Jumbled Thoughts & Lotsa Clutter

Hey! 

I just realised that I skipped posting a little something last week. It wasn't intentional, I just wasn't in the mood because I felt a little meh last Friday. No big deal.

Then this week, when I started drafting a new post, the internet decided to stop working. We had no internet connection for OVER THREE DAYS because the NBN network had an 'outage' no one could explain. I swear this shitty internet network the government totally screwed up is the worst! We've had nothing but problems since connecting to it last year.

What I hate the most is the miscommunication, the no explanations and failure to warn customers about maintenance or problems in the area. It totally sucks. 

It randomly came back on Saturday night, but I don't trust it. I get paranoid and pissed off pretty quickly.

Anyway, enough about that. I've spent WAY too many hours being angry already.

So, what else have I been up to? Well, I've done quite a bit of reading during the last few weeks. I've got a huge TBR pile, so I wanted to get caught up on some of the books I have sitting around.

Last Sunday, we went to watch HEREDITARY and while it wasn't the scariest movie ever, I enjoyed the hell out of it. The story is so clever. Part family drama that ends in tragedy. Part ghost story, and all sorts of screwed up. Plus, I loved the ending. I love that it went THERE! 

My writing has been a little inconsistent at the moment because I'm concentrating on the biz side of things. And that's so time consuming, and slow and never-ending, but it's part of the process. And I refuse to give up.

This doesn't mean the ideas stopped coming. Actually, one of the problems I'm having is that I have too many ideas fighting for attention. I want to write all of them at the same time. And there are a few fun anthologies I wouldn't mind writing shorties for. Not to mention that my next revision project has started to whisper in my ear...

Yeah. Sometimes the clutter isn't physical. Sometimes it's totally inside my head. 😨

It's also been raining. A lot. Winter has really hit hard, which I don't like. I'm not a big winter fan, but we're trying to make the most out of it by keeping up with our two daily walks, and have even gotten back into yoga. So happy about that!

Our yoga hiatus went for too long. But now we're determined to keep up with two weekly yoga workouts whenever we can. It just feels so good to stretch out the body.

We're had a really awesome weekend and packed a thousand things into it, of course. I secretly wish it was another long one because we need an extra day to recover. LOL.

Oh, did I mention that hubby found a great Kindle Paperwhite deal and we picked it up on Saturday? Yeah, we went for a huge walk, and even found some great secondhand books in a nearby store. Bookish success!

I've got a to-do list ready for this week, so let's hope I actually cross/highlight everything off this week. There are a few things I've carried forward for over a month. 😰

Have a good one!

A Nice Break

Hey!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter break. We don't celebrate religious holidays, we just celebrate having long weekends. And this was an awesome one.

We enjoyed the hell out of our four days together by sleeping in, relaxing in the morning, going for a lovely long drive, eating delish meals, going for lots of walks, stopping by the shops, and watching a few shows. I even read an awesome  book. 

But mostly it was a great mental break away from the rest of the world. Sometimes you just need some time away from others, and spending time with hubby is one of my most favourite things to do.

Here's a tweet I posted the other day:

One of the unexpected side effects of having such a lovely time and being so happy is that it opened me up to a lot of inspiration. It helped me think about all the projects and ideas I'm working on at the moment.

I've been researching an exciting new idea I got a few weeks ago and everything's coming together nicely, so I've been taking notes and collecting pics as well. I can't wait to get stuck into it. I also need to (finally) finish my current YA horror WIP because it needs one final read. Plus I have a short story that's almost done... 

I'm excited about all the stuff I'm working on and can't wait to tidy these up so I can get stuck into a new lot of projects.

The first thing I'm tackling is the novel draft. I'm soooooo close to getting this one finalised that I got stuck into it first thing yesterday. And so far, the things I'm finding are small. The most important thing is that I'm actually enjoying the story again. Yay.

Falling in love with my own story usually only happens during the first draft and when I feel like the book is done. So, that's a great sign!

