Supernatural, baby!

The hubby and I finally watched the first episode of SUPERNATURAL last night.

WOW!

So we got it a little late, no surprise there... but it was well-worth the wait. I loved it! And the hubby actually loved it too! I'm the supernatural/paranormal fiend in this household, so it's good to get him hooked on these things! :) Have any of you guys checked it out? Well, you gotta! The story was so cool, I'm totally intrigued and can't wait to see where all these cases lead them. And I hope they find their father, too... can't wait to hear why he's missing...

Well, there was more progress today:

145 / 346

(41.9%)

Pretty happy with that.

So TV's starting to heat up here in Sydney, because the rating season's upon us again. And although I'm loving that there are so many great shows, it's kinda got my head spinning because there's so much the hubby and I want to watch. Okay, so you get an idea - check this out:

Monday:
Desperate Housewives on channel 7

Supernatural on channel 10

Tuesday:
Ghost Whisperer on channel 7

Wednesday:
Prison Break on channel 7

House on channel 10

Thursday:
LOST on channel 7

MEDIUM on channel 10

So, do you see the dilemma here? GEE -- now that I've listed everything it actually looks even scarier! Agh!

I LOVE SUMMER!

I truly do and there's only one more month left. :( Well, better make the most of it, huh? The sun's been very bright during the weekend -- love those blue skies!

The weekend was very relaxing and cool. Saturday involved a lot of lazing around with hubby and daughter. I also started reading another book, which I'm enjoying immensely. But I'll talk about that when I'm done with it. And Sunday we drove down to a shopping centre, where I found one of the Feb books on my to-buy-list. It's a LUNA called Poison Study by Maria V Snyder. The cover's gorgeous and story sounds intriguing, I've also heard great things about it. So I'm looking forward to checking this one out and very glad I found it yesterday.

We also stopped by a place called Yoshinoya. I'd heard about this coming to Australia, it's Japanese food and hubby and I were both curious to check it out. Now, I'm not a big fan of fast food -- actually refuse to eat McDonald's, KFC, Hungry Jacks, Red Rooster, Pizza Hut etc -- but this, I had to try! The hubby and I shared a Combo Bowl Meal and loved it! Didn't even feel like fast food to me. Very nice, filling and I love that the large portion was enough for us to share.

My daughter and I also had some fun online at eLouai's Candybar Doll Maker. It's a really cool place to make little character dolls - I love it! And my daughter always manages to get involved too -- she loves putting them together, though mostly she makes princesses. I just love giving a look to my characters. And I made a bunch of them. Very cool.

So, during the weekend I had a crazy thought. My daughter starts Kindy on Wednesday, and I was gonna start the next WIP on that day BUT I thought mid-week was a little nuts to start something. Especially since her first few days are shorter than usual... so... my brain was thinking about the options and decided that instead of checking out a bunch of different writing things for a few days, I can actually do the last read of demon.

I know, sounds a little nuts right? But I'm just so close to finishing this novel, I just hate leaving it like this before getting stuck into something new. I started reading and making chapter-by-chapter notes this morning. Here's the progress for today:

78 / 346

(22.5%)

Not too bad, I think. It's definitely a doable thing since it's a little shorter than the other novels I've revised lately. This way I can work on this during this week and come Monday I can get stuck into the next vamp novel!

The Cardinal Rule

Another terrific Bombshell novel!

The heroine is a CIA agent who throughout the novel isn't sure who she can trust. I swear this novel read like an action movie -- it should be made as one. Everything moves along pretty quickly and Alisha MacAleer is one tough butt-kicking chick who also displays a lot of human weakness through the story. There's no real romance in this novel, but there are a lot of flirtatious moments I hope develop into more throughout the series.

I loved it. Can't wait to read the next one in the series!

Small-scale productivity.

Yesterday was Australia Day and the hubby was home. We managed to pack in a lovely day full of walks, MarioKart DS, watched the first ep of Haibane Renmei, hung around and even squeezed in a lovely lamb roast with potatoes and gravy for dinner. Yum! Did TotalGym to end the night off - phew! No wonder I was exhausted this morning!

Have you guys checked out Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? My daughter's watching it at the moment. Gosh Johnny Depp's great as Willy Wonka. Then again, he's great as any character, right? But to be fair, all the performances are great. This movie has some great casting. Oh, and you know what I love too? The Oompa-Loompa songs! They're so retro --psychedelic and catchy... love it!

So of course, I didn't do any writing-related stuff yesterday. It was family time... but today I did finalise the first chapter for the second ghost novel. Cool. I jumped right into the swing of things, throwing the main character into relationship, work and personal turmoil from the start. Like I've already said before, things going bad for the characters isn't necessarily good for them, but terrific for the writer.

Bwahahahahhhhhhhh. * rubbing hands together with sheepish eyes and evil laugh*

I also sat down at my laptop and typed out a list. A very interesting list with a small synopsis and relevant details about the novel ideas bubbling around inside my head. Some of them were originally short stories, while others I've made notes for and some were nothing more than a line of thought inside my head... well, now they're all listed nice and neatly, which makes me smile. :) Just gotta print it out and keep it handy.

So now I'm ready to have a relaxing weekend.

Hope you all have a COOL weekend!

10 Ways You Know You are Reading My Work:

Okay, so Jessica had this on her blog the other day and asked me to list mine.


1. Main character is almost always female.
2. Something paranormal/supernatural is always lurking about.
3. Usually have a love triangle going on.
4. Hero plays important part in the story, but it belongs to her.
5. Heroine always has a past that bites her in the ass.
6. Heroine is always imperfect and flawed.
7. Tales are set in fictional suburb in Sydney, Australia.
8. Things are never what they seem...
9. Subplots are always weaved into the main story.
10. Each book ends, but there’s always room for more…


Share yours if you like!

:)

80s Wednesday

Ah, Cabbage Patch Kids... every little girl wanted one in the 80s.

And I was no exception!

Here's a little bit about them from Wikipedia:

The Cabbage Patch Kids were dolls produced from 1983-89 by Coleco. They had large, round vinyl heads and soft fabric bodies.

The gimmick of the dolls was their uniqueness. No two were exactly alike; each doll had a different eye color, facial features, hair, and outfit. The subtle differences were introduced with a computer for each run. Each came with a unique birth certificate signed by their creator, Xavier Roberts.

The dolls were inspired by the bestselling 1901 novel by Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice, Mrs. Wiggs and the Cabbage Patch.

Sadly, I never got one. :( And I wanted a little Cabbage Patch Kid soooo badly... it's funny that they've been re-released. I don't think they had the same impact this time, but it's still cool to see dolls from my childhood available to little girls nowadays. Strangely, my daughter never showed much of an interest in these dolls.

D-o-n-e!

YAY! I didn't read any books during the weekend, choosing to spend any spare minute I had on my own MS... and it paid off!

I just finished the final draft of ghost!

Very excited. Final word count was 84,512 -- 405 pages in 12 Courier font.

I'm very happy with how the novel turned out and my mind's ablaze with heaps of ideas for future books. I think I may write the first chapter in the second book sometime this week. Phew!

All in all, today worked out to be very productive. Last week between the revisions and the shitty weather, I neglected a lot of the housework. And today I cleaned the tiled floor in the kitchen and living room, plus did some vacuuming. It all smells, feels and looks sooooo clean.

And the sun is shining!

Oh, and I purchased three books from ebay that I've been meaning to get for a while:

Heretic: The Templar Chronicles by Joseph Nassise
Shadows in the Darkness by Elaine Cunningham
Awaken Me Darkly by Gena Showalter

Can't wait to get them in the mail!

Hope you're all doing well on this very Y-productive Monday... ;)

Tagged!

I was tagged a few days ago by Trish and have finally got my answers!

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was single, working full-time in a superannuation office and still clubbing with friends. I was also 9 months away from meeting the wonderful man that became my husband.

What were you doing one year ago?
We were preparing to start renovations in the living room and kitchen while I stayed home to look after my daughter and worked a crappy part-time job during their busiest time of the year. I was also working on the first draft of ghost.

