Late Start

I use Firefox; I was informed that my website pages were showing up in Explorer as not centered, so I went into the html and centered them, and now they are doing okay.

I watched 'Zodiac' tonight, so didn't get enough writing or working on my website done, even though that's what I had planned! Writing will come next though, as soon as I'm finished with this blog, because I've worked on the website some and can just do it little by little; with the books, I want them finished!

Daisy Dexter Dobbs told me today that she wouldn't recommend putting excerpts of my books on my site until after they've sold. She also said that I could put a 'free' short story on there, just to let people see my writing style, so I'll do that soon:)

I do have some titles of my books on the site, though. Surely that can't hurt anything.

I'm off to eat pumpkin seeds, drink diet coke, and write.
Goodnight everyone!

Doing This and Doing That

I'm nearing the end of my themed short I'm submitting to EC, and really, really wanted to finish it tonight. But because of many interruptions, it was not to be:(

Tomorrow, I'll finish it and get some more work done on my website. That's such a long process, getting the website finished. It's ongoing, I know, but just getting to that point where I can be happy to show it to people, well, that takes awhile. I'm not there yet, although I do have the links up, and I sent DDD the link to the page I made for her.

I am thinking of putting up excerpts from my books on my site.

There are now four blogs that I am writing to; the WordPress one I'm going to keep strictly as a writing blog and nothing else, and then there is this one, the Live Journal one, and the one on MySpace!

Well, settling into bed now.
Goodnight...

Flying Days

Some days just seem to fly by; one minute it's early and I'm settling in to write, and the next thing I know, it's night time and I have been terribly sidetracked by writers sites, contests, forums, emails, and blogs, and of course the normal day to day things I have to do and take care of...argh!!!!

I've got to get to work! I really do not like it when I don't get enough hours of writing in. Most days I do, truly, so you'd think that on those rare days when I don't write what I think is enough, I'd be more forgiving of myself, but nooooo. I'll be up 'til the crack of dawn, writing.

There is so much to write, and I've got to get it written. Maybe I'll calm down eventually;)

I didn't work on my website today, either. Sigh.

Myspace is driving me nuts. I put in a link to this blog, and everything was fine, and then the next day, thanks to msplinks, my blog link would take you to myspace's homepage. I could not get past that no matter how hard I tried. I tried taking out the http:// part, to no avail. I read everything I could find, did everything those sites said, but nope. Didn't work.

Maybe I'll get it figured out soon.

I'm going to write now, so goodnight everyone.

Starting My Website

I finally settled on a web hosting company, and so far, so good :)

My official website is here although it's going to be under construction for a long time, so there isn't much to see yet.

It's going to be a lot of fun building it. I really like the html editor I've downloaded; it's giving me no problems, knock on wood.

There isn't much new to blog about. I'm moving along with the two books I'm working on, still have heard nothing about the one I've submitted, and don't expect to, for awhile yet. I'll be submitting the novella soon. I have got to get that synopsis written, and I've got to write the blurb, etc. Believe me, it's much more fun writing the book.

I've got two friends on myspace(give me a break, I only just signed up! It'll pick up! haha)-Daisy Dexter Dobbs and Laurell K. Hamilton, both of whom I adore. I put my photo up too; I am going to get a good one taken for my website. Maybe:)

I'm off to write now.
Goodnight!:)

MySpace

I am now on MySpace; feel free to visit and say hello! :)
I wasted today, as far as writing, but I did at least get my myspace page set up, so it wasn't a total lazy day.
Before it gets too late, I'm off to write some in one of the books...
Goodnight! :)

Two New Ones...

I've been working on two new books; I'm not quite sure yet where I want them to go, but I think one will be a quickie and one a novella, just like the first two.

I'm not the kind of writer who can sit down and map out an entire book from start to finish; I write as I go, usually getting just as surprised by what happens as the reader. If I'm lucky, I'll know how it's going to end about halfway through, but it's almost always a tentative ending until I'm practically there.

It's really necessary for me to have two books, or even three books, going at the same time. I switch back and forth, and it keeps each one fresh. Also, if I get stuck on one, I just write on the other one and by the time I'm back with the first one, I'm unstuck;)

Still no decisions on a web host, but there's time.

I'm so glad the weekend is here.
Goodnight, all...

Building...

My short for the Cavemen Anthologies has been submitted.
It'll be awhile before I hear anything, so I'm going to shove that to the back of my mind and write something new...

