Holidays Are A Killer...

I fully intend a fantastic post in the coming days. Maybe even one with pictures and font effects. You know, fancy. But alas... I work in retail. Which means, at this particular point in the year, I am just fried (look at that! Font effect!). Because that just wasn't challenging enough, I also just got promoted (feeling very mixed about that... I feel very mixed about my job in general, though, so I guess that's not surprising). That has made it difficult for me to properly string together a series of sentences on anything resembling a regular basis. Making them entertaining enough that I don't groan at the thought of posting them up for the world (or 3 people... Whichever) to read? Well let's just say the guy holding his breath for that moment is no longer with us. It's a tragedy, really.

Anyway. I thought it was important that I mention the giveaway I just set up over at Goodreads today (when Nathan pointed out I'd neglected to even put Forgotten up there yet... Where is my head at???) So yes. Look over there ---> Then enter. And enjoy wonderful Kaie-themed goodness in the new year.

Assuming I survive the next 15 days... More soon!

Oh, and happy holidays!

Drumroll Please!

Well, that day I've been killing myself for is finally here: Forgotten is available!

Just in case you missed it from the spectacular widget on the right, the ebook is available through Amazon. The print version is on it's way, as is the Nook and Apple Bookstore versions. So, if those are your books of choice, stick with me for a little bit longer! By this time next week, I'll be able to say "available wherever ebooks are sold... and also in print!" Heh. For now, be content with the fact that for the month of December (plus one day, because I can't plan) Forgotten is available for only $0.99! On January 1, it will go to it's usual price of $2.99. I just thought, hey, new book and Christmas? Why not?

Oh! Right! Link. Here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFB2ENA

Bring On The Guilty Pleasures!

So anyone who knows anything about my taste in characters knows I've got a bit of a thing for anti-heroes. They're just fun. With a hero, you know what you're in for. Good is good, right? But an anti-hero? Who knows! Sometimes they're good, sometimes evil. Sometimes they're good for bad reasons or bad for good reasons, or both for no reason at all. I love surprises, and no type of character can pull that off the way anti-heroes can.

Lately this 'thing' is manifesting in a *slight* obsession with The Vampire Diaries. (I blame Anthony for this, by the way. He's completely responsible!) Specifically, the character of Damon Salvatore.

Now, this isn't because Ian Somerhalder is sexy. I mean, yeah, he totally is. Won't even pretend otherwise. That's why he got the gig, right? At least partly, anyway. But even if he was gross, I'd still be pretty fascinated with Damon. Aside from the fact that the character's role in the series wouldn't work at all if he was ugly, that is.

He's really just terribly interesting. Everyone he's ever loved has disappointed and/or rejected him. Often times more than once. Occasionally to the point of doing him great physical and emotional damage. Once it even killed him. To deal with this, he's built this terrific defense: he's cast himself as the villain. He'll go to extraordinary lengths to prove to everyone around him that it's who he really is. Despite heaps of evidence to the contrary, those actions he takes are typically so extreme that the people in his life can't help but to believe the act. Call it self-destructive if you want, I'm intrigued by his flair for the arguably evil.

Despite, or maybe because of this, I think he actually hates himself more than anyone else ever could. Normally this would lead to a bunch of stupid emo bs (Stefan? What?) but instead he channels it into a very amusing cockiness. I appreciate that in a character. (I know that's a shocking revelation. No one ever suspects I enjoy cockiness.)

He's also terrifically honest. Even when he lies. Which is probably my favorite thing about him.

Those same people who know my tastes will be the first ones to tell you I have 0 interest in gushy lovey-dove stories. They're boring and unrealistic, often causing me to make violent gagging noises. So no, I'm not a fan of the Elena/Stefan relationship. At best, that's the 'pure' love that you can only experience in a vacuum. Pure love can't survive the real world. It's too messy for that.

