Loved the Book Burning Alive

and I' m sure that, like most people, I have a genre I'm comfortable in, one that's my favorite, as well as other genres I like, but not quite as much. For me, that genre is paranormal romance...yes...I'm a romance junkie, but I like mine served up with vampires, shifters, and other alpha type males. One of the joys of reading is finding something new in a genre you adore...I found one this weekend. It's a book called Burning Alive by Shannon K. Butcher, it's part of a series called The Sentinel Wars. Basic concept: There's three races guarding and protecting humans from the Synestryn (bad beasties and things that go bump and slurp in the night). One of those races is dying out because no children have been born to them in centuries, and their women were wiped out by the Synestryn. One of these men stumbles across a woman who can help. She helps him. She can help his people. Here's the caveat - she's pretty sure he's going to kill her so she's leery of him. It seems that the one thing all the books I fall for have in common is a beginning where our hero meets his counterpart and decides he's keeping her. I don't know what it is, but I like it! I even remarked to my husband - "he said he's going to keep her, you know this is going to be a good book now!" I wasn't disappointed. It had a great balance of light and dark, scenes that made me laugh, and others that made me cry. A great new world, original ideas but still humming with the basics that have me addicted to reading this genre. If you're looking for something to read, something original, I would recommend this book.

I'm So Irritated

and mad, and frustrated....there's so many other words, but you get my drift, right? I spent all day working on Blood and Water, got all the way to page 97, and I felt really good about the work I'd done. This morning I was having computer issues, and needed to reboot. I closed everything out to restart. NONE OF MY EDIT NOTES ARE THERE NOW! I don't know what happened. My version of Word has an auto save feature, so even if I didn't save the last time I stopped (which I did, and I think I even did so before I closed it out, AND there was no message asking me if I wanted to save first) there should be something to show for yesterday, but there's not. Argg....I just lost a whole day's worth of work and I don't remember every comment or every note. So, here's my plan for today; wait for my bil to get back to his desk and ask him what happened (although I don't have much hope there's anything he can do at this point). The second part of my plan? Pretend like it didn't happen and move on. I'll be picking up at page 97, where my big notation of "start here" should be, and going from there. After I'm done, I'll circle around and catch the first 96 pages if they can't be found by someone better with computers than I am. What else can I do? It looks like I need to push my schedule back though, my new deadline is to have this document, with full edits, to John Walker on Monday, and then pick back up with Claimed on Tuesday (whose edits are still there - I checked). Okay, venting done, unless I can get a hold of someone on the phone. Time to get back to work.

Blood and Water Edits

For John Walker :) My eyes are crossing, that means it's time to go to bed. Today was good, got a great start on his edits, made it to page 97 of the 288 page word document. I have tomorrow and some time on Saturday to finish. I want to get back to my book, Claimed, on Monday. Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Writing Update 2

I forgot a story line I was going to introduce in the scene I worked on today, so I went back and added it, adding an additional three pages of work, making today's total 11 pages. Everyone went to bed early tonight, so I was able to get back on this evening. I know what the next scene is, so I might barricade myself in my room tomorrow and work, if not, it will keep until Monday. For now though, I'm going to read a book. I picked The Other Boleyn Sister. I just finished reading The Borgia Bride by Kalogridis, I think her first name is Karen. It was historical fiction. Real historical figures, real events that happened in their lives (and probably some rumor and speculation) woven together with fiction. I found it very interesting, even if it wasn't an uplifting, happily ever after story. The Other Boleyn Sister is also historical fiction and since the other was so intriguing, I thought I'd give this one a try. Another reason I picked up this gigantic looking book was because of another piece I read a couple months ago. It's called Hank Shank VII, but John Walker. He had this great idea to tell the story of Henry the 8th, but in modern time, and that piqued my curiosity about Henry, and about the multitude of women in his life, so now, I find myself with this new adventure to start, and it begins when I put away the computer and open the cover of the book. Happy weekend!

Research Update

Taffy has a family history now, a very loose one, but it's there. Now I'm just working up her first lesson, and "the talk", no, not that talk, but the one that introduces her to Otherworld.

Goals and Work

All of you probably know I'm a book worm, I think I might be addicted, but shhh, don't tell anyone, because I don't think I want to stop! I enjoy my addiction too much :) Some of you may even know that I got bitten by the writing bug last year. My mom might be remembering that that bug bit me much earlier than that! I guess I went into remission, but it's back now. Unfortunately, with one little one still at home, I couldn't do much. I would get idea after idea. Some of them I've writen down and gotten story starts for them so I didn't loose the feel for the idea, but mostly to get the characters to leave me alone. Well, the beginning of school is coming up, and all four will be going this year, I will actually have some quiet during the day (even if I have to put the pup in his kennel!) so I'm going to go for it. Write a story, that's my goal, and I've already learned that it's work! Luckily, I have a pretty good cheering section. I told my kids I'd mention their names on my dedication page if they did their parts around the house so I didn't have to spend time doing their things. I got some work out of them tonight :) I also have time now, so that's a plus. I have writer friends backing me up. Kathy meets me for dinner or dessert nearly every Tuesday, and we talk about our characters, what they're doing, if they're annoying us or giving us a hard time. We talk about the story progression, any epiphanies we've had for the direction we're going, or just bounce ideas off each other. Then I have friends I've never met in "real life" only on line, both wonderful authors, willing to share their ideas and experiences with me. John Walker and Jennifer Chase, thank you for helping build my confidence so I can start this journey. I linked their names to their sites or blogs, check them out :) So, here's my goal: Complete the story I'm working on by the end of the year. I've managed to work my way to 70 pages since January. I hope to be much more efficient in the next four months! I start writing on Tuesday, the kids' first day back at school. I'm excited, because tonight I started getting some research done for the next phase of the story. The story: It's about a girl named Taffy, and a vamp named Rafe. If you know me, you know there had to be a vamp! You can also expect some pixie and dragon stuff to pop up too. Again, if you know me, that was probably a given. So there, it's out, all 12 of my blog friends know so I have to do it, right? So, wish me luck!! ps - I think all those links work right, if not, it's my fault, not theirs!