I've been trying to research web hosting companies so I can find a really good one and start building myself a site. So far it's down to Lunarpages, but I'm still looking for others to compare it to. I would prefer one with a wysiwyg editor, but that's definitely not a requirement; if it were a requirement, I'd just sign up with Yahoo or Bravehost or some such...but I don't wanna.

Anyone know of any good ones, equal to or better than Lunarpages?

The 'S' Word

I'm afraid of spiders.

Actually, afraid is not the word...terrified would be the word. Unreasonably, illogically, sincerely terrified. I have nightmares about them; sometimes I will wake up and be just positive that there is an evil spider hanging in space right in front of my face, ready to pounce! I'll scream and bat at the air like a mad person, jump up and get the light on, and of course there is nothing there at all :)

When I was a child, I went to stay all night with my dad; he was upstairs asleep and I was downstairs asleep. My brother and his wife were also staying there that night, and they were downstairs asleep as well.

So imagine how they felt when I woke them all up with bloodcurdling shrieks; my dad nearly broke his neck tumbling down the stairs with his shotgun, but I think my brother got the worst of it. He was sound asleep when suddenly he was awakened by me as I stood at his bedside, holding my hands toward him, shrieking madly! I was still not even fully awake!

Of course my dad thought there was an intruder, and my brother, well, let's just say he never did let me live that down! Once he got over his close encounter with a heart attack, that is.

And all because I was having a nightmare about a spider!
In truth, I hate to even write the S word, because when I do, I visualize them...So yup, I have a quite a phobia when it comes to sp--the S word. ;)

And here is what got me blogging about this; my cousin just spent approximately a month in a hospital in Columbus, after a spider bite. He nearly lost his leg; he was bitten by what they are calling a 'hobo' spider, but there aren't supposed to be any of those where we live, so either it was just a rare case for this area, or in actuality it was a brown recluse. Hobo and brown recluse bites are often confused.

Ugh. I'm going to go wash my mind out with soap and think about other things!

Cornbread and Algae Eaters

I had my CT scan today. I'll find out the results in a couple of days.

Also, I finished the Short that I've been working on; I'll be submitting it to Ellora's Cave as soon as I've made sure it's edited within an inch of its life and is ready.

I had so much fun writing both the novella and the short, and now that they are finished, I'll be back to concentrating on my novel, and perhaps starting a whole new project as well. The novel is much more complicated than the short or the novella, and it is going to take a lot more time to finish. I miss it! I miss the world and the characters and the adventure ;)

If you guys get a chance, you should check out, not only DDD's blog, but also Tess Gerritsen's blog. Extremely entertaining and interesting!

The fish are acting really weird since we've moved them to the big aquarium. They seem to sleep alot more; so in one side of the tank I keep the light on, and in the other side, I have the light off. They seem to like the dark side more than the light side, for some reason. Maybe it will just take them awhile to adjust, being used to their tiny aquarium from before.

I'm going to get an algae eater soon; I've heard that only the Siamese algae eaters really make a difference in the algae concentration in the tank, so I'll look for that kind. I might have been misinformed, so I really should do some research. I also want to get a few more fish; three little goldfish are really not enough for this aquarium. So, soon as I get a minute, that's what I'm going to do.

My daughter loves old TV shows such as Lucy, Three's Company, All in the Family, Family Matters, etc, so we named the fish Archie, Lucy, and Jack. I expect that Urkel and Edith will be next :)

I stopped on the way back from the hospital tonight to pick up a few things for my mom; buttermilk, collard greens, and cream horns. Seriously.
She will eat the buttermilk in a bowl with cornbread, and the greens, she eats those with pretty much anything. Cream horns? She has a sweet tooth so big she has trouble keeping it in her mouth.

Mom also had an algae eater back in the day, and she swears up and down that her algae eater listened to her.
She said she'd yell, "Algae!" (that's what she named it. Algae.) "Algae!" and that it'd come popping its head up to see her, and she'd talk to it.
She became attached to her algae eater and was quite upset when it died!
Personally, I think she should get a puppy, but that's just me. ;)

She wanted me to take a large piece of exercise equipment off her hands the other day, but I told her I had no place to put it, which is true. She says, "Put it at the foot of your bed." And I said, "I don't want to do that, I don't want my bedroom looking like a weight room!" So she comes back with, "I don't know why not. Nobody is going to see it but you!"
Lordy, lordy!

Okay, I'm going to do some writing and editing now:)
Goodnight, all!

