Just received the final dust jacket design for Demon Princess. It's out in trade paperback too, but this is what will be on the hardcover version. I just love those horned tiaras!!

Click on image to see it larger and read the snippet on the back cover! Ah, Nikki. She is fun to write.



Being that it is the first of the month (***HAPPY CANADA DAY***) I am starting my second draft of Eden #2 with a read-through of the manuscript. It's officially due August 1st. I'll make scene-by-scene notes on what needs to be tweaked. I'm really hoping it's fairly solid. I have no idea what I shall find as I plunge back into these dark, quirky waters....

So I finished the first draft of Living in Eden #2 last week and neglected to mention it here! I'm so cheating on this blog with Twitter, just like I've been cheating on Hugh Jackman with Sam Worthington! (sorry blog. And Hugh. I still love you. Sort of. Although not as much as I used to.) I'm always looking for a chance to trot out the dancing celebratory bananas!



Yes, just shy of 85K, it is done and currently in hibernation on my hard drive until the beginning of July when I'll start the second draft. I'm in love with the main characters, but have a feeling the plot will need some significant work, but as La Nora says, she can work with a bad page, but she can't work with a blank page. So all is well.

Now I'm working on my editorial revisions for Demon Princess #2 that I want to finish up this week.

And that's pretty much it.

I'm heading into my last few scenes of Eden #2 and trying to ignore the doubt weasels that are gnawing at my ankles for this book. They've been on vacation for quite some time but seem to have returned with more friends.

It's like I logically know that a first draft can be rough, and I have budgeted plenty of time to make things bigger and better, but I'm still getting nervous that it won't be good enough. I don't just want it to be good, I want it to ROCK and lead to more books about these crazy characters who've now set up house in the condo of my head (along with my demon princess, her friends, and other sundry creatures currently simmering in my cranium).

It is this self-doubt that pushes me forward. I swear, as soon as I think whatever I've written is gold, it's a sure sign that it's lousy. So the fact that my doubt weasels are juggling with my self-confidence is, hopefully, proof that this book is going to be a good'un that I'll be proud of.

I'll just go on the record right now, though, that Darrak is my favorite hero to write so far. He fits well into the "charmer" hero archetype. A bit different from my usual "lost souls" who need the heroine's light to complete them. Darrak has his share of angst to deal with, of course, but he's definitely the funniest hero I've written and stunned that he's fallen for my heroine as much as she is. At least, I think he's funny. Eden, my heroine, is more of the straight-laced type. She has a mix of "librarian" and "crusader" heroine archetypes. While watching some of Two Weeks Notice the other day I thought -- there's two characters who remind me of Eden and Darrak! Kinda sorta.

Anyhow, talking about a WIP is only interesting for the person writing it, I think.

Here's my progress... I won't be blogging again until this puppy is done. Then I immediately move into the revisions on Demon Princess: Reign Check that are due the end of the month. I love the hero, Michael, in those books as well (as well as the love triangle dude I've introduced in book 2 - heh heh). But Michael's not exactly a joke-cracking kind of guy like Darrak is. S'okay. He's hot enough that I'll forgive him.

I had two vivid dreams last night...

#1 -- I moved to Los Angeles and had a basement apartment that had windows at the top of my walls. While in bed (it was a one room apartment) I noticed that somebody was peering in at me because my curtains were sheer. I felt exposed and a bit threatened.

#2 -- To win a contest (or, possibly, save the world) I had to walk out on a narrow platform, high in the sky when it was really windy, and tie a scarf around a target while wearing a funny outfit and at risk of death. There were a lot of people cheering me on and counting on me to do it and not mess up, but they couldn't help me. I had to do it myself.

Of course, I figure both dreams are metaphors for my writing career right now.

EDEN #2 is going fairly well. I'm getting pages done -- at 175 at the moment out of an approx. 350 page manuscript. How I feel about those pages I'm not so sure. I'm hoping I feel angsty about this book because my characters are angsty and stressed out. Just like acting, I feel that when writing I get into my characters enough to feel what they're feeling. It's a theory. In any case, I've budgeted the entire month of July to do the final draft. It's all good.

