I got my second copy editor’s revisions of Amaranth recently. I’m almost done, so I’ll soon be sending it back to Carady. At that point, I’ll be back to work on editing Verdant, so I can also get that sent in to Carady and Denise as well. Once that’s out of my hair, I can get back to work on Ash.

I haven’t had the chance to work on The Hunter Chronicles while I’ve been working on The Preterhumans. That in itself doesn’t sound too bad. What makes it worse is that I have idea percolating for another book series that definitely doesn’t fit either of those series: in other words, a third series, one that I may not be able to write under my own name. If I decide to write it, I’m thinking for Night Wishes as a series title. I’m still trying to talk myself out of it, though. Last thing I need is more to work on.

I need to sit down and do the copy editing test for Eternal Press. Yeah, more for myself to do. I excel at that.

I’m addicted to the game “Vampires” on MySpace. I really need to lay off it, but I’m having way too much fun with it.

And now back to work.

I need to make myself be better about doing these. I’m turning into such a slacker. And I had been doing so well!

Anyway, I’m back from Dragon*Con. I got to see Robert Englund speak, get a book signed by Sherrilyn Kenyon (who is the most awesome person who ever awesomed), and attend a few writers panels. I also got to sprain my ankle. That was the downside of the con.

However, since I’m semi-laid up, I guess I can start throwing myself back into editing. October is getting here fast. I need to have Verdant finished and sent to Carady by then, since that’s when my first month of challenge on Ash will really begin. I’m shooting for 95-100k on this one between October and November. Longer is better. But first, I need to finish the editing.

Also in October, I’ll be doing an application towards starting towards my second bachelor’s degree, this one in Classic Civilizations. Hopefully I’ll be able to start taking at least one class in January. It’ll either be Latin 1120 or Greek 1120. I’m still debating between the two there. At the moment, however, I’m leaning Latin. I have time to decide, though.

I suppose it’s time for me to start making dinner for D. Marie and myself. It will either be curry or something vaguely Greek. I would make pasta, but I’m feeling too tired and sore to make sauce… though I suppose I could always send D. up to the store to buy some. Am I that lazy? You bet.

This is a quick, on the fly update. This is mostly because I’m having entirely too much (feline) assistance in trying to type.

Cacöethes Publishing has a description up for Amaranth. There is also a release date: December 15, 2008. Eyes on the prize.

Many thanks to Danny for jerry-rigging the iBook G4 back into working for now. I’m doubt it’ll keep working forever, but it does seem to be working for now. I still want to start putting money back for a MacBook (not a Pro or Air) though. Just to be safe.

D. Marie and I are actually just coming back from seeing The Happening, the newest M. Night Shyamalan film. Personally, I’d give it about an 8 out of 10. Tomorrow, the two of us and our friend Christopher are going to go see The Incredible Hulk. Now that’s one we’re all really excited about.

I’m less than 200 words from being caught back from last weekend. This will be a relief. Maybe then I can have a few nights that end before 1 or 2 a.m.

And now to watch The Sixth Sense and maybe even Signs, before we both settle back in to write some.

I am a Nightwish fan.

Said that way, it sounds almost dirty. Nonetheless, I do adore the band and its music, and I would love to see them live someday.

I came into liking Nightwish during the End of an Era tour. In fact, I was only a fan a few weeks before Tarja left. That didn’t stop me buying all the albums and singles I could get my hands on. That also didn’t stop me from following the contest to get a new lead singer or from buying Dark Passion Play when it came out.

Here’s a revelation: I like Tarja and Annette. I might even like Annette a bit more because she is easier for me to understand (and my cats don’t go insane if she hits a note that frightens them). I don’t dislike Tarja, and I’m still taking the whole events of her leaving the band with a grain of salt. (It’s been said that there are three sides to the truth: your side, their side, and what really happened.)

However, in looking at Nightwish videos, images, and even lyrics, I have noticed a disturbing trend: Annette bashing from Tarja fans. I have even noticed that this trend only goes one way: Annette fans don’t return the bashing by saying things against Tarja. It is always the Tarja fans heaping the abuse on Annette (Tarja is prettier, Tarja dressed more sophisticated, Tarja did this, Tarja did that).

The psychology minor in me knows that this is their way of coping. The fan in me wants to yell that Tarja has left the band, she still has a solo career, and if they don’t like the new direction the band is going in, why don’t they quit listening to it… and stalking the message boards… and acting like little jerks every chance they get.

