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Darn. I had a whole post in my head last night and now heck if I can remember what it was at all! Ugh!

We watched Hotel Rwanda last night with Don Cheadle. He’s such a great actor and hardly ever gets his due. The movie was…heartbreaking. I had always been curious as to why the Hutus and the Tutsi’s hated each other so much and to find out why/how was just awful. There’s really NO reason. Not that there’s ever a good reason for genocide, but in their case, the distinction between a Hutu and a Tutsi is primarily a made-up one (former Belgian colonists) — the Belgians who occupied the country basically made the distinction based on whatever they wanted — thinner noses, lighter skin…but it was arbitrary. And after they left, the Hutus took power and took revenge upon the Tutsi’s who had enjoyed more liberties under the Belgians.

There’s another, perhaps more historically accurate, description here.

History…ah, it changes with every writer.

But, no matter the who, the what, and the why, the story and the genocide that happened are just heartbreaking. And, of course, similar things go on every day in other countries. Nothing is more shocking and terrible than the things that people do to each other. We always seem to find a way to group ourselves and ways to define “outsiders” or “others.” Even if we were all colorblind, there would be ways. It would be based on height or width of the eyes or who knows what.

Anywho…

Today we have to go to a AAA office to get our International Driver’s Permits for Spain. You have to even get some passport-sized photos to go with it. Joy. Another official picture I can look awful in.

In writing news…still haven’t heard anything from the publisher, but I know they are busy, so I’m not reading anything into that. I’ve actually worked a bit on Abigail, though I’m feeling generally uninspired, so I get the feeling that whatever I’ve added lately is going to get some work done to it in revision.

In site news…no more donations have come in. Expenses…still going up. I’m hoping to move to a new (and cheaper) hosting provider sometime in June or July. That will definitely help. I did kick off two new contests (and please, do enter! I always have a cadre of site members who enter every contest, but if new people don’t enter, there’s really not much use in continuing them. It’s kind of silly to just give away books to the same people every month and not much use to the publisher or the author. So far I’ve always had enough new people to give books to both groups — some new, some old, but summer is always kind of strange — a lot of people find the site when searching for information on a book for school). The chat with Sarah Mlynowski went pretty well. I’d have liked it if a few more people showed up, but enough were there that the conversation never lagged. I’ll have to see about setting up more chats in the future. They kids in the forum are asking me to set up one with a publisher. And we are planning on having a chat with Stephenie Meyer in October.

I need to update the Prize Bucket. I’ll hopefully get that done tomorrow.

I’m really, really, really starting to hate college students. They start their partying on Thursday at UofL (what, they don’t have classes on Friday? I don’t know.), which means, invariably, drunk students stumbling home at all hours of the night. Some nights it isn’t too bad. Tonight has been a real active night, including one poor fellow (hear that with sarcasm, please) being cajoled along to his house (which ish thataway…right?) a foot at a time. Holy moley sweet pete! He was like 5′ 1″, even I could have carried him there!

Sigh.

I love the old houses here in Old Louisville, but I hate the inconsiderate college students. And before anyone wants to yammer on about, “oh, you did it too,” let me just tell you that no, I did not. I hammered my way through college in 3 years. I hated beer and I never did much partying. And even if I had, I was w-a-y more polite than these kids. I didn’t yell around the dorms at 3 AM and I certainly wouldn’t have done it in a residential neighborhood.

Yeah, yeah, get off my high and mighty horse.

Still, I’m wondering if there’s such a thing as a noise activated sprinkler system…

I get just the most bizarre spam in the world, and lots and lots of it to boot. The title of today’s post comes straight from the subject line of a spam email. I’m afraid I can’t tell you what the spam is about, since I didn’t click on the link (spyware being what it is and all), but I can tell you that deviant really isn’t isothermal at all. Nor mesothermal. But that’s another story.

