Decisions, Decisions

It's not Black Friday here in my corner of Ontario, it's more of a wet grey Friday. (I had no idea what Black Friday was until about four days ago, how's that for living in a cave?)

Anyway, if you have a minute, drop on over to the Samhain Cafe between noon and midnight today. There's a Black Friday party going on - excerpts and contests. Every two hours a free ebook will be awarded to a random poster.

In the meantime as I sit listening to Christmas music to get myself into the season, I'm frantically trying to decide what part of Private Property to post as an excerpt. (Is this one giving away too much? Is that one too long/short? Arrrgh) All the while trying to learn how to use WordPress for a new blog I'm joining. At least the edits on ... oh, yeah, can't tell you what I've been working on. Anyway, my edits are done and submitted and off my desk. For the time being.

The Long and Windy Road

I'm falling way behind on my blog, folks. I think I owe Julia two memes now and Wylie nominated me for a blog award last week that I've still to respond to. Sorry, ladies.

I've pretty much given up on Sven. Real life - no, real PUBLISHED life has intruded. I've got so much going on I'm having trouble keeping track of the edits and rewrites and publicity and excerpts that I've started a binder to try to keep track of it all. Phew! (No, I'm not complaining, I'm having a ball.)

I think I need to start keeping a journal of my writing journey so I can look back on it for future releases, or to share with friends who get published after me. Trouble is, I'm not big on journals. I forget to write in them regularly. (I'm amazed I post to my blog as often as I do, considering I have so little to say, LOL.)

The analogy I keep using is the road to publishing is like Dorothy's journey in the Wizard of Oz. When you're unpublished, your goal is to reach Emerald City. You think that's the end of your journey, that's where you'll find the Great and Powerful Wizard who will send you to the place of your dreams. Except when you reach those beautiful green gates (You get the call or the email), you discover that Oz still lays miles away at the end of a winding road up the side of a distant mountain.

Oh, it's a beautiful journey with great eye-opening vistas, with the occasional panic thrown in when you get too close to the edge of the path and are sure you'll plummet thousands of feet to your (published) death. And as you get closer to the top the air seems to thin and it gets hard to breathe. Then once you reach the top, you find yourself back on the yellow brick road beginning your trek all over again.

But oh, man, what a trip!

(Credit Yyyes over at flickr for the photo, and apologies to the Beatles for twisting their title.)

More on the Mac...

Despite my assertions that I would purloin the Mac iBook while Gizmo Guy was at work, I confess, I left it in its case today. I wasn't being noble. It's just there's no software to use on it yet.

It came with Panther as its operating system, which is the equivalent of say Windows 2000. Most of the software we wanted to use on it (see my choices later in the blog) wouldn't run on it. Which meant we had to upgrade the O/S.

The latest greatest Apple operating system is Leopard. But that requires a G5 chip. No go. My little iBook has a G3. The next level down on the O/S scale - and the one directly up from Panther - is Tiger. (Don't you love their names - they're as esoteric as XP and Vista!) But it was hell trying to find a copy of an older operating system. After a lot of running around, GG finally got ahold of a copy and loaded it last night. So it's now updated, though there's no other workable software on it.

First thing I plan to have him load? Some form of word processor. Open Office maybe?

Plus - and this is what I'm REALLY looking forward to -- Martie and a few other Mac users I know swear by Scrivener. And Amy commented on Friday that I'd love Storyist. Both help you plot out/plan/keep track of your story as you write it. So they're exceptionally high on my list right now. Thankfully, they will both work with the Tiger update.

GG promised to load them for me tonight. Naturally enough, he phoned late this afternoon to say "Oh, by the way, I'm working overtime. I probably should be home by 9."

Grrr.

I can wait. But tomorrow, that Mac is MINE!

Gizmo Guy Strikes Again

Gizmo Guy lived up to his name today. He brought home another Gizmo. He did at least call me up this afternoon and give me a heads-up. I knew there was a gizmo on the horizon from the way he hmmed and hawed.

"I've been thinking about your Christmas present."

Not surprising since he asked me to send him a list of things I might like. I sent it to him this morning - a request for various books and socks and unassuming presents.

"Well, you know how you've sorta mentioned if you got another laptop, you'd get a Mac?"

Sorta mentioned? Um, yeah, I have mentioned that in the past - quite seriously because I'm fed up with popups and viruses and all that cr*p you have to put up with from Microsoft.

"Well," he continued, clearing his throat numerous times, which is a sure indicator, folks, that he's leading up to something and is trying to ease his way into the conversation. "I ... um, there's a guy here with an iBook. It's a G3, with an 800 mhz processor, and he's upgraded the RAM and ..."

I zone out. Sort of. Because I know what's coming. "How much?"

"He's thrown in a DVD burner you can plug in because it doesn't have one built in. It's four years old, but it's got Jaguar or Panther or something as the operating system."

"GG? How. Much?"

He tells me the price, and honest, it wasn't that expensive. But the couple hundred bucks he quotes could go toward the chimney that needs rebricking, and we really need eavestroughing ... and the next payment on Curly's band trip to Disneyworld is due on Thursday. (By the way,Curly's passport arrived in the mail today. It took them less than a week to process it and get it out - frickin' amazing) .

So now it's my turn to hmm and haw.

"Um, yeah, well, see anyway ..." Another throat clearing. "I, um, already bought it. I've got it in the car."

I stifle my urge to growl ... ah, heck, it's too late, the money's spent and it's nice that he was listening to me and thinking of me.

"But..." Is he aware he's digging his own grave as he continues, because as soon as I hear that 'but', I'm onto him. "I wasn't sure if you'd be okay with getting a Christmas present that was used."

Translation: "I bought it for myself by telling myself that it was for you, but now I have it I really really really want to keep it for me alone. After all, it's a new Gizmo, and I'm the Gizmo Guy and it's got all these neat buttons and lights. There's all these cool places to plug things in down the side and ... I want to play with it!"

And yes, he's sitting in the family room even now happily playing with his newest Gizmo. So now we have yet another computer in our home. That makes:

• my desktop computer
  
• Gizmo Guy's 2 desktops (or is it 3 now) - he's got two running on his desk as I type this but I think he's got a skeleton shoved under the desk while he tries to figure out how it could be wired in to the others.
• the boys' game computer in the basement
• Curly's salvaged desktop in his room
  
• My Sony laptop
• Gizmo Guy's Toshiba laptop (don't even begin to ask the story behind how he conned me into letting him buy that one - I still grind my teeth over it. "You can use it too," he said. HA!)
  
• Gizmo Guy's Panasonic laptop (to be fair, this one was provided by his work, he doesn't own it.)
• Gizmo Guy's IBM Lenovo laptop (one he got used but keeps at work because he's not allowed to load anything like games or personal stuff on his work laptop) so he uses this one to check his personal email and do his writing when things get slow (which they haven't been in over a year)
  
• Gizmo Guy's really really old laptop with a 486 processor. Yes, it still works, but it's Windows 95 for Pete's sake, so nothing will run on it. However, he loves it and refuses to part with it so it's still taking up a shelf on the bookcase in the office.
• Curly's salvaged laptop that can't run on battery power since GG broke the battery connection right after he brought it home. (did I mention GG brought home another salvaged one for Curly the other day? GG scavenged parts from Curly's working laptop and ... well, it didn't work, it kept rebooting every 5 minutes. So GG had to reassemble Curly's original laptop and get it working again. It took him the entire week he was off. Thankfully it's no longer cluttering up the couch in the living room. I convinced him to put out in the Clean Up Week last week.)
• and now the iBook which I hope to get my hands on once GG goes into work on Monday.
  

(I think I'm forgetting one somewhere.) I won't count the skeletons in the basement that he refuses to part with, nor all the computer parts he's stashed out in the garage or behind my desk. Then there are all the various Mp3 players he's collected, not to mention the four Palms he's gone through over the years, nor his iPod Touch. And we mustn't forget the dozen phones he's bought over the years. (Yeah, I'm not going to get into his phone collection obsession.)

But he's Gizmo Guy and I knew that going in, and I love him.

But I am SO snatching that iBook from underhim.

Sven and Snow

Sven doesn't have to come at me with his whip today thankfully. 1979 words so far, though I'm stopping for a while to learn a new flash software program. (You mean there are things in life OTHER than writing?)

Rewriting Delving Deep is quite an adventure. For a story I'd not only written but completed and polished, it's morphed into a completely different story considering it's based upon the same premise. It's darker with many more paranormal elements. But it's not going to be an erotica the way the original one was. It's going to have hot hot sex, but the characters aren't jumping into bed at the start. Not with the conflict that's arising between them all. And conflict is always a good thing.

Thanks to an Alberta clipper that blew through last night, we woke up to about five inches of snow. Oh, I know Wylie and Amy(and probably Christine too?) have already had snow but this was our first. Isn't it strange how people who live south of me - not Wylie - get more snow than me? Mwahahaha! Joys of living in what my mother calls "The Banana Belt of Ontario." However, winter is now here. Short days, long dark nights. And frickin' cold.

Good weather to curl up with your eReader and enjoy a good ebook. If you've got a Sony Reader, check out Red Garnier's Color My Heart. It's on special right now.

Read Private Property on your iPhone!

Actually managed to start working on Delving Deep again today when this came through from Christina Brashear over at Samhain Publishing.

In a nutshell, Samhain Publishing has reached an agreement with BooksOnBoard making the entire Samhain catalog available to users of Stanza software on their Apple iPhone and iTouch. Cool, huh?

Now you can download and read Samhain books on your iphone, Wylie!

Snoopy Dance Time!

My first round of edits for Private Property arrived in this morning's mail. But guess what? There was so little to edit, I've finished them and sent them back to Angie already!

Everybody dance!

Sorry Sven

Oh dear. Sven is going to come over here and whack me with a stick. No appreciable wordcount yesterday again. Oh, I was working on writing a story, but it was editing again, cutting as opposed to adding. And writing a blurb. And trying to figure out how to get bookmarks made. Then towards the end of the day I got a heads-up from my editor that she's going to be sending my edits for Private Property later this week. So I don't know if I'll have wordcount to report once they arrive. As Bonnie Staring would say, le sigh.

Before I go bury myself in my cave and try to pound out thousands while I still have free time, I thought I'd point you over to BlueSue's blog where she proves the old adage "A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words." Or that "Horses Can Cause as Much Trouble As Children."

Sven Check In

I have to confess that I, um, sort of forgot about Sven the last couple of days. On Wednesday I wrote about 1700 words. I don't have a clue what happened on Thursday, and thanks to all the running around I had to do, I didn't get any writing done at all on Friday either. On Saturday I cut about 500 of Wednesday's words and then bumped the story up to the target 3000 words, so I guess technically I wrote 1800 words yesterday?

Today I edited the story again, polished it a bit more and sent it to my critique partners to tear apart. It's still around 3100 though, so I really have no wordcount to add. Very soon I should be able to tell you why I had to set aside Delving Deep for this story, but I can't yet. However, I am excited about the way it turned out.

Oh, and Curly got behind the wheel for the first time today. We took him to the same parking lot where Guitar Hero learned to drive his motorcycle. Considering his first driving lesson was on a standard and he had to deal with not only the whole process of driving but figuring out the clutch, it was a huge deal, and he did really well.

Since Gizmo Guy is back at work tomorrow, I hope it'll be easier to get back into the groove and will have a better wordcount to report.

Hurry Up and Wait

Busy busy busy day today. Lots of hurry up and wait.

It started off quite well - all four of us - that's really rare these days - headed to the local passport office at about 10 a.m.. (there's only a couple in the whole of Southern Ontario, so it's handy having one close by, but it's usually filled with people waiting in line.) Once we got there, Gizmo Guy and Guitar Hero split off and said they'd go through a local Staples and then if we weren't back by the time they got done there, they'd meet us ... um, somewhere - truthfully I totally forgot where we agreed to meet. Curly and I braved the passport office itself. Now, normally you'd wait in line to get a number ( there were only three people ahead of us so that part didn't take long), then you sit down and wait for your number to be called. It's sort of like that scene in Two and a Half Men where Alan is waiting at the DMV office. (How ironic - you'll understand later...) Except, last night we'd gone online to the government passport website and filled in all the paperwork in a special program they've set up. In the comfort of our own home. Once we finished, we printed it off, and guess what? When we present it at the Passport Office, you get to bypass the waiting room and head straight to the first wicket available. No waiting. We were in and out of there in less than ten minutes flat. If you need a Canadian passport? Do it online. You'll save yourself hours and hours. That waiting room was packed.

"Whee! Happy Happy Joy Joy," she said doing a little jig in the hallway. We even found GG and GH with few problems."

Unfortunately, the fate demons were waiting for us at the Drivetest office when we took Curly in for his learner's permit. It was a PA day today, which meant every other kid in the entire district was there waiting in line. It was basically the same deal ... line up at reception, show them your ID, get a number then sit and wait - no appointments can be made in advance. (Oh, and remember my rant the other day - I heard that same refrain about not having something with the kid's signature on it from several other parents while we were waiting. But Good News! We came home that day and checked Curly's Health Card and discovered I'd never signed it, so Curly signed it and used it as his ID today.) Anyway, back to the story. Curly was assigned #42 ... they were currently at #21 ... and we were told it was an hour's wait. Okay, not too bad. Knowing GG and GH were sitting in the car twiddling their thumbs, I dashed out and said to GG, "Hey, we're going to be an hour, why don't you take GH over to the Harley Store so he can get his winter gloves? That way we can kill two birds with one stone." They took off, I headed back into the Standing Room Only waiting area of the DMV to wait with Curly. And realized that he'd failed to bring his glasses. D'oh! I dashed back out hoping to catch Gizmo Guy so he could drive home to get them. I arrived in the parking lot just in time to see GG driving away. We ended up waiting just over an hour before Curly's number was called, and luckily enough Curly passed the vision test without his glasses (which makes me wonder 2 things. 1. How BAD does your vision have to be before they require you to wear glasses when driving? and 2. Does that mean Curly's vision is good enough that maybe he doesn't really need glasses and the optometrist is prescribing them to make more money selling glasses.)

GG and GH got back just as Curly was finishing up his written test, and I'm proud to announce "Curly passed." I am now old enough to have two kids who are old enough to drive.

"Happy Happy Joy Joy," she said between gritted teeth.

So we took them both out to lunch to celebrate Curly's new status. While we were at the restaurant, we were discussing how they don't let you smile on either your passport photos or your drivers' licence photo anymore. GG and I wondered when they'd instituted that rule and why (I'm figuring it's something to do with facial identification software.) During the discussion I pulled out my driver's license to show them how I am smiling in my license picture which was taken in 2004. GG pulled out his and he's smiling on his too, which was taken in 2007.

"Oh, no, wait," he said, taking a second look at it. He looked up at me in horror. "Look at this and tell me what it says. "

Issued in 2002, his license EXPIRED November 13, 2007. He's been driving without a license for the past year and a day.

O. M. G. Neither of us had any idea it had expired. Neither of us remember receiving the paper the government sends out to remind you to renew your license. I mean, how often do you pull your driver's license out of your wallet and look at the back of it where the expiration date is? Not often for me. And obviously less often for GG.

Since it had been more than a year since it expired, we wondered if this meant that he'd have to sit the written exam again. Did it mean that he'd only get a G1 (learners' permit) which means that he couldn't take a road test for another 8 months. Which would mean he'd only be allowed to drive as long as he had another licensed driver with him. Would that mean that I'd have to drive him the hour and a half to work every day and back? O.M.G. The slight headache I'd had before became a full blown migraine.

We rushed home and checked the website. Phew! No, he wouldn't have to rewrite the written test. But we had to go back to the Drivetest office this afternoon and again wait in that never-ending line while he got his license reinstated - all they required was a vision test and a new picture. Plus payment for the license of course.

By the time we were done, it was dark, and my head was pounding so bad, I had to lie down or I'd be sick. But it's all done, Curly's got his license, and so does GG.

Oh, and while GG and GH were at the Harley store, GG fell in love with two bikes. This black one to the right - a $39,000 (pre-taxes) three wheel Harley Davidson motorcycle. Okay, that's not bad. Well, yeah, the price sticker hurts, but I could see him riding it. I could even see me on the back seat.

But the other one *oh, my lord, I will not be seen on that one.*

He liked this three wheeled VESPA. Have you seen anything uglier?

And what's with the three wheel addiction?

Happy Birthday, Gizmo Guy

May you have many many more ...

More Government Bureaucracy

Sven check in: **update** Just under TWO thousand words so far though none of it on Delving Deep. (Sssshhhh. Can't give you any details yet, but yesterday afternoon I committed to a project that's due to my publisher by November 28th. Akkk!)

I've spent most of the day running everyone else around. Gizmo Guy to drop his car off at the new mechanic's, then dropped off my carpet cleaner at the repair shop because it decided not to clean the carpet anymore. That was this morning. This afternoon I took Curly and Guitar Hero out to the Drivers' Licensing office. The 60 days since GH qualified for his Motorcycle licence are finally up so he could file the paperwork. The kid's now legit and is the proud possessor of an M2. He'll have to go for his final validation in 18 months. Curly wanted to go for his G1 (learner's permit) but couldn't take the test because he didn't have a piece of identification with his picture and a signature on it. Which had me swearing. How the heck is a kid going to get photo identification with his signature on it when he's not been of legal age to sign anything? He had his school card that had his photo, but no signature, and his birth certificate and his Social Insurance Card, neither of which had a photo or required a signature. Nope, not good enough. How about a health card, they suggested? First off his health card doesn't have his picture on it, and the signature is MINE because they issued it when he was born and unable to hold a frickin' pen. Oops, I'm veering off into a rant, aren't I? Sorry. Anyway, he now has to get a guarantor to sign a legal document to prove he is who he says he is (they require more documentation than the frickin' passport office, for pete's sake! The passport office lets me - his mother - sign as his guarantor nowadays. But not the DMV!) Now I have to take him back on Friday (he's got a PA day.)

Once we left that horrible place, I took the boys to the local big box stores to look for prezzies for Gizmo Guy (it's his birthday tomorrow) And stopped off to pick up some Swiss Chalet on the way home. Count my afternoon shot.

So while I'm trying to up today's wordcount, here's a video someone posted over on Romance Divas suggesting it as an activity at the next RWA conference. Gizmo Guy watched it over my shoulder when I started laughing out loud and said "Yup, not as easy as it looks, is it?" Apparently not.



OH! One good thing that happened today - the postcards with my Private Property cover and blurb arrived from VistaPrint today. I finally have something to hold up - and send out. And frame!

Write or Die

Are you doing NaNo or are you sweating to Sven and having problems achieving your wordcount?

Dr. Wicked.com has a program on it that uses negative reinforcement to force you to write a certain number of words in a specified time. (You get to choose both time and wordcount goals.) What's different about this little handy dandy program is that there are negative consequences should you stop writing in that time frame.

Gentle Mode: A certain amount of time after you stop writing, a box will pop up, gently reminding you to continue writing.

Normal Mode: If you persistently avoid writing, you will be played a most unpleasant sound. The sound will stop if and only if you continue to write.

Kamikaze Mode: Keep Writing or Your Work Will Unwrite Itself

Did you read that last one? In the Kamikaze mode, if you stop writing for a certain length of time, it starts erasing your writing!

Gentle mode wouldn't do anything for me, neither would that annoying song in the Normal Mode, but Kamikaze? That would keep me typing.



Kamikaze mode is shown at about 4:50 in the video (The rest is really quite boring, but for those who are visual learners ...)

Thanks to BlueSue for pointing this site out to me.

Sven Day One

Just a quick check in - but don't miss today's earlier blog about hanging out with the most amazing biker chicks you can imagine.

Even considering Gizmo Guy is home on vacation this week and lining up a host of 'chores' we need to do, I still managed to write 2,267 on Delving Deep. Although the meter says I'm expecting a wordcount of 33,000, I figure it's going to end up a bit higher than that.

11,115 / 33,000 (33.7%)

And I just committed myself to writing a short Christmas story as a freebie for Samhain that has to be done by the end of the month. As if I don't have enough to do, LOL.

Infectious Energy all around

I totally forgot I'd pre-written yesterday's post - I got on in the morning intending to tell you all about Saturday and stopped short when I saw I'd already posted. Since I didn't want to bog you down with a double post, here's what I'd planned to share, just a day late.

Saturday was one of those busy running-around days. After waking up at the godforsaken hour of 4 a.m. I had to drive into Toronto for the monthly Toronto Romance Writers' meeting. I'm proud to say I earned a chocolate because I was able to announce that I'd received word from the RWA that I've finally achieved PRO status. And I also got to hold up my cover and show it off in person. (I know, it's pathetic, but each step I take on the road to seeing Private Property that much closer to being published is so exciting. Besides, that cover is gorgeous!)

Maria Snyder, who has written Poison Study, Magic Study and NY Times Bestselling Fire Study spoke to the group about world building. She's quite a dynamic speaker, and combined with the energy the ladies of the TRW exude, it was a lively afternoon.

I ducked out as soon as the meeting ended and headed for a brand new experience - Ladies' Night at my local Harley Davidson store. The place was humming with energy, and filled with women of all ages and from all walks of life just as upbeat and enthusiastic as the TRW ladies. Mackie put on a great evening with seminars/demonstrations staggered throughout the night. Like one on "How to lift your bike" after you've dropped it - and when you should and shouldn't attempt it.Most bikes weigh between 500 to 850 pounds, so if you do it wrong, you'll end up with major back problems and who knows what damage to your bike. (Hint: don't attempt lifting your bike if it's leaking gas or oil, on an incline, or if you have a bad back.) I was surprised to learn you lift it while facing in the opposite direction.


The video is not taken at Saturday's event but at a Cleveland bike show. But it gives you an idea of what's involved.