Damon doesn't love pure. He love deep and dark and completely. Which is also interesting. For all that people call him selfish - he calls himself that at least as much as everyone else does - I find him the least selfish in the show. He's willing to suffer the hatred of the people he loves, if that's what it takes to protect them. He cares more about keeping Elena alive and well then he does what she thinks of him. This, despite the above mentioned constant disappointment and rejection. It's actually spectacularly admirable. The fact that it's never once brought on the gag reflex is a sure sign that this very difficult kind of love is both well-written and well-acted.

Damn fascinating.

So Lyn, you ask, why the hell are you going on about a fictional character from a show that is gets you teased by most of your friends (damn you, Anthony!) and you wouldn't dream of watching two and a half years ago? I'm not sure, actually. I'm in obsession mode. It always leads to some fantastic idea or project, but that's later. Right now I'm just going to go on with the obsession.

Of course, this is probably the gateway drug to YA romance novels... *shudders* (kidding! Sort of...)

Look! It's That Weird Girl Again!

My goodness, it has been a while...

So. A while back, my uncle died. The one I dedicated Burnt to, by the way. I didn't do well with it. Not that there's an actual 'well' to do in such situations. But I'm particularly skilled in the not dealing with death area. I do this thing where I refuse to face it in any way, shape or form. To the point of being absurd, actually. I'm fine. Just fine. Fine.

Until I'm not.

That usually lasts a bit longer. Especially when the friends who know the signs are scattered across the country, and the ones near-by don't know any better. Without anyone calling my BS, it tends to be one hell of a funk I let myself fall into. As evidenced, this time, by my complete withdrawal from all things social. Except going to Anthony's to watch Supernatural. I'd have to be comatose to willingly skip out on Boy Night.

So. Now I actually am fine again. For real, this time. Although I am somewhat (and by somewhat, I mean EXTREMELY) exhausted. It is the holiday season, and I do work retail. So really, I think the fact that I am managing this post at all is pretty impressive.

And that's the story I'm going with. Impressive.

Shut up.

I love you Uncle Brucy

Oh, and expect another update soonish. I've got some things to discuss and a tiny smidge of motivation the season hasn't sucked out of me yet. Barring any further family tragedies, I should be good to go.

Oh, and Forgotten is coming out soon too. But more about that later.

A Thing! A Somewhat Important Thing!

August 1st will make it 2 months since Burnt went into print. That might not seem like much to the rest of the world, but for me that is EPIC. (Not in the least bit related to the fact that I have a fascination/potential obsession with the number 2.) And I want to celebrate. Because I never pass up a chance to celebrate. So!  Since consuming impressive quantities of booze is always fun for me, I decided to try to do something fun for other people too. Which means what? Another giveaway! This time, it's through Goodreads, which means all I needed to do is push a few buttons and type in a date to make it all happen. I love pushing buttons! Especially when it is making things easy on me! Because then I can go back to being lazy, you see. It was very exciting.

Anyway. I might be rambling about unimportant things. So now to the important one. How to participate... See the widget on the right! Just underneath the Amazon one! 

There you go! The giveaway starts August 1st and runs through the month. I'll be giving away 4 books, and if this goes well I might consider doing another one and/or one with ebooks in the near future!

About Freakin' Time

Well, this is it folks! After 6 years (6? Hmm... Might be more like 7...) of working on (the main character of Burnt and the upcoming Forgotten) Kaie, he FINALLY settled on a theme song!!

What, you ask, am I going on about? And why should you care?

Well I really don't think you should. Caring about this might actually be something along the lines of unhealthy. Not sure about that. Except that I'm talking about it! So it must be interesting!

Anyway, as to your first question, here's the deal: Whenever I write a character, I always take a little bit of time to find one song that really reminds me of them. This song almost always makes it into the soundtrack I assemble for each book I'm writing (assuming their in it), and can even change as the character grows and evolves and as I find new and more appropriate songs. Now, it's this last part that has caused me no end of grief from Kaie.

You see, no matter how long or hard I searched, he never really connected with one song. There were several that hit on one element of his personality, or how he is feeling in one particular scene. But nothing that could be considered his theme song for more than a handful of chapters. I'm not sure if this is because he's especially complex (I happen to think he is) or if it's because he's a stubborn prick (by far the more likely answer) and that is manifesting in song selection. Regardless, it's been like a scab that I can't help but to pick at for the better part of those 6/7 years.

