Feeling my way into this book. I know the heroine very well but the hero is being unforthcoming. So I need to do some hero brainstorming. Or bribing or something. I'm not one to do character interviews etc but the scenes feel one-sided at the moment because I don't know what's driving him. But I shall find out...heh heh heh.
In other news had one of those days at the day job. I've been working on a big, looong, project. We're nearing the end....sooo close. But every time I think we've got there, something happens to push things back again. It feels like the project equivalent of Nelson from the Simpson...it sucks you in and then yells "Ha Ha" and runs away. Le sigh.
But it's a short week so tomorrow is already hump day!
Now, off to coax some secrets out of a gorgeous man...if I can resist the siren song of Anne's Gracie's The Stolen Princess which is peeking out from my bag and beckoning!
January 29, 2008
January 26, 2008
Atonement vs entertainment
I went to the movies tonight. From the title you might be able to guess what I saw. Yes, it was a beautifully shot movie. Yes, it was quite fascinating structurally but dear God there's a reason why I write genre fiction.
I don't want stories full of ruined lives and pointlessness and futility. There's enough of that in real life without it creeping into my escapism.
Please sir, can I buy some hope? I don't need things to be all sweetness and fun. I can take pain and darkness. If you pay attention to my reading list you'd know that I, in fact, quite like darkness. But it has to have a point. And it has to be darkness that's conquered or survived triumphantly- darkness that's balanced by or results in light. Something that's positive. Something that believes in life and love. Stories where people can reach their goals and make a difference. Stories that make the world seem better even if there's not a perfect happy ending. That's my kind of story. It's not everyone's. And that's okay. I just sometimes wish that the world would see that both kinds are important and, that, in my opinion, the hopeful stuff is even more important.
You hear people say that a common reaction to death is the urge to have sex. To claim something life-affirming. And yes, this is a sweeping generalisation, and yes, I'm sure there are happy literary books too, but sometimes I think that the ancestors of the genre writers were the ones sneaking off into the fields and saying "take that, world, we'll survive and thrive" while the literary writers drowned their sorrows and cried by the fire : )
And now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking my half-full glass and watching a Richard Curtis movie.
PS Keira's green dress was just beautiful. Seriously I covet it like I covet Nicole's red gown from Moulin Rouge. Pity I'm built like neither of them....
I don't want stories full of ruined lives and pointlessness and futility. There's enough of that in real life without it creeping into my escapism.
Please sir, can I buy some hope? I don't need things to be all sweetness and fun. I can take pain and darkness. If you pay attention to my reading list you'd know that I, in fact, quite like darkness. But it has to have a point. And it has to be darkness that's conquered or survived triumphantly- darkness that's balanced by or results in light. Something that's positive. Something that believes in life and love. Stories where people can reach their goals and make a difference. Stories that make the world seem better even if there's not a perfect happy ending. That's my kind of story. It's not everyone's. And that's okay. I just sometimes wish that the world would see that both kinds are important and, that, in my opinion, the hopeful stuff is even more important.
You hear people say that a common reaction to death is the urge to have sex. To claim something life-affirming. And yes, this is a sweeping generalisation, and yes, I'm sure there are happy literary books too, but sometimes I think that the ancestors of the genre writers were the ones sneaking off into the fields and saying "take that, world, we'll survive and thrive" while the literary writers drowned their sorrows and cried by the fire : )
And now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking my half-full glass and watching a Richard Curtis movie.
PS Keira's green dress was just beautiful. Seriously I covet it like I covet Nicole's red gown from Moulin Rouge. Pity I'm built like neither of them....
PS
One day I will learn to remember that one of the things that helps with the seventh ball aka "getting the brain to chill the heck out" is actually doing some of the tasks, or parts of them, that are piling up on the mental to-do list. *headdesk* Somewhere out there my mother is smirking. Or rolling her eyes and saying "well, duh" or the motherly equivalent (is that perhaps "I told you so"? : ) ).
Virgo brains like achievement. I'm doing an online course with Margie Lawson at the moment and she talks about how important it is to have achievable to-do lists. How we all set our expectations of what we can achieve in any given time too high and set ourselves up for feeling frustrated. So we should focus on setting ourselves goals and tasks that we know we can achieve in a given time and set ourselves up for success. Achievement as positive reinforcement. For me, it works. Prioritise the goals, chunk 'em into tasks if you have to, be realistic, write the ones that you want to get done today down, do them. Tick them off. Feel relaxed. Feel like the balls are in the air at least. Avoid the guilt monster. Start again the next day.
Simple in theory but sometimes hard to remember in practice.
Virgo brains like achievement. I'm doing an online course with Margie Lawson at the moment and she talks about how important it is to have achievable to-do lists. How we all set our expectations of what we can achieve in any given time too high and set ourselves up for feeling frustrated. So we should focus on setting ourselves goals and tasks that we know we can achieve in a given time and set ourselves up for success. Achievement as positive reinforcement. For me, it works. Prioritise the goals, chunk 'em into tasks if you have to, be realistic, write the ones that you want to get done today down, do them. Tick them off. Feel relaxed. Feel like the balls are in the air at least. Avoid the guilt monster. Start again the next day.
Simple in theory but sometimes hard to remember in practice.
Something's gotta give
It was one of those weeks (actually it's been one of those months with many very crappy things happening to very nice people so note to the universe: enough now, 'kay? thanks). Because I am apparently old and feeble, I caught a cold after being rained on at Bon Jovi. A slightly snuffly but a lot sore throaty and feverish cold.
I was all set to have carpet guy come back to deliver the final verdict on my carpet post flood but that meant having to move stuff off the carpet again. Should've done some of it last weekend but didn't due to other things. Monday night I was sick. Tuesday I was sick and mostly asleep all day. Wednesday I was still sick but better and work was frantic and then I had to go out. Thursday work was still frantic and I was exhausted.
I think I've talked before about how trying to keep all the balls in the air is hard work at times. Day job. Writing job. Exercise. Eating right. Housework. Having a life. Most of the time I seem to manage four or five out of six. If six out of six are happening for a while then something always seems to come along to throw things out of whack and send balls off in all directions. Which annoys the Virgo brain no end. Virgo brains think that you should be able to do it all. Virgo brains have unrealistic expectations a lot of the time. So maybe I have a seventh ball which is called 'getting the brain to chill the heck out'.
This week was more like a four out of six just staying in the air week. I got to Thursday and just wasn't up to organising stuff and moving furniture. Needless to say, carpet guy got rescheduled and I'm planning to get relatively organised this weekend so I don't have to do it all next Thursday (let's see if it works). But I'm starting to think that maybe a cleaner is inevitable. Not yet. I need to save for RWA National (which I'm all registered for, YAY) so that I can afford to do things like eat when I get there. But maybe in the second half of the year. Removing one of the balls seems sensible and housework is the only one that's really outsourceable unless I win Tatts (which is difficult when I rarely remember to buy a ticket) and can afford a chef and a trainer and a maid lol.
And now, off to juggle some more
I was all set to have carpet guy come back to deliver the final verdict on my carpet post flood but that meant having to move stuff off the carpet again. Should've done some of it last weekend but didn't due to other things. Monday night I was sick. Tuesday I was sick and mostly asleep all day. Wednesday I was still sick but better and work was frantic and then I had to go out. Thursday work was still frantic and I was exhausted.