The End

The novella is finished. I just wrote those wonderful words,

The End

Ahhhhh:)

Now I'm going to sleep...
Goodnight, everybody

Fishy Business

I cannot believe how tired I am right now. It's been one of those days; up early, I hardly a chance to sit down once, am I'm almost not exaggerating!:)

My mom had a 55 gallon aquarium, which it just so happens that I bought her last year, and when she moved into a new apartment, she wasn't allowed to take the aquarium! Ah, the joys of renting! Anyway, she gave me back the aquarium, and by the time I figured out how to put all the doodads in and on it, and got it filled with 55 gallons of water...well, lets just say it took me awhile. And not only that, but she decided to buy me this huge old buffet for 15 bucks at a garage sale, to put the aquarium on! oh Lord! I couldn't say I didn't want the buffet to put an aquarium on, seeing as how she bought it for me, so that had to be picked up, and I had to find a place to put the thing, which was not an easy task.

I still haven't gotten that scenery thingamabob to stay put inside the tank. I've done everything but superglue it in there, and it's still floating around like it's possessed. It wasn't too bad until I turned on the pump and then there it went.

I have three little goldfish-they aren't going to know what to think, after being in their eensy weensy little aquarium for so long, to suddenly be emptied out into this huge one. I'll have to get more fish now:)

So I didn't get to write tonight, and now I'm too tired. I figure this'll be my day off writing, and I'll be back to writing like a madwoman, tomorrow. Good thing it's Saturday! I'll have nothing to do and nowhere to go.

I'm single and have no husband bothering me all day either! 'Course, that mightn't be such a bad thing. Sometimes I miss being in a relationship. Most times not, though. I'm resting, I guess.
Someday I'll find my Mister Specialhead. :)

I wrote Daisy Dexter Dobbs again, because I am so full of questions, and she is such a sweet lady. How nice it is that a writer who is established takes time to help those such as myself, who are quite unestablished.
Patience, Willow!
Anyway, she emailed me back again with an email full of advice, links, and the answers to my questions.
Have I mentioned she's incredible?

I'm writing a short erotic romance which I'm going to submit to Ellora's Cave, and I am at the end. I just basically need to write a few more sentences, a little editing, and then send it in. And then I'll need to forget about it so I won't drive myself nuts waiting. I'm not the most patient of people, but will have to become one to survive these waiting periods!:)
No one has read this one; I haven't even told anyone I'm writing it, especially not my sister who is reading my novella, because then she'd want to read this one and that is just not going to happen!

Well, I need to go and get back to my late night raisin bran and Lucy reruns, and then I am going to sleep:)
Goodnight, everyone..

Daisy Dexter Dobbs: Romantic Comedy, Erotic Romance: Some of us are Born to Diet

Daisy Dexter Dobbs: Romantic Comedy, Erotic Romance: Some of us are Born to Diet

Above is a link to Daisy Dexter Dobbs, who I am crazy about; not just her writing, but the person that she is. Read her blog, it's hilarious! :)

When Sisters Attack

I've been writing like mad, and I am THIS close to finishing up the novella! Woohoo!
I usually write on the novella during the day, and the short late at night, like, from right around now until I fall over from exhaustion.
My sister has been reading my novella; I send her chapters as I finish them. She gets mad at me a lot because of the end of chapter cliffhangers, for one thing, and for writing things she doesn't want to see happen to certain characters.
You're not supposed to let family critique your work, but my sister, she isn't one to take it easy on me just because I'm related to her.
Her sincere interest in the books and her dismay at the ends of chapters are good things. I try to crank out at the very least a chapter a day for both books nowadays, and usually more, since the writing is just flowing, but heaven forbid I should skip a day or two! She knows where I live! ;)
She lives a couple of hours away, so that's good, else she'd be standing over me with a whip yelling 'Write, write! You don't need to eat!' Actually she does that now, but via phone, so that makes it easier to get away from her. I can hang up the phone. Ha ;)

Tonight was Kathy Griffin night on TV. She's always fun to watch.
I tried watching Paula Abdul's new reality show one time, but I didn't get into it. Maybe I'll give it another try soon. She makes me a nervous wreck though, trying to figure out what she's saying, and I feel like poking sticks in my own ears sometimes when it takes her twenty minutes to just spit out a sentence! And no, that's not her fault, she's not trying to make my ears bleed, but still.