But that would be the grown-up thing to do.

And now my rant is over.

Currently feeling:// Tired
Currently hearing:// Meat Loaf – Left in the Dark
Currently reading:// Rogue by Rachel Vincent

So, since sometime Sunday evening, I have a headache. Yesterday was distinctly miserable thanks to it. Today it was no better, but I went in to work to get arrangements made for the candidates. I managed to get that done, but by 11:30 the headache was even worse, so I went home. Well, I stopped by the post office and picked up my long-awaited and eagerly anticipated birthday present from one of my best friends, Dirjanka, then I came home, had a quick lunch… and slept from 1 p.m. till nearly 6 p.m.

Oddly enough, I feel a bit better now. Maybe it was just the stress and the lack of sleep resulting from the stress after all. It would be nice if I could get my current doctor to give me the prescription drugs that my old doctor gave me a free sample of recently: Wellbutrin. It seemed to help me. I don’t take it often because I only 7 left, though.

Jumping back a subject, my birthday present from Dirjanka was a million kinds of awesome. I love getting candy, especially candy I can’t get here in the U.S.: Old Dutch Boterwafeltjes, Dubbel spekken, and Napoleon Lempur candies are my favorites. My father’s former fiancèe was from the Netherlands, and her father used to share his Boterwafeltjes with me. I could have lived on those things. I’m not any better now.

Dirjanka also offered me some proper bribery: one candy for every paragraph. I think I have enough stashed now to do that. Once I get to feeling a bit better, I might have to start on that. When I feel a bit less like I have either the flu or major exhaustion, I’ll start trying that.

I’m going to try to start recording a bit of “current meta” at the end of each post, starting on this one. It would just be like “currently feeling”, “currently hearing” or listening to, and “currently reading”. Honestly, as much as music inspires me, it couldn’t be a bad thing; for example, “Something to Talk about” by Bonnie Raitt plays in my head every time I write one of those scenes where someone thinks Lizzy and Murdock are a couple.

Anyway, later, my freaky darlings!

Currently Feeling:// Sick
Currently Hearing:// Spiderbait – Riders in the Sky, Bonnie Raitt – Something to Talk about
Currently Reading:// Neil Gaiman – Stardust

So, we went to see Iron Man yesterday — and I have to say that I actually like Movie!Tony better than Comic!Tony, especially better than Ultimates-verse Tony. Overall, I would even go so far as to say it was one of the best comic book movies in the last few years.

So, my roommate, muse, and reluctant commenter, D. Marie, now has her own blog: Ink to Page! Okay, I set it up and all, but the rest is all D. Marie. (Wow, look at all the differences in layout and colors!)

And that’s about it. I’ve been working on this post the better part of the morning — and it’s now afternoon. Therefore, it’s time to leave off.

Somehow 2008 has been a new sort of movie year for D. Marie and me. Until this year, I had never seen a single chick flick in the theater. Not a single one. In fact, until this year, I could count on my hands just how many chick flicks I had seen — and that is counting the so-called genre “romantic comedies”.

Suddenly, we’ve been to see three in the theater: 27 Dresses, Definitely Maybe, and yesterday, Made of Honor. Kevin McKidd (Lucius Vorenus of Rome) might have impacted my reasons for Made of Honor; I’m a dork like that. I will follow an actor’s movies, especially if they make an action or horror movie/series I enjoy. That’s why I’ve seen most of Keanu Reeves movies (I liked Speed), as well as Kiefer Sutherland’s (that one is thanks to Lost Boys, definitely not 24 — the more I hear about that, the more I want to scream).

However, this weekend, we’re tempering the chick flick with blowing things up: going to see Iron Man. Now granted, even in the original Marvel universe, I didn’t care for Tony Stark, but I have to admire the chuztpah of the casting director, getting Robert Downey, Jr (an alcoholic) to play Stark (also an alcoholic). Plus I heard a rumor of what was supposed to be playing after the credits.

Anyway, our movie is at 10 a.m., so I need to start getting ready now.

I have major kitty love. I’ve watched an episode of Bones and (glee!) Poltergeist: The Legacy. My day has improved. Just sometimes my job gets me a bit down.

Probably a lot of what sent me spiraling today was a PayPal screwup. I bought an eReader for myself. I marked it for PayPal to put it on my credit card. Instead they charged it to the main bank account I have listed with them. What happened? Yep, you guessed it. So, cue cursing, money transferring, and an unhappy (but polite) email to PayPal, which I sent this morning but still haven’t heard back from. So much for that “customer service will reply promptly” bit they have on their website, huh?

