It is a big deal to a kiwi author!

We hear a lot about the price of books, right?
How books are too expensive... well, mostly I hear this from people who don't live in New Zealand or Australia - but from the USA, where books are CHEAP. Seriously... US$18 is cheap for a paperback. (US$18 equals NZ$23) But, that does depend on your frame of reference.
Sure Americans can get paperbacks for under ten bucks - so I guess that makes eighteen expensive, right?
To us, down here at the bottom of the fucn world... we don't understand what you are complaining about.
Paperbacks in stores here retail at about NZ$35. - which is almost US$28. Yeah, thirty-five dollars kiwi is twenty-eight American.

Now do you see why eighteen dollars is no big deal??

We seriously don't mind paying US$9.99 for an ebook (although we'd prefer to pay half that, but it's still cheap for us - compared to a paperback!).

What is a big deal is the ridiculous amount we have to pay in postage to get cheaper paperback books from anywhere else in the world. It ends up costing twice as much to get the book here!

(Please note I am referring to paperbacks - not hardbacks, because unless you are a millionaire people in NZers don't by hardbacks... they are way way too expensive.)

So, I buy my books from Book Depository. Because they don't charge shipping. (I did buy some from Amazon but only because I could have them shipped free to an American address - where I was.)

Now, Book Depository accept NZD. (No more paying in Pounds or USD and having to convert.)

What that means is -

MY BOOKS ARE NOW VERY AFFORDABLE. (and no shipping costs are attached.)

Check this out: killerbyte - terrorbyte - exacerbyte

Not only are they very affordable but they are beautiful. Truly beautiful. Much nicer than the mass market paperbacks available in our stores.

 Because I am so excited about this:

I will do another run of bookplates - anyone from NZ or Aus who buys the paperbacks can request specially designed bookplates - signed by me - free of course. (They're gorgeous and you stick them into the front of the book.)

Now off you go and buy the eco-friendly paperbacks from Book Depository and delight in the beauty. :D

Friday...

Real quick blog - Ellie has blogged over here :Bounce

I am not going too, except to say - Jeanette when you get back from Queenstown, email me. :)

It's a really fabulously sunny day.

Having awesome friends over for dinner tonight - and looking forward to it. Meanwhile - housework needs doing, I have some reading to finish, and my throat hurts (I think) - which isn't surprising, as Breezy has a sore throat too.

Tee shirt?? Come on then...

I'm giving away a terrorbyte tee shirt.

It's a white tee shirt, medium sized, unisex, and brand new.

Looks kinda like this but a medium and without Action Man in it...

To go in the draw to win the tee shirt all you need do - is leave me a comment on this blog and tell me who your favorite Byte character is and post a link to my blog on your Twitter or Facebook or whatever.

You have until next Friday at 8AM - that would be Sept 30th. (We're talking New Zealand time here, so don't leave it until the last minute and miss out!) ...

The more the merrier so share the love. :)




(And yes, I will post the tee shirt anywhere in the world.)

Giving away a ....

It's Friday and I can't be enthused about working today. (Still waiting on answers and that's just fucked me off beyond belief and now time differences are playing a factor in the ability to get an email sorted... it's just not a good look!)

So, to cheer myself up...

I'm going to giveaway a terrorbyte tee shirt.
It's a white tee shirt, medium sized and brand new.

To go in the draw to win the tee shirt all you need do is leave me a comment on this blog and tell me who your favorite Byte character is and post a link to my blog on your Twitter or Facebook or whatever.

You have until next Friday at 8AM - that would be Sept 30th. (We're talking New Zealand time here, so don't leave it until the last minute and miss out!) ...

The more the merrier so share the love. :)


(And yes, I will post the tee shirt anywhere in the world.)

Watching the clock...

I looked up today and realized it was after 1 PM. After one and I hadn't done the dishes, or laundry, or anything houseworky at all really. (Except get the kids to school and walk and feed the dog.)

So what was I doing all day??

Writing.

Reading.

Writing.

Working. :)

Learning that the new characters I'm writing are pretty cool people and that I really enjoy them. Veronica/Ronnie is a groovy character who has a huge amount of potential. HUGE. She's sort of a kiwi version of Ellie, without the songs, TV shows, insanity, ghosts, and without the Glock, or the rifle - which you don't know about yet anyway, so as you were.
Her side-kicks (partners...) Jenn and Steph have masses of potential too. I like Ronnie's nana and I really like her cousin Donny. I love that it's all set here in Upper Hutt. And the fact that Ronnie has a Greyhound is just icing really -beautiful little roses made of white and pink icing.
And that I get to blow up trolls... well, that's like the sparkly luster dust on the icing roses.
Joyful stuff.
And then, to bring even more joy... the zombie potential.

Now I have to keep an eye on the time so I'm not late to pick Breezy up from school!!

Meanwhile - go by my books -if you haven't already! (No, really... go on! Links are over on your right. Unless you wanna get them via iTunes, or B&N, or Book Depository.)

These days the stars seem out of reach

It's probably not true, but right now, here, today - the stars seem out of reach.

I've spent more time writing about Romeo than I have writing anything else. That's okay, I'm pretty much just killing time anyway. And Romeo is a willing subject as is Missy the fat grey cat.

Limbo is not such a fun place to be. There is stuff that needs doing - blurbs that need requesting and I can't do that at the moment because I don't know what's going on.

It worse when it's not my doing but the result of a lack of communication from other parties. Patience? What fuc'n patience? I have none. I did have some, but it's long since gone... we're now heading into "cutting off nose despite face" territory.
Although I should be able to prevent any rashness for the next day or so - at least there is an email in the works - designed to get us some answers. (Yeah, us, not alone in this, thank God!)
 The problem is - if it's not acknowledged very very quickly... I won't be able to stop myself taking the next step.
Ever seen a Sagittarius really pissed off?? Stick around, it's spectacular!

Meanwhile I need to think about something other than the total destruction of those that fuck with me because that's just not healthy.
 :-)

Last night was Admin One's birthday dinner. Both Admins had a chance to see the "Romeo and the chicken" story, and enjoyed it. (Whew! Now not worried about giving it to Anna.)

I suppose I could open this kiwi story and have some fun killing people/zombies/whoever.

Admins thought I should've been writing notes last night... no need. The Needy Nut-Job we were chuckling about doesn't warrant much note taking - it's not like there is a personality that needs capturing for the story. Needy Nut-Jobs never have much by way of personality, and this one's a stalker - says it all really.

Meanwhile I'm listening to Bon Jovi's These Days album.

Tuesday, a birthday, and a new byte novel?

Howdy!

As of yesterday we have had Romeo for three months. I can't imagine life without him now. He's such an awesome dog. I'm just going to throw this out there - I consider him to be the best dog I've ever owned. (And that's saying something, because before Romeo - Jake was the best dog in the world!)

So anyway - today is Admin One's birthday. It's not quite as fancy as Admin Bubbles birthday - we're not in NYC having dinner with Lorenza Ponce... (Now that was a hilarious night!!)
Dinner is at our place tonight - just easier with kids and Action Man not getting home from work until after six. The cake is made - here's hoping I remember to get the cream this morning!

Last night I was minding my own business - watching TV, sort of scrawling in a notebook at the same time. Then I read what I'd written. Hmmm. I have barely finished Soundbyte -the 5th Byte, still have no release date or even ball park - don't get me fucn started cos it's really starting to piss me off - for Flashbyte - the 4th Byte and now I find myself with the opening chapter of a brand new Byte novel.
Well, color me surprised.

I did mention earlier that I wanted a break from Bytes - I have a NZ novel I want to devote time to and start the agent query process with.
Yes, that's right, agent query process.
The kiwi novel needs to be in book stores - mortar stores - stores here in NZ and everywhere else! It pisses me off that I'm not eligible to enter the Ngaio Marsh awards because my books are NOT available in NZ stores. They're available online through NZ stores - at a ridiculously inflated price - because apparently greed runs rampant. And no, for the umpteenth time, I don't get any more money no matter how much stores charge for my book... it makes no difference to me what stupid price they sell them for except that they have the price so inflated NO ONE will (or should) buy them from any NZ online outlet. (You should buy them from Book Depository because they don't charge shipping to NZ or most other places.)

The whole wanting a break from Byte novels is not looking like a happening thing right now... and that is annoying.

Would be nice to hit this New Zealand thing with all my attention. Would also be nice to make some real money. Hello, advance paying publishing houses, it's me Cat... have I got a story for you! :-) (actually I have the makings of a series... which is even better than a story!)

Seeings I have no fucn clue when Flashbyte will be released I don't feel that I can devote all my attention to the NZ novel - it's way too hard jumping back and forth between Kiwi and American characters.

I have itchy feet - or is that itchy fingers - or maybe an itchy mind. I need to move forward and moving forward is going to involve some changes.
The less information and less communication, the more I see change ahead.
I don't like chasing answers.

On that note, I'm off to take Breezy to the doctor. (Possible ear infection, again.)

Poor Romeo doesn't get a walk this morning.

Sunday you failed, there's no sun.

