I see you...

Welcome Australian author Patty Jansen...

2012-02-02T09:44:00.000-08:00

Please welcome Patty Jansen! (She's a rare creature - an Australian that I actually like!)

On unusual settings in novels

Patty Jansen

Cat is a New Zealand writer, and I am Australian. One of the things I get asked a bit is if Australian settings make frequent appearances in my work, and how I feel about including them.

When you're an aspiring non-US writer, and you write stories set in your country or city, you sometimes hear that you should blandify the locality details so that it's no longer clear where it is set. Really?

I've read published books where that has obviously been done. In one book which I shall not identify, what should have been an Australian farm setting was changed into a generic farm setting. Gum trees became trees, and kangaroos became rabbits, and the fierceness of the Australian climate became something non-specific, and very much in the background. At the same time, anything that could have identified the locality was taken out: names of towns, brands or institutions. It was a YA novel, and the main character went to school, but the description of the school system was so non-specific that it could have been anywhere in the world. As a result, I spent much of the novel being annoyed that I couldn't figure out where it was set.

I'm very much in the dark as to why a writer would do this sort of thing. A writer under the misguided opinion of fellow non-published writers, maybe, but who are these editors suggesting these sorts of changes? Do they really think that people (read US-readers) are stupid and cannot handle the fact that there are other places in the world than the one in which they live? Readers are not stupid. Don't do this to them.

One of the reasons I enjoyed Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl so much was its unequivocally Thai setting, even though it was set in a really weird future. Ditto with Juliette Marillier's Wildewood Dancing, which is a fantasy set in Transylvania, and where it becomes clear that the author has spent a good amount of time researching the locality. There are little details in both books, and other similar books, that make the setting come alive.

A similar situation applies to novels with made-up settings. In order to bring the setting alive, you need to be specific about it. You need to know what the place looks like, what the climate is like, what some of the more prominent crops, plants and wildlife are called, what they're used for, or what the significance of them is, for example holy cows or other holy or dirty animals. It pays to know a bit about building style if you're writing about a city, or about crop rotations if you're writing about an agricultural society. The more specific, the better.

Setting is just another type of character that needs depth and personality. A book is never just about the plot or the characters. Setting adds to the book and can make the difference between a book that's OK and one that's great.

Bio:

Patty Jansen lives in Sydney, Australia, where she spends most of her time writing Science Fiction and Fantasy. She publishes in both traditional and indie venues. Her story This Peaceful State of War placed first in the second quarter of the Writers of the Future contest and was published in their 27^th anthology. Her story Survival in Shades of Orange will appear in Analog Science Fiction and Fact.

Her novels (available at ebook venues) include Watcher's Web (soft SF http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YDN934 ), which is a novel in which setting plays an important role.

Patty is on Twitter (@pattyjansen), Facebook, LinkedIn, goodreads, LibraryThing, google+ and blogs at: http://pattyjansen.com/

Feb 1st... bloody hell!!

2012-01-31T10:03:00.000-08:00

What happened to January?

Well it was taken up with all manner of things and some of them even work related... which is good. It seems that the changes happening within Rebel are moving along nicely and won't effect any of you or any of our books out there in the world.
So carry on buying them... go on... get on with it.

Squealer asked for a copies of the _Byte Series to show the librarian at UHC... I had to say no. I only have one set that can be leant and it's in use. She can take a bunch of promo material if she'd like. My lovely child went to the college library on her first day to find out if my books were there and they weren't... she has already spoken to the librarian about rectifying that. (If Heretaunga has had my books for over a year now... UHC should have them.)

Today will not be a work day for either Action Man or myself. Breezy has an audiology appointment - so we have the day off. (Not that I actually get a day off... it's not like everything vanishes so I can do that, but I won't be writing - which I can live with, I've only written about 10 pages in the last week anyway!)

In other news: Romeo has forgiven me for flea treating him a few days ago! Yay! It's horrible when he's not talking to me. :)

I found this on my camera yesterday:

He was thrilled to discover Squealer has a huge pink unicorn and that it's bigger than him!
But turned out it was just too big ... but those other unicorns of Breezy's better watch out. (He's already had a squeeze of them all to see if any make noise. Romeo LOVES toys that squeak or make any noise... not so fussed on the boring ones that don't!)

Suppose I better go get Squealer up - she has her first full day at college today. Awesome. :)

Breezy goes back tomorrow... looking forward to that - she has wanted to go back to school 4 weeks ago! She hated the holidays and would prefer to be at school learning and playing with her friends. Fair enough.

I shall leave you with this from Flashbyte:

He grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him. I leaned on the wall and holstered my gun.

“You hurt?” he asked.

I shook my head, sending fragments of safety glass scattering from my hair. Not hurt but having a bit of trouble dealing with the excessive adrenaline. Jacked. Jazzed. Bit shaky. Blood rushed through my body at an alarming rate. I wasn’t sure if being so close to Kurt was helping or not.

As we listened we heard gunfire, return volleys, and finally a police officer call out, “We got him.”

This has to be said...

2012-01-29T14:08:00.000-08:00

January has been a particularly rough month for our family. It isn't going to get any better any time soon... and that lead me to thinking about friends this morning - and really, being an only child makes friends all that more important. (Just go with it.)

Over the last month I have really come to appreciate people in my life. I think sometimes we loose sight of the little things and what makes life so wonderful.

I was reminded yesterday of a few of those things...

There were 5 kids in the house ranging from almost 13 to almost 2, two greyhounds, Missy the fat grey cat, and four adults. And the brilliant thing? The four of us were free to relax, have a drink, talk... because EVERYONE gets along like a house on fire. It's wonderful to see 5 kids of various ages, two greyhounds and a cat - ALL - get along and happily so, because they simply like each other. They have done since first meeting. I don't know what it is - but they slot together perfectly.

And it is something to be appreciated.

Seeing Squealer and Em together - fills me with joy. Soph, Breezy and Jojo play the most amazing games... it's hilarious to watch/hear.

And Romeo did this.
Yes, he did.
If we hadn't brought him into our family we wouldn't have met the Smarts... again we owe our dog a debt of gratitude! He has enriched all our lives.

And the second thing I would like to say - I cannot imagine how awful this month would have been without my Admins.
Admin One and Admin Bubbles who are not only moral support but who are willing to drop everything and be there - and they do. (Sometimes they arrive before I even know I need them... but that's what they're like - tuned in.)
If it wasn't for Admin One I wouldn't have got home from the Sounds when Air NZ cancelled my flight and didn't bother to tell me - Admin One was fully tuned in that day, because she found out, told me, and I had just enough time to make an earlier flight!

Also - Admin One has been through what we are going through now - twice... she is a font of knowledge and knows exactly what's going on with all of us, and what will happen next. We're both practical people, so being forewarned is awesome. Nothing worse than being blindsided at every turn.

And the most important thing of all - laughter... it is never in short supply with the Admins around! (Or the Smarts, for that matter.)

It occurs to me as I write this... that no matter what happens (zombie apocalypse included) we can survive it with good friends and 6:99 wine. :D

(And just adding to that - Anna and Dave won... their 6:99 wine was much nicer than mine!)

Feels something like... late summertime...

2012-01-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

Actually it feels something like the end of summer holidays and the beginning of some sort of peace!
I'm not expecting much peace wise - there is a lot going on here and I'll be flitting about between here and the Sounds a few more times and quite possibly without much notice just like Monday's trip.

Currently - Action Man is trying to put the big market umbrella back together - it's not going well and one of the outdoor table legs fell off too. Yes, that did amuse me. :)

This morning I woke up rolled over and my hand hit ... a tactical case. Action Man had transformed into a gun case? Why no, he hadn't. But he was already up and very hard to see in his camo gear. (Or he would've been if our bedroom was in fact woodlands... and didn't have deep red curtains. He did, however, almost completely blend into the umbrella and large pots of gladioli on the deck while reassembling the table. )

Last night I worked for a little bit - long enough to write up about half of the notes I'd made while away. Long enough to know what I'd written wasn't crap. (Always good!) Working on Pixelbyte. While waiting to get the Flashbyte manuscript back.

I am also reading The Snowman by Jo Nesbo - and it's awesome. The only issue I have is... it's a paperback and it's so damn hard to read! I'm going to have to see if it's available on Kindle!! Seriously - the print is kinda small, and it's a thick book, and there's this whole page turning thing that requires me to MOVE MY HAND. Un-fucking-believable. I am so used to adjusting print size and turning pages by a slight click of my thumb ... that I can no longer cope with paper based books!
Action Man was laughing at me as I tried to find a comfortable way to hold the book and see the words while lying in bed... yes I did have my glasses on! Oh joy - it is available on Kindle!

Also reading Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich. It's a disappointing read. I won't be bothering with any other Wicked books. In case you were wondering why... it feels like a formula was used to write the story.

Yesterday we took Romeo to the usual place to play with Cleo. The kids and us adults had fun as always. The dogs had a lovely time but both ended up sore. Romeo stood on something and bruised a foot - the dogs collided and Cleo ended up with a sore shoulder! They were playing pretty rough yesterday - there was a lot of colliding, tripping, cutting each other off - and there wasn't much beach. But they still managed to RUN. Romeo is a little slow this morning. He's going to rest today and tomorrow - then the regular walks to school every morning will begin again.

Didn't take many pictures yesterday - when they were running they were so fast it was very hard to keep up with the camera!

Before Cleo and her family arrived Romeo was playing with a little dog - the owners were only to happy to let our big boy play with their little dog.

Romeo following the little dog -
yes that blur in front of Romeo is a dog!

Romeo watching the kids and Dave.

Did you miss me?

2012-01-26T02:36:00.000-08:00

I would like to say I missed you all... but it was kinda nice being dark for 4 days. No Internet was good. No laptop was even okay.

I did work while I was gone - but I wrote long hand in a notebook.

Also, had the urge to draw or paint or something. Neither of which I have done for a very long time. But I couldn't find a pencil. I'm home now. I have pencils. I think I will apply one to some acid-free paper sometime soon.

I did not take my camera with me when I went away. There are no recent photos to share of Mahau Sound. It hasn't changed much since I was last there. Trees are bigger, garden fuller, the lavender hedge is gone, bell birds are still singing. It is still the quietest place ever.

I was about to walk down to the beach today - but Admin One text to say she thought my flight home was cancelled.
It was.
Air NZ had failed to inform me of this. FAILED.
To say I was annoyed barely covers it.
Luckily Admin One text when she did - I called Air NZ and they said they could get me on the 3PM flight. It was almost 1:30 I was an hour and a half from the airport!
I made it with 5 minutes to spare before final check in despite road works!
Still fucking pissed off at Air NZ - especially as I'll be flying this route a few more times in the next little while. And to think I said they were the best airline ever after flying home from Canada on Air NZ. They have nose dived in my perception. I am disappointed.
Had my admin not checked the net and discovered the cancelled flight we would have arrived in time for the 6:05 flight from Blenheim and then discovered I couldn't get home to the kids today. Completely unacceptable!

I came home to a full inbox - most of which made no sense and I quite frankly can't be bothered with it. Right now the only thing I am interested in hearing is when Flashbyte will be released. Everything else is too much on top of what's currently happening family wise. (Full inbox but NO email from Air NZ saying flight was cancelled! - not that I could've seen it... but at least it would've meant they ~~sort of~~ tried to get hold of me.)

My Flashbyte postcards and fridge magnets were waiting for me when I got home and also some wallet calendars I ordered. Have to get some merch ready for the library talk in March.

So, I'm home - make the most of it, I'll be off again before long.

Ohhh, can anyone guess the name of the book I was reading while in The Sounds? Nope, no clues...apart from it's on my Kindle - so not something I recently got for Christmas!

:)

Romeo: the beach dog

2012-01-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday - this weekend happens to be Wellington Anniversary Weekend - so tomorrow is a holiday.
This morning we took Romeo and the kids to the beach.

It's Romeo's favorite place. He likes the park and the river... but he LOVES the beach. Running on sand, running along the beach in the water, running into the sea just because he can. No matter the weather he loves it. He even loves the beach without Cleo! (He doesn't like the river without her, nor does he just run for fun at the park without a dog/child to chase.)

But the beach - that's where he's happiest - alone or with company. He will make friends with any dog on the beach -especially if shows any desire to run, no matter how slight! This morning he found a dog he's met before - a big black shaggy dog that loves to run.
Romeo played with the dog for quite a while - running at the shaggy dogs speed rather than powering away and showing off. :)

Romeo and the shaggy dog Jan 22 2012

Romeo racing back to the girls. Jan 22 2012

Romeo running Jan 22 2012

Romeo and Cleo walking in the water Jan 15th 2012

Breezy and Romeo Jan 2012

Cleo and Romeo - in Nov 2011

Wanna play a game?

2012-01-19T11:07:00.000-08:00

Not sure that it's that great a game but it's what we're doing today so this is how you do it.

Think of a questions: Any question at all. Picture it in your mind.
Now pick up a book - something you're reading, a dictionary, any book will do.
Flick through the book (I'm a backwards flicker so I always start at the end, but that's just me.)
Keep the pages moving until you are compelled to stop - let your eyes fall on whatever they are drawn to on the page.
(You can also use an E book... just scroll through with your eyes shut and stop when you feel like it. Use your mouse pointer or finger to randomly select something on the page.)

This is the answer to your question. :)

Of course if you have tarot at your disposal you can pull a card from the pack... but sometimes it's fun to grab a book and just see what it has to tell you.

I tried this with three different books this morning but with the same question.
One was the Websters.
I got 'Fault' - which kinda answered my question.
But when I scrolled and randomly clicked on a copy of Pixelbyte (because that's what's open on my computer right now.) the mouse landed squarely on, "Yeah."
And then I picked up The Snowman by Jo Nesbo (currently reading this) and flicked through... and my finger landed on 'Yes.'
Hmm - not as straight forward as it could be!
So three times with the same question. Two positives and a negative - does that mean two out of three are right? Well, that would be nice, but I doubt it. :)

It's a distraction.
And a fun game to play when you're with friends and the wine is flowing.

Meanwhile:
See if you can figure out which Byte books these belong too:

Excerpt One:

“I’m fine.” He rested his arms on his knees and watched his hands shake just a little bit.

“That’s normal, you’ll be okay. Just… just, breathe.”

George smiled. “I’ll get you a glass of water.” He left.

“Is this what life is like for you?” Mark asked. He seemed paler than before.

“Sometimes but less often than you’d think.” Lies, all lies. It’s so normal I don’t know why it ever surprises me. “You sure you’re okay? You’re not going to puke or pass out or anything?”

Excerpt Two:

“Yeah, she’s definitely grandmother material,” I said, then hustled out of arm’s reach.

“Smartass!” he called after me, “Ask Praskovya how he has his coffee.”

Praskovya yelled back, “Black, thank you.”

The phone messages lightened my mood. Mac’s mom had become the comic relief in our lives. I felt calmer and less bogged down by the case. I really wanted a cigarette. I satisfied the craving by imagining I’d already had one, created from all the secondhand smoke that poured down the phone and into our answer machine, courtesy of my manic mother-in-law. Excellent. Mac’s mom was transformed into a nicotine fix.

Excerpt Three:

I spun around looking for the origin and saw a kid pointing at us.

Another scream rang out followed by a young girl’s voice. The kid squealed, “Tony!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” I bitched at Sam. “Does this shit have to follow us all over the city?”

Lee’s lip curled in a horrified snarl. A guy his size had nowhere to hide and the screaming was coming closer.

“We gotta get him outta here,” I muttered to Sam. Special Agent Ridiculously Good Looking was a liability.

Lee was pissed. He griped, “How am I supposed to do my job with this bullshit happening?”

“Come on,” I said and grabbed his arm. I began searching for a way out without screaming girlies blocking our path. “This way …”

Excerpt Four:

Mac nodded.

“This is new. Tired of Messenger?”

“Trying something else,” he replied and stepped out of the tub onto the thick floor mat.

“Scaring my child half to death by appearing in the mirror – not smart.”

“Didn’t expect her to be here.”

“That makes two of you. What is it you want?” I could see my reflection and his. Why wasn’t I freaking out? This isn’t a Messenger window. This isn’t a hallucination brought on by a migraine or head injury. Carla saw him.

He didn’t look incorporeal. In fact, apart from being a little thinner than last time I saw him in person, he looked pretty good even for a dead man. Obviously not a zombie, no hunks of putrid flesh hung off his bones and he wasn’t trying to bite me.

Excerpt Five:

Davy was a big guy, tall and solid in appearance. His head sported a dark-colored ball cap. I wouldn’t have been surprised had it been a coonskin cap. A red flannel shirt was peeking out from under the turned-up collar of his sheepskin-lined, brown corduroy jacket. Mac and Davy shook hands and did the man-hug thing. It involved a lot of backslapping. I just bet he had a rifle in his truck. Drizzly rain settled on us, not enough to be wetting but just enough to be annoying. I expended great effort to rid myself of the Ballad of Davy Crockett.

“You might need help with whatever it is that got me out here at zero-two-thirty.” Davy said, then turned to Bob and me. “Good to see ya, Ellie. Bob.”

I smiled at Davy not quite trusting myself to speak yet, for fear of what craziness might pop out of my mouth, along the Davy Crockett path.

Your choices are:
killerbyte
terrorbyte
exacerbyte
Flashbyte
pixelbyte

Behind Blue Eyes

2012-01-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday. Another beautiful summers day here in the valley.
Yesterday I took Breezy to the zoo. Just me and her. Our day. It was awesome.
She'd never been to the zoo before and loved it.

It was a beautiful day, sunny, hot but not too hot. Just perfect for a day at the zoo.

Today it's uniform day for Squealer. We'll pop over to her new school this morning and get that sorted - two weeks and she'll be a big college kid! Can't quite believe it.

There have been and are some big changes happening with Rebel e Publishers - but the changes won't alter how you all buy our books or their availability. If anything, e versions will be more accessible soon. It's all very exciting. In all honesty, with the more over powering situation happening in our family right now, I'm not as involved in the changes as I should be and feel kinda bad about that. (But also grateful that the team is aware and very supportive!)

