a schedule I can keep!

even though NaNo for me is over, I am still writing on schedule. I managed to get in quite a few words today. that is such a great feeling. I really think I will meet my goal of having a first draft done by Christmas. yay me! writing seems to be a thing I have control of these days so I am taking full advantage of that. oh well, it's a huge learning experience for me so it's okay. and in true buddhist wannabe form, I know nothing lasts forever.
on the waiting front... I am dying to get edits back! I know I'll be sorry I asked for it but I am anxious. I know it will probably be after the new year but I am yearning.

I love this show!

check out Gabriel Byrne. I love this guy. Remember him as the devil in End of Days?SWEET! anyway, I am hooked on In Treatment. I started watching it to research my character of Anthony Wilson the psychiatrist in love with Lauryl but I quickly tuned in just because it is a fabulous show. I love the marathons on the weekend. I get to catch up because I miss the shows during the week. this show is so great because you see that even therapists are human and flawed. and that is amazing. I feel so much for his character. he spends his days trying to help people. by trying to steer them to more sane ways of living while dealing with his own mountain of crap and wall of shame. wow. and he does it well, despite his feelings of being the world's crapiest psychologist and a failure.THAT is a complex character. Gabriel Byrne does such a phenomenal job bringing him to life. if you haven't seen this show, tune in. it is incredible!

Happy Vladurday!!

Here you go. Happy Vladurday. Thought I'd amuse myself since the Gators are losing.

I DID IT!

this morning a little before 2 I finished. yes, I crossed the finish line of NaNoWriMo with 50022 words verified. my word count was 2 words different but who is quibbling over 2 words. it was a fun month. I wrote everyday except for the days I was sick with rotavirus of death. my characters talked to me and did all sorts of romantic, funny frightening and evil things. I was in heaven. now all I need to do is finish my ms and my follow up to Life in Moonlight will be complete. or at least the first draft. so YAY! I'll definitely do it again next year. it's kind of like the triathlon bug. you train, you do it and then you have the bug!
I want to celebrate my experience. in  December I am having two fantastic author interviews and giveaways. The first starts next sunday so stay tuned.it is going to be fun and the swag is great. plus you get to find out about some terrific authors!!

anytime there are vintage animals riding in vegetable cars, it's a win. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you all have a great day full of happiness and fellowship. take a moment out to think about what you are truly thankful for and all the blessings you've received no matter how small they were. even though I have had a rough past month, I am truly grateful for the experience of it. if you know me personally you know what I am dealing with. but this has taught me humility,patience,the importance of friends and family and to be thankful for each day and what you have because you might not have it too long. yes, I'm thankful for a rotten patch because it makes me appreciate the good times and the just meh times. if that isn't a blessing, I don't know what is.
on the dinner front, I'm cooking and we are having southern thanksgiving. turkey, cornbread dressing, turnip greens, field peas etc. I've seasoned them the redneck way with lots of ham hocks and neck bones. ugg you might say but it's good. I love southern cooking. it's how I learned to cook although I can cook just about anything you ask for. the southern cooking makes me think of my family so it is special to me. it's been passed down through the generations straight from the farms and countryside where my family lived and still lives. I live on acreage and LOVE it. although we no longer fit one of the you might be a redneck jokes of "if directions to your house include turn off the paved road" I miss living on a dirt road. now we only live near a dirt road. we moved onto the hard road.
anyway, enough rambling. enjoy your day! back to cooking and back to NaNo. I'm almost done!!I'm thankful for that too!

and then it hit me

look at this sexy mo fo. so there I was watching Legion with this dude, Paul Bettany, and it was like a light went off in my head. a big flashing red light that said wowza. there he is. my mc. this dude with the mannerisms and smooth factor of AR and Sam. I went right back to writing and wrote some of the sexy bits that I had been skipping over. yep, it's always better with inspiration.
and now a public service announcement... this on behalf of super awesome writer and funny as hell chick Allison Pang. apparently some prick was selling an ARC of her soon to be released novel A Brush of Darkness on eBay. this is a BIG BIG BIG GIANT NO NO. ARCs are labeled not for sale and that means sales of all varieties. if you are lucky enough to get an ARC, please respect the author and don't sell it. it's wrong and it's piracy. those kinds of pirates are not cool.

Borrowing Heaven, Subletting Hell is Allison's blog btw. check it out!

more Putin than you can shake a stick at

so speaking of taking over the world...one of my characters is dreaming of that. what a fatal dream. people who have that dream always meet their doom. kind of says dream big but not tooo big. anyway, I was writing a scene tonight and had to rely on good ol' google maps and google earth. I was checking routes and city layouts for a city I haven't lived in for MANY years. thank goodness for things like those nifty tools. otherwise readers in that city would be like man, she's way off. I love weaving fictional things into real places. it gives readers a connection to a city they might not ever have been to or readers who actually live there a feeling of hey, that's right near me! all this sounds really dumb but perhaps it's because my mind is tired from writing and staring at those damn google maps.

now under 20k words to go!

is this pic related?no but it's funny as hell. anyway,I am now over 30k words in my NANO word count. this is going very well. I fixed my plot hole. a new character stepped up and took care of it just as nice as you please. but one thing, my ms has gone from a paranormal romance to more of an urban fantasy with strong romantic elements. and my bad guy(who is a frickin evil dude from real life) is yearning to become likeable for his own nefarious reasons. I hate to kill him. he's creepy though. can someone be evil, I mean really evil but try and show that he has another side? it's weirding me out. I didn't think he would go this direction when I decided to put him in but he did. crazy characters. doing things that are out of character for them! 11 days to go on my journey. how is anyone else's NANO journey going?