Nothing worse than a day that promises something and doesn't deliver... and today Sunday is a great big fail. Haven't seen any sun. Seen quite a bit of rain though. Bit over it, quite frankly. SUN-day, should always involve SUN, especially in the spring. Almost used a hashtag then. It was close. Very close!

I think we all know it won't be long before I use hashtags in a blog - I've already used them in actual text messages not just text tweets... caught myself using them in email too.

So, today was a sun fail.

We went out to The Fig Tree cafe with the Admins. None of us were very impressed. Over priced and not that good, quite frankly.
But we did it.

We also went down to Animates and got the cat crack... enough to last her a month. Hopefully she'll now be a happy Fat-fat. Also, got some dog treats... seems Romeo LOVES duck. Thought he might like it, he does enjoy poultry. But he LOVES duck treats... this stuff is like duck jerky and smells like roast duck.

Went and bought some lovely big notebooks too. I got 3. A4 sized. Should keep me busy for a bit. I actually just needed one for something special but they were on sale. Ya see, my favorite ex-cop is back in the country and there is the promise of stories and unsolved cases from around here... and I will need to make notes. Lots of notes. Yes, I do intend to use this stuff in a few UH based mysteries/thrillers. I don't plan on using real names... and I will adapt the situations to suit. (Poetic licence.) Let's hope we get plenty of time to catch up!!

Yesterday we took Romeo to the GAP run. He seemed to enjoy the first little while and he wanted to play but none of the dogs wanted to play with him. Think he missed Cleo, she was always up for a game of chase. Romeo wouldn't run at all unless Action Man ran with him. We gave him an hour, during which time he spent most of the time by the gate crying or leaning on the fence next to us for cuddles. He doesn't like being behind a fence and not being able to get to us. All in all, not a great success for our boy. Romeo is used to weekend runs with Cleo, and having us all walking together while he and Cleo run like maniacs - and circle us, or just walk next to us, whenever they like. Kids, dogs, grown-ups all together.

He mixed with the other hounds for awhile, and said hello to everyone.

Then he kept coming back for hugs and crying to get out. :(
Yes, the orange you see are my tie-dyed orange jeans. (Pure awesome, right?)

If you click on this picture you should be able to see Romeo chasing Action Man. Romeo gave Action Man a good head start but caught him quickly.

When 30 meters equals 6 strides... it take no time at all for a Greyhound to catch a person. (Yes, Greyhounds have a stride length of about 5 meters!!)
Romeo is well aware how pathetic humans are in comparison as his favorite game on a Sunday is to chase Squealer at the park... he gives her a LONG head start.


I've still got a certain book in my bag! Been carrying it around all weekend. Hoping to catch up with Anna and Dave and the kids next weekend and hand over the book! (And seeing the kids will make Breezy very happy... she's really missed Soph and Jojo this weekend.)


So, how was your weekend??

The weekend stretches ahead.

All in all the week wasn't too bad. Bit tired of rugby but madly in love with the haka flash mobs!! What girl doesn't love a good haka??

I wrote my first kids book, then I re-wrote it, cos I didn't like it that much. I like it more now. Action Man doesn't - he apparently doesn't like rhyming. I did point out it's for kids, and kids like rhyming. Would've been a shite load easier to write if it didn't rhyme - to be perfectly honest. Also, I have no idea why it does, it just does.
Oh well, it's done.

Hopefully we'll get a chance to meet up with Anna and Dave this weekend, and hand the book over to their kids. (So very nervous!)

Hmmm, I hear a guitar. I do believe Action Man is playing upstairs. Wow, it's been a while. That ain't the pignose amp either, he's got the big amp out. Crikey!

Doesn't look like there is much on the idiot box tonight. Not until late anyway, and I'll be asleep by then... if I'm very lucky. Meanwhile I shall resort to a DVD or maybe I'll read.

Romeo was playing outside this afternoon with the girls. It was sunny and he was having fun. Guess Friday is fun day for him too?



Tomorrow there is a GAP run - I think this time he'll enjoy it. He's run enough weekends with Cleo to know that running is fun now. Lots of fun. Romeo didn't like the last GAP run. He didn't like being separated from us by the fence and really did not enjoy the noisy argy-bargy, wanting out fairly early on. Now, he's quite vocal with Cleo - and they seem to have conversations, and he's way more willing to get in amongst it. That's a nice way of saying our boy races dirty. He's still got some competitive spirit there. Yay for muzzles!! lol

Right now, I'm heading for a wine bottle.
Feeling like I might deserve a nice glass of something red!

Hope you all had a good week.
Got plans for the weekend??

Messing about ...



Romeo and the Chicken.

