustworthy.

Tara’s investigation and Tarot cards tell her Magnusson’s daughter, Cassie, may hold the key to her father’s plans, and that they both are in grave danger. Meanwhile, Corvus and the Daughters of Delphi have their own plans...and the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Both of these books sound fantastic. I can't wait to get my hands on Embers, the first in the Anya Kalinczyk series, which is also available for pre-order at Amazon.

Wow. You rock, Laura.

Give me Shelter

Felt compelled to write another quick post. Christmas is everywhere. Can't escape it. I'm trying to get psyched this year for my little guy. We're going to do some Christmas lights around the house. Nothing crazy, just some. We didn't do any the last couple of years. We were too busy and it was okay with me.

I really don't have anything personal against Christmas. I'm all for peace and good will. And although it's true that Christmas has been heavily commercialized, that isn't what bothers me so much.

This time of year makes me want to hide. I don't mind the upbeat, jazzy modern holiday music, but the traditional stuff makes me want to slam my hands over my ears and sing anything else.

I'm really a pretty happy person. I'm a positive person, and I'm not one to wallow. I'm stubborn and persistent and driven when it comes to doing a job right, my writing in particular. But any job, really.

But I still have trouble with the whole Christmas thing. Ghosts of Christmas past. The memory of having, on Christmas Eve, to bring my father his Christmas gift to whichever bar he was sitting in at the time (whichever bar hadn't banished him for fighting). My mother had long divorced him by then. Smart move. He'd sit there until they threw him out. This went on for years, until I stopped bringing him a gift.

Believe me. I'm not feeling sorry for myself. Like I said, I don't wallow. I don't ruminate. But somehow they manage to come back. Those dark times. Christmas makes me nervous. Leaves me feeling untethered. I'd really rather avoid it.

The desire to get completely immersed in the writing and to work myself on my elliptical until I drop is overwhelming.

But all things in moderation. Because maybe there wouldn't be all that much of a difference between downing several drinks or burying myself in the writing and exercise to escape something that makes me feel uncomfortable.

I'm determined to be happy for my little guy. And I usually can fake it anyway, for the people around me that I love. I keep the downer shit under wraps.

Not throwing myself a pity party. Those are for chumps! Just wanted to confess and move on.

Almost There

This is the final week of Nano. I'm holding steady with the word count. I write pretty clean and I'm not much for padding or wasted words, so there more than anything I'll need to add some description. When I go back and read this thing I know I'll see some plot holes I need to fill. Also, plot threads that I forgot about or just did nothing with that I need to cut.

There's also one character I'm not sure I'll keep. I like him but so far he hasn't done much. But since I need to add 30 to 40 K on this manuscript, you never know. I'll give him a chance to take the ball and run with it in the second pass. If he doesn't, he'll have to go. Maybe I'll use him in another story some day.

I woke up at 5 a.m and could't get back to sleep. Finally at 5:30 I got on my elliptical. It felt good because it's been over three weeks! I'm sure I'll be feeling it tomorrow.

That's all for now. Over and out.

A Sudden Frost Snippet

Keep in mind, this is the first draft, but this came up yesterday. Leah's having a wee bit of a hard time with not getting distracted:

“Jesus, Kicks. I can’t leave you alone for five minutes.”

“What?” I asked innocently.

“Oh, stow it. You know what.” His face was not amused.

“Jack, lighten up. Some people have a few cocktails to relax. Others spark up a big fatty. I . . . find a friend.”

“You have a friend. Or have you forgotten that?”

I leaned against the counter. “Jack, please don’t go there. Don’t lecture me.”

He let out a long breath, walking toward the kitchen window and back again. “Fine. Just please don’t let it get in the way of the work. Okay? Can you manage to keep your brain out of your panties?”

“It's a thong, but I’ll sure give it a whirl, Jack.”

“Good.” He turned and went back into the living room.

I sighed and looked at the coffee pot, wondering what in hell I thought I was doing.

Thought this song fit ;)

Nothin' Much

It's been a crazy morning,but baby is napping, I have a raspberry latte (once again, the peppermint mocha was not sugar free, every other flavor shot they have is, at Duncan Donuts) and my document open, so I'm ready to go.

So off I go.

Sadistic Ways of Making Your Nano Word Count

I was on the Nano site where desperate writers are thinking up sadistic ways of forcing themselves to make their daily word count. Here are a few of my personal favorites:

* If I don't make a wordcount for a day I'll eat a urinal cake, if I do make it I'll eat a chocolate cake (it's positive because I get to eat cake either way ;) )
* If I fail to get the 2000 words I want to write every day I'll turn off the lights and throw a box of pins into my bedroom(Especialy effective if you sleep in the nude).
* And something that involves a rubber band and male private parts.

