 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Celebrating the release date for Blood Bargain, the 2nd book in my Blood Lines series. As some of you remember/may know, BB had a short release last year in November, when Juno was still part of Wildside Press. Because of the impending Pocket Books deal, only a small number of copies were printed, distributed, Of the good: nearly 100% of these sold and were not returned, so I was able to earn out my advance. Of the bad: There weren't too many folks that got their hands on the book. Now, it's out again in bright shiny red cover with embossed lettering--w00t!! If you were thinking of buying, please do so today/this week if possible, I'd love to see a spike in sales figures! For those who have read BB and are eagerly awaiting the next book: Blood Kin will be out next month (10/27). Tags: blood bargain, release day
Spirits:  cheerful
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It's no secret to those of you who know me that I am a technophile. If it's a gadget, electronic and falls into whatever I value as "cool", it's likely that I'll want one. It's also no secret that I am a pop culture-holic and love TV, movies, books, etc. One of the brilliant things about current technology is the fact that I can get TV shows via iTunes and other legitimate sources online and watch on my nifty iMac. The caveat to that is that these files are BIG, as in 1 file is umpteen times larger than the first hard drive I ever had (20 MB...and yes, that makes me old ::g::). Instead of RAM, (of which I have plenty), storage became an issue. When 250 GB drives weren't nearly enough, what next? A couple of years ago, I bought my first Terabyte drive (!!)--and it didn't break the bank. Today, since my last remaining LaCie drive bit the dust, I bought a replacement: 1 TB Iomega external hard drive: $143.00. Yep, that' PEANUTS. With Amazon Prime, shipping was free and the drive actually arrived a day ahead of time. Tera1, as it's now named, is happily sucking up my iTunes library (all 500GB of it) and will become my primary iTunes drive. Mondo, the other terabyte drive, will become my primary backup drive. LimaMedia, the weenie 500 GB drive holds a conglomeration of files that I share between my iMac Priscilla and Mab, my Macbook air. (Yes, I name my computers and my drives...sue me). I also have Mozy backup, which, sadly, since Comcast cracks down on 250GB/month transfers and higher, means I can't do a full backup of all my files. Plus, I'm sure they're throttling, but that's a whole other story. On Mozy, I back up all crucial files - copies of all my Kindle ebooks, copies of all my writing files and backups of address books, photos and things that I couldn't replace. I also keep a copy of all writing files (current and past) on Priscilla, on Mab and regularly backup to a flash drive which I carry with me. Am I anal? Yep. Is it overkill to back up so much stuff? I don't think so. First, it's totally cheap to buy more drives and second, if something were to happen, I know I can recover my writing, my photos and crucial data. If I lose iTunes library, I'd be sad, but frankly, eventually I could re-buy everything and manually re-load all the CDs, since I still have those. If I lose my writing files, I know I have several places I can recover from. I may be insane, but I sleep better at night, knowing my stuff is safe. On an entirely other note, Mme Editrix posted a copy of the full Blood Bargain cover. Book is due in stores in a couple of weeks. Tags: blood bargain, computers, hardware, tech
Current Location: Chez Lima
Spirits:  amused
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Heya fellow fangrrls, if you're going to be at Con.txt this weekend and want one of my Blood Bargain teaser books, please let me know. Comment here or see me at the con. I'm bringing a stack, so first come, first served. In case you missed what this is, it's the first 5 chapters of my 2nd book, Blood Bargain, bound with the first several chapters of Carole Nelson Douglas' 2nd in her Delilah Street series. Get them while they're hot! Oh wait, they'll always be hot...get them while they last. ::g:: I'm packed except for Nameless (the laptop), and the Kindle, both of which will go in the backpack in the a.m. I'm leaving straight from work Thursday (around 6:30 p.m.) and (depending on traffic) hope to get to the hotel by 7:30-8. See you all there! Tags: blood bargain, con.txt
Spirits:  relaxed
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I was at a client meeting all day yesterday (Monday), so missed out on most of the day's news. I was so behind on things that I thought the Steve Jobs keynote was today. When I got home last night, I saw that I had been mistaken. " Apple pwns me. So very, very much. (I'm already a .mac user, so I get a free upgrade). Too bad I can't say the same about the phone...although, with that new price point, I think I'm going to have to get it for the GPS alone. Today, on my way home from work, I got to the intersection at Wythe and Washington. Lights weren't working properly (red blinking to me on Wythe; yellow blinking to the omg rush hour insanity on Washington). Did I freak? Not so much. I pulled in to the Exxon, filled up at omg $4.55/gallon. One of the mechanics there came over to get some of those free paper towels and said "hi" to me. I smiled and greeted him back as I watched the dollar numbers go higher on the pump. He noticed my tires were all really low (hard to see on Big Red because of the fancy tires). Although he was on his way home, he turned off his car, had me pull over to the bay and filled my tires with air. He didn't charge me, so I gave him a $20, because he deserved it. Dude could've just ignored it and gone home for the day. The book cover for Blood Bargain is now up on Amazon and in finer indy stores.
