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New Year in numbers

  • Jan. 2nd, 2010 at 1:16 PM

First, a couple of short announcements:

The winner of my impromptu New Year's Eve giveaway is:

My Blog 2.0 (Dottie), whose comment began:
Happy New Year Rachel! All the best to you and your family, both near and far!
 

Dottie, please email me (rachelATrachelvincentDOTcom) with your full name, address, and choice of book, and I'll ship your prize. Along with several other books I owe other people. ;-) Thanks to everyone who entered! There was a great response for such a short-term, last minute giveaway. ;-)

Also, Teen Libris is going to be giving away copies of My Soul to Save throughout January, starting here! There's also an excerpt of the Immortal anthology (with my story "Binge" set in the Soul Screamers universe) in the sidebar.

Now for the regularly scheduled blog post... ;-)

Somehow, 2010 arrived largely unnoticed by me. Because I had deadlines, guests, and a new release. (My Soul to Save was officially release yesterday, on the shelves this past Tuesday!) But now I can no longer deny the passage of time. Time for the numbers, to assure myself that I haven't wasted the past year. That I actually accomplished something.

2009, in numbers.

Releases: 3 (Pride, Prey, My Soul To Keep)
Novels written and rewritten: 2 (Shift and Alpha)
Short stories/novella's written, rewritten, revised, edited: 2 (My Soul to Lose and "Binge")
Revisions done: 3 (My Soul To Save, My Soul To Keep, Shift)
Edits (line and copy) done: 2 (Shift, My Soul to Save)
Total words written: 264,987

Up for 2010:

Releases: 4 (My Soul To Save, Shift, My Soul To Keep, and Alpha)
New novels to write: 3 (Soul Screamers 4 & 5 and new adult book 1)
Short stories to write: 2 (possibly 3)
Countless edits

I don't make New Year's resolutions, because I never keep them. But my personal goal for 2010 is to take more time for myself. More time off, to read and relax. More time with family and friends. Do you have a goal for the new year?

I'm still on vacation today and tomorrow, but I'll be back at work on Monday, writing short stories, promoting My Soul to Save, and generally getting caught up. Bloggers, if you're interested in an interview in January, shoot me an email. I'm totally up for a few!

I hope everyone has a great 2010! (I'm still waiting for my hover car.)
 

 

 

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Gingerbread 2009!

  • Dec. 24th, 2009 at 5:12 PM


Okay, after three days of baking, assembling, and decorating, Gingerbread House 2009 is finally done!

Here is the dough, rolled out and ready to be cut. It's homemade, of course. Which reminds me--next year I need a bigger mixer. I don't think my current one can take another year of hardy gingerbread dough. ;-)

Here are some of the pieces in the oven. The window cutouts are filled with crushed cherry Lifesavers. I usually use Jolly Ranchers, and I'll be going back to those next year, because the Lifesavers turned out to be opaque. ;-(

Here the house is, assembled but undecorated. Since we don't actually eat it, I use a simple, very thick frosting made from powdered sugar and milk.

And here is the final product. Candy used: mini-candy canes, cherry Andes mints, wingergreen Lifesavers, Twizzlers pull-n-peel, Holiday M&Ms, little round red and green peppermint hard candies, and yogurt-covered pretzels.

Here's the side view.

And the other side.

What do you think? What are your holiday traditions?

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Office photos!

  • Nov. 11th, 2009 at 9:30 AM

[I posted a photo tour of my workspace at the Deadline Dames today, so for more pictures and details, click here.]

Kaci's doing much better today. She's eating her prescription food and using her new litter box, so hopefully we can put this entire bladder infection issue behind us and get back to the usual routine. Which includes her ignoring me unless she wants food. Which, as you can see, she's getting plenty of. According to the vet, she weighs 14.5 lbs, which means she's gained two pounds this year. Somehow. Even though I measure her food carefully. I suspect she's been eating some of Nyx's food too.

Speaking of which, Nyx has discovered that Kaci's getting different food now, and she's trying to get in on the action. Which means I have to separate them while they eat, because Kaci's food is too acidic for Nyx's perfectly normal tummy.