I think I've talked before about how trying to keep all the balls in the air is hard work at times. Day job. Writing job. Exercise. Eating right. Housework. Having a life. Most of the time I seem to manage four or five out of six. If six out of six are happening for a while then something always seems to come along to throw things out of whack and send balls off in all directions. Which annoys the Virgo brain no end. Virgo brains think that you should be able to do it all. Virgo brains have unrealistic expectations a lot of the time. So maybe I have a seventh ball which is called 'getting the brain to chill the heck out'.
This week was more like a four out of six just staying in the air week. I got to Thursday and just wasn't up to organising stuff and moving furniture. Needless to say, carpet guy got rescheduled and I'm planning to get relatively organised this weekend so I don't have to do it all next Thursday (let's see if it works). But I'm starting to think that maybe a cleaner is inevitable. Not yet. I need to save for RWA National (which I'm all registered for, YAY) so that I can afford to do things like eat when I get there. But maybe in the second half of the year. Removing one of the balls seems sensible and housework is the only one that's really outsourceable unless I win Tatts (which is difficult when I rarely remember to buy a ticket) and can afford a chef and a trainer and a maid lol.
And now, off to juggle some more
January 23, 2008
Randomness
Only 'cos Keri tagged me and really, I can't think of a good blog topic tonight...six things you don't know about me.
1. I love the smell of roses.
2. I'm a very light sleeper and the gal most likely to travel with earplugs.
3. I think I'm developing a bit of a crush on Richard Hammond from Top Gear.
4. I have a brain chock full of song lyrics and often start singing a song someone is thinking about.
5. I am scared of ladders.
6. Peeling potatoes makes my legs itch.
So there. Hmmm. I tag anyone who feels like being tagged.
1. I love the smell of roses.
2. I'm a very light sleeper and the gal most likely to travel with earplugs.
3. I think I'm developing a bit of a crush on Richard Hammond from Top Gear.
4. I have a brain chock full of song lyrics and often start singing a song someone is thinking about.
5. I am scared of ladders.
6. Peeling potatoes makes my legs itch.
So there. Hmmm. I tag anyone who feels like being tagged.
January 20, 2008
The Amazon strikes again
This morning, in the aftermath of last night's concert shenanigan's, I'd have to sum it up as I like Bon Jovi but am annoyed that the venue and mix turned what should've been a great concert into a reasonable one.
But moving on, as I was consuming caffeine and trying to wake up this morning, the girls started nagging about music for the Witch book and how it wasn't right yet. Picky, these girls.
I write to music 90% of the time, so yes, they're right, the music needs to work for the book. But this book is hard. I posted last year about needing witchy demon music but just haven't found it.
It's weird. My contemporary stuff is pretty much written to rock/pop and a bit of country. Songs that tell me something about the character, their story or the mood they're in. The odd bit of High Focus or Brain Power when I really want to just zone out and pump out words.
But with the paranormal and fantasy stuff, things have started to change. It started with Wolf 1, where I was walking through Borders in Carlton with the VT and heard a song that was instantly the protag from the book. (Angel by Massive Attack, if you're interested). There was just something about it that caught a sense of menace for me. But the rest of that book was still rock/pop etc.
Then the muse started throwing up other UF and straight fantasy ideas. And putting together the soundtrack for the biggest of the fantasy ones, led me to Lisa Gerrard and Vas and Adam Hurst in amongst the more contemporary stuff. That soundtrack is still a work in progress.
By the time I got to Wolf 2, the girls insisted I needed big chunks of the Pirates of the Carribean 3 soundtrack in there (what pirates have to do with werewolves escapes me but it works for the girls, so I will not argue).
And then, I started trying to put together the Witch book soundtrack. The girls pointed to Massive Attack and said "kinda but not quite". This is not helpful. I don't listen to much electronic/dance stuff. Never have. Never was a clubber or raver or any of that stuff. I know bits and pieces from the radio, bits and pieces from movies. I own some Moby, some chillout stuff (but chillout is so not what the book wants) and some new age stuff a la clannad and enya and riverdance and secret garden and various meditation-y stuff (and ditto re so not right) and that's about it. I don't know this music so I can't say I want some x and y and z. Frustration. Keri writes to Enigma a lot but that isn't right for this either. Not dark enough. Some of the stuff for the fantasy book is close in mood (particularly the Adam Hurst) but not the right sound.
I couldn't even figure out why I suddenly need this sort of soundscapey/ambient/instrumental music for these books until it hit me today that it's because I don't just need it to evoke the characters but I need it to evoke the WORLDS (which seems completely obvious NOW of course). With these books, unlike the contemps, we're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy, so I need stuff to take the brain away form here and now as well as tell me about the characters. Writing, btw, is complicated.
Rock and pop still mostly works for the Wolf books because that world is pretty much here and now with added beasties. There are some tech/medical/social differences because of the beasties but it's not far removed.
But the fantasy books are whole other worlds, hence the otherwordly music I found. And the Witch book is here and now shoved forward 30 odd years with magic. Lots of differences. Oh, and demons. So I need sound that evokes the future and the weird stuff. The demons themselves and why I insist on bad guys that freak me out are a whole 'nother post.
Anyway, witchy demon music. Hard to find when you have no clue about ambient/electronic stuff. But then this morning, like I said, I was drinking caffeine and thinking and reading blogs and the ever brilliant Heidi (who is the one who introduced the Cherries to Curio and for that alone is a writing goddess) was talking about her wip music and mentioned Delerium. Which I duly investigated on iTunes and, hallelujah, that is more like it. I will be purchasing some Delerium for sure.
And then my brain finally kicked into gear and thought "you know, if you google dark electronic music,you'll probably find stuff" (told you my brain was broken for the last few months of last year). So I did and have spent two hours or so checking out lots of strange things this morning and compiling lists for future reference. A lot of dark ambient stuff but then also a reminder about people like Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis. Though Vangelis has some particular emotional resonances for me, which I discovered today when I kept having to stop the iTunes previews because they were making me nervous and sad. Which, no doubt, means the girls will insist on it at some point. Oh joy. And really goes to prove that music is an emotional key for me and that's why I use it to write to.
I've also got a list of soundtracks to acquire. I like soundtracks, well, scores I guess, generally. Again, not quite right for this - too orchestral and full blown I'm thinking but good for future use hopefully.
But enough with the long rambling. I have the start of witchy demon music. I have a collage that's taking shape. So now I need the words to start piling up as well.
Time for butt in chair, hands on keyboard of the non-blogging variety.
But moving on, as I was consuming caffeine and trying to wake up this morning, the girls started nagging about music for the Witch book and how it wasn't right yet. Picky, these girls.
I write to music 90% of the time, so yes, they're right, the music needs to work for the book. But this book is hard. I posted last year about needing witchy demon music but just haven't found it.
It's weird. My contemporary stuff is pretty much written to rock/pop and a bit of country. Songs that tell me something about the character, their story or the mood they're in. The odd bit of High Focus or Brain Power when I really want to just zone out and pump out words.
But with the paranormal and fantasy stuff, things have started to change. It started with Wolf 1, where I was walking through Borders in Carlton with the VT and heard a song that was instantly the protag from the book. (Angel by Massive Attack, if you're interested). There was just something about it that caught a sense of menace for me. But the rest of that book was still rock/pop etc.
