Always About Stories

Hey! Long time no blog.

I was going to post a general update about what I've been doing this month: walking, thrifting, reading, writing... and since the running thread in all of those things is stories, I decided it might be cool to concentrate on THAT.

After all, this month has been full of ideas.

So far, I've written and revised two short stories, subbed a bunch of stories, had two short story anthology acceptances, started writing a novella, and got a new short story idea for an anthology call.

I don't know if it's because of Women in Horror Month, but my brain's super fertile at the moment and horror ideas keep buzzing around inside my head. There's so much in there I have to make sure I take notes on my phone. Or start writing the story so I don't lose any of what's hounding my brain. 😊

It's a great problem to have, really.

I'm especially excited about the novella idea because I've had Write A Novella on my annual goals for a few years now. And every time I started what I thought would end up a novella-sized story, it eventually became something much longer. 😬

So, what's different this time? Well, the story idea is definitely going to be in the 15-20k territory because I have a market in mind. I'm really liking the main character, her story is freaky and will definitely take her to even freakier places. Oh, and I've already got the final scene playing inside my head.

By February, I've usually put together some kind of writing plan, but this year has started very differently. I'm just letting the characters and their stories speak to me when they're ready.

I'm happy to ride this out for as long as it lasts, but will eventually like to start getting stuck into revision as well. I've got a bunch of novel first drafts I want to finish, while also enjoying writing new tales.

There are so many stories to tell...

Well, there you go. That's what I've been doing between thrifting, reading, sorting and hanging out with hubby.

Hope you're all having a good month! And don't forget to read as many books and watch as many movies written by women as you can. 😈

I signed up!

That's right. It's that time of the year again! I signed up for NaNoWriMo 2019. Yay. 😃

After spending the weekend thinking about the two stories I narrowed it down to last week, and chatting to hubby about both options, I picked one.

Here's the description I posted on the website:

A horror story with a science fiction slant and some wrestling. Set in the 80s, it's about a woman dealing with monsters, paranoia and revenge.

This is an idea that came to me last year. I thought it might be a short story, but as soon as I started writing, I knew it was going to need a lot more words. 

Asides from signing up, I also set up a new folder for Neon, added all the inspirational pics, made a dodgy cover graphic and put together a playlist.

I'm really excited about this new WIP I'm going to tackle because this is going to be a lot of whacky fun. And because November 1st isn't until the end of next week, I'm going to enjoy doing more NaNoPrep. That equals daydreaming, collecting more pics, taking notes and brainstorming.

Are you taking part?

Hope you have a great week!

I signed up!

Yep. I finally did it! I signed up.

Today is Friday, and after spending the beginning of the week picking out a handful of possible ideas, as well as letting the loudest fill my mind... I'm excited about my pick.

The novel I'll be working on during NaNoWriMo 2018 will be a YA psychological horror. This is the description I posted on the website:

Just a dark YA psychological horror about a girl with too many monsters in her life.

It's vague, but that's usually how I tackle descriptions of my WIPs. 😀👍

It's funny to think that this time last week all I knew was that I was going to do NaNoWriMo again this year. And now, after spending some time going through my Idea Files--and puzzling over the suitable ones in my Moleskine--I've got pages full of notes about the story. Snippets of dialogue keep popping up, freaky imagery is creeping into my mind, and the character/s is getting really loud.

Love it when I start getting this excited about the story. Love that I have a folder full of inspirational pics and keep adding more. Love when my head fills up with characters and locations but I have to force myself to wait.

I mean, NaNoWriMo doesn't start until next Thursday. So I've got a weekend I'm going to enjoy--we're going to watch the new HALLOWEEN movie, so I can't wait--and three days of NaNoPrep left.

That's not bad because it means I can keep taking notes, keep daydreaming about the story, sort through the sequence and figure out how it's all going to begin. If I keep doing this, by the time I sit down and start typing, the words will be ready to burst out of me on the 1st. LOL.

Well, hope you have a great weekend!

December= Restless Mind + Scrambled Brain

The other day I posted this tweet:

And just had to mention it here, because this time of year is always the same. By the time we reach December, I've done so many things that my brain begins to slow down. 

I'm the kind of person who's always got a to-do list and pretty much stick to it. But towards the end of the year it becomes a lot shorter. I don't have any real writing or reading goals, and spend a bunch of time just organising stuff while thinking about stuff.

