Having trouble with MySpace

If you friend me and it takes ten million years to friend you back it's because MySpace only occasionally allows me to log in. Every time I try, I get a message that says You Must Be Logged In to Do That! Well, DUH, then log me in! I tried again on the off chance it would work and it did, so I furiously friended people back and made my responses and such. :)

Just FYI!

Oh, I did create an account at facebook recently, too, if you want to find me over there.

11:24 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Question from a reader -- Music

"Do you listen to music when you write?"

You know, I never used to. Listening to music tends to distract me because I get too into it and forget to, ya' know...write. But then I bought an iPod and I was suddenly exposed to all this great new music I'd never heard before, (because I cruise all over iTunes).

And so lately (well, when I was writing The Darkest Kiss, anyway) I have begun to use music as emotional motivation. Music can do that, get you into the proper frame of mind for writing. So, like, if I need to sit down and write ten pages NOW, but I'm thinking about the laundry or the fact I need to go grocery shopping, ect, I can use music to put me in a different mindset. As long as I have the volume turned down way low, I can do it.

I have even started creating play lists for books I'm writing. I have one for The Darkest Kiss and I created one yesterday for Witch Heart (when this email came in, oddly enough), which will evolve and change as I write.

Here's some of what I'm listening to now:

Caught in the Rain -- Revis
Suffer -- Endo
Stop a Bullet -- Black Light Burns
Evening Rain -- Moby
Lie -- Black Light Burns
Simple Lies -- Endo
Lie to me -- 12 Stones (Hmm...I'm detecting a theme here. Heh.)
Temptation -- The Tea Party
Gyroscope -- The Tea Party
Unaffected -- Hoobastank
Fall to Pieces -- Velvet Revolver
Let Go -- 12 Stones
The Way I Feel -- 12 Stones
I Will Follow You Into The Dark -- Death Cab for Cutie
Beyond Time -- Apocalyptica
Cohkka -- Apocalyptica

10:20 AM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Superstition

A spider who has defied my No Spidies in the House Decree has spun a web near my kitchen sink. She is not the type of spidy I can relocate. :( But today I start Witch Heart, so she gets a free pass. I don't kill spidies on the days I start new books. Spidies & writers are kind of kindred, you know? We both spin webs.

Uhm, of course, I don't catch readers in my web, shoot them full of toxins and then eat them. There's just the catching part, (hopefully). The reader is free to disentangle themselves to get caught in another web whenever they want. 

Yeah, my mind has gone to strange places this morning.

I wish I could talk about Witch Heart! But that would mean spoilers. 

8:29 AM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Book Signing Pictures

Yesterday I had a booksigning with Shiloh Walker, Toni Blake (aka Lacey Alexander) and Lora Leigh. The bookseller who organized the signing baked all these yummy goodies for the readers and authors. I gained three pounds, I think.





Here's a shot of Toni/Lacey signing a book (she's kind of hidden behind the sign) and Lori Leigh and her husband.

8:13 AM - 4 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

The Darkest Kiss....

....

...is finished and sent!!! *butt wiggle*

There's nothing like the feeling of a deadline met and a project finished. I love it. Of course, on October 1st the next countdown clock starts. This one will be for Witch Heart, the third book in the Elemental Witches series.

I'm really looking forward to writing this one. Of course, I'm always looking forward to writing all my books. The anticipation comes from having the story and characters spread out in front of me like a shining sea of possibility. But the heroine of this book especially intrigues me and I can't wait to get inside her head.

This weekend I'll be taking it easy, though. Tomorrow I have a booksigning in Lexington with Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker and Toni Blake. If you're near Lex, it's at Joseph-Beth Booksellers from 2-4pm -- 161 Lexington Green Cir. On Sunday we have a family outing planned. We're taking our daughter on a hay ride and to pick pumpkins. Should be fun!

4:11 PM - 6 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

Are you in or near Kentucky? Upcoming Booksignings!

Kentucky Romance Day

Join authors Anya Bast, Shiloh Walker, Toni Blake and Lora Leigh at Joseph-Beth Booksellers on 9/29 between 2-4pm.

161 Lexington Green Cir.
Lexington, KY 40503
859-273-2911


AND....


Saturday-Oct 13, 2007  1:00 to 3:00 PM

Kentucky Romance Writers Annual Multi author signing and dinner afterward at Stone Hearth. Make your reservations now at The Bookstore to reserve your spot at supper.

Please join these wonderful authors coming
Oct 13, 2007 to The Bookstore in Radliff, KY.

J.R. Ward
Teresa Medeiros
Elizabeth Bevarly
Toni Blake
Patricia Rice
Anya Bast
Teresa Reasor
Shiloh Walker
Kimberly Logan
LuAnn McLane
Heather Grothaus
Maddie James
Jan Scarbrough
Janet Eaves
Magdalena Scott
Robyn DeHart
Janice Maynard also writing as Elizabeth Scott
Beverly Bartlett
Patricia Sargeant
Sara Reinke
Lora Leigh

5:25 AM - 8 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

Peeking my head up from Deadline Hell

It has been ten days since Witch Fire's release. I have no real idea how the book has done, but if the fact the novel is placing pretty high on Bookscan is a good thing, (I think it's a good thing. *frowns*), and if the flood of emails I've received from readers are any measure, I think the book has been doing well. All of you who sent me emails or pinged me through MySpace to say you enjoyed Witch Fire, thank you so much. You ease this neurotic author's mind. :)

I am technically finished with the sequel, Witch Blood.  Now I'm polishing and revising. I'll keep the book right up to the deadline to pick at it, 'cause that's what I do. Once my editor has given the book the okay, I'll start teasing you guys about it. Because teasing is fun.

Now.....hie thee to bookmark The Pretty!



Some of literary agent Laura Bradford's clients have banded together to create a fun new blog called The Bradford Bunch. Participants are:  Ann Aguirre, Anya Bast, Cynthia Eden, Jodi Lynn Copeland, Lauren Dane, Marissa Scott and Vonna Harper

Ann will kick off the blog on Sunday. We'll be going in the order above, which means I'll be blogging on Mondays. There will be prizes this first week of Bradford Blogging Deliciousness and I might (just might) be giving away a signed copy of Witch Fire. You never know.

So, GO! Go, now! Go, bookmark, and then come visit us starting Sunday.

...

Fades back into the depths of Deadline Hell.

3:14 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Pan’s Labyrinth

11:47 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Mouse Olympics

We have eight cats (or eight cats have us, actually). They're indoor except that they have a sizable screened-in porch where they can bask in the sun, lounge and be otherwise lazily catlike. They share the porch with two bunny rabbits. (All the fuzzies are rescues, mmmkay?! We just couldn't say no to them.)

We live in the country. Lots of critters out here, lots of insects and such. The porch is enclosed, but sometimes critters and insects still make their way inside. It's just part of living in Boondockia.  You see where I'm going with this, right?
Anyway, last evening as I worked diligently on Witch Blood, I heard Wiggle, (the fattest of our cats, but surprisingly the best hunter. I think he's very motivated by food in general.), meowing with his mouth full. I know this particular meow. It's the meow that says, I have something rich and juicy and YOU CAN'T HAVE IT. This is the meow I heard moments before Wiggle once dropped a half dead horsefly in my lap. (I'm the mommy cat and therefore eligible for special "gifts".) This is also the meow I heard when Wiggle dragged a huge lizard into the living room, dropped it wriggling on the floor and thus incited the Great Lizard Olympics of 2005. I remember it well because the lizard...er, okay, I won't go there. I need more coffee for that.

I freeze, hand hovering over my laptop keyboard.  Wiggle races past, followed by 7 cats with eager expressions on their faces, (eyes bright, whiskers forward, ears pricked). Just as Wiggle disappears down the hallway, I see a gray tail hanging from between his greedy cat lips.

Me: Oh, shiiiiiiit.

So I race off after the pride, following them into the bedroom just in time to see Wiggle taking his yummilicious prey under the bed. I flip on the light, thus jarring my sleeping husband into full sputtering (pissed off) wakefulness and start babbling about cats and mice.

The chase ensues. Up, down, all around we pursued Wiggle through the house followed by the other 7 cats who desperately want a piece of the squeaky action.  FINALLY, we corner Wiggle and make him give up his treat. And get this...the mouse survived!!

In the dark, my husband and I instituted a quick mousie relocation program, complete with a new identity and a lovely brand new home of cut wood logs for the fireplace. We admonished mousie to stay out of the porch. I hope he heeds our warning, though one would think that having a fifteen minute joy ride in a cat's mouth would be enough of a deterrent.

6:00 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Mouse Olympics

We have eight cats (or eight cats have us, actually). They're indoor except that they have a sizable screened-in porch where they can bask in the sun, lounge and be otherwise lazily catlike. They share the porch with two bunny rabbits. (All the fuzzies are rescues, mmmkay?! We just couldn't say no to them.)

We live in the country. Lots of critters out here, lots of insects and such. The porch is enclosed, but sometimes critters and insects still make their way inside. It's just part of living in Boondockia.  You see where I'm going with this, right?
Anyway, last evening as I worked diligently on Witch Blood, I heard Wiggle, (the fattest of our cats, but surprisingly the best hunter. I think he's very motivated by food in general.), meowing with his mouth full. I know this particular meow. It's the meow that says, I have something rich and juicy and YOU CAN'T HAVE IT. This is the meow I heard moments before Wiggle once dropped a half dead horsefly in my lap. (I'm the mommy cat and therefore eligible for special "gifts".) This is also the meow I heard when Wiggle dragged a huge lizard into the living room, dropped it wriggling on the floor and thus incited the Great Lizard Olympics of 2005. I remember it well because the lizard...er, okay, I won't go there. I need more coffee for that.

I freeze, hand hovering over my laptop keyboard.  Wiggle races past, followed by 7 cats with eager expressions on their faces, (eyes bright, whiskers forward, ears pricked). Just as Wiggle disappears down the hallway, I see a gray tail hanging from between his greedy cat lips.

Me: Oh, shiiiiiiit.

So I race off after the pride, following them into the bedroom just in time to see Wiggle taking his yummilicious prey under the bed. I flip on the light, thus jarring my sleeping husband into full sputtering (pissed off) wakefulness and start babbling about cats and mice.

The chase ensues. Up, down, all around we pursued Wiggle through the house followed by the other 7 cats who desperately want a piece of the squeaky action.  FINALLY, we corner Wiggle and make him give up his treat. And get this...the mouse survived!!

In the dark, my husband and I instituted a quick mousie relocation program, complete with a new identity and a lovely brand new home of cut wood logs for the fireplace. We admonished mousie to stay out of the porch. I hope he heeds our warning, though one would think that having a fifteen minute joy ride in a cat's mouth would be enough of a deterrent.

6:00 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment