Oh. Crap. Here I was madly typing away on FAERIE FOOL when I realized I had no blog for today. It’s Thursday. What’s special about Thursday? Nothing. Nothing at all. Monday is…well *Monday*. Tuesday is NOT Monday. Wednesday is all about HUMP Day and the downhill slide to the weekend. Friday is TGIF and then we have THE WEEKEND–Saturday and Sunday–a day to party and a day to recover before Monday starts all over again. So…what is Thursday? The day before Friday, the day after Hump Day. It’s a day to get work done so you don’t have to work so hard on Friday and can maybe start the weekend a little early.

So, I’m getting work done. On FOOL. Happy now? But I have a question for you. What happens when a guy who is VERY interested in a gal walks into a restaurant and sees her with another guy? Sees her obviously very intimate with another guy? How does he react?

You think I’m teasing, right? I’m not. This book is aggravating the tar out of me! It doesn’t want to flow from start to finish. It wants to jump-start and run in high gear, idle, then kick into low gear and go somewhere completely different and uphill. I’m going to end up with all these separate scenes spaced out between **** marks. In the end, I hope I find some semblance of order for them.

I can’t figure out why Rory and Delaney are fighting me so much. Rory wants his story told. Abhean is actually being rather quiet and just watching things play out, though he’s strumming his harp. Manannan Mac Lir is off seducing someone or other. I know I have two releases next month, plus a conference, but dang it, this story shouldn’t be this hard!

Oh, well. I’ve advocated going with one’s gut when it comes to telling the story. My gut says write these random scenes as they pop into my imagination. I’ll leave it the the faerie and Iffy to stitch together a coherent story when we’re done. With all these voices in my head, I sure hope I can write by committee. My CP complains that I’m an “organic writer” whatever the heck that means. I think I’m finding out. And not necessarily in a good way. Nope. No more negativity. This book will get written and it’s going to be a terrific story. Just sayin’!

Tomorrow I’ll announce the winner of the Samhain RWA swag package. Erika won the ARC of FAERIE FIRE from Iffy. Iphigenia is Iffy’s *real* name and Erika got it in one comment! Iffy says she and Erika are BFFs now and she’s going to Erika’s house to spend the weekend.

Oh, and remember those questions I asked? Best answer might just make it into the book!

With the advent of Google and the internet, sometimes we forget one of the the greatest research tools available--the public library. Just to remind you that librarians and libraries rock…

At some point in life, I came across this site called TUT – The Universe’s Thoughts – or something like that. I signed up, then realized it was a more a self-help guru type thing (along the line of The Secret–you know, visualize and wish and all shall be yours?) but, that said, I enjoyed the daily emails of inspirational thoughts. Some hit close to home, some I deleted with barely a read through. The other day, though, this one popped up in the in-box and I thought it was rather profound.

To empower another, is to empower yourself.

To celebrate another, is to celebrate yourself.

And to free another, Silver, is to free yourself.

I say empower, celebrate, and free them all,
The Universe

See the trend, Silver? Whatever you give, you get.

I say it’s time celebrate. What about y’all? Tell us something you need an extra “push” to get over the hump, something good that’s happened in your life, or something you need thoughts and prayers on. We’ll all push, party, and set our troubles free!

Here are some WTF links I’ve come across lately.

Werewolf cakes. Yes. Really.

Nip-Tuck (or why high-waisted jeans should be in vogue. I just don’t know what to say. Except, are her legs so skinny because everything was pushed upwards?

State of the Awful. And this is why there should be jeans, period!

Oh, Poop. If there’s a nurse in your life….run!

What about y’all? Any F-ery to share?

The first time I read a “Kitty Norville” novel written by Carrie Vaughn, I thought it very cool Carrie listed a play list of the songs she (and Kitty) listened to. I think I’ve admitted before that I wrote the original draft of FAERIE FIRE to the soundtrack of LAST OF THE MOHICANS on continuous loop. I wore the cassette tape out. (Yes, the original was written WAY back when!) I now have the soundtrack on CD. And on my iPod and iPhone. FYI, the version coming out in September is far-FAR removed from that very first draft. I don’t always listen to music when I write, but sometimes, when I’m struggling with mood, setting, or dialogue, I’ll put a random shuffle up on the iPod.

One of the fun apps I discovered for the iPhone is one called Sound Hound. When I hear a song used on a TV show and it strikes a cord, I want to know title and artist. Sound Hound does that. After it identifies the song, it also gives you the option of buying the song/album from iTunes. Should I mention that my music collection has grown? A lot!

I have noticed that certain songs tend to remind me of some of my characters. Since I’m working on SOTW at the moment, I thought I would share some of the songs that “speak” to me about Sinjen and Sadie. David Cook’s “Light On” is one of Sinjen’s songs. Whenever I hear it, I think of him and want to write.

And when I hear this song by Roxette, I know Sinjen is thinking back to the first time he saw Sade, walking across a concrete floor to the illuminated cell where he was incarcerated. Roxette’s “The Look” IS Sade at that moment.

Are there songs that remind you of a character? Inquiring minds and all that, you know!?!

First, the editor putting together the class reunion anthology has asked for the full MS of FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE. I should hear something by the end of the month.

Second, I’m approximately 43% done on my writing goal for the RWA PRO retreat (RWA has announced that National Convention is moving to the Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando–my thoughts on that tomorrow). Cyndi D’Albo, the PRO liaison, has promised great fun and prizes for those of us who make 50K words by the PRO retreat. FAIRY TALES came to just over 20K so that was a big part of it. I’m working on new words for SOTW, so they count, too.

Third, I really need to figure out how to retrieve my old tweets. Long ago (last fall), I took part in a tweet pitch contest. I want those 140 characters to use as a base for my pitch in June.

Fourth, I have another book coming out in September. I already have bookmarks, thanks to Ashlynn! Ev, you will be happy to know I ordered postcards and redesigned them a bit so that the front is *just* the cover (or most of it anyway!). The question becomes, when should I start “hawking” FAERIE FIRE here? I have character models for almost everyone in the book. I have excerpts (or can get them). Do y’all like character interviews? How soon is too soon to start touting FIRE?

I have many questions to ponder today. More writing on SOTW in store for me. I think the revision is going well, though I’m ready to finish and hand it over to Ms. CP. Once SOTW is finalized, I can get back to work on FAERIE FOOL. Trust me, that story is simmering in the back of my imagination, with Iffy occasionally stopping by to stir up the pot…er…plot.

Get your minds out of the gutter! It’s not what you think. No. Really. I think Silver has completely blown me off. I can’t find her anywhere! She was working on this new short story and I helped her with it. Seriously. I played what if with her for a day or so. I even gave her this really funny window character who keeps calling and bugging her heroine at the worst possible times. Toby is just…fun. Like me, you know? Well…not like me, but fun.

So anyway, I went off to play with Sade because, you know, Sade is, like, really wanting Silver to work on her book again but these other characters are cluttering up our mind and well, anyway…Sade and I were hanging out, expecting Silv to come find us just any moment and…and…she didn’t! *flail* *runs in circles* *flail* We came out and Silv wasn’t here. Or there. Or anywhere! *wail* She didn’t respond to people’s comments yesterday. *whimper* I want my author back! Have any of you seen her? Please send her home…. *sniffle* I checked her project count and she’s up over 17K words. I think she ran away to finish it. But I want her here. I’m hungry. And thirsty. And all alooooonnnnne! I don’t like it. *pout*

Huh. I’ll teach her. I’ll run away from home! Do any of you need a muse? I work cheap. Chocolate. Alpha males. Champagne. Filet Mignon. Truffles. Escargot. Caviar. *blink* Wait…what do you mean caviar is fish eggs. EWWWWWWW!!! *SPITspitspitspitSPIT* That was mean. I’m just gonna go hide in my corner until my writer comes back.

How many of you found a toad to kiss (in one form or another) yesterday? Was it fun? Me? I did a couple of things, just for fun. I entered a “first line” contest on a literary agency’s blog (the first line to the Steampunk/Vampire/Zombie Romance(tm)) and I dashed off a quick entry to a really fun “contest” the Deadline Dames run every month. I tied for first, last month. Called Readers on Deadline (or ROD), Dame Rinda Elliott posts a picture, image, or some other bit of inspiration. The “reader” has to tell a story about the image in 250 words, or less. Here is my winning entry:

Some days, my life revolved around one cliché after another. If the old gypsy woman wadding up the back of my jacket in her gnarled fingers was any indication, my day was headed straight to hell in a handbasket. Her other hand snaked over my shoulder as she pointed with such ferocity her bony arm shook.

“There. Up there. See it!” Her breath tickled my ear.

I did see it. An hour after dawn, no way it was vampire. Other shadows drifted across broken windows, highlighted briefly as the weak sun poked frostbitten fingers through the overcast but I ignored them. Amorphous, tenuous, they held no sway on this plane. But the face. The face staring at me from the third floor window? Real. Real enough I broke out in a bad case of goosebumps. The gypsy’s grip slackened. A cold chill galloped down my spine at her words.

“Beware the witch that comes in the night. Beware the child with the second sight. Beware the dark man who will not see. Beware the ties that bind. They will not set you free.”

“What is it with you psychic types? Everything fucking rhymes.” Didn’t matter. She knew. I knew, too. Destiny waited for me inside that crumbling monster of an asylum. And everyone knew Destiny was a bitch. That’s why I’d been assigned to this case. I was the biggest bitch of all.

Ah, yes. That would be our Sade from SOTW in action. You can go HERE to see the image–the photograph of a creepy old building–that was the inspiration for my winning bit. You can also see the picture for this month’s contest and my entry. This time, I decided Roman needed some attention from Iffy.

Have a great Thursday. I’m off to kiss some more toads. Oh…and Happy Statehood Day, Oklahoma!

Tomorrow is the official day. I’ll be quite the social butterfly, flitting here, at the Prairie Chicks, and at MamaWriters. Everyone is invited along for the ride! But we need to party here. And party hearty. Step up ladies and state your preferences.

Food: Cake? Cookies? Salad? *bwahaha* Put your order in so I can let the virtual caterers know.

Drinks: Liza offered to hire some hunky bartenders. Any preferences? Tall? Dark? Handsome (that’s a given, d’uh!), and ripped, right? Blond? Scruffy? Give us some ideas (names, locations, etc!)

Eye candy: See above. Let us know what you like. Ashlynn offered to open her bulging file. And If there are any favorites from previous Saturday Brunches, speak up and make a request! Or anyone you’d like to see? You know all the celebrities will want to be on our red carpet!

Okay, ladies. Ready…. Set…. Go! Start your picking!

Did you really think I could stop after yesterday’s entry? Oh hella no! Besides, it’s April Fool’s Day!

Obviously, Sleeping Beauty believes in her beauty sleep. Just ask her prince…

Belle did a guest shot on Nip And Tuck and decided they were on to something. She’s been in pursuit of eternal youth ever since.

I…words fail. I leave it up to each of you to come to your own conclusions. Jasmine…

And this last one of the Little Mermaid? I just…I mean…Should I feel bad that I’m hungry for sushi now?