Who’s got the button? Not me. I completely forgot what I was going to blog about, though it had something to do with buttons. And pushing them. *headdesk* I should have written the idea down when it occurred to me but I got distracted…*ooh, shiny!*…and by the time I sat down to write today’s blog, I got as far as the title. *sigh* Writer’s block? Me? Oh, yeah! My brain is scattered to the four winds as I try to get everything wrapped up for my trip Thursday. Am I leaving at the butt crack of dawn? Uhm…yeah. LSU is playing in the Superdome Thursday night. Which means TRAFFIC! I wish there was another way into the Quarter but without going surface streets, which might take just as long, I’m stuck on the interstate and football traffic.

Oh, look! If you happen to be into digital books, you can go to Digibooks Cafe. Enter the code to get 20% off. This coupon will be good for any digital downloads of FAERIE FIRE or FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE. (And even FAERIE FATE if you don’t have it yet!)

Iffy is all excited about tomorrow. She has a bit of news to share, plus Prof. Shannahan to visit with. She keeps asking me what the difference is between Irish Whiskey and Scotch. I told her to Google it.

As for today, I give up. I’ve wrung my brains out dry and I can’t for my life remember what I was going to say about the topic. Instead, I leave you with this question. What pushes your buttons?

Okay. I’m a fake. I admit it. I’ve been ragging on other writers struggling with writer’s block, I don’t wannas, I’m tireds, RL interference, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. (She says in a decent imitation of Yul Brenner’s King.)

I keep meaning to work on FAERIE FOOL. No. Really. I do. Yes, I know. I had a novella to write, edit, page proof, etc. And a WIP to completely revise and get out the door on submission. And the NRCA awards. RWA. Con Crud(tm). My excuses are as long as Santa’s naughty list. Should I mention that I’ve got Writers For New Orleans coming up over Labor Day weekend? That means a five-day road trip with my critique partner.

Speaking of… Part of the problem I was having with FOOL is having enough story to tell. I’m just under 10K words. I need at least 65K to get the book in paperback as well as ebook. I just didn’t have enough story to stretch it. So I went to coffee with Heidi. And we talked through her plotting roadblocks of her current WIP. Then I told her about FOOL and how I just couldn’t get into it. In talking it through, I realized a few plot points I hadn’t thought of, a twist or two, and now I have a better idea of the direction I need to go. Iffy is pleased. I’ve set a deadline, too, as I seem to work better with the ax hanging over my head, even if self-imposed. If I want to start a new project for NaNoWriMo this year, I’ll need to get FOOL finished by the end of October. That’s two and a half months. That’s my goal with an absolute drop dead goal of the end of November. I’m taking responsibility for my own writing. But you guys need to keep me “honest.” Keep watching the word count percentage over there on the right. It should start moving any day now. No. Really. Any. Day. Srsly!

I start tomorrow. Especially since Iffy is taking over the blog. In the meantime, look at what’s on MY AUTHOR PAGE at the Wild Rose Press. I’ll soon have a back list! Wow. I’m impressed. *gigglesnort*

Oh, Iffy says to remind y’all that she’s doing a contest starting tomorrow. Any guesses on what it is?

Believe it or not, I actually will be working as you read this, despite the fact that I’m running all over. The errands are mostly work related–well, RWA related, anyway. Here’s a few more updates.

We have a guest blogger, author Sky Purington, this Friday, so Friday Flash will be moved to Thursday! I have to admit I’m very curious where this story is going. I know I promised two character interviews this week, so I’ll just have to combine them tomorrow. I’m over at HAPPY ENDINGS today blogging about conferences. Yeah, I know. Not really inspired writing but it was the best I could do with time ticking.

As of the time I’m writing this, I have about 100 pages left to polish and revise on SOTW. I’m dragging my feet. REALLY dragging my feet. I mean, like…beyond doing laundry and going to Walmart dragging my feet. *sigh* I’m not quite sure why, other than I’m in a weird headspace of late. It seems like for every step I take forward, I slide back three or four. It’s all mental–my insecurities surging to the forefront, I fear. FAERIE FATE seems to be doing okay sales-wise, though I won’t really know for sure until royalty statements come later in the year. I worry SOTW won’t cut it, even after these revisions and polish, but I think as an author, we all feel that way about our work. I love FAERIE FIRE and hope it does well–and I think it will. FAIRY TALES was fun to write and I look forward to it’s debut, too.

I just…I’m not finding joy in my writing at the moment. It’s seems like a labor, and not one of love. I don’t feel the creative spark clicking inside. I’m like that butane grill lighter that got wet. You click and there’s a tiny spark but not enough to catch fire. So you click and you click and you click and end up with nothing but frustration. I should note that Iffy is standing in the corner sticking her tongue out at me. She’s here and brimming with ideas, but waiting until I finish revisions/edits. I need an infusion–some sort of spark to ignite my passion again. In the meantime, I’m simply too stubborn to give up so I keep scrolling through the pages, fixing here, tightening there, expanding when it needs it, cutting extraneous lines/paragraphs/scenes when necessary.

Maybe I just need to throw myself a good ol’ fashioned pity party….Ha! I now need to go off in search of an icon for a pity party! While I’m doing that, y’all tell me what’s got you down these days? We can call commiserate with each other.