Ever noticed that when you ignore someone they spend a lot of time trying to make you take notice?
It seems to really piss some people off to the max.
Oh well, such is life and those special fucktards who wind up trying to weasel their way into it will never get anywhere...

What I need is a karma whistle - you know - like a rape whistle - but to help direct karma to the needy soul who needs a good karmic lesson.

Over the last week I've gotten back into writing. It's been awesome. Pretty sure this has only happened because I have five books to read! My mind hates when I'm doing something that doesn't involve it telling me stories. (At least I think it's MY mind... maybe it isn't [insert Twilight Zone music here] maybe the voices don't belong to me.)
Whatever.
I'm working on the 6th Byte novel. Still currently titled Pixelbyte but with several other possible titles bracketed. Working on it because it needs to be finished. I'm about 30K in and it's going quite well.
I was unsure of the new character, it's not that he isn't cool and all kinds of awesome, because he is... it's that I wasn't sure if I liked where he was taking the story. But I think I'll let him run and see what happens. Have a little faith. Trust that he knows what he's doing.

Yes, that is how I write, deal with it.

And because I love this song and it's in Ellie's head in one of the new Byte novels - could be Flashbyte (coming soon...so excited!) but I can't remember! (Or Soundbyte which is the 5th one):

How was your week? Done anything you'd like to share? Any plans for the upcoming long weekend? (Wellington region - anniversary weekend)
:)

Have a good Wednesday (or Tuesday if you live in the slow half of the world).

An almost normal Monday.

2012-01-15T11:12:00.000-08:00

It is today - almost normal.

Action Man is at work. Dave and Camille are back on the radio. The kids are still in bed. Romeo is still sleeping and dreaming about running with Cleo on the beach - judging by his sleepy conversational barking. It's almost normal.

Except... I don't have to hurry anyone along. School isn't back for another few weeks yet. The kids can sleep as long as they like... and preferably another hour or so, to give me some uninterrupted work time.

I was working last night. For the first time this year, I actually wrote - a lot. What's more, I enjoyed it.

I wasn't feeling much like writing toward the end of last year or over the last two weeks. Not a lot of inspiration was coming my way - and very little motivation. I seem to have conquered that.

On Jan 2nd I sent out two review copies of Flashbyte (which isn't done yet - it's almost there but not quite, another round of editing will happen sometimes soon. When Jayne has time to get back to Flashbyte - life at Rebel is changing and crazy right now.)

Sending those two copies out was insanely nerve wracking.

Much to my relief I got some quick feed back from one of the recipients last night. And she loved it. (HUGE sigh of relief.) And said this is the most intense and gripping Byte novel yet.
(Another HUGE sigh of relief followed.)
This novel was fun but also difficult to write - it mixes the past with the present, and that was really tricky to do.
Also, Flashbyte has the lowest body count yet. (Which will please those of you who don't like in-your-face gore, lol.)

In other news:
We had a great weekend. Got totally sand blasted at the beach yesterday - the Wellington wind sure knows how to whip sand into a frenzy. Despite the sand blasting... everyone had fun.

The dogs running after Dave (Action Man in the foreground).

Today's marathon effort

2012-01-13T21:44:00.000-08:00

I decided this morning that I would have a go at creating a trailer for Flashbyte - which you all know is the fourth byte novel - right?

So anyway... I spent four or maybe five hours sorting through thousands of photos from our stay in VA last year and searching for sound effects and so forth... then putting it all together into something that I'm almost happy with but not quite.

Almost but not quite - because my mouse hand is aching and I've been drinking the same cold coffee for three hours... and I can't quite get the timing right etc etc. But this is my first attempt, so fairly pleased with it.

It achieved what was required of this very windy Saturday - it occupied me! :-)

Now I'm off to make homemade burgers for the family and bring the washing in... had to zig-zag around the washing line to prevent it tangling in the crazy wind!

There is a good chance I'm going to need to pop out for a wee bottle of something winey.

Flesh and Bone

2012-01-11T02:28:00.000-08:00

I really like that particular Bon Jovi song.

It is the title of chapter twenty-four in Terrorbyte and it worked beautifully which is why it appeared when I wrote that chapter.

I'm not going to tell you why it's running through my mind tonight - because quite frankly somethings are just none of your business. :-) (Rude? No, I'm rarely rude but always honest - some people find it hard to tell the difference to them I say - harden the fuck up.)

It's late and hot. Sleep is not really a happening thing in this much humidity. Except of course for Romeo who is snoozing with his fan blasting over him! And the kids who are fast asleep with their fan blowing over them too.

Me, no such luck.

I'm talking to a fellow Listee on G+ and wondering how the universe is going to figure it's way out of the impending mess flowing this way. Usually it does, so I suppose whatever happens has a lesson in it.

I did have some nice surprises over the last twenty-four hours.

I was asked to speak at Upper Hutt City Library during NZ book month. Now, that, is fucking cool!!
How exciting! I am about to be World Famous in Upper Hutt. (I suspect you have to be a kiwi to appreciate that, but whatever.)
And they're making posters, and I can use the super cool tech stuff and show my book trailers and so forth! PLUS - there will be wine and cheese.
It's like they know me.
:-)

I'm really looking forward to this!

Which is nuts - if you know me - because public speaking and me are akin to public speaking and Mac. (Again Terrorbyte reference - I am nothing if not predictable tonight.)

But after talking to the seniors at Heretaunga College and talking to the junior school assembly at Breezy's primary school... I think I can handle adults! Plus, my Admins will be there and my family. :-)

And wine. Did I mention wine?

26.7 degrees and it ain't done yet

2012-01-09T16:31:00.000-08:00

Okay so maybe deciding this morning (when it seemed coolish... okay not cool just not HOT) to go for a 7KM walk wasn't such a smart idea.

We stopped half way and got a bottle of water for Romeo - which he drank half of straight away and then finished at our destination.

Ya see .. I needed to pick up a script for Squealer and get some phenagan for Breezy. To do that we had to go to Silverstream.

I also needed to walk Romeo earlyish because later today I need to be here for a phone call.

So to Silverstream we went.

I can tell you it was a pretty slow walk home...

Romeo had his treat when we got home and will sleep for the rest of the day now and probably won't need a walk tomorrow.
Breezy is watching "White Fang" on DVD. (Vast improvement on the whining that she was doing previously.)
Squealer is eating frozen peas. (I have no comment, it's just so - her really.)

When we got home I found this review of killerbyte by Mummybrain.com.

Ain't that cool?

Now I'm going to go have a coffee and think about trying to get back to work! :D

After I share this:
A heart shaped plum.

I have a new notebook...

2012-01-08T18:32:00.000-08:00

It's sitting here on my desk... looking at me. Looking with it's evil strawberry killer eyes. Looking.
I can hear it too... I know it's whispering words I don't want to hear.

Words like... "Use me." "Get a pen and write in me." "Oh for fucks sake will you write something!"

I won't even pick it up when I have a pen in my hand.

No one likes being nagged at by a notebook. No one.

So it sits on top of the box on my desk... taunting me.

Every blank unsullied page screams, "Write on me!"

But I don't.

I watch it from the corner of my eye. I move it carefully out of the way when I need to open the box and with just as much care I replace it when I'm done. What I don't do is open it.

I don't want to see those clean white pages and hear them calling - louder and louder.

One day I'll use my new notebook. My extra special notebook that has a hand painted cover made just for me (you can smell the paint when you hold the notebook). My beautiful notebook that came all the way from Paris. One day there will be another story that needs to be told.

Right now - I'm not writing.

I sort of want to write. But I can't really get into anything. Never finished the Christmas short story. For fucks sake it was a short story and I never finished it. I might post it just for the fun of it... If I do it will be on Ellie's blog. (You should check, just in case I posted it... cos really, not even God knows what I'm doing!)

This morning I opened two files - moved some quotes around and that was it. Ridiculous!
I have one finished novel waiting to be polished.
One almost finished - waiting for me to fall in love with it.
One just started that for whatever reason annoyed me so I haven't looked at it in weeks.
So it's not like I have nothing to be doing. I just can't seem to knuckle down and get on with any of it!

Since sending Flashbyte back to Rebel. I haven't done a fucn thing.

I see plenty. Ellie is still showing me movie reels.
The new character in the kiwi book is trying to get me to like her - I don't dislike her, I just don't feel a strong connection with her.
The new character in the latest Byte novel - the one I really liked and was having fun with, has tarnished somewhat. I think he might be an asshat after all. Talk about disappointing. Always sucks when ~~people~~ characters aren't who you thought they were.

And then there was the fun of my ISP eating/bouncing/fucking email. Come on! What sort of third world country do we live in when email is constantly being being fucked up?? I'm not convinced it's working properly now either.

Also - we had some pretty awful family news last week. Will know more tomorrow. But it's the kind of news that is life changing - so there's that lurking about creating undercurrents of uncertainty.

And all 3 pairs of my sunglasses have disappeared into another realm. I'd like Jonni and my brother to bring them back - it's no longer funny. You incorporeal trouble makers are not as funny as you think you are.

On a positive note - Action Man and The Boy Wonder went back to work today, so today almost felt like a regular Monday!

Once school goes back and I start turning the radio on in the mornings again it'll be awesome! Three weeks and one day before Squealer starts college!!

Sunday morning

2012-01-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

Good morning,

It's Sunday.

Raining.

Rain makes for a not so thrilled Greyhound. It's not so rainy that he can't go for a gallop at the usual place though. Once we're ready and he sees his bag (yes, he has a bag that contains his muzzle, first aid kit, doggie poop bags, water bottle, and treats.) then he'll be super excited.

Might be able to leave the kids at home with The Boy Wonder - Breezy is sounding sick she even said her throat is sore. She doesn't usually say when it's sore because she doesn't usually notice.

Last night I was reading Flashbyte - looking for things that shouldn't be there. I found missing words! No clue where they went. But several sentences no longer made sense because words had been deleted. And a few more no longer made sense because commas were in the wrong place. I don't think it happened in the merge but it could have.
Oh well, it's not the final version yet anyway. And Jayne has the ms back so no doubt she'll find the same oddness I found!
Now I need to remember what was surrounding the oddities so I can pull the ms up on the laptop and fix them! The only problem reading on Kindle is the pages don't match up to the laptop!!

So far this year it has been slow going writing wise. In fact, so slow, I haven't done any. I don't feel like writing at the moment plus it is very hard to concentrate with the kids home.
I did notice yesterday that ideas were starting to form and I was thinking about scenes etc, so there is hope that sometime this year I will write!

I'd like to get this kiwi novel finished. When I say like I don't actually mean like, I mean I should get it finished. I want to like it. I really want to like it. And I've tried hard to love the characters - who are very cool and a lot of fun... but I can't seem to love them like I do the Byte Series characters.

Maybe if I share some of it with you - it will help me like it more?

Wherefore Art Thou - an excerpt from chapter one.

My email program beeped at me. Fifteen new emails. Seemed a bit crazy. Scrolling through them both amused me and terrified me. Someone, let’s blame my cousin Donald, had set Nana up an email account. Great. That’s what I need spam from my ninety-four year old Nana.

Maybe if I didn’t reply, she’d think she got the address wrong and give up? Another four emails arrived within seconds from Nana. I groaned.

All the subjects were ‘Is this working?’ Ignoring them was clearly not an option.

I picked up my cell phone and text Donald. What have you done?

He replied while I was reading all the mail from Nana. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

And yet I think he does know. I’m talking about Nana emailing me. How is this possible?

The emails were almost identical in content. Nana wanted Romeo and I to visit today. Great, I was already planning on seeing her at midday.

My phone chirped again. Donald replied. I gave her my old laptop. Thought she’d enjoy the wireless internet they have at the retirement home.

No, he didn’t think. No thought happened there. Another email arrived. I replied to Nana and told her Romeo and I would be there at midday. Then I replied to Donald and told him he’d keep. A nana with email capability was not ideal.

For the next hour, I wrote a report for a client. It was a happy report to write. The woman hired me to find her long lost aunt. I found the aunt, arranged first contact and my job was done. Time for the invoice and report.

I emailed the documents and deleted another ten emails from Nana. I think she’d found her new hobby. Before I knew it I was praying that she’d use her knew found power for good and not for the continual harassment of me. More emails rolled in. I cast my eyes to the ceiling.

“Okay, God, here’s the thing, I know you don’t micro-manage but this is an extraordinary situation, my ninety-four year old Nana should not be using email to annoy the bejesus out of me, a little laptop smiting would go a long way about now.”

I sent a quick reply email to Nana’s last tome saying I wouldn’t be near my computer for the rest of the morning. Lightening didn’t strike me down, on some level that surprised me.

We made it to the first Friday of the year.

2012-01-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

Hooray!

I cannot promise a Bay City Roller free blog - but I will do my best! :-)

This week has been a pretty awful week. No I'm not going to explain, because it's a family thing and telling you won't make it any easier or better. We just have to suck it up and deal which is what we will do. Not much gets the better of us - and this fucking well won't!

So - how was your first week of the year? What'd you do? Where did you go? How was it?

I made dolls clothes for the girls dolls (remember the dolls I made the year before last - all hand sewn... yeah those ones.). I also made a dress for my Ellie doll. (Yeah, Ellie in a dress - ha!)

We took Romeo to the beach and for a couple of regular runs at the park - which he loves but not as much as he loves the beach and running in the sea. He has a lot of power - it's not easy running at speed in water!
He's wandering around the house at the moment - his tail wagging as usual. Think he was looking for the girls, he likes to hangout with them wherever they are. (And especially if they're in the backyard.)

Romeo reminds of me something my grandfather said to me on a few occasions - because I've always been on the lean side - he told me, "You can't fatten a thorough bred." Still makes me laugh. I think he might have been right. Romeo doesn't exactly put on weight and it took me a VERY long time to grow a body. (In fact it took 7 kids before I grew anything that resembled a body!)

Apart from making stuff with the girls - and spending time as a family with Romeo, we haven't done a lot this week. I really have not been working.
Reading yes, working no.
I would like to get back to writing - maybe next week! I suppose what I have been reading is work... am reading Flashbyte.

Squealer is starting to melt down - I can feel it building up. Not surprising really considering what's happened. It's what she does when she can't deal with things or when it's not all about her and she doesn't know what to do. I had hoped we were past this... but I guess no matter how much progress she's made over the last two years she is still Squealer with her ADD, ASD traits, Sensory Processing Disorder and Generalised Anxiety Disorder, and situations that are hard for us are always going to be horrific for her to negotiate.

I think she needs to go walk Romeo - he understands her way better than any human could.

What else?

My paradise email is acting up. It's bouncing mail for NO reason at all. It just is. So, if you have emailed me at paradise and had it bounce back... use my alternate email. (That would be the Gmail one.)
Tweet me - or whatever if you don't have that particular email address and I'll give it to you.

Last night my wonderful Admins arrived with port - because that's what they do when anything bad or good happens! It's how it is. Of all the people, right now, Admin One is probably the best one to understand the situation and help me figure a way through the mine field. She's been there herself with her family. Also, we are very very similar in how we look at things.

Not sure where I'd be without my Admins over the last few years - certainly wouldn't have laughed anywhere near as much as I have!! :D

You know how I said I couldn't promise a Bay City Roller free blog?

I wasn't fibbing... can't promise it. :D

"As long as you're a part of me

2012-01-04T22:25:00.000-08:00

this song will play on endlessly."

It's not often these days that I think about the Bay City Rollers or feel the urge to play those old albums. I can no longer play the original vinyl - they are long gone. But I do have a few CD's.

For whatever reason today I wanted to hear "Dedication". And then I ended up wandering down memory lane and posting a bunch of BCR video's on Facebook.

Then I got the phone call.

So I posted a bunch more.

And maybe I'll post more later.

Maybe I won't. Who the fuck knows.

There are a few people I'd like to talk to right now - sadly two of them are dead, two are in Brisbane, two are in Vriginia, and one is in Christchurch. Way to spread yourselves about people! lol

Luckily I have my glorious Admins. So, because this makes me smile every single time I hear it... hear is a slice of Admin heaven.

It's the third of Jan.

2012-01-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

Last night was plagued by crazy dreams - so much so that morning was a welcome relief. They weren't even my dreams they were Ellie's. Brought about no doubt by sending out two review copies of Flashbyte last night. Yep, that'll do it. It's the panic. It's the worry - that this one won't measure up. It's become so normal that I block it during the day - obviously at night I can't and the monster has free reign.

So be it.

Then the sudden flash of terror - where is the quote? Did I include a quote? There is always a quote from someone in my books... what about the chicken? Is there a chicken??? There's a poem, right?

It's kinda funny really - when I asked for a chicken flashdrive for Christmas Action Man asked why. I said, "Have you not read my books?" He looked at me oddly with that you-know-I-have-expression. Forcing me to explain that in every book is at least one chicken - past, present or ghostly. There is ALWAYS a chicken.
He had not noticed my chickens.
Which is fine - the chickens are for me and Sue. They remind me how this all started and every time I see, write, think of the chickens I hear Sue laughing.

So this is where I am right now. In the crazy place - knowing people are going to read this new book and deliver a verdict. But not knowing what that will be. (This is quite a complex book and also the least gory.)

And I'm not sure I shared this awesomeness...

I had two reddit secret Santas!
The second being from France.
And he did his homework!!

Check this out:

Three novels (very much my thing too!!) all by French authors and a fabulous notebook with a hand painted cover!
How freaking cool is that??
I have just finished reading "Unknown".
Kinda weird reading a tree book after reading nothing but electronic books since May!

Now my secret Santa is quite a cool guy - I did some reverse ~~stalking~~ research. He is one of the authors of this book:

Les Voyageurs de l’Eau

Jan 2nd 2012

2012-01-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

Which makes the date 1/2/12 ha!

Yes that amuses me.

It's the summer holidays (in case you didn't know) and motivation to work is lacking. I sent my edits back to my editor - so don't have to worry about that now.
This morning I tweaked the synopsis for Soundbyte - because I opened it and saw that I hadn't updated it since finishing the book. So I did.
I also opened the short story I was working on... wrote maybe a page then wandered off to do something else!