I'm pretty sure most of you know that there are chickens in ALL the Byte books - not so much the short stories, but in each novel there is at least one chicken. It's purposeful. I go into a little bit of a panic if I can't remember the where the chicken scene is once I've finished writing the book - this morning I couldn't remember if there was a chicken in Soundbyte. Doh! Of course there is, but I had to go look. lol

Guess it follows on that the only kids book I've written (apart from a Christmas one for the girls and grandboys a few years back) has a chicken... okay, a chicken carcass but it's still chicken!! It counts.

I like chickens. Fried, roasted, marinated.

But that's not the whole reason why there are chickens in each and every Byte novel.

The chickens are for Sue and they remind me of how much we've laughed over the years.

Having some fun...

The other day I had the urge to write a kids book - a picture book with words. The more I looked at Romeo asleep on his bed the more I knew he needed to be in a book. Not just a book for adults, like "Wherefore Art Thou" - the kiwi mystery I'm working on. but something kids can enjoy. (I hope they'll enjoy it, anyway.)

So today, with a little help in the photography department by my friend Anna, I finished the book.

It's for five really cool kids.

I've printed and bound two copies. One for my kids and one for Anna's.

They're numbered. I will at some stage print the other three copies, that I intended to print, and that will be that.

I also was fiddling about with a short book for kids about Romeo (and Greyhounds in general). Not sure what I'll do with that yet, or if I'll do anything with it. It's just something fun for me to do... this is me taking a break. :)

I mess with stuff when I'm not "writing".

It's not easy writing for kids, even for kids I know - or especially for kids I know. I much prefer writing for adults. If I scare an adult, that's awesome... but I don't wanna give kids nightmares, so for me, writing for kids is about keeping it fairly simple and NOT killing people.... (That makes it hard.)

These are a few of the moments that made me want to write about Romeo:

4, 7, and 13...

Cryptic? Not if you've seen my Facebook page, G+, or a tweet from me last night. (Maybe this morning actually, because last night it was 3, 10, and 13.)

I hadn't bothered looking at Mobipocket for weeks... mainly because last time I looked killerbyte was still lurking in the top twenty on the Suspense and Thriller list, but the two books I'm most proud, of were no where to be seen. MIA.
Something told me to go look last night...
I found terrorbyte at #3, killerbyte at #10, and exacerbyte at #13.
Excited much? Fuck yes!! Jesus mother Mary! (You really have to hear that with an Irish accent to get the full effect.)
Pretty cool, huh? - Not the accent, but the having all THREE books in the top 15.

That's set me up for a pretty freaking awesome week.

I also managed to finally convert Soundbyte to a kindle file AND send it to my Kindle. Oddly the file name somehow changed in the process. Can't figure it out. The files is called Soundbyte - yet when it arrived on my Kindle it had renamed to "While my guitar gently weeps." WTF? So, I checked the file name of the kindle file on my laptop and the file name of the actual doc... Soundbyte. Hmmm. Weird.

Well, whatever the book's called at the moment - I need to read it without the ability to move anything, change anything or add anything... it's okay to make notes, that is the whole point! But no editing as I read. I have to get at least one complete read of it as it is. Then I can go back over it and move.change, add to my hearts content.

Still waiting on a cover for Flashbyte, a ball park release date, and the next round of edits. Which, if you know me, is dangerous. The longer I have a manuscript sitting here the more I want to will add/move/change stuff. Doesn't matter that I have already sent the first round of edits back to my editor... because it was ages ago, and the story is still kicking around in my head. Maybe more so, after writing 'The End' on Soundbyte.
It's mostly little things - extra detail, really. Nothing that changes the story or alters the end or anything huge.
Just tweaking, fiddling, messing with details, playing... driving myself nuts. :)

So, how was your weekend? What'd you do? Where'd ya go? Was it fun? Do you wanna do it again?

I'm buzzing - this three-books-sitting-at-reasonable-positions thing is awesome.

:)

Please turn your brain on.

Well, maybe not you, you may have yours on already... do you? But mine's lagging and about to switch off.

Today was Saturday.
Grocery hell day. (Or as certain youngsters-now-grown-up call it: Big milk.)
I thought we were early enough to beat the bastard crypt keeper - but no - it seems relics don't sleep. (Who knew?)
Anyway  -despite the evil crypt keeper, the zombie relics and the regular relics, we got the groceries done and a months worth of groceries put away... then rushed off to a play date.

The highlight of Romeo's week.
The dogs were very happy to see each other and tore off chasing right away. The kids were thrilled too and they hung out, and us bigger folk had fun as well.
We also met up with two more Greyhounds.
Turns out Cleo and Romeo are whooping great big show-offs. Romeo wasn't interested in hanging out with the 'new' hounds at all... he just wanted them to watch in awe as he and Cleo ran. :)
And then it rained.
Yep.
It rained.
Rain causes shrinkage.
My hair isn't straight, it's VERY VERY curly in an unruly, unmanageable, crazy kinda way. But it looks straight to those that don't know, and rain takes all the straight away.
Bugger.