Due to circumstances and on account of because I’m taking a couple of days off from blogging. Writing them, anyway. This weekend is the OKRWA Summer Heat Mini Conference. I’m pitching SEASON OF THE WITCH to Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency and Charles Griemsman with HQN. Friday night is a meet and greet at the home of the lovely and vivacious (and multi-published!) Merline Lovelace. Saturday morning is a panel discussion with Lucienne and Charles, followed by pitch appoints after lunch. Sunday, I’m doing my first book signing *gulp* along with Lucienne, Alicia Dean, and Amanda McCabe.

I’m taking the next two days off to write words on SOTW–LOTS of words. I joked once about adding a murder to up my word count. As it turns out, I NEED that extra murder. And I’ve found just the perfect spot to drop the body–both in location and in the book. I also need to polish my pitch (can you say memorize it and say it over and over until I don’t stumble any more?), and to do things like get a manicure. Yes. I’m old school. I want pretty hands while signing people’s books. What can I say?

So, anyway…I’ll still be making the rounds to visit with y’all but nothing going on here. Move along. This is not the blog you were looking for. I will have a brunch on Saturday because…uhm…BRUNCH! And there will be news and a video on Sunday. I’m being interviewed plus the book signing so you can go visit me elseblog.

Until then, my sweets, will you survive without me?

No words of wisdom. No jokes. No…nuthin’. *sigh* On the other hand, I am writing great sex (I hope) and a lovely murder. Let’s see…WIP…blog…WIP…blog…

Feel free to talk among yourselves. OOH! I have a question…How much sex is too much? Or too little? Yeah. I’m all about the hot vampire lovin’ at the moment. I couldn’t believe I pretty much faded to black in both love scenes in SOTW. Horrors! So…besides sexxoring up those scenes, I think I’ll throw in a gratuitous scene just for the heck of it! Later, gators…

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!?!

I feel brain dead. Stop laughing. I know y’all are snickering and asking, “So what else is new?” I started back in on SOTW yesterday, made it into the first scene I was writing and…blanked. I totally forgot where I was going in the overall scheme of things. I sort of kind of maybe remembered there was a bit of backstory I wanted to touch on in this phone conversation but then I couldn’t remember if I’d already relayed that bit of information. Alas! What to do? Do I turn Iffy loose and let the scene go down whatever path it chooses and see how it all works once I read the whole MS in toto? Or should I break off the writing, sit down and reread the revisions from the beginning to figure out where the heck I am in the landscape?

Decisions. Decisions. Maybe I’ll just go clean house. We have guests coming for the weekend. The Only graduates cum laude on Saturday. While we plan on eating out after, I still need to de-clutter and at least clean bathrooms. What does that say, eh? I’d rather clean toilets than figure out the WIP? LOLOL Naw. I think I’ll do a FIND/REPLACE function, zip through to see if I actually inserted that bit and figure out Plan B from there. Anything is better than cleaning toilets, right? Besides, I’m going to win the lottery today and then I can hire a housekeeper. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!

Confession time, y’all. What task in your life makes you consider cleaning toilets instead?

Pandemonium! Time is flying and I’m running out of it! Yikes!!!!!

Today I’m getting Drover (my Toyota Highlander) serviced for the drive to Florida. Tomorrow is my hair cut. In between, I have to get my books for the Traditional category sorted, packed and ready to be mailed. Oh. And laundry. Cleaning. Mailing. Grocery shopping to make sure the critters have food while we’re gone. I suppose that means the two-legged ones staying behind, too.

At some point, I also have to start and finish revisions. Uhm…yeah. I’m…sucking hind tit on that bit of my To-Do list. *sigh* I don’t even want to look at my RSS feeder. The last time I did, I was behind like 40 posts on the blogs I follow. Twitter? Facebook? Never heard of ‘em! I guess this is my way of weaning from the the net for the trip! LOL. (And if worse comes to worse, I can revise while LG drives Saturday and Sunday.)

Okay, question for today….go look at the ABOUT page and take a gander at my photo. Should I have my hairdresser trim to the same ol’-same ol’? Or should I do something drastic?

Well…NaNo may turn into NoNo… I got an email last night with the next set of edits on FAERIE FIRE. *sigh* Yeah…I’m up to my elbows with fixing the MS now. I don’t know if I’ll get back to AGGIE now or not.

I came across this “Sexy Bum” contest at Right Said Fred’s site. You have to register (free) to get to the voting area, but yeah…those two have some really sexy bums. It’s worth checking out if you don’t mind taking the time for a user name and password. Their videos crack me up, too.

Since it’s Friday the 13th, lets talk about superstitions. Do you have any? I always throw salt over my left shoulder when I spill some. I knock on wood for luck. But I suppose the strangest is if I’m walking with someone and we walk on opposite sides of a pole or other obstacle? I always say, “Bread and butter.” I have no idea why. Except it was something my mother and grandmother always said.

Want to share your weirdest?

I. Am. So. Far. Behind. Just sayin’. I’m working though. As of Saturday or Sunday, I had just over 10K words. I am up to 13,727 words as of typing this, which still leaves me just over 4600 words behind. If I didn’t get any more words added last night, you can add 1667 words to the amount I still need to make up. My NaNo stat chart at the site ain’t lookin’ so good.

Okay. Enough of me whining. Question of the day… What’s your favorite thing in the whole world to do whenever you want to procrastinate? Come on, be creative! I’ll give you a hint of mine. Chocolate. Marshmellow cream. My latest hero…. S’mores anyone?