Last night I created a Google + page.

Awesome fun.

Am over Facebook and it's continual bullshit.

Now I have something awesome to report (dog related awesome).
Some of you will remember how terribly upset, terrified, and panicked Romeo was at Guy Fawkes. We thought he was going to have a heart attack he was so very distraught. We gave him lots of reassurance, tucked him up tight with his blankets, turned the radio on - so there was something to fill the gaps and lessen the shock of the bangs etc and pretty much spent several loooonnng nights with him until the morons stopped setting off fireworks. We had three consecutive weekends of that.
I'd never seen such an extreme reaction to firework noises before.

Well - New Years came along... and bought with it fireworks.

This time - Romeo looked at me when he heard the first bang. I reassured him. Turned the radio on... and he even went outside before bed to pee!! Then I tucked him up with his blanket and he went to sleep. :-)

He didn't panic at all.

We suspect (due to his severe reaction last time) that he'd been in a scary situation before we met him.

Just like how he wouldn't go through smallish spaces and become jumpy and upset at loud noises, would try to escape if anyone cried, yelled, or a door banged, or anyone dropped anything, or smacked anything with rolled up paper (Kids often 'sword fight' with such things -they flick towels at each other too - and the noise of the snap used to scare Romeo too).

Because he's been with us for over 6 months now as a family member which means living with Breezy and Squealer (they're not quiet kids) and having a bed in the middle of the house - I think he's grown accustomed to random loud noises, squealing, crying, household noises, the sound of computer games. Not only has he become used to life sounds but if one of the kids cries he goes to investigate!

He is no longer afraid of life. He is part of it.

Romeo still doesn't like it if one of the smoke alarms beeps (we have two that like to beep once when the sun hits them) but he doesn't immediately leave the area now. He waits a minute to see if it's happens again.

Anything out of the ordinary makes him look to us - when we say it's okay, it's okay. If he's still worried he comes over for a pat. I have noticed that now he'll go to any of us for that little bit of reassurance not just me or Action Man.

Also - Squealer made the comment the other day that she is prefers to be outside with Romeo because he gives her confidence. I think that's pretty awesome of her to say. I knew it was true, but she can now vocalise things like that... that is HUGE progress.
She likes to walk him when we go on walks.
I did notice last week that she got a bit panicked because she saw a pit-bull x over the road. I had to remind her that Romeo doesn't care. He won't even look at other dogs when we are out walking. He looked at her, she was starting to get upset, so he walked faster.
I reminded her to breath and to trust Romeo like he trusts her. He took her away from the perceived danger and she calmed down.
(I'm always close enough that I can step in should it be necessary.)

Yesterday we took the kids and Romeo to the park - he'd been going stir crazy with all the rain. So, at the park on the cricket pitch I sent the kids off, running as fast as they could... while we held Romeo and got him excited (really easy to do - with excited voices and phrases like "Get the kids!" "Where's Breezy?") when the kids were far enough away that he could get some decent speed up we let him go.
Talk about a happy dog - he passed the kids then circled back around them and us. He ran until he was beat. Then he ambled back to walk with us. I took his muzzle off and clipped his lead back on and we walked across the park with a tired dog whose tail wagged non-stop!

He's waiting for his walk today - the sun is out and he's been outside with the kids while they played on their scooters, every now and then he goes and stands by the truck... damn he's subtle! Guess he wants to go to the beach today. Don't need the truck for the park. :-)

Romeo now - loving the Breezy hugs.

Romeo in July 2011. He'd been with us two weeks and already loved to walk with Squealer.

New Years Eve 2011

2011-12-30T16:55:00.000-08:00

Hello world,
It's New Years eve. The very last day of 2011.

Traditionally time for a recapping of the year almost gone and the accomplishments it held... we're going to bullet point it.

Breezy started school in Feb.
Exacerbyte was released in Feb. There was drinking and cake. :-)
Squealer turned 12 on Feb 22nd.
Christchurch was rocked by the most devastating earthquake of all: Feb 22nd.
March was a month of group therapy for Squealer.
Action Man's position at OfficeMax was disestablished on March 31st.
Admin One, Admin Bubbles, and I arrived in the USA on April 7th.
Admin Bubbles celebrated her birthday at Carmines in NY with Lorenza Ponce. A truly hilarious night!!
We left the USA and arrived in Canada on April 29th. (I think!!)
We arrived home the same day Osama Bin Laden was killed. My first text from Auckland airport was to Virginia to confirm what I'd heard when we got off the plane.
Action Man started work at Fire Security Services in May.
I signed the contract for Flashbyte in May - it was waiting for me when I got home.
Dionne and Tim moved to Invercargill in June. The bottom of the world!
We met, adopted and brought Romeo the retired racing Greyhound home in mid-June.
The Boy Wonder turned 20 in late July.
We met Anna, Dave, their kids, and Cleo (their Greyhound). Romeo and Cleo became best friends.Our kids became friends. Weekend dog runs and much laughter followed.
Jojo moved back up here from Christchurch in August, hooray!
Action Man celebrated a significant birthday in August - he had an entire birthday weekend as Admins were away skiing for his actual birthday!
I released Torrent as a paperback on October 4th
I released Torrent as a free eBook on October 15th.
Then came the Romeo and the chicken story for kids and those who love Greyhounds! October 22nd.
Also in October I asked Mark Valley if he would read Flashbyte and possibly write a blurb for me. (He said yes.)
We hung out on a stand at the Pet Expo with Romeo and Cleo sometime in November.
Killerbyte was awesomely reviewed on News Talk ZB in late November.
In early December - bits and pieces of Romeo's sad past started to come to light. Anna and I did some research and concluded his former owner was nnnnuuutttttssss.
Breezy turned 6 in December. Romeo discovered the joy of birthday parties.
Squealer finished her last year at intermediate.
I had a birthday.
I finally got a cover for Flashbyte!
Got the edits back for Flashbyte. Jayne said she didn't want them back until the New Year.
School finished for Breezy. She'll be a year 2 in Feb.
Just before Christmas another spate of earthquakes hit Christchurch.
Christmas happened. I was over it long before it actually happened - big changes are on the cards for my publisher which somewhat killed Christmas!
New Years Eve - I sent my finished/edited/manuscript for Flashbyte back to my editor and the acknowledgments too. Tonight the boys are staying - we were supposed to be camping but the weather is utter crap. Admins are also staying - as there will be no sober drivers! We are going to have a great night!!
Romeo is hoping Cleo comes home from holiday soon... he misses his girlfriend. No one else can give him a run for his money like she can.

That was about it really... with all manner of crazy shit in between the bullet points that I can't remember!

Hope y'all have a safe and happy New Years.

Some of my favorite scenes...

2011-12-27T14:40:00.000-08:00

Which I'm not sure anyone will ever see as a entire body of work...
These are scenes from Soundbyte - the as yet unpublished 5th byte novel and possibly the hardest hitting of all the byte novels.

Soundbyte
A scene with Ellie and Mac from Chapter one:

“Yes I do love someone else. But you are dead! A dead hero. What fucking use is a dead hero?”

“Dead but not blind.”

“Dead!”

“There is someone that loves you as much as I do. And you love him.”

“You left me. You. Left. Me.” I was on my feet, the anger I kept so close for so long spilled all over the room. Running down the walls like blood. Splashing onto the new carpet. A wave of foaming red rolled over the coffee table, swallowing the glass, lapping at the sofa. Mac was knee deep in frothy blood. “You took your vest off. You left me.”

“I did my job. I saved her.”

“Where was it written that you had to sacrifice us to do that?”

“You needed each other. You still do. You were meant to be someone’s mother.”

“Shut up!” I fumed. “You don’t know anything. You don’t know what it’s like without you.”

A figurative door closed.

“I know who you love. I know whom you like… a lot. But Ellie, it’s not him. I know you don’t love Rowan.”

“You don’t know shit,” I growled. I don’t need to discuss who shares my bed with my dead husband. That’s just wrong. “You could have saved her and yourself.”

Somewhere outside a car stopped. Doors opened and closed.

“Time for me to go.”

“You’re good at that.” Anger coursed unchecked. “Leave then, and don’t ever come back.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s too late for sorry.”

He started to stand up, as he did, my hand wrapped around the grip of my Glock. I lifted my arm. His face registered surprise.

“Ellie, don’t.” His words hung in the air. I fired twice. My bullets tore through his forehead. Blood sprayed across the back of the couch. The gun fell from my hand, dropping into the coffee table and sliding across the surface to tumble off the edge onto the silent carpet. I watched Mac fall in slow motion. He crumpled to the floor, just missing the coffee table. His words fell letter by letter and melted on the table surface.

A voice from the front door called out.

“Conway?”

A scene from Chapter seventeen:

And what did it have to do with the Bleich family? And the Sutherlands? And Maria Doyle was what to whom? And who was actually related to whom? I was starting to fully appreciate the Days of our Lives aspect of the case. All that was missing was someone lying comatose at the bottom of a set of stairs and another person buried in an avalanche and we’d have the makings of about ten new episodes. Which led me to wonder which one was Tony DiMera and which of the players was Roman Brady. Of course he could be played by several actors and lose his memory numerous times and chances are he was related to everyone. Then it hit me, Mark Valley wasn’t just Christopher Chance he played Jack Deveraux in Day of Our Lives. Intertwined relationships were everywhere. Pretty sure Deveraux was played by several actors over time.

The tangents spun on and on. The darkness climbing higher. Mac leaned over a thick concrete wall covered in graffiti, his voice echoed into a brick alley way, “Come on, babe. You can do this.”

I blocked out the soap opera aspect of my earlier thoughts and focused on one fact. One thing I did know. Four members of one family were dead. That, I knew was truth. Clawing fingers reaching for that last solid thought trying to drag it into the abyss. I watched as the Bleich parents contorted in agony as they were sucked downward into a fiery pit.

“Earth to Ellie.”

Flames leapt and the whole room smelled like a barbeque.

“Damn I’m hungry,” I said wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.

and finally a scene with Rowan and Ellie from chapter twenty-eight:

“Someone once told me he’d lay down his life for me but he didn’t think I’d let him,” I said. “He was right. That’s unnecessary macho bullshit.” A tiny bit of incensed annoyance crept into my voice. “Like I can’t shoot straight.”

“What happened to him?”

“He’s dead.”

He never flinched. “Did you?”

A little smile dabbled in the edges of my voice. “No, it wasn’t me.” Unless you can kill someone twice. “All that shit means is he couldn’t live with his decisions and the ramifications of whatever situation he was in. Dying for someone, that puts it all on them. No one wants to carry that. It’s not romantic carrying that guilt.”

Rowan’s breath brushed my hair. “Are you trying to say something here?”

“Yeah. Unless you’re a LEO or a soldier, it’s not your job to lay down your life for anyone else. More than that, doing so, is pretty fuc’n selfish. Being the one left behind sucks.”

“Are we talking about Mac here?”

"Kinda, he died but not for me. He died for Carla and she can't live with it."

I've heard there was a secret chord...

2011-12-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

But fucked if I know what it is.

Christmas is over.

It's Boxing Day. Currently very early in the morning and I'm watching Bon Jovi's "When We Were Beautiful".
Why? Because I'm looking for something.
Direction. The way forward. A fucking answer.
Because on Christmas Eve all the work over the last fucking forever was pretty much shit-canned... I knew the changes were coming. I didn't know how fast it would all happen.
Now I'm left unsure of the next step and wondering how this affects my upcoming release or even the finishing of the edits.

Kinda put a damper on Christmas. Just a bit.

Doesn't matter how much you try not to think about it. Or that I know I have options. Or that I immediately went to a friend who has wanted me to say "Let's do this thing." to her for the last two years... because right now it's all gone or in the process of going and that's sad. It's the end of a great experience. I learned a lot. So very much. There are people I've LOVED working with and I'm going to miss them in that capacity. I know we won't loose touch - but the relationships will change. Still, it's sad.

Options.
Yep, they're there.
But also is the whole starting all over again thing.
Fuck that. Seriously, it's tough starting all over again in anything but with an already 'established' series it smacks of pushing shit up hill. Sure I know more about the industry.
I also know that way too much of this industry is about timing and luck. And that the wheels move so fucking slowly it drives a person like me insane. I've always worked fast, I am highly productive - because telling these stories is what makes me happy, therefore they're not hard for me to write, it's fun. (Sometimes I have to look really bloody hard to find the fun... not everything I write brings me joy but I am proud of every word.)

Which brings up the question... do walk away from this series?
Answer.
NO.
I can't. It's too important to me.
And right now - it's the strongest body of work that I have.

There is an almost finished NZ book - but I'm struggling to finish it, struggling to fall in love with the characters and really don't want it to be the flag ship for a fresh start. For one thing... it's a KIWI novel. No matter how many people tell me that's hot in America right now... Americans will not be able to understand it. Seriously. It's not an American novel set in NZ, it's a kiwi novel... with ghost chups, Clinkers and pineapple lumps, jandals,Tuhoe, beached bro, don't bring your mates, nothing much, bloody legend, Watties tomato sauce and paddling pools for Christmas.
It may as well be written in a foreign language. And you know what? I'm not Americanizing it. Nope. It's a kiwi novel. It's about my town and yeah it's a mystery but it's set in my town and my town is a small city in the lower North Island of New Zealand. It's not an exciting place (for the most part). Our cops are not armed (for the most part). I have a Greyhound and he's in the book as his very charming self. It's a book about home and so much so that an Australian would probably struggle with the terms we use - let alone Americans.

As it stands right now - I don't feel much like writing anyway. I am supposed to be finishing the edits for Flashbyte but am not in the mood (in the light of recent events). I started a new Byte novel a few weeks ago - again, not in the mood.

I don't know what's going to happen over the next week or so. When I find out, I'll let you know.

(Little heads up though - if you've put off buying my books because of whatever, I advise you to go get them now, don't wait.)

I do know nothing will be as it was two weeks ago.

My part in all this... up in the air.

My career as a writer... who the fuck knows?

My work... again who the fuck knows!

Merry fucking Christmas and a happy New Year to you all.

Re-capping the last six months and life with a Greyhound!

2011-12-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

Six months ago we bought Romeo home to live with us. He's an amazing, clever, loving dog who needed a forever home. He was not loved nor was he treated well, in his last brief home. He was injured, crated, and sad. He was very sad. He wasn't part of a family.
Today, I thought it would be nice to look back over the last six months and tell you a little bit about life with Romeo.

The day we brought Romeo home - he was exhausted from the car ride. And seemed quite delighted by his bed in the lounge.

He settled in quite quickly and loves Squealer.

He loves Breezy.

He loves The Boy Wonder (his is the only whistle that will bring Romeo back at full run!)

He loves us. That's cool, we love him too.

And we like to do stuff together.

He has a best friend: Cleo.

They love to play and just hang out. Romeo's favorite fun of all is to be at his favorite place with Cleo and his extended family.
He keeps an eye on where everyone is. I suspect he does a head count.

He's a happy dog with a waggy tail. He's finally over his fear of small spaces. (Guess being crated for weeks on end will cause fear and anxiety.) He tells us what he wants, mostly by sign. He's quite the conversationalist but you have to be watching... or he will make you watch! :-)

Can we imagine life without him? No. Life with him is so much fuller and more fun.

He wasn't happy about his bed turning pink for Breezy's birthday - but he did enjoy the party!

There was cake. What's not to like?

And now - it's almost Christmas.

I've had six months of walking Romeo to school (almost every day) of knowing/ learning and understanding what scares him and how to coax him through his fears. Knowing that he will happily walk with Action Man, Squealer or Breezy but when he wants me back he will stop and look for me. If they don't get it... he will cry and look for me.

It's a security thing. Because I walk him so much I know the streets and houses that have dogs/cars/loud noises that spook him, so he trusts me to walk him safely past such things.

He knows to stop at the Fire station and wait. He knows to stop and wait at roads, even the hidden ones. He listens intently to everything I say on our walks. We play games. He has to make a hole big enough for both of us when come to crowds of people or are weaving our way through obstacles. It's fun for him, it must be, his tail wags a lot when he's told how clever he is!

Also - people who stop to chat and call him beautiful or other such nice things are rewarded by a prancing dog with a waggy tail!

He's learned how to manage his strider when running - it freaked us all out in the beginning but we've learned how to deal with it - he doesn't slow down much now! He is a vomiter though, if he's chasing Cleo too hard he will often vomit - due to his breathing being so hard.

(I still don't understand how ANYONE could break a dogs trachea - it's certainly not possible in the way we were told it happened. I suspect he was kicked in the throat, not dragged by a martingale collar.)

Apart from leg cramps - which we massage and ice, and the occasional nicks on his legs from running on the beach with Cleo - Romeo hasn't been hurt at all. But then we don't do stupid or dangerous things with him.

All in all - it's been a wonderful six months.

Because of Romeo we have met some really great people and our kids have some awesome friends... you guys know who you are!

Romeo brings joy without even trying.

The Boy Wonder, who was unconvinced that a Greyhound would be awesome... loves Romeo.

(He was also quite taken by Cleo too.)

What else?

Oh yeah, Romeo, Cleo, the kids, and Missy the fat grey cat all starred in their own book. Romeo and the chicken. There is a link on the upper right to the book - it contains two stories about Romeo.

We're very glad to have adopted Romeo.

More than that - he's happy.

I love this photo - Romeo was pretending to be asleep while listening to Dave on the radio - he said something about Cleo!

And this - from this morning:

Merry Christmas from Romeo!

Last minute...

2011-12-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

Not quite last minute I suppose... it's 4 sleeps until the fat ~~bastard~~ man in red arrives.

Last night this short story idea popped up. I think it was last night. Can't actually be sure. The days are all blurring together.
Anyway - I was working on it today. It'll be done tomorrow or the day after, then I'll share.
If you recall there wasn't going to be a Christmas story this year.
Ellie apparently had other ideas.
Other ideas that involve some covert investigating and maybe, just maybe, I'll learn something about Doc.
That would be cool. He's kinda a dark horse. (Okay a blond horse... but that doesn't work as well now, does it?)
So expect a Christmas story - soonish.