There are a few reasons for this:

• Tired brain (as mentioned above)
• Finally starts to feel like summer
• School holidays are here
• Bunch of public holidays

All of this amounts to many distractions and disruptions. So in a way, I guess my brain is expecting this and decides to take a step back. But that doesn't mean I slow down completely.

This week, I still did this:

• Went for two walks daily
• Read a great SW short story on my Paperwhite, DNFd a YA library book & read an awesome YA review book
• Signed a contract for my YA horror story, which will be included in the Locker Shockers anthology
• Watched OUIJA: Origin of Evil (which I'd been looking forward to watching & really enjoyed!)
• Organised my Idea Files
• Updated/synchronised all my files, pics & photos (several times)
• Wrote the start of a new novel!

Sounds like a lot of stuff, but it really isn't. TBH, I spent most of my time on my phone doing one thing or another. Or reading. I spent a lot of time reading. LOL.

The most exciting thing about feeling so restless is that I seem to be open to constant sparks of creativity. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I have heaps of ideas and random bits & pieces have been hitting me lately. Writing the first 978w of a new project is awesome, but I won't be committing to anything right now. I'll just keep typing everything up, or writing it down so I don't forget!

It's just nice to feel so fertile in mind that characters, situations and snippets keep randomly dropping in. 😊

Also, this restless-mind thing coupled with the end-of-year drag is helping me focus on the stories I want to read before 2018.

Well, that's about it for today. That's everything I've had buzzing in my brain this week.

Have a nice break!

My Idea Files

After my whole writing world was turned upside down early this year, I decided to throw myself into writing new short stories and novels.

I thought it was time to deal with everything by taking a step back from the publishing world and going back to basics. I wanted to remember why I love writing so much: I love to tell stories. I love creating worlds, and meeting new characters, getting lost in actual writing.

Not to mention that it's something I just have to do. Writing is an itch that can only be satisfied with the actual act of creating.

It was time to face a new path, and that all began with my Idea Files. I have at least 20 separate ideas going at once. I randomly add inspirational pics, notes & other stuff to these folders, whenever something strikes.

Sometimes these ideas become books, other times short stories. Some don't develop into anything. I've even merged different ideas together. It's a very organic process.

While doing all this writing, I noticed something peculiar about my (current) process: Every time I finish writing a first draft, my brain is suddenly swamped with new ideas.

Or at least, bits & pieces & fragments to add to the Idea Files I already have. Even brand new ideas spring out of nowhere. It's a strange and wonderful thing, and it keeps happening. 

As soon as I'm done with my current WIP, a sudden rush of new things wash over my brain. So I write everything down, or collect new pictures. I even make graphics about the story (or stories). It's like when I've finally finished a draft, my mind opens up the floodgates to allow new stuff to percolate.

And you know what happens when I spend months daydreaming, brainstorming and collecting pics about a bunch of different ideas? By the time I'm ready to write, the story is very much ready to be told. I end up having a great grasp of everything, just need to take all the vibrant fragments and piece them together in the right sequence.

I have to admit that I love this!

For example, over the weekend a brand new shiny idea struck out of nowhere. By Sunday evening I had 50+ inspirational pics, graphics with story snippets, character names, genre and setting. It was so darn cool. And then yesterday, a completely different idea that I had set up with about 5 pics and genre, all of a sudden presented me with some very unexpected info.

I hadn't even been thinking about this particular idea. All the stuff came out of nowhere.

Here's a tweet I posted last weekend about this topic:

😁

I was going to post another weekly update, but thought this was a much better subject to talk about. It's cool to share what's in my headspace on my blog. Not to mention that I probably won't be starting any new projects this month, but I'm really looking forward to telling more stories. Sprinkled with some serious revision. 

But that's for next year! It's no good to write, write, write without finalising some.

For the rest of the year I'm going to put together some sort of plan for my 2018 WIPs, and daydream about all of my ideas... Plus I plan to keep reading. Of course.

Hubby has next week off, so I'm excited about that. Annnnnd, we're going to watch THE LAST JEDI!! Very cool.

Have a great weekend.🌞

Time to plan for August!

Welcome to a new month.

OMG. Can you believe it's August already? AUGUST! Why is the year moving so fast? O.o

Anyway. A new month means new plans. A new set of goals to tackle. Especially since July was mostly hubby break time with a side of sorting + researching. LOL. 

Although the first week of this month is pretty much over, I decided not to get stuck into a new writing project until next week. This gave me the chance to sort through my digital folders/files. What I thought would take one morning to get through ended up taking THREE DAYS! That's quite a bit of time, but I'm really glad I did it because my epub and writing files were a total mess.

