Well, I didn’t make my November deadline, but I’m only 8 pages off it, so I’m not stressing about it too much. At one stage there, I thought I was going to be at least 30 pages off target, so in the end, I did well. Of course, this still means I have to write 200 pages of Bound by Shadows in December, and that’s a pretty fiercesome target given Christmas is stuck in the middle of it. If I can get anywhere close to target again, I’ll be happy.

Of course, I probably would have completed my allotted 200 pages if I hadn’t decided yesterday to paint. One end of the new house is weatherboard, and it’s the end that gets all the weather, so it was pretty bad paint wise. It’s also where I want to put a couple of large water tanks, and if I put the tanks in first, I won’t be able to reach the weatherboards to paint them. (we’re on stage 4 restrictions, which means we cannot water outside at all, and I have a really pretty garden I need to keep alive). I’ve been trying to paint that end of the house for weeks, but the weather has been pretty crappy–either too windy to get up on an extension ladder, too hot to paint, or too rainy.  Yesterday was almost perfect, so I got out my ladder, paint stripper, and away I went. It took me nearly all day to prepare the wood and then paint, but at least I got a coat done. Hopefully sometime this week I’ll get another one on, then I can finally think about get the tanks and a pump installed.

I’ve also taken to watching movies at night, mainly because there’s crap-all on TV at the moment. I watched 2 very different movies over the weekend,  one I’d been wanting to see for a while, and the other one I bought on a whim because it sounded interesting. The first was the X-Files: I want to believe. It was nice to see Mulder and Scully back on the big screen, and I loved that they finally moved the relationship to where us shippers believed it should be, but really, the plot line stunk. Which isn’t saying it was bad, because I did actually enjoy it. But it was more a stand alone episode, and after all this time, I really think they should have concentrated on the myth arc more. After all, that was what the x-files was all about, and the other movies–and the series–left so much unanswered. So, a reserved thumbs up.

The other movie was Gabriel. I’d never heard of it, never seen any advertising for it, but the blurb on the cover said it was an dark action drama about the battle between the Arcs (angels) and the Fallen (fallen angels/demons) for the souls in purgatory, and it sounded cool. It was also cheap, meaning I didn’t lose much money if it was crap.  Well, it wasn’t crap. It was a little strange–actually, it was a whole lot of strange, and reminded me a whole lot of The Crow in its feel–but it was still interesting. The special effects and action in the film were great, and so was the main character. I ended up enjoying this more than the X-Files, and coming from an x-files addict, that’s saying something. I’ve since discovered that Gabriel was Australian made, and basically made on a shoe string budget from the directors own pockets, because no one in this stupid country actually wants to support movies that are a little different or out there. You know, movies that people might actually want to watch. But I won’t get into that rant right now…  Basically, if you’re feeling bored and want to watch something a little different, it’s definitely worth picking this one up. And it you want to try before you buy (or rent) check out the website. It has lots of clips, pics and sounds to enjoy.

one of the questions authors get asked a lot is, where do you get your ideas from? In my case, it’s often from movies, something I’ve read in the paper, something I saw online, or–more often than not–from a dream. The start of Kissing Sin came from a dream, which gives you an idea just how weird my dreams can be. I have even been known to wake up with the words ‘don’t bite me’ on my lips. Luckily, my ex used to sleep like a log (wish he’d snored like one, too!), so I never actually woke anyone but me up.

Well, last night was another one of those dreaming nights. Several of them woke me up (scared shitless, as the saying goes) but the very last one–the one I had just before I actually had to get up for the day, gave me the most brilliant idea for a story. In fact, it’s now the base of Riley 9. You see, while I knew what dangly plot bits I had to tie up for Riley 9, I actually had no idea how I was going to achieve this. I’ve always known the overall arc for the series, but never really plotted each individual story. Obviously, the sub conscious has been working on it, and last night served up its ideas. And I love them. Whether they’ll actually work or not remains to be seen, but for now, I have half an outline written. If it wasn’t for the fact that I need to get some real writing done (otherwise I’m never going to meet the deadline for Riley 8), I’d be working on it now. 

In other neat news, Chris (friend and fellow lulu) snagged one of the Deadly Desire ARCs and started reading it. I got an email a day later saying I kept her up half the night and made her cry buckets. So, the emotion in DD obviously works!

And no, I can’t tell you what she was crying over. That’d spoil everything. heheheheheh (yes, I am evil)

There seems to some confusion surrounding Destiny Kills. Yes, it is the start of a new series, but no, that series does not have continuing characters (which is why Destiny and Trae’s story basically wraps up at the end of Destiny Kills, and why the character’s story arc seems complete, with no where else to go). Destiny and Trae do appear in Mercy Burns (book 2 of the Myth and Magic series), but only because Mercy is Trae’s sister. Their appearance is basically limited to a cameo at the end of the story.  Mercy Burns is the story of the trouble Mercy got into when she went missing, and it has nothing to do with the mad scientists Destiny and Trae had to deal with. Hope Shatters (book 3)  will pick up on the mad scientist theme again and deal with the threads left open in the 1st book–if it gets picked up. At the moment, there’s no guarantee that will happen.

I do have another new series coming that will feature continuing characters. That one is a spin off from the Riley series,  and will feature Risa, Dia’s little girl, as the main protagonist. It will also centre more around the vampire council and the spirit world than the Directorate and wolf world. My working title for the first book is Dark Angel, but of course, that was a great TV series, so my title probably won’t stay. Of course, you won’t see this series until I finish the final book for Riley, and that’s not being released until sometime in 2010.

Speaking of the Riley series, I just got several ARCs of Deadly Desire in and they look very pretty. I might even give one away on my website I also learned the Bound by Shadows– the 8th book in the series–is set for September 2009 release (as long as I get my butt into gear and finish it on time. LOL.)

Just dropping in quickly with a great bit of news–Destiny Kills made it to number 15 on the New York Times bestseller list! How cool is that?   Thanks muchly to all you folks who went out and bought it!

Okay, dragging myself back to the dreaded proofs and writing now…

you know, no one could ever accuse me of being a politically-minded person. Generally, politicians bore me, especially the Australian ones. And I’ve never particularly understood the American system, nor the campaigning that seems to go on forever. (two years? How can you stand it?). But I’ve been following the recent US elections with interest, firstly because I liked Hilary Clinton, and then because there was something about Barack Obama that made you believe he could achieve the impossible. Yesterday, he did just that. And his acceptence speech was a shining example of why this man romped home. He makes you believe him–makes you believe that things will be better–and in very many ways, he reminds me of another great president. JFK. Mind you, I also think McCain’s speech was both couragous and gracious, and I think if he’d run his campaign the way he made that final speech, things might have been a whole lot closer. But he didn’t, and it wasn’t, and I’d just like to add, congrats Barack Obama, and congrats America.

In other news, the writing is jogging along. It has to, because I need to get this book finished by the end of December and right now, I’m not even a third of the way through it. The plot hasn’t taken any major deviations yet, but then, it’s still early days.

Destiny Kills is out on store shelves, and I’m pleased to say its been getting great reviews. But there’s two questions I’m already getting asked–when is the next one coming out and does it pick up from where Destiny left off? The answers are, I don’t know, and no. Mercy Burns is finished, but it needs to be rewritten and probably won’t be handed in until the middle of next year. Which means it probably won’t be out until 2010. It’s a long wait between books, I’m afraid! And Mercy’s story is seperate from Trae’s and Destiny, but the threads left unanswered in Destiny Kills will hopefully get picked up in the third of the series (Fingers crossed that Bantam will want the third book).