How did I wind up with such high maintenance pets? I swear, they used to be the poster children for "Pets for Dummies." ;-)

My new recliner hasn't been delivered yet, but we moved the old one into my office anyway, so I could start working in there. I love it! I've never had an office before, and now I'm not sure how I ever managed without all my stuff so conveniently co-located. Here are a few pictures:
 

( Pics under the cut... )

Okay, I'm off (though I'm not actually going anywhere) to work. Today I'm cutting a bunch of stuff that I no longer need, thanks to my newly re-ordered plot, then I'll be writing a new chapter. Hopefully. ALPHA is almost done!

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Kitty drama

  • Nov. 10th, 2009 at 1:54 PM

I'm behind(er) on Alpha. Again. I spent half of yesterday at the vet with Kaci, the oldest of my two cats, because I suspected she had a bladder infection. After a couple of hours, an X-ray, a couple of shots, a subcutaneous fluid injection, a prescription for special food, and a hefty vet bill, I'm still not sure exactly what was wrong with her. The vet says her bladder has "gunk" in it (I saw said "gunk" on the X-ray) and that it has inflamed her bladder. And that if it went untreated, it would become bladder stones.

She now has prescription S/D food, which has the proper acidity to break down the "gunk" (minerals) in her bladder and prevent it from reforming. After a month, she can switch to the "C Diet" food, but can't go back to regular cat food. Ever. Or we risk more gunk, which she is evidently susceptible to. Just because.

So, she's been treated and released, and I got her a new litter box, hoping she'll be willing to use it (please, please, please!) because she doesn't associate it with painful urination. And it's not in the laundry room, so the dryer won't scare her. Hopefully.

So, after much cat drama, I am now in my office trying to work, but half the day is gone, and I'm feeling kind of (really) stressed. Also, I'm feeling like someone set the universal clock to FF and forgot to tell me. So many deadlines, so little time. So I might not have time for much blogging in the next couple of weeks. Though I tend to hang out on Twitter, because 140 characters don't take much time. ;-)

Writing Progress: ALPHA stands at 110,291 words, but the story isn't quite over, even though I can only add 10,000 more words. Fortunately, I think I know where I can cut a bit. Wish me luck.

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Halloween disaster; office!

  • Nov. 2nd, 2009 at 8:33 PM

If you haven't already seen it, Dame Jenna posted about changes in cover art today, including several before-and-after examples. And she's giving away her new release! Click here for details.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. Mine was miserable, except for the steady stream of children demanding candy. This was the first year we've gotten a single trick-or-treater, and they were awesome! (In Oklahoma, we didn't live in a neighborhood, and we weren't in Louisiana over Halloween--that's right, we were there less than a year.)

Other than that, I was sick--I completely lost my voice for almost three days--and my kitchen faucet sprung a fantastic leak at 8:30 pm on Halloween night. I got soaked before I realized I should turn the water off. ;-)

Number 1 replaced it the next morning (I got to pick out a new one, and it's pretty!) but when he got ready to install it, he discovered that it had come with the wrong built-in sprayer. It didn't fit the rest of the unit. He took it back, only to discover that every single one of them had been packaged the same way! I've never heard of such a factory mess up. So he picked out a very similar faucet and got it installed in short order. And it's pretty too. ;-)

Also this weekend, we ordered new recliners. My old one (my writing chair for the past five years) will go in my new office once the new one arrives. Yes, except for my chair, the office is finished! I can't wait to show pictures. It's a very cat friendly office. I didn't realize I had so many black cats! I also have a model of the car that one of my heroines drives--complete with bullet holes and cracked glass--but it occurs to me now that I don't have any bean sidhes (banshees). Anyone know where you can get a stuffed bean sidhe? Or a bean sidhe doll, or something?

I'm just not sure my office will be complete without one... ;-)

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About that gingerbread...

  • Nov. 1st, 2009 at 1:01 PM

[Yesterday, I did a Halloween guest blog for Jeri Smith-Ready's Blogtoberfest. Click here to read the post and enter to win your choice of a signed copy of My Soul to Take or My Soul to Save! And don't forget to check out the other giveaways she still has open!]

