So, I was explaining to John the extensive list of edits on The Blood Queen I’ve made so far, most of which he replied with “uh huh.” He hasn’t read the book yet, and only knows that it’s an urban fantasy and there’s vampires. Anyway, I went down the long list and at the end, I said:
“Oh, and I edited the sex scene a little…just edited, though. I didn’t try to increase the length or anything!” Eh? Get it? Get it? *elbow nudge* (John’s reply was to groan and say, “I didn’t hear that.” Never did appreciate a good pun.)
I’m still snickering. I don’t care, I think I’m funny.
Ignoring for a moment that it’s an Internet quiz and therefore should be taken with a grain of salt, should I wonder if this is a sign of a fluctuating writing style? Meh, I’ll chalk it up to Internet quiz and be amused that my trippiest chapter (the prologue) comes up as Stephen King.
Then, just cause I was curious, I analyzed the 2nd chapter of the 2nd book, which has a sex scene in it, and to my amusement, here’s the result:
I have to wonder what Jane Austen would say if she traveled to the modern era only to find she’s been nearly deified as an author of wild talents; her book Pride & Prejudice adapted multiple times for the screen (as well as many others); a movie about her life taken from letters and conjecture; books by subsequent authors creating sequels to her worlds (some good, some involving Mr. Darcy turning into a vampire *gag*); finding that Elizabeth Bennet has been turned into a zombie hunter; realizing that her [supposed] hair is being auctioned off…
And perhaps most overwhelming: that her characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy have become the example of the perfect couple for hundreds, if not thousands, of women and probably quite a few men.
What would that be like? Especially for someone who had to struggle to even get her name on her own work without people disbelieving that she wrote it. Probably better we’ll never find out, she may just keel over from the shock of it. But I’d like to think she’d say something incredibly witty and go off to take a vacation in Bath.
Yeah, I’ve been busy. I got a new job, which starts in a month and a few days, so I’m preparing myself for that. I’m also feverishly, fiendishly, desperately trying to meet my deadline for edits with The Blood Queen. I’m sending it to my beta readers (my lovely critique group, as well as some other wonderful volunteer individuals) by July 9th, but that means I’ve got a horrific 35-pages-a-day editing schedule (40 is even better). (Okay, I know some people out there are probably going, “What? 35 pages a day? Does someone want the whaaa-mbulence?” To these people I say…”Want to edit my book for free?” )
Anyway, that is my life in one glorious nutshell. I haven’t done anything really interesting. And besides a terrifying nightmare I had last night that involved a baby doll that came to life and crawled over my face while cooing “Ma-ma, ma-ma” in a creepy little kid’s voice, I have nothing much to report. Hopefully that’ll change in the next few days as my editing starts reaching the hilt. Who knows? Maybe I’ll go crazy and make a blog post where I say “I am a fish” over and over again, or maybe “I am the lizard queen!” Although I think if I’m going to go insane, it’ll probably be around mid-August when the new job “honeymoon period” should wear off.
ANYWAY, since there’s not much to say…have a music video!
I really like this song. And I think I like the music video too. There’s a frenzied feeling to it that I think illustrates what I’m feeling a lot of the time.
I think I found this through Inkygirl. But, hey, if his mission was to interest someone in his book via an amusing, anecdotal music video…mission accomplished.
All I want to do is finish the edits for The Blood Queen, but my muse keeps throwing ideas at me like mashed potatoes in a food fight. My story idea folder is getting rather fat, let me tell you, and the sad thing is I don’t know when I’ll have the time to work on anything in there. I’m already jotting down ideas for the second book in the Tayce series. I tried to tell my muse to shut up…but she promptly bitch-slapped me. I think we all know who the boss is (I showed her…yeah).
I whimpered about losing in a fight to my muse to my very good writer friend, S., who told me that she’s been having similar problems. I think there’s a muse union somewhere and they get together over Frappachinos and chortle about how to make life difficult. Although S. mentioned her story involved hot firefighters and I can always go for a guilty pleasure read that involves hot firefighters. Maybe S. needs to weaken, after all, doesn’t the muse know best?
Don’t worry, I’ve been good with my editing. I managed to get quite a lot done today. If I buckle down and get into the editing “zone,” I’m actually quite good at zooming through editing, but getting into that zone is a chore. Oh, and sometime soon I need to upload some of my pics from Phoenix Comicon.
In other news, I’d just like to say to the shockingly huge amount of spambots that have been trolling my site lately: F-you. I will not approve your comment, no matter how much it may mimic real people speak. I see the URLs, I notice that they all go to BuyMyUselessCrap.com or whatever. If there are real people behind those annoying spam comments, please think of my poor bleeding eyeballs and overtaxed Askimet and stop posting. Real comments make me shiver with pleasure, but you spambots make me wanna kick something.
doesn’t like Apple products (please don’t send me emails/comments that start with “You iTouch/iPhone/iOther hating Nazi”)
doesn’t believe in DRM restrictions (if I don’t allow Big Brother to come into my house and swipe my paperbacks off my bookshelves, why would I let Amazon?)
doesn’t really have the money to afford a decent e-reader at about $250 a pop and then electronic versions of a book which can’t really be shared with friends easily and are still more expensive than a mass market coupled with a 30% off coupon from Borders or a used copy from Bookman’s.
Why am I talking about ebooks? Because I tried to find an e-reader program today to install on my computer so I could read some free ebooks I’d collected. And thus the headache began. I admit, I wanted a freeware version since I don’t read enough ebooks to warrant any kind of investment, but I did try many free trial softwares. And I came to an important conclusion: there’s too many different formats for ebooks and no program that adequately reads all of them. Even the ones that boasted reading “many different formats” ran into snags. I ended up having to download 3 separate programs. Some were very snazzy, but had sacrificed ease of usability for “oooh aaah” factor, while some were butt ugly, highly easy to use, but only allowed for one or two formats.
So until the day comes with someone makes an ebook reader with an ebook software that’s user-friendly and affordable, I think I’m gonna stick to the old school stuff of paper. And boy do I sometimes need my fix…in order to read what happened next in a new series I may be slightly addicted to, I drove down to Borders yesterday at 10pm (B&N changed their hours) and plunked down my money for the next book. Then spent five minutes in my car stroking the cover and going “My precious.” (not really…or did I? )
I actually like Lady Gaga’s music, and her outfits are wild. But this music video may top all the previous ones. It’s bizarre…oh, and not work safe (and look! It’s Beyonce and the Pussy Wagon from Kill Bill!). Enjoy
It’s stuff like this that creates the stereotype of “uneducated American hicks” and shows like Smarter than a Fifth Grader. Ugh, “What’s 9 meters in English?” *wince* Painful (but I’d also be lying if I said it wasn’t funny).
A Flickr user set up a challenge: design a cover for Lolita. The result? 164 covers for a story all about pedophiliac love. Or, you know, whatever theme you want to argue.
Some of the covers are disturbing, some downright artistic, and some look like they were slapped together in five minutes using Adobe Photoshop and stock imagery. However, it is interesting to see what people think of when they think Lolita. I tried to pick a favorite and couldn’t, although this one might win for sheer “Eeew” factor.
Wynderlon.com is the website and blog of Himani, an aspiring author. Here, she chronicles the random insanity of life as she stumbles and navigates her way (hopefully) towards publication.
I don’t care, I think I’m funny.
(Okay, I know some people out there are probably going, “What? 35 pages a day? Does someone want the whaaa-mbulence?” To these people I say…”Want to edit my book for free?” 
)
