Lunch

I had a donut peach with my lunch today.

It did not taste like donut. It tasted like a peach.

I call shenanigans.

Dang! I’m a crappy blogger!

You know, back in the day…I used to pooh-pooh those that would only update their blog every few weeks. What is wrong with these people that they can’t find the time to update on a daily basis? Just a couple of paragraphs?

Yeah. And as karma proves, I am now one of those lazy people. Go figure. To be honest, I run for my blog when I have something new and exciting to share! I can’t wait to share news or bits of writing with everyone. The sad truth of the matter is that at the moment, I am just between news. I have nothing going on, and I am spectacularly unexciting to boot.

I do hope I can share finalized cover art for MY FAIR SUCCUBI pretty soon. You might have seen an early version floating around on the internet, but the final version looks slightly more jazzy and has some cute text on it, and just looks better all around. At least, I think so.

Also to note – any of the blurbs you might have seen online? Not the final back cover copy. Not sure if I can share that yet either, so you’ll have to be patient a wee bit longer. I did get a few panicked questions because the blurb on the web does not mention Zane. Please be assured that all Team Zane fans will be VERY HAPPY with book 3. I would not do that to you guys! Or Zane!

Someone did ask for a Zane snippet the other day and I thought I would provide the following. It’s not in Book 2. It’s not even in book 3. It is a mystery snippet for a freebie I am (tentatively) working on that might or might not show up on this website someday. Tell me what you think!

Some days, eternity was far too long.

Zane opened his eyes slowly, shaking off the day-slumber, and hating that he had to return to consciousness. Being awake meant another day living, breathing, feeding without her…and another day serving the queen.

As if she sensed his mutinous thoughts, the queen loomed over Zane’s body and grazed a hand over his chest, her sharp fingernails scratching a pattern onto his bare shoulder. She could do that to him – she owned him. And he hated it. A thousand years ago, he hadn’t minded. A hundred years ago, he was content. But everything had changed in this last year, and Zane found this his reasons for living had changed. And his future plans? Did not include the queen.

For now, though, he had to bide his time. So he gritted his teeth and gave her a mockery of a smile.

The queen’s red eyes gleamed with interest as she studied him, trying to interpret his thoughts. Like a thundercloud rolling through his senses, her mind pressured his own, nearly overwhelming him with the possessive murk of it. “I have decided you will feed me today.”

Punishment. Again. Careful to hide any emotion, Zane swung his legs over the side of the marble bier and extended an arm toward her with an almost bored expression. “Eat up.”

Instead, the queen smiled, revealing her razor-sharp teeth. She crooked a finger at him, slowly beckoning. “No. Not like that. Give me your neck today.”

Yes? More? No? Boring? Bueller?

Art

My husband has been on a drawing tear lately. This is the latest piece he’s done (Ashley Williams is copyright Bioware and Mass Effect). Isn’t it pretty?

Click through to view Deviant Art Page

He’s going to do my succubi next – I can hardly wait! It’ll be a few weeks, but I’m already rubbing my hands with glee. I love his stuff and I’m a huge fangirl of what he draws, so I’m going to occasionally link back his art here.  Shameless plugging ahoy!

Supa-sweet linkage

Just a drive-by post to provide some linky goodness for you guys in lieu of real, actual content.

Do you like my fabulous agent Holly Root? Holly and her BFF Barbara Poelle (who is also a fabulous agent) are participating in the Do the Write Thing For Nashville auction. You can win tea with the two of them and a grab-bag of books! This is sure to be an AMAZING prize. I’ve been to a workshop where both of them discussed pitching, and it is hilarious to watch them feed off of each other. Go bid!!

Also, I got a nook a few days ago and blogged about my experiences with it over at Odd Shots. I even drew on pictures (and since I’m bad with photo manipulations, this took me far, far too many hours).

Very quick heads-up!

If you have emailed me in the past few weeks and I haven’t responded…I HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU! I PROMISE!

Email tends to be lower on the priority totem pole when I start to get buried, and I’ve been buried in a lot of back and forth stuff lately. I’m going to try to get to all the outstanding stuff this weekend, but just wanted to let you know that I haven’t forgotten you.

Blah blah blah

Not the song – how I’m feeling at the moment! Kind of antsy about a few things I can’t mention (nothing to do with the Succubus books, carry on, carry on). Just a few small things here and there that I’m waiting to hear back on. I have some vacation time coming up at the beginning of April, which will either be edits on MY FAIR SUCCUBI if I get them in time…and Spring Cleaning if I do not.