Other than that - I installed Office Professional on my PC this morning. Outlook set itself up but didn't manage to import all my contacts. Brilliant. Have discovered Outlook 10 is not so user friendly. Took me ages to figure out where the import button was hidden. Plus the annoyance of going to all my mail programs and saving the contacts lists somewhere I could find them. AND then finding that the import didn't come with names - and not everyone has an obvious email address.
Bit of a ~~pain in the ass~~ production... think I kinda have it sorted now.
Wouldn't hurt for anyone who uses my main email account to drop me a line - just to make sure I have your email because some did not transfer over. (Paradise account, folks.)

So, now, it seems I have to re-write the kids computer schedule... prior to the holidays it was only from 3:30 that they could use the PC was no worries really. But now, with a cool new set of programs on my PC and me wanting to use it... it's the holidays, they're on it all freaking day.
Arghhhh!!!

On that note... I'm off to check my email and use MY PC.

Love the laptop...but the cool stuff is now on the PC. :-)

Five sleeps...

2011-12-19T19:45:00.000-08:00

Until some fat old bastard squeezes down the chimney and leaves stockings filled with crap on the kids beds.

Hooray ~~the madness is nearly over~~ it's almost Christmas.

This is the time of year when people do bizarre things and very little of what comes from kids mouths makes any sense. (Which is only slightly different from normal.)

I'm in the middle of my edits. Which is fun for me and a shit load easier than writing the initial story (despite me having Ellie show me videos etc at every stage while I'm writing!)
My lovely editor doesn't want Flashbyte back until the New Year, which suits me fine. I'll have it all done and dusted by Christmas then take a week to tweak scenes and generally mess around with it before sending it all back.

Now, I can't remember if I told y'all about the huge pricing shift for Rebel books... ALL our eBooks are now $4.99 via Amazon.
I know... exciting.
So, those of you who were stuttering over paying almost $10 for eBooks can now buy ours at half that!! And, they're excellent books... all of them. You won't find better written or more entertaining stories anywhere. Even better... you can gift Kindle books. Yes you can! What are you waiting for?
Christmas would be a great time to start my series... you will have all three read by March and be caught up and ready for number 4 when it's released! (Subtle as a gold brick.)

This week is filling up fast.
Today we went to the park with my friend Rosebud and her son. Tomorrow is Eric day - must find out if he's calling in Christmas day on his way to work! Thursday night The Admins and I are taking the kids to see the Telecom tree so they can ring Santa. Friday night it's drinkies with Rosebud at our place - the cards might get a bit of a work out. Then it's Christmas eve already! (And that will pretty much be taken up with the making of desserts and stuffing of large birds.)

Today's pic of the day:

My week in a nutshell.

2011-12-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

Yeah I know it's Sunday so new week right?

Well, let's catch you up on the last week first, yeah?

It went like this ...

Blah Blah Blah ....

No not really. Was more like this.

Fuck Fuck Fuck....

Nope, that wasn't it.

I'll get it right in a minute. Finding the words is interesting. (Yeah, yeah, I'm the writer.)

The thing is this is all in-house stuff - so the upshot is all that really matters, right? All the back and forth stuff was just that.
Long story short.
We had a narrow escape. Nearly lost our Jayne's super duper editing skills along with the rest of her awesome self but no one knew that until last night. I saw the worst contract I've ever seen in my life. Read some utterly incoherent bollocks. Also read some awesome emails from fellow Rebels and then I learned how to slay a dragon.
With the sky clear - not a dragon in sight... and some changes made with group consensus it's all starting to feel a lot like Christmas.
AND you can now buy all Rebel e's electronic books for $4.99 which makes us competitive... and... I now require you to rush over to Amazon or iTunes or wherever you buy your eBooks and buy them immediately! Mine especially because let's face it... this is my blog, ;-)
I want you all to prove that price was the stumbling block because we know it's not the content. The one thing all Rebel books have in common is that they are excellent stories. Excellent.
I dare you to show me a bad review of any of the books.
Go on.
Find one!
I dare you.

Thus far it's only the eBook prices that have dropped. Rebel is working on trying to bring the cost of our paperbacks down, but that's harder because of the way they're created. I'll keep you posted on that.

Meanwhile...
Friday night Action Man and I went to his work Christmas dinner. Was good fun. Really great bunch of people. First work function I've enjoyed in YEARS. Nice that he's finally working for a company that employs really great people!!
The Admins were babysitting for us. And the kids had a lovely time too. (More importantly they behaved well, which is to be expected.)

And yesterday we finished our Christmas shopping... I hope!!

It's exactly one week until Christmas.

ONE WEEK.

This year has been interesting. Very interesting. Sometime before the New Year I will run you through some highlights. (Of which there were many!)

You know what to do now though, right?
Buy Rebel e books... and yes, you CAN gift eBooks. So get on it, people.

Now... I'm off to craft an email to my mystery blurber and hope (cos I really am Pollyanna) that he gets it, reads it, and replies. (You know who you are... so, if you happen to stop by here... you know what to do!)

All I want for Christmas is...

2011-12-15T18:25:00.000-08:00

a blurb.

Yep.

That's it.

That's exactly what I want.

Not any old blurb though. The one that took me ages to find the right contact details for and to dig up enough guts to ask... only to be completely blown away by the lovely response.
That's the one I want.

I've pretty much decided (except for that little piece of me who is very much a Pollyanna) that it's not going to happen, and really I could hardly blame him. Reading my part-way-through-the-editing-process-drivel is not easy. Not easy at all.
The part of me that likes rainbows and crystal chandeliers ... yeah that part - wants to send this person a copy of the cover and a Merry Christmas email, but the other part of me... the one that is a tad cynical and probably has both feet in reality is constantly reminding me that I should move on.
Give it up.
Kinda disappointing to realise that that is what I need to do.

Of course in my Pollyanna world of rainbows when people say yes they follow through... just a shame the real world never quite matches up.

If indeed you were thinking of getting me something for Christmas - an Amazon review would be awesome... I think I need to let the blurb dream go.

Meanwhile, I have a dinner to get ready for, truffles to roll, and Christmas spirit to dredge up.

Take care out there.

I hate this time of year

2011-12-13T19:39:00.000-08:00

Yep, I do.

It involves too much yelling and way to much annoyance! (I'm not the one yelling - just to clarify, but I am the one who is annoyed by it!)

Children who have had enough of school already and yet it's not finished yet... and the impending jolly fat man in the red suit who causes all manner of crazy tantrums - these are the things sent to try me!

It seems that children lose their ability to hear and reason at this time of year. They become little shits who fail to see that their behavior isn't endearing them to their parents... and may in fact jeopardise the arrival of Christmas. I'm over it. Makes me wonder why we work so hard to make Christmas special!

But that's beside the point.

Today I found the Christmas tree and decorations - I set everything up so the kids could decorate after school. That went quite well.

Now the cat has taken up residence under the tree:
I think she's concerned that she'll miss Santa...

Which reminds me, I must make Missy and Romeo stockings. It seems only fair.
I've ever done that before.
Jake always had a present under the tree but he sure as hell never had a stocking.
Oh dear.
I think I may have lost my mind!

There was talk of Christmas songs as the kids decorated the tree... luckily it was only talk. It's well known that unless they're Bon Jovi Christmas songs I'm just not that into the whole Christmas song thing!
(Okay...some Christmas songs are okay - but not that freaking awful Snoopy one... yeah you know the one!)

So anyway - pre-Christmas craziness has fully gripped our house. Hope yours is faring better!

It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas... and it's starting to make me want to work!

Maybe I'll write a little bit for the rest of the afternoon?

Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday

2011-12-12T10:17:00.000-08:00

Well it would be if I'd worried about it at all.

That was some Nana wisdom for you.
Hope you enjoyed it.

It's the day after my birthday - which was typically pretty crap really. It was the same as every other day. Which I suppose doesn't make it crap, it just makes it usual. So, it was pretty usual really.

Moving right along.

It's the day after.

I have a ton of things to do - because apparently there is only one more weekend until the fat man tries to squish his self down our chimney... well, bugger! I'm not ready for this.

Last night I finally finished painting the fabric I've been painting for what-seems-like months. So, yay!
Now I just have to sit my backside down at the sewing machine and finish what I intend to make. Let's hope I can squeeze that in this week, between school events, cleaning, baking, buying presents, trying to decide what this years Christmas dinner will be - turkey is off the menu - it's too freaking expensive this year ($70 for a turkey, ridiculous!), hopefully I'll get some writing in somewhere and there is a Christmas party to attend on Friday.

Every other year I'm well organised by now, and all I need to do is get the kids decorating the tree... not this year.
This year turned to custard with work sapping my energy and will to do anything really.
Thankfully that's looking up now.
Here's hoping the improvement is rapid and there isn't another three years of frustration before I start seeing some results.

Meanwhile - today I need to get Christmas paper and wrap presents to send south - that needs to be a priority, along with getting K's present sorted/sent. It's easier this year, have his wish list, chosen the gift - just have to have it sent to him.

Seems to be hot and rainy - ick! Not looking forward to the walk to UH then!!

Hope you're all having a good week!

This is the cuteness of the day yesterday:

It's my birthday and I'll do whatever I freaking well like...

2011-12-10T16:54:00.000-08:00

Okay technically it's not until tomorrow - but tomorrow is a Monday... so, it seemed smarter to celebrate my birthday today.

This morning we went up to see VilifyingAngel and pick up my cute zombie. Which I'd photograph if I could get to my camera. Suffice to say there will be a photo at some stage! Then we came home and took Romeo to the park for a gallop... he chases the kids, it's all good fun. :-)
Nothing more hilarious than kids screaming and running flat out while being chased by a Greyhound... now Romeo is sleeping.
Breezy is annoying Squealer and The Boy Wonder and Action Man are playing various computer & Xbox games upstairs.
We also went to the stupidmarket and got some pate for afternoon tea.

There are a lot of changes happening at the moment - you would know that if you read my blog with any regularity - if you don't, welcome to chaos. I admit to being slightly uneasy about the big changes - but really, when it comes down to it... things can't get any worse so this has got to be an improvement.
Plus- I have lot's of eggs... they're still good and they're not all in one basket.

Next year will be the year I take my kiwi novel and do something magical with it - because I'm listening. I don't know that I believe things have changed THAT much that big name agents will be interested in me this time around but I'm willing to give it ago because Sara believes it. And sometimes you just need a bit of blind faith.

So, it's my birthdayish - and I will do whatever I freaking well please...right now I'm going to go watch something that makes me smile and then the Admins are coming over for afternoon tea.
All is as it should be.

Oh yeah, I put the almond paste on the Christmas cake today. Tomorrow I will put the royal icing on, and it's done!
Guess if we're not having turkey we should as least have Christmas cake.

Meanwhile I have a really funky little zombie hanging on my key chain. Gorgeous kids -yes all of them, a great husband, fabulous family and friends... and let's not forget the best dog in the world!

The future...

2011-12-08T14:55:00.000-08:00

December is full of birthdays and remembrances. Today was Nana's birthday. We used to say Nana would live forever - imagine our surprise when she died aged 97... I think I actually believed she would live forever.
It was Dad's birthday on Wednesday. Breezy's on Monday. K's on Saturday.
Mine is coming up after the weekend.
We have friend's birthday's too.
Tiaki was yesterday. Marek is tomorrow. Lee is the day after mine. Elaine is the day after Lee.
It's busy.
And it's full of Sagittarius's havoc.
But that's a good thing because after all - we're the coolest of all star signs. No point arguing it, you know it's true.

So anyway - things have been a bit up in the air this year - frustrating, annoying, difficult to negotiate and a few other things as well.

My card kept saying - new path, patience, you'll hear soon, everything will work out, something big is happening and it's tied to someone of influence overseas - and so forth. Continuous messages along those lines... all the while insisting in patience and that I not reveal my whole plan to anyone as someone a 'friend' was jealous and couldn't be trusted.
Hmmm. If these things had come up once or twice I would've over looked them... but time and time again, now that means something. Something I wasn't seeing.

I listened. I learned a long time ago that listening hurts no one. Being forearmed is smart. So, I set about reversing negative energy that flowed my way from the jealous quarter and I asked some hard questions regarding what I need/want for my career and I got my answers.
I have my direction now. The path is split but it turns out even the familiar path becomes new. You'll find out in the New Year, until then... I've got some writing/polishing/editing to do.

In fact only one thing remains outstanding and I think I have to let that one go. Disappointing because the person who agreed to blurb is someone I really admire and have for a very long time. For all I know there could an email over the weekend with the blurb attached! Oh look, flying pigs. :-)

And this is the possible new cover for Flashbyte:

and this is my preciousness all together:

What does it take?

2011-12-07T16:36:00.000-08:00

Turns out I am patient, a lot more patient than most people. Also, loyal. It's been my downfall before. I won't let it be my downfall again .

My patience has run out. More about that in another blog when I know exactly what's happening.)

Right now I want to explore a VERY pressing issue. (That may or may not have something to do with the above.)

When books that get scathing/horrid/dreadful reviews sell and books that get awesome reviews don't - then it's time to re-evaluate the way things are being done. Yes? Where is the sense?

The time I gave a bad review to someone - I didn't mention the title of the book and didn't put it on Amazon, I did it here - because I know people will buy crap because someone said it was crap. They feel compelled to see for themselves. It's like watching a train wreck.

So, why doesn't that work for great reviews?

Why don't people go, "It can't be that good, I better see for myself."??

My question to you...

What does it take to get people to buy really good books?

As someone who (knock on wood) has only had great reviews (some so good I cried) and whose sales are utter crap. What does it take?
It ain't the products.
The products are excellent and well worth reading.
So what is it?

What's the magic thing that drives people to buy books??

Writing, maybe I do it oddly?

2011-12-04T15:50:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend Anna commented that they don't teach the way I write in creative writing courses. It's not the first time she's mentioned this... and it got me thinking.

I can't be the only writer out there that has characters rock up and start telling me a story... can I?

I know lots of writers who have in depth character maps - they're so complete that they could create an entire life for them and some do - before they ever write a word in a story.
Maybe I'm too impatient for that.

I've never done it.

Just like I've never consciously created a character.
My main characters names pop into my head but the character has already shown his/her self to me.
I do sometimes use people I know as lesser characters but only as far as I will use part of or all of their name... the character is not like them, they just have the same or a similar name.

I do have a character book - but it's an after the fact thing and it was mostly for those cannon-fodder type characters and contained sketchy information. Not much more than a name, occupation, body type and height really.

But an in depth outline, any kind of idea who is going to pop up next... hell no. It's not how it works for me.

When my characters show up they want me to get on with the story - and I don't want to spend six weeks creating a beautiful profile and never write a freaking word toward the story... I learn about them as we go.

I knew someone once who wanted to write with me - she spent more time creating gorgeous profiles on a bunch of characters than she ever did writing - in fact to my several chapters she wrote maybe half a chapter and took months. Needless to say I scrapped that half a chapter and turned the stuff I'd written into a rather long short story. It was published somewhere but I can't think where right now!
That kind of dicking around and 'busy work' fucks me off. Seriously, just get on with it, the characters will come and be more interesting if they're allowed to develop on their own.

Does that make me different? Possibly.

But probably no different than me seeing video footage in my head (and yeah I hear music).

When I started writing killerbyte I did not know the main character was a chick called Ellie Conway, I knew she was female and what she looked like. As the story emerged I found out who she was and what she did for a job. It's always been like that for me.

I start writing - I write what I see - the characters show themselves as necessary and I learn about them as the story unfolds.

Right now, I'm writing the 6th Byte novel. I know my characters pretty well, but there were still some surprises for me. A new character rocked up in an alleyway and that surprised the hell out of me... I like writing the way I do it. I like that even I don't know what's going to happen next.
That keeps me interested.

I had no idea that Rowan Grange would become part of Ellie's life - he was mentioned a few times in killerbyte and terrorbyte, he was a fringe person. Not someone she knew. For me, that kind of thing is a lot of fun.

It's like how I didn't know Kurt Henderson was going to become a pivotal part of Delta.

Or that I had no clue when terrorbyte finished what they'd uncover next and how many people were involved in the Hawk situation or who would ultimately (and figuratively) stab Ellie in the back. I felt quite sick when I realised what was happening in Exacerbyte. Sick, but couldn't stop it. Because that's how it happened.

I didn't know because my characters show me what's happening in small sections and in order. There is no skipping to the end, or jumping to the middle. I can only see what they share with me.

Okay, that sounds a little nuts.
But it's how I write.
I trust my characters to show me the story and to resolve any given situation their way.

I use notebooks to keep track of what they're showing me - but I don't write plot outlines or character maps. It's pretty much all kept in my head. (Probably why I tune out of things around me when I'm writing... I don't need other stuff encroaching on the story.)

While you're all pondering over how you write or how your favorite authors write... here's a pretty picture or two from our awesome weekend. :-)

Breezy's birthday

2011-12-03T23:33:00.000-08:00

Breezy had her birthday party today. Her 6th birthday party.

It went something like this and she had a lovely day!

Breezy and Romeo first thing this morning.

And she got just what she always wanted...

And she got just what she always wanted again... (This time from the Boy Wonder.)

Then Cleo and her family arrived... and the day became even more awesome for Breezy.

The Boy Wonder made balloon animals.

Cleo and Romeo hung out.

Jojo had something interesting.

And there was cake!

Tired happy kids and tired happy dogs...and yes, they took over the lounge.
Well, they hadn't but Romeo was on his bed and Cleo was trying to get comfy on the floor so Action Man ran upstairs and bought down Romeo's upstairs bed for Cleo... and she was one happy hound.

Next time - we need to do this with wine for the adults!

That was our Sunday... how was yours?

:-)

Really? We still on that?