The rest of Saturday was spent dragging whiny kids around Petone and Lower Hutt, while we tried to decide what to do with the back garden. A plan formed and was actioned, during which we discovered something.
Turns out Romeo is a digger. Yup, we now know how his feet end up so dirty when he's been running around the backyard and what he does when he runs like a loon, disappears behind the shed, and runs like a loon again. (Rinse and repeat, three times.) - he digs. He's dug two big holes behind the shed in the last two weeks. Little bit at a time.
When I'm outside with him, I tend to be near the washing line or by the deck, not behind the shed... he's sneaky.

So, if that was Saturday... we've had it.

Some days I really miss...

Virginia (and DC.)

It's pretty simple really.

It's how it is. I love the smell of spring time - which it is here now... except it doesn't smell like a mix of cherry blossoms and tulips and fresh mulch. (The mulch thing takes a few days to get used to... it really does.)

There are no violets covering the grass at the cemetery. I know, because I looked today when I walked through it with Romeo.

Violets in a graveyard, somewhere in Virginia.
Blue Line Guy can no doubt tell me where exactly! :)

Violets at St. Paul's Rock Creek.

The abundance of violets almost made up for the reflecting pools renovation that was taking place along with the other major renovations going on in DC while we were there in April.

It's true the sky is a different blue.

(And I always thought that was crap - poetic - but crap none the less.)

So there you have it.

Oh and it's almost wine o'clock and someone doesn't have any wine... so not cool!

Will be a late whine o'clock here today. :)

Earlier today I was reading through a manuscript I wrote a few years ago and came to a scene set here.

<<< In fact Mac was seen standing by the tree and the traffic lights. Or at least Ellie thought it was him.

Kinda cool really.

On that note I shall post this, then go over to FaceBook and delete the multiple copies that it likes to spit up... so annoying! And it's getting worse - used to be two extra posts but now it's three.

Grrrr at Facebook and it's uselessness.

Now that was weird.

I smell cherry blossom.. or I did. And now it's gone.



Things that amused me today...

Bits and pieces from an unnamed manuscript with some very familar players -

“What’s up?”

“Bird poop.”

“Pardon?”

Lee sighed his shoulders slumped as if it was hard work. “The rangers found bird shit on the body.”

“We’re in the woods.” I failed to see any relevance to bird poop. From what I could tell by the state of the roof of my car there were many birds in the woods. Many pooping squawking dive bombing car dirtying birds.

He nodded. “They also noted hair pulled from the back of the scalp.”

“Okay, so a bird shit on the woman and pulled out some hair… you might want to put a BOLO out.” I knew there was smirk lurking on my lips but was powerless to control it. There it was, the image of Lee asking law enforcement in the area to Be on the Look Out for a bird. “Do they know what sort of bird? Catbird? Sparrow? Cock-a-fucn-too?”

“I hate delivering messages,” Lee grumbled.

“Is the bird a witness or an accomplice? Are we looking at a bird for murder?”

Lee growled then grumbled, “I wish it was Sam who’d talked to the Rangers. They said it was a biggish bird. I’m guessing not a sparrow.”

“What about the other victims? Do they recall any other bird evidence?”

“One reckons he saw bird poop on one other body for sure.”

“You see how much more info those Rangers can dredge up. We’re going to need to review the autopsy and forensics reports with regard to bird excrement and missing hair. I’ll go back to Mr. Creswell.” I grinned at Lee. “You’re amazing, you told me all that without flinching, I am in awe. You’re an incredible man.”

“I know, I know, the bird shit will haunt me almost as much as screaming tweenies.”

Lee and I grinned at each other, good times. With a shrug of his broad shoulders, he headed back across the parking lot toward the nest of police cars.

Tripping over my own feet.

This time of day week month year drives me nuts: not always, but today apparently!

I can’t focus – doesn’t matter how hard I try, I can’t do what I want to do, so my mind is fragmenting!

Oh joy.

 I know what it wants, can’t really blame it. Writing is where the joy is. Not so much joy in domestic chores. Okay, there is none. Not a single joy to be found. Doesn’t matter how hard you look… domestic crap is not joyful, it’s necessary.

Having a spoilt brat for a brain is not helpful when dinner needs cooking and laundry folded and dishes done – it’s only real use is to ensure I get writing time, which is does. Sadly my spoilt brat brain doesn’t know when to stop and start behaving like a nice brain.