I’ve been trying and trying (well, not that hard, but definitely at least one trying worth) to work on the Camilla piece. 2 1/2ish chapters done. Went from third person to 1st person, present tense, and now I think I need to really go to first person, past tense. But mostly I’m just not feeling it. Figures, since it’s likely the most marketable of my current crop of ideas.

I think I’m going to work on Abigail. Her pigtails are twitching and she’s got that look in her eye like I’d best be on about it, she’s getting impatient, darn it. And the Miss Twitchell’s are getting anxious too, it’s really time to get this story on the road. And it is a great deal more fun. There’ll be some gooky nasty monsters in this one and some delightfully precocious fairies (the Miss Twitchells not withstanding). Camilla’s just got some teen angst she’s got to deal with. I think she can wait just a bit. She needs to get her wardrobe straightened out first anyway; I’m not sure she wants to go out in public like she is.

Not to mention I need to do some more research before I work on that one. I’m not all that familiar with New York, having only been there once, and my latest contact with the City being solely through novels like the Gossip Girls (and if that is real life, then by god, I don’t know what to do anyway).

Today I was a slug,
giving in completely to the lure of my bed
and the tangle of sheets and dreams

Disconnected from the outside world
with only the rumble of traffic buzzing past my window
to remind me of my connection to others

Floating, formless, in an in-between place
half-awake, all-dreaming –
wrapped in a cocoon of forgetfulness

Listening: One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (House Rent Blues) by George Thorougood
Writing: Abigail v. Camilla?

Having a small conundrum. Which thing do I work on next? Abigail or Camilla? MG fantasy or YA general fic? (And, of course, Serious McElvoy keeps popping up in my head, but I’ve got to silence him for right now. Don’t really have any plot planned out there. Need to at least go with a book that I generally know what’s going to happen in)

The Camilla piece (as yet untitled) is likely the most marketable and is (arguably) going to be easier to write. But poor Abigail has been sitting on the shelf for so long. Agh. Her story has changed so many times, but I’ve finally settled on the big points, so she doesn’t have to wait any more…but she probably should.

Neither have a bit of a thing to do with vampires. Sigh.

Yesterday, I got an email from yet another new author whose new vampire book was just bought. That makes a total of, let’s see…5 recent releases/newly picked up books (High School Bites, Boys that Bite, Eighth Grade Bites, braced2Bite, and one other one I can’t think of the name of) that share a bit of a name with mine and some small plot points. Yah, yah, the market is flooded. I swear, I’m changing the name of mine. That’s probably not enough to save it from bad timing though. I’ll probably just sit on it for a few years and refresh the cultural references and try it out again, unless the agent it is out with now is interested. Bad timing. Heh. Incredibly bad timing.

Okay, going to work on my next vampire-less book now.

Yep, this one is going to be a non PC message. Things that annoy me. That make me mad. The big ones. The little ones. And yes, before you say anything, I am in a little bit of a bitchy mood (lucky Tony, he’s not home, and no it isn’t about him, just feeling that way generally). And yes, I know and acknowledge that generalizing large groups of people is not “right” or PC (but the PC police can go…well, I’m sure you can guess where they can go). Anyway.