Then the muse started throwing up other UF and straight fantasy ideas. And putting together the soundtrack for the biggest of the fantasy ones, led me to Lisa Gerrard and Vas and Adam Hurst in amongst the more contemporary stuff. That soundtrack is still a work in progress.
By the time I got to Wolf 2, the girls insisted I needed big chunks of the Pirates of the Carribean 3 soundtrack in there (what pirates have to do with werewolves escapes me but it works for the girls, so I will not argue).
And then, I started trying to put together the Witch book soundtrack. The girls pointed to Massive Attack and said "kinda but not quite". This is not helpful. I don't listen to much electronic/dance stuff. Never have. Never was a clubber or raver or any of that stuff. I know bits and pieces from the radio, bits and pieces from movies. I own some Moby, some chillout stuff (but chillout is so not what the book wants) and some new age stuff a la clannad and enya and riverdance and secret garden and various meditation-y stuff (and ditto re so not right) and that's about it. I don't know this music so I can't say I want some x and y and z. Frustration. Keri writes to Enigma a lot but that isn't right for this either. Not dark enough. Some of the stuff for the fantasy book is close in mood (particularly the Adam Hurst) but not the right sound.
I couldn't even figure out why I suddenly need this sort of soundscapey/ambient/instrumental music for these books until it hit me today that it's because I don't just need it to evoke the characters but I need it to evoke the WORLDS (which seems completely obvious NOW of course). With these books, unlike the contemps, we're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy, so I need stuff to take the brain away form here and now as well as tell me about the characters. Writing, btw, is complicated.
Rock and pop still mostly works for the Wolf books because that world is pretty much here and now with added beasties. There are some tech/medical/social differences because of the beasties but it's not far removed.
But the fantasy books are whole other worlds, hence the otherwordly music I found. And the Witch book is here and now shoved forward 30 odd years with magic. Lots of differences. Oh, and demons. So I need sound that evokes the future and the weird stuff. The demons themselves and why I insist on bad guys that freak me out are a whole 'nother post.
Anyway, witchy demon music. Hard to find when you have no clue about ambient/electronic stuff. But then this morning, like I said, I was drinking caffeine and thinking and reading blogs and the ever brilliant Heidi (who is the one who introduced the Cherries to Curio and for that alone is a writing goddess) was talking about her wip music and mentioned Delerium. Which I duly investigated on iTunes and, hallelujah, that is more like it. I will be purchasing some Delerium for sure.
And then my brain finally kicked into gear and thought "you know, if you google dark electronic music,you'll probably find stuff" (told you my brain was broken for the last few months of last year). So I did and have spent two hours or so checking out lots of strange things this morning and compiling lists for future reference. A lot of dark ambient stuff but then also a reminder about people like Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis. Though Vangelis has some particular emotional resonances for me, which I discovered today when I kept having to stop the iTunes previews because they were making me nervous and sad. Which, no doubt, means the girls will insist on it at some point. Oh joy. And really goes to prove that music is an emotional key for me and that's why I use it to write to.
I've also got a list of soundtracks to acquire. I like soundtracks, well, scores I guess, generally. Again, not quite right for this - too orchestral and full blown I'm thinking but good for future use hopefully.
But enough with the long rambling. I have the start of witchy demon music. I have a collage that's taking shape. So now I need the words to start piling up as well.
Time for butt in chair, hands on keyboard of the non-blogging variety.
January 19, 2008
A minor concert going rant
Okay, so the rain cleared up for most of the concert (thank you weather gods), Jon Bon Jovi is, as a given, hot, hot, hot to the nth degree and the boys were obviously working their hearts out and putting on a damn good show. They even did Shout by Johnny O'Keefe and a tres sexy version of Twist and Shout (mainly due to the aforementioned hotness of Jon twisting his little butt). However I have two quibbles with the whole thing...
1. It wasn't LOUD!!! WTF???
I don't know about you but when I got to see a unashamed, good old ROCK band, I want LOUD music. I want bass that vibrates through your chest and drums that, to quote Bono, feel like they're giving you a good kicking and general wild and crazy noise. Maybe it's a hangover from the fact I grew up playing in 40+ person concert bands and love, love, love that feeling of being absolutely inside the music but I want to feel surrounded by music at a concert. I want it to kind of take me over. Which, for anything rockish, also means VOLUME. This was not volume (well, maybe for the 10% of the crowd in the front reserved seats but not for the other 18,000 or so in the general admission on the hill), this was "gosh, I've regularly heard louder music in my living room with my stereo blasting" and honestly, my stereo is teeny. Gah. Truly, I'm not exaggerating to say that the Bon Jovi in my car on the way home seemed louder.
All I can think was that they were put under a decibel limit because of the tennis (Screw the tennis, they can shut the freaking roof, after all, it was freaking raining, give me my loud rock and roll). And if that was the reason then WHY THE HELL was the concert held at the music bowl when there was a perfectly good empty stadium across town far away from the delicate ears of the tennis prima donnas??? Don't try and tell me Bon Jovi can't sell out a reasonably sized stadium when they haven't toured here for five years. I am baffled by the minds of the concert promoters at this point. Why put a band like Bon Jovi in a venue where they are effectively muzzled? I mean, even at Carols by Candlelight there are extra speakers around the venue but tonight, nope. Not one. I know extra speakers screw with the mix but more on that later.
The other problem with lack of loud is that you lose the crowd energy as well. Which then zaps the general live music experience. Sure there were some songs that went off but given Jon is a showman, the band are great and they didn't play one song I didn't know (and I don't call myself a diehard Bon Jovi fan ie don't own all their albums) the crowd should've been in much more of a frenzy than they were (which is the other part of concert going I love, the crowd vibe) for much more of the time. Having been to many concerts where the crowd has been worked to a fever pitch and kept there, I can tell you, this wasn't that. It hit it now and then but didn't stay there.
Which brings me to the next quibble.
2. The mix was TERRIBLE in the general admission area. So terrible that the only correct technical term for it is (and look away now, I'm about to use language I don't normally use on my blog) MUDDY AS FRAK (there, I substituted the BSG synonym to save all our sensibilities). I mean, I've never been to an outdoor concert with a fabulous mix, it's too hard to achieve. But I have been to concerts with decent mixes. This was not one. When you employ the time honoured method of sticking your fingers in your ears to cut out the echoes and feedback and interference and the vocal still doesn't come clear then there's something wrong. I mean, at times, combined with the volume problem, until the crowd starting singing, you couldn't tell what the damned song was.
Thankfully the mix did seem to come good for the last three or four songs of the encore ( I don't know, maybe the wind shifted or something - not that it was terribly windy). And, thankfully, said encore included a beautiful version of Hallelujah, which is one of my all-time favourite songs by anyone and made up for them not doing Bed of Roses which is my favourite Bon Jovi song and generally saved me from feeling that $130 was a frakkin lot to pay for middling volume blurry Bon Jovi in the rain. Of course, if only Hallelujah had been a bit LOUDER it would've gone from beautiful to spine tingling as you could see from the screens that Jon was singing his heart out and mostly hear it but it lacked the full impact those down the front would've gotten. And once again, when 90% or so of your audience is in general admission up the back you need a mix that works for everyone.
