these last few days, and writing hasn’t played a huge part in all of it.

First and foremost, my baby girl turned eighteen on the weekend, so there was much partying to be done. We had separate parties for the family and her friends, simply because when twenty or so teenagers get together, they need to play the music LOUD, and that’s not a good thing for the older members of the clan. Of which Pete is now one. LOL (sorry Pete, but gotta get those digs in while I still can). Both were on the same day, so there was much food preparation to be done. Cheffing experience definitely came in handy once again–though we did go the pizza route with the teenage party–much easier (for me, especially ) It all went well, though I still find it hard to believe she’s actually eighteen. Lord, it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was bringing my little blonde bundle home from the hospital. Once she gets her license, we’ll probably never see her (except for meals and when she needs to wash some clothes. lol)

Writing wise–well, as I said, not much has been done. Destiny came back for a final lot of edits before it headed off to the copy editors, and I expect that back from the copy editors within the next couple of weeks. I also have to proof read the first-pass galleys for The Darkest Kiss. That’s due at the end of January, so I’ve got to get my butt moving on that one. I did manage to do some writing today, though, and once again the plot has deviated. Just a little. I was worried that it was getting a little slow, so I’ve added–or rather, I’m about to add–a chase scene. Then it’s back to the plot and a late night snack with Ben. And that’s all the spoilers you’re getting for now

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by the talented Lyn Taylor. I don’t often do these things, but hey, it beats writing / editing / copy editing right now (all of which I’ve spent the day alternating between.) So, without further ado, here’s six things you don’t know about me. Prepared to be bored…

1. I once had artistic leanings.  I loved sketching and drawing, and used to burn pictures into wood. I even sold a few at the Herald Sun Art Show here in Melbourne. Writing took over as the main love, though, and it’s probably just as well–I doubt I would have made a living as an artist.

2.  I can’t spell to save my life, and it’s gotten worse since I began writing using American spelling rather than Australian.

3. Don’t even talk to me about grammar….which is why I love my editor to death. She makes sense of the nonsense. (Though I have gotten better with every book)

4. I love horses, have owned about five or six of them over the years, and even at one stage bred a couple of Australian Riding Ponies.  I now go to my mate’s place if I need a horse fix–she breeds ponies, and is a Victorian Driving champion.

5. I’m one of the few people in this country who doesn’t play Tattslotto.  I prefer not to waste the money.

6. I’m extremely shy. Crowds terrify me, so if you see a pale, sweaty round person speaking in a strange accent at the next conference, that’s probably me. Wander up and talk to me–I’ll appreciate it, believe me!

So,  there you go. By the rules of the game, I’m now supposed to tag six other people and repost the rules, but I’m not into the game that much. But if Mel, Robyn, Rachel and Jenna want to join in, feel free

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the concert gods were not.

They’ve been predicting rain for two weeks now, and all we’ve seen is bright sunshiny skies. And they were predicting more rain for this weekend, so I had my fingers crossed that they’d be wrong again. Why? Because Saturday night was Bon Jovi concert night. The boys haven’t been back to Australia for five years, and I was looking forward to a rocking good concert (which it wasn’t, but more on that later). So, of course, what happened? The rain that hadn’t turned up for two entire weeks finally decided to make an appearance Friday night. And all day Saturday. It didn’t stop, and it was one of those good soaking rains. You know, the type that makes outdoor concerts absolutely miserable.

So it was a rugged up me complete with big plastic bags (because we weren’t allowed to bring seats and rugs into the concert, and I wasn’t sitting on wet grass) that trundled off to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl last night. And the weather gods kept up with that good soaking rain right until just before the support band started. Though I have no idea who the support act was, because we couldn’t hear the intro and the music was a muddy blur. Signs of things to come, I’m afraid, but at the time, we thought it was a case of the mixing being set up for the main act, and the support act sounding like crap because of it.  By the time Bon Jovi rocked onto stage, the rain had eased to the point where we could take our jackets off (and had to, because it was actually quite warm). So, Bon Jovi started rocking, and we were like, what the…? I don’t know  about you, but I like my rock music LOUD. You know,  the sort of loud that vibrates through your entire body. This was more like a muted whimper. And the mix was muddy–there was no other way to describe it.  It was better than the support act,  but many parts of the songs were still unclear and a lot of the time we weren’t sure what song was actually playing until the wind shifted or the crowd down the front started singing. From comments the band made, it’s obvious they had a noise restriction on them. The Australian Open was on in the next park across, and everyone knows those precious little tennis players need absolute silence to play the game (can you tell I can’t stand tennis?) Usually what happens with outdoor concerts is that you have big speaker stand scattered around the park area, so that the concert vibe reaches everyone. But that obviously would have carried the sound across to the tennis.  Can’t have that, by god, so bugger those of us who paid a fortune for concert tickets. The only speakers we had were the towers inside the bowl itself, so those of us on the grass (and that was the majority of the crowd) got crap sound.