I am happy to report (and, in fact, already reported this on Twitter) that Turkish rights have been sold for DEMON PRINCESS: REIGN OR SHINE. Which totally rocks.

And I'm getting some fantastic early reader reports about the book in my inbox since there seems to be about a billion Demon Princess ARCs out and about right now because of BEA and other conventions.

And.... HOT SPELL, my Harlequin Blaze, is now up for Amazon pre-order. It's a November release and I should be seeing the cover in the next month or so. Can't wait!

Also, I'm still in love with Sam Worthington. I may have to see Terminator: Salvation again.

I already shared this on Twitter and Facebook but wanted to put it on my blog as well. After seeing the video on PubRants by Sherry Thomas, I knew I had to lemming up and do one myself for Tall, Dark & Fangsome. Who says you need to spend hundreds of dollars on an effective book trailer?



It cracks me up every time I watch it. That Sarah and Thierry. So silly. *shakes head*

--

Saw Terminator Salvation today and proclaim it infinitely watchable. I've been hearing such terrible things that I was afraid to see it (T1 and T2 are two of my favorite movies of all time), but instead I went in with very low expectations that were met and surpassed. Christian Bale was fairly one-note as John Connor, but the character of Marcus Wright played by Sam Worthington (an Aussie actor so already I am programmed to like him) was fairly perfect and layered (plus...hello? Hawtness). The trailer was riddled with spoilers for his character which is unfortunate since the twist doesn't really happen till well into the movie. However, I think I would have figured it out anyway. I would personally like to rewrite the last five minutes (to say the frakkin least. Grrr), but otherwise I thought it was way better than T3 and a fairly worthy successor of T2.



--

Plugging away on Living in Eden #2. Well, I did take a few days off to write the time travel short story, but now that's done I'm back on the main book. I'm focused on this now until I hit the end of the first draft in a month or so. My heroine has been kidnapped by the bad guys. The hero incapacitated. How ever will she get away? (As soon as I figure that out I will continue writing)



--

And just a reminder, there is less than a week left on the Brenda Novak auctions. An ARC of TD&F is up for grabs in support of this worthy cause.

I'm in the midst of writing my short story (as Michelle Maddox) for The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance. And lo and behold, I happen to see that it's already up for pre-order on Amazon. And it's out this year!! Yep, December 7, 2009 seems to be the official release date on this anthology. October for the UK.

My story is turning into something fairly interesting, I think. We'll see, right? It's a romantic thriller, a little bit futuristic, but mostly takes place right here in the present. However, time travel does play a very important role (of course).

And if I need any more inspiration, I can just look at the gorgeous cover the anthology is getting and what wonderful company my story, which right now is called THE ELEVENTH HOUR, will have.

After a disappointing week of season finales, I'm ready for a little inspiration.

I know I've always said Hugh Jackman is the actor I pictured as Thierry in my Immortality Bites books. Well, in case he's not available if a movie is ever made, I think I've found someone else who would be fairly right for the part. Monsieur Gilles Marini, who was the runner up in Dancing With The Stars.





*fans self*

Yes, he would do very nicely, I think. I knew he'd become a big star after seeing him in the Sex and the City movie. I repeat. BIG. STAR.

:)

I'm going offline until early next week trying to get a whack of pages done. Have a wonderful Memorial Weekend, my American friends!

I have no comment on American Idol last night.

Well, okay, I do have a comment. I am saddened. Distraught. Bothered. I thought I didn't care who won and I'd be happy for Kris. And I am, don't get me wrong. But I'm not as happy as I thought I would be. Which makes me realize how much I wanted Adam to win. It was a fantastic show all the way through, really high-energy and fab entertainment (Queen? KISS??? Norman Gentle?????), then as soon as Kris won, it's like the show flattened out. No one, not even Kris, seemed excited about it. It was like "Oh really? I won? Wow. Okay." I mean, good luck to Kris. He killed Ain't No Sunshine the other night. Really fabulous performance. But overall? Adam SHOULD have won.

