Turned Sylvie 4: Lies & Omens over to ACE late last night! A great feeling, always followed by this huge rush of energy as I start planning ALL the things I can do today: get the next chapter of Gatecrashers done! Revise the romance! Write a short story! Revise an older short story!

And then I wake up the next day (today) and all the words are gone. I'm good for nothing but staring blankly at things vaguely searching for the noun that applies to them. Read more

At least for a few more minutes! It's been a crazy busy day here, full of expected electricians and unexpected colds. And the birds are still storming the castle.

But! All of that is neither here nor there.

I want to celebrate book release day of Gods & Monsters by doing a giveaway contest. No hoops, no tasks. My brain's not up to that. (if the cold medicine works? my brain doesn't.) Read more

The Bad Scene

Sometimes you sit back after a long day on the book, pounding the keys, and realize that none of your three happy phrases that signal a good work day are coming to mind. No not too bad, that'll work, or the rare but blissful, hey that's good!

Instead, your critical faculties are hemming and hawing like a parent presented with an impossible-to-decipher crayon masterpiece. Finally, your brain admits the truth: That scene? That you just killed yourself on? That scene is bad. Read more

So, I'm starting 2011 off the way I ended 2010. . . behind on my schedule. Sigh.
But at least the holidays, even if they slowed my life to a trickle, allowed me to read a bunch of books.

December Books read:
Amazon Ink - Lori Devoti
Dogs & Goddesses - Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart, Lani Diane Rich
Legacies - Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
The Demon & the City - Liz Williams
Exit Strategy - Kelley Armstrong
Warrior - Zoe Archer
Bayou Moon - Ilona Andrews
Scoundrel - Zoe Archer
Spellbent - Lucy Snyder
Shotgun Sorcererss - Lucy Snyder
Waking Evil - Kylie Brant Read more

So I've been thinking about POV of late, partly because I recently read a bunch of books in first person, partly because I'm working on a new novel with a first person narrator—who may or may not stay that way.

As a general rule, as a reader, I dislike first person because it's too easy for me to walk away from the book.

I've tried to figure what bothers me about first person and it comes down to these few things: Read more

Hi all,

So I'm a little bored and I want to play 'what ifs'. In this case, what if Sylvie got turned into a movie? Yep, it's the author dream-game of "who would they cast to play my characters?"

Your incentive to play along: I'm giving away three signed copies of Ghosts & Echoes for my favorite casting calls--the ones I think come closest to the character. You only need to send in one character suggestion for a chance to win. Paste 'em in the comments, so we can all admire. If by some wild circumstance, two people submit the same actor, I'll take the first posted. Read more

So May went by in a flurry of frantic activity. My brain is still reeling. I'm a slowpoke at heart, content to putter steadily forward in increments.

This month I had a family trip to Vegas, which was a city I'd never managed to go to before. Read more

The header really says it all. Whee!

Ghosts and Echoes release day!

I may have to snoopy-dance.

Currently reading: just finished Mike Carey's fifth Felix Castor Book: The Naming of Beasts.

So this weekend was Conestoga and the first time that I've managed to make the not-so-arduous trek to it. Glad I did! It was a great time! I got to meet up with old friends, come face to face with internet friends, and make some new ones. That, and there were books everywhere! Which always makes me happy. Read more