Here endeth the rant. I would definitely go see them again. Just not at the Myer Music Bowl. In fact, getting me to see anything vaguely rocky at the Music Bowl is highly unlikely unless it's U2 and they're not playing anywhere else or unless someone gets me reserved seating (and pays the ridiculous reserved seating ticket price for me). Bah humbug.
1. It wasn't LOUD!!! WTF???
I don't know about you but when I got to see a unashamed, good old ROCK band, I want LOUD music. I want bass that vibrates through your chest and drums that, to quote Bono, feel like they're giving you a good kicking and general wild and crazy noise. Maybe it's a hangover from the fact I grew up playing in 40+ person concert bands and love, love, love that feeling of being absolutely inside the music but I want to feel surrounded by music at a concert. I want it to kind of take me over. Which, for anything rockish, also means VOLUME. This was not volume (well, maybe for the 10% of the crowd in the front reserved seats but not for the other 18,000 or so in the general admission on the hill), this was "gosh, I've regularly heard louder music in my living room with my stereo blasting" and honestly, my stereo is teeny. Gah. Truly, I'm not exaggerating to say that the Bon Jovi in my car on the way home seemed louder.
All I can think was that they were put under a decibel limit because of the tennis (Screw the tennis, they can shut the freaking roof, after all, it was freaking raining, give me my loud rock and roll). And if that was the reason then WHY THE HELL was the concert held at the music bowl when there was a perfectly good empty stadium across town far away from the delicate ears of the tennis prima donnas??? Don't try and tell me Bon Jovi can't sell out a reasonably sized stadium when they haven't toured here for five years. I am baffled by the minds of the concert promoters at this point. Why put a band like Bon Jovi in a venue where they are effectively muzzled? I mean, even at Carols by Candlelight there are extra speakers around the venue but tonight, nope. Not one. I know extra speakers screw with the mix but more on that later.
The other problem with lack of loud is that you lose the crowd energy as well. Which then zaps the general live music experience. Sure there were some songs that went off but given Jon is a showman, the band are great and they didn't play one song I didn't know (and I don't call myself a diehard Bon Jovi fan ie don't own all their albums) the crowd should've been in much more of a frenzy than they were (which is the other part of concert going I love, the crowd vibe) for much more of the time. Having been to many concerts where the crowd has been worked to a fever pitch and kept there, I can tell you, this wasn't that. It hit it now and then but didn't stay there.
Which brings me to the next quibble.
2. The mix was TERRIBLE in the general admission area. So terrible that the only correct technical term for it is (and look away now, I'm about to use language I don't normally use on my blog) MUDDY AS FRAK (there, I substituted the BSG synonym to save all our sensibilities). I mean, I've never been to an outdoor concert with a fabulous mix, it's too hard to achieve. But I have been to concerts with decent mixes. This was not one. When you employ the time honoured method of sticking your fingers in your ears to cut out the echoes and feedback and interference and the vocal still doesn't come clear then there's something wrong. I mean, at times, combined with the volume problem, until the crowd starting singing, you couldn't tell what the damned song was.
Thankfully the mix did seem to come good for the last three or four songs of the encore ( I don't know, maybe the wind shifted or something - not that it was terribly windy). And, thankfully, said encore included a beautiful version of Hallelujah, which is one of my all-time favourite songs by anyone and made up for them not doing Bed of Roses which is my favourite Bon Jovi song and generally saved me from feeling that $130 was a frakkin lot to pay for middling volume blurry Bon Jovi in the rain. Of course, if only Hallelujah had been a bit LOUDER it would've gone from beautiful to spine tingling as you could see from the screens that Jon was singing his heart out and mostly hear it but it lacked the full impact those down the front would've gotten. And once again, when 90% or so of your audience is in general admission up the back you need a mix that works for everyone.
Here endeth the rant. I would definitely go see them again. Just not at the Myer Music Bowl. In fact, getting me to see anything vaguely rocky at the Music Bowl is highly unlikely unless it's U2 and they're not playing anywhere else or unless someone gets me reserved seating (and pays the ridiculous reserved seating ticket price for me). Bah humbug.
Contrary
Never be let it said that Melbourne weather does not have a sense of humour. Keri and I are off to Bon Jovi tonight. It's an outdoor concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl (the first concert I've ever been to there except for Carols by Candlelight). So, inevitably, Melbourne, where it hasn't really rained much since the dreaded-rain-before Christmas-that-flooded-us-all TM, has turned on a cool rainy day. I'm sure the weather gods are snickering. Childish, those weather deities (she says cautiously, not wanting any more floods etc).
Oh well, I'm sure that Jon will still look and sound hot through rain speckled glasses. Though I'm not sure my raincoat qualifies as hot rock chick wear. Not that much in my wardrobe probably does : )
Elsewhere, I've been reading Heidi's blog and turning green with envy over her access to Torchwood S2 and much hot Jack Harkness goodness (hint, hint, Channel 10). And admiring her brilliant curio collages (go back a few entries). So while I'm living on a somewhat soggy prayer, go play over there.
My own curio collage for the Witch book is revealing that things, particularly for my heroine, might be darker than I thought. How many books it will take before this stops surprising me, I wonder?
Oh well, I'm sure that Jon will still look and sound hot through rain speckled glasses. Though I'm not sure my raincoat qualifies as hot rock chick wear. Not that much in my wardrobe probably does : )
Elsewhere, I've been reading Heidi's blog and turning green with envy over her access to Torchwood S2 and much hot Jack Harkness goodness (hint, hint, Channel 10). And admiring her brilliant curio collages (go back a few entries). So while I'm living on a somewhat soggy prayer, go play over there.
My own curio collage for the Witch book is revealing that things, particularly for my heroine, might be darker than I thought. How many books it will take before this stops surprising me, I wonder?
January 17, 2008
Bumpy indeed
Well something has shaken loose because the girls sent me a phrase this morning that at first made me think "what the heck is a XXXX" but then gave me a way to make a whole plot idea work. Yay. And they seem very squirmy and excited about it. More yay.
So to celebrate I thought it was about time to clean off the old wordmeter for the category that has progressed since I last updated the wordmeter but is not the priority project du jour. Only to find that my darling Zokutou is thumbing its nose at me. I enter the figs, I press go and instead of clever code that gives me my word meter, I get returned to the index page. Wah! Anyone know what's up with that?
So I'm using the other word meter. Also provided by lovely people but just not as pretty. Still it was heartening to add up all my bits and pieces of this book and realise I had close to 10k already. How much of it will remain given this morning's developments is anyone's guess but it feels better than starting with zero, that's for sure! Even if it does go backwards as I slash and burn my first chapter or so.
PS Dear Australia Post, please cough up my copy of Iron Kissed soon.
PPS Dear libaries and bookshops of Australia, someone should have a copy of the Virtu!
So to celebrate I thought it was about time to clean off the old wordmeter for the category that has progressed since I last updated the wordmeter but is not the priority project du jour. Only to find that my darling Zokutou is thumbing its nose at me. I enter the figs, I press go and instead of clever code that gives me my word meter, I get returned to the index page. Wah! Anyone know what's up with that?