*I can't change out of my NaNoWriMo shirt until I make 50,000 words.
*Every time I miss a day's word count, I lose a finger.
*Every time I miss a day's word count I release a cockroach in the apartment.

*Buy a clown doll. For every day I miss my word count, it sleeps in my bed with me.


So it's nice to know I'm not alone :)

Mmmmm.

Just wrote a really nice sex scene. Many writers have trouble with sex scenes, but I seem to have a flair for them. Making love is like dancing. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they make love. This is also true for characters. My Leah isn't much of a drinker. She doesn't do drugs. She doesn't smoke. So, as Adam Ant song says, "don't drink don't smoke, what do you do?"

She isn't promiscuous. She's very choosy about her lovers, and doesn't take many. But sex is her escape. Her release. Everyone needs one. And things are getting really tense in this story. So . . . away she goes.

I wouldn't call this an erotic story. This is a mystery/suspense that happens to have a few sex scenes in it.

The trouble is that she may be clouding her judgement by jumping the bones of this other character. Might not be the best choice for her, technically. But the chemistry is there, where it isn't with the other characters. So what's a girl to do?

Okay, I'm outa here. Going to read somebody else's book for a while.

Into the Third Week

I was really shot yesterday. Mondays are my busy day and it was really busy yesterday, so I was worried that I might not have anything left for the new manuscript, tentatively called A Sudden Frost. But I was pleasantly surprised.

After I got my little guy to bed, I set up the laptop on the kitchen table (it's been working for me) and made some peppermint tea. I opened the document and placed my fingers on the keys, and Leah just started talking. She's been doing that this entire book. As long as I show up, doesn't matter how tired I am, she shows up, and she does the heavy lifting.

I love this story. LOVE. IT. It's dark and creepy, and I love Leah. Somehow, even when I'm doubting that I'll know where to go from a particular spot, something just happens and the scene plays out in front of me. It's like this story has been writing itself inside my subsconcious while I wasn't aware. I haven't written a Leah book since '05, but she has a lot to say.

Here's hoping she keeps talking.

YAY!

Half way! Half Way!

That's all I had to say. I'm shot.

End of the Second Week

Closing in on the end of the second week of Nanowrimo. They say that the second week is the hardest. It wasn't too bad for me. Maybe because it's tough no matter what, trying to squeeze the writing time in and only having a hour and a half to two hours a night to write.

I have no time to edit myself, so my heart and soul are really being poured into this story. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I guess it remains to be seen. I'm really invested in this book, emotionally. So it is what it is. And if nothing else, by the end, I'll have said something I needed to say, even if I didn't know I needed to say it. Sometimes that's how it goes with the writing.

Happy Friday the 13th everyone! Woohoo!

And an awesome quote from Paperback Writer, my idol:

Success is a lovely thing, but adversity is a better teacher.

Carina, Carina

This is amazing news. Harlequin is launching a digital-only publishing house called Carina Press. Juno Books has a great blog post on it here.

Fantastic!

I reached 16,375 words last night. The widgets are still not working. The problem is on Nano's site. Not sure what's up.

Leah's gotten herself into a really bad situation. She's famous for it. She wouldn't listen to me and go with the plan. Noooooo. Had to do her own thing. So guess who has to figure out how to get her ass out of said bad situation. And there's no point arguing with her because when I do I just end up with writer's block. *Sigh*

So tonight should be fun.

Hmmm

My widget isn't working. I wonder why. I got to 14,110 words last night. Lots of stuff happening in the story. Just can't stay awake as long as I need to in order to get all the words down. I got a good sleep last night. Mostly. Ben slept much better but he's programmed me to wake up at 4 a.m now, and that's what I did. Took a bit of time to get back to sleep. He was up at 5:30 for the day. Rarin! So he's feeling better.

Went to see Paranormal Activity with a work pal over the weekend. I planned on leaving after Ben's nap, so that I could write during his nap. Unfortunately, he wasn't cooperating and didn't nap until almost 2 pm, when I had to leave to go. Murphy's Law!

The movie scared her but I didn't find the movie all the scary. Not sure why. It was good and definitely interesting. Creepy, too. Which I love. But I wasn't scared. The end freaked me out a little. I found the boyfriend cute and endearing until about halfway through when he started doing things that resulted in me labeling him Too Stupid to Live, and then I was hoping that he'd get slaughtered by the end. I won't say whether he did or not, for those of you who haven't seen the movie.