You can also see the updated mass market paperback cover for Matters of the Blood.Whee!!! I can haz book covers! The storms have hit and supposedly, the insane heat wave (100 degrees F) will break. ::whimpers:: In 2 days: FANGRRLS!! Tags: blood bargain, macgeek, rl
Spirits:  giggly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I have to finish the book by Saturday so I can go play with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) beledibabe...well, and send said book to my editor. The goal: 3000 words give-or-take a day for the rest of the week and I shall be doneski. * Tonight: I rule: 2746. w00t!! Also, I can haz OTW membership. And so can you. On a third and gleeful note, I'm about to embark on a project (after the book is done) that makes me VERY happy. Can't share details yet, but it's an essay (on spec, but I have a slot if it's good) for an upcoming popular culture book. Let's just say it's fannish in nature and I'm really looking forward to writing it. I'll share the info when I can. Keep your fingers crossed that I can put on my non-fiction hat again and write sensibly, yet entertainingly. * of course, this means skipping water aerobics, but I think for this week, I can do that. Then I'll hit the water with a vengeance next week.Tags: blood bargain, otw, writing
Spirits:  satisfied
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know how you can fall in love with a character? (I mean in the meta way, not the I-want-to-have-your-babies way). Today, while working on Blood Bargain, I had an epiphany. I'd been struggling with part of the book, trying to trim down the exposition and just make stuff happen, dammit - as my internal editor was beating the proverbial stick against my head. When all of a sudden, I'm in the middle of merging two scenes together, and the magic was happening and I realized why: one character. Not my protagonist, Keira Kelly, whom I adore in so many ways, but dude, face it, she's got issues. Not Adam Walker, hot vampire lover. Hot, but wow, his issues beat the crap out of Keira's, hands down. And face it, without their issues and angst, there would be no story, because half the fun is giving them hell so then there can be a great payoff. Not Bea, who is a fabulous friend, but due to circumstances in this book is much more peripheral. Who does that leave - yeah, Tucker - Keira's brother, friend and confidante. I've come to realize that Tucker is the Duck McDonald of Rio Seco (if Duck had an infectious grin and sarcastic sense of humor). Tucker's angsty issues are long since resolved. He's settled in himself and knows who he is and what he wants. Thus, a perfect sidekick/shoulder-to-lean-on for Keira. Plus, he's also quite easy on the eyes, and for whatever reason, makes the writing go easier. It's really odd sometimes when creating a world, creating characters that some of them just seem to take on a life of their own - that is, become more prominent than intended. In the original drafts of Matters of the Blood, Tucker was kind of an afterthought. I wanted Keira to have a family member around that she honestly liked, not just tolerated. Somehow, his tiny role turned out to be a lot more substantial. So much so, that I knew he had to stay in Rio Seco and not go back to the clan. Once again, Tucker is bailing me (and Keira) out of some tangly stuff. Good thing he's around, eh? On a side and rather amusing note: After I finished up my day's writing yesterday (Sunday), I started up Witness, which I haven't seen in years. I had a total fangrrl squee moment when it started - not over Harrison Ford, but dudes, Jan Rubes is in it as Eli, the old Amish farmer. I squeed aloud and yelled, "Mort!" at the screen. Six degrees of Benton Fraser, anyone? In any case, I enjoyed watching the movie again. I've treated myself to some new audiobooks for post-writing enjoyment today. I just bought Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time (read by the author) and Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (also read by the author). I've noticed that I seem to enjoy audiobooks more if it's something I've already read and enjoyed. I'm looking forward to listening to both of these. Hope you are ALL having a fabulous holiday. I'm definitely enjoying the time off from work and am happy with my writing progress, so yay, holiday!! Tags: blood bargain, holiday, writing
Spirits:  creative
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Let me just say that going back to work after a week and a half off makes time fly: and not necessarily in a good way. Last week is still much of a blur. I dropped out of warp speed sometime this afternoon, but am still slammed with a bunch of projects. The cleaners are coming tomorrow and stuff is still piled up on the floor. However, I totally blame Dean James for that (well, sort of...at least for part of it). At Mayhem, we got to talking about Madeline Brent and well, one thing led to another, and the next thing I know I'm browsing half.com. I not only scored a bunch of Madeline Brent books, but also Anne Maxwell's Dancer series and a bunch of oop books by Mark Richard Zubro, whom I met briefly at Mayhem. Mark writes about a couple of gay detectives and I'm really looking forward to reading him. Sadly, many of his books were out of print, and since I'm a completist, I had to start at the beginning. ::g:: Which means - I have this PILE o'books that must find a temporary home so that the cleaners can vacuum. Eep! Blood Bargain is now 7500 words closer to being a real book. Hard to tell the actual total word count as I have several random scenes that may or may not make it into the final draft (perhaps about 10,000 more words). Am behind on reading LJ, but hope to catch up. If I commented and you commented back, and want a response - I may not have seen your message. I changed my email host and for a few days, I was not getting LJ messages. That's been corrected. I promise, I'm not ignoring you, it might just take me a while to go back through and see if I owe anyone anything. Okay, toddling off now because tomorrow is all-day client meeting day. Oh, quick drive by book rec: Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead. Thoroughly enjoyable! Tags: blood bargain, books, rl, writing
Spirits:  restless
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wow, this writing full time thing is tough. If you recall, I took this week off work to concentrate on writing Blood Bargain. Here it is Thursday, and although I'm okay with the progress (7500 words or so), I'm not ecstatic. It's damned tough. I'm a bit tired today, even though I spent most of yesterday mostly offline, in a bit of a funk. I watched the rest of Gilmore Girls season 1, part of season 2 and doing nothing but vegging. Got up early this morning and started in on the writing again and am just winding it up for the day. Once upon a time I wondered why folks don't usually write more than 3 or 4 hours a day. Now I know. I've been at it since about 7:00 a.m. and it's now 11:00 - my brain hurts. I think I'll spend the rest of the day thinking and jotting notes and then watching more of Lorelai and Rory. In any case, it's just mild ranty-McRanting since this is normally how writing works for me. At least I'm in better shape than some (Margaret Maron mentioned an August deadline and she's only 3 pages in so far). So, on that note, and as I mentioned before, I did the personal canon meme, but as it applies to my characters in the Matters universe. No spoilers really, just some character observation and background. Tags: blood bargain, gilmore girls, writing
Spirits:  accomplished
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous
pleased
excited
sleepy
productive
jubilant