2011-12-02T12:25:00.000-08:00

I was up early - not unusual, I get up early. (kids = no sleep in ever)

While I drank my first coffee I had a look through my blog stats. Turns out people are still finding my blog by searching for "blood on concrete" "Dried blood stains" "Death from chlorine gas" and "cooked turtles."
A few other things cropped up as well.
Like these:
"Jon Bon Jovi looking sad" - Seriously?
"Decadent thong" - Not even kidding.
"What to do when you're madder than hell" - I like to shoot things - how about you?
"Its not always the looks"
"Every time a coconut."
"How to feel in late November." - I don't know that I've ever told anyone how to feel, lol.
"Christmas cake writing."

Okay maybe that amuses me.
But I'm pretty sure I never wrote a blog about writing on or with a Christmas cake.
But maybe I will.

Currently Bon Jovi are playing on the TV.
It's a year since I last saw them live. So much has happened in the last year it's kinda over shadowed the awesome of seeing them live in Wellington. But the stuff that happened was awesome in its own right.

More about that later: Right now I have a migraine about to kick my ass and writing while trying to see around a freaking big grey hole is not easy.

Romeo and the Chicken: release day

2011-11-30T10:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this is the day.

The official first day of summer and the release of my first kids book!

Exciting.

Romeo is so excited he's fast asleep. (He'll be excited at about 8AM, when he wakes up!)

There are two stories in this (the first book of Romeo) and they are suitable for 5-8 year olds (any kid really) and were rather well received by a selection of 12 year olds!

So, here is Romeo and the Chicken

First day back at school.

2011-11-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

The joy of having two computers... I can play Human Target on one while blogging on the other. Sure, that would work with a TV and a computer too... but I'm at my desk and can't be fagged walking across the room. :-)

Breezy is finally back at school today! Hooray. Romeo and I are enjoying the peace. Doesn't hurt that it's a beautiful sunny day and we spent an hour outside enjoying the sun! I was reading - he was lying beside me on his bed (with Fat-fat, who likes to lie in the sun with R.)

Can you say awesome?

Earlier - I was working. Also awesome.

The reading was also work... I'm re-reading Flashbyte getting my brain ready for the next round of edits.

I still can't show you the cover. Hopefully I'll hear soon if it's actually THE COVER!

A couple of things are still flapping in the wind... hopefully they'll fall into place soon too. :-)

Meanwhile - I have some changes to make to the file for Romeo and the Chicken. Then, we might just release it.
That's pretty exciting, right?

Right back to work for me... new chapter begging to be written in Pixelbyte/xtolbyte/Metolbyte/Digibyte ... whatever it ends up being called.

Oh, yeah, and I kinda want to watch this episode of Human Target. :-)
It's the one this picture is from:

It's all kinds of cool...

2011-11-27T15:40:00.000-08:00

Yeah, really, all kinds!

Awhile ago I wrote a little story for some groovy kids I know. (Two of them are mine.) And y'all know I don't write kids stories. So writing one was not the easiest thing I've ever done. However, it was fun.

I'd already written a little story about Romeo and Missy the fat grey cat. Kinda a kids story but probably not what most kids would read. (This is largely to do with my refusal to 'dumb stuff down' for kids... if you don't use different words how are they going to grow a decent vocabulary? Also, the subject matter - Romeo is not your typical dog, he's just a tad up himself at times and Missy has a good measure of British Blue in her - hence she's got a lot of snooty trollop potential...)

So, ya see... I had this idea.

I thought (as a gift for the kids in the book) it would be cool to see it in print. You know with an ISBN and all the drama. And that is what I did.

And this is what it looks like:

I had two proof copies sent. One for me and one for Anna.
We haven't decided yet what to do with the book but I quite enjoyed creating this - which means there may be another Romeo/Cleo/Missy the fat grey cat book on the horizon. (And the fact that Breezy's class enjoyed the Chicken story helped with that thought!)

Romeo is quite pleased with it too:

Can you tell?

Sunny Sunday, by crikey I think the weather has its shit sorted!

2011-11-26T11:18:00.000-08:00

Good morning.
Elections are over. Key is no doubt a happy camper - Goff is possibly licking his wounds. I'm just glad the bullshit faze is over.

Yesterday went from okay to crap and settled finally on hilarious. The glorious Admins arrived with pate, bread, and Dolcetto. Kane popped over with another bottle of Dolcetto as an apology for the fireworks that nearly scared Romeo to death a few weeks ago. Turns out it was Kane who was letting them off. Thought he looked a tad guilty when I was ranting about the wankers who were terrifying my dog and who kept us awake all night! Mystery solved. :-)

I sorted the print spooler issue with the PC and can now print from both computers. Yay me. I just had to be in the right frame of mind to sort it... ie. Not angry at the world.

While I was ~~dicking with~~ fixing the computer I obviously had to test print stuff. So, I chose the first pages of Flashbyte, Soundbyte, and Pixelbyte (yeah still not sure about that one either). Last night the Admins read the first pages. General consensus is the first page of Flashbyte now rocks. First page of Soundbyte met with approval. First page of Pixelbyte also rocks.

Here are the opening lines from all the byte novels (so far) - published and as yet unpublished, contracted and not:
killerbyte:

You’re gonna die – you bitch!
I looked at the words sitting alone on the expanse of white. A ridiculous thought occurred to me. The words were innocent. They had no volition. Just photons squirted out by a display system.

Terrorbyte:

“Are you sure this is the alleyway?” I stared down the dreary lane, hoping Lee would say no.
The whole place reeked of urine and discarded syringes. With a sense of foreboding, I pulled my badge from my pocket and hung it around my neck by the lanyard. My eyes flicked up and down the close walls of the alley, looking for cameras. I spotted a bracket that may have once held a camera. How handy.

Exacerbyte:

My phone chirped like a demented cricket. It was the second call in two minutes. Demented crickets are never good. I pulled over to the shoulder and stopped. Cars whizzed by me. The phone chirped again.

Flashbyte:

“You’re a smarmy piece of shit,” I murmured under my breath. My mouth was dry. I could barely swallow. Every nerve in my body was on edge.
I took a swig of water from my canteen. The cool liquid fought my tight dry throat until it won and forced its way down my esophagus.

Soundbyte:

“It’s late. We’ve got this organized?” I spun my chair to face my desk and stretched.

The face looking at me from my computer screen frowned and seemed to consider my words. “Yes, we’re all set at this end.”
I nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

Pixelbyte:

“Fuck you!” I stormed from the building before I did something irreversible. My hand strayed dangerously close to the grip on my Glock several times in the last ten minutes.
Time to leave.
What just happened?
I had a tantrum. One any two-year-old would be proud to own. I couldn’t stay around for the rest of the argument because I had no idea what was going to happen next.

* * *

And with that I shall leave you to your Sunday. Hope it's a good one. We're heading to the usual place with the usual suspects to make two dogs and five kids very happy. :-)

Saturday and all is well...

2011-11-25T14:04:00.000-08:00

This morning I was pleased to find my foul mood from yesterday had buggered off. Yay - you all get to live another day. :-)

We just got back from voting. Decided to walk Romeo to the polling booth - kinda kill two birds with one stone (so to speak). He's now hot and panting behind my desk and we've voted.
Have to say I'm disappointed at the non-sticky stickers! Mine fell off before I got out of the school grounds.

Hmmm... Kane just vaulted over his front fence wearing board shorts? Now you don't see that every day! The vaulting bit, sure - but board shorts... nah. lol

So, yesterday I was in a filthy freaking mood for no apparent reason. Although being trapped at home for a week with sick child may have been a contributing factor.
Because really, it wasn't a bad week - work wise for me. I got to see the possible new cover for Flashbyte. I re-wrote the first two pages of Flashbyte because for whatever reason I hated the beginning - and finally figured out how to fix it. And there was a fabulous review on NewsTalk ZB of killerbyte. Plus I made some headway in the latest Byte novel. Gotta say I do love this story - no fucn clue yet where it's going, but the journey is fun! The new character turned out to make more sense than I first thought and he also surprised me. I like that in a character.

And for fun (because writing is sometimes more fun than I can cope with and I need to do something else for a bit) I decoupaged the sides of my desk mobile. (I have three, I chose to decoupage the one without handles on the drawers - cos handles are a pain in the behind!)
The Boy Wonder says decoupage is me tapping into my inner 16 year old self. He may be correct, pretty sure the parental units would not of been happy if I'd done this to my drawers back then... but this is my furniture, I can do as I like. :)
Here let me show you:
This the front - been like this for awhile now:

And this is the side that faces the room - a little more PC than the side that faces me! (Not by much though) And there is an extra special wee comment toward the bottom left that my Admins will enjoy.

I'm not going to show you the side that I see - at the moment. As I just found some more pictures to add. :-) There are a few expletives on my side.

So, how is your weekend going?

We're off to run Romeo tomorrow - must actually remember to get more batteries for my camera and use the thing!!

Got my Reddit Secret Santa match today. Brilliant. Will organise his gift next week!

Happy thanksgiving to all my American friends xxx.

Breezy is now singing "Work for the working man" Bon Jovi... for the last two days she's been singing songs from Lorenza's album Soul Shifter, so this is a change!

Why doesn't this look like my handwriting?

2011-11-24T11:37:00.000-08:00

Well, not this obviously... because it's typed - doh!
But the pages I wrote last night. In fact everything I've handwritten in this notebook for this particular book. None of it looks like my writing.

None of it.

So who does this scrawl belong too?

Obviously I wrote it, the pen was in my hand. So it must be mine!

I picked up a notebook from Flashbyte - the hand writing is completely different.

Spooky.

Just found a scene that never made it into Flashbyte - well, I don't think it made it... but it freaking well should have and will if it didn't.
~~Shut up, Cat... you make no sense~~.

I guess when I wrote the possibly missing scene - judging by the content - I'd been watching a lot of YouTube videos.

Doesn't explain the very different handwriting in these notebooks though.

At least it all sounds like me - just doesn't look like me. None of it.

Ohhh and I'm waiting for the okay to flash the Flashbyte cover around! I'm hoping we're going with the 12th version - but I can't get all giggly over it until I know. (The hell of the last cover is still fresh in my mind ... )
So, meanwhile, I'm not thinking about it too much. The cover is the picture on both my desktops, it's very cool - but I am not overly attached to it... yet. Should you have access to my desktops you can see it -but that requires a physical presence at my desk! (And if you're a Backspacer you can see it there.)

Still no explanation for the weird handwriting.

Windy Wednesday, 12, review, newstalk ZB

2011-11-22T23:24:00.000-08:00

It's windy! Which is not unusual at all. Wellington is known as the windy city for a reason. It's often a tad breezy. :)

Today was one of those gusty days. I reckon it's Mother Nature blowing the cobwebs out. It's all good.

Breezy (the child not the wind) was a little sicker this morning. She perked up by lunchtime though and did a full page of maths, wrote a story, and read. Then I made her rest for an hour or so. Which for her meant she got to watch a movie while eating ice blocks, then later she was playing Club Penguin on my PC.
I have to wonder if the reason illnesses like Scarlet Fever were so serious in the old days is because people were tucked up in bed and not allowed to do anything... (perhaps not having antibiotics was a big consideration too, lol)
We heal faster if we're active. Within reason of course. But having a kid with Scarlet Fever in bed, laying down all the time, is just asking for complications like pneumonia.
Just something I was thinking about as I watched Breezy playing. She's definitely ill. But not wallowing in it.
She'd sooner be at school and so tonight I need to come up with some more maths for her and a few story ideas. :)

My day was busy.

I've now seen many many versions of the potential cover for Flashbyte. I like the 12th one. When Admin One asked me if 12 was relevant to the story I had to think. It's not but 6 is. And 12 is my favorite number and next year my birthday will be 12/12/12 - how fucn cool is that??

I know, right? I haven't looked forward to a birthday like this since I was 12 on the 12th of the 12th. :)

Today had an awesome aspect... one that almost had me climbing the walls in the minutes prior though despite Anna telling me last weekend that she only had good things to say. Was funny cos Breezy new right away that I was nervous and why. (She's a very smart kid and she's a little like me, in that, until it happens anything is possible...)

Here's the link - skip to about two thirds of the way along (39 minute mark) that you won't miss Anna's reviews!

We're secretly very excited by the marvelousness within that link.

And yes, you can tweet Ellie using @EllieConwaySA
And check out her blog: Bounce and no you won't find out what's happening in the books on Ellie's blog... not often anyway! She doesn't give much away... :)

Meanwhile, how is everyone?

Oh yeah... I really hated the first page of Flashbyte and I didn't know why. I do now. I re-wrote the first page today. *Shrugs* you get that sometimes.

Scarlet fever and magick

2011-11-21T20:22:00.000-08:00

Who'd have thought I'd ever put Scarlet fever and magick together in a sentence? Yeah, not me either.

So today - Breezy said her throat hurt. (It's been sore since Sunday night but she's been okay with it, just says every now and then it hurts and then once she's had Pamol and Nurophen it's okay for a few hours.) I already had a doctor appointment for her, because she had a sore throat yesterday and was pretty miserable looking.
Today she developed a red rash.
I looked it up. Yay for Dr. Google.
But really, Scarlet fever? What were the odds? I hadn't heard of it in years. But that's what it looked like, and that's what her symptoms pointed too. Hmmm. I must've gotten it wrong.
Off to the doctor we went to be told - SCARLET FEVER.
Not only that, but our lovely doc looked at Breezy's throat and said she was VERY ill. The same kid that bounced along the road with me, talking non-stop. Sure she didn't eat breakfast. (But she ate all her dinner last night.)
She's on antibiotics for the next 3-4 weeks. The antibiotic that kills strep quickly, penicillin, is the one Breezy is allergic too - so we're stuck with a slightly less effective antibiotic for longer time!
She can't go to school.
She now will miss out on swimming lessons. Her class started swimming yesterday. By the time Breezy gets back to school - swimming will be almost over!
Sucks to be Breezy this year.
It really does.
She's pretty much been constantly sick since June. We have no clue why or how she is picking up these very nasty bugs... actually we do. It's gotta be coming from school. Someone in her class is a little tiny Typhiod freaking Mary.
I'd like to dip the entire class in bleach.

I don't recall any of the other kids ever being this sick before. Breezy's not the kid you'd expect to be sick either. She's the one who does eat her veges and will try everything on her plate, she goes to bed at 7PM, she sleeps well, she spends more time outdoors than in, she's tall for her age and the correct weight for her height - in other words she's a perfectly normal kid who was always really healthy.

Her sister however would be happy if the entire world contained nothing but white food with no taste... that's a little unfair, she's almost 13 now and has in the last few months, begun to try different foods!!! Goes to bed at a reasonable time but has never really slept properly. Hates being outside because that's where the bees/flying insects/bugs/unpredictable things are and is painfully thin - admittedly the thinness is partly genetic... maybe 70% genes and 30% eats fucn nothing of any value.

Ironic isn't it?

So anyway - that will be the next few weeks for me. Sick child. No school. SAD Greyhound who is used to walking or running every day and hasn't been out for two days now.

About the magick.

Had to drag out some spell books today - (nothing to do with Scarlet fever or the germ carrying beasties at Breezy's school) - A scene cropped up the other day in the new Byte novel. Ellie considered that she may be cursed. Which led to me having to find a Hoodoo spell to remove a curse/hex/whatever. And let me tell ya, this will make Ellie cringe. :)

Right, I'm out of here.

Y'all take here out there.

Monday, Christmas cake, Writing, and stuff

2011-11-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

I think I've tried to write this three times today between playing with the sick child, giving the sick child medicine, cleaning, installing a new printer (little more complicated than usual - little fancier than usual), making Christmas cake, cleaning up after sick child, doing a tonne of laundry, fielding phone calls, preparing roast chicken with garlic stuffing, and yeah, trying to get some writing done.

So, yay, finally got here and the post may get finished this time!

Where to begin?

This morning I had to finish making the Christmas cake - the fruit soaked over night. So, by 11am I was able to finally get to the cake making. I had a limited time frame. It takes four hours to bake a Christmas cake - and three hours to cook the chicken I had decided to cook for dinner.
So cake first.
I forgot how hard it is to mix that large a quantity of fruit and cake batter... the wooden spoon was not going to cut it. I ended up using my hands, was up to my elbows in delicious cake batter by the time it was ready to be spooned into the cake tin. :)
The cake is cooked and cooling on the bench.
Now the chicken (stuffed with garlic and peppers) is cooking. In about half an hour I'll add the veges.

A few times today I tried to work... it was both successful and unsuccessful. In the end it just became ~~seriously annoying~~ a little frustrating. The writing was going well but the constant interruptions were just not working for me. Then I couldn't remember some fairly important details from the end of exacerbyte, so had to pull the book off the shelf and read the last two chapters. Not exactly a hardship but frustrating because I couldn't remember. Who wrote it? Yeah, me! lol

I think I forgot to take my vitamins this morning.

Yesterday I exhausted the ink cartridges in my Canon printer. So it was time to install a brand new HP printer/scanner today. As stupid as it sounds, printers are disposable. They shouldn't be, but replacement ink is so expensive it's cheaper to buy a new printer. Especially when you can pick up a brand new printer for under $45.
Now that folks is nuts.
I didn't always toss printers. Action Man used to work for OfficeMax - so we got a discount on everything. But ink was still more expensive than a new printer.
So, anyway, today I installed the new printer/scanner - different to just plugging a printer in and expecting it to work by magic, this one actually had software! It's nice. It's HP and it's talking happily to my Compaq's. The Canon had recently decided to only speak to the laptop and not the PC. Stupid thing. (The Canon is the stupid thing not the laptop or PC - which are both Compaq's and awesome.)

I'm kinda hoping that tonight I can get some writing done (some sleep would also be beneficial). The new Byte book is amusing me at the moment. I just figured out who the new guy is. (He's the one I refer to as the FNG.) He's fun. I like him. He's giving Ellie a run for her money, and that makes him fun for me to write.
I still don't know that much about him though. I know who he is, what he does and what he used to do... but apart from that, he's quite the mystery. No music has popped up when he's in a scene or anything that gives me much insight into what makes him tick.
I'm a little fascinated by him to tell the truth.
A bit of a mystery is interesting.
No doubt he'll reveal more as the story unfolds... or not.