Wish me luck because this is the only thing I'll be reading this week. Then, after I'm done, I can get back to that TBR pile I'm so excited about. 😃

Have a great week!

Happy New Month!

This lovely pic was made by my daughter on her iPad. It's supposed to be our kitty. So cute!

Well, it's now the beginning of July--which means my birthday is less than a week away--and winter's in full swing. It's no secret that I don't like this season, but if we have plenty of sunny days it'll be easier to get through it. I'm really looking forward to spring, though.

Anyway. After such a full month of writing and editing, I'm going to take it easy (most of) this week. Okay, so I'll take it easy until the Sierra Fox #2 edits hit my Inbox--they're due any mimute. But I'll deal with that when I have to.

Right now, I'm just going to catch up on some reading and take notes for the next two Sierra books.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the Sierra Fox Series Page is now live.

My daughter's home for the next two weeks. It's school holidays again. 

Sigh.

As I mentioned last week, hubby had an RDO on Friday so we enjoyed a long weekend together. And it started with us going on a movie date to watch PROMETHEUS. I'd heard a lot of different opinions about this movie, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I don't pay too much attention to reviews. If I'm interested in watching/reading something, I'll pretty much check it out for myself. And this movie was one of those that I'm so glad we checked out for ourselves.

Both hubby and I seriously loved this movie! The concept of alien interaction in the origins of human life is something that always appealed to me, so this story grabbed me from the beginning. I thought the performances were brilliant, the story intriguing, the world created was dark and violent, the look of the movie was lovely, some cool twists, and I particularly loved how everything fit together. I really do hope they make a sequel. I've gotta know more about the Engineers.

We also booked our Imax tickets for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. We'll be going to see it at the end of this month. Cool!

Well, I guess that's it for now. Think I'll update a few other things on my website, and I'll hopefully get a chance to blog more often.

See ya!

So... 2012, huh?

Did you all have a fun and safe new year? We did. I don't like going out to celebrate during the festive season, there are just too many troublemakers out there and a lot of bad things happen. So we prefer to stay home. It's safer, and a lot more fun. IMO.

So, are you impressed with 2012 yet? Did it start on a good note for you? I was feeling really good the other day, but now... it's the third day, and my positive attitude is already starting to fade a little. O_o

I don't think it's a huge issue, or even a problem. After enjoying such an awesome couple of weeks with hubby first having a 5-day weekend, and then a 3-day one, it's just hard to get back on the everything's gone back to normal bandwagon. That's all. And he will be having another 4-day weekend near the end of this month...

Of course, it doesn't help that I received an R&R for one of my subs yesterday. That always manages to put me in a gloomy mood initially. I'll probably feel this way for a few days and then my mind will be running with the ideas and suggestions of how best to tackle this. It honestly is an awesome opportunity that I really appreciate, and can't wait to tackle.

No one likes to get a rejection, that's all. I've got my way of dealing with it. And it usually involves a little moping around at first, until I start feeling all energised and refreshed about tackling the rewrite. Besides, it' not really a rejection, right? It's a second chance. ;)

We had an awesome weekend. Did you? We celebrated the New Year by playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero until just past midnight. It was a lot of fun, and great to get back into the games. Feels like we haven't played them for ages, and now that my daughter's joining in--instead of just watching hubby & I play--it's super cool.

I've updated My Reading page. This year, I've given myself this personal reading challenge, and joined the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I would once again like to read 100 books. I think that's a nice reading goal each year. 

As far as reading goes for 2012, I really want it to be the year of catching up on my favourite series and books that I've wanted to read for ages. Maybe I'll read one series catch-up book, followed by a stand alone or first book in a new series. Maybe. Either way, I'm determined to get back on track with my fave series.

Oh, and on a cool note... as soon as 2012 arrived, so did summer. It's a little (okay, a lot) late but I don't care. I'm determined to enjoy it while it lasts. I love spring and summer, so this season has been a little harder than usual. Since it doesn't feel like it should.