If you've been reading my blog for long, you probably know a little bit about me, outside of my writing career. For instance, because my husband didn't choose a career that puts his face and name in front of thousands of readers, when I refer to him online, I call him #1, and I never post pictures of him. That's his choice.

 

[And by the way, #1 is both a Star Trek (TNG) and a Stephen King (Misery) reference. Not a bathroom reference. ;-)]

Anyway, you might also know that #1 and I are big kids at heart. And in perpetual self-image--he still thinks he's 18. ;-) Every Halloween, we carve pumpkins, watch a series of cheesy horror movies, and make a homemade gingerbread house. He designs (complete with blueprints), I bake, I make frosting/glue, he assembles, we decorate.

But this year, there was no time for gingerbread, which makes me very sad. Making our annual haunted gingerbread house is a 3-4 day labor. We're still unpacking, and I have three deadlines to meet in the next six weeks. Plus, I'm sick, and we've had a couple of new-to-us house issues (busted kitchen sink faucet = DISASTER!) to deal with as well.

I'm hoping we'll have time to do one for Thanksgiving instead. Something fall-themed and festive. And, of course, we'll do the traditional Christmas gingerbread house too. But in case you've never seen them, here are our haunted gingerbread houses from the past two years.


Monster House '07 from the front.

Monster House '07 from the back.
 
Amityville gingerbread '08, undecorated.
(For reference, here's the actual Amityville house.)


Amityville gingerbread '08 decorated.
 
 
And now, looking at these old pictures, I really wish we'd had time for it this year. ;-(

 

 

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I almost have an office...

  • Oct. 28th, 2009 at 1:06 PM

 

I took a little break from Alpha yesterday afternoon to work on getting my office set up. I'm not done, but my books are all shelved, which gives me a very warm feeing of satisfaction. I can't wait to get it all put together, but I have to do it in small bursts of activity, because the deadlines call.

In fact, today I got the (electronic) typeset of Shift. This is my last chance to catch mistakes. Once I turn it in, I won't see the book again until I get ARCs and author copies. I can't believe how fast everything seemed to move with this one. Shift is the only book I wrote completely during my short time (11 months) in Louisiana, though I also wrote two short stories and 85,000 words of ALPHA while I was in there. And maybe the last bit of My Soul to Keep. I can't really remember.

Anyway, my real contribution to blogging today is at The Deadline Dames, where I combined my answer to an aspiring author's question with 5 difficult-to-hear truths about publishing. And if you make it through the post, there's a giveaway at the end. ;-)

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Coherence not required

  • Oct. 27th, 2009 at 9:30 AM

I’ve discovered something interesting. Interesting in the “I now understand why some animals eat their own young” kind of way. The “young” in this case being my manuscript. Also, Kaci (the cat), who urinated on my new bath mat this morning.

Not that I actually want to eat either the manuscript or the cat, for the record. But I’m definitely not pleased with either one at the moment.

As for Kaci, I think that setting her litter box by the dryer has scared her away from using the box. Unfortunately, I can’t think of anywhere else to put it. This is a problem, but at least I know what the problem is.

But ALPHA… I have no idea why this manuscript hates me. Maybe it doesn’t want to end the series. Maybe it wanted the series to end with Shift, so it wouldn’t be put on the spot. And now I’ve lost my train of thought. Something was interesting…

Oh yeah. Rearranging the events in a manuscript is interesting—where interesting = insane. I cannot even begin to describe all the minute details that must be changed, because the things they refer to haven’t happened yet. It’s like being lost in time. I’m pretty sure I’m losing my mind. Confusion reigns. Is this what it’s like to hear voices?

Anyway, it’ll all work out soon. I just have to push through and get the events in the proper order, then attack the whole thing from the beginning, to make sure it makes sense. And is consistent. And has no plot holes. And is actually good.

No problem. Now, where did I leave my superwoman cape…?

P. S. I'm a little worried by the fact that my mindset now requires "attacking" the manuscript.

P. S. 2. I washed the bath mat, according to the direction. Now washer and dryer both contain an alarming amount of bath mat fuzz. Am. Not. Happy.