Saturday: Doesn't feel like late November

2011-11-18T16:55:00.000-08:00

In a week and a half it will be December - we're still wearing fleecy sweatshirts and jackets. Summer has forgotten us here in Wellington.
It seemed as though summer was almost here - then today at the beach... the cold wind, grey sky, and general dreary outlook made me think summer may never happen. Quite frankly spring was a bit of a non-event too.
Quite glad I'd already had one (and a very warm lovely one) early this year in the other hemisphere.

Despite us humans freezing our bits off on the beach the hounds had their usual marvelous time. Romeo is now fast asleep under his blankets.

In other news:
I am banning all mention of occupying (anything, don't care what it is - don't tell me about it.) and tea (cups, pots, bags, or leaves.) - again don't care, so shut up. Suffice to say the political parties that caused this tea bullshit will not be getting my votes. The crap from the last week has fully convinced me to stick with my usual party, thanks for that.
While I'm banning things... considering a full seasonal ban of Snoopys Christmas. Squealer told Dave today that he made me yell at the radio by playing Snoopys Christmas. He, of course, thought it was very funny. (I obviously have to be more careful what I yell/say/do when Squealer is in the room, turns out she's a bit of a nark. lol)
Used to love that song but every year it gets played earlier and earlier... now, I'm over it.
Get BETTER Christmas songs!!
Maybe we should only have Bon Jovi Christmas songs. :)

So where are we now?
I'm in danger of becoming very Grinch like regarding Christmas.

I saw the first draft of the long awaited FLASHBYTE cover this morning. First draft. I have sent back my thoughts and what should be changed. It has potential.

Killerbyte will be reviewed by Anna Smart on NewsTalk ZB on Wednesday morning about 11:30.

We've all been sick this week, it has become apparent that someone in Breezy's class is a Typhoid Mary. There has been a constant stream of germs this year. I'm hoping whoever Patient Zero is that they aren't in her class next year!!

The latest Byte novel is coming along nicely. I'm enjoying it. A lot. It's definitely fun.

It's almost Breezy's birthday. We did the invitations last night. This time of year invites have to go out early... we're all running out of weekends before Christmas. :)

I am sick to death of grizzly children.

Over it.

Might be a bit cranky myself.

I suggest no one annoys me for the rest of the weekend.

The week marches on...

2011-11-16T12:49:00.000-08:00

It's Thursday already - just that little bit closer to the end of November and the chaos that is December (in our house).

I managed to post K's birthday present yesterday - airmail, cost a bundle, hopefully he'll have it by his birthday. His birthday starts the December madness and is followed quickly by Breezy's. :)

Today there is a fun new interview out over at Authors block: Where my lack of quirks and favorite morning radio station are discussed. That's right... not quirky.

Oh and here are the three guys who live on my desk:

It's relevant to the lack of quirks in my interview. As it would be.

What else is new?

Nothing much - that I can think of.

Working on the new shiny exciting Byte novel that none of you will see until at least 2014 - because 2012 is Flashbyte, and hopefully the next one will be Soundbyte (probably 2013)... and the one I'm working on now slides in after Soundbyte... so it's a wee ways out yet. It is fun though. I'm really enjoying it. Although I do need to find myself an expert. Similar to how Lorenza Ponce was my go to person for Exacerbyte and all things rock starish - only this time I need a different type of expert. That's all I'm saying. I kinda know a guy... hopefully he'll say yes.

This week, we've all been sick. It's been kinda crappy in actual fact. Some nasty throat virus that makes voices disappear on and off, starts with a sore throat and comes with a headache. Luckily the sore throat only lasts about 24 hours - the disappearing voice and croakiness lasts much longer. Fun.

Breezy was home Monday. Action Man yesterday. Squealer today. I gave it to them all... but apparently don't get a day off. How sucky is that? :)

Saturday, culling, writing, ranting

2011-11-11T23:15:00.000-08:00

Hope you all are having an awesome weekend.

Mine's been pretty good so far.

Started with the beginning of the Facebook personal page cull [which is now done - 700 people have gone], so don't be upset if you find you've disappeared or I have disappeared... nothing personal.
I have a Facebook page - which is for people who aren't family or who aren't people I actually know. Feel free to join us over there and hang out with me and the Admins. Half the fun is trying to figure out which comment is mine and which belongs to one or other of the Admins. :)
Cat Connor Facebook page.

What else did I do today?

Well, we did the groceries. [Big Milk - to those of you who've been around since Squealer was a baby.]

Then we took Romeo out for a run with Cleo at the new usual place - which is by far his favorite place. He had a ball, as usual. [It's the usual place so really the usual things should happen.]
The kids buried a dead bird.
JoJo found half a set of dentures. Didn't look close enough to determine if it was an upper of lower set... and we never found the rest of the person.
Not sure if that's comforting or not.

I had a brief thought before we left to meet the usual suspects that I should grab a copy of terrorbyte for Anna - but that seemed kinda presumptuous. And I ummed and ahhhed then got side tracked... as it happens I should've. So will have to remember next time.

My panic over Anna and Dave reading killerbyte has subsided. [I know Anna will like the next two - because IMO they're far better than killerbyte... killerbyte is an awesome book - no two ways about it, but it's the beginning. I know the characters so much better now and they've grown so much, it's just how it is. If terrorbyte wasn't better and likewise with exacerbyte then I'd truly suck at my job. ]

Of course it remains to be seen how Flashbyte stacks up. The closer we get to release date with that the more panicked I'll become... but right now, it's a ways away so I'm fairly calm.
[As calm as someone waiting to hear back from someone she really admires and who agreed to blurb for her as a person can be.]
That's all. Not telling you who it is. You'll find out when the person has read Flashbyte and gets back to me.
No pressure, it's only been a month and it's not like he the person doesn't have a really fucn cool day job.

In case you missed my rant and Ellie's rant regarding research - here they are;
Cat's massive rant about the phrase fuck-all.
SSA Ellie Conway's rant about research why writers need to research.

Now that's out of the way, I'm going to slide back into Ellie's world and see what the FNG wants now.

:)

Few things annoy me more than...

2011-11-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

Phrases used in the WRONG context.

Seriously. Fucks me off.

Case in point - the book I've been wading through the last few weeks. Always sad when a sequel doesn't cut it... but I was determined to get to the end and find something redeeming.

I found annoyances.

Weeks after an apocalypse supermarkets are not going to be full of FRESH food, they're going to be full of rotting food... thank you!

Cell phones, power, Internet still working? That's awesome... because they all seem to fall-over regularly and require constant human intervention in the world as it is now. I guess in 3 years time we've perfected the art of communication and thousands of people will be out of jobs? Won't need maintenance personal or techs because it'll just all work perfectly despite an apocalypse. Nah, not buying it.

Look harder, Cat... there has to be something here that can save it.

Then I came upon yet another use of the phrase 'fuck-all'.
How the hell can someone get THAT wrong??

It's means none or nothing.
Let me demonstrate:
"Hey Bro, whatcha been doing?"
"Fuck-all mate, you?"

or:

After scouring the TV guide and finding nothing of interest to watch. "There's fuck-all on telly tonight."

Get it?

That is the only use for fuck-all. It doesn't mean lots, or good, or anything else... it means none or nothing or sometimes, very few.

There were fuck-all biscuits after Action Man raided the tin.

Even the urban dictionary has a definition:
Fuck all

So, why use it to mean whatever the hell this author tried to make it mean.

You cannot "run like fuck-all". (run like nothing?)
Not sure how you can "toss fuck-all to the wind" (Toss nothing to the wind?)
The wind was fuck-all cold. (The wind was nothing/none cold?)

Oh dear God... doesn't make any sense at all!!

I am disappointed, because the first book in this series was fun. It was. I enjoyed it. I looked forward to the sequel with interest. How was he going to write a female main character? What was going to happen to everyone?

This one however was waffly. I was constantly pulled out of the story by way too much internalisation and too many 'blog posts' which seemed to be extensions of the internalization's - which were a tad too touchy feely for my liking and went on and on. (I'm not stupid, I get it.)
I'm sure some woman do that, but none that I know.

The main character in this book was a character I didn't like in the last book. Well, not even that, I didn't feel much for her at all. She won't stay with me. To be honest I can't remember her name! Because there was nothing to latch on to and she didn't make me feel anything except the urge to smack her and the writer upside the head.

Disappointed is the over all feeling.

Now moving on.

Usually when I read something I don't like, I stop and ditch it. I don't tell anyone.

I'm not mentioning the author or the book here. Just my annoyance at it.

I'm not going to finish my coffee and contemplate a day or work with my new character who is really ticking Ellie off. (Awesome!)

Bookmarks!

2011-11-08T19:27:00.000-08:00

Pretty, pretty, pretty.

I am feeling rather generous today - if anyone would like a beautiful Rebel bookmark and/or a Kindle version of 'Torrent: a collection of short bytes' - send me a message or leave a comment.

First come first served... this offer will expire on Friday November 11th.

You can send me a message via Facebook (link on the 'contact' page, twitter @catconnor, or over on G+.

Have you joined the Rebel eClub yet?
No?
Goodness... off you go through the looking glass and join up... lots of awesomeness up for grabs over there. Here's the ~~looking glass~~ link. (Including wine!)

I was going to write a blog...

2011-11-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

But decided I'd sooner write another few scenes in this brand new shiny and exciting _Byte novel with this fun new character. He has much potential. Am quite glad he came along.

So - don't mind me.

I've got work to do.

Here are some pictures to keep you ~~guessing~~ occupied while I disappear into Ellie's world for the next day or so...

Look what arrived today!

2011-11-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

Thought I saw a courier outside this morning. But I didn't look out the door properly so completely missed the box on the porch! The kids found it when we were leaving for school. So I put it on the table for later... thinking it was the new cap and tee shirt I'd ordered. It wasn't! I'd completely forgotten about the copies of Torrent I'd had printed. LOL. Seriously, life gets busy - who remembers these things?

So now I need to decide whether or not to make these available to everyone. At the moment Torrent is available as a download via Smashwords - see link over at the top on the right.

I don't know that it really needs to be a paperback as well?

Am having some blogger formatting issues today - that's not unusual, it is annoying though... grrr.

From Saturday night until this morning, we've had a VERY upset dog. He was so scared I thought his heart was going to give out. He won't go outside for anything after dark... even during the day a door banging or someone dropping something terrifies him.
Why?
Fireworks.
Fucktards who let off fireworks ALL FUCKING NIGHT on Saturday night. Not those pretty sparkly ones but booming fucn explosive ones that scared the bejesus out of Romeo. And last night... more of the same but thankfully further away.
We've never had this kind of extreme fireworks around here before - let's be honest who the hell can afford to burn money like that? Well, it seems some people can... shooting fireworks at each other - that's real smart.
So anyway - I was up with the dog on Saturday night... consequently last night I fell asleep at quarter to eight and didn't wake up until 6! Action Man was on dog duty last night. Reassurance and hugs is what Romeo needed.
The cat (who never used to care about fireworks but this was extreme) got so scared she vomited under my desk -- she was hiding under there.

Quite glad this fireworks stupidity is now over... as Action Man said over until New Years, at least.

Okay so back to fondling the pretty copies of Torrent I have in my little hands.

Got some work to do today - now that the house is quiet.

And Romeo looks like this instead of shaking and panting...

Usual place, Pet Expo, pandas, _byte?

2011-11-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday.

What more needs to be said? lol

This morning we went back to the 'old usual place' with the usual suspects - Romeo and Cleo chatted, chased, played - had a jolly good time. Romeo's tail just wags all the time he's with Cleo. He adores her. So sweet!
Romeo even went and played with another dog while we had a picnic lunch. (Not sure what breed it was, but maybe some kind of Pointer.)

After lunch we all piled back to our place - think Anna was a little disappointed that none of the 'boys' down the end of the street were out wearing their patches. :) (I suspect she'd be even more disappointed if she saw them - aged, worse for wear, and friendly - which of course makes them a lot less intimidating than they'd like to think they are.)

Then it was off to the Pet Expo - to show off Romeo and Cleo at the Greyhounds as Pets stand.
Trouble started almost immediately. Dogs settled quickly - but Squealer showed early signs of losing the plot... too many people. She wanted to go see the other animals but didn't want to go with Dave who was taking the other kids, because she wanted to go with me.
So, I went too.
In hindsight - that was probably a mistake.

See, the thing is, Squealer had a map of the exhibits and in bold lettering it said PANDA first floor (or whatever floor it was)... In my defence (and Dave's too) IT SAID PANDA.

(Now you might remember how excited I was to see Panda's at the National Zoo in Washington, DC?)

Yeah, well, let's just say... I wanted to find the Panda's. :)
It turned into a green milk situation.
(You know - me saying green milk comes from green cows and Squealer, well, squealing about how that's NOT TRUE and there is no such thing... all the other kids think it's hilarious when I say stuff like that. But they're not Squealer and they don't have a Sensory Processing Disorder or Aspergers Traits or any of the other interesting things that our Squealer does.)
So, we were looking for the panda's... and well, Squealer was crying... because even though it said Panda that's not what it meant. It was the name of the building (or something). She's VERY literal. There was no room for .. "but maybe, or what if... or hey, it says pandas I wanna find pandas."
Green milk!
And there were LOTS of people.She doesn't cope well with people especially that many. And Jojo wanders, and she was worried he'd get lost... really? I've never lost a kid yet, and it's not been through lack of trying some days!! I'm pretty good at keeping track of small people in crowds.
Up shot was - a pretty controlled meltdown. (Helluva improvement to what would've happened 2 years ago... which would've been a monumental hysterical fit.)

So, no pandas.
Disappointing.
No chinchillas either - very disappointed about that. How am I supposed to find out how many it takes to make a full length coat if I can't find the chinchilla exhibit?
Just sayin'.

But tonight, while I was telling the Admins about the expo and the disappointing lack of pandas and how I couldn't locate the chinchilla's so am no closer to a snuggly winter coat - Squealer laughed about it!!!
WTF? Have we made progress without my noticing?

So anyway - was a busy day. Romeo is knackered. He got no naps today - and usually he sleeps for 3 hours plus after his weekend run with Cleo... today he had to stand around and be patted by strangers for 2 hours after his run! (It's not easy being fabulous.)

Admins got home from snowboarding today and came for an afternoon visit - then stayed for dinner tonight - Admin One and I made Toad-in-the-hole! So easy and yummy
We also sat around brainstorming photography bits and pieces looking for the perfect title for this new _byte novel - which has to do with photographs and so forth. we ended up Googling photographic chemicals.
And have added: Xtolbyte, Metolbyte, and FXbyte to the list of possibilities. (I'm still bouncing back and forth between pixelbyte and digibyte... kinda like the sound of metolbyte or FXbyte too.)

This is one of the pandas from the National Zoo in DC.
Admin One took this lovely shot.

Stirrer? Me? Surely not.

A gamer??? Oh God no....

2011-11-03T21:21:00.000-07:00

This morning I settled into working on the NEW BYTE NOVEL. Yes that did require all caps, so there. (And I might've poked my tongue out...)

We have a tentative title.

Digibyte.

I was reading last nights work - and quite pleased with how it's shaping up. (It's early days and so far the character and story are playing nice - as nice as any of my characters play... oh, shut up - don't question me!)

Anyway, I was reading... Mr. New Character was trotting out some fine performances - I was pleased with his progress. Then it hit me... I don't know what music he likes.
This just won't do.
My characters all have music - something that helps me write them.

I wasn't overly worried - it's early. I've only written about 15K. If at 98K I'm still clueless as to the inner depths of this guy, then we'll have a problem... and a crap character who needs substance - but that's beside the point.

I'm sitting at my desk, writing... Ellie and the FNG (= F------g New Guy) are getting on quite well. That's a little scary. She's not the most welcoming of people when it comes to FNG's.. and he's not your normal FNG -not even close.
That's when it hit me.
When he's not doing what he does (and it's not something you'd think of, trust me.) .... he's a gamer.
Oh dear God, noooooo.
This is worse than having a character who likes rap.
A gamer!
He's a Modern Warfare player. Loves his Xbox. (If I find out he's tea-bagged anyone I may have to hurt him - really hurt him.)
How'd this happen?
Seriously? How? I don't get it.

Although I should be grateful - it could be worse. (If I tell myself that often enough, it WILL be true.)

But - he is funny.

Funny is good.

It could be worse - he could have been a WoW player.
If that were the case I'd probably blow him up. Yep, I think I would. Guess he doesn't want to leave in a body bag?
Be more like a sandwich bag - what with the C4 an' all.

There might be a sneak peek at the first page by the end of the weekend.

AND:

Coolness...

I was invited to be part of this: The Girl's Guide To Surviving The Apocalypse. I'm so excited to be part of what will be a fabulous collaboration.

Going to be working on my first post over the weekend.

Squeeeee.

Sometimes you just need to laugh

2011-11-03T02:53:00.000-07:00

This week has been busy. Awesome busy. New book busy. OMG, it's so great to have this new byte book unfolding in front of me.
Yeah I know - I'm always writing a new book. Because, yeah, here it comes... I'm a writer. I know, right... how great is that? :)
There is a good chance that I might be a little bit of a smart ass, as well.

Okay so here's the thing.

This book hit me upside the head with an opening line that I just love and a brand new character. A new character.
He makes this so much fun that in the last three days I've written 13K.
It's a guy by the way.

That's it, you don't get any more.

This kinda smack-me-upside-the-head-wow-I-love-this-character hasn't happened for me since exacerbyte. For good reason, in both Flashbyte and Soundbyte there are no new main characters or characters that are likely to make a return appearance... except for the new one in this book... but he wasn't really in the last two I wrote. He is mentioned, and he is Soundbyte but not.
It was high time someone fresh and new came on the scene and not just a new bad guy - they're a dime a dozen.

Wrap that up in an enigma then try unraveling it with a riddle, why don't ya.

So far - it's looking like the new book might be called Digibyte. That's not definite, because I can't make a decision right now. I'm still messing with titles that end in byte and somehow make you think 'images'.

I was working tonight - big scene, lot's of gunfire and scary shit... then Rove LA came on the TV, and LLCoolJ was one of the guests. It is not possible to write a serious 'you're about to die, first person, home invasion scene' while laughing - yes, laughing and why? Because LL's laugh is extremely infectious.

