I've managed about 2 pages today. I have been stuck. I have actually gone back and started at pg 1 reading. I'm just about caught up and hoping it will flow from there. I have no idea why Valerie suddenly decided to stop. I mean, she'd about to go on a date. She should be excited, right?
On a side note. My cat is definintly mine. She won't leave my coffee alone. Every night she's chasing it around my desk. She also waits until my cup is just about empty then she curls up on my lap and goes to sleep.I swear she does it all on purpose!
I'm only days away from having finally proof approved for A Witch! I'm excited and ready to have it out there. It's my first teen novel. I really do plan on writing Spencer's, but Valerie had me hooked. Too bad she couldn't keep her story to a teen level, but I just can't label a book with sex in it for teens.
But, just wanted to pop on and grouch about the low page number for the day.
I'm heading back off and hoping she's ready to go out.

Well, Valerie is still coming along. Not so great today, but it's still early tonight.
Yeah, Valerie is not a traditional teen novel. It might still make the 16 to 18 range (depending on parents), but not a teen to me. I've refined her, and man is she hot. She's a beautiful girl, but she'd one of those girls who is confident with her sexuality, knows how to flirt and tease. She's fun though. And still playing ping-pong. One minute she's laughing and having fun, then I turn around and she's arguing with her mom, or there is something emotional going on with her and her best friend. I swear, she is driving me crazy with it. I'd like to say that the emotional game will stop now that something important has been said, but something tells me something else will come up.
Anyway, just had to express that, to step away from Val for a second. She's ready to go back to her party, so I have to go too.

Valerie/Rina

Well, got home from a family camping weekend. It was nice, some of my in-laws camped with us and we celebrated my son's 5th birthday. I enjoy getting away,enjoying nature.
At night though, I was tapping away on the computer. Valerie's story is just coming along. She's great to work with, a little mood ping-pong, but she's a new vamp so it's aloud. Hers is not going to be a teen story, not in my opinion. I think of teen novels as mostly clean of sex and cussing. Valerie's story isn't heavy with either, but it does have some. It's turning out very different than I first thought. I like it, it's just not what I was expecting.
It's been a long time since a story has flowed this quickly. Even with as busy I've been this past week and weekend, an i'm already 70 computer pages. The last time this happened was with The Werewolf and the Rancher, which came out in just over 2 weeks. I have hopes for Valerie. I also hope she tells me what's going on.
Rina's story, A Witch, is getting it's final read through before being approved. I'm doing last edit check. And I have a teen girl read it for me. My niece is happily reading it. :) She's enjoying it so it has to be okay. It's good to get a teen's perspective on it, get her ideas.

Kat & Valerie

Well, Kat's daughter is loving me so far. We've been talking, fleshing out her personality and the world around her. I think she is going to be great. Her name is Valerie.
The problem that dawned on me a few minutes ago though is that her story is eighteen years after Kat's. Shouldn't have been a big deal, expect that I drastically changed that world about the time Valerie would have been ten. I'm working on how to express the changes in the world around her, for those few who actually read Kat's story. I think I'm getting it, little piece of info here, little piece there. So there isn't this huge spot of back information. Of course, this is Valerie's story, so most of the changes in Kat don't need to be in detail.
Glad to have a teenager working with me. I though there for a couple days that I couldn't get back to a teenage mindset.

I haven't even been able to work on Spencer's story the past few days. Just can't get my head into it.
However, I have been reading Kat's story, and the ones that go with Blood Natured. I'd intended to only read a few scenes and get back to writing. No go. I have read all four stories. I even read the small collection of scenes that happened ten years later. (Sometimes I just have to know what happens later)
All of a sudden, about an hour ago, my mind latched onto an idea. Okay, a character latched onto me. This girl is nothing more than a baby at the end of Kat's stories, a young girl in the later scenes. She said she's a teenager now and wants to tell me about what happens to her.
So, I'm talking to her for a bit. If we hit it off and the story flows, well, Spencer can wait. I want another teen novel. Spencer's would be logical, since it goes with the one about to come out. However, if he isn't working with me...
I like this girl. She's a little like Kat, yet so different. She's mainly like Kat in the sense of what she is, not who she is. I think she is going to be much more fun.
Ok. I'm going to try to do some work. Don't know how much I will since my bratty niece keeps IMing me. :)

Again the damn cover! I got a new copy of A Witch today, with the new cover and I cursed. The picture was so dark that I couldn't really see anything.
So, i adjusted the brightness of the picture by a lot and am resubmitting and ordering a new copy. No way am I going approve the book until I get a cover I like.
Breathe.
I have been doing a little work the past few days, but nothing worthwhile. I have been working on revising Blood Natured, my first book. However, I can not republish it for two more years. I learned an important lesson with that book. Always research the publishing company very well before signing a contract. Publish America accepted by book, but they set the price so high, I won't even buy it.
I do plan on republishing, just not yet. However, I've hit a stall in Spencer's story, and the other two stories I have going. I pulled up Kat's story, mainly to read, but have been tweaking it.
The thing with Spencer's story. Rina's story was written from 1st person (I, me, my). I've been doing Spencer's from a third person (he, his). I rather like this since it's easier when writing from a boy's perspective. However, I've stopped, wondering if I should be writing from 1st person. I could do it, it wouldn't be hard really. I just don't know which way and it's stopped me in my tracks.

Cover Image

I have changed the cover of A Witch. I did like the last picture, a girl standing in front of graveyard gates, all spooky with fog and full moon. It was clearly a computer created image. My husband liked it okay, but he suggested us making our own picture. :) We have gone to older graveyards taking pictures. I have fixed up the one I like best. It is me in the picture, though you can't tell. And just to make sure we get it right, we're going to another graveyard in a few days to take more pictures since it is a larger one and we might find something better. I kind of doubt it. I am really liking the one I have on the cover presently. It had to be lightened, but I think it will still be darker on the cover.

This is just the picture on the cover. I like it. What do you think?

Isis

We named my kitten.
I have gone through names for days, finding ones I like, ones that fit her. Everyday I ask my husband what he thought and after several minutes, I was back to searching, with only one or two names on the board. I really wanted to stay away from classic names, especially class witchy names. Today I found several I