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More Immortal!

  • Oct. 12th, 2009 at 11:28 AM


I’m sorry for the long absence. As most of you know, last week I moved from Shreveport to San Antonio, and… well… work stops for no move. It’s been a truly crazy couple of weeks.

 

Because of a scheduling conflict with the movers, I won’t have most of my furniture for a couple more weeks, but we brought most of our actual stuff and the immediately necessary furniture with us. As well as the cats. ;-) So I have my bed and my writing chair, and bar stools, in lieu of the usual table and chairs. I have my coffee maker, as well as power, water, cable, phone, and Internet. And can I just say that I love U-verse?! Never has HD looked better. Not that I’ve had time to do more than notice it in passing. ;-)

 
I’m almost done with the first-round revisions/edits for Shift, and am delighted to find that it’s pretty strong already. I’m tightening, of course, and clarifying a few points, but for the most part, I’m very, very pleased with this one. It’s completely action-packed, and very emotionally tense for Faythe. In fact, my latest fear is that Alpha won’t live up to the drama of Prey or the action of Shift. And it needs to overshadow both books (the entire series, in fact) in both respects.

 
But before I can finish Alpha, I have to do revisions/edits on My Soul to Keep. So, around here there’s no rest for the wick… er, the writer. ;-)
 

Now for the fun part: While I was in between houses and largely without internet access, Immortal (the re-release) hit the shelves! That’s right! You should be able to walk into any major bookstore in the US now and pick up a copy for yourself. Or, you could win one here. How can you do that? Read on…
 

As you probably know if you read my blog, Immortal is a YA Vampire anthology, but my story, Binge is not about traditional vampires. There’s no blood sucking, no pointy teeth, and no sun handicap. But the theme is still there—one creature feeding from another, nourishing herself off of someone else’s lifeforce. Survival of the fittest. But at its heart, this story is about the odd, twisted relationship between two best friends who live on the fringes of society. I loved writing it, and I hope you guys like it too.
 

To enter to win one of three copies (signed only by me), leave me a comment in the corresponding Blogger post telling me whether you prefer traditional, blood-sucking vampires or one version or another of the non-traditional, symbolic kind. Details are welcome, but no spoilers from other series, please.
 

I’ll draw three winners at random on Friday and will announce the winners on Saturday. You must check back here to see if you’ve won—I won’t hunt you down. One entry per person please. Open to international readers.

Okay, start commenting!

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Spinning...

  • Sep. 29th, 2009 at 11:08 AM

I'm not really sure where to start this morning, on this blog and in my work. I'm 75,000 words into ALPHA, but just got word that edits on both SHIFT and MY SOUL TO KEEP are... needed. But I don't have revision letters yet, so I'm preparing myself to set everything aside and get lost in books I've already written as soon as the letters arrive. Which is usually pretty fun. Seriously. ;-)
 

 


 

Ideally, I'll get to do the YA first, so that I can finish with SHIFT and be emersed in Faythe's world again just in time to dive back into ALPHA. But that may not work, because SHIFT actually comes out before MSTKeep.
 
 
Also, the covers for MSTSave and MSTKeep are probably going to be tweaked, but I don't have final word on that yet.
 

And... both SHIFT and My Soul to Save are up for pre-order at Amazon now.

 
 
And finally, I'm getting really tired of eating food out of the freezer just so we won't have to move it or give it away. I want Subway!

Is your head spinnin? ( Read more... )

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A milestone and a move...

  • Sep. 9th, 2009 at 11:10 AM

I have officially crossed the 50,000 word mark on Alpha, and things are getting really good. Or bad, depending on your perspective. As this is the last book in the series, I'm taking the S-C Pride somewhere it's never been before, and ... well ... I'm in unfamiliar territory. So it's a bit like hacking a path through the woods with only a pocket knife, trying to see the forest in spite of the trees. If that makes any sense at all


 

 
Chapter fifteen is up for today.
 