So I'm using the other word meter. Also provided by lovely people but just not as pretty. Still it was heartening to add up all my bits and pieces of this book and realise I had close to 10k already. How much of it will remain given this morning's developments is anyone's guess but it feels better than starting with zero, that's for sure! Even if it does go backwards as I slash and burn my first chapter or so.
PS Dear Australia Post, please cough up my copy of Iron Kissed soon.
PPS Dear libaries and bookshops of Australia, someone should have a copy of the Virtu!
January 16, 2008
Fasten your seatbelts
My Karin Tabke entry is done and I've been playing with the Witch book in bits and pieces, trying to get the mood. I had an alternative idea for my heroine's job until I was rewriting the opening the other day and her reaction to something made it clear that really, not so much on the chosen occupation. This book might just turn out to be a bumpy ride.
In other news I'm adding ants to the list of critters Mel is unimpressed with. The last few summers haven't been bad ant-wise but this year they seem to be everywhere. Little sneaky brown suckers. They are staging near nightly raids on the cat food (time for ye old stand the bowls in water trick which I haven't had to employ for YEARS and, to add insult to injury, they seem to be waltzing past my antbaits with their little brown noses in the air. Might have to try a different brand. Damned if I can figured out where they're getting in and I'm not big on the concept of ant sand with two cats sticking their inquisitive little noses in strange places. Anyone else got suggestions?
In other news I'm adding ants to the list of critters Mel is unimpressed with. The last few summers haven't been bad ant-wise but this year they seem to be everywhere. Little sneaky brown suckers. They are staging near nightly raids on the cat food (time for ye old stand the bowls in water trick which I haven't had to employ for YEARS and, to add insult to injury, they seem to be waltzing past my antbaits with their little brown noses in the air. Might have to try a different brand. Damned if I can figured out where they're getting in and I'm not big on the concept of ant sand with two cats sticking their inquisitive little noses in strange places. Anyone else got suggestions?
January 14, 2008
Not exactly breaking news
| What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. | |
| Drama Nerd | |
| Musician | |
| Gamer/Computer Nerd | |
| Science/Math Nerd | |
| Social Nerd | |
| Artistic Nerd | |
| Anime Nerd | |
| What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace | |
January 12, 2008
Mel's rules for spiders: Addendum
As previously discussed, I'm not a fan of spiders. I'd rather swim with sharks than let some big hairy spider crawl on me. If I'd been in that first Indiana Jones movie and had to have tarantulas on me, you'd still be hearing me scream.
The winter and spring here were wetter than they have been for a few years which mean I'd fallen into the habit of drying my towels and sheets in the dryer. Everything else I dry inside anyway the majority of the time, which means my washing line had started to resemble something that would make a good set for some gothic drama. Cobwebs-a-rama. Which means spiders.
But today I got brave and decided I needed to wash it down. The weather is too nice to justify using a dryer. Plus line dried sheets smell nicer. So I told myself sternly that line spiders would all be teeny tiny and it was fine and commenced the process.
Which went fine until, of course, the last four inches when some big bugger scuttled out of his hiding place and went streaking past me. Causing me to jump about five feet backwards (not easy given the positioning of my line). There may have been bad language.
So I have a new rule to add for the eight legged ones.
Rule 6: Stay off the clothesline. Measures are about to be employed. Ignore me at your peril.
PS Anyone got suggestions for spider free clotheslines other than surface spray every so often and not leaving pegs on the line???
The winter and spring here were wetter than they have been for a few years which mean I'd fallen into the habit of drying my towels and sheets in the dryer. Everything else I dry inside anyway the majority of the time, which means my washing line had started to resemble something that would make a good set for some gothic drama. Cobwebs-a-rama. Which means spiders.
But today I got brave and decided I needed to wash it down. The weather is too nice to justify using a dryer. Plus line dried sheets smell nicer. So I told myself sternly that line spiders would all be teeny tiny and it was fine and commenced the process.
Which went fine until, of course, the last four inches when some big bugger scuttled out of his hiding place and went streaking past me. Causing me to jump about five feet backwards (not easy given the positioning of my line). There may have been bad language.
So I have a new rule to add for the eight legged ones.
Rule 6: Stay off the clothesline. Measures are about to be employed. Ignore me at your peril.
PS Anyone got suggestions for spider free clotheslines other than surface spray every so often and not leaving pegs on the line???
January 09, 2008
Yay!
I made the final five of Karin Tabke's first line comp, so I get to send ten pages to Hilary Teeman at St Martin's Press. After some revising.
It was a very interesting comp, you post one line each week if you're not eliminated. I managed to tighten my opening a lot in the process, so it was a great learning experience to sit back and take time to think in detail about each line and the effect it created. Interesting to watch others do the same as well!
Not much else to report, I've been down at the folks due to my dad having one of his little medical dramas but he is on the mend now. For once, it has been hotter down here than in Melbourne!
More when I return....
It was a very interesting comp, you post one line each week if you're not eliminated. I managed to tighten my opening a lot in the process, so it was a great learning experience to sit back and take time to think in detail about each line and the effect it created. Interesting to watch others do the same as well!
Not much else to report, I've been down at the folks due to my dad having one of his little medical dramas but he is on the mend now. For once, it has been hotter down here than in Melbourne!
More when I return....
January 06, 2008
Clarity
I don't know whether it's a change in the weather (cool again after a couple of HOT days and nights), the dream I had last night where my life was a musical (which was FUN, not sure what that says about me) or just the compounding effects of two weeks off but I woke up this morning thinking "you know, let's treat this too many ideas, too little time thing sensibly and just work out what the heck is best from a career point of view".
Hardly an earth shattering idea but it helps. And I'm going to write down my thought process here so I can come back to it...so if you don't want to read something potentially long and not that interesting if you're not a writer in my current position, go pick a blog from my links and read that instead : )
Still here? Okay, you were warned.
Anyway. I don't suffer from a lack of ideas. I have plenty of ideas as anyone who reads this blog will know. What I have been suffering from the last few months, apart from just a bone-deep need for a break from all forms of work (which includes writing), is unsettledness (if there is such a thing). A bit of a roller coaster year in terms of lots of cool stuff happening but not the ultimate cool thing (aka a sale that would then give me a need to put most of my focus into one genre intially) and also the realisation that I'm definitely a writer who writes more than one genre and needs to do so to be happy. When everything feels a bit up in the air and the muse is throwing ideas up fairly regularly and your brain is a bit fried, it's hard to see things clearly. Add in a virgo brain that likes plans and settledness plus day job craziness and the result is one broken brain.
But this morning, the fog seems to have lifted. So I sat down and tried to look at my choices the same way I'd look at them if someone else came to me saying "Help".
I write contemporary romance and I write fantasy with, at this point, a strong inclination towards urban fantasy. I've done well with both genres in terms of contests and requests etc so signs are I can do both and I enjoy writing both. In fact, because my fantasy stuff tends to be a bit darker (and that's the other realisation I had to come to this year, that yes, I have a witty, snarky voice but that doesn't mean my stories are light), I need the contemps as balance.
On the contemporary side of things, I have two requested partials with two different lines and I have a current wip that isn't quite gelling yet. The reality is I'm more likely to have to revise something if I get a full request from either line, so the need for the next brand new contemp is less pressing. So I guess the contemp wip becomes a "noodle book" aka to be worked on for fun/when quota on the priority project is reached for the day. As does the ST contemp idea.