That's it for now. I don't think I'll get much done today. I think I'll probably get nothing done. I'm just not feeling very motivated right now, but that's cool. See ya later!

Happy post-Christmas to ya!

I hope you all had an awesome Christmas break. I know I did. :)

Hubby was home for five days and we made the most of it. There was much hanging around, walking, some workouts, a lot of yummy meals, some reading while hubby played PS3/Xbox games, and we even managed to squeeze in a few movies.

We each picked one.

My choice was DYLAN DOG: Dead of Night. It's actually an urban fantasy-type movie about a PI who specialises in the supernatural. There are vamps, werewolves, zombies, and a few twists along the way. I actually thought it was a lot of fun. It hasn't gotten very good reviews, but I enjoyed it!

Hubby's choice was HORRIBLE BOSSES. OMFG. This is one of those totally-out-there comedies where the worst thing you can think of actually happens. There's a lot of swearing, vulgar situations, people with no morals, and plenty of laughs.

Asides from the movie watching, we also caught up on a few of our favourite shows--Burn Notice and Hot in Cleveland. Plus, we watched the AMERICAN HORROR STORY finale. I love this show! I really enjoyed the first season, and the way it finished up was great. Now, I can't wait to see what else they come up with. Apparently, it's going to feature a new family and location every season, so I can't wait to see what happens next. :)

I also caught up on a bunch of reading. Which is always cool, right? ;) Now, I need to go through my huge TBR pile and figure out what I'd like to read next...

Also, while lounging in front of the TV one morning, something struck me. An idea that seemed to come out of nowhere, but actually fits in perfectly with my latest novel idea. A story that has the concept, characters, storyline, and every day becomes a little clearer inside my head. I need to write everything down in the one place, because right now I have it on scrap pieces of paper. :/

Well. That's it for now. I had a great festive season with my family, and I hope you did too. Now, there's not long to go until the end of the year. See ya soon!

How was your weekend?

We enjoyed our long weekend. It was a lot of fun.

On Saturday, we went for a four-hour walk. Seriously. I mean, we did make a few stops but we went to a bunch of places we usually drive to. It was tiring, but also really cool. It's no secret that I love walking everywhere. Even if my (left) heel hurts as a result of all that walking. :)

Anyway. Daylight savings also started over the weekend. Which is cool. Well, except if you're a vampire, I suppose. lol.

This is the last week of my daughter's school holidays and it's going to be a super busy one. I've got two lots of edits waiting for me at the moment, and am possibly expecting another lot later this week. Yikes! Luckily, I finished the WIP I was working on. The first draft of Recast #3 is now done. It ended up being 40,084 words, which is great. I was hoping it would end up being anywhere between 40-50k. I know it'll go up during the revision process, because I've already thought of some things to add. :/ How typical of me. ;)

So. I guess I better get started on the edits. Today, I plan to get stuck into the Recast #2 edit. Cool!

You know what's a little strange? I don't know why, but this year whenever my daughter is on school holidays, I end up with edits. Weird, huh? Still, she's old enough to understand what that means and gives me the time I need.

Well, catch'a later!

Well, it's Wednesday...

Yep. That means that half of the week is already gone by. Yikes, huh?

How was your Holiday break? Ours was great. We had hubby home for five whole days and it was awesome. We did a lot of walking, hanging out, enjoyed some lovely meals, got the chance to sleep in, and caught up on several shows. We're now up to date with DEXTER (it was awesome!), watched the whole of DEAD SET (shocking, gory, and great), and the Doctor Who Christmas special, which was shockingly bad and boring.

It's back to work today, though. Hubby works three days, before the three-day weekend.