Which sounds like I didn’t enjoy the concert, and I did. It just wasn’t a great concert, and it should have been. Bon Jovi are usually brilliant live–I’ve been to just about every concert they’ve had here in Melbourne, and rate them as one of the best live acts. It was just the stupid sound set-up that let them down, and I blame the promoters here. Why put a great rock band somewhere where the’re restricted sound wise, when there was a perfectly good stadium across the city not being used? They can’t tell me Bon Jovi wouldn’t have sold out Telstra Dome, when the tickets for the Bowl went in a matter of minutes. One thing is for sure–I won’t be going to the bowl to see any more rock concerts.

The one thing that did surprise me last night was the number of young people there–teenagers and twenty-somethings–who rocked to all the songs and probably weren’t even born when some of them were hits.  Radio stations here in Oz tend not to play Bon Jovi because they’re not ‘trendy’ enough, and yet there was just as many trendies there last night as us oldies.  Which just goes to prove the radio stations don’t know it all, and that good music will always drag out the crowds. (even on a wet and rainy night)

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of North and South (the BBC series with Richard Armitage). Now, don’t get me wrong–I was a fan of Richard Armitage well before this. He was, after all, the ONLY reason to watch the new Robin Hood series. (Why Marian would ever choose Robin over the luscious Guy in that series, I’ll never know). But I’d never really sat down to watch North and South, even though my fellow Lulus have been raving about it for ages. I guess it was the whole grittier feel that turned me off–I like my historicals pretty, just like Pride & Prejudice, Northhanger Abby, and Wives & Daughters. North and South can never be described as pretty, because there was nothing pretty about cotton milling back in those days.  Even Richard Armitage isn’t pretty when you first meet him–he’s beating a man up and its an ugly scene.  But man, does his character grow on you. The heroine good too, but its Richard that steals every scene he’s in (Although I do like the guy who plays the lead union guy–he’s a good character). But the best scene in the whole movie is the end scene, where the two of them meet on the train station. It’s one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever seen and just ties the whole thing up wonderfully.  If you haven’t seen North and South (and you like historical romances with a bit of an edge) then definitely try and get your hands on it. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Writing wise, I’ve crept up to 119 pages done. Progress has been a bit slower these past couple of days, but I’m still writing more than five pages a day, so that’s okay. And the plot is still being tweaked, although the changes are all minor so far. It’s just that as I’m writing the scenes, I’m realising that certain things won’t work. Or, as in the case of one scene, I realised I’d totally forgotten what had already been written, and therefore I couldn’t actually write that scene as planned, or it would have made no sense at all.  Like the scene I’m currently in the middle of–I have her hunting a zombie that I’d actually killed in the first chapter. Like, duh.   Luckily that was easy to get around.  Hopefully today I’ll roll over the 30,000 word mark, and be well on my way through to a third of the book done. If I can keep up this pace, I might finally reach a self-imposed deadline and finish this book by the end of Feb.

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Pete turned fifty last week, and we had a big party to celebrate on Saturday. We did try to get someone in to cater for it, but no one seemed interested in doing anything if the numbers were under 40 (mind you, we had 35 there, so we weren’t that far under. And I know the costs of catering–they would have still made money on 35. People are weird). Anyway, it meant that I had to do all the catering myself, and I was basically running around like a blue-arsed fly all day (and half the night.)  At one stage, I even had to climb into the white chef coat. It was the only way  to protect my arms from the heat when I was carving the meat from the spit–and I can tell you, it bought back all sorts of horrors. I remember now why I gave up the job–sore feet, aching back, heat. All those little things that make cheffing such fun. But the party went off well, the food was great (even if I have to say so myself) and everyone seemed to have had a good time.

But of course, by the time Sunday rolled around, I was buggered, so I really did nothing more than lay on the couch watching TV and waiting for my feet to stop aching. Which meant the plans to finish Quinn’s story didn’t eventuate that particular day–but I did get ten pages done on it today, and have actually finished the thing. Finally! And, as usual, the muse didn’t do what I thought it would do, and it actually gave Quinn a new power. One that fits in with his Aedh ancestry–and I can tell you, it’s pretty damn scary. I alluded  to it in Tempting Evil, but I really didn’t go into details then, and certainly didn’t mention it in following books. Though I did mention other Aedh gifts in Dangerous Games. But the muse had this little gem tucked away in some dark corner of my mind, and bought it out to play in the last ten pages. It certainly scared the shit out of Riley.    So why, if this story is set between book 3 and book 4,  doesn’t she remember it in later books? Well, remember this is Quinn we’re talking about, and he’s not above taking certain liberties. And that’s about all I can say without spoiling the story.