On the fantasy side, well, Wolf is out there. It would've been nice if it had sold in record time but it hasn't so we're in the 'the wheels of publishing move slowly' process. Reality is, it may not sell (knock wood, salt thrown over shoulder, chocolate to Letitsuk that this is not the case), which begs the question "what's next". The other reality with Wolf is that, in my head, it's not an open ended series. It has a finishing point. Which means if it sells, there's still the "what's next" to be answered.
And the best answer, career-wise as far as I can tell without psychic powers, for 'what's next' would be another UF, preferably a series again. Which makes the question - what's the next UF idea? (And means the other more straight fantasy books also are moved into noodle status - see we're narrowing down the list already.)
At this stage there are two main contenders. Let's call them the Witch book and the Other book.
Witch book pros - it's definitely longer than one book, I know the gist of the first book - including the ending, I know the hero and heroine quite well. I also know what the crunch is, what the thing that interests me to write about is.
Witch book cons - I wrote the first bits of book one a while ago, so I'm sure it'll be slash and burn time.
Other book pros - killer first scene, interesting mythology.
Other book cons - it feels a bit stand-alone at this point, I'm kind of vague on the big bad and the details of the hero/heroine, no real crunch yet.
Given I have a goal of wanting an UF series, then it would seem that the Witch idea is the winner.
In terms of is this the priority project, there's another consideration (I told you this was long and complicated and if it's making your head hurt then this is what it's been like in my brain for a while but with added indecision and dithering and less sense).
When/if Wolf sells, hopefully they'll want the follow ups. The first draft of Wolf 2 is written and has had a first pass revision but needs further revising. Wolf 3 exists in only a few snippets but I know how it starts, what has to happen and how it ends, which makes me think it's all there buried in my writer brain and the girls (crossed fingers) would fork it up when they need to. There's also the potential for things to change in both 1 & 2 if they sold, which would have consequences and mean rewrites. For now, that means, that I want to put more effort into having a draft of another UF project.
Which gives me the following:
Priority 1 project: Witch 1
Priority 2 projects: Progressing Wolf 3, another pass at Wolf 2
Noodle projects: Everything else
Ladies and gentleman...a plan! * Now I just have to go away and think about how that translates to specific goals. I suspect it will be something like x pages per month on Witch, something done on the Wolf stuff each month and only if I want to and have done the other stuff for everything else but we shall see. Man, my head feels a lot calmer! Yippee!
*Management reserves the right to change said plan to respond to events as they arise : )
Hardly an earth shattering idea but it helps. And I'm going to write down my thought process here so I can come back to it...so if you don't want to read something potentially long and not that interesting if you're not a writer in my current position, go pick a blog from my links and read that instead : )
Still here? Okay, you were warned.
Anyway. I don't suffer from a lack of ideas. I have plenty of ideas as anyone who reads this blog will know. What I have been suffering from the last few months, apart from just a bone-deep need for a break from all forms of work (which includes writing), is unsettledness (if there is such a thing). A bit of a roller coaster year in terms of lots of cool stuff happening but not the ultimate cool thing (aka a sale that would then give me a need to put most of my focus into one genre intially) and also the realisation that I'm definitely a writer who writes more than one genre and needs to do so to be happy. When everything feels a bit up in the air and the muse is throwing ideas up fairly regularly and your brain is a bit fried, it's hard to see things clearly. Add in a virgo brain that likes plans and settledness plus day job craziness and the result is one broken brain.
But this morning, the fog seems to have lifted. So I sat down and tried to look at my choices the same way I'd look at them if someone else came to me saying "Help".
I write contemporary romance and I write fantasy with, at this point, a strong inclination towards urban fantasy. I've done well with both genres in terms of contests and requests etc so signs are I can do both and I enjoy writing both. In fact, because my fantasy stuff tends to be a bit darker (and that's the other realisation I had to come to this year, that yes, I have a witty, snarky voice but that doesn't mean my stories are light), I need the contemps as balance.
On the contemporary side of things, I have two requested partials with two different lines and I have a current wip that isn't quite gelling yet. The reality is I'm more likely to have to revise something if I get a full request from either line, so the need for the next brand new contemp is less pressing. So I guess the contemp wip becomes a "noodle book" aka to be worked on for fun/when quota on the priority project is reached for the day. As does the ST contemp idea.
On the fantasy side, well, Wolf is out there. It would've been nice if it had sold in record time but it hasn't so we're in the 'the wheels of publishing move slowly' process. Reality is, it may not sell (knock wood, salt thrown over shoulder, chocolate to Letitsuk that this is not the case), which begs the question "what's next". The other reality with Wolf is that, in my head, it's not an open ended series. It has a finishing point. Which means if it sells, there's still the "what's next" to be answered.
And the best answer, career-wise as far as I can tell without psychic powers, for 'what's next' would be another UF, preferably a series again. Which makes the question - what's the next UF idea? (And means the other more straight fantasy books also are moved into noodle status - see we're narrowing down the list already.)
At this stage there are two main contenders. Let's call them the Witch book and the Other book.
Witch book pros - it's definitely longer than one book, I know the gist of the first book - including the ending, I know the hero and heroine quite well. I also know what the crunch is, what the thing that interests me to write about is.
Witch book cons - I wrote the first bits of book one a while ago, so I'm sure it'll be slash and burn time.
Other book pros - killer first scene, interesting mythology.
Other book cons - it feels a bit stand-alone at this point, I'm kind of vague on the big bad and the details of the hero/heroine, no real crunch yet.
Given I have a goal of wanting an UF series, then it would seem that the Witch idea is the winner.
In terms of is this the priority project, there's another consideration (I told you this was long and complicated and if it's making your head hurt then this is what it's been like in my brain for a while but with added indecision and dithering and less sense).
When/if Wolf sells, hopefully they'll want the follow ups. The first draft of Wolf 2 is written and has had a first pass revision but needs further revising. Wolf 3 exists in only a few snippets but I know how it starts, what has to happen and how it ends, which makes me think it's all there buried in my writer brain and the girls (crossed fingers) would fork it up when they need to. There's also the potential for things to change in both 1 & 2 if they sold, which would have consequences and mean rewrites. For now, that means, that I want to put more effort into having a draft of another UF project.
Which gives me the following:
Priority 1 project: Witch 1
Priority 2 projects: Progressing Wolf 3, another pass at Wolf 2
Noodle projects: Everything else
Ladies and gentleman...a plan! * Now I just have to go away and think about how that translates to specific goals. I suspect it will be something like x pages per month on Witch, something done on the Wolf stuff each month and only if I want to and have done the other stuff for everything else but we shall see. Man, my head feels a lot calmer! Yippee!
*Management reserves the right to change said plan to respond to events as they arise : )
January 05, 2008
A good start
The lulus are starting the year well with Carolyn scoring an agent (yipppeeeeee!) and Keri scoring a RT nomination for career achievement, so all is good.
In other yay news, the grey cat has put on 600g since her operation (which would be like me putting on 15kg or something) and I think I have a bit better idea about the mystery hero for one of my wips. If only I knew his name and the heroine's name, all would be good! It's odd for me as names are usually one of the first things I get. I guess it's off to the trusty naming sites for me.
