Abe Lincoln--Super-Hero

I read the book; I so want to see the movie this summer.

What I'm Currently Reading

Don't worry folks! This doesn't mean I'm not writing!

But I don't like bring my laptop or my Kindle to the Day Job since we've caught a couple of people in the employee area. (Yeah, right, sure you were looking for the bathroom.) So I only bring paperbacks for my breaks since people are less likely to steal them.

I finished L.A. Banks' Conquer the Dark over New Year's. You can tell Ms. Banks rushed to finish this before she became too sick to write. Still, the story has the depth, humor, and passion that all her books have. It saddens me that this is the last new books of hers that I'll ever read.

I also finally had time to read Stephanie Bond's last book in her Southern Roads series, Baby, Don't Go. The beginning of the book with its militant feminism was a little too '70's for me, but once you're past the first five chapters, the story rolls with Ms. Bond's usual humor and charm.

I'm still working my way through Jim Butcher's Side Jobs, an anthology of his Harry Dresden short stories, most of which I've read before. The story The Warrior has my all-time favorite quote: "Harry Dresden. Saving the world through one random act of destruction at a time."

I finally pulled Urban Legend by Erica Orloff from the TBR pile. This one was published in 2004 as part of Silhouette's Bombshell line, and yes, I'd bought it new. Shows you the size of my TBR pile. LOL I'll report on this one once I get into it.

Have a great Valentine's Day, my readers! I wish you lots of chocolate and love!

Don't You Just Hate It When...

When they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, they weren't joking.

The plan was to release Amish, Vamps & Thieves this week.

But as I was doing the final read-thru, I realized something. There was a plot hole. A big plot hole. One that escaped the four crit partners, two beta readers, my editor, my proofreader and me through the zillion rounds of drafts.

ARGH!!

So, my sincere apologies to all my readers for the delay, but I'm not about to put out a substandard product. I owe you more than that. I promise I WILL make this delay up to you!

Why Reading Is Like Vegetables

Like a lot of parents, I had trouble getting my son to read. Things were clicking along until he hit five and started to school. Then we had the Kindergarten Teacher from Hell. The one who told my kid when he stumbled over one word that if he couldn't read he was stupid. What didn't help was the shift (at the same time) in our neighborhood from parents who encouraged education to parents who viewed the public school system as free babysitting.

Around the same time, GK decided he hated vegetables because all the other kids at school hated vegetables.

*sigh*

Threats do not work with GK. They never have. I've had to use a lot of stealth techniques in the areas of both vegetables and reading to maintain his appropriate growth rate.

The Bait and Switch


I pretend I can't find X vegetable or book. "Why don't you do Y instead to fulfill your requirements?"


The Bargain


If you eat X number of vegetable pieces (read X number of pages), you can play X minutes on the Xbox.


Reverse Psychology


We take GK to see X movie ("Hey, there's a book about X movie, but don't read it"). Or we order X vegetable at a restaurant and say he can't have any. GK will partake because thinks he's getting away with something.


Substitutions

Since GK loves the Halo video game and Strawberry Pop-Tarts, I'll say, "Why don't you read a Halo novel while snacking on fresh strawberries."

So, what do y'all do to interest your kid in things they need but hate?

Location, Location, Location

How important is location to you, the reader? How authentic do you want the experience to be?

I'm working on the edits for Amish, Vamps & Thieves, the fourth book in the Bloodlines series. The story takes Anne, Augustine coven's Amish enforcer, back home to Ohio for the first time in sixty years.  My proofreader flagged a few things that confused her. In almost every case, the question revolves around an Ohio-ism.

Or more accurately, a Northwest Territory-ism.

Wait! you say. Ohio is smack dab in the middle of the U.S.

Now it is. Back in the 1700's, it was called the Northwest Territory (NWT) because it was, well, northwest of the original thirteen colonies. A huge swath of land between the western Great Lakes, the Ohio River Valley and the Missouri River that eventually became the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.

If I mention euchre, folks in Texas look at me funny. Unless they're a transplant. Then they'll ask, "Got a deck?" A carbonated beverage is 'pop'. Athletic footware is pronounced 'ten-ah-shoes'.

So what do y'all (or you guys) think?

Soundtrack for Blood Magick

I'm one of those people who listens to music while writing. Sometimes, I simply need sound to create a particular mood. Mozart for emotion and introspection. Madonna or Prince for a really hot sex scene. G'n'R or Aerosmith for action.

Over the last eight years, I've put together a specific playlist for each novel I've written. Here's the soundtrack I put together for Blood Magick (Bloodlines #1):

Man, I Feel Like a Woman by Shania Twain
Who Do You Think You Are by Spice Girls
Angel by Sarah McLachlan
How Soon Is Now? by Love Spit Love
Defying Gravity by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowyth
Transylvanian Concubine by Rasputina
Sooner or Later by Madonna
The Continental by Prince & the New Power Generation
Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones
Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen
Breathe (2 AM) by Anna Nalick
7 by Prince & the New Power Generation
Love Song for a Vampire by Annie Lennox
Say You'll Be There by Spice Girls

Questions and Comments from Readers

Over the last couple of weeks, I received questions and comments from readers. These are things I need to add to the FAQ list at some point, but I'll address the two most prominent ones here.

"I'm disapponted you didn't stick to your 2011 release schedule."

Let me tell you guys that you aren't the only ones. I admit I screwed up big time. This is a whole new career for me, and I'm still figuring out what works and what doesn't. I learned my lesson about overscheduling my time, and I think that's reflected in my 2012 schedule in my last post. The last thing I want to do is disappoint any of my readers.

"What's the correct reading order of the Bloodlines series?"

Each Bloodlines novel is a self-contained story, but there is an over-arching plotline that will be resolved in the ninth and last full-length novel. If you're a series chronology nut like I am though, the proper reading order of the novels is:

Blood Magick
Zombie Love
Zombie Wedding
Amish, Vamps & Thieves (coming soon!)
Blood Sacrifice (coming late 2012)

Thanks for the questions and comments, folks!