Monthly Archives: April 2012

Busy, Busy, BUSY!

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Yes, this is one of those this-is-what-I’m-doing-lately-and-I’m-going-to-pretend-you-care posts.  I have a blog and I’m entitled to do this from time to time.

So I have been working as an editor, full-time, for a publishing company here in town (no, I’m not going to tell you which one) and although I love my job–I mean, come on! You give the writer a full-time gig with benefits and she’s going to be very happy–I find that I’m having to rearrange the time I use to write. I have to rethink my time management skills.

That being said, I’m reading a great book, Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century’s Biggest Bestsellers by James W. Hall, and I’m learning a ton! So much, in fact, that I’m holding off on pimping WAKE OF DARKNESS to publishers and I’m reconstructing parts of it, based upon the advice given by Hall.

Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century's Biggest Bestsellers It’s already an invaluable resource and I’m just into the first few chapters. Basically, this is me–as a writer–recommending it to you–you know, as a writer. It’s an easy read and is quite entertaining, actually.

So anyways, I’m working on WAKE based on the advice I’m gleaning from this book, and because WAKE is about vampire hunters (and agents are getting tired of the genre even though this one is TOTALLY different), I think I’m just going to publish it as an eBook, which is great thing for you readers, since I will certainly be running it on a free weekend sometime once it’s out.

TRANSMISSIONS FROM DATING LAND is still going strong and has done well so far, despite its limited audience–because really, not everyone is looking for a satirical date book.

Other projects in the works: I’m editing PRINCES, a great novella by my bf, otherwise known as MW2. We’re going to publish it as an eBook sometime soon.

Be sure to check out my tumblr account: http://brainybabe.tumblr.com/ which is just more of my silliness. I tend to jump on there during a lunch break or when I have just a couple of minutes to post something silly or quick. It’s fun.

I’m also thinking of constructing an anthology of short stories which will include some flash fiction from myself, perhaps a short story or two from MW2, and then an open call for some unpublished little ditties from some of my writer friends. That one would likely be a free eBook, with the intent to get the word out on some great writers out there who would otherwise not have a voice.

I’m also playing around with a new story, tentatively entitled SAIL. It’s a dieselpunk story with some interesting magical/superhero-type characters. I’m having fun twirling the characters around in my head and figuring out their back stories.

So in addition to all that, I’m apartment shopping and doing the working single mom thing; loving my bf more every day (yes, that was uber-mushy, get over it), enjoying life, and looking for the next awesome thing that will be coming along soon, whether it’s a new writing project, a project house, a fun trip, or whatever!

More Character Development

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Here’s another little scene with Jesse. He and Angel will apparently be hanging out together – they’re both slightly dark characters, but I think they’re going to be my favorites in SAIL (title subject to change).

Jesse’s reflection stared back at him through the tobacco colored grime. He pulled the hammer back on the revolver and aimed it at the duplication of his face.  The eyes that stared back at him were flat; without emotion.

Angel sat at the table nearby, polishing something as she watched him with little more than passive interest. Her eyes shifted to me and then flashed back to Jesse half a second after he pulled the trigger. The hammer hit against the empty chamber as a hint of a smirk played at the reflection.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

Angel looked back at the piece of brass in her hand.  She held it up to the light, where it caught the sun.  She glanced between me and Jesse, who stood a few feet away.

His eyes met mine in the mirror before he pulled the trigger at his reflection again.  Again, the hammer hit the empty chamber with a click.  He didn’t flinch.

“Seriously, man, what are you doing?” I asked again.

“If you can shoot yourself,” he said, rolling through another empty chamber, “you can shoot anyone.”  He pulled the trigger again, hitting the fourth empty chamber.  Still, he didn’t flinch.

I exchanged a look with Angel and then looked at Jesse again.

“If you can’t shoot yourself,” he continued, pulling the hammer back again, ready to pull the trigger of the six-shooter for the fifth time, “then…”

The hammer pulled back and made purchase with the one loaded round, firing the revolver.  The spark of gunpowder was quickly followed by the recoil of the gun – of course I was probably the only one to see it.  The bullet left the barrel at the exact moment that Angel dropped what she was holding in her hand.  The piece of brass hit the table and was on its ricochet off the tabletop when Jesse’s bullet shattered the glass, sending shards, large and small, hurtling through the air.

He didn’t flinch as the shards rained down around him.

Standing tall and straight as an oak, he said: “Then, you have no business pointing one of these at anyone else.”