Brain Soup

No Left 4 Dead update yet. I have a sad. Rumor is it will be available on the 29th. Sniff.

Ilona is running a contest — winner gets to be on her beta-team or win a signed set of free books: http://ilona-andrews.livejournal.com/367027.html

It’s my day over at Odd Shots and I squee over Kresley Cole: http://www.theoddshots.com/2009/09/a-day-in-the-life/

Survivor tonight. Woot! Russell the Troll is my reason to watch at the moment, I’m afraid.

Still editing. Still not loving it. Oh, I love the book. But I’m tired of fixing it. And fixing word reps and character placement is a LOT easier than fixing the theme of the book (which is what I’m currently doing). It’s hard, yo. Nobody said this job was easy, right?

I am reading the new Lisa Kleypas (Tempt Me At Twilight). I just love Lisa’s writing style. Her books are like a warm, fuzzy hug of love from Romancelandia.

I am going to attempt to make Stuffed Bell Peppers this weekend. This will either be epic or tragic. Possibly both!

It occurs to me that I don’t have much to talk about lately. Here’s my life in a nutshell: Work is busy and boring. Husband I are boring by nature. The exciting world of publishing is boring at the minute, since all we are doing now is waiting for books to come out. Some people have review copies. I don’t know who. Not me! My Amazon ranking sucks, so I sate my authorbeast needs by obsessively checking the ranks of my friends. I’m editing a spec project or three for my agent.

But none of that makes a good post, you know?

I should be able to share my cover art soon. I’ve only been teasing that for about 5 months, right? What’s a few more weeks…

Bad habits

I’ve noticed I’m a great big failure when it comes to forming good habits lately.

I haven’t balanced my checkbook in months.
I keep forgetting to blog.
I’ve been having upwards of 5 cups of coffee every day. (*twitch*)
I haven’t been writing EVERY day.
Or editing all that stuff I said I would.
I’ve been re-reading books instead of reading all the new ones on my TBR pile.
I’ve bought a few books, then thought, “Jeez, I’m never going to read that one.”
I had pizza for lunch.
My gym membership card has dust on it.
So do my gym shoes.
And my duster.
And my vacuum.
I’ve been leaving dishes in the sink.
I haven’t been self-promoting very much — I always see those self promo threads on message-boards or Amazon or whatever and think “Should I?” but then I walk away. There’s a fine line between self promo and douchebaggery, and I tend to overshoot. Best to just avoid entirely unless you have the delicate skill of Self Promo, and I do not have it.
I’ve been watching TV shows ONLINE instead of when they come on, thus torpedo-ing the Nielsen rankings of my favorite shows.
I’ve been playing far, far too much Left4Dead (new patch tonight!).

So what about you? Someone else tell me their bad habits so I don’t feel like the only doofus around.

Ugh

My floor here at work has the worst coffee ever. Worst. Bleh.

(And yet, I still drink it. Smart? Not so much.)

Editing. Again.

Am editing UNNATURAL again. Well, except now it’s called VANISHING ACT but my brain can’t seem to wrap around that. So what is more glamorous than reading and editing a manuscript twelve times?

Why, thirteen times!

Luckily, my agent’s notes were spot on, so this draft has been fairly painless thus far. Sure, I bitch, but if I didn’t, what could I possibly talk about?

Other than that, no news on this end. Glad that Mercury is no longer in retrograde.

(It’s not…is it? Eep.)

Mean to books

I just bought a stack of paperbacks at the bookstore the other day. Even though I have a Sony e-Reader (and love it), I still make a ton of purchases in person. There’s just something about being able to pick up and hold a real book.

Anyhow, I’ve been slowly digging myself through my new purchases. I’ve been reading HUNTING GROUND by Patricia Briggs for the past few days. The cover is lovely – purple with some shiny stuff on it, and a painting by Dan Dos Santos (who can do no wrong).

Three days in:

– Multiple pages are dog-eared & bent
– The spine is cracked in 3 diff places
– The entire spine has a roll to it
– The book cover is bent and sticks up

My husband cannot believe I am so cruel to my books, especially since I write them. Me, I just think it’s a sign of a well-loved book. Some of my favorite ones have been read and abused so many times they are held together by duct-tape.

That’s when you know it’s a good read.

Nerd Superbowl!!!!!

New season of Survivor tonight!

OMG!

So EXCITED!!!!!!!!!11!!!!1! Who’s watching???

Promo, promo everywhere…and not a drop of content.

So today, I am in a cranky mood. I told Ilona it was because I had bad author dreams. I dreamed that I opened the latest issue of Romantic Times and saw my book had a 1-star.

(Those of you that read RT know that they don’t 1-star anything. But I had one. Lucky me!)

Clearly this is a sign of encroaching author-beast-dom. I recognize the signs, even if I don’t know how to avoid it.

Galleys are almost done. Once I have them out the door, I can return to working on my new story, which I am (quite objectively) calling MY PRECIOUSSSSS.

Cover Art

(Well, not really)

Meljean Brook has done a revenge post on my cover art over at The Odd Shots.

*shakes fist*

(It’s pretty brilliant, no?)

I am heading to the bookstore tonight with the full intention of having a bookstore accident. I am planning on doing at least $100 in damage and I won’t be satisfied otherwise!

Anyone have anything exciting on their to-buy list at the moment?

Today is my day

Over at Odd Shots. I raided Meljean Brook’s SECRET DELETED SCENES and uncovered a most interesting tidbit that I shared with the group.

(Meljean is such a good sport.)

Galleys

Just heard from my editor’s assistant – galleys for book 2 (and the final stage for both books — at least on my end!) are heading my way for a Thursday delivery.

Hmmm.

Work on galleys or watch Supernatural…?
Work on galleys, or watch Sam and Dean?
Galleys? Winchesters?

Oh decisions, decisions.