Choices, choices. Oddly enough, I am rooting for the edits.

In the meantime, while I’m waiting on stuff, I’ve started a new mystery project that I might have mentioned the other day. I don’t talk about mystery projects much…mostly because half the time, they suck. But I’m 43 pages in and still going…so that’s either a good sign, or a sign I’m delusional.

I have a few projects on my hard drive that I was digging through the other day that are pretty decent little books as well. There’s three in particular (and a novella) that just need a polish before they’re ready. Ready for what, I don’t know. Still debating that too! There’s never enough time in the day to tackle everything I want to tackle, and the shiny, new projects always seem to push ahead of the old projects.

As for reading…well…I’ve done a lot of beta-reading for some friends over the past few weeks and as a result…I’m all read out! Haven’t picked up a book in the past few days. I’ve got two more to work through, so I’ve got to just dig down and suck it up, right? Right.

Weekend round up

This time change thing has me all messed up. I slept extremely late because my body wasn’t used to losing an hour. Not that it was bad to sleep late – my dreams were cool. I dreamed that I was a woman trapped in a house located on the front lines in the Civil War. The house had a rotating cast of people that flitted in and out, and the war killed nearly everyone and left zombies in their wake (Yeah, I don’t know what zombies had to do with it). My boyfriend was a soldier that died, and I had several younger siblings that died in the war, and all of them were haunting the house afterward.

It was strange. It would make a pretty cool book. Not my book, but someone else’s book, maybe. My books aren’t quite so sad.

Other than that, it’s been an uneventful weekend. I’ve been working on writing, reading beta manuscripts for friends, and watching my husband play Mass Effect 2 (which is an amazing game). We only have one TV, so I watch him play rather than play myself. It sounds weird but it’s more entertaining than you’d think. Of course, now I’m in the mood for more space epic stuff…

I’m hoping I’ll have more exciting stuff to post about soon, but right now I’m dabbling between multiple projects and not feeling particularly ‘attached’ to any of them, so I have no exciting writing updates to share. Boring blog is boring.

Where you won’t find me

I’ve had a couple of people ask me about my Goodreads account recently. I’m there, I check it every day, and I actively participate at Goodreads – I tag my TBR list, mark books I’m excited about, review the ones I’ve read and enjoyed, etc. I chat with people about reviews I’ve left on other books. There’s a major caveat to my participation, though.

My books get reviews or ratings almost every day. As an author, I love this and find it terribly exciting. People love my stuff! (sometimes!) People are talking about my stuff! But I don’t comment on any reviews or threads. I read the comments (even the unpleasant ones) and I NEVER, EVER, EVER PARTICIPATE IN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT MY OWN BOOKS.

The same thing goes for Amazon and B&N and review forums, etc. I poke around – absolutely. I’m nosy as hell. But I don’t participate in the conversation. A couple of people have asked me why, so I thought I might explain.

If we chitchat on Twitter every now and then and you post a review of my book on your blog, I will probably pop over to thank you for reviewing it. If you comment on my journal or at Odd Shots, I do my best to answer your comment, I really do (and if I’ve missed you, I’m sorry!). But I don’t participate on the Amazon forums or on Goodreads or anywhere else that they talk about my books.

Those reviews aren’t for me. They’re for other readers. NOT ME. And I believe that me showing up and commenting or trying to explain something about my books, or why I chose to do things a certain way…it influences the conversation. It makes some readers downright uncomfortable.

If it was me and I was talking constructively about a book, and the author stopped by to comment? I’d hate that. I’d clam up. I don’t want to do that to other people. You should be free to talk about my stuff in public without fear that the Authorbeast shall descend upon you and Explain Her Book And Show You The Error Of Your Ways.

So that’s why I don’t participate in discussions on Goodreads (for those that asked). If someone point blank asks me something, I might respond, but it’s just as easy to email me (my inbox is always open). It’s something that I feel fairly strongly about — and I know other authors don’t necessarily agree with me. But that’s how I feel. Maybe this will change later, but for now, I prefer that people have an author-free zone to discuss my stuff. And if it gets to the point that there’s enough traffic to warrant a forum for fans (oh, what a glorious day that would be) I’d throw one up on the website.

But you are free of me on Goodreads and Amazon.

More awake

Afternoon, all!

I’m feeling quite buoyant today – yesterday too. My husband commented on me humming to myself. I think it’s because the first draft is done! Some people have post-book depression. Not me! Post-book elation on this end. The world is suddenly golden once more, my free time starts to loom in the distance, and I begin to plot.