It’s not like my brain didn’t get in some extremely good writing today, because it did. I know it had fun, I could tell by the crazed giggling. But because writing is like, well, it’s like a drug and my brain is a dirty filthy addict – there is never enough. Never. It always wants more.

I have to feed it.

It might eat me if I don’t.

Oh, the highlights today – being told I made someone cry. (Not by being mean, but by doing what I do and by doing it right. She’d read terrorbyte.)

And being told I have a schoolgirl quality. (Pretty sure, it was intended as a compliment… was followed by ‘…mischievous grin and sparky eyes…’, so, yeah.) – how’s that for much awesomeness??

I know, right!

Also, coffee with Kane – much fun!

We discussed something I’ve been writing, what it is, how it fits and the ramifications of such. He's the only person in the world who knows what's really in Soundbyte. lol

The last twenty-four hours have seen me give away about twenty copies of Torrent: a collection of short_bytes. I could be persuaded to give more away. Let me know if you'd like one. (kindle versions only.)

God the desire to flip someone off right now is strong! Not naming names here, but if you think you need flipping off then go right ahead and take it. You know who you are.

Now, where’s my pencil sharpener? I feel a sharpening coming on.

And as a parting thought: Be careful of your thoughts they may become words at any minute... there's no take-backs or do-overs once they're out there. Just saying.

Till we ain't strangers anymore

Yesterday was a total pain in the ass - really, it was shite. I think it was a hang over from Monday and copping a ton of abuse for daring to walk Romeo. (Some people suffer from FiTH syndrome*, and sadly the cure is illegal.)

So, today - is a much nicer day.

Plus, I've been giving away copies of the new improved updated version of Torrent. Because I can. And it's fun giving stuff away.

Whats more, I'm writing. Screw this not writing lark. It really messes with my head.
I don't think the kids like it either - I had more time to point out their messy room and the solution to said mess. (And the litter box that required cleaning, and toys dumped on the floor that required picking up, and piles of laundry that they hadn't yet put into their drawers....) See, when I'm writing, I don't take that much notice of my surroundings, as long as every thing's mostly tidy. I don't go looking for stuff to clean.

What am I writing?

I have no clue.

I don't know what it is or where it fits or if it fits, but has to be written. the only thing I do know its that it's a Byte something. Could be a single, could be an album, who knows? lol

Damn that spy truck is really hanging around today.**

I shall now carry on writing whatever this is, and listening to Lost Highway - because This Left Feels Right is finished.
It's a Bon Jovi kinda day. (And that's how everyone around me knows I'm writing and that it's something to do with Ellie Conway.)

If anyone reading this would like a Kindle copy of Torrent - you can email me, facebook, G+, tweet, or leave a comment here- but make sure I can get hold of you! lol
It's pretty simple, just tell me why you want a copy. :)



* FiTH syndrome = fucked in the head
** Spy truck = street sweeper; and how a street sweeper truck started spending an unnatural amount of time outside our house a few years ago... for a few days before I had a visit from an agency. Coincidence? Really? lol

The Dance

Not an actual dance... or it could be I suppose. (Would be kinda similar to the Texas two-step.)

There is a lot of dancing around and not a lot of work being accomplished. Guess it's just one of those days.

I imagined myself working today.
I have a fabulously vivid imagination.

Not sure where this dance will leave me. As long as it doesn't slam me into a wall, it should be okay. Should be. (Famous last words?)

I have three manuscripts sitting here. (I'm not counting the ones that you don't really know about yet...)
These three are in various states of undress.

Flashbyte - is playing the waiting game. Which I failed, btw, created a new file and added some of the detail I wanted to add. (I'll just merge it with the file my editor sends me back.)

Soundbyte - is taunting me. It's loud. It's incessant. It told me something last night that I thought came from left-field. But it really didn't. It came from Flashbyte and grew. So, Soundbyte is a complete finished entity that won't sit quietly. No surprises there.

Wherefore Art Thou - is a quieter manuscript. Only because I don't know the characters that well yet. (I know some of them quite well... probably the less said about that the better.) It's waiting on the sidelines for me to be able to set aside The _Byte series for a little while and finish it. I now know finishing it will entail some zombies. Because that's just how it's going to be. Set a book in Upper Hutt - use zombies. Makes sense.

Apart from the dancing with two manuscripts while the third watches (Voyeurism from the kiwi novel... unnerving!), I want to run a competition.
It's occupying a good percentage of my available brain at the moment. I have the prizes sorted. That was the easy bit.
Well, kinda easy. I have the physical prizes sorted. (As in, you can wear it or hold it.)
I am in the process of creating a special edition kindle version of Torrent. Which I may have actually done last night ... maybe I should check! lol

Update:
As for the horror of yesterday and the fucktards who successfully ruined my morning - all quiet today. No one hurling abuse. Romeo and I had our usual relaxing walk.