Seriously, I had a bunch of duplicated files & pics, zip files I no longer needed, missing docs and a bunch of stuff that was filed in the wrong place. It was seriously messy. A total nightmare. 

But after much thought and organisation, everything is nice and tidy. It should now be a lot easier to keep track of files.

Like I said above, this was a very time-consuming project that was frustrating and repetitive... BUT, it had to be done. Now I just have to make sure I file everything in the right place and keep it neat.

I also started a new notebook so I can add notes for the WIPs that keep dropping snippets into my brain. So far, whatever isn't stored inside my head, is in the folders I've set up on my phone for inspirational pics and research.

Feels good to sort through my ideas on paper. And even better to have a place to jot everything down.

So, what else do I want to accomplish this month? Revision! I'd like to complete the second draft (of one of the two) YA horror novels I've recently written. I'd also like to brainstorm and research my next WIP. I already know which one it is and the story is really speaking to me, so it would be cool to start developing the storyline.

Oh, and I want to squeeze in some reading, of course!

Well. That's it for now. We're going to watch Atomic Blonde tomorrow. Really looking forward to it.

Have a great weekend!

Inspiration & Ideas

The other day I posted this tweet on Twitter:

And after I did, I thought it might be a cool idea to write a blog post about it.

I get ideas from everywhere: dreams, songs, random words, TV, a sentence, pictures. My muse isn't fussy and has been going strong this year. Which is why writing short stories is so much fun at the moment. And I happen to follow several people on Twitter who post some really pretty artwork and photography that fills me with inspiration.

This week, a very detailed idea struck after I spotted a handful of pictures that instantly fit together.

It started with one picture that then connected to two others... seven pictures later I had a very vivid story playing out inside my head. And a few days later I found one more pic that tied everything together.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened. The 9k short story I finished last month came to me after I connected three pictures into one idea. That one worked out really well. So I hope this one does too.

*fingers crossed*

I have an Inspirational Pics folder that I keep on my phone and on my laptop, and it now contains 1k+ pictures that I refer to every time I'm casting a new story location, characters, etc. It gets bigger and bigger, which I find awesome.

Like I said above, I find inspiration in a lot of different places, but nothing gets my muse tingling and my mind wandering as much as some pretty pics.

So, here's a huge THANK YOU to all the lovely creative people on Twitter who share so many awesome pics. Keep them coming! :)

It's a Short Story Thing

While going through my word count totals during the last few years, I noticed something missing: short stories.

I'd written several novellas and a bunch of novels, but short stories seemed to be missing from my yearly totals. And I'm not sure why. I've always enjoyed reading and writing short stories. There's just something about this self-contained format that captivates me. 

When a short story is written right, it can pack quite the punch and stay with the reader long after the last word.

Many times, I've written some that led me to write novel-sized stories. Several have even led into a series or two. And since I like them so much, not writing any new ones just makes no sense.

Late last year, I did manage to write a few shorties. And while I was happy with how these three turned out, it wasn't enough.

So this year I decided to set a challenge for myself:

This goal is not an easy one to achieve, and I'm pretty sure there'll be some months where I totally fail to produce a story. I mean, if I'm writing a novel first draft, or am deep into a revision, it's going to be hard. But it's definitely something worth aiming for.

I miss writing shorter pieces, and I've been stumbling on so many inspirational pics lately that as soon as I look at them a new idea takes shape inside my mind. Not to mention that concentrating on smaller pieces will help me focus on something other (and more important) than the big mess my publishing life has become.

Well, now that my goal is out there, here's my current progress:

• January: wrote the first draft of a fantasy-esque, fairy tale story about three very diffrent girls, told in three parts. (7,277w)

• February: wrote the first draft of a horror-ish love story set in the underworld. (4,773w) 

As you can see, the first draft side of things is going pretty good. I've managed to write two short stories so far this year. But it's just as important to revise & finalise. As well as figuring out whether to sub them or not...

My main focus at the moment is to let my imagination run wild and keep spinning weird and wonderful tales.

To be honest, while I'm determined to try the one/month goal, I'll be happy with any/all the stories I manage to write. :)

Wish me luck!

I signed up!

Yep. I did it!

This week, I officially signed up for NaNoWriMo 2016.

THIS IS ME! :)

It's fine and dandy to decide that I'm going to take part, but it doesn't count if I don't sign up. So... I signed into the website the other day, added a dodgy 'cover' graphic and a (very) brief description.

As you can see on the right, I even added a word count meter here. Yay.