But! All of that is over now! Because he has a theme song! Now, of course, I have to go back and retool the whole soundtrack to fit it in. Which will be an hour or more that I should probably be spending actually writing it. (This goes along with that whole stubborn prick theory). Oh well. Procrastination is an old frienemy.

Wait, you ask, what is this mythical song that so aptly captures that obnoxious character of yours?

Well, I say, quit with the interrogation! I was getting to it!

P.S. I'm considering posting my Forgotten soundtrack... Oh ye 30-some followers, any thoughts? I'm new to this whole "having people read my blog" business, and clearly need a hand in establishing what is remotely interesting.

Heck Yeah I'm Old!

I've decided today is a fantastic day to be excited.

Two weeks ago, I turned 30. That means I can *officially* complain about those damn young people making all the noise and keeping me up all night. I've been waiting to use that line for ages! Every time they set off fireworks at 1am. I love fireworks, but seriously? Some of us need to work in the morning! And us old people need to sleep! See? I'm already getting good at the complaining. I'm only going to get better at it, too. In another year or two, I'm going to sound old as hell. It's awesome. I'm almost halfway to the point where I'll be able to effectively fake senility. And I've been looking forward to that since I was about sixteen. I'm going to be so rad, walking down the street in my extremely purple jumpsuit, shouting about my cat trying to kill me. Because he totally is. 

Also, Forgotten, the second book of Blood and Fire, is now about halfway done! I've been slacking pretty hard these last few weeks, due in part to circumstances outside my control as well as my recent acquisition of a Kindle Fire (there are no words to encompass my joy in this new toy). But! Despite all that, I've still managed to get myself to that long-coveted halfway point. There is nothing that will keep me from getting Forgotten out this year! You can't see it, but I'm wearing my determined face!

Last, but best of all, I've gotten a real-honest-to-god artist working on the cover for Forgotten! More details on that (as well as Forgotten in general) will be forthcoming. For now, just know that this is news is...

AWESOME TO THE MAX!!

Lazy Days Forever

So. I had all weekend off. More than the weekend, actually. My boss actually gave me Thursday and Friday off as well. I'm not entirely sure the reasons behind his generosity (though I suspect evil. It's always safer that way. I figure I'll likely return to work tomorrow, only to find that my position there has been usurped by Bizzaro-Lyn and the zombie apocalypse has begun.) Anyway, I figured I'd use it productively. You know, by working on promotions for the book I just published, or working on the book I'm in the process of writing. Productive things.

Instead, I did... nothing. And it was fantastic!

Ok, nothing isn't *entirely* accurate. I spent a lot of time exploring the brand new app I found on Xbox Live, the Amazon Instant Video app! (Yeah, I know this isn't remotely new to the world in general. But it's new to my Xbox and that's all that matters! So there!) First, I watched a bunch of cartoons. I mean a bunch. Embarrassing quantities, actually. I discovered I absolutely hate the Joker in "Young Justice" which is sad, really, because the rest of the series is pretty damn awesome. Of course, the Joker only seems to be in one episode. And he's not really the biggest part of said episode. But this is me, and not only do I obsess about small, unimportant things as a rule, it is absolutely guaranteed that I'm going to zoom right in on anything Batman related. Especially the Joker. If you screw him up, damn straight I'm going to gripe about it. A lot. And almost stop watching the entire (really awesome, otherwise) series over it. Because I'm crazy like that. I didn't get nicknamed Harley Quinn for nothing here, people!

So yes. Very productive weekend. I'm thinking about calling in sick tomorrow... To, you know, take a break from all this hard work I've been doing.

In print...

Well, this post is several days coming, but I wanted to actually wait until I was done tweaking and shifting things around in the various formats. And when I say done, I mean mostly done. Sort of. Which is silly, because no one reads this. BUT! Someone might be soon. Hopefully. Because if they (and by they, I mean you) are reading this, that means they (you) saw the link in my book and have come to learn more about me. Silly, silly them (you)!