So what does this say and how can I equate it to writing novels? Because I equate everything with writing novels, y'know.

Adam is the cult classic. The dangerous, edgy read. The book that people either love or hate because he's so different and out there and exciting.

Kris is the mainstream success. The nice, cute read. The book everyone kinda likes just fine. If he got Amazon reviews, he'd get a lot of 3 stars. Adam would get either 5's or 1's.

Whatever. They'll both do CDs and I'll buy Adam's. The question is, which will be the long-term success?

I'm over it.

Tonight SYTYCD starts and I could use some dancing. Dancing With The Stars finale was also a disappointment for me since Gilles didn't win. Meh. Ah Gilles. Merci beaucoup for every paso doble.

So far the only season finale I haven't been disappointed with was Supernatural. Lost's was a little meh for me. But I have incredibly high standards for that show and it might never live up to them again.

However, the Toronto Blue Jays seem to be doing well right now so all is right with the world.

I've been writing my new book, the second in my LIVING IN EDEN series. It's not going slowly, but I always find it difficult getting into a new book. But as I recently told a friend, usually when the writing is too much fun and easy it's an indication that it's sucking. So hopefully a harder write means less suckage when I roll into the second draft.

It's a theory.



I'm also working on the AA's for my Harlequin Blaze HOT SPELL which landed in my inbox again yesterday. I had to look that term up. Surprisingly it doesn't mean Alcoholic's Anonymous. It means author Additions and Alterations (I think). Learn something new every day. I think I'll have my cover for this in about a month. Can't wait to see it!!!

So I seem to be procrastinating today. How do I know this? Because I did my first vlog. And I screwed it up with is why it's in two parts.

Watch if you want to watch me ramble on for a few minutes about my hair, American Idol, my cat, and Supernatural.

Good times.



That ended rather abruptly. It's a learning experience, people!!!

This is the official poster for New Moon. I'm almost as excited as a sixteen year old girl!

**

Tonight's the big episode for American Idol. Go Adam! (but Kris is pretty cute, too). I'm okay with either winning, but I'd be more likely to buy Adam's CD.

Seems my to-do list is getting longer. It's kind of like Murphy's Law. The moment I want to plunge head-first into a new book and immerse myself in that world...a bunch of other stuff comes up that needs to be dealt with. So I deal with it. And I get back to the writing. As long as I hit my page count goal (7.4 per day if I want to achieve my first draft deadline) then all is well with the world. I've given my characters a lot to do in this book so hopefully the plot sweeps them along in a fun and easy-to-write fashion. Hey, I can always hope.

I have my soundtrack for EDEN2, final title TBD.

The Way I Are -- Timbaland
Cross My Heart -- Marianas Trench
Hot 'N Cold -- Katy Perry
Toxic -- Britney Spears
Bring Me to Life -- Evanescence
Devil Inside -- INXS (this one's a given for a demonic possession book :) )
Never Tear Us Apart -- INXS
Apologize -- One Republic/Timbaland
Boom Boom Pow -- Black Eyed Peas
#1 Crush -- Garbage
Breathe Me -- Sia
Leave Out All The Rest -- Lincoln Park

I forced myself to add current tunes to this one. My musical tastes normally seem to be stuck in the mid-nineties for some reason.

So that's my musical inspiration for a book about demons and romance and mystery and danger. There's even a bromance in this one which I'm looking forward to writing. I think.

Supernatural had their season finale last night. No spoilers, but it was a really good one with a major cliffhanger. Luckily they're back for at least one more season -- and things don't seem to be getting any better for the boys (which means good entertainment for us sadistic viewers). So my inspiration this week is the Winchester brother who are the very pleasant mental images I have for two of my characters: Quinn and Barkley...

Full disclosure... I used to be a bit of a Star Trek fan. I hesitate to use the word Trekkie because I never went to any conventions or, really, told anyone about my love for Star Trek: The Next Generation back in the early nineties. But I loved it dearly. (Data forever!!)