That’s right – I’m already thinking about the next project to work on. Writers (in general) aren’t happy unless they’re pecking at some sort of project. This is definitely true for me – when I’m not writing, I get cranky and irritable and impossible to live with. Writing soothes the savage, PMSing beast that apparently lives under my skin.

So, yeah. I’m thinking of the next project down the line. There goes that cart before the horse thing again…

I’ve been in the mood for some romantic fantasy and I find that it’s really difficult to locate on the shelves. What the hell, shelves? I’ve read everything Sharon Shinn and Marillier have written. I’ve crossed over and read a bunch of YA, too – Shannon Hale, Gail Carson Levine, etc, but I love the adult, super-romantic fantasy novels. I’m not talking a fantasy novel with a romance subplot. Not talking fantasy novels that have a male narrator. Girly, epic, girly girly romantic fantasy. Like Marillier’s HEART’S BLOOD. But, you know, not that book because I’ve already read it.

Suggestions? Am I out of luck?

Just the FAQs, ma’am

Hey everybody! It’s Friday – WOOOO!

I think the majority of my blog tours are over for the moment – and I have to say that while it was fun, I’m glad to be able to give myself a little mental R&R for a few days! At least when it comes to blogging.

I did see a few of the same questions pop up repeatedly, so I thought I’d answer a few of them here so you don’t have to fish for answers.

Q: When does book 2 come out?

A: It’s out now! Honest! It’s available on Amazon and at Borders and anywhere you can imagine! I’ve even heard it’s at Kroger. Heck, I have SEEN it at Kroger. And it’s a pretty, pretty cover.

Q: Who’s on the cover of the first book? The 2nd?

A:  Noah is on the cover of the first book – the hair’s longer than I pictured for him, but the model is so pretty that I can’t even be disappointed! Zane is on the second cover.

Q: This is a series, right?

A: Yes it is! Same characters, multiple books. Book 2 can be read without book 1, but it’s a lot like watching a TV episode and missing the pilot. You’ll catch on, but it might take a commercial break or two.

Q: When does book 3 come out?

A: Very very early 2011. I haven’t heard the official month yet, but probably January 2011.

Q: Why so long?

A: Because my publisher releases two books a year for their authors and both of mine came out back to back! (btw, I <3 my publisher for the back to back)

Q: Why does your journal suck so much lately?

A: I know. Sadface! The thing is…I’m crazily busy. December was ridiculous, and January is turning out to not be much better. I have a day job and we’ve been at crunch-time and will be until March 1st. And that is also conveniently when book 3 is due to my editor.

Here’s a peek into my writing process – I write the draft at night, after work. It comes out in a flurry of words that are usually crap words. Like, I don’t give snippets a lot because they are WOAH BAD. I read a sentence aloud to my husband the other day to ask his opinion, and this is how the conversation went:

Me, reading sentence: Blah blah blah blah blah sentence stuff that I can’t share because it is spoiler-iffic. So what do you think, honey?

Him: Erm.

Me: Erm?

Him: That’s not…the finished sentence, is it?

Me: Well, it’s staying in here for now. But this is a rough draft.

Him: But that’s an awful sentence. Like, really bad.

Me: I KNOW BUT IT’S ROUGH DRAFT.

Him: You’re going to rewrite it, right?

Me: I didn’t ask your opinion about the sentence. I want to know about the PLOT.

Him: Is your whole book written like that?

Me: You know what? Nevermind.

Him: Do you need my help writing it?

Me: … I’m done here.

Heh.  So, first draft is badbadbad. But I never turn in a first draft! I go back through the book immediately after I finish it and begin to do a second draft of things I couldn’t squeeze in to the first draft. Things like uh, plot points I forgot, personality for characters, etc. Then once that’s done, I print the entire thing out and edit it again.

The book is due March 1. I am um….still not done with the rough draft. Normally the rough draft ends at about 80k, and after all clean ups, it ends at about 87k or so – a nice, sensible size for a book.

Book 3 (Which I am now calling THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT SUCCUBI because I am weird like that) is currently 85k. And I still have at least 10k to go. Which I really need to write this weekend.

So – deadline crunch for Jill! The good news is that if you’re waiting on book 3, it’s going to be meaty and chock full of story, and longer than the last two books.  The bad news is that my brilliant journal will probably be less brilliant for the next few weeks while I try to squeeze all the brilliancy into my book.

So…I hope I hit everything pressing! If you have something else you want me to answer, leave a comment and it’ll give me fodder for additional posts.