1. Rude people.
2. Mean people. They really do suck.
3. Sorority girls with their high pitched carry-for-a-mile voices and incessant giggling. This used to be just a dislike, but now, after living RIGHT NEXT DOOR to some Sorority girls from Hell, it is an active hate.
4. Fraternity boys. Especially drunk ones. Actually, is there any other kind? Evidence would suggest no.
5. When the kitties ignore me for no apparent reason.
6. Dirt under my fingernails
7. Books that exist for the sole purpose of trying to get you to NOT read a different book. “Huh?” you are saying to yourself. “That makes no sense.” Yes! I know! But try telling that to the Christian fiction publishers that publish anti-wizardry tracts! Just because someone reads Harry Potter does not make them a satan worshipper! AGH!
8. Narrowmindedness.
9. Smarmy people. I do actually love the word smarmy and I can roll that one around on my tongue for hours, but smarmy people…eh, not so much.
10. People who litter.
11. People who are rude for absolutely no reason. And then I get mad at myself, because I freeze and can’t think of a proper comeback until sometimes days later.
12. The people who make spam. And viruses. Shoot them. All of them. Die, spammer, die!
13. The whole Israeli/Palestinian conflict. All of it. Ditto the whole Danish prophet cartoon thing.
14. And while we’re on that…any person or persons who use religion as an excuse to do something to someone else. I don’t even care if that something is a “good” thing. Does that make sense? It’s late. Anyway.
15. Interstitial advertisements online.
16. When my Internet connection slows to a crawl for no reason.
17. People who cut you off in traffic or, even worse, those people who pull into the right hand lane just long enough to jet past a bunch of other people. Hey, unless you are a) pregnant and actually delivering a baby or b) rushing to the hospital because some part of you is spurting blood … WAIT YOUR TURN.
18. What the Internet has done to punctuation and capitalization for an entire generation of people (of course, that’s written as a fragment, but hey, it’s in a list, so it is part of a series)
19. Reporters who think that Cheney accidentally shooting someone, or Britney driving around with her baby in her lap are BIG NEWS.
20. Movies that bill themselves as comedies or romances and then have some huge tragedy happen at the end. Think City of Angels.
21. Reporters/News Organization that throw up HUGE coverage any time some blonde cheerleader-type is kidnapped or killed but seem to care less if they don’t happen to be blonde or white or whatever.
22. Political correctness. Politics. Pretty much anything to do with politics, other than The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (because he just kicks ass). Not that I can watch it since we canceled our cable, but still.
23. When the wind blows a piece of hair in your eye and you can’t get it out.
24. Not being able to go to sleep even though you’re really, really tired and can barely keep your eyes open.

We went to a dinner party tonight (co-workers of Tony’s) and now I’m still too full to sleep. I ate too much dessert. Ugh. Eric makes one heck of an apple pie.

I’ve also been tossing and turning over my whole agent debacle. After hearing back from the one agent (you know, the “loved it, but there’s already a flood of vampire stories out there” — not that I blame them, there is), I e-mailed Knuckles (I know I should call him Dan…after all, we’ve only ever “met” in e-mail, but I just love that nickname. Besides, I love his sense of humor and feel like we’ve been friends (albeit long distance ones that have never met in person) for ages), who liked the bits of my book that he’s read, to ask about his agent. So I e-queried his agent and heard back right quick…he wants an exclusive read for 30 days & send the ms out right away. Yippee! Except that I still haven’t heard back anything from Rebecca or Nadia.

So I duly e-mailed R and N for a status update. Heard back amazingly quickly (they must have been literally sitting on their laptops). N is going to get back to me by Monday and R said it was up to me, but she hadn’t had a chance to look at it yet.

Tony says it’s a no-brainer to send it to the fellow that’s asked for the whole shebang vs. someone who only has a partial and hadn’t even asked for it at that and I have to agree, even though R has been on my top 5 list from the start. So I just now emailed her back with my response after tossing and turning over it for a couple of hours. Way past my bedtime. Edward, Dan’s agent, is high up on my list too — after all, if he “gets” Dan’s books, he’ll hopefully get mine. Even my upcoming (i.e. unwritten as yet) novels are always going to have a comic edge. That’s just me.

You can’t be this short (4′ 11″) and be serious.

Well, unless you’re Napoleon. Actually, scratch that. Unless you’re a guy. Short guys tend to have complexes. That’s why all short women wind up married to tall men. Really. Have you ever met a short woman married to a short man? Other than, like, the little people from the Wizard of Oz? (wow, how un-PC is that?)

Anyway.

I am concerned with the whole market-flooded-with-vampire stories thing. It seems like everyone got the same idea at the same time as me. Not that there aren’t always vampire stories, but there are a slew of them coming out right now and in the near future.