My first piece of fan fic was a horrifically bad story about the character Q who decided to allow an Earthling girl into the Q-Continuum and imbue her with omnipotent powers. And yes, that Earthling girl may have been me.

But my Star Trek love had long since left the building, replaced by Buffy-love, Lost-love, and other television shows. I wasn't interested in the new movie, the reimagining of Star Trek by JJ Abrams, creator of Alias, Lost, and several other of my faves. That is, until I heard the reviews that said it, basically, rocked.

I was intrigued. So I went to see it.

This movie had everything in it that I feel WOLVERINE was lacking (a movie I found entertaining, but ultimately unsatisfying). Emotion, story layers, character depth + major WOW factor.

From the moment Star Trek starts, it commands attention. The last opening sequence that blew me away as much as the first 10 minutes of this movie did was The Matrix. I'm not sure how they did it in such a short amount of time, but I was emotionally committed to these characters (I shed a tear!!) and on the very edge of my seat -- a position in which I remained for the following two hours.

When you're a writer, you always hear about "raising the stakes." Don't make it easy on your characters. Chase them up that metaphorical tree and throw rocks at them. Well, JJ Abrams does just that (although he uses rocket launchers rather than rocks). He could give lessons on how to make it difficult for his characters.

Have a fight scene? Put it on a small platform that a wrong step would plunge you to your death. And not only that. Depending on where you step, a column of fire might shoot up and incinerate you in an instant.

Have a starship under attack and an evacuation in progress? Have a character pregnant and going into labour.

That is ramping up the tension, people. When it's bad for your characters, make it a whole hell of a lot worse. The result? The most entertaining movie I've seen in recent memory.

Plus... Spock as (romantic) bad ass? Kirk as cocky bad boy? Bring that action on. Kirk could have used just a tad bit of Spock's angst, though. Just a TAD.

Now I only wish this had been the pilot for a new TV show.

Have you seen the movie yet? What did you think of it??

I feel rested and recharged after taking a couple days off. I'm ready to start my next book -- well, ready might be the wrong word to use, actually. I'm in "prep mode" right now. I am slowing immersing myself into the world of Eden Riley, the heroine in LIVING IN EDEN -- and trying to figuring out exactly what plot and themes I want to tackle in book #2, tentatively titled EDEN'S DEMON.

I know several key scenes and I have the first chapter already done, but I want to chart my journey out a bit better before I begin because I know without a detailed map I tend to falter and end up with a lot of revision time when it comes to doing the second draft. Since I'm not much of a multi-tasker, I like to wait until I'm finished one project before I jump into the next with both feet. So here I am. Loitering on the edge of a deep cliff, wishing I was wearing more comfortable shoes.

Starting a new book, for me, is the scariest part of the process. And damn it all...it never seems to get easier! ;) The idea of writing 350-400 pages of cohesive plot, interesting characters, and sustaining conflict + attempting to inject at least a layering of humor to it all, is not a small undertaking. It's a real leap of faith -- faith in myself that I can actually do it. But I swear, this difficult and brain-draining act of creation is what gets me up in the morning....or early afternoon, depending on the day. There's no greater feeling than having a good writing day and getting into that oh-so-elusive zone with the fingers and words fly as if channeled to you through some higher power.

Dude, I'm getting a tad metaphysical, but you know what I mean. I think.

Being a writer is the hardest job I've ever had, the least reliable, the most stressful, the most competitive... but I would not trade it for anything in the world. Well, maybe being a movie star. But even then I might still write on the side.

LIVING IN EDEN was a lot of fun to write and I developed a big world for it before I did anything else. My first task is to reread that book and reacquaint myself with the characters and their issues. These characters have A LOT of issues. I've told a few people that Darrak, the demon, may be my favorite "hero" character I've had from my books -- at least as far as writing him goes. He has a really good sense of humor which makes him a lot of fun to write. Sure he angsts and stresses, but he balances it with some major wit and he couldn't be described as emo.