I don't think I'll be getting stuck into anything too involved during the rest of the week, though. I'd mainly like to update my website, read, and catch up on some things. I already know what my first writing goal for 2011 is: the second draft of The Hidden #6. If I can get that done in the first few weeks of January, and then put it aside until my daughter goes back to school, I could have it finished and subbed to my editor before the 1 March deadline. At least, that's the plan. :)

But for now, I'd really love to finish TOUCHED BY AN ALIEN, which is so awesome that I've already ordered the next book in the series!

Have a great day!

It's the week before Christmas...

...and I'm really excited because hubby only has to work four days this week, and then has five days off. Awesome! I'm really looking forward to it. :)

So, what's new? How was your weekend? Mine was cool. I spent a lot of it chilling, reading, hanging out, and watching stuff. We went to watch TRON: Legacy on Saturday and I absolutely *loved* it! Hubby and I are also catching up on The Walking Dead. We watched  three eps during the weekend, and have only two eps left. Man, I'm loving it. I've been in a total zombie-goodness mood. As you can probably tell from the last book I read, lol.

At the moment I'm reading AFTERLIGHT by Elle Jasper. Now, this one's filled with urban fantasy-goodness. Another one of my fave things to read/watch. Actually, I'm lovin' it so much that I already preordered the second book in this series. And it doesn't come out until June, lol. The covers in this series are gorgeous, btw.

Well, as far as writing is concerned, I had a few things I wanted to do today: read through/prep that UF novel I mentioned the other day so I could sub it and finish off the NotB blurb/excerpt form. I got stuck into it really early this morning and managed to get both things done & emailed before lunch. Phew. Very happy about that. Now, the waiting begins... 

I hope you have an awesome week! Looks like I'll be posting my latest cover later on this week. I got to see a draft of it over the weekend and fell in love with it. This morning, I received the final version and it's beautiful! I'll post it soon. See ya!

Major reading fail!

Yeah. I tried to read over the long weekend, but couldn't concentrate.

I just couldn't get my story out of my head. And that means that I can't concentrate on anyone else's, which is actually not a good thing, since I've got books I need to read and review. :/

Anway, how was your weekend? Mine was awesome. It's a shame about the Socceroos losing to Germany. But unlike so many people, I've still got faith in them. I think it's awesome that they made it to the World Cup at all. That's a great achievement. I'll be watching their next match this weekend.

Okay. So I mentioned that one of my stories is consuming my brain, right? But it's not a new story. I haven't thrown myself into a first draft yet. It's funny, because I was trying to figure out why that is... and finally came to the conclusion that because I've started edits on SHADE OF GREY, I really don't want to get stuck into anything new until I'm finished up with that. Of course, that didn't stop me from getting into something else.

During this year, I've started to accumulate a few uncontracted stories. Last week, I grabbed a notebook and listed them. There's a few there. Some I'm not going to do anything with, others I'd like to resubmit somewhere else, and a few will even end up being offered as free reads on my website. Actually, I've already got one ready to go for next month. But there are also a few that could become so much more. And that's how I got stuck into this story. I was originally just going to get it ready to submit, but made the mistake of reading the first chapter. Before I knew it, I was finishing up the second chapter, and had made a whole bunch of changes.

Afterward, I couldn't shake the main character, or the story. So I gave into what I was trying to ignore: this story has the potential to become a novel-sized tale. I'm not talking 70k, I'm talking 50k. The original word count was 32k, and after I've finished revising the first 41 pages, it's gone up to 38,553. And I'm not beefing it up, I'm actually rewriting a whole lot of it. Deleting stuff that I don't want there, changing character names, appearances, adding a new POV, extending and clarifying the shadow POV I don't think needs to be a mystery. Things like that.

I'm actually having a lot of fun doing this, and the story feels better already. A lot stronger, deeper. I'm very excited about it. So, that's how I got stuck into this latest project of mine. It wasn't planned, but I'm determined to follow it through to the end. When you wake up with new snippets in your head, things you can't wait to add, that's a fantastic thing!

Well, see ya!

What a lovely day!