Madder than hell!

I need to just rant for a little bit - you'll understand in a minute. You will.
Trust me.

Every morning I take Breezy to school, we walk. We walk with Romeo. You all know Romeo, right?

This guy right here...
<<<<
A 35kg Greyhound. A loving, friendly, smart animal who always wants to please and is scared of blowflies.








So, this morning we were about half way to school. Ahead of us, walking toward us were a couple. Not unusual, we see lot's of people on our way to school. Only while they were still about twenty meters away the woman started yelling at me.
At this point you need to know I have my five year old daughter with me, and our 12 year old (with many syndromes) is holding Romeo's leash and about a half meter in front of us.
I can't really hear what the woman is yelling about - slightly incoherent and I'm concentrating on keeping the kids calm.
As they get closer the male starts going on at me about how the dog has to be muzzled. He's yelling, she's yelling. They are both saying it's the law. he's a Greyhound and he has to be muzzled. I said "No, that's wrong."
 BUT WE KEPT WALKING AWAY.
She yelled and screamed and hollered all the way down the street about how he had to be muzzled and she knew the law (only as it pertains to parole, I suspect) and that she hoped the dog bit one of my kids. Then I'd learn and muzzle my fucking dog.

There were so many things I wanted to say to them both, but couldn't. Because escalation is NEVER SMART.
Plus, you can't argue with the much stupid. You just can't.
And I had my kids to think about, and my dog - who were all scared.

So what happened next?

I took Breezy to school and told her I would handle it.

I came home with Romeo and Squealer (who is home today due to crazy bad allergies) and called the City Council, I spoke to Glenys (Could be Glennis, I should have asked about spelling) who is a Dog control officer and fabulous. (We've talked before and she is a helpful and genuinely nice woman.) I told her what had happened. And checked that I was right, and that Greyhounds do not require muzzles. I was. I am. He does not.
We talked about the fucktards and the plan is, if I see them again, anywhere, and they have a vehicle - to get the tag number for her. She'd like to know who these people are. If they speak to me, try intimidating me again - call police.
Because now there is a record of me having rung the council about abuse, next time, it's police and this will not go away. Because I will press assault charges. I don't care how many tattoos that dumb shit has on his face or how intimidating he tries to be, or how insane his partner is. That does not give them the right to abuse me and frighten my children and dog.

I don't know what these people have against Greyhounds... they are a gentle breed. Maybe that's it, maybe it's a case of my dog is bigger/smarter/faster/ better mannered than them theirs and they're jealous.

The things I wanted to say but couldn't because I'm, too clever to mouth off like that to lunatics...

Didn't I see you on Police Ten-7 last week?

I'll muzzle my dog when you muzzle your bitch wife.

Who did the art work on your face, a drunk monkey?

You're just another case of natural selection failing.

And one from @vilifyingangel : Switch to pot and calm the fuck down.

Dog envy is such an ugly form of jealousy.


And here's my handsome boy:
He's looking pretty damn vicious cuddling the scary pumpkin toy!



He bought a postcard...

If you don't know what song that's from, don't worry. I've been listening to something this afternoon that is all kinds of awesome. A bunch of songs that are chock full of meaning - all smooshed together in a playlist called 'Eclectic R'.

So, anyway, I was thinking of doing something fun... I thought maybe I'd run a competition and giveaway all THREE byte novels.
Yeah you read correctly.
Three. killerbyte, terrorbyte and exacerbyte. All of them, at once, to one person. lol

I'm still thinking about how to do it... so far all I know for sure is that I want to link it to my Facebook page - I'm still not sure what the point of that thing actually is. Maybe if I get the 'likes' to 1000, it will seem like it has a point?
I might give away a signed set of paperbacks and/or a Kindle/Mobipocket set. Obviously if I make this a worldwide competition it will be the Kindle/Mobipocket versions up for grabs, because postage from New Zealand to anywhere else is ridiculous.

That's pretty much where my head has been all day... trying to come up with something EPIC enough for all 3 Byte novels.

See what happens when I finish a novel? My mind takes a vacation and starts coming up with ways of giving stuff away.

I could throw in another few prizes - that would be easy to post, so therefore okay for Worldwide. I think I have a terrorbyte cap and a terrorbyte mousemat somewhere. I shall go check later.

Meanwhile...

"I really do appreciate the fact you're sitting here..."

Jimmy Buffet makes me smile. (Why don't we get drunk...?)