I wrote this in 3rd person all-heroine POV because I knew in other books I wanted to leave open the opportunity to have hero POV. And I'm going to utilize that a lot in EDEN'S DEMON. This book is going to have a focus on Darrak, while the first one focused on Eden.

And, yes, I realize this means nothing to readers of this blog because the first book isn't out yet! But this is my thought process when planning a new book. And this will be my 12th contracted book I've written. Holy crap!!

So...I'm going to read the first one again and make my "bible" of things I need to remember -- character's looks, world building stuff, hints I left myself (without perhaps even realizing it) about future plots. Then I'll make a bullet point list of "must have" scenes. Then I'll put those bullet points in order of how I think they'll appear in the book. Then I'll fill in the gaps with sub-bullet points. Then I'll break it down into three acts. This part sounds like work, but honestly? Pre-writing is my favorite part of the process. Everything is still so clean and shiny and perfect. It's only when the writing actually starts that things stop going the way I had them planned out. But, as long as I know roughly where I want to have happen in the middle, the climax, and how this puppy is going to end, I'm golden.

I estimate my official writing start date will be Monday or Tuesday depending on how those bullets go and how neatly my GMC (Goal, Motivation and Conflict) fall into place.

Oooo, I'm getting a tingle. I'm excited. And apprehensive. And scared. And buzzed. And craving chocolate (damn you Nutrisystem for sending me 10 crappy almond biscottis and NO chocolate bars!).

Personal deadline for first draft: July 5th. Official deadling: August 1st.

Let's write a book.

But of course, I do need my inspiration. Since I've already worked with these characters, I already have them cast in the movie in my head. Darrak doesn't look exactly like Ryan Reynolds, but he does have his body and his sense of humor....... so close enough.... ;)

Got 18 minutes to be entertained? This is good stuff... couldn't stop watching... plus, I love talented British boys... :)

All right, I'm finished my YA. I'm finished my new proposal. Now, at long last, I can do my RT Orlando Post!

I really need to journal while I'm at these conventions. They go by in a blur and a week later I know I'm going to forget to mention a ton of great people I've met and a lot of what I did. So if I don't mention you by name, please don't hate me. The memory. She isn't what she used to be.

I'm going to mainly focus on the pics I took to refresh my memory.



I took a pic of the two posters Grand Central Publishing had in "promo alley" of their current and upcoming titles. I spot a purple and a black cover I'm rather fond of.



Jackie Kessler schmoozes with Barry Eisler before each went in to speak at separate panels.



Christina Cross gives me her best Sherrilyn Kenyon's "Simi" impression. Doesn't she look fabulous? I am so dressing like this next year. Well, maybe just the coffin purse.



RT reviewer Jill Smith (who's so nice!), the screamingly funny Dakota Cassidy, and Jackie, who always rocks.



Some of my fellow Reluctant Adults take their places in Club RT, where authors loiter and readers can come in and chat at their leisure. Richelle Mead, Stacia Kane (who is blonder than I am and this just cannot be), Caitlin Kittredge (whose netbook I covet), and Mark Henry (Seattle sunshine). I believe that is straight caffeine they are all mainlining due to hectic writing schedules and doing 100 conferences each this year. Not pictured is the fab Michele Bardsley...where did she go?



RT has panels about writing and reading -- I think there are three tracks: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, and Young Adult. This one I believe was about writing an urban fantasy series. Dude, it's all a blur. But I really do need to learn more about these sorts of things from the experts. From left to right is Richelle Mead, Jaye Wells (covering her face, silly girl), Mark Henry, Jocelyn Drake, Ilona Andrews (taking lessons from Jaye on the face covering), Jeaniene Frost, and Mario Acevedo.



Rather than a tall hotel, RT decided to hold their convention this year at a sprawling compound. It was very pretty but I have to say I'd prefer a real hotel next year. This is the building I was in with my roomie and fellow Toronto Romance Writer Christine D'Abo.



To show how sprawling this place was, here's the "You Are Here" map they had in multiple places on the maze-like grounds. Just in case you got lost. Which I did. Frequently. I kept expecting to meet up with a minotaur.