In other yay news, the grey cat has put on 600g since her operation (which would be like me putting on 15kg or something) and I think I have a bit better idea about the mystery hero for one of my wips. If only I knew his name and the heroine's name, all would be good! It's odd for me as names are usually one of the first things I get. I guess it's off to the trusty naming sites for me.
January 04, 2008
Unwinding
Three days left in my vacation? Oh no!
I had plans for this break. I was going to tidy the house and garden and do..stuff. I should've known better I guess. I was pretty tired before finishing work and coming home to the flood just made that worse. So apparently the body and the brain ganged up and said "what you're really going to do is just RELAX" for two weeks. Novel concept but apparently it's working as evidenced by me starting to write a bit again.
I guess I could still tidy and garden but 1 - no point tidying when you just have to move everything again to get carpets cleaned and 2 - it's too hot to garden, so looks like it's more reading, writing, watching TV and napping for me. Maybe I'll squeeze in a movie or something. I have just started an online course at Writer Univ, so that has to count as productivity.
How's everyone else done on their break? Gotten stuff done or just chilled out?
I had plans for this break. I was going to tidy the house and garden and do..stuff. I should've known better I guess. I was pretty tired before finishing work and coming home to the flood just made that worse. So apparently the body and the brain ganged up and said "what you're really going to do is just RELAX" for two weeks. Novel concept but apparently it's working as evidenced by me starting to write a bit again.
I guess I could still tidy and garden but 1 - no point tidying when you just have to move everything again to get carpets cleaned and 2 - it's too hot to garden, so looks like it's more reading, writing, watching TV and napping for me. Maybe I'll squeeze in a movie or something. I have just started an online course at Writer Univ, so that has to count as productivity.
How's everyone else done on their break? Gotten stuff done or just chilled out?
January 02, 2008
Start as you mean to go on
I managed a little bit of writing yesterday, not a lot but a bit. But every bit helps. My biggest problem at the moment is settling to one project. My brain has this whirling, jumping, 'gotta write everything NOW', thing going on. And I can't come up with a logical plan to decide on one over another. Everything feels very up in the air, which I guess, is the curse of the unpublished writer - you only have your own deadlines to meet, so if you can't decide what deadlines to set (very unvirgo of me, I know), then no-one does it for you.
For the rest of this week I might just write bits and pieces of everything and see if the muse decides one is going to stick. That and coaxing my body back towards day job sleeping hours (doesn't take long for me to slip into my preferred late nights, sleep in mode on holiday) should keep me entertained.
If the throw everything at the wall method hasn't worked by next week then I shall resort to some sort of selection process. Like maybe looking at my writing goals for the year : )
In other news, it's cool again. A lovely 25 or so (my favourite weather). Though it's meant to be hotting up again in the next few days so we'd better enjoy today!
For the rest of this week I might just write bits and pieces of everything and see if the muse decides one is going to stick. That and coaxing my body back towards day job sleeping hours (doesn't take long for me to slip into my preferred late nights, sleep in mode on holiday) should keep me entertained.
If the throw everything at the wall method hasn't worked by next week then I shall resort to some sort of selection process. Like maybe looking at my writing goals for the year : )
In other news, it's cool again. A lovely 25 or so (my favourite weather). Though it's meant to be hotting up again in the next few days so we'd better enjoy today!
January 01, 2008
Books read in 2008
Okay, I'm going to do this in a post this year...so the link will be in the sidebar after this disappears off the main page. And I guess the first book is half 2007 and half 2008 given I started it in one year and finished it this morning. Most recent at top, oldest at the bottom!
Books read in 2008
The Lost Recipe for Happiness - Barbara O'Neal
Alpha and Omega - Patricia Briggs
When the Duke Returns - Eloisa James
The Sum of Our Days - Isabel Allende
Deadly Desire - Keri Arthur
Natural Law - Joey W Hill
Ink Exchange - Melissa Marr
Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
Reforming a Rake - Susan Enoch
Band of Brothers - Stephen E. Ambrose
Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
Lady Be Good - Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Magic to the Bone - Devon Monk
Like No Other Lover - Julie Anne Long
The Sharing Knife: Passages - Lois McMaster Bujold
Mr Cavendish, I Presume - Julia Quinn
Seduce Me at Sunrise - Lisa Kleypas
What Angels Fear - C.S. Harris
To Seduce a Sinner - Elizabeth Hoyt
Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance
Force of Nature - Suzanne Brockmann
Nation - Terry Pratchett
The Last Colony - John Scalzi
The Bishop in the Old Neighbourhood - Andrew M Greeley
Driven - Eve Kenin
A Rake's Guide to Pleasure - Victoria Dahl
The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi
Old Man's War - John Scalzi
The War of the Oaks - Emma Bull
Snake Agent - Liz Williams
Grave Surprise - Charlaine Harris
Hunter's Prayer - Lilith Saintcrow
Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr
Draw One in the Dark - Sarah A Hoyt
Jezebel's Blues - Ruth Wind
His Captive Lady - Anne Gracie
Devilish - Jo Beverley
The Rogue's Return - Jo Beverley
Tracking - David R Palmer
Emergence - David R Palmer
Something Wicked - Jo Beverley
Steelflower - Lilith Saintcrow
Loose and Easy - Tara Janzen
Lessons from a Courtesan - Jenna Petersen
A Soldier's Tale - Elizabeth Rolls
Silent in the Grave - Deanna Raybourn
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
An Unexpected Proposal - Amy Andrews
Honey Moon - Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Lover Enshrined - J.R. Ward
Hot Shot - Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Ice Storm - Anne Stuart
Skinny Dipping - Connie Brockway
Secrets of the Night - Jo Beverley
Fire and Ice - Anne Stuart
Miss Winthorpe's Elopement - Christine Merrill
Cry Wolf - Patricia Briggs
My Lord and Spymaster - Joanna Bourne
Mrs Perfect - Jane Porter
Delicious - Sherry Thomas
Night Shift - Lilith Saintcrow
Silent in the Sanctuary - Deanna Raybourn
Dragon Haven - Robin McKinley
Duchess by Night - Eloisa James
The Darkest Kiss - Keri Arthur
The Queen's Bastard - C.E. Murphy
A Companion to Wolves - Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette
Kushiel's Mercy - Jacqueline Carey
Your Scandalous Ways - Loretta Chase
The Lost Duke of Wyndham - Julia Quinn
Lady Beware - Jo Beverley
A Lady's Secret - Jo Beverley
Coyote Dreams - C.E. Murphy
My Lady Notorious - Jo Beverley