I'm sooooooo excited about this story. I pretty much spent all week thinking about, naming, brainstorming, finding inspirational pics and taking notes about this idea. I have a lot of story stuff crowding my brain, so I'm looking forward to getting started.

This also means that I decided not to have a real to-do list this week. All I wanted to do was concentrate on dreaming and thinking about my story. While sneaking a bit of reading on the side.

So, what am I writing? This is how I described it on the NaNoWriMo website: A creepy story about a haunted house, secrets & friendship. Yep. I'm going to write a YA spooky  novel about some of my favourite horror tropes. And that includes strong, brave girls. :)

Like I said, I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it. I always enjoy taking part in NaNoWriMo, and this year's no different.

BTW, I'm feeling a lot better now. Still not 100% but close enough. I guess it takes a while for the virus to completely leave your system.

Anyway. Hope you all have an awesome weekend. We're going to watch Doctor Strange tomorrow. Hope it's fun!

See ya.

This week, I have a plan!

So. A new week is here.

After a super busy weekend, which included lining up early in the morning for Free Comic Book Day, this week I've decided to tackle the third draft revision of my 1980s YA novel. Yep. And I started yesterday.

I managed to revise 33/289 pages. That's actually quite good, considering that when I tackled the second draft in March I only managed 9 pages on the first day. Ouch! 

Of course, that draft turned out to be more of a rewrite than a revision. O.o

I've set myself the goal of getting this draft done by next Friday. That's two weeks to get the third draft done before passing it off to my daughter. This will be the second YA book I've written in the last few years. And yes, my daughter read that one too. She loved it, and also happens to be the only person who's read that dystopian YA.

So, what is this 1980's WIP I've mentioned before? Well, it's a story that hit me while listening to one of my favourite songs from my teens: HEAVEN by Warrant. I've always loved this song and even had the cassingle. LOL. Anyway, it's set in the late 80's and is the story of a teenager who is dealing with first love and strong friendships, while going through a lot of other changes. It's pretty much a contemporary story, but would be considered a historical because of the year/setting.

I'm really excited about working on this draft. I wrote the first draft during NaNoWriMo in a frenzy of words, hairspray, leather and loud music. :P I had a blast telling this story and reconnecting with my actual teenage years. Here's a fun fact: I was the same age as the narrator during the year it was set, and share a lot of interests with her. Plus, she's the same age as my daughter is right now! Fun, right? ;)

Another thing that makes this story stand out for me is that it happens to be the book that got me out of my horrible writing slump last year. Letting several publishing issues affect my output was awful, and getting lost in this book helped me find my way back to writing.

Well, that's my writing goals for this month. Asides from that, I'm still going to keep reading as much as I can and doing all the other daily odd jobs that come hand in hand with working from home. It's amazing just HOW MUCH you do in a day when you're at home most of the day!

Have a good week.

New week, so I thought I'd drop in...

As you can tell from last week's posts, I've been catching up on some reading. Mostly I've been reading intriguing books, but yesterday I finished one that was disappointing. :(

There's nothing worse than reading the next book in a series that I like and not enjoying it. Sometimes it's enough to put me off the rest of the series. Or I might read the next one but if that's still not as good, I'll definitely drop it.

 

Too many books, not enough time.

 

So, did you all read about my news last week? Yay.

Lavie's occultish and very demonic road trip story--HELL OF A RIDE--is going to be published by Samhain. I don't have a release date yet, haven't even filled out the art and blurb paperwork, but I'll keep you posted. I did, however, fill out the art form for RECAST, Volume 2. Once again, no set date but it's still exciting to get the ball rolling, right?

 

The last time I popped in I mentioned that I was watching BITTEN and was almost finished Season 1. Well, I've now also finished Season 2. Yep. I'm all caught up and I have to say that I really like this series. I did have a few issues with casting and then in S2 some of the characters were completely different to the books, but I got over all that. Seriously, that's what happens with all adaptations. Characters get changed, killed off, left alive, look nothing like I imagined, and sometimes are even mixed together... but that's okay. I just enjoyed watching what the TV show writers created, and it's damn brutal, plus action-packed and has your emotions running high.