However, I did like looking at the blue skies and palm trees. It was perfect weather every day of the convention.



One day while wandering aimlessly through the labyrinth, I took some pics of the beautiful flowers they had along the paths. There were also tiny lizards that scurried about and wanted to sell me insurance.



This was the view from the pool bar, at which I spent a great deal of time. Although I did not have a hangover this year since I barely drank any booze. I'm still recovering from the Harlequin Party last year in San Francisco.



Here's some random blonde with the divine Elizabeth Hoyt at the Grand Central author's dinner. I had the salmon. It was deelish. Later in the week I extracted a free copy of To Beguile a Beast from Elizabeth which I am devouring right now.



This has been shown on many, many blogs, but why stop there? Jaye Wells is forced to don a gun bra and sing She Bangs on camera. Why? Because we love her. I also procured a free copy of her debut novel Red-Headed Stepchild. Because I like to support my peers' writing careers by begging for free books. It's what going to RT is all about!



My view from the big book signing, sitting between the wonderful Robin Rotham and Gerri Russell who help make the three hours go by very quickly. Thanks to all the awesome readers who either bought a copy of one of my books or brought in their own copies for me to sign, especially the well-worn copies of my older stuff. You all rock!



Getting away from the convention, a bunch of us went to Pirate Dinner Theater. Which was pretty bad. But Tor Editor, the hilarious Heather Osborn got a drink in a coconut, which really made me want one.



Even Richelle got in on the coconut action. But I decided against it due to my recent "don't buy crap you're going to regret" philosophy. Sigh. I want a coconut.



Agent Miriam Kriss writes her review on the back of a comment card. I suggested instead of handing it in, she keeps it as a memento of the evening. You know, in lieu of a coconut pirate head.



Oh why can't you be mine, coconut pirate head? Why???



I stayed till the bitter end of this convention. The BITTER end. Which, FYI, is called Psychic Sunday. I did some past life regression (no comment) and met my spirit guide (because that's what happens on Psychic Sunday, people) with über-reader Blakey Girl. And then, to top it off, Sasha White (my new BFF) and I wandered the empty ghost-town-like corridors of the conference hall and came upon...free books? What? And what do we do? We dove in like the bibliophiles we are. This was our take from the goody room leftovers. Better than chocolate. Well, almost.



Last but not least, check out this poster the hotel put up to advertise their restaurant. That's targeted marketing if ever I saw it.

But, yeah, take this post and triple it, because that's everything that happened. I didn't take any pics at the Charlaine Harris Charlatans fan club party I got to go to, which was fantastic. I won a signed copy of one of Charlaine's books and met some awesomely friendly readers from all over North America.

I must say I didn't attend any of the theme dinners. Next year, I'm bringing my fairy wings. I seriously am! Well, maybe not. We'll have to see how it goes.

The End

Finished the 2nd draft of DEMON PRINCESS: REIGN CHECK yesterday at a healthy 72,400 words. The first book was 64K, but I needed a little extra breathing room in this one. A lot happens to my little demon princess! And now, hopefully, it all makes much more sense than the first draft did. I'm going to send it to my agent for a read and then, barring any major issues he might have with it, it's off to my Walker editor. Rah! Oh, and check out the Walker Fall catalogue available on their website with a very nice double-page spread of REIGN OR SHINE. (Links to a PDF)

Today I want to brainstorm a new proposal and hopefully maybe even get the synopsis written. PLUS I have to read through my Harlequin Blaze line edits. I need these two things done asap because I need to need to start on EDEN'S DEMON (book 2 in my new Eden Riley series) this week. That August 1st deadline is waving at me very hard. I estimate six weeks to write the first draft and then the rest of the time to make it good. And I do want it to be good. Great, in fact. It'll be fun to play with (aka: torture mercilessly) these characters again.