Also... a bit of news on the personal/real life side of things. As my personal friends and family have known for a little while, in a few weeks, I will no longer be a Louisiana resident. Number 1 and I are moving from Shreveport to San Antonio next month, and things have been pretty hectic around here (at least mentally), preparing for that event.

 
So, if you have my PO Box number and were planning to send me anything, that address will only be good for a few more weeks.

 
And, if you live in or near San Antonio, I hope to get to see you at an event sometime in the future! ;-)

 

 

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Baking, and reprints!

  • Dec. 23rd, 2008 at 10:25 AM

Wow, yesterday was a long day. I literally worked all day long. From 9 am until after midnight, with breaks only for laundry, food, and bathroom. I didn't even do the dishes, and we had pizza rolls for dinner (Hey! I'm an adult! I can eat whatever I want!), which should tell you how little time the food breaks took. ;-)

But, I did get several more chapters of YA3 polished (though my CP might have reason to argue with that) and sent to Rinda, who seems to be enjoying them. I need to finish it today (though that probably won't happen), because tomorrow is for baking. ( Read more... )

Let's see, what else? Oh, I forgot to mention something a week or so ago...

My publisher has sold out of Stray, so it's going back for a reprint! This is a first for me, and I'm very excited.

What this means: Simply put (and assuming I understand correctly), after a year and a half, Stray is still selling, and since previous books in a series usually spike in sales when a sequel comes out, we're hoping to pick up some new readers when Pride releases. (In 39 short days!) Then again with Prey this summer.

[Rachel crosses fingers. And toes. And eyes. And entire limbs.]

What this does not mean: That we sold every copy of Stray printed. While that would be awesome (beyond words), that's not how publishing works. In publishing, unlike most other veins of retail sales, after a reasonable amount of time, unsold books can be returned to the publisher by the bookstore for a refund. Except that the books themselves are not actually sent back. The covers are pulled off and returned, and the actual texts are destroyed.

Sounds awful, doesn't it? I can hardly stand to think about it. But it's true. So, returned copies did not sell, but bookstores reordered enough new copies that the warehouse has sold out, and there will now be fresh, reprinted copies of Stray. Which is good news, especially right before Christmas. ;-)

Make sense?

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Candyland Cottage '08

  • Dec. 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 PM

[Have you met the Deadline Dames? If not, scroll down...!]
 
 

I know, I know, no posting for days and days, then three all at once. What can I say? It's crazy around here at Christmas. But, this weekend, #1 and I did our annual Christmas gingerbread house! Yea! And here it is, Candyland Cottage '08 (which is really a farmhouse).

From the front. Details of interest include the chimney with jellybean masonry and the fence constructed from yogurt-covered pretzels with posts of soft peppermint sticks.
 
From the side. Details of interest include the log pile made from a stack of soft peppermint sticks, the bushes made from green frosting (they're a bit wilted--it was warm when we were assembling), and the windows, made from crusted, melted Jolly Ranchers. We used Swirl Holiday Morsels (a Nestle trademark) to line the roof, stacked peppermint columns, and peppermint and spearmint candies on the porch roof. And powered sugar for snow. The snow man is, of course, a snow man Peep. They're not just for Easter. ;-)
The gingerbread and frosting are homemade by me, and the design is by #1. And here are the plans, as he sketched them. I'm telling you, that man is a genius. ;-)
 

And so, now the holiday baking season has officially begun. At least, for me. ;-)
 

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Christmas, anyone?

  • Dec. 18th, 2008 at 10:56 AM


Wow, I am so far behind on everything, and it's driving me nuts! I've only done half my shopping, but I must say the new house looks very nice, because #1 got the Christmas lights up yesterday afternoon. We love Christmas and love to decorate for the holidays, but we prefer clean lines and sedate colors, so he went with a simple string of white lights following the roofline, with icycle lights in front of the porch. He also added floodlights (love the subtle way they highlight the archetecture!) and a net of lights over the shrubs in the front flowerbed.

It looks so pretty!

We'll be doing the gingerbread house this weekend. Someone asked me earlier if we were going to have time for that this year, and my answer is that we will make time! It's a tradition, and this year my best friend threw down the gauntlet by sending me a link to some amazing edible constructions that I now feel obligated to top.

