Updates: Writing, Weather, Where I'll be Appearing This Week

Okay, the full moon--and coffee that I'd had mid-day--had me awake past 10:30. It was sort of cool to see the sharp black shadows of the house against the pristine-white snow in the backyard. Nothing was stirring. Possibly some owl might have been. And raccoons, of course.

If I ever get caught up I'll be amazed with myself. I've been doing read-through/edits of my second book, Vampire's Trill. I've rewritten the beginning over on my side bar, invited you to go take a quick peek at the first 5 pages over at Lorelei's Archives to get a first-hand look at my corrections, and noticed that many of you have. Thank you for stopping by!

I've been around to the blogs, and have enjoyed interacting with many of you. Tammy's post about her dreaming of wonderful office furniture brought back memories—this—the desk—has been my dream for years. Before we moved into the old McGurr farm house, 16 or is it 17 years ago—we lived in an apartment. Because there was only 4 rooms I had no office, so I'd write in the bed room, at the dining room table, and outside on the porch—weather permitting, of course. Once we moved here with several rooms on the first floor as well as second (but this house is so old that if there was one or two outlets in a room, that was all you got!), I finally had a room which was deemed my office. I could leave it as messy as I wanted, and close the door to any noises, and my husband respects this most of the times. I have no desk to sit at, only an 8 ft table, an office chair and two 2-drawer file cabinets with a laminated board arranged over them to give me more space to spread out. I have a fold-out table, for more junk, and two bookcases, plus I've moved the couch in here over the winter for those nights I have sudden inspiration and know I'll be getting up to work—or for naps (if I do nap).

Where I'll Be This Week:

This week I've been invited by Catherine at SUBURBAN VAMPIRE. She is running “Vampire Valentine's Party” this month and has been hosting various authors. The theme is the “romantic allure of vampires”, which, of course I can throw my 2 cents in on. So, if you haven't checked her posts out this month, you might want to see what delicious things to read she's been giving away.

After I had such a wonderfully successful book signing, and called the Borders store manager, Julie Morsh, she invited me to come and speak with a “retired” sorority who meets in her store once a year. She thought that they would really be interested in me/my book, so I've got a speaking engagement this coming Saturday at Borders. Thank goodness I'm only expected to speak to them for 20 minutes. Probably answer questions about my book, etc.

One of the very first things Julie told me—because she had read my book—was, “I just LOVED your book!” When I asked what it was she really liked about my book, she said, “It's more real, and more adult.” She explained to me that she didn't really care for the Twilight series that much. I'm sure this is what she'd meant by “more real and more adult”. When I asked, she also said she'd noticed the places that I'd used in my book from actual places/settings in her own small town (which I named Moonlight). The Pub was the bar in the opening chapter. The grocery store was used, and the bank, and a few other buildings/businesses, including the Subway. I don't think I could walk into the Hinckley Subway on Rt. 30 again without thinking about Sabrina and Jeanie Woodbine sitting eating, and talking covertly about vampires and werewolves at a table, and Jeanie's hot brother walking in for lunch from the stair-building factory nearby.

The weather is improving too. Today, in fact we've had temps already in the thirties and by end of the week it will be 50's. Why, we'll all be walking around in shorts by then (NOT!) I wouldn't doubt that by then the red wings will be back singing in a huge chorus up in the trees of our backyard.