I feel like I've gotten off track... OH YEAH!

So. I'm now a published author! I've joined the hundreds of thousands of others on Amazon and the like! Whoot!
My book on Amazon, My book on Createspace, and My book on Barnes and Noble

It's got a couple different covers... The one for the ebooks (see right) is one my friend Amar  threw together for me, out of the goodness of his heart and a dinner that I still owe him. It's nothing ground-breaking, but it's far better than I deserve, for asking him to do it last minute and all. The one for the print copies (see left) is the one I threw together last minute, with much assistance from Createspace's cover builder. If fans (all five of them, thus far) like one over the other, that's the style I'll go with. So, if you're a new fan, feel free to let me know your thoughts! More than just deciding this book, there's a good chance you'll be influencing the next book's look. And the one after that, and the one after that...

Oh, and as a side note, if anyone is wondering why I'm not using Smashwords, it's because I am having no end of trouble with that site. I'm sure it's a brilliant and fantastic service. I'm not badmouthing it in any way. But for some reason, it doesn't get along with me. It keeps telling me that I don't have a cover (even though it shows the cover I've uploaded some six times so far) and claims I've made formatting problems that I just haven't made. O.o With any luck, I'll get this resolved and my book will be available in even more formats.

Now, off to figure out this terrifying beast called marketing... *shudders*

Every Time!

I went to Motor City Comic Con yesterday. My second time, and my second Con. Coincidence? Hmmm...

It's hard to say if I liked it as much as last year. Last year, I met George Takei and Brent Spiner, both of whom I have loved almost my whole life. And I got to chat with them. That was just.. Well, actually, I lack the vocabulary to describe the level of awesome that was.

This year, I took my brother. He's autistic, and it was for his birthday, so the day was all about people he wanted to meet. So, while there was one REALLY big Star Trek name there, as well as a smaller but no less loved one, the day took on a decidedly more Star Wars tone.

Don't get me wrong. I love Star Wars. No, that's not right. I LOVE Star Wars. If anything were to touch my feelings for Star Trek, it would be Star Wars. But that's the thing: it doesn't quite. Misses it by a hair. So while I was absurdly excited about meeting Billy Dee Williams and having him sign my brother's copy of Return of the Jedi, it wasn't quite the same fervor as last year.

Still, this man is a freaking Icon!

I did get a pretty big surprise, though. One of my friends has a bit of a crush on one Sam Witwer, and has ever since I introduced him to Being Human (US version) sometime early last year. I thought he was good but, while I appreciate vampires, I never really got the whole appeal of the bloodsuckers. Things with them always gets gross. Plus, I like a lot less brooding. So I liked Josh (Sam Huntington) better than Aiden (Sam Witwer). But the latter was the one at the Con yesterday. So, because I'm awesome, I headed over to get a signed photo for my friend who was stuck working.

Turns out the guy is cool. Very, very cool. Did everyone know he was the voice of Starkiller in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? 1 and 2? Because I didn't! Maybe because I've never played? Nah. That can't be it. He had a sweet picture *sort of* from the games up at his table. I didn't have the money to get it and the one my friend wanted, but my brother was all about that picture. So Sam and the guy helping him (are they managers? Media specialists? Assistants? I have no idea...) gave it to my brother. For free. Awesome, right? 

But it gets better! My brother was so geeked about the gift that he decided we were going to listen to Sam's Q&A panel a few minutes later. I expected something vaguely entertaining for me and outright boring for J (the brother). I was wrong! It was a blast! Jokes and shenanigans for everyone! Even a Darth Maul imitation! I left feeling a very strong urge to play both of The Force Unleashed games, and kind of crushing a bit myself! 

So yeah. Maybe it wasn't as much of a Trekkie adventure as last year. And maybe, under normal circumstances, that would drop my enjoyment of the Con down a (small!) rung or two. But how can any sane person complain about watching their brother shake hands with Billy Dee Williams? And what sane, straight girl can complain about getting a hug from a very good-looking Star Wars nerd who just happens to have a great TV show of his own?