 

So, I'm definitely a fan and will be tuning into S3 when it starts. I'm already watching S3 of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. What show can I binge on next? ;)

That reminds me that I didn't mention we've finally caught up on the last 6 eps of THE WALKING DEAD S5. Yeah, I don't know if you remember but hubby and I were having a real problem with the direction the show was taking. We weren't happy with the events that followed after the Terminus storyline was finalised. It felt like the writers were trying too hard to make the show something that it wasn't by shoving surreal metaphors all over the place. :/

I'm glad to say that they found their direction again and I really enjoyed how they wrapped up the season. So, we'll continue watching TWD, and will give FEAR THE WALKING DEAD a go. Even if I still hate that name. Yeah. It had gotten to the point where we were seriously considering giving up on the show. We're kinda close to giving up on GRIMM too, because the last five or six eps in S4 were ridiculous.

 

Well, the writing hiatus continues but my mind is filling up with a bunch of ideas. I'm feeling very inspired and have started a new journal. A place to jot down all my ideas, the stories I'd love to write, and just my general thoughts about writing.

 

I feel like I'm going through an unexpected writing transition right now. I'm not sure if it's because of my new publishing situation, or the fact that the two series I've invested so much time in are now so close to being finished. Whatever it is, I'm going with the flow because it's got my brain buzzing with new possibilities. I'm so open to inspiration right now that a pretty or eerie picture can spark a new idea or snippet.

 

It's an amazing feeling.

 

This is my daughter's last week of Term 2, before she has a two-week break. The first week will be just us, but hubby will be home during the second week. I'm looking forward to it because he deserves the break and he'll be home for my birthday in July. Yay.

Anyway, have a great day!

 

THE FLEDGING HANDBOOK by P.C. Cast & Kim Doner

A full colour, behind the scenes look at the bestselling world of the HOUSE OF NIGHT.

Merry meet, fledgling. I trust this guide will serve you well...

Every vampyre fledgling who arrives at the House of Night receives a copy of The Fledgling Handbook 101, and now, fans can have one, too, with this gorgeous must-have edition. Inside you ll find original stories, the complete vampyre history, inside info into rituals, vamp biology, and the Change, and much more.

I might have fallen behind on the actual reading of this wonderful and intriguing series, but it didn't stop me from loving and enjoying this handbook. As I turned the pages of this stunning book, I felt as if I'd just been enrolled into this school and was learning the history and what to expect after the Change.

It's brilliant--packed full of facts, class emblems, rituals, history, mythology, explanations, and there's even blank spaces to fill in your personal Fledging details. ;) And the pictures, my gosh, the art is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. This book was certainly put together with great care and thought, it's an outstanding addition to an already successful series and I think everyone who enjoys the series needs to have a copy.

The Fledging Handbook is beautifully made and packed full of vampyre goodness. It's one of those books that you hold and read in awe. It's certainly a winner!

I know I'll be referring to it again, that's for sure. :)

The Fledgling Handbook, November 2010, ISBN 9781907410703, Atom Hardback

Just thinkin'

You guys already know about my fascination with 30STM, right? But I'm not sure if you know that I have a very similar fascination with MCR. There's just something about these two bands that gets my creative juices totally flowing! It's awesome.

So when I drop my daughter off at school, I always switch on my MP3 player and listen while I walk. The last few days I've been plugging back into The Black Parade. Before that I was listening non-stop to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Both albums are totally awesome, I can't get enough, but this is also a way for me to gear up for their next album. We've already pre-ordered it. And I just can't stop listening/watching Na Na Na. It totally rocks! And I love the fictional angle that Gerard Way gives his albums/songs. He's very creative, and even writes comic books.

So, there you have it. These bands are two of my biggest musical influences, and I've gotten several story ideas just from listening to their songs. Just thought I'd share. ;)

We've hit mid-week again. Yikes! Today, hubby started work super early so we got up at 4m. We'll be doing that again tomorrow. And even though I kinda feel like a lightheaded zombie waking at that time, it also gives me a lot of extra time to do stuff before my daughter wakes up. Like this morning, I wrote/proofread/scheduled my upcoming Samhain blog post. It'll go live on October 29, but I wanted to get it done a few days before. It's a little post about NaNoWriMo. I'll post the link here when it's posted.

I also received the final round of edits for my upcoming Evernight Publishing novella, THE SOUL DEALER: Redemption. Instead of throwing myself into it all day today, I'm going to tackle the beginning of it, and then plan to have it finished by tomorrow afternoon. Friday, at the very latest. I've just got a small list of other things that need doing as well, especially for my upcoming NaNoWriMo novel, which I'm now super excited about! Yay.

Either way, looks like I'll be pretty busy for the rest of the week. So, I better get started, huh? See ya later!