Anyway, right now I have my headphones plugged into my computer, listening to a nice mix of European Goth Rock (Edenbridge, Epica, Within Temptation, Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Kamelot, Xandria), with an affectionate kitty in my lap. This is not usually the kitty to be so affectionate. Usually she just claims a lap and bathes.

Anyway, sweet kitty and music. I would be singing along, but that usually gets me dirty looks, so I’m being quiet. I can do that sometimes. I’m ignoring writing, both Verdant and the fanfiction, at the moment and just taking a mental health evening.

But on another note… Dude! Someone just made a hit on this blog looking for Thomas Raith fanfiction. Rock on!

Also, they need to hurry up and release the rest of Poltergeist: The Legacy on DVD sooner rather than later. I would kill for better quality releases than the VHS episodes I recorded off Showtime way back when. The tapes are old, and the picture is fading. It’s still better than my VHS of Roar, but at least that’s come out on DVD now. I haven’t even seen the fourth season of Poltergeist: The Legacy; after the third season, Showtime sent it down the river to the SciFi channel, at the time where good shows went to die.

And that’s about it for me for tonight. I’m going to sit here and enjoy kitty affection, maybe read some fanfiction (I’m thinking Supernatural), and crash early. Ciao!

I have an icon over on my other journal that is a pretty accurate description of how I feel sometimes regarding my coworkers. The text reads “Careful, or you’ll end up in my novel”. I wonder if the people I work with on a day to day basis realize this. Just the little things that annoy me could be the things to get someone a bad name in literature, like:

• Only coming in my office when the Starbucks downstairs is closed
• Walking up to my desk and demanding (not asking or even attempting politeness) to see my records of something (Note, this wasn’t even my boss. This was just a random librarian)
• Complaining that the coffee I made for my boss isn’t to your taste
• Dumping out said coffee for boss and remaking the pot to your taste
• Only drinking one cup of paint thinner said coffee
• Giving me more work to do at 4:15, when I leave at 4:30
• Giving me more work to do at 11:15, when I go to lunch at 11:30
• Act like you’re too good to follow procedures

I had a problem with one person – not a coworker, but someone I knew from online and eventually met – where s/he completely annoyed the everliving crap out of me by cranking down the temperature in our hotel room to 68°, despite the fact the rest of the people in the roomeither were uncomfortable at that temperature (D. Marie, Godrod, and myself), were unable to stand said temperature due to metal pins in leg (Heavyarms), or didn’t want his/her temper and/or keep his/her friendship (the final person in the room). It wasn’t his/her apparently constant need for cold temperatures that got him/her in the book, though; it was said temper and attitude. I might work the other half into the story later.

One thing I love about my work is, B brings in candies. I grab a small handful in the mornings when I open up her office. Today they’re getting me through the day, mainly due to utter exhaustion, along with my usual one cup and one travel mug of coffee.

So, I did finally start that fan fiction that had been bothering me the last few weeks. I’m two very short chapters into it, and already it has more reviews than some of the stories I put on FanFiction.net quite a while ago. It’s number 30 out of 31 for hits, actually. For being out less than a week, that’s pretty good, I think. I’m also using it for some free advertising for Amaranth.

And that’s actually a lovely segue to a follow up on a post I made on 18 April, entitled “Tentative Green”: I now have a publishing contract through Cacoethes Publishing for Amaranth. I actually heard from Denise Mosley on Wednesday, April 23, and finalized the plan. On Thursday, I mailed all my information to the company. Friday, it arrived. Now I’m just waiting to see what sort of editing needs to be done. It should be out as an e-book in December and as a hard copy book in January.

So now, I’m working on Verdant and trying to plot out some ideas for Ash and Azure, the third and fourth books in the series. What’s bad is that I have ideas for Azure but not so many for Ash. I mean, I know basic plot elements and some of the major things that will occur, but I don’t know the case that they will be working on. Oh well, I’m sure something will come to me.

And now back to work, both on writing and on dealing with annoying coworkers. Ciao, my silent readers.

I’ve been squeeing all over the place about The Dresden Files lately. Well… I’m not done yet.

Over in LiveJournal land, someone posted an excerpt from The Dresden Files comic 01 on scans_daily.

I think I might be mildly in love with it.