Okay. How was everyone's weekend? We had an awesome one. Hubby had a long weekend, so we popped into the city today and went to a few places. It was really nice... and I got to go to my fave bookstore too. That's always a treat.

Oh, and I finished the third/final draft for UH on Friday night. I had a bit of time to myself, so I used it wisely. The final word count ended up being 86,921. That's 430 double-spaced pages. Just gotta open up the doc one last time to make sure that everything's totally done. :)

It's my daughter's last day of school holidays tomorrow. She goes back on Wednesday, and I've decided that from Wed-Fri, I'm going to take it easy. And by taking it easy I mean, planning ahead, of course.

Tomorrow, the hubby goes back to work and I've got to do the second round of edits for my little zombie tale, which will be published in the Weirdly 3 anthology. Looking forward to it! And I'd like to read some more of the latest book I've started reading.

I also read The Sandman Vol. 10: The Wake yesterday. Wow. It was awesome! Except, for some reason, the library doesn't have volume 9, so now I have no idea what really happened to Morpheus. And I totally need to know. I especially loved Sunday Mourning.

Well, we're going to watch the Australian The Biggest Loser finale tonight...

Well, it's back to Monday

Yep. How was your Christmas break? I hope you all had a great and relaxing time. :) We had a great 4-day weekend together, but it wasn't relaxing. Lol.

Sure, Christmas Day was a lovely and quiet day. We had a lovely lamb roast, went for a nice relaxing walk and just hung out. It was cool. Then Boxing Day, we got started on painting our bedroom. By the end of the day the whole thing was done and dry. Actually, while painting the disgusting old carpet was getting in the way, so hubby pulled it all out.

So, we were living on concrete. :/ Something I thought we'd be able to take for at least a month. But I was wrong. I've got a very sensitive sense of smell (even though I'm clogged up most of the time. I know, very weird) and the concrete stench felt as if it was collecting inside my nasal passage. So, on Saturday, we popped into a store to check out some carpet, picked some, and arranged to have it installed ASAP.

The guys were over early this morning. And my gosh, between the awesome paint and the gorgeous, bouncy carpet, the bedroom looks awesome. Warm, comfy and serene. The only thing left now is a wall of shelves with doors. I can't wait. It looks like we might be getting some of them next weekend. It's going to be great to have my books in the one place. Instead of all over the place.

So, after the hubby went to work, my daughter and I went into her room. Although a lot of the mess in there is because of me, her desk was disgusting. She kept stacking things on top of things, and sticking others inside bags. WTF? Anyway. Several hours later we've dumped a bag of rubbish and another of recycling - just from one corner of her room. Amazing!

She has a desk that serves as a dumping ground. Of course, it sounds like the reason why I got rid of my desk. ;) I just want her to get used to having things nice and neat. Not the organised chaos I'm used to. Heee. Heeee.

Anyway. I'd like to add a few more notes to my WIP Word doc now. I know, more additions. Lol. This world keeps growing and growing...

Have a great day!

Hey!

How was everyone's weekend? :) We had such a great three days. On Friday we went shopping. We hadn't been to the shops for a long while because of the hubby's hours. It was great. I picked up several new books.

<--- Isn't this pic gorgeous? Talk about inspiration. I love looking at pictures and getting ideas. Speaking of which, I got a few more over the weekend. Just a few littler tales this time. I hope to get the chance to write them this week sometime.

I finally found a copy of HEART-SHAPED BOX by Joe Hill. I've been wanting to get this one for a while. Also picked up a copy of ODD HOURS by Dean Koontz. I guess it's about time I start reading the ODD books.

Oh, and after looking in several stores, my hubby found a copy of TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer. Picked it up, of course. I've read a little of it already. Looks like I'll be going back to pick up the other three as well. Just like the hubby said I would. Lol. It's the same thing I did when I started reading the Harry Potter books.