In other news:

SSA Ellie Conway interviewed horror author and friend of mine, Brandon Ford, over on her blog.

AND:
My publishers, Rebel ePublishers have started a book club. How cool is that? Pretty cool, huh? But wait there's more: killerbyte is the book of the month and they're giving away 50 downloads of killerbyte. I actually don't know any real details, because Rebel's marketing people are doing this. But go here Rebel eClub and sign up, you'll find out what it's all about!

I think that about covers my week so far.
Crazy busy writing - which is what I love to be doing.
Just don't expect me to be capable of holding a conversation or to get to weeding the front garden... I'm sinking into Ellie's world quite quickly and it's hard extracting myself.

Can any of you remember how many books I've written this year?
You can't count Flashbyte, that was mostly written at the end of last year and only finished earlier this year. (Due out Feb/March 2012 people)

:D

Little help?

2011-11-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Good morning!!
It's Wednesday. Once again please ignore the date and time on the top of my blog. Every time I change it - well, it changes back. My blog likes to operate in Eastern time, just quietly, it's my preferred time zone too.
Now on with Wednesday.

So, you may or may not be aware that a new character emerged over the last few days. I knew he was coming, but even I didn't know the extent of his awesomeness. Oh, and yeah that means I'm working on a new Byte novel. (Having finished the 5th Byte, Soundbyte, a month or so ago - finished enough that I can shelve it and let it mature some before I hook it back out for a last tweak and submit it to my beloved publishers.)
So this is new. Thought maybe it was a short story - wrong. Way too big to be a short. Way too big. And it starts with a bang. The only issue I have is - the name. I'm kinda stuck on pixelbyte.

Action Man suggested Picabyte - which is hilarious to say. (Go on, try it...) BUT - a pica is a typographic unit of measurement and I need something that makes you think images, photos - that kinda thing and preferably related in some way to computers. (PICA is also the Photo Imaging Council of Australia. - doesn't quite work for me, there are NO Australians here.)
It's also a bizarre eating disorder - that has nothing to do with the new book and will probably confuse people who see the name Picabyte.

So, something that indicates images are involved and sounds good with byte tacked onto the end. Even better if it is close to a real word!

Little help here people. I'm stuck!!

So, how's our week?

Yeah, that's all I got!
Apart from a very cool new character who I am enjoying - a lot. He is awesome. And this is fun. BIG FUN.

:)

All Hallows Eve

2011-10-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's already October 31st.
Not sure where the year has gone or how it's gone so fast but I'm a bit surprised to find it's November tomorrow.

Today is one of those days that's always been a good day. So, it's going to be a good day. That's just how it is.

Last night I started writing. I don't know what it is exactly. I have no idea what happened to cause the scene that unfolded in front of me, I'm going with it to see where it leads. I know eventually Ellie will tell me what happened to make her so very angry. I don't know if this is a new something or if it is part of the Byte novel I started recently or even if it belongs to Soundbyte. Such is the joy of only getting a little bit of information at a time - and from someone who is so furious she's barely speaking. :)

Ha - Matchbox Twenty "Unwell" just came on the radio. My phone used to play this to anyone who rang me, instead of a boring old ring tone.

Quite liking my new space. I was messing with the panorama setting on my camera - this is kinda what it looks like from my desk...

So I tried again and the end result was weird and kinda funny. I think this is a setting that takes a lot of fiddling with!!

It looks like the wall is three different colors - it's not, lol. Simply where I was standing in relation to the windows. Also - the light blue by my desk... that was my chair, not sure where it went but it took half my tower with it, also everything on my desk seems shrunken!

Must be magic. :)
Whatever, you get the idea.

I'll get all keen about panorama another day and figure it out. Meanwhile, it's All Hallows Eve - and not an orb in sight. They're slipping.

I'm going to go look at what I wrote last night and see if I can figure out what's going on.

Have a nice day.

Remember the dead - they haven't forgotten you.

Saturday in our house

2011-10-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

This morning I looked around the living room and it just plain pissed me off. Welcome to spring.
It was pretty obvious I needed to move EVERYTHING and clean... and well, MOVE EVERYTHING.

So I started with the couches. Pulled them out, cleaned under them, cleaned under the cushions, you get the idea. And I put the couches back, exactly where they were... and it annoyed me.

At that point I decided my desk and the couches needed to swap places. This posed to problems that I could see - one was the Internet cable (which really wasn't that big a problem, if need be I could go wireless... but the connection via cable is faster...so...) the other small problem is that...
my desk is HUGE.
Seriously, it takes up an entire corner of the room. I can't actually reach across my desk while sitting and just for reference I ain't short. In fact my screen sits so far away from me that I almost don't need glasses to see what I'm working on.

At this point it seemed wise to enlist the help of Action Man. What I required was his six feet six frame and muscle.
He was reluctant... but had thankfully forgotten how it went last time I wanted to move EVERYTHING. So he came down stairs to help and now, because he's quite clever, I kinda have my own office space... right here in the living room. It fits me and my stuff. I can still see out the window, still watch TV (if I so desire), I can still interact with the kids... but it's MY space.

Romeo has been moved away from the window and in front of what used to be the fireplace. He ended up with more space! The coffee table is under the window... the couches are where my desk used to be, and I've kinda encroached on the floor space a bit with my giant desk... but its all good. :)
It's different and will probably keep me happy for a wee while.
And now I know the Internet cable reaches all the way around the room and if I grow to hate this I can put everything back...

There is one issue.
It could be a source of major annoyance.

It's kinda hard to draw the living room curtains now.

Tonight Action Man and I are going to the Fireworks at the park... we're taking the Squealer and the Breezy because they have never been, but we're actually working (kinda). Admin One has roped us in to help out. So we'll be wearing Fire Police jackets. Oh it should be fun!!

Meanwhile, I kinda need to finish this cleaning off... the dining room needs attention.
Wonder what I can move there??? Not the big hutch dresser... that's fixed to the wall. (We're earthquake conscious in our house)

Last night was fun - actually yesterday was fun. Admin One spent the afternoon/evening here... we had wine, we had fish and chips, we had Human Target. Really what more could a person need???
And there was an awful lot of laughter. Admittedly some of that was directed at me and due to an incident involving my elbow, a full glass of wine and a fruit bowl that was on the table. It ended with this: this photo was taken by Admin One using her phone.

Wonder what it is...

2011-10-26T00:03:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get the feeling that something amazing is about to happen?
But you have no clue where it comes from or what the amazing thing is... it's simply a feeling. Almost like adrenaline flooding your system.

Yeah?

Me too.

Wonder what causes it.

It's Wednesday night. TVs fun night. Comedy after comedy and then Harry's Law. I should probably do some baking for the kids for tomorrow (and the rest of the week). I don't see it happening tonight. I want to bake. I just can't be bothered. It's the cleaning up... oh who am I kidding... it's the going into the kitchen and actually baking that's causing this lack of productivity. I'd sooner hang out on the sofa tonight but then, on the other hand, I'd kinda like some ginger crunch too. Oh well, can't have everything.

It's cold tonight. Spring has fucked off, and was not replaced by summer. We seem to have slipped back to winter again. It's not pleasant.
And that concludes the weather report.

In other news... I may have gotten a bit carried away with my re-writing of sentences that irked me in Flashbyte. I say that because I can see how much red is now splattered across the first few pages... kinda a lot. I should probably finish the tweaking of sentences-that-irk and send this off to Jayne before she has time to get back to the next round of edits.... it's a pain-in-the-ass to have to merge the documents. Which is what will happen if I don't get it to her before she starts on the file she has.

Well, that feeling is still there.

Wonder what it is?

Maybe something cool is going to happen...

If I figure it out, I'll let you know. :)

It's possible that the email I received this morning is part of this odd internal excitement. I got an email from RedInk who are Rebele's online marketing people - a book club is about to be launched and everyone has decided that killerbyte should be the first title. Squeeee!!!!
Details to follow, all I know so far is that it will happen Nov 1 and stem from Rebele. You all ready to debate topics from killerbyte? Is there anything you want to know about anything that happens in the book?
Any suggestions?

You're kidding, right?

2011-10-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

This morning, Tuesday morning, after two weeks holiday and a long weekend (during which NZ won the world cup) I was so looking forward to silence. SILENCE.
I was up early. Kids were up early. Everyone was ready to leave the house at ten past eight. And leave we did.
On the way to Breezy's school I thought it was odd that there were no kids walking. But then, we were early.

We arrived at school at eight twenty-five. Walked through the open gates and saw a car parked in the grounds.
That ain't right.
Then someone called out, "There is no school today. It's a teacher only day."
Seriously... DIDN'T WE JUST HAVE TWO FULL WEEKS AND ONE DAY OF NO SCHOOL?!!

So, we came home.

Squealer does have school.

Breezy is here annoying the bejesus out of me. Of course she was looking forward to spending the day with her friends as much as I was looking forward to a childless day.

She was busy for a little while -playing with fabric from my sewing box while I made her a sunhat. And singing along to Mama Mia (the movie) while I made her sunhat. And helping me by painting gold paint onto the fabric I painted over the weekend while I tried to do some work but she kept insisting I help her, even though it's quite possible to paint alone... but now she's pretty much just annoying me.

It's a really really good thing that she's so damn cute.
Just sayin'.

Now I have a whiny dog too.

Such is my life at the moment.

Very shortly I shall be reinstating the Interrogation Series - but this time it will be run over on Ellie Conway's blog. Bounce
(If you don't know who Ellie is, I suggest you read killerbyte, terrorbyte and exacerbyte... she's my main character and the most fun special agent ever.)
The interrogation series will begin later this week... I'll let you know.

I would start today - but with this non-stop chattering, it's difficult to concentrate plus I still have migraine hangover which makes it hard to think and also makes my eyes blurry. (Stupid mind fog)

The first interrogation was mine.

The second will be a self-published author ULHarper - who I don't know much about, so quite looking forward to that.

I'll round a few more people up later in the week. Pretty sure I can come up with a few fun folk we haven't interrogated before and then let Ellie loose on them. (That's not too mean, right?)
You know me, I like to mix it up a bit. So there will be people you know and people you don't and they won't all be authors.

Now, I'm off to see what the Breezy one is up to....

Labour weekend and (we won the WORLD CUP!)

2011-10-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday morning. I woke with a migraine - which I suspect means my meds won't work that well, because it was already well entrenched before I woke up. Bugger. While they decide whether or not they'll work - I'm having a coffee and figured I'd tell you about Saturday.

The day started with less then stellar weather and a Tsunami advisory! Luckily the advisory was cancelled because we had beach plans. Screw the cold wind and grey day! We grabbed jackets and a blanket and towel for Romeo and off we went.
We met the usual suspects in the car parking area, muzzled the dogs - and they were off. Romeo was so damn excited to see his Cleo that he barely gave us humans a backward glance. They didn't even stop to sniff the beach or investigate anything. They had a couple of long conversations and raced along the sand and back, and raced along the sand and back, and raced along the sand and back - you get the idea. Our boy's tail wagged and wagged.
He was with Cleo and all was right in his world.

Meanwhile, the stragglers - we call them children, were finding treasure. Long stemmed roses to be precise that had washed up on the shore. They got a little close to the water for our liking. Anna went to deliver instructions and I got to cuddle baby Em. Poor Em wasn't feeling well and was not her usual smiley chatty self. Still it was nice carrying a little person for a while. Ours are way too big for carrying now!!

The dogs raced around like mad buggers. In and out of the water. Up and down the beach. Showing off for all they're worth. It's very hard not to stop and watch two such impressive animals racing and playing with each other. It was a game. A pretty rough game at times but still a game and hilarious to watch.
I think we have as much fun as they do - just watching the joy they exude when together.

So, our morning was fabulous. Dogs and kids - having fun. (And us big people had a blast as well!)

Then it was home to drop off tired Romeo and the mail had come:

It was very cool and fun cobbling together the Byte short stories and having them available in as many eFormats as possible over at Smashwords but then I got to thinking. It would be awesome to see those stories in print.

This is the proof copy of the print version.

Last night I tweaked it a bit and now I'm waiting for the new proofs to arrive.
They should be here in a few weeks, then I'll let you know where you can get your own copy, if you'd like one.

So, with Torrent in my handbag - we went up to Admin One's for pizza lunch and new deck viewing. Admin One has a marvelous outdoor pizza oven that she made a while ago. Admin Bubbles perused the print copy of Torrent and declared it awesome.
We made pizza, the kids made pizza and played with Admin One's dog Queenie and the multitude of cats. A jolly fun time was had by all.

After lunch we came back home to get ready for dinner. I put the finishing touches on the pumpkin soup and made pumpkin pie. And the Admins joined us for dinner and shooting.
Turns out I'm not a shit shot with my left hand any more. I can shoot with either hand with much success. Good to know.
Action Man was quite proud of my marksmanship.

It was a fun Saturday!

And everyone is tired this morning!!

Edited to include: The All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup last night. We won!!! We bet the French!!! Hooray!!! (Not that I had any doubt that we would!)
Well done boys. Well done indeed! :)

The Interrogation of Cat Connor?

2011-10-19T23:31:00.000-07:00

What's it like to be interrogated by your own main character? Well let me tell you - it's a little strange. Especially when she turns my own interrogation questions on me!

And I cheated I missed two questions because I got lazy - but don't tell her... don't think Ellie noticed!!

So if you want to know what coffee I drink and other juicy tidbits then pop through the link...

The Interrogation of Cat Connor by SSA Ellie Conway.

:)

DNS server, The Boy Wonder, exacerbyte... Wednesday!

2011-10-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last night The Boy Wonder was given some men's clothing stores to check out by his current boss - in preparation for his interview in Auckland today. (Which will take his current job and very quickly turn it into a career if it goes well, which it will.) Checking out other companies stores online presence - dead easy, yes?

Should have been.

TelstraClear had a big fail. The DNS server fell over. Which meant no international sites would load. That's when you discover just how many of our 'local' sites aren't!
Big deal - we still had Trademe. Also still had Geonet. (Nice that no matter what happens in the world we can keep tabs on the current ground shaking events here and bid on crap that no one really needs but it's cheap and who can resist bidding on cheap crap?)

On the plus side - he'd thankfully just printed his boarding pass. Because without international sites there ain't no Gmail, or Hotmail or Yahoo... you get the picture.

This morning - The Boy Wonder was picked up by Admins One and Bubbles at 6:30AM - they are delivering him to Wellington Airport before going to work themselves. (Talk about handy dandy Admins.)

Strangely enough about five minutes after they left the DNS servers were back up and running.

So - nice to see you Internet... without you I wouldn't have seen this...

And this is EXACERBYTE's first foray into the top 5. Which is exciting for me!
Prior to today it had slipped into 9th spot recently and dallied in the top 15 for a few days.

The joy of having this book in the top 5 - priceless!

I know I've always said Terrorbyte is my favorite... just don't tell it that I'm favoring its younger sibling these days. Best not to let books know they're slowly being replaced in your affections by a younger stronger more exciting volume. There is no telling what they'll do next.
Although I suspect next time I take a copy of terrorbyte of the shelf I'll be in for a wicked paper cut.
I don't even want to think what will happen if I grab a copy of killerbyte!!
Probably a sharp reminder that killerbyte came first and is not to be trifled with. There may not be enough sticking plasters in the first aid kit for that.

See how I did that? To try and appease the book Gods I added two links each for terrorbyte and killerbyte but only one for exacerbyte. (Okay it was a big one, all caps... and it got a picture... what's your point?)

If you haven't read exacerbyte... now's good.
Just a heads up.... it's new sibling will hit the stores Feb/March 2012. Guess I should stock up on sticking plasters before then.

On that note... I shall bid you farewell, and go get some work done... and more coffee dammit!!

PS.
Just slipping this in trying not to upset the big books... Torrent. I don't dare add a picture today. The pages of the Byte books rustling on the shelf on my desk.... it's just like Ernie's ghostly gold tops a-rattling in their crate.

Be afraid.

Dear Monday.

2011-10-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Monday,

You started out with so much promise but that all went out the window when you allowed the children to infect me with their germs.
That's not playing as a good friend is it?
I have to say I am quite disappointed. I expected more from my favorite day of the week.

It may take a few days before I can face you again.

Disappointingly yours,
Cat

PS. I can think of a few ways you could make this up to me.
You could encourage people to buy my books, and also to go buy Torrent. Which is really pretty with it's new cover and it has an extra story now.

(So not only did Monday take a perfectly good day and screw it up - Blogger was a dick too and screwed the links in this post and Bounce! They're now fixed!!)
Here's the cover:

Seeing Double?

2011-10-16T00:27:00.000-07:00

I think the guy across the other side of Trentham Memorial Park may have thought he was seeing double this afternoon... as Romeo and Troy raced across the width of the park to say hello to him and his retriever. (I figure it was a retriever - cos from where we were it looked a decent size... not like the random balls of fluff that people walk on those running leads - which (little heads up to you people will balls of fluff on running leads walking miles in front of you) to Greyhounds look like a lure on a wire.

The boys can really move.

It's quite fabulous seeing them run like that.

Romeo first ran around and played with Oscar (Troy's huntaway house mate) then Troy was let free of his leash... and it was game on.

First run Romeo has had in a week... and he LOVED it.

I liked seeing the boys together - it's a different dynamic to Romeo and Cleo. Romeo and Cleo are family.
(More about that shortly)
Romeo and Troy are ex-racing hounds, the same weight, same height, big and strong (- almost identical markings.) There is no pulling back.
There was a run, a short conversation, and then it was on, baby.

Good ol' Oscar was doing a pretty good job of trying to keep up. I don't think he really cares that he can't keep up, he just likes running!

So anyway - back to the beginning of the walk.
I'd spent almost all day learning how to format a manuscript for Smashwords and then creating a cover. It's here in case you're interested.
I was busy. Romeo was whiny. Really, whiny - pacing, whining, wanting to go for a walk.

By half past four he'd almost forgotten about it - I told him to get his gear... boy, did he remember fast!