Untouched - Anna Campbell
The Hollows - Nora Roberts
To Taste Temptation - Elizabeth Hoyt
Dancing with Werewolves - Carole Nelson Douglas
Grimspace - Ann Aguirre
Embrace the Night - Karen Chance
Rogue - Rachel Vincent
Bewitched - Sandra Schwab
Magic Burns - Ilona Andrews
To Taste Temptation - Elizabeth Hoyt
Nightlife - Caitlin Kittredge
Blood Pact - Tanya Huff
Blood Lines - Tanya Huff
Private Arrangements - Sherry Thomas
Mirabile - Janet Kagan
Halfway to the Grave - Jeaniene Frost
Cinnamon City - Miranda Innes
Song of Unmaking - Caitlin Brennan
The Mountain's Call - Caitlin Brennan
The Broken Crown - Michelle West
If Angels Burn - Lynn Viehl
Cutting Loose - Tara Janzen
Empire of Ivory - Naomi Novik
Dust - Elizabeth Bear
Tangled Webs - Anne Bishop
Flesh and Spirit - Carol Berg
The Perils of Pleasure - Julie Anne Long
High Noon - Nora Roberts
Taken by the Bad Boy - Kelly Hunter
The Virtu - Sarah Monette
Stranger in Death - JD Robb
The Spymaster's Lady - Joanna Bourne
Iron Kissed - Patricia Briggs
The Stolen Princess - Anne Gracie
Devlin's Justice - Patricia Bray
Claimed by Shadow - Karen Chance
Dark Moon Defender - Sharon Shinn
Full Scoop - Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes
Ember - Bettie Sharpe
Night Season - Eileen Wilks
The Chocolate Lover's Club - Carole Matthews
Crown Duel - Sherwood Smith
The Mirador - Sarah Monette
Paloma - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Into the Storm - Suzanne Brockmann
Getting What You Want - Kathy Love
Blood Brothers - Nora Roberts
To Hell and Back - Lilith Saintcrow
Devlin's Honor - Patricia Bray
Cast in Secret - Michelle Sagara
Cast in Courtlight - Michelle Sagara
Smoke and Shadows - Tanya Huff
Fires of the Faithful - Naomi Kritzer
Books read in 2008
The Lost Recipe for Happiness - Barbara O'Neal
Alpha and Omega - Patricia Briggs
When the Duke Returns - Eloisa James
The Sum of Our Days - Isabel Allende
Deadly Desire - Keri Arthur
Natural Law - Joey W Hill
Ink Exchange - Melissa Marr
Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
Reforming a Rake - Susan Enoch
Band of Brothers - Stephen E. Ambrose
Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
Lady Be Good - Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Magic to the Bone - Devon Monk
Like No Other Lover - Julie Anne Long
The Sharing Knife: Passages - Lois McMaster Bujold
Mr Cavendish, I Presume - Julia Quinn
Seduce Me at Sunrise - Lisa Kleypas
What Angels Fear - C.S. Harris
To Seduce a Sinner - Elizabeth Hoyt
Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance
Force of Nature - Suzanne Brockmann
Nation - Terry Pratchett
The Last Colony - John Scalzi
The Bishop in the Old Neighbourhood - Andrew M Greeley
Driven - Eve Kenin
A Rake's Guide to Pleasure - Victoria Dahl
The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi
Old Man's War - John Scalzi
The War of the Oaks - Emma Bull
Snake Agent - Liz Williams
Grave Surprise - Charlaine Harris
Hunter's Prayer - Lilith Saintcrow
Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr
Draw One in the Dark - Sarah A Hoyt
Jezebel's Blues - Ruth Wind
His Captive Lady - Anne Gracie
Devilish - Jo Beverley
The Rogue's Return - Jo Beverley
Tracking - David R Palmer
Emergence - David R Palmer
Something Wicked - Jo Beverley
Steelflower - Lilith Saintcrow
Loose and Easy - Tara Janzen
Lessons from a Courtesan - Jenna Petersen
A Soldier's Tale - Elizabeth Rolls
Silent in the Grave - Deanna Raybourn
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
An Unexpected Proposal - Amy Andrews
Honey Moon - Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Lover Enshrined - J.R. Ward
Hot Shot - Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Ice Storm - Anne Stuart
Skinny Dipping - Connie Brockway
Secrets of the Night - Jo Beverley
Fire and Ice - Anne Stuart
Miss Winthorpe's Elopement - Christine Merrill
Cry Wolf - Patricia Briggs
My Lord and Spymaster - Joanna Bourne
Mrs Perfect - Jane Porter
Delicious - Sherry Thomas
Night Shift - Lilith Saintcrow
Silent in the Sanctuary - Deanna Raybourn
Dragon Haven - Robin McKinley
Duchess by Night - Eloisa James
The Darkest Kiss - Keri Arthur
The Queen's Bastard - C.E. Murphy
A Companion to Wolves - Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette
Kushiel's Mercy - Jacqueline Carey
Your Scandalous Ways - Loretta Chase
The Lost Duke of Wyndham - Julia Quinn
Lady Beware - Jo Beverley
A Lady's Secret - Jo Beverley
Coyote Dreams - C.E. Murphy
My Lady Notorious - Jo Beverley
Untouched - Anna Campbell
The Hollows - Nora Roberts
To Taste Temptation - Elizabeth Hoyt
Dancing with Werewolves - Carole Nelson Douglas
Grimspace - Ann Aguirre
Embrace the Night - Karen Chance
Rogue - Rachel Vincent
Bewitched - Sandra Schwab
Magic Burns - Ilona Andrews
To Taste Temptation - Elizabeth Hoyt
Nightlife - Caitlin Kittredge
Blood Pact - Tanya Huff
Blood Lines - Tanya Huff
Private Arrangements - Sherry Thomas
Mirabile - Janet Kagan
Halfway to the Grave - Jeaniene Frost
Cinnamon City - Miranda Innes
Song of Unmaking - Caitlin Brennan
The Mountain's Call - Caitlin Brennan
The Broken Crown - Michelle West
If Angels Burn - Lynn Viehl
Cutting Loose - Tara Janzen
Empire of Ivory - Naomi Novik
Dust - Elizabeth Bear
Tangled Webs - Anne Bishop
Flesh and Spirit - Carol Berg
The Perils of Pleasure - Julie Anne Long
High Noon - Nora Roberts
Taken by the Bad Boy - Kelly Hunter
The Virtu - Sarah Monette
Stranger in Death - JD Robb
The Spymaster's Lady - Joanna Bourne
Iron Kissed - Patricia Briggs
The Stolen Princess - Anne Gracie
Devlin's Justice - Patricia Bray
Claimed by Shadow - Karen Chance
Dark Moon Defender - Sharon Shinn
Full Scoop - Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes
Ember - Bettie Sharpe
Night Season - Eileen Wilks
The Chocolate Lover's Club - Carole Matthews
Crown Duel - Sherwood Smith
The Mirador - Sarah Monette
Paloma - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Into the Storm - Suzanne Brockmann
Getting What You Want - Kathy Love
Blood Brothers - Nora Roberts
To Hell and Back - Lilith Saintcrow
Devlin's Honor - Patricia Bray
Cast in Secret - Michelle Sagara
Cast in Courtlight - Michelle Sagara
Smoke and Shadows - Tanya Huff
Fires of the Faithful - Naomi Kritzer
Happy 2008
Well, we watched beautiful fireworks in the hotty, hot, hot, hot night (twice, catching both the early show and the much more spectacular midnight version), but otherwise New Year's Eve was quiet and fun. And hot. It was still 35ish while those fireworks was going on at midnight, still 33 when I got home close to 1 am and I'm not sure it got much cooler.
So far in 2008 all I can report is that it is still very hot and apparently I am too old for two late nights in a row, so today will be about watching dvd's, reading and possibly, napping while waiting for the cool change.
But still Happy New Year, world!
So far in 2008 all I can report is that it is still very hot and apparently I am too old for two late nights in a row, so today will be about watching dvd's, reading and possibly, napping while waiting for the cool change.
But still Happy New Year, world!
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