We went to watch THE CLONE WARS on Friday night, and we all enjoyed it heaps. I thought it was great! I'm loving these little side stories. I wonder how many more they'll make? Asides from the TV show, I mean. Next, I can't wait to watch WALL-E and HELLBOY 2. We've already purchased tickets to watch WALL-E at the end of the month. It looks so cute. I know, the US already has these two movies, but we have to wait until the end of this month. :/

On Thursday, I finished the re-write. I added 10,356 words, which raised the word count to 28,740. Today, I'm hoping to read through it one last time, before I send it into my editor. I really hope she likes what I've done with it. I think it's a much better, stronger tale now. I've got a new name for it, too. So that's super cool. I'm about halfway through already. Hoping to finish it later tonight.

Okay, that's it for me today. I hope you all have a great day!

PS. HELLBLAZE is out now! I'm so excited. :D

Lotsa movies!

My daughter and I just got caught in the rain. Lol. Luckily, although I looked like a dork on my way to pick her up, I had the trusty umbrella with me. So it wasn't too bad.

Anyway, how was everyone's weekend? Mine was awesome! I got through the first draft of my BIAM before the weekend started, so I was already in a good mood. The word count ended up being: 40,059.

Then I celebrated my tenth release with Cobblestone Press, got to spend heaps of time with the hubby and daughter... and caught up on some movies and shows. Awesome!

We started out with the two latest episodes of Torchwood. They were both such cool eps, especially the flashback one. I always wondered how the team was put together. ;) Next week will be the last one for season two, and James Marsters is back in it. He's the bad guy. He makes such a cool bad guy, doesn't he?

Okay, what else did we watch? Oh yeah, we watched Death Proof. This was Tarantino's half of the Grindhouse anthology. This is what Amazon has listed for this movie: "A deranged stuntman stalks his victims from the safety of his killer car, but when he picks on the wrong group of badass babes, all bets are off in an adrenaline-pumping, high speed, white-knuckle automotive duel of epic proportions, where anything can happen." And this just about sums it up. In typical Tarantino style, the flick's got several uncomfortable moments. Of course, I kept waiting for the bad stuff to happen from the first minute. Lol. And when it did, ugh! Gross. Still, I really enjoyed the second part of the movie, it certainly made up for the horrid stuff in the first.

Yeah, then we watched Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Not sure why we hadn't seen this yet, but now we've finally seen it. I enjoyed Johnny Depp. The guy's just so versatile, and Banderas was good in this too. A lot of things had me laughing, and others cringing. The double crossing got a little old after a while, but overall it was an okay action flick.

Next on the cards was Lady in the Water. I really, really enjoyed this one. So far, I've enjoyed every single one of M. Night Shyamalan's movies. He's a gifted storyteller who captivates you with a fantastic tale and totally sucks you in. Yeah, this was a very cool movie.

We also watched Monster House with our daughter. It was a sweet and very creepy movie. I thought it was great, and I think she was getting spooked in all the right places. ;) But she didn't have any nightmares, so that's cool.

And last, but certainly not least, we watched eight eps of Samurai Champloo. This is an anime series made by Shinichiro Watanabe, the same guy who made Cowboy Bebop. Since we loved that one, we couldn't wait to see what SC had to offer. Man, it's so darn funny. I'm really enjoying their quest to find the samurai "who smells of sun flowers." Awesome.

So, after that great time off, I got back to it today. I'm now up to page 33/47 of the second draft for that novel I wrote in Feb. So I'm moving along quite nicely. When I revise novels, I always print them up for revision, so I'm working on paper at the moment. This can be such a pain sometimes, but it really makes mistakes stand out for me.

I would like to get through the second draft of these first 47 pages by the end of today. I've also been typing in the changes into Word as I finish each chapter, so that'll help me move along faster. I don't know why, but I just hate this part of the revision process. During the second draft (especially on paper) I hate every story. I know I've talked about this before, but I just don't understand it. I have much love during the first and third draft, but the second I just don't. Weird. Maybe it's just me.

Anyway, have a great week!