It has been far too many days since my last confession. I know! Sad thing is, I've been pressed by hardcore deadlines at work, and spend my time at home working on a new project. Nothing exciting as of yet, except I'm having fun with it, and that's really what it's all about, right?

Revisions on MY FAIR SUCCUBI have been turned in to my editor and now I'm just waiting on copyedits. In the meantime, I'm plotting Book 4. Not that I have an official go-ahead for Book 4 yet, but I am like a Boy Scout when it comes to books - BE PREPARED.

Other than that, I did not go to RT and am a little sad. Everyone looks like they had so much fun. I had to be an adult this year and get the fence fixed. *grumble* Stupid fence. Maybe next year.

This morning, I woke up and my husband was not yet awake. I didn't want to disturb him, so I crept out of the room and got ready for work as he continued to sleep. I needed to brush my teeth, though, and the toothbrush was in the bathroom in the bedroom, which meant turning on the lights. And I didn't want to wake him up, so I thought I'd try to be sneaky.

(You see where this is going, right?)

So in the dark, I'm feeling around on the counter for my electric toothbrush. Found the toothbrush, snapped the head in. Felt around and found the toothpaste.

Now, a person that thinks ahead would have stopped here, left the room with these implements, and gone to the bathroom on the far side of the house where you can, you know, brush your teeth with the lights on.

NOPE! NOT ME!

For some reason, I decided that I could put my toothpaste on my brush in the dark. So I uncap the toothpaste, and put my finger against the side of my toothbrush bristles. I figure I can squirt, and once I feel the toothpaste on my finger, I'm good to go. Right? Right.

So I squirt. No toothpaste on the side of my finger. Hm. Well, the tube is half empty. Maybe I need to squeeze further down. So I squirt again. Still no toothpaste hitting my finger. That's odd. Now, though, I'm starting to smell toothpaste. Something's not adding up.

I squirt one more time and...hear a big splat.

Uh oh. At this point, I decide that being sneaky isn't worth it, and leave the room, toothbrush in hand. When I get into the light, I see...my toothbrush, covered in toothpaste all along the brush. Huge, heaping globs of it all down the brush. Covered. I have entirely missed the bristles, though.

I laugh at this...until I remember the splat. So I go into the bedroom and have to turn on the lights anyhow...and yep. I've gotten toothpaste all over the floor in big, nasty globs.

It's definitely a Monday.

Sometimes I worry that I'm becoming a hypochondriac.

Case in point - two years ago, I threw out my back. Couldn't sit for a week, so I pretty much laid flat on my back for a week and read Kresley Cole novels. Ever since then, if I ever get a twinge in my back, I am concerned that I'll be laid flat again for a week. It worries me. If no one would look at me strange for wearing a protective brace over my clothing, I would! But...that would be weird.

Another story. A person in my family recently had surgery to remove part of her thyroid because of thyroid issues. I knew another lady that had thyroid problems, and hers bulged from the base of her throat. Lately, I find myself constantly stroking the base of my throat to make sure mine has remained a normal size. I haven't asked my husband to compare thyroids...yet. But I probably will.

The other day I woke up with a crick in my neck. Again, I worried about my back (I'm very protective of my spine as I had surgery on it a long time ago). I woke up one morning with a dry knot at the back of my throat and was convinced that one of my vertebrae had slipped and was pushing on my throat and I would 1) Choke to death because my throat would be too closed or 2) be bound to a bed just as soon as my spine finished freeing itself from my body.

My husband laughed at my fears. A lot. He also pointed out it might have been my old flat pillow causing the crick in my neck.

(He was right)

The worry is not just confined to my back, though! My teeth are extremely sensitive, and I often go back to the dentist, swearing that I have a cracked tooth or need a root canal. He sends me away, because nothing's wrong with my teeth. I think he is starting to regret taking me on as a patient.

Or my dermatologist! He thinks I'm crazy. I went to him a few months ago because I had a mole on my arm. I've always had this mole, but I noticed that when I accidentally scratched it...it hurt! A lot! So I went to see him. I pointed out the mole and told him I had cancer. In retrospect, maybe it's not that big of a mole, but how do I know? Anyhow, he looked at it, and then looked at me with the My-God-She's-Crazy look. Said I was fine. I told him it hurt when I scratched it.

He said to stop scratching it.

(Can't argue with that.)

And I swear I'm not crazy. I'm really not. Most of these fears are temporary and easily laughed away. I think I'm just hitting that age where things are starting to show their wear and tear. I'm heading towards middle age, and it's on my mind a lot. I think this accounts for the hypochondria more than anything else. Not to mention that in the age of google, no one ever has benign symptoms anymore. A pulled muscle in your leg could be a sign of vitamin deficiency...OR LEPROSY.

Who doesn't know someone that has a story along the lines of, "Bob went to the doctor because his ankle was hurting...AND IT WAS CANCER." Couple that in with shows like 'House' and the gloom and doom constantly on the news...I am surprised that we're ALL not hypochondriacs nowdays.

And if you ever see me and I'm wearing some protective brace and can't turn my neck? Well. YOU KNOW WHY.

We've been on a movie kick, the husband and I, and here's a summary of a few more films we've watched:

Whiteout: Man, this was bad. I saw the reviews (that were almost universally bad) but the premise sounded really intriguing. Murder in the Antarctic! Nazi treasure! How can you go wrong? Well, apparently you can go really, really wrong. It wasn't a bad plot, but the story itself was so stupid and the characters did such stupid things that you spent the entire movie irritated at them.