We walked across the park, over the stop bank - Mr. Whiny Pants wanted to head down the river trail. Fair enough. It's a nice walk. The girls wanted to go toss stones in the river - so we walked. We walked so far he picked up Cleo's scent!
If he wasn't crying before then he sure as hell was by the time he smelt her.
He wanted to follow the scent all the way to the usual place.
We went half way - then I headed him back toward home.
Ohhh the whining.

Then he stopped whining. His tail dropped. His head dropped. Sad dog.
We walked back up the stop bank. He walked me into a giant pile of dog shit... guess that was payback for no Cleo this weekend?
It's really hard to explain to a dog (even a smart one) that Cleo is having a holiday she'll be back next weekend!
Ya see, Cleo and Romeo - they're a team. They're family. She holds a special place with Romeo.
Yeah, Troy is fun to race - but he's Troy. He's not Cleo. Cleo is his girl. He misses her dreadfully.

Anyway, I finally gave Colleen my number so she can text me - and we can get the boys together on a Sunday afternoon for a regular run.
I have a feeling Romeo likes Oscar more than Troy but he appreciates Troys athletic ability.
(And they both are capable of playing dirty.)

So, our half hour walk became two hours... and Romeo is knackered now. :D

The day after the night before and two authors you might like.

2011-10-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

I have to admit to feeling just a tad hungover upon waking at 7:30 this morning. Just a tad.
Damn those new wine glasses and their capaciousness! But the Admins and I had some celebrating to do. And celebrate we did.

Today has been a day of nothing much.
Despite that I've done a lot of the usual things.

What I haven't done is write.

And I won't be working for the rest of the weekend.

Just lately I've been taking weekends off. And I like it. So much so, I'm going to keep on doing it. Makes the weekend a lot less stressful if I'm not trying to filter out unwanted noise so I can hear Ellie. (Trust me, that does make sense.)
Just a heads up on the release of Flashbyte - the 4th Byte it's looking like Feb/March 2012 - so you'll have time to re-read the first 3 and get reacquainted with Ellie and Delta A.

So today has been restful.
We took Dex out and bought him shoes for his birthday, then dropped Breezy at her friends for a play date, came home and shoved a large hunk of pig in the oven for dinner tonight.
I can smell it cooking. And it smells fantastic.

Meanwhile:
Just recently I've discovered a few new writers - namely, Jack Wallen and Jack Silkstone. (Two Jacks... what are the odds?)
I read Jack Wallen's I Zombie I a few weeks ago, and you know how I'm a sucker for a zombie story, right? Well, this one is a goodie! Gross but good. It's a fast and enjoyable read.
I enjoyed it so much I just bought My Zombie My - yeah, a zombie sequel. Awesomeness!!
Jack Wallen writes a little like me - he's a smart ass who references pop culture, which makes it fun and makes the gross parts more bearable.
Give him try. :)

Now, moving on to Jack Silkstone.
I read Primal Origin right after I finished the other Jack's book ( two very different genres and both just as much fun as each other.) :)

From the opening paragraph I knew I'd enjoy it. I'm sucker for action - it's just how I am. The best way to describe Origin for me... It's like the A team on steroids but actually good.
(Chrissy, you'd like this one!)
I am awaiting the release of Primal Unleashed in a few days time.

Another really nice thing about both these authors is - they're on twitter and very approachable. I like that in an author. (It's something I try to be, so it's cool when I come across other authors kinda like me. To be fair, authors on a whole are pretty nice approachable people.)

Jack Wallen on Twitter

Jack Silkstone on Twitter

Right that's it from me for now.

Hope you all enjoy your weekend.

Thinking about running another series of interrogations through until Dec this year... thoughts? And who would you like me to put in the hot seat??

Ghostly goings on?

2011-10-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

Ellie has an interesting question.

Hop over to her blog and see if you can answer it. I know I can't. Seems I don't know enough about ghosts to be of any help.

Hypothetically

Apart from Ellie's questions regarding things ghostly... not much going on this Friday.

The weather is no longer total crap.

Breezy is now officially asthmatic.
It was suspected but now we know for sure. Until today there hadn't been any wheezing from her - just coughing.
Well, now she wheezes and coughs. She is now on a preventer as well as Ventolin.
That should sort that out.

If I remember correctly Squealer was 5 almost 6 when she had her first bad asthma attack. Breezy is that now.
Odd.

It's quiet here at the moment - the kids are at the park. Don't imagine they'll get rained out this time, so it might be peaceful for a little while yet.

What plans do you have for the weekend?

Don't think we really have any...
at this point. :)

Change equals opportunity, right?

2011-10-12T20:37:00.000-07:00

Over the last two days I've messed around a good deal with this blog and Ellie's blog and my website. (and yeah, Twitter was not beyond my scope either... I changed the background there too)

I've been trying to find something I'm happy with.

The website is a win.

At first it was so-so, but now I actually like it. As for the rest - I don't like Ellie's blog so much, but this one is okay. It's easy to read and that's kinda important. :)
I doubt I'm done with Ellie's - I just need to come up with the perfect background picture and that might take awhile.

Things are in the process of changing elsewhere too.
More irritating changes than anything - apart from the exciting changes ahead for The Boy Wonder. Life just got a little bit harder but I'm sure we'll all manage. A huge increase in book sales would help!

Meanwhile - how do you all like the re-vamped blog?

I'm quite excited that the share buttons have finally shown up!! They were apparently there (according to blogger) but they really weren't.
Now you can all go nuts sharing the craziness all over the web. (Too subtle?)

Time for me to go start making dinner - children require feeding. Who knew?

Romeo might be a bit hungry too now he's been for a nice long walk around the park and half way to the usual place. Only half way, because I didn't want him picking up Cleo's scent.

Pretty sure it's Wednesday...

2011-10-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

Remember how I was looking forward to the school holidays - sleeping in past 6AM?
It's really not happening!

Sleep ended last night/early this morning at about 1AM.
This is what happens if I work late!
It becomes impossible to shut my brain off to get a decent sleep. Bit of a catch 22 really... if I hadn't written the scene, I would've been awake because I hadn't written it - as it was, I was awake because I had.

I was thinking the whole time I was writing - that it wasn't even that big a deal - this new scene. So very wrong. I'm not sure I like where this scene is headed and I don't know that I can stop it. It seems to take Ellie's haunting/craziness to a whole new level - even I don't know what to make of it!
I know Ellie is not insane.
That much I do know.
She is not her mother. She does not need medicating.
There is quite possibly a need for an ~~exorcism~~ extended vacation.

Then there is the knowledge that the new scene is not isolated... it carries through the entire novel but is there ever an answer? And what if that answer is something from the Twilight Zone or X Files? Then what?
Toss my toys out of the playpen and start again?
Cathartic thought... but I know that if this scene is meant to be there, then it will stick with me no matter how many times I try to set it free. It's looking like I will have to accept what ever answer turns up and just go with it.

I live in fear of one-day writing myself into a corner... this could be the corner! I may need an eraser.

On a much lighter note,
my editor just asked me if I'd read and review a book.
I have never written a proper book review - I have no clue how. Guess I'm about to learn something new!

Oh what fun!

And a quick word about our long walk yesterday:
I walked Romeo about 7km into town and back. He made a lot of new friends. On the way home a gentleman saw us coming and waited for us. (Once again my Greyhound is attracting elderly gentlemen.) He simply wanted to talk about dogs - because he couldn't bring his dogs back from Australia with him. Romeo enjoyed the pats and attention. Before we left, he asked if he could hug him. Romeo loves hugs and was only too happy to oblige.

It's always nice to make someone smile.

Romeo has quite the talent for making people happy.

First day of the spring holidays.

2011-10-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

Okay so - today was quietish.

Monday, first day of the spring holidays... quiet.

I'm lying.

It's not been quiet at all.

This morning I wrote an email that took more guts than I thought I had - this afternoon I got a reply. A positive reply. A yes.

Holy fucn shit.

I can't tell you any more than that.

Just know, it's to do with Flashbyte - and it's something I wanted. (No, not movie, not TV, the book is still being edited and waiting on a release date. No, not the cover... which I know will be too awesome for words, because Jacques rocks!)

Admins and my family are fully aware how awesome this is and nobody else knows anything about it.
And that folks is how it will stay until nearer publication day. :D

Now, I'm going to go and pretend that I'm perfectly calm... when the reality is I'm a complete wreck but a delighted one!!

Think I might grab Romeo and go for a walk - a long walk.

In case you didn't see his gorgeous new bandanna:

Romeo and Cleo

2011-10-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the weather turned to utter shite - it looked as though the weekend play date for Romeo and Cleo would be a wash. But no - the rain stopped just in time (leaving behind a wicked cold wind!).

We put Romeo in the truck and set off to the usual place.
What happens as we get close and he starts to see green out the window is usually a lot of excited whining. Really excited whining.
Yesterday he made no sound. He barely looked out the window.
We pulled into the usual spot to park - he stayed on his bed, not standing and whining, not watching for Cleo.
We were early so we stayed in the truck for about ten minutes. It was freaking cold down there. A lot colder than at home!
Greyhounds are very very intelligent dogs: Last weekend we went to the usual place - alone, no Cleo. It ended in with an unhappy Romeo searching for her, trying to follow the path we always take! I think yesterday he didn't want to get his hopes up!
Eventually Romeo stood up, ears alert and peered out the window. With him now more interested in the idea of a run - we let him out, locked up, and went for a walk.
The kids played.
Romeo wandered - pooped - wandered - kids played - rinse and repeat. Romeo started walking the way he always runs with Cleo. Looking, sniffing, following her two week old scent, staring into the horizon hopefully.
When the usual suspects arrived he was beside himself with joy.
He greeted Cleo with excited grumbling.
There was much "talking" - guess they had some catching up to do? Then a lot of pushing and shoving, and more talking.
And Romeo got cramp in his paw. And it was bad. He CRIED. We massaged it. It happened again when he tried to play. He CRIED. Cleo came to help with the massaging... she licked his foot. Romeo limped for a bit.
We walked him until he wanted to run.
Then it was game on.
Those two can really fly when they want too!

They chased, talked, chased, pushed, shoved, and had a great time.

Romeo is fast. Seriously fast. Cleo finally bet him though, in the last run. I don't know that she's ever beaten him like that before and this time I'm not sure that he pulled back.
Romeo has stridor - a left over from an injury where his trachea was broken - (before we gave him his forever home) - imagine how fast he'd be if he could breath properly?? It sounds awful when he's running hard but he doesn't stop. Kinda like a kid with bad croup. We used to stop him and walk him until the stridor stopped, now we leave him to sort it himself - he's learned how.
Even with his crap breathing he can beat her with ease. We usually all see him pull back a little to let her get ahead or hold back instead of beating her too quickly.

This time it looked like Cleo finally bet him fair and square! Go Cleo!!

Poor Romeo was having a pretty shit day. (He'd had a head tremor early in the day, then flea treatment that upset him so much he paced for half an hour, then his cramped paw, and his stridor kicked in pretty good during the fastest part of the run!) Next thing he did was run so hard he vomited - into his muzzle. (Our dog is a puker - he loves to run but then will take himself off for a drink - and then the vomit happens.)

So it was muzzle off, back on the leash, and walk.

Cleo cleaned up the puke. Nice!

I've started to notice things about Romeo and how he interacts with us all. At one point Anna went to gather the kids, Romeo had to go to. His pack.

(Last weekend we took him back to the truck while the kids went on to a play area - he walked looking back - watching them. Unhappy about the situation. He figured out we were taking the truck to meet them and as soon as he saw them he was fine!)

He watches where everyone is.
When he and Cleo were walking - they walked so close you couldn't get a piece of paper between them.

We had this really cool moment - nothing to do with dogs.
It was The Daughters.
They were walking in a line across the path... all four of them together.
Walking and talking. Just really sweet - the 12 yr old, 18 mth old, and both 5 yr olds... in a row.

One of those wish I'd had my camera moments... and yeah I forgot about my phone!

What I love about our doggie play dates - is how well the kids get on, and how much fun they have together. We have awesome kids.
Our dogs have an awesome pack.
We're very very lucky.

Anna told me about her idea for her Cleo and the Lion story. It's awesome. I hope she writes it!!!

Where am I today?

2011-10-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

Well, now that you've asked... I'll tell you.

Only it's not me.

It's Ellie.

She's guest blogged. (Be afraid, be VERY afraid.)

She wrote a guest blog over at Brandon Fords blog. And we're also giving away copies of Torrent.

Pop over - say hi... no doubt Ellie will answer questions.

Let go tonight

2011-10-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those odd days leading into a restless night - they've happened all too often lately. Lacking in focus, seemingly going nowhere days.
Well, that's how they feel... I don't think they actually pan out as total time wastes at all, they just feel that way.

For example: About seven this morning I got this tweet:

Awesome! It was followed by this one:

Gotta love a horror author who gives me free range, right?
Oh hell yes!
So, I sat down to write the post. Ellie took over and it didn't take too long before it was done. (Few hours maybe.)

I'll put a link up here when it's live.
Last week I guest posted about writing over at Lee Pletzers blog.
So, today's guest post is the second in a week. Not too shabby.

I've also been blogging here regularly, and Ellie's been blogging as well. Neither write themselves.
So, a re-cap:
Good news for kiwis who like paperbacks
And Ellie's blog:
Minding my own business is dangerous
Captain Crash
It's a Glock - get over it.

Ya see, I haven't been as slack as I think I have.

Between posting various blogs and writing guest blogs, I've also been writing, and spent four hours yesterday trying to figure out CreateSpace... not sure that I have. I did however have a ~~screaming~~ slight ~~fit~~ moment when it crashed my laptop.
The thing is - you know how I pulled all The _byte shorts together and called them Torrent, and it's available on Kindle (for 99 cents or free if you ask me nicely.) - well, I thought it'd be cool if it was in paperback too. I know, right?
I'm not sure I'll ever really sell it - but maybe as giveaways or something, it'd be cool. We'll see. I'm waiting on the proof now. If it's rubbish, well, I'll scrap it - if it turns out decent then... I'll decide what to do with it.
I doubt the proof will arrive until late November, so plenty of time to forget about it and be stunned and surprised at my own cleverness (or lack of) when it gets here!! lol

Oh, yeah and there was quite a bit of time spent trying to purchase (as a download) Kevin Costner and Modern West's new album! Which is pretty much impossible from New Zealand at the moment... no matter how clever you think you are. :)
Took a long time for the last two albums to be available on iTunes down here... I'm sure I can wait. (Modern West became work music for me, when Kurt become a main character - if you've read exacerbyte you'll know why... it gets worse/better - depending on your point of view - in Flashbyte.)
Diving through the Kurt link up there somewhere ^^ will also give you access to the play list/chapter titles for all 4 Byte novels. They're fun.

I have also made some new Twitter friends: and they're all kinds of awesome.

I haven't been slacking off at all - by the looks of it - so why do I feel like I have?

Please excuse the fucky formating. Blogger is having some major issues!!!

Of course it's research...

2011-10-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't be watching DVD's of rock concerts on a Tuesday morning if it wasn't work. (Would I? Of course not! Goodness me... as if I'd be sitting around having a good time when I should be working. Shows how much you know.)

Yesterday afternoon was all about IEMs.

Today - I'm not quite sure... but it certainly involves a LOT of research. Which involves The Crush Tour and Bon Jovi Live at Madison Square Garden.
Not an easy job... but someone has to do it.

There was scene that needed tweaking in Soundbyte - but I've done that already. It wasn't difficult, I'd simply been lazy when I wrote it. A little Ketamine incident that needed work. (Everyone remember the rainbow people from killerbyte? - yeah, nothing like that.)

I'd rather like to be getting on with the edits for Flashbyte so I can move on and get back into this kiwi novel... yep, still no news. Limbo is not my favorite place... makes me stabby and I don't like knives. Perhaps it makes me shooty then?

I could be trying to finish this fuc'n song.
I can hear you whispering you know... "What song?" Well, the song in Soundbyte of course. Silly! Actually I mention a few songs that only exist in my head, so maybe they should also find their way to paper? (But let's not get carried away here, bad poetry is easy - but songs... not so much.)
Or I could take out the entire rock concert scene and that would solve that?
Yeah, nah. It really wouldn't. It's not like it's removable... it's important. Considering Ellie has been saying for sometime that she'd never ever go to another rock concert - it was quite the magic act just getting her to willingly attend. (Rowan must have something going for him.)
Had a thought then that made me laugh and no I'm not sharing - suffice to say, it's an age thing. Rowan Grange hasn't been around as long as Jon Bon Jovi. That is all.

It's raining. It's gotten cold again.
Very hard to be enthusiastic about anything on dripping cold days.
So I will leave you with this:

It is a big deal to a kiwi author!

2011-09-30T12:38:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-09-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-09-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

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 ....

2011-09-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-09-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-09-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-09-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-09-16T01:05:00.000-07:00

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 ...

2011-09-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

Romeo and the Chicken.

2011-09-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-09-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-09-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-09-10T01:26:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-09-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-09-08T19:35:00.000-07:00

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

“What’s up?”

“Bird poop.”

“Pardon?”

Lee sighed hisshoulders slumped as if it was hard work. “The rangers found bird shit on thebody.”

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

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

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

“I hatedelivering messages,” Lee grumbled.

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

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

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

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

“You see howmuch more info those Rangers can dredge up. We’re going to need to review theautopsy 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 meall 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 Igrinned at each other, good times. With a shrug of his broad shoulders, he headedback across the parking lot toward the nest of police cars.

Tripping over my own feet.

2011-09-07T22:44:00.000-07:00

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 dowhat I want to do, so my mind is fragmenting!

Oh joy.

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

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

It’s not like my brain didn’t get in some extremely goodwriting today, because it did. I know it had fun, I could tell by the crazedgiggling. But because writing is like, well, it’s like a drug and my brain is adirty 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, itwas intended as a compliment… was followed by ‘…mischievous grin and sparkyeyes…’, 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 itfits 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! Notnaming names here, but if you think you need flipping off then go right aheadand take it. You know who you are.

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

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.