Of course, mine is a bit different being that it is told from a prospective vampire’s point of view and vampires are something she’s used to and not afraid of (her parents being bloodsuckers) and she has to go to vampire lessons and have vampire homework…but it really isn’t a vampire novel. It’s more about her journey, her crushes, her teen angst about growing up…The only blood is at a blood bar (would you like that straight up or on the rocks?) and there’s no gore at all. So I hope someone will be able to look past the fangs and see the bildingsroman elements. Hehe got to use a word from my college days! Look, ma, my English degree wasn’t for naught!

Well, I heard back from one agent with an encouraging rejection (be that there is such a thing):

This is so much fun and I am crushed not to sign it up. We did a little research on teen vampire books (which I’m happy to share, though I imagine you have quite a sense of the market) and I’m afraid the consensus is that there are just too many out there or coming soon. I don’t feel confident enough to lead you into a crowded market. I wish you all the best of luck with this and won’t be a bit surprised to read about the sale of THIS BITES. If you ever write another teen novel, I hope you’ll consider us again.

It is my big fear, actually. There are just a slew of vampire stories out there. Ah, well. Sending it off into the ether again and starting work on my next book (Abigail Adams, Queen of the Fairies). That’s just the tentative title, of course.

So, one of the many interesting things we saw at the Tower of London was a suit of armor originally designed and built for King Henry the VIII (yes, the one who got rid of all those wives, the scummy fellow). My first view of the suit of armor was upon turning a corner, where all I could see was the backside, which was copious, to say the least.

The comment, “Yikes, that must have been one huge knight,” had just barely left my mouth when I turned the rest of the corner and was presented with it. IT. The most enormous projectile codpiece you’ve ever seen. The picture really doesn’t do it justice. It stuck out a good 5 or 6 inches from the suit of armor, kind of shaped like a bullet…or rather, one of those martini shakers shaped like a bullet. It was frigging HUGE.

The funny thing, for me at least, is that nowhere on the display makes any mention or allusion whatsoever to this huge protuberance sticking out from the suit of armor. No family-friendly description of traditional armor styles, no slightly off-color remarks about Henry’s opinion of himself (which was obviously quite, er, big). Nothing. That made it even funnier. It was like the huge pink elephant in the middle of the room that no one would talk about, but everyone was starting at.

Especially the kids. I pitied the poor mothers trying to keep their placid mommy faces intact as their four-year-old would point and ask “Mommy, what’s that?”

And there is, in fact, some historical significance to the codpiece. It all dates back to a visit by King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn to a Duke in Bologna. It seems the Duke was sporting a particularly large, um, codpiece. Large enough to make the Queen jest “Be that thine codling or art thou glad to see me?” And large enough to make King Henry tell his tailors, upon return to London, “My codpieces must compare favorably to Bologna.” Other sources site his case of syphilis as a possible reason for the enormity of the thing, but I suppose we’ll never know for sure.

I got the strangest letter in the mail today. A parent wrote to me (not e-mailed, but actually wrote a letter) asking that I please not award their daughter any more free books. ?? I won’t, per the request, but isn’t that odd?

I recently read and reviewed a book called The Burn Journals, a true life story about a boy who survived after lighting himself on fire when he was 13. But this isn’t about that book. I swear I should start up a Pain Journal for myself:

02-06-2006
Woke up with sharp pain in left hip and stitch-y pain in right calf. Small knot of stabbing pain in upper right back near right shoulder blade. As per usual. Large desire to roll over and go back to sleep interrupted by two wrong number phone calls and guilty feelings of being a bad host (mother-in-law in town). Brushed teeth, awoke fully when saw horrifying visage in mirror reminiscent of Medusa on a bad hair day. Took first pills of the day, pet cat after being vocally reminded of her existence. Repeat petting. Cross fingers and check e-mail.

Anyway. I’m going to go take a much needed shower now. And then? Who knows. Perhaps I shall take the world by storm.