I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAACK

Okay, I think maybe that made me sound like a sheep. OOOPS.

ANYWAY, I am back from visiting the familia in Illinois. It was an excellent trip. I enjoyed seeing everybody. The train ride was very relaxing. I got the editing done, and life was lovely. Unfortunately, as is usually the case when I am around groups of strangers or travelling, I caught a bit of a crud. Not a terrible "OhmiGod I'm DYING" crud, but a crud nonetheless. Still, I'm doing much better today and have hope that tomorrow I'll actually feel like a human being again.

We have turned in the next Sazi book -- Moon's Fury. Cathy was primary on it. It is set in Texas and it ROCKS! Excellent excellent. YAHOO!!!! I am now working on the as yet untitled Sazi book regarding Aspen Monier. It is cruising along nicely. This makes me VERY happy because Cat (Howling Moon) SOOOOOO didn't. That book had been the first one in the world, and it got written and re-written so many times while we were learning our craft, and the world changed so much while it approached print that it was HELL to work through. I think it turned out to be a very good book, but it WASN'T easy! Weirdly though, Touch of Madness (the Kate Reilly sequel to Touch of Evil) WAS. I mean it was like a wild horse that knew exactly where it wanted to go. I just had to hang on and let my fingers let the words out. I will never ever understand why some books just come easy and some just don't.

We've been asked to do a couple of interviews. One of them wants to interview the character of Kate Reilly. I'm really looking forward to that one. :) I've also got the pattern now to do my costume for The Vampire Lestat Ball. I have to get to work on it soon. I want it to look GOOD not cheesy. Or both. Whatever.

Gotta run. Writing to do and life to live. Later kids.

Cie

Headed Out

OK, I'm headed out to visit my folks in Illinois Monday. I'm excited because I haven't seen them in a while and miss them. James is going to take care of the animals for me. (Thank you darlin!) I'm taking the train because it stops right in my hometown, not far from my folks house. That means no renting a car and driving either down from Chicago or up from St. Louis.

Of course this also means I've got a @*#$ load to do before I can go, and I'm so drained from the heat I don't wanna. Ah well. Definitely worth it. Cathy finished the draft of the book she was working on, so I'll edit that on the trip.

I've been really stressed out. One way I can tell, my memory is going. UGH. Of course part of that is that I haven't been able to fill the new Rx. When the thyroid's low I have trouble with memory and concentration. That's always frustrating. Oh well, I'll just have to write notes for a while. (The pharmacist couldn't read the Rx, the doctor was out of the office, and I'll be out of town before they can talk on the phone.)

Anyway, if I'm not around for a while, at least pretend to miss me. :)

Oh, and I'm still debating whether or not to joint RWA. I LOVE LOVE LOVE RWA Online, but the main RWA National.... well, there's all this political stuff that keeps raging that I just am not dispositionally suited to dealing with. The group seems almost split in half between conservatives and liberals. Which means pitched battles over things like romantica/erotica (is it or is it not romance) and defining romance as one man falling in love with one woman and having a happily ever after ending. (As opposed to gays, lesbians, and/or groups.)

Totally off subject -- I didn't always watch Frasier on television, but I saw one that just cracked me up. Niles, the up-tight brother, was explaining that he NEEDED for them to go out for their usual drink because of a misprint on his ad. Instead of printing "Jung" Psychiatrist they put "Hung." Wouldn't have been so bad except for the rest of the ad: Hung Psychiatrist -- Individuals, Couples, Groups. Frasier said, "Surely the people who called knew..., I mean..." The response was. "You have no idea." I laughed so hard!

OK, off to clean house, pack, and finish all the critical stuff! TOODLES! Be good while I'm gone.

Cie

sigh...

Folks, this is going to be an odd post. I've divided it into sections so that it will sort of make sense, but I'm exhausted, my mind is wandering... oh, and I have the hiccups.

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OK, I'm not perfect. I'm not even close to perfect. But some days, weeks, well, I'm less perfect than others. It's been a tough week.

First, I believe in spaying and neutering pets. I especially believe in it after living in a small town where a lot of people don't and there are an incredible number of unwanted "strays" that have miserable and short lives. I won't get on my soapbox about this for long, but it breaks my heart. The animals didn't ask to be born, and they don't deserve mistreatment.

BUT it was probably not the smartest/best plan of action to neuter the cat and spay the puppy the same week. Both surgeries went well, but the recuperation keeping them both inside resting but away from each other has been... tricky. Doing this when I'm getting ready for a visit to my folks AND I've got edits due AND am in the middle of a new book is worse than tricky.

*************

I hate feeling frustrated. It's stupid, of course, because frustration is a part of life. It is PARTICULARLY a part of life for anyone who has children and/or pets, or interacts with other human beings, or... well... it's just inevitable OK. But I'm trying to recover today from a bout of serious frustration.

First, I can't seem to get anything DONE and then have it STAY done. Housework for example, and laundry, dishes. You do all that stuff, and it is undone within minutes. The dishes are washed, dried, even put away, and then you hear someone in the kitchen cooking and see a dirty glass sitting around, and off you go again. You change the litterbox and the cats REJOICE by going in and taking a fresh dump. You're wearing clothes when you do laundry, so there's more laundry. You get the picture.