The day after the weekend

As I mentioned the other day, The Vampire Oracle: Volume Four is now available in print! Yay. I'm so very excited about it, but it won't feel quite real until I have it in my own hands. It's exactly what happened when the first print anthology I was in was released.

So, I updated my website over the weekend and will do some more updates later today or tomorrow. I'll be adding another FREE read as soon as my July/August newsletter is ready to go out. I'm running a little behind, but will aim to have it out by the end of this week.

The other night, I crossed the 20k mark in my M-YA WIP. This week I'd like to add another 20k too. I'll see what I can do, but because I'm so into the story and the character's really speaking to me, I hope that it's not a hard goal to reach. This is my daughter's last week of school before she has a two-week break. So, aiming to finish a first draft during her first week of holidays is a little ambitious. Still, I'm going to try it. ;)

Actually, last night I finally grabbed a July calendar and marked what I'd like to achieve this month. There are three main goals - finish the first draft of M-YA, do the second draft of DT (which is a Sci-Fi), and write the first draft of BOUNDLESS (the last book in the trilogy that starts with FAITHLESS). See, not much there. ;) Lol. Of course, reading is always included in my weekly goals.

Speaking of reading, my gosh, I started reading I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER on Saturday night and got so stuck into it that I've only got about 60 pages to go. I'm hoping to finish it today because it's absolutely fantastic! Honestly, I'm loving it.

Okay, after another awesome weekend, it's time to start the new week...

Inpiration & Planning

My mind keeps wandering... what's wrong with her? The pic's called Trapped, and that she is. But why, and by who? Okay, I gotta stop now because my muse wants me to take notes. I've already got a bunch of those to add. Things I thought about during my walk.

We're going to go watch WALL-E on Sunday. It's an early morning showing. We can't wait. My hubby, daughter and I have been (impatiently) waiting to watch this one since we saw the teaser online. Wow. That was a while ago.

Well, I've been pretty busy the last few days. Been taking a lot of notes and finishing up on the research that I want to have stored in my head before the actual writing starts. Of course, there are certain things that will be ongoing, and some which will change and expand as I go along, but for now everything's starting to fit together. I'm really into the groove of these characters.

Although I didn't really sit down to organise the rest of the year in writing terms, I do know exactly what I want to achieve during two out of the four months left. During September - next week, lol - I will be writing the first draft of a new urban fantasy series idea I have. So far, I know the main plotline for three books, but I know there'll be more. Still, I'm just going to focus on the first one for now. I'm aiming for 80k, but will like it to be more around the 85k mark after it's revised and ready to sub.

In November, I will be taking part in NaNoWriMo again. This'll be my third year. I know which story I'm going to write, too. It's the follow-up to last year's story. Different heroine, different hero, but still in the same world. Both characters were introduced in the first one, so I can't wait to get into their tale.

Well, there you have it. There are still two other months that I haven't actually allocated anything specific for, but I have an idea of what I'd like to do. I think October will probably end up being another odds & ends month. I've got the 30k novella to finalise, and a few other things too. Anyway. No point in worrying about that now. I can't wait to get stuck into my newest project.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

This and that...

I've decided that this pic to the left is the inspiration behind the hero in my latest novella. You all know who it is, right? I don't think I need to tell you. ;) Anyway, it's exactly how I imagined him. And this particular pose is just so him. It's amazing when you find a pic/photo which captures the very essence of what you pictured in your head.

As you can imagine, my talking about it means that I finally started the story. Yay! I sat down last night and wrote the first chapter. The beginning was there, playing out inside my head. Of course, I was in such a rush to get the main stuff out that I have to go back to add more emotion and description. You know how it is.

Anyway, the word count is now sitting @ 2,652. I'm going to work on the next chapter tonight. Lots of the main plot is already inside my head, and I know how the love story's going to go too. Just gotta get it all worked out and into the right sequence. I want this one to be fast, with plenty of action and a romance to soften all the dark/violent edges.

I think it'll be a lot of fun. I'm just not going to write it as fast as I usually do, because I want to separate my days this month into revision and writing. That little tale I wanted to read through yesterday has now been done and subbed. Now I just gotta wait to see what happens.

Last night we watched Burn Notice. Wow, what an esplosive episode. Literally. And hey, Michael and Fiona finally got it on. About time, too. Now I'm just waiting for the big bad thing that'll totally tear them apart.

Well, not much else to report... well, except that I've got a new cover I will share with the world very soon. It's absolutely awesome! If you're a member of my Bits & Pieces group, then you've already seen it. ;)

Catch'a later!