Wall-E: This was adorable. I think I would have liked it more if I had not just seen UP, but how can anything be better than UP? It can't. So this was good, but not amazing. I loved the space scenes (spacedweeb!) and Wall-E's love for EVE was adorable. Very cute, sweet movie. Husband pronounced it boring.

Monsters Vs. Aliens: This movie was weird to watch, for me. It started out kind of bland but became better the longer the movie went on. Kudos to Dreamworks for having a plot where the woman doesn't need the love of the 'right' man to be fulfilled in her life. The weird part comes in where...well, let's just say that a very large chunk of the plot here was pretty much IDENTICAL to the Young Adult novel that my agent has that we're going to shop very soon. So that was bizarre to watch play out.

The Devil's Tomb: Husband and I love horror movies, and there are certain things that are insta-rentals for us. A tomb filled with an ancient horror and people are trapped there? Pretty much hits both of our horror movie kinks. Sadly, this movie did not deliver. The plot was WAY bad and implausible, the writing terrible. The 'tomb' also looked more like an army bunker, so there went any hope of archaeological creepiness. Sigh. It was also gory and gross for the sake of being gross, which meant Husband liked it more than me. Blech.

I am told that tonight we are going to watch OUTLANDER (my pick). It features Vikings and Space Aliens and a monster, so it will either be awesome or totally suck.

Okay, not really stuff I'm DOING doing. More like "what I'm reading/watching" lately.

BOOKS: I am currently reading Michelle Rowen's THE DEMON IN ME. It's super fun and loads sexier than her vampire books. I'm lucky that I get to read an early copy (because I am AWESOME). Also reading early -- BAYOU MOON. You can be jealous of me. I know. I recently purchased several books and tore through those, including Larissa Ione's ECSTASY UNVEILED and the ever-amazing Kresley Cole's PLEASURE OF A DARK PRINCE. It is all paranormals all the time over here, yo. I'm in heaven.

I've already pre-ordered Addison Fox's WARRIOR ASCENDED, and I'm hoping it's every bit as awesome as that cover. Seriously, I just love the colors on it. Isn't it pretty?

MOVIES: So those that know me know that I'm a bit of a space geek. Well, okay, maybe you don't know that about me. I'm kind of an armchair astronomer, and there's something about space that terrifies and fascinates me. I've been in a total space 'movie' mode, quite possibly brought on by watching the STAR TREK reboot recently. Chris Pine = crazy hotness.

So we've watched a couple of flicks recently. PANDORUM was first up, and the first half-hour was terrific. Two guys wake up, stranded on a non-functioning space ship after being stuck in stasis for who knows how many years. Started out awesome. The next hour or so was totally boring and confusing, but the ending was good. Not bad overall, but left me hungry for more.

I suggested SUNSHINE (the one with Cillian Murphy) and so we watched that next. Man, I wish we hadn't. What a terrible movie. The first hour was slow and stately, which I don't mind. It had the hotness of Chris Evans - don't mind that either. It had handwavey science that I can look past, but the plot takes a SERIOUS fork after the first hour to the point that I turned to my husband and said "What the f&ck just happened here?"

It was, in a word, WACK. Hated it.

The next movie in the queue is UP (Pixar movie). I am hoping we don't hate it. If it's good, maybe I can get the husband to watch Wall-E with me.

TV: Olympics, olympics, and more olympics. Strangely enough, we are watching more curling than anything else. I...like curling. I find this just a little bit odd.

Writing: I'm still in love with my new project, even though I didn't work on it for the past two days. I needed a mental health break.

So...anything on your radars? Anything you are loving or hating book/tv/movie wise?

1) If you are waiting on a book from me, I'm sending a truckload of them out this weekend. I had the best intentions last week, but then the Texas snowpocalypse hit, and this week I've been pulling 10 hour days at the day job, and I can't seem to get to the post office on time. So I promise they ARE coming. If you're not sure I've sent it out yet, feel free to email me and I'll let you know the status.

2) Several people have asked me about Book 3. It's scheduled for very early next year! I've turned it in on time (go me!) so everything should be smooth-sailing (knock on wood!). A couple of people have asked what it's about, too. Well, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

I kid, I kid. I just like that joke. So...book 3 is when everything Jackie has been trying NOT to think about comes to a head. We meet more Serim, another angel, a nephilim, more vampires, and a certain character is quite prominent (coughZanecough). So if you wanted to choke me at the end of book 2...I think you will like book 3.

3) I am watching far more Olympics than I'd thought. And enjoying the new season of Survivor far more than I expected. Oh, Boston Rob, I know you will not make it much further (you're too Alpha) but I adore you so. If you and eye-rolling Courtney make it to the end, my world will be complete.

Spam. My spam filter catches hilarious messages that are left on my website by random spammers. Classics such as "I appreciated the enticing prosperity of your message! Would that I can return soon to check for updates!"

And it's signed by an enhancement-pill-that-rhymes-with-Niagara.

Hilarious.

Btw - I am still a bad blogger. You have been warned. I'm hoping that if I'm at the computer more this week  (as opposed to this weekend, when I mostly had a brain meltdown and did nothing but read), I'll provide snippets of book 3.

Now that book 3 is done (for the most part), I'm taking a few days to let it bake before diving into the edits. In the meantime, I have some edits on a side project that I'm tinkering with, and some books to read.

And I was going to post more, but...I forgot what it was. Sad. Perhaps this is a sign I need to go to bed.

More tomorrow, when I'm (hopefully) coherent!