We went to Borders after and ordered lattes. Mine was raspberry and her's was gingerbread. There was a peppermint mocha one that I was pining for but raspberry, vanilla and hazelnut were the only flavors they had in sugar-free. The raspberry was amazing though! But it should've been for $4.07! I justified it by telling myself that if we'd gone for a beer or two instead, I'd have spent more.

So it was a good day. It was nice to get out and do something different, and Jeff and Ben had a great few hours together, so it worked out great.

Okay, off to see what's wrong with the widget.

Yikes!

I'm behind three pages. I'll catch up eventually but I hate being behind. I was nodding off at the keys last night at 9 o'clock. Still watched Sons of Anarchy after because I love that show and I could just veg.

Part of the problem is that my little guy is still sick and wakes up each night between 3 and 4 am coughing. He eventually gets back to sleep after I get up and give him water and get up all comfy again, but I don't. I'm still stick so I get coughing too. And my mind gets going. Ugh! So frustrating. So it's been two straight weeks of the nightly coughing spells for him, and I'm starting to feel pretty sleep deprived again, similar to after he was born.

But it's just a nasty virus that doesn't want to let either of us go. It sucks. during the day we're both mostly okay with the occasional coughing fit, but at night it's worse for him.

I hope we are both able to kick it soon. Night time isn't my best writing time, but night time when I'm already dead tired is a really, really tall order.

Friday!

Hmmm. I'm a few pages ahead so I'm considering taking the night off of writing and getting back into it tomorrow. Friday night is usually date night for my fella and I, and I don't want to blow that off, even if it's just for a month. We don't go anywhere because we have our little bean, but we get take-out and watch a movie.

I have The Reaping waiting for us. I really want to see it. So perhaps.

Stupid cold is still holding on. My little guy is still coughing too. Wakes him up in the night. Poor lil bean.

Strange, how fast this week has gone by. I've been pretty much obsessed with this story since I began writing it. I guess that's a good thing. See the Nanowrimo widget I added to the side bar? I'm diggin' it!

Happy Friday everyone!

Still Goin'

Last night was easier than the night before. I put on my red fleece lucky writing pants that I just bought from Target and my red fleece top and made some peppermint tea, and turned out six pages in an hour and a half.

Now whether those six pages are good for anything other than lining the kitty box or making paper airplanes with I don't know, but I gotta tell ya, I'm having a blast. I'm not self-editing and my characters are talking to me. Sometimes its silly stuff but I don't care.

I think I'm lucky in that I've written the main characters before, and their voices are very familiar to me. Writing Leah feels very natural because I've listened to her voice for two previous books. I guess a four year break has made her antsy and she won't shut up.

I guess I need to remember to put in a little back story because there's a lot of stuff I know about her that I take for granted from the previous two books that a reader who hasn't read Repo Chick Blues or Finding Chloe wouldn't know.

So I'm on page 27. Fingers crossed that it keeps going relatively smoothly for me.

Stubborn

I got my word count in again, by sheer stubbornness. My eyes were closing while I clicked at away at the keys by 10 pm, but I wouldn't stop until I got my 5 1/2 pages done.

I don't know if it makes sense or not. I guess that's not really important at this stage of the game. I have to watch myself because I tend to get caught up in the structure and plotting of a story when I get stuck, because the structure helps me push through it. The problem is that I don't have or the luxury of doing that. Any time I spend plotting is taken from the writing. So it has to be sparse.

Still having fun. It's only week one!

But I know I'm not alone. Thousands of writers are pounding away at the keys long into the night after they work day jobs all day long. If you're not stubborn, it'll be a lot harder to get those words down.

Third Day

After I put my little bean to bed I sat down at the kitchen table and banged out 6 pages. If I sit back on the reclying couch, my usual writing spot, I nod off at night. Can't do 'er. So this is my new trick to stay awake. The chair is wooden and hard, so I don't get too comfortable. So far it's working.

Same, same tonight. Don't want to lose my momentum.

Still fighting with a cold. Doesn't seem to want to leave me. I feel pretty good for a day or two and then it morphs into something else. Some kind of super tenacious virus bug thing.

So at about 3,400 words - ish. So far so good.

First Day of Nanowrimo

Got up at five a.m and got a couple of pages done. Another three and a half while the bean napped. Going to try and bang out a couple more now.

It's been a busy weekend. I'm tired and all I really want to do is cuddle in with a book. But I will persevere. My bed can wait. The trick will be staying awake while typing. I've fallen asleep at the keys before.

Okay. Here I go.

Watch my dust.