Five snacks you enjoy:
Tim Tams
Sour cream Pringles (33% less fat)
Fruit
Lipton ice tea
Orange and poppyseed muffin bars

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
Anything by George Michael (could sing “Careless Whisper” asleep)
Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper
Boys and Girls – Good Charlotte
Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears For Fears
Pretty much any song in Hybrid Theory and Meteora by Linkin Park

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
Pay off our unit/apartment
Buy hubby a ’65 Mustang
Donate money to the Guide Dogs Association (and other charities)
Buy a PT Cruiser with flames sprayed on sides
Put away a chunk of money for my daughter’s future

Five bad habits:
Swearing (especially the F word)
Checking emails a thousand times a day
Thinking too much
Double checking things
Grinding my teeth (while asleep)

Five things you like doing:
Spending the weekends with hubby and daughter
Writing
Reading
Going for daily walks
Playing MarioKart DS with hubby

Five things you would never wear or buy again:
G-string/thong undies (feel like dental floss for the butt)
Leg warmers (especially red ones)
Any article of clothing with Horizontal stripes
Mobile phone from Virgin Mobile Australia
Meat from grocery stores

Five favourite toys:
Lappy the laptop
Voice recorder
USB key (goes everywhere with me)
ET dolls
Gizmo dolls

Five people you will tag:
Anyone
who pops by
and reads my list…
go ahead
and share yours!

Weekend progress:

310 / 405

(76.5%)

Not bad... almost there!

:)

Still moving

198 / 405
(48.8%)

Much happier with today's progress! I was hoping to (at least) be up to page 300 by the end of tomorrow but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Still, I'm not making that many changes -- just adding a few things here and there, while deleting other tiny bits.

Gee, writing a synopsis for this one is not going to be fun! There's so much going on...

Well, I'm gonna complain about the weather again. It sucks! Looked like it was going to clear at one stage but it started raining less than an hour later. Ugh.

Got my copy of The Cardinal Rule by Cate Dermody in the mail yesterday afternoon and that made me smile. Had to buy it from ebay because I don't even know if this Bombshell's going to be released here or not!

The Da Vinci Code

Well, I finally found the time to finish this wonderful book last night!

*taking a deep breath after the brilliant ride*

WOW! Dan Brown sure weaved a thrilling tale of intrigue, double crossing and puzzles with this book. It was like a treasure hunt for adults. As I approached the end I wasn't sure how he'd be able to end the story... well, I gotta say, I'm satisfied with where everything went.

I liked Sophie's character and truly loved what happened to her in the end. Langdon was also an interesting character who I hope to read some more of in the future. And well, since I got Angels & Demons the other day, I guess I will! Hope it's not a problem to read them out of sequence. Though I'm sure this book stands on it's own pretty well.

Now I can't wait to see what they've done with the movie!

So have you guys read this book? And if so, what were your opinions? Do share...

I loved the whole Goddess worship thing and was stunned at some of the references and things spoken about because I've often mentioned them to my husband. It's kinda freaky. But anyway, I'll speak more about that another time.

Excellent book all the way through. It was long but didn't drag, a real page turner right to the end. If there was more time in the day, I'm sure I would've read it much QUICKER!

I'll never look at the Star of David the same way. ;)

Crawling progress

144 / 405

(35.6%)

Didn't get too much done today, but it was great progress. I'm totally into the storyline at the moment and things are getting worse for the characters. It's not good for them but good for me.

LOL!

It's still raining around here. Ugh! Where's the sun gone?

80s Wednesday

A little from Wikipedia:

Degrassi Junior High is a Canadian television teen drama series that was produced from 1987-1989 as part of the Degrassi series. The show followed the lives of a group of students attending the titular fictional school. Many episodes tackled difficult issues such as drug use, pedophelia, teen pregnancy and divorce, and the series was acclaimed for its sensitive and realistic portrayal of the challenges of teenage life. The cast comprised mainly non-professional actors, which added to the show's sense of realism.
Degrassi Junior High spanned 42 episodes, covering grades 7 through 9. The first season premiered January 18, 1987 with 13 episodes.

Did you guys watch this back in the 80s? I know they're releasing these on DVD at the moment. Not sure what season they're up to, but it's cool they're doing that!

Gee. I used to watch this show every single weekday at 5:30pm - just after homework and before dinner. I used to love it, thought it was so cool. But what I enjoyed the most was the realistic approach taken to deal with the hard issues. Everything was tackled. This wasn't a pretty happy-ever-after kinda teen show. These characters went through some terrible things.