I don't think I've mentioned this here in the blog, but the first chapter of TALL, DARK & FANGSOME is now readily available in my books section (the first three chapters will soon be exclusively available in my Yahoo group so join up if you want to read more). Be careful, though, since this book is the second part of a story arc started in STAKES & STILETTOS, it's riddled with spoilers for that book. So if you haven't yet read S&S, read this at your own risk of spoilage!! :)

And speaking of TD&F, I've donated an ARC (advance reading copy) of this book to the Brenda Novak 2009 Online Auction to Benefit Diabetes Research that is taking place now through the end of May. Want to read TALL, DARK & FANGSOME three months before it's available on the shelves? Bid for it and support a great cause!

And finally, YES, my Romantic Times convention post is a-comin' eventually. Then again, so is Christmas....... ;)

I'm back from the Romantic Times convention and will be doing a longer post about that this week -- had a great time and hung out with tons of awesome people. Right now I'm working hard on the (tricky) second draft of DEMON PRINCESS: REIGN CHECK and won't be up for air from that for a couple of days, but I am happy with how it's turning out. Ahh!!

Just thought I'd share the German cover for Stakes & Stilettos that just went up on amazon.de. The translated title is "Sarggeflüster," which means Coffin Whisper. Kind of a mega goth title to go with the totally cute vamp chick lit cover art! Sarah doesn't have any time in this book to go shopping or stroll through graveyards -- she's more focused on trying not to kill or be killed -- but I think it's completely adorable. I loves it. The release date on this is November '09.

Edit: Scratch that. Sarah does go shopping at the mall in this one for some retail therapy. It's all about priorities, people.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Orlando, Florida. Since it's cold and rainy here in Southern Ontario at the moment, I am looking very much forward to it. I'm running around today getting last minute chores done.

I'm going to be Twittering while I'm there, probably exclusively (meaning I won't do a longer blog post until I'm back). Feel free to follow my Floridian adventures at www.twitter.com/michellerowen

I've been doing a lot of soul searching and character figuring out on my YA and I'm now ready to start my second draft. Which means it's coming with me and I'll be spending a good chunk of time in the room working on it. Probably. I would normally take this week off and not do any writing, but I really need to get this book done so I can start on my other one that's due in three months. It's cool. I can handle it.

Okay, I have more to do and things to pack so adios for now!

I'm on the Fictionistas blog today for an interview with author Gwen Hayes and I'm giving away a signed copy of Stakes & Stilettos! Check it out...

--

I finished the read-through of Reign Check yesterday and must say that I've learned something very important about my creative process, and it is this:

If, while I'm writing the first draft, a book seems brilliant and fabulous, it probably isn't and will need tons of revisions. Whereas, if the first draft is a slog and every page seems a chore, the first draft will be really good.

I swear, the first half of this book wrote itself and was so much fun. The second half was tiring, draining and painful. Therefore, the second half is good and the first half needs mucho worko.

Why? Because I think writing character angst and internal monologues are more fun to write than to read. And action and danger are more fun to read than write. It's a theory.

Luckily I know where I went wrong and how to fix it. However, this means Mr. Laptop is coming with me to Orlando next week.

Which brings me to my next subject...

--

I'm going to be in Orlando next week!! Woo hoo!

That's all I have to say about that right now.

--

Inspiration this week.... an oldie but a goody... Josh Holloway has been the inspiration for two of my heroes (Rogan in Countdown and Jacob in Hot Spell, my Harlequin Blaze, out in November). And he's also the inspiration for the bad guy in Reign Check. Multi-purpose hotness!

I have to share this fabulous collage a reader, Beth Schultz, did for me for Bitten & Smitten. Basically, I found out she 1) enjoys the Immortality Bites series, and 2) is wicked amazing at this sort of thing, as seen on her Stamp Insanity blog, so I totally begged her to do one for me. And to my surprise she agreed! She wanted to know my favorite scene in B&S, and it's the one at the end on the bridge w/ Sarah and Thierry, so she has some dialogue from that part. Cool!

It's very delicate with dozens of pasted down cut-outs and sparkle and layering. Looks fab. I'm going to frame it. Thanks so much, Beth! :)

(click to see large version)