Wanted to remind you all that my event at Bitten by Books is happening right now! You have until noon EST today (Saturday) to enter to win a pack of awesome ghost books, ghost scents, swag, and more.

Read the interview and find out how to enter here.

Hope to see you there!

Originally published at Megan Crewe - another world, not quite ours. You can comment here or there.

…makes the editor/author/publisher cranky. About three weeks ago, when I was feeling so overwhelmed by all that I had on my plate, I made the conscious decision to play more even though I had "so much to do." That "playing more" included making time for "just-for-fun" reading. Not reading slush. Not reading to give a blurb or a review. Not reading with the editor's hat on. I decided I needed to get back to reading what I wanted, when I wanted. Otherwise, I was going to get to the point that I hated half of my job.

I'm really glad I made this decision. I've recently I read "Dune" by Frank Herbert (an old favorite) and "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi and I enjoyed both more than I expected. I forgot what fun it was to read just for entertainment and enjoyment without having a running editor/reviewer in the back of my head making notes or taking them. I'm all excited about getting my reading list that includes more Scalzi, Anton Strout, Jim Hines and Jeff Carlson. It looks like I'm going to get to them all before the end of the year – despite my crazy writing schedule.

Also, interestingly enough, I'm a lot more relaxed about the writing I'm doing now. I think it's going to show in my work.

sid remixed Be Like Water: Be Like Water (Remix), and it is gorgeous.

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So, sarah and I are looking into establishing wholesale accounts with a few yarn companies, to buy materials for things we want to knit, buy materials for things we want to knit and sell, and put together group orders for local friends at a serious discount (wholesale plus a slight markup for processing fee). (With suitable encouragement we might also be motivated to expand this to online friends, although the prices would have to be higher for the annoyance factor and would include S&H costs.)

First on the list will be, of course, Noro (I'm an addict, okay?) We've also looked into Blue Heron Yarns a bit, and Schaefer Yarns is another possibility. Does anyone else have any absolutely favorite yarns that should get put on the list?

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Tonight I sent seven problems eight times (total, not each), and two of them were V1s. I also started a V2, though I only got a couple of moves up. Still, this makes the fourth climbing night in a row that I have climbed a lot and well. I think that means it's a real improvement. Tomorrow I'm going kayaking, which should also be lots of fun. Then we will resume freaking out about this novel.

No real news on Jessica. She's in a coma and she was in for a procedure today that will help prevent blood clots. But I know no more than that. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and kind wishes. For those of you who know her and want to follow her progress, check here.

The lovely and wonderful mythrana sent me goodies. (I am gloating). Here they are:



and



Purple fingerless gloves, purple socks, note paper and a bear! I'm stoked! (not to mention spoiled) Good to get in a week like this. Thank you mythrana !

It snowed here the other day and now it's really cold. The fire is crackling in the woodstove and the puppies are snuggling up to me, though they like the snow quite well.

Tomorrow (Saturday the 14th) I'll be signing books from 1-3 at Hastings Books in Butte. I'm not sure there was much advertising out there for it, so if you can, come and say hi. There will be chocolate.

Amazing how the ordinary business of lives go on, even when someone else's has been catastrophically altered.

Despite criticism of the trope, the “bad boy” character remains immensely popular among readers and audiences. Whether he’s got a supernatural side that makes him potentially lethal, like True Blood’s Eric and Twilight’s Edward, or a callous side that could turn him into a heartbreaker, like Lost’s Sawyer and Gossip Girl’s Chuck, they catch other characters’ eyes and make fans swoon. (“Femmes fatales” likely serve the same function, for similar reasons, though they seem to be less common in stories these days.) The theory most often suggested is that we like the idea of a love interest we can change for the better. But wouldn’t it be easier to go for someone who doesn’t need changing in the first place, and who isn’t so likely to rip out our hearts (figuratively or literally)? Why is dangerous so much more appealing than safe? I think psychology may provide an answer.

Read on!

Comment there or here!

Originally published at Megan Crewe - another world, not quite ours. You can comment here or there.

	Day Thirteen: 22052 / 50000 words. 44% done!

That's all you're getting from me today, folks. My brain has officially melted, and I'm going to bed.

LATER: Gah. Nice try, but my brain pretty much just laughed hysterically as I lay there staring at the ceiling for two hours. I am now listening to the CSI soundtrack and trying to mitigate the day's caffeine ingestion with a bottle of Parrot Bay mojito in the hopes that it will make me relaxed enough to drop off.

Hmm. While I'm here, I probably should see if I can increase that word count a little, especially since the Bodacious Brit suggested that we finish the master bath this weekend.

Another review for Midnight Echo 2 and Shadow of Drought over at Horrorscope.

There are several clear standout stories in this issue, the first of which is Shadow of Drought by Joanne Anderton. Firmly grounded in the Australian landscape, the reality of drought gives this story a particular impact and makes the creepy events occurring feel even more vivid. This one will stay with you, and haunt you the next time you leave the city.

Originally published at Joanne Anderton.

I don't know whether that's the case or not, but it seems fewer and fewer people from my f-list are posting and I'm seeing more or you over on Twitter and facebook, so...

I just did a huge purge. Close to 200 people whose livejournal names I just don't remember anymore or I haven't seen post in forever or we just don't talk, so no offense. I'm still planning on having my site blog mirror here, for now. But the fewer comments that come in, the more I'm thinking, meh.

Anyone out there?

Last night about 8PM, Hubby walked up to me in the kitchen. "You've been doing this frowny thing with your eyebrows all day," he said. "What's your word count?"

I tell him.

"You need a day off," he told me in his stern-Daddy voice.

But that day wasn't today - it will tomorrow, due to a load of errands and a family outing to see the Phoenix Coyotes versus Dallas Stars. Oddly enough, the last NHL game I attended was in February 2008, and that was the day after I dreamed of the basic plot line of Normal. I spent the entire game writing pages and pages of notes in my little tiny notebook (much to my husband's chagrin). I'll undoubtedly spend much of this game tomorrow working on the plot holes for Abnormal.

Today: 2,937
Total: 38,013

The poem today had the prompt of "renewable," so I wrote a completely silly rhyming verse about using cat hairs to solve the energy crisis.

NASA finds 'significant' water on moon

Quoth sarah: "Didn't anyone tell Stargate Command to pick up its trash when it was done?"

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So, today I had an appointment with a new gynecologist to discuss Certain Things. It ... went about as well as most of my doctor appointments go.

( cut for discussion of insides )

So, that makes three new doctors in a row I've walked (okay, wheeled) out on. The only good thing about this one is that I staged my wheelout before I had to put on the stupid paper gown. Well, okay, that and the fact that I totally deserved therapy yarn after that, so we went to the yarn store afterwards. (Noro heals everything.) Plus, thank fuck my prescriptions arrived in the mail today, so I have painkillers again HALLELUJAH.

(Local ladies, if anyone's got an OB/GYN visit coming up soon and is willing to ask your doctor a few questions about whether or not s/he would be willing to do the procedure on me with no lip, no backtalk, and no arguing, drop me a line so I can give you the details?)

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Huh.

I just figured out what the deep thematic structure of Dust is about.

Well, that only took four years.

I feel much better now.

I have just discovered Junior Brown, thanks to Pandora. (I just wish it would stop trying to turn this into the All Allison Krause Channel. SRSLY) I mean, I kind of vaguely knew about his existence, but I didn't know I loved him with a deep and abiding passion. Dude.

I also wrote 2001 words on Grail this afternoon, which is pretty damned good for a girl who spent three and a half hours at the gym this morning.

I also did the stop-in-the-middle-of-a-sentence thing, because, well, I want to write the next bit I have to write, and that will encourage me to get a move on in the morning.

Tomorrow night, on the other hand, I will be here:

November 14, 2009
8:00 PM The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County, Saddle River Valley Cultural Center, 305 West Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, Bergen County, NJ

batwrangler will be my wingman, because she is awesome, and will drive down with me so I don't die on the way home.

13011 / 100000 words. 13% done!

Mean things today: second-guessing your ancestors, jihads and crusades, fear of alien invasion.

Catie is on vacation. If you need to contact her, please leave a message at the tone.

*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*

TRUTHSEEKER revisions are done and delivered. “Cairn Dancer” revisions are done and delivered. “Perchance to Dream” revisions are not done, but are so minor I won’t count them against my vacation. I am now officially On Vacation until the 7th of December. Yay!

Also yay: I got paid yesterday, and am once more extremely grateful for all my readers. In honor of you, Ted and I had a real life Date Night where we went to a movie in the evening and then went out to dinner. (Movie: 2012. As advertised, the special effects were pretty awesome. We enjoyed it. We want the DVD extras.) So thank you all for my movie and dinner. And rent. And kitty kibbles, and everything else. :)

I will now stagger to bed and sleep the sleep of the just, or at least the sleep of the “so full of Indian food I cannot stay awake any longer”. :)

miles to Minas Tirith: 51.4
ytd wordcount: 251,500

(x-posted from the essential kit)

What an unbelievable experience it is to hold my ARC in my hands! To flip through the book and see my words filling each page, to see my name on the cover! I'm at a loss right now and simply want to post a picture of my cover. I just received permission. This is not the final version, but it's close. Thanks to everyone at Egmont!

Originally published at Insert Witty Title Here. You can comment here or there.

So OK, it’s not Nano. But in the past 18 days, I:

1. Completed the sekrit project, which I hope I can announce soon.
2. Completed HUNGER copy edits
3. Tackled the SHADE OF GRAY revision, adding 6,000+ words
4. Wrote 1/2 of a charity novella

Gonna finish the novella this weekend. Really really.

Up next: RAGE, the second YA novel. Vroom, baby!

How goes your Nano?

Or, what a bestselling author's work looked like at age 16.

Our theme on Merry Sisters of Fate this week is our horribly bad high school writing years, complete with examples. Today was my day to post some examples of my early writing, the more hilariously bad, the better.

I have to say that I had a plethora of bad writing to choose from, as I wrote (but didn't always finish) 34 novels before I was published, and started writing when I was but a tiny maggot.

There were many forms of badness to choose from, from the very subtle to the roaringly hilarious, but finally I put my writing faults into a few major categories. And if you want to read them and find out just how bad I was (I was very bad, trust me), you'll have to go here.

Okay, so according to our theme this week, we are each posting humiliating pieces of our early writing for our readers' amusement and enlightenment. Unfortunately, as I wrote (but didn't always finish) 34 novels before I was published, and started writing when I was but a tiny maggot, I had much material to choose from. There were many forms of badness to choose from, from the very subtle to the roaringly hilarious, but finally I put my writing faults into a few major categories:

1. The relentless melodrama of a teen with a cause. I wrote a lot of IRA thrillers when I was 14-17, usually about disenfranchised Irish men who wanted to make a difference and got sucked into a bad crowd, or Irish-Americans being forced to pay for the crimes of their fathers, or former IRA terrorists who now had realized that they found the wet work unappealing and were trying to get out despite blackmail and hilariously bad sworn threats. They all have different names, plots, etc., but one thing is the same: the melodrama.

Example A typifies this:


( Find out my other faults under the cut. )