The first Saturday of spring

I used to be so good at blog titles - now they suck. I'm very sorry or am I?

Last night I was ignoring a kids fantasy movie on the telly (because it's just not my genre, at all, may as well be about vampires, I was that interested.) and tweeting. There are a quite a number of us that have tweeted each other for a while now, here in Wellington. Next weekend a whole bunch of us are going to meet for brunch. I'm really excited about meeting everyone.
Action Man, Squealer, and Breezy will come too - but I doubt Romeo will come, can't see a cafe being overly welcoming of a dog that will probably take up ALL available floor space.

Speaking of Romeo - he has jazz hands. I'm not even kidding. When he gets excited and does that bouncy thing dogs do when they're playing (often with puppies...) his legs are so long he has jazz hands. I dare anyone to keep a straight face while Romeo does his jazz hand dance thing. It's hilarious.

This morning Romeo has a play date with his girlfriend, Cleo. He's missed her. He just doesn't get as much enjoyment out of running with regular dogs or us - where is the challenge? Am hoping today that he'll turn his ears on and perhaps be more aware of who he's wandering off with!
(And today, we're having cake, while the dogs run amok.)

Gotta say this week has been pretty freaking good. (Feckin' good even)

Soundbyte is a complete throbbing twisted entity now - from beginning to middle to terrifying gut wrenching fucn end.

This morning I woke up with a messed up diagram (of sorts) in my head, of the relationships between the characters involved in the crime that Delta A is investigating in Soundbyte. It's marvelous to see it all laid out like that... just goes to prove once again that my mind is a warped freaking place. Seriously, don't go there, especially after dark.
Again, a story has surprised me.
I had no idea when I met a particular character that that person would be pivotal. I thought the person was an extra. (See what I did there? Not even a gender, you're getting nothing that could give this away! lol)
This book takes everything to a new level. Hell, I thought Flashbyte did that (you'll find out soon enough)... okay Exacerbyte, terrorbyte. Purposefully didn't put killerbyte in there, because that's where the journey starts... kinda, but not really. Oh, you'll see. :)
A new level and some big openings for path choices.

That's pretty mean, huh?

So, what's next?

Hopefully I will get the next round of edits back for Flashbyte soon - and then I can add the detail I would like to add - stuff that's driving me crazy. Once that's out of the way... I want to finish the kiwi set mystery that's waiting ever so patiently for me to get on with it!

Also, gotta find away of shutting Ellie up so I can write the kiwi story... and don't end up writing another _Byte novel, just yet!!

Could be tricky. She's not one to go quietly.

New blogger interface is quite groovy!

Shit that's a sad blog title.

But it's true! This new interface is pretty darned groovy!! It's clean and easy to use... so far. I've only had half a glass of Port. Let's see how easy it is as this drink blog progresses shall we??

So today was kinda buzzy. Yep, it was.

I was working - been working pretty hard the last few days. I have written over ten thousand words. That's quite a few, especially as it's a first draft. Which pretty much means the words weren't easy to come by. The story evolved as I wrote, so, this was the hardest part.
Everything from here on in is icing or gravy if you prefer.

I think you're off your rocker if you choose either, I much prefer Port. :)

Oh, I missed the bit where I tell you the first-draft of SOUNDBYTE is done!
First-draft is a little bit of a misnomer - there is no actual First Draft as such. It's just the first time the book reaches THE END.
Because I usually write beginning to end, it's nice to finally reach those last two words, and knowing what it took for my characters to get here this time makes this quite an achievement - and to find my mind mostly intact is a bonus! Let's go with mostly, shall we. Sounds better than me finishing this and finding I'm barely more than a zombie!

The other neat thing about today?

I got to talk to a friend of mine in Virginia, and I haven't spoken to him since leaving the USA. So, that was pretty darn awesome.

Soundbyte is now sitting here waiting for the dust to settle. A few days of settling, then I'll send it to my Kindle and read it.
Meanwhile - waiting on second round of edits for Flashbyte. (And remembered about something I wanted to add, so the waiting is killing me, lol)
It's almost time to finish the first draft of the kiwi story, "Wherefore Art Thou" - it may well become a little bit of a zombie number, because I'm just dying to toss a few zombies into something. And quite frankly Upper Hutt could do zombies... we have the National Center for disease control, right here! Yes we do.
Yep, you can see where this is going can't you?? I sure can.

Yeah, I'm drinking and blogging and tweeting...

This is gonna get fun. :)

Had a hilarious moment with Soundbyte today... because of this guy. Not that he'll ever know. But it had me laughing! :)
My main character was less impressed but sometimes she's just hard to please...