I’ll let it sit for a few days now, then go back and do a read through/edit. Then I’ll choof it off to Miriam to see what she thinks. Fingers crossed that she likes it (and finds no major problems) because that’ll mean one more thing I can cross off my to-do list.

I’ve now officially rolled over the 25000 words mark with Riley 7, which means I’m over a quarter of the way through the book. I’ve written over 35 pages in five days, and the muse seems to be having a jolly old time. I think its amused by the fact it no longer has to worry about where the scene is going, and what comes next; it just has to write.

Of course, that doesn’t mean changes haven’t happened. There was one scene in the plot that called for a fist fight between Kye and Riley, but when I came to it, it didn’t actually fit the situation. So, it became a sort-of hackles raised stand-off, with a threat or two thrown in towards the end. It works much better. I’ve just finished a dinner scene with Quinn and Riley, where we learn a little bit more about everyone’s favourite vampire, but that’ll probably be it for a couple of days. Pete turned fifty this week, so we’re having a big old party to celebrate (or commiserate   ) on Saturday. So, lots of running around and cooking to be done by me.

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The whole plotting exercise seems to be working so far. Now that the muse has some sense of direction, she seems to have quite happily settled down to write. I did ten pages yesterday, and eight today, and I really haven’t written that much for a long, long time. Of course, I’m not quite a quarter of the way through this book, so it’s a bit early to say that it has totally solved the problem. But for the moment, there’s less sitting here staring at the screen wondering what the heck is happening next, and a lot more fingers on keyboard actually writing. So all is good.

Of course, I still have to finish the Quinn short, so I’m going to have to concentrate on that soon. Maybe on the weekend, as a treat for the muse if she behaves. I really only have about ten pages to do, so it shouldn’t really be that hard. Then I can do a read through, and see if it all makes sense. If it does, I’ll send it to Miriam to see what she thinks. I really like the beginning of this one, because it’s a sort-of dream sequence, and really sensual. I’m just a little worried that the rest of the story doesn’t live up to the beginning, though there is a chunk of action in the last half. It wouldn’t be a real Riley (or in this case, Riley-based) story if it didn’t feature a down and dirty fight scene

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I did something I very rarely ever do yesterday. I sat down and plotted out a book. I fully expected the sky to fall down and the seas to dry up, because this is something that just never happens. Not for me, anyway.

But it just felt like Riley 7 was floundering. I wasn’t entirely sure how I wanted the story to proceed, and I figured that maybe this was the reason the muse was so flightly. I mean, I know what needs to happen in this book to set up the next one (book 7 and book 8 are very much connected.) I know who the bad guys are, I know who they murder and why. But it was just the detail bits I couldn’t get my head around. Getting Riley from one scene to another was hard, and rambling was becoming a real danger.

So, I decided to plot. Now, my version of plotting (on the very few occasions I actually have sat down to attempt a plot) tends to be a vague outline that’s rarely more than a page long. They’re bullets points with the occasional explanation. Not so this one. This was the full blown, five pages long (single spaced no less), scene by scene outline. I didn’t know I had it in me. I mean, I’m a pantzer tried and true, and I love it that way. I love the adventure of writing to uncover what happens next. Still, the muse feels better for having a direction, and I hope this now means the writing will proceed faster. Ideally, I’d love to get both this book and Mercy Kills finished and edited by my next hand in date of May, simply because that means I’m going to be one book up on my contracts. Maybe, just maybe, I can then devote some time to side projects–like the new series the muse got excited about the other day

In a most excellent start to the year, friend and fellow lulu Carolyn has landed herself an agent! This is brilliant news and most deserved, and we all have our fingers crossed that a quick sale follows. Of course, lulu celebrations will be happening

In other news, congrats go to Jenna Black, whose brilliant book The Devil Inside has been nominated for a Romantic Times reviewers choice award  in the urban fantasy section. Kelly Armstrong’s No Humans involved has also been nominated, so congrats to you both!

I also managed to pick up a nomination in the career achievement award in the urban fantasy section, along side Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, and Simon R Green. Talk about top shelf competition!

In writing news, I’ve sent back the anthology edits, and have managed to get a little writing done. The muse is fidgety again–we worked on both Mercy and Riley today, and just for good measure, it threw in some ideas for a new series I’m not planning to write for another year or so. I don’t need another series to worry about right now. (Now, if I can just convince the muse of that…)

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Riley 7 Progress Meter