A couple of brave ladies in the group volunteered and uprighted the downed bike (a Yamaha 250 the Mackie guys claimed - which is a lot lighter than say Guitar Hero's V-Star 650 and definitely lighter than any of the Harleys.) However, the 30 or so women watching the demonstration I attended all pretty much agreed that the best way to lift your bike is to invoke your feminine wiles and stand by the side of the road looking helpless until some big strong guy stops to help 'the little woman.' Trouble is, as an author, if I were to write my heroine waiting at the side of the road for a guy to help out, readers would complain about what a wimp she's being and insist she be more kick-ass. Once again a case of real life not meeting fiction readers' expectations.

I also attended a Motorcycle Orientation about the various types of bikes Harley offers and their differences, then one entitled Motorcycle Fit and Function. That was on all the ways you can enhance your bike with chrome additions. (Remember those pictures of the naked lady footrests and kickstand that guy had I blogged about a while back? Strangely enough, they didn't bring them out for show and tell. Weird, huh?)

They even had a fashion show of the latest clothing - there was a lovely cream leather halter vest, a matching jacket and chaps. (Click on the "Looks Good with" at the bottom to see the rest of the outfit.) The chaps wouldn't look good with my a$$ hanging out of them, but on the lady who was modeling it? Whoa momma, let's just say she'd have had NO problems at all getting someone to stop and help her lift her bike.

As I wandered around, I met a lot of ladies who got quite excited when I introduced myself as an author whose character rides a Harley. I gave out more business cards last night than I did at the Ottawa conference. Heck, my business card holder only has three cards left. Several of the ladies who I talked to while waiting for a tattoo (yes, I got one. No, it's not permanent but airbrushed) were members of the Durham Cruisers, which welcomes all bike riders regardless of gender. Later on, during one of the fashion shows, I hooked up with several members of the women's only group, the Durham Divas - including Carol, a founding member, who has been riding a motorbike since 1965. I have to apologize, I am terrible with names and have forgotten the name of the lady who introduced me to Carol, and another Diva named Maureen, I do apologize. (And the only name the Cruisers' I remember was Lee - hard to forget that one at least.) So now I have some ladies to poll about stereotypes and cliches and errors writers make about women riders while I'm writing the sequel to Sam's story. Because Chad's love interest is definitely going to be riding a bike. (He is such a cautious guy who wants to protect everyone -- it'll drive him crazy.)

The evening went on until 9, but after being on the go since 4 a.m., I wore out at about 7:30 and snuck out. This morning while we were raking leaves--all right, I confess. GG and Curly were raking leaves, I was sitting on Guitar Hero's V-star--Guitar Hero asked if I'd like motorcycle lessons for my birthday next summer. I have to admit - I'm considering it. (Ssssh, don't tell Gizmo Guy!)

Sweating for the next 70 days

I've joined in the latest "70 Days of Sweat with Sven" challenge. Originally I thought that I'll write approximately 60-70 K on my latest contemporary erotica in the Hauberk series, as well as complete the edits on Private Property. However I'm finding myself motivated to rework Delving Deep.

For those of you unfamiliar with Sven, here's a sample of what it's about:

Basically, 70 Days of Sweat is designed to challenge (naturally), support, and encourage those of us crazy enough to write a book in 70 days. At the end, we’re looking for a word count between 60-100K. We’ve built an extra week into this round, so technically you have 77 days to sweat meaning . . . Round 4 will run from November 10 to January 26.

Maybe I'll sign up for NaNo again next year. Not that I need a competition like NaNo or even Sven because when I put my mind to it, writing 2K a day isn't tough for me. But it's nice to have that kick in the pants to have to report it. And lately? I've needed that kick in the pants.

So as of November 10th, I'll be reporting my progress daily on my wordcount. And I'll expect you to hound me/bug me/nag me about it.

I love the world, or Boom-de-Yada

Earworm time!

For some reason over the last couple months, Gizmo Guy has been hooked on this Discovery channel commercial. It's the one commercial he'll actually UNMUTE the television to listen to. On odd occasions (like right now) I hear him humming it - and he's not usually one to hum. (Don't you dare ask if I hum!)

So if I have to listen to it, so do you ...



And here's Discovery Canada's version - see if you can spot the differences



Boom de Yada, boom de Yada, boom de Yada, boom de Yada, boom de Yada ... Yeah, try to get THAT out of your head now!

**Edited 9:53 am** If you like the song and want to download it or get it as a ringtone, go here. And if you REALLY like it and want to make your own video - Discovery Channel is challenging people to post their versions on their channel over on YouTube.