Who can forget the Zit Remedy with Snake, Joey and Wheels singing: "Everybody wants something..." He, he!

Anyway, the writers of this show were really in touch with their teen angst side, that's for sure. They did a marvellous job at reeling in the audience. I just wanted to see what trouble they'd all get into the next day.

I actually watched an episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation and was surprised to see Snake and Spike are married and the child she had with Shane as a teen mum is actually a teenager herself. Oh, and Joey and Caitlin are in it too - though I don't know if they're together or not.

Up-and-down!

Today's progress:

108 / 405

(26.7%)

Moving slowly but steadily. It's actually a miracle I managed to do as much as I did today... considering I've spent most of the day going up and down the stairs to check on how the garage door was doing. I live in a block of units (or apartment complex) and some moron decided to touch the garage door panel last week. Anyway, to make a very long, boring story short, he screwed everything up and no one's buzzer worked on the door. So we've been waiting a few days until the company could come out and fix it.

Today was the day and now it's all done, but not without my having to keep going down to give the guy the buzzers, take them back, re-opening the door manually so when people start coming home they don't freak, and relaying the progress to the hubby. Phew! He's the Secretary of the building and we're point of contact.

Anyway, still enjoying THE DA VINCI CODE. Was hoping to get closer to finishing last night but I was sooooo tired, I didn't want to read on without having complete focus on the story. Have about 100 pages left... can't wait to see how it all pans out.

The hubby purchased a few books for me yesterday:

FLAWLESS by Michele Hauf

MEDUSA RISING by Cindy Dees

BEYOND THE RULES by Doranna Durgin

ANGELS & DEMONS by Dan Brown

And today I received CODE NAME: DOVE by Judith Leon in the mail. Thank you Trish! Very much appreciated, sounds like another great Bombshell.

The weather really sucks at the moment. It's been raining for about three days, on-and-off, though mostly on. I don't mind an afternoon of raining but I love waking up to a sunny day. Otherwise it just sets a dreary mood for the rest of the day.

So I started the agent hunt last week. This process is so exhausting and nerve-wracking. I swear, I'm checking my email a hundred times a day... trying to tap into a positive reply. It's a very hard process but I'm going to tough it out. I'm no stranger to rejection. Isn't it part of being a writer? Nothing personal, it's just not the right time. I stand by my novel and will keep at it until my time comes. Cross your fingers for me! :)

GOALS...

Well, after having a wonderful 3-day weekend with the hubby home, it's time to get back into the swing of things.

It's a New Year! YAY! I hope everyone had nice celebrations.

You all got things planned and outlined for this year already?

We had a scorcher of a long weekend here in Sydney. Temperatures reached over 40 degress Celcius on Sunday! Phew... very hot. But very Aussie summer, so I'm alright with that. I suppose some of you guys actually saw snow huh?

Now, here's a list of things I'd like to get done during 2006:

* Finalise ghost novel
* Write first chapter for second ghost novel
* Finalise vamp query letter and synopsis
* Write query letter and synopsis for ghost
* Start sending both novels out the door to agents
* Write first draft for second and third vamp books back-to-back
* Revise magic (currently at first draft stage)
* Keep writing short stories between novel projects
* Continue to sub short stories to online markets
* Revise novella lore (currently at first draft stage)

* Continue to read great books

* Continue working out daily
* Lose another 10 kilos throughout the year

* Help my daughter settle into Kindy
* Spend as much time as I can with the hubby and daughter!

So far this year I've read An Angel in Stone by Peggy Nicholson. This was another Bombshell and I absolutely loved it. It was my personal reward for getting the ghost draft done last week. And it was soooo different to what I was working on that it was perfect. Great book! Haven't read a crappy one yet! Very cool.

Today I re-read my query letter and synopsis for vamp. Not bad, but not that great either. Still, I've tweaked it a little more. I'd like to have these two things completely polished and bright by the end of the week... and a 2-page synopsis... as well as the first draft for my Persephone short story that's been simmering inside my head for about a week now!

So -- not too many things on my to-achieve-list this week. But hey, it's the beginning of the year right?

Welcome to 2006 everyone!