A couple of days ago, I emailed Daisy Dexter Dobbs, to ask her some writing questions. She emailed me back the next day, a huge response, and I just think that was so great.
Look her up! http://daisydexterdobbs.com or http://daisydexterdobbs.blogspot.com. She has a blog and you just might find you love her books. Hey, she also writes erotic romance ;) She's a fantastic, funny, helpful, lively lady, and it shows in her books.

I'm off to finish my own late night erotic romance...I can't believe how quickly it is coming along, just as quickly as the novella.
That's the good thing about writing so much. :)

Goodnight everybody!

Tom, Dick, and Harry

Okay, I wrote tonight, I couldn't not. I wrote, however, not to Willie, but to Tom Waits. Sigh...I love him too. I'm so fickle, I know ;)

How can you not love Tom Waits, seriously?
And is it just me, or does he bear a striking resemblance to Ron Perlman?

You know who else I have a strange attraction for?? I might as well get it out; Tim Curry! Yes, yes, you read that right. I think he's sexy, I can't help it;)
Not sexy as the voice of Nigel Thornberry, maybe, but still. I think he was sexy in that little movie, Muppet Treasure Island. sigh. I'm sorry! But he's seriously sexy and is really a very under rated performer :)

I heard that they are officially making a movie of SATC. That might be old news for some of you, but I just heard it yesterday. Of course I'll watch it. I very much enjoyed that show and those characters and was a bit sad to see it end. Now I'm over it, but I'll watch the movie:)

I'm less than fourteen thousand words away from the ending to the novella.

Why I love Willie Nelson

I think I'll always love Willie Nelson. I don't hear him all that much; I don't watch country music television...I'm not even a country music fan. I do have some of his music on my puter, though, and on a few CD's lying around.

There is just something about Willie. He makes me feel peaceful and he makes me remember the old days and he makes me think of family.

A friend of the family once told me that he'd seen Willie hitchhiking in Southern Ohio, and had picked him up, a long, long time ago. Maybe Willie had crossed over from Kentucky, or was coming from West Virginia, both of which were near. I never knew if that were true or not, but he told me that story probably twenty five years ago when I was a kid, and had said that it'd happened many years before he'd mentioned it to me. So, it's always seemed to me like Willie has always been part of my life, in some way. Whether it was my brothers and cousins playing his music around the bonfire, drinking beer and whatever else it was they did then, all those years ago, or me seeing him on Monk; from then to now, there's always been Willie.

And I do like to listen to his music, and as I've just been thinking about him, maybe I'll listen to him tonight while I write. I know, I know, I said I was taking the day off, but you see that I have to write one way or another so I really should work toward finishing my book rather than blogging at every available opportunity. ;)

I love those pictures of him, the ones that are sepia toned or black and white and his face is so full of character.
I think he was born in the wrong era.

Willie's music makes me feel lonesome and homesick and blue. And I love his look, his braid, his voice, and the way he looks familiar and good and kind and down to earth. I don't know him, so I don't know if he's any of those things, but I feel like I do know him. And in my mind, that's how he is. A special, talented, one of a kind man.

:)

Noon Ramblings

I need to spend the day away from my keyboard, cleaning my house and doing the laundry. I'd actually convinced myself that is what would happen, because I've been spending so much time writing that I haven't gotten anything else done around here!

I bought this house only a few months ago; had it built, actually, so it's brand new. The grass is scraggly in the backyard but it's finally coming in. It's just so hot. The contractor put grass seed down but it sure is taking its time growing.

It takes time to get everything the way I want it, but I did get a privacy fence up around back, and have planted some bushes and hedge and plants.

Fall is my favorite time of year; around Halloween is usually perfect. Then I start looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas, holidays I absolutely adore. Everything just seems so fresh then, and invigorating. I've always been a fan of the cooler months; maybe because I was a winter baby. :)

I still want to find a fun dancercize type DVD for exercise; my treadmill bores me, my reclining bike bores me. I'm the type of person who wants to jump up from my writing and start dancing around the room with bursts of energy;) I tried one of those weighted hula hoops for a few weeks, and though I enjoyed it, it hurt me! Bruising and bleeding, I kid you not. So, after I failed to toughen up, I pitched it. :(

I guess I've delayed long enough. The house cleaning and laundry await. One of these days, I'm going to get rich and hire someone to do that for me! Well, maybe not ;) But it's a fun thought.
Goodni-- hey! I can't say that now, seeing as how it's the middle of the day. So...later, everyone:)