Or at least to match.

Or at least to try to match. ;-)

Unfortunately, I'm also behind on my actual work. Moving and unpacking (including an extra trip back to Oklahoma to get the rest of our stuff), put me terribly behind on Christmas stuff, which put me terribly behind on the rewrite of YA3. Which I'm now scurrying to finish, so I can do edits on My Soul to Take and start the rough of Shifters 5.

So, I better get back to work. But first a question: do you decorate for the holidays? Inside, outside, or both? Colored lights or white? Blinking or static? Anything on the lawn?

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Shopping; winners

  • Dec. 16th, 2008 at 7:24 PM

Number 1 had the day off, so we spent today Christmas shopping. With moving and unpacking and deadlines, we haven't had a chance to start before now, but we got most of it done today. Thank goodness.

And...

The random number generator has spoken, and the newsletter contest winners have been notified. So if you entered, check your mail (including your spam folder) for a message from me(rachelkvincentATgmailDOTcom).

If you didn't win, stay tuned. I'll have author copies soon (early copies of the actual finished product) and will be giving some away then. Including a couple of complete series sets (signed copies of Stray, Rogue, and Pride).

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The whos and whats

  • Dec. 15th, 2008 at 11:31 AM

First of all, my fever is gone and my throat feels much better. Thanks to everyone who wished me well. I am foolishly hoping never to get tonsillitis again. ;-)

Also, today's the last day to enter the newsletter contest, so if you get my newsletter and were planning to enter, this is the time. I'm drawing and notifying the winner tomorrow.

And... if you missed the Authors on Air podcast on Thursday, you can listen to it here. I haven't listened to it yet because for some reason, I'm more nervous about hearing myself talk than I was about actually talking. But I'll probably work up the nerve soon.

Today I need to power through some more of the rewrite of YA 3, because time is running out for that one, and I'm expecting some edits very soon. And, of course, Werecat 5 is due in a few months, and I haven't started it yet. But I'm really excited about this one because as she reads, Rinda is trying to guess some of the whos and whats.

In both Prey and in YA3 I've been working on hinting subtly. I layered in lots of clues (and false clues) from page one in both books, so it's really fun to hear these first reader comments and to find out whether or not my layering is working.

YA3 isn't a true mystery, but there are a couple of things going on that neither the reader nor the viewpoint character should fully understand for a little while. And it has been so much fun to write. ;-)

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I think my house is trying to tell me something...

  • Dec. 11th, 2008 at 10:05 AM


My new house talks to me. And it hardly ever says nice things. Seriously. There's always something beeping, or buzzing, or flashing, or rumbling, usually to remind me that I've either forgotten or neglected to do something.

The diswasher beeps if someone opens it before the cycle is finished. It beeps repeatedly, to remind me that my dishes are still dirty!

The microwave beeps if you forget to take your coffee out after you nuke it. It beeps repeatedly. (And you should have seen me last week, trying to figure out what was beeping at me. I checked everything in the house, trying to find the source of that beep, before I finally happened to be standing right in front of the microwave when it sounded.)

My dryer buzzes--loudly--when it finishes the cycle. And it keeps spinning, so the clothes don't wrinkle, buzzing--loudly--every few minutes to remind me that I'm a lousy housekeeper and if I don't come get the clothes soon, they'll wrinkle. But guess what, Dryer? I don't care if my towels wrinkle! I like wrinkled towels! So there! Wrinkled towels for everyone! House rule... ;-)

My oven beeps when it's done preheating, to remind me that I forgot to actually put the food in to cook. Ironically enough, it does not beep to remind me to press start after I set the temperature. So when I finally remember on my own to put the food in, the oven is still cold. Metal-mailbox-in-a-snowstorm cold. Kid's runny nose cold. You're-having-still-frozen-pizza-tonight cold. (Guess what we ate last night? ;-))

I'd be okay with creaky doors and house-settling groans. Those, I'd expect. But this house is new, and so are its noises. Am I the only one who argues with her own house all day?

Anyway...