Oh, and just so we're clear on this point: Dwight Schultz? You made my day.

Working Hard Hardly Working

So. Today's big goal was to get some writing done. On book 2 in the Blood and Fire series. That's right, I'm done with the first book! And by done, I mean still at least a month away from done, but locked in a holding pattern while I wait for my beta readers to finish & give me something to do before sending it off to my editor and then waiting for him to finish & give me something to do. So yeah. Done. O.o

What was I talking about?

Oh yeah! The goal! See, I started it. I got the first chapter done so fast you wouldn't believe. Like it was just waiting to pour out of me, which is my favorite way to write. It got me super excited and even (I'll admit it) a little cocky. I know! Gasp and horror! You'd never believe such things of me! Anyway. On to chapter 2. That one was a little tougher. But I knew what needed to be accomplished and I got it more or less done. No big deal. Came back to tweak it some 3 (7) times. Now it's time for chapter 3. The big transition chapter. The one that starts getting into the actual story, instead of just laying down a tiny bit of groundwork. And... Nothing.

So, like the good and dutiful worker I am, I kept at it. For a whole half an hour. Staring at the empty screen and the blinking cursor. And then the depression set in. So I dealt with it. Like a grown-up. For another ten minutes. Then I started playing Sims. Midieval, FYI.

But that was Sunday! And Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. But not Thursday. Nope. I was going to write. And I did! I split my break between Jimmy Johns and writing. And I actually got something done. Nothing spectacular, but it did produce a gem that apparently made Michelle laugh so hard she fell out her chair. (I didn't witness that myself, so it's possible this is all just some great lie she's told me to convince me other people think I'm funny too. I remain skeptical.) So yey!

I got home, determined to reproduce this flurry of productivity. So I started building my playlist for book 2. Very important business! It sets the whole tone of my writing. I have to find songs that capture the exact sentiment I'm going for.

That was... oh... four hours ago. I'm almost done.

And now I'm sick of all this productivity. Time for some Sims!

Not that anyone is... But for the curious, here's a tiny peek into said playlist:

Not Dead, Just Boring

So... Yeah. It's been a while. Want an excuse? I don't know what to say. Or how about this one! I'm really not that interesting.

Yup. I am that good at excuses. Aren't I awesome? Oh yeah I am!

So. Truth? I forgot I had a blog. Shut up! I can hear you laughing! All you people who don't read this anyway...

Ok. I'm done now. Honest.

I'm going to try to be better now. Scout's honor. And yes, for those (none) of you wonder, I was a scout. So shut up! I was a Brownie. Also a Junior, but that was just for a month. Give or take. Then there was this whole thing, where I realized I was way too cool for scouts. Really, though, I just didn't like selling the cookies. I felt weird! Getting all clammy and nervous every time I walked up to a house. I'd make a terrible drug dealer. I'm just no good at demanding money from strangers at their own homes. Isn't that what the government is for, anyway? Them and Girl Scouts.

Also, Boy Scouts now I guess. They've started selling popcorn outside where I work on a quasi-regular basis. Which I find just adorable. Mostly because Ace Hardware, which is right next door to where I work, gives free popcorn. Also paint, I hear. But more popcorn. Silly boys. I mock your silly drug (popcorn) dealing ways from the safety of my enclosed store. Where I am safe from your unrelenting Boy Scout wrath. And where I take money from strangers outside their houses. Which is way less intimidating.

I feel like I've gotten off point... What was the point again? Oh yeah! Being better about blogging!

So yeah. Not that anyone reads this. Ever. Or cares remotely, even if someone did happen to stumble upon this by complete accident. (No, this isn't the blog for knitting. I can sew, but I haven't done it in ages. And then, only to save some awesome ties for a guy named Dave.) But! I am going to make an honest attempt to *not* forget I have a blog again. And maybe even force out something vaguely entertaining from time to time. Even if it only entertains myself. Since I'm the only one reading anyway.