Yesterday's frustration came early and lasted all day. It was like 95 degrees already at 7:00 a.m. I was taking Lucky to the vet to be spayed. I get her outside, am trying to get her to go into the truck (which she usually LOVES and wants to climb in when she ISN'T supposed to) and she balks. She not only balks, she bolts, slips out of her collar, and starts sprinting down one of the busiest streets in town (which while not up to Denver standards by any stretch, was busy enough during the morning commute to nearly give me a heart attack.) She's a cattle dog breed. They are FAST, can turn on a dime, and well, let's just say I'm not as young and limber as I used to be. I finally caught her parading herself in front of a fence with three unaltered males going nuts behind it. Get the collar on her and tighten it. (Wishing now I had the choke collar, but hadn't thought I needed it because she's normally so good about this shit, and now I don't have time to go get it). Get her back and it happens again! (This time she found an unaltered male dachshund (sp?)whose owner came out to find out what was causing the commotion and wound up laughing fairly hysterically about it. By the time I finally got her loaded into the truck and to the vet I was a wreck, which wouldn't have been so bad, except I was going straight from the vet to my doctor out of town and was now arriving dripping sweat, dischievelled, and smelling very strongly of dog.

Got there late (of course). When they tried to draw blood they couldn't get my body to cooperate. NOPE. All blood was supposed to stay inside, thank you very much! Took them five sticks before they finally got a vein by using my wrist. They were frustrated and embarrassed, and I was running late to my lunch appointment. Tried to call my editor, Anna Genoese on business, but missed her completely. Tried to get my prescription, but the pharmacy couldn't read the writing and the doctor's office was closed, so they're having to call this morning instead. Went to the bank, and for some reason they're getting back my mail. The post office says I don't live here anymore. This confused the heck out of the bank because, well, they're the ones with my home loan.

All day I operated at a dead run, and everything I touched went reverse-Midas on me. I am SOOOOOO glad to start over this morning.

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I am a Catholic Christian. (There are people who say Catholics aren't Christians, which doesn't make a bit of sense to me. Our religion is based around Christ being the savior, so what's up with saying we're not Christian. Makes no sense to me at all.) ANYWAY, I am. I believe in it. I'm not ashamed of it. I try to live my life according to my beliefs. Some days I do better than others, but I try.

BUT I HAVE A BONE TO PICK. What is with all of these "threatening" e-mails. I will get a wonderful, inspirational (in the literal sense) e-mail that will have me smiling, and then we get to the end: THE THREAT. If you don't forward this to everybody and their dog instantly you WILL GO TO HELL, you are ASHAMED OF GOD who will, in turn BE ASHAMED OF YOU (revert back to the YOU WILL GO TO HELL). This paragraph instantly erases every bit of good accomplished in all the other paragraphs. I see red. I snarl. Even if I would've sent it on (because I really think the inspirational part is cool) to people who would appreciate it I stop. The only way I will pass it on now is if I take the time to cut and paste the first part without the last part. NOT BECAUSE I'M ASHAMED but because I don't want to be an emotional bully and ram my attitudes down someone else's throat.

If you present the information to someone, and it is good information, you don't need to hold a gun to their head (figuratively or literally) to get them to believe it. In fact, if you do they're going to be a little distracted (well, more than a LITTLE) and disgruntled (to put it mildly) and miss the point of the information completely and just cut to resentment of the bullying. In my opinion this kind of crap is counterproductive to actually being a positive influence on people, which is the point, I think, of evangelism. (I'm not sure, since I'm not terribly evangelistic.)

BUT there is this vague sense of guilt, like, maybe I'm making excuses. Maybe I should be thinking the way these other people are. What's wrong with me? This is partially a result of a good Catholic upbringing. Guilt is a part of my life. But it is also more pronounced because I've moved into the "bible belt" and I SOOOOOOOO don't fit in. So, to address this issue right now and forever. I'm NOT ASHAMED OF GOD, but I don't forward e-mails with the bullying paragraphs.

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

OK, for those of you not in the US and/or not paying attention, we've been suffering a heat wave. We're talking the kind of major heat wave that has actually killed people. NOT GOOD STUFF!!! Well, in the middle of this, my trusty air conditioner for the office gave out. Day after day over 100 and no a/c when working on a machine that gives off heat. Needless to say, baby that I am, I haven't been writing much. I had to wait (because of various things that I won't go into in this blog but were circumstances beyond my control) to get a new A/C. Alas, I now have one. James and I installed it this morning. There is much rejoicing at Casa Adams by both human and furry.

Now understand, I have never been a fan of A/C for the most part. I have to be really careful about the filters or my allergies act up. But ever since the spider bite my internal temperature mechanism has been out of whack (I'm going to go to the doctor about it) and I'm not only hot I'm POURING sweat. UGH. At any rate, I'm grateful, REALLY GRATEFUL for the A/C.

Now I can write without worrying about the machine overheating or my passing out from the heat. YIPPEEE. (Or, in the immortal words of Tim Taylor "And the peasants rejoiced!")