Sex and the Seedies

Sex scene tonight. In my book, that is...this one wanted to be stubborn and took some doing to get right. Sometimes that happens.
When I get stuck on the sex scenes, I try to pretend 1.)I'm Daisy Dexter Dobbs or 2.)No one in my family will ever read one of my books. Sometimes those things help the scene go. :)
And my scenes are really rather tame. Not so tame as to be ridiculous, but tamer than a lot of popular romance books. I may have to change that.
I'm sitting here here in the middle of my bed with my pumpkin seeds, staring at this screen, and I really can't think of another thing to write!
My brain feels foggy and tired from all the writing I've already done and I'm just exhausted!
I'm off...
Goodnight, everyone ;)

Black Lab and Christmas Tunes..

I've been writing while listening to Black Lab tonight. At the moment, the voice of Paul Durham is just what I need. His voice is...incredible. I didn't even know about these guys until the little 'The Shield' commercial during which they are singing 'This Night.' That song with Paul's voice really helps me write. I have the album on my computer, but that song is the one I want tonight.

I also love Kate Havnevik's Grace Master, Damien Rice, and even though I hate the name, the Butthole Surfer's Pepper has helped me lately! Other ones include Radiohead's Creep, which helps me when I'm stuck, as does the Crash Test Dummies. And though you might laugh, I get through a lot of scenes with various artists, generally female, singing Silent Night, Oh Holy Night, and other music one would generally only listen to at Christmastime! (I want to marry Sean Bean and am obsessed with pumpkin seeds, just to mention a couple of other quirky traits of mine) Thank goodness for Pandora :)
And Allison Crowe and Haley Westenra!

So much music...and all of it helps with different scenes in different books. I love writing; but without all this great music, it might be just a little less pleasurable.

I'm looking forward to watching 28 Weeks Later on DVD. I generally always wait for the DVD to come out. There are few good movies to watch, coming out soon:)

Well, though I was planning on typing more, I must go and do other important things, thus this will be cut short once again. At least I got to talk about Black Lab, and they are well worth talking about.

Goodnight, all:)

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth, everyone!

My street was rife with fireworks tonight, up to around eleven thirty, and then all was quiet. A day early, but they like to start celebrating early around these parts. Tomorrow I will grill some burgers and hotdogs and we'll watch fireworks tomorrow night from our backyard.

The later part of today I spent writing, and I emailed an author about a Sci Fi anthology any writer can contribute to, as long, of course, that his or her submission is accepted by the editor, so that might be my next thing. After I finish this novella, and the Fantasy book I'm working on, I'm going to write and submit an erotic romance to Ellora's Cave. I like having a full plate. Most of all, I like to write.

I'm still on the hunt for a good graphics tablet. Soon!

My novella awaits, so I'm off.
Night night, everyone:)

Short, Sweet and Forgotten

Today I wrote, a lot. Well, thirteen pages, which is a good many, if you ask me. I'm writing the novella for the contest, and I want to finish it and get back to the novel. I'm having fun with the novella.
It's Romance, and I might have a little trouble with that. My novel is a Fantasy book. We'll see. So far, so good.
Once I get flowing, I don't want to stop, but alas, I have other things to see to, of course, and can't write all the time;)
I brought up the novella to write in something I thought of, and forgot I was writing this blog. So long minutes passed, and when I closed Word down, I saw that I had completely forgotten to finish this blog!
I don't have a lot to say, actually. I think I'm all written out for now.
Goodnight, then...

Fun and Games

I got a computer game today called Missing Since January and once I finally got it up and running(I had to get a patch, etc)I think I'll probably have fun with it. Parts of it are a pain, but parts of it are fun. And I haven't even gotten very far yet. I saw online where one person said it took her ten months to finish. I'm hoping that was because she didn't get a chance to play it often, not because it was that hard!

I loved Deja Vu, Silent Hill, Syberia...those were entertaining games! I'm always on the lookout for games like those. I've run into some really bad ones along the way as well, but it's always good to find the gems ;)

Once I damaged my back from Tae Bo, and I was in bed for a few days playing The X-Files game on PlayStation 2, and got to the very end and didn't end up finishing it! I got better, got out of bed, and just never went back to do the end. I don't do that often! Seriously!

I wrote on the Novella last night, and am going to do a bit tonight. I'm behind because my schedule is just off. The last few days have been like that and I need to get back on track.
I can't slack with these books, I just can't.

Goodnight everybody ;)