I'm caught up but now I'm SCREWED

this is a pic of THE dracula in my opinion when he was older. not quite as awesome but still. well, so I wrote most of my ass off and managed to get my word count caught up for nanowrimo but I came to a horrible realization. I have a MAJOR FRIGGING PLOT  HOLE. yeah. I have everything set up. everyone in place. the inciting incidents happened and now I have no stinking idea how to get them to the epic showdown and resolution. it's like everyone got an invitation to a swell shin dig but they don't have a ride. this is a problem. I've got everything after that figured out so it's not like it is a total gooch. it's a transportation thing. now I'm going to have to write around it  and hope that the characters can figure it out for themselves. this is when Greek drama was awesome with the old Deus Ex Machina trick would come in handy. it would blow for the reader but for the frustrated author it would be great. has anyone else ever done this?

lifting my head up from week 2 of nanowrimo

so it's the end of week 2 of nanowrimo and true to my style, I'm a bit behind. I was struck with frigging rotavirus and that made me useless for 3 days so there you go. I've only written 21thousand  and change words so I am going to have to hit it hard next week. I always seem to do better in situations like this anyway. when I was a theatre student, we would be finishing costumes sometimes right up until first call so I can deal with the added pressure of a few hundred extra words a day. the little stats bar says I have to write 1811 words a day to finish on time. that's doable. my characters are talking to me and doing crazy things so it should be a snap. but stay tuned. last minute finishes are ALWAYS interesting. how is anyone else's nano experience going?

Lyrics, I Know Him So Well Lyrics >>

Lyrics, I Know Him So Well Lyrics >>

almost a week down for nanowrimo

well, the first week of nanowrimo is almost on the books.hahahaha. okay. I actually have been doing quite well. I need to add like another thousand words by tomorrow to stay on schedule. let me just tell you this is harder than training for the triathlon. when training for a triathlon, people can see that you are doing something. you are biking or jogging or swimming or complaining about those three but still you are doing something for people to see. writing sometimes doesn't get the same respect of tri training either. when I am writing, it looks like I am just chillin. I am usually relaxing with my netbook in my lap with either music or a movie on in the background. so on superficial inspection, I'm goofing off.  HA! if only. to the doubting general population, I AM hard at work. My brain is spinning with plot details, grammar, dialog, intrigues and frickin deep pov. it ain't easy despite its chillaxed appearance. I get tons of interruptions, another thing I don't get while training, and that makes keeping my thoughts flowing smoothly almost impossible. I have pads of paper to write down "creative flows" when I'm interrupted because I had a rather dramatic tirade the last time someone obstructed my writing progress.
like I said, I need another k of words by tomorrow evening. I know I'll get it done. even if it does look like I'm just goofing off.

ps. love that pic of Sam Neill in The Hunt For Red October. that's what I'm watching right now.

a break from the evil sexy genius type for...the sweet awesome dude

okay so I am always going on and on about sexy, alpha, mostly bad guys but today I'm going to let you in on my kryptonite...the sweet unassuming dude who treats his girl like gold. this type never gets his fair share of press and praise. oh well maybe Tim Awesome Tebow but usually the sweetie stands in the shadow of sexy bad guy and big muscular hero type(bleah) this is somehow unfair. I have to admit some of my most favorite and sexy scenes from True Blood this past season were the Hoyt Jessica saga, played by Jim Parrack and Deborah Ann Woll. they could have full episodes of those two and I'd freakin love it. it just makes my lil heart go pitter pat when he a Jessica are together. it even earns a SQUEE!
I am a sucker for the evil genius,sexy world dominator but the sweet guy is the one I should have my eye on. a few years ago, I discovered that when I was in high school several guys fitting this profile liked me. at the time I didn't notice them but now in my older and wiser years, I see that the sweet guys would have been better. but like most girls, my head was always turned by something not good for me.
so here's to the sweet good guy who loves his girl! you guys are awesome and not because you bring us cookies when the AR and Sam types leave us to try and take over the world.
I now resume my usual public lusting.(but now you know who the type who I secretly dig)

day one and I am already easily distracted

yes that's right. day one of nanowrimo and I am already easily distracted. today's incident was related to this smexy mofo. I was looking for a movie to have on in the background while I write. I do this often. Race For Witch Mountain came on in which Mr. Ciaran Hinds (see above) plays a menacing CIA type villain. that lead me on the quest to find my copy of Jane Eyre where he plays Mr. Rochester. I LOVE this version. when I read Sherri Browning Erwin's Jane Slayre, I pictured Ciaran Hinds as Mr Rochester. he would be an awesome...well I don't want to give away one of the twists of Jane Slayre. read it if you haven't. it's AWESOME. again I am getting off track. anyway so I am looking all over to find my VHS (I know) copy of of JE. I finally find it and when I take the cassette out, IT IS NOT IN THERE. so then I am all over the internet looking for a dvd of it. found and ordered. but still. I went right on off the track on day one.
however it was a yummy detour because I just love Ciaran Hinds. He's a great actor and a delight to look at. plays a kick ass alpha/ bad guy. LOVED him as Caesar in HBO's Rome. anyway...back to writing.