*****************

Totally different subject. Online stuff. I LOVE cruising the internet. I've made some awesome friends electronically (Including, but not limited to, our very own Jim and Yo from the blog) But I've discovered something. It's a time killer. It devours HOURS of time that I'm supposed to be writing. So when I'm trying to make deadline I've been cutting myself off. BUT IT SUCKS!! Because by the time I get back to everybody too much has happened that I've missed, AND I've mightily pissed people off who think I'm only coming to sites when we have a book out to "advertise." Sadly, when a book is first released is currently almost the only time we're NOT in a major deadline crunch -- if then.

Also, some of my favorite sites have gotten too big for my comfort. I like small to mid-sized sites where you can get to know people. When it's too big and there are too many topics, I don't even know where to start, so I just "freeze" and only go to the spots where it directly relates to me. SIGH. I definitely have to work on that.

ANYWAY, dog is raising hell. I'd better go see what's up.

Later.

Cie

WHOOO HOOOO!!!!!!

Captive Moon is not only out, but it made the USA Today Bestseller's List at 128!!!!!

That's one book from each series. NOW WE'RE COOKIN'!

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Odd Meandering/Happy Birthday

MTV turned 25, but they aren't going to celebrate because they don't want to draw attention to the fact that they are older than their audience. So VH1 did a salute instead. That says something sad about our youth-obsessed culture doesn't it?

I liked MTV when it was Music Television and they had REAL videos of BANDS. (What a concept.) BUT they discovered there was more money to be had in being cultural icons and did things like launch reality television (from which I will NEVER recover), etc. I really missed videos until my son steered me to Yahoo Music and their video section. They have some classics, and a lot of new music videos that I can watch on my screen. You can rate them if you want them to know that much about you, and they'll play the high rated ones more and screen new ones for you. Now, I'm paranoid, and I don't like people knowing too much about me, BUT I'm willing to risk it on the video front. Because I really don't want to watch Paris Hilton's video, I rated it NEVER EVER EVER AGAIN and I will not have to see it EVER EVER AGAIN. Little things like that please me more than they should. :)

ANYWAY, since my discovery of online music videos I have come across some really visually cool stuff, and just some seriously fun songs. Now, remember from previous posts, I also like BAD songs (the worse the better), we're talking "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" of music, so watch at your own risk:

OK -- Here are FUN ones.

1985 -- This is SOOOOOO me. I actually remember every video it parodies.

"Here it Goes Again" by OK Go -- I LOVE the choreography and wonder how many times they had to practice this before they stopped hurting themselves and got it right.

"Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley -- What these people can do with Rorsach blots!

"Beverly Hills" and "Hash Pipe" by Weezer. (Look at the Sumo Wrestlers walking the walk in Hash Pipe and think of me with the black widow bite)

"Secret Agent Man" by David (hey he's big in Germany) Hasselhoff -- see if you can
name all of the spy movies and television shows this spoofs.

"Jump in my car" (Hasselhoff again) -- The highlight of this is that it spoofs KITT his car in Knightrider.


NOW for AMAZING ONES -- well, there are LOTS of these, too many to list really, and I'm in more of a fun/Dropkick Murphys kind of mood, but I'll give you 1.

"Bring Me Some Water" by Melissa Etheridge.


ANYWAY, I'm becoming an "old fart" but I refuse to grow up. "I want my MTV" I'll just have to get it from somebody else, online.

Captive Moon is Out!!!

Good News! Captive Moon is out! We have another book on the shelves! This is the first of the Sazi books done in third person. It features Antoine Monier. There are wonderful things about this book, but I'm nervous. Why? Because it's third person. I LIKE first person books. It's so EASY to get into the character's head and understand their perspective. Third person is just not "natural" for me. I can do it, but while I can get a first person book out right away, third person HURTS. It's like pulling teeth. But there are people who won't read first person. Cathy does not have this problem. But I am not Cathy. SOOOOOOO not.

I haven't been writing much. This is not a good thing. But it is a third person book and, as I said, pulling teeth. UGH. It will be all right. I know it will. But UGH.

For entertainment James and I have been watching The West Wing (seasons 1-4 on DVD) and 6 Feet Under (Season 1 on VHS). Extremely good shows! I am definitely going to want the rest. Both are very smart and very clever with people who screw up occasionally, but try hard. Six Feet Under is amazing at capturing the awkwardness of not being "normal." It sometimes HURTS it's so on target. I'm hoping that I can capture just a little of that same feel for the heroine I'm working on now. I want people to relate to Aspen, not write her off as a nutjob. I LIKE her.

Was reading the LKH blog the other day. (I do this). Two of the entries hit home. Then again, a lot of them do. (1) Was about people's expectations of her behavior based on her books, (They expect her to be Morticia Addams in her everyday life and are disappointed that she's too normal.); and (2) It freaks her sometimes that her characters are so real to her that it sometimes spills into real life.

Well, I was going to rant, but I don't have the energy to do that and get the pages out. So pages first. If I feel better after (usually I do) I'll come back and finish. Otherwise, see you tomorrow.

All the best.

Cie