Please don't forget that today's the Authors on Air podcast, where Jeaniene, Jenna, Jeanne, Patrice, and I will be talking about writing the first book in a series. Want to know how we got started? What we wish we'd done differently? Tune in and ask us! Click here for details.

P.S. Patrice, are you starting to feel like our names don't fit in with the pattern? ;-)

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I'm back. Mostly...

  • Nov. 24th, 2008 at 10:26 PM

Well, the good news is that Kaci and Nyx have survived the move. The bad news is that I'm not sure I have. ;-) I swear, nothing has gone right since we left Oklahoma. Which I sorely miss.
 
My back hurts, my arms and legs are covered in bruises, my arm and one finger are cut, another finger is severely pinched, and I accidentally set my huge, heavy, solid wood bed on the bridge of both of my feet, which are now black and blue, and painful to move.
 
I was clearly not built for heavy lifting.
 
But...the move is finally over, though the unpacking is nowhere near done. And what's worse? Though this house is about 200 sq ft larger than our last one, our stuff doesn't fit. How is that possible? We're chalking it up to the odd angles and lack of uninterrupted wall space. Don't get me wrong. I love our new house. I think it's beautiful. But there's no where to put anything, except in the middle of the floor. And I'm one of those people who likes a lot of floor space.
 
Things I love about the new house:
  • My pantry. I've never had a pantry. I don't think I can ever live in another house without one.
  • My master bath. I've never had one of those either, and I love it.
  • My closets. There are lots of them. And the master closet has a window. A big window. Floor to ceiling. I have no idea why.

Things I don't love about the new house:

  • For some reason, the washer and dryer hookups in the laundry room are backward. They're in the wrong order. And because of the way the cords and vent are situated, they stick out beyond the cabinet by about a foot, which is driving me crazy.
  • There are no bookshelves. How can a writer live in a house with no bookshelves? This must be remedied, so #1 and I have made a deal. I've agreed to put some of my books in boxes in the attic, if I can display the rest of them in nice big shelves in the living room. Which he's agreed to build. After all, we have to keep him busy...
Fortunately, in spite of the moving stress, the cats are adapting nicely. And they've found new favorite spots: on the stairs. Kaci (in the first image) prefers the third step, while Nyx perches near the top. I swear, I'm going to accidentally step on one of them one of these days, and it will be a bad day for all. ;-)
 

 

This was the only bright spot of the move: We were able to back the U-Haul right up to the double front doors and roll our stuff down the ramp and directly into the house. And yes, that's our stuff in the back of the truck. If you look closely, you'll see my writing chair--a five year old recliner. In this picture, half of it (we took it apart to fit it in the truck) is upside down on #1's chair, next to his grill. As you can see, we brought all the important stuff with us in the U-Haul. Which was a good thing, because the POD was nearly a week late. ;-(

 

Okay, that's it for now. Except for this... A box of ARCs! Well, not a whole box, but more than I've gotten in the past. And I just gave three of them away on my discussion group. And I'll give away at least one more here, so check back on Wednesday for details... ;-)

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Still making progress...

  • Nov. 12th, 2008 at 1:35 PM

I got half of the Prey line edits done the other day, and I foolishly hope to finish them today, between and around all the moving stuff. But I'm pleased with the story and love my editor's reactions to the new twists. And to the heart-wrenching moments. This one's an emotional rollercoaster. And it was very difficult to write. But I think it was worth the work.

Homophones I messed up:

Loaner instead of loner
Waste instead of waist

Remember me mentioning my fried brain? :-)

Oh, and last night over Mexican food, #1 and I came up with the basic plot for Werecat 5. Yea! I can't wait to get the details all fleshed out. So, here's hoping they have good Mexican food in Louisiana, because something tells me that seafood just won't get the job done. ;-)

I may be scarce for the next few days as we get move and settled, but I promise to get caught up as soon as I can.

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P.S.

  • Nov. 10th, 2008 at 10:49 AM

I'm an aunt! Again! I'm so excited my heart feels fluttery!

Congratulations, H and J and older siblings! I can't wait to see the new little guy!

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