He and He or John and Jack?

Work on Delving Deep went well today. I've written 2455 words so far today, and a total of 6888 words in three days, so I'm happy with the way it's going. (No, that's not a real cover for it, don't get excited. This is one of Gizmo Guy's little hobbies - he takes a book I'm working on and creates pictures like this with some package he's got. It's rather neat though, especially when I didn't have a real cover to flaunt. Although you can't really see it on this picture, my name is at the bottom right hand side in the bottom of the mountain.)

I really like the new direction I've taken with it. There's much more conflict which is always a good thing. It's pushing my boundaries a bit more, especially since I've decided to explore a M/M relationship aspect, something I've never done before. Why is it I keep writing stories that take me out of my comfort zone? You'd think I'd sit back and just write a regular romance. Uh uh, can't do it. Go figure.

The new paranormal element is making it much darker. I sometimes have trouble writing 'dark' because there's a fine line for me between 'dark' and 'depressing'. In this case, the darkness is driven by evil which helps define the boundaries. Although I have an unfortunate tendency to throw the occasional light joke in there - the way I do in life. It's sort of a self-defence mechanism to keep things from getting too heavy, but I'll have to rein it in some so I don't wreck the mood.

Another thing that slowed me down a bit today was when to use a character's name vs a pronoun. When you have two characters of the same sex talking, it can be confusing to use "he" and still let the reader know who you're talking about. So I'd end up having a paragraph that would keep mentioning the character by proper name ... and that got annoying. Have any tricks you want to share on how to know when to use a name or a pronoun?

Oh, and originally the third in the menage was named Rayne, but lately I've seen so many frickin' books (and a few authors too) with that name I though it was time to look for something else. So I'm using a placeholder until I find something better. Feel free to make suggestions ... The character is not human, by the way. Pretty old, and from middle Europe - maybe closer to the German side than the Italian or Spanish areas. But of course he was born there before the borders that exist today were drawn up. I hate finding names - googling sites can suck the day away. So feel free to make suggestions.

I have a flighty Muse

Okay, so NaNo time has rolled around yet again. I didn't sign up this time - I decided to go Sweat with Sven instead on the 10th since I'm still waiting on my edits. Since finishing Sam's story, um, I mean Personal Protection, I've had a hard time getting settled into any one story. Lately I've been sort of hopping between three, none of them really talking to me the way I prefer when I'm writing. But this week, a formerly-shelved muse flounced into the room, plonked herself down in Gizmo Guy's chair and started snarking at me about her story.

"Why did you give up on it? You finished it, right? You subbed it once, right?" she demanded. "The story was good, the idea unique. Besides shapeshifters are hot right now. You're nuts letting it molder. You should pull it out and do something with it." She leaned forward in her chair, a dangerously evil sparkle in her eye. "Besides, I've had an idea about it. It'll be darker, more paranormal. Sexier. There'll be wolves and threesomes and danger, oh my."

Who am I to deny a muse the opportunity to inspire me? So I shrugged and agreed to look at it again. Because my writing style has changed fairly dramatically in the last year, instead of editing the old copy, I'm starting fresh.

It's not going as fast as I'd like, though it's still keeping up to NaNo daily wordcount standards, I suppose. I'm not going to worry about final word count, the original story was a novella length, and that would be fine with me if it stayed short. And if it goes longer, equally fine. I've also changed the way I approach writing a bit. I'm finding the FastDraft method of writing a really crappy first draft leaves me feeling very unhappy when I'm facing that awful mess and having to rewrite it as a second draft. Now as I'm writing forward, I'm working a bit slower and making sure each day's writing has more depth so there's not as many major edits to do on the second pass.

At least that's the plan.

But OMG it's proving I am not a plotter. Okay, make that my MUSE is not a plotter. She's sort of a flibbertigibbet, I've discovered. You see, yesterday she dictated an outline for a scene that would bring the hero and heroine together for the first time. Linear storyline, the scene advanced the external plot and revealed things about both characters. All good. So I started fleshing it out as she dictated. I got less than a page into it and BAM, the muse suddenly changes the storyline we'd agreed upon and the heroine starts talking to a ghost.

"WTF?" I exclaimed. "You never said there were going to be ghosts in this story. Shapeshifting wolves, yes, a merman, yes, a menage, definitely. But a ghost?"

In a very unladylike gesture (darn it, she's been hanging around me too long), she flipped me off. "You said you wanted it more paranormal, didn't you? Go with it."

Two pages later, instead of having the hero come to the heroine the way we'd agreed, BAM, the muse has the heroine trouncing out of the cabin and spying on the hero with the antagonist as they're both standing on the beach naked.

"Um, where is this going here, muse? Wasn't Victoria supposed to stay in her cottage because she's afraid of the wolves? Oh, and considering both the guys are naked, wouldn't the heroine think they getting it on with each other? I thought it was supposed to be a M/F/M menage, not a M/M/F."

"So, M/M/F is hot right now, haven't you heard?" she replied with an airy wave of her hand. "Besides, they're not getting it on, they're in a confrontation because Darek is trying to protect the heroine from the bad guy. Plus they both shifted from their other states, so of course they'd be naked." She narrowed her eyes at me. "Didn't you READ what I dictated? Sheesh!"

All right, I can work with that slight change of plans, could even be fun. But yeah, as I've said before, "Hi, I'm Leah, and I am NOT a PLOTTER."

And my muse can be a real b*tch. Which, considering she's dealing with shapeshifting wolves, shouldn't surprise me.

Toys for Big Boys

IT arrived yesterday afternoon.

What is 'it' you ask? A 2004 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic. Guitar Hero's motorbike. (With no naked lady figures, you'll notice!) It's not the sports bike that is so popular these days, it's a Cruiser. (I've been having lessons on the differences between Cruisers and Touring bikes - to me they look alike other than size.)

(Ugh, look at all those leaves that have to be raked.)

Since I had to wake him up when it arrived, he wasn't ready to take it for a test drive (plus it was raining.) But he did climb on and rev it up a few times. Take a look at the picture below and you'll see how tired he is, poor guy. So excited about finally getting his new toy, and he's too exhausted to take it out for a spin.

Ah, well, the next three days are supposed to be lovely sunny days, and he can drive it around the neighborhood then. He's thrilled because he has a new set of keys to keep in his wallet, along with his very own key-chain garage-door-opener. (Could he be a Gizmo Guy in training? Or are all guys garage-door-opener-lovers?)

I'll try to get some more pictures of him with all his kit on - helmet, gloves, the whole shebang. Which is a little scary considering he's legally allowed on the road - licenced and everything but has never actually driven a motorcycle in real traffic.



At least he's planning on practicing on the sideroads and taking it down to a local skating rink parking lot that is usually empty during the day to practice his turns, etc. But after next week and his licence becomes official (there's a 60 day waiting period), he'll be driving it to work every night (until there's snow anyway). Which means I won't have to!

Woohoo.

He'll be driving it to work every night! OMG. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know EVERYONE tells me not to worry, that their father/boyfriend/SO/husband rides a bike and GH'll be fine. (And thank you, Christine, I told GH your story of that stone flying up and hitting your DH's visor between the eyes and GH agreed to get a visor.) But no matter how proud of him I am (and I am), I'm still going to worry. Especially after I read articles like this one about how more Marines have died in motorcycle accidents than have been killed in Iraq in the past year. Okay, so they've all mainly been on sports bikes, but still ...

While there's that Woohoo! I'm also still muttering Oy.

Just for fun

I figured you're probably getting tired of me rambling on about Private Property. I had planned on posting some pictures of the latest addition to our family, but it hasn't arrived yet. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have some photos up.

So in the meantime, just for no reason at all, other than they were funny, here are some funny pet videos for you:

This dog is either really smart, or just having fun - it's hard to tell - but he's trying to get that cat out of his bed:



And watch this ninja cat - talk about sneaky ... watch for how everytime the guy disappears the cat moves up, so you can't see him moving.

What a way to start the month!

I know, I've already posted once today, but I couldn't wait to announce that Private Property has made it up on the Coming Soon page over at Samhain. Oh! And it's listed as a Red Hots! too. Heehee!

And here's another look at my cover ;)

Two, Two, Two Kindles in one Contest

Look what's coming in December!

A chance to win one of two Kindles, plus chances at winning other swag too.

On December 1st, check out my editor Angela James' blog for all the deets.

And good news for all of us not living within the US borders - we're eligible too! Angela will spring for shipping should the winner not reside in the States. Bonus!

And in the meantime, give your fingers lots of practice to prepare for the webpage hopping you're going to be doing. Roll that scroll wheel, click that left mouse button. Make sure your mouse is charged up if it's battery operated. It'll be worth it - did I mention that there are not one but TWO Kindles up for grabs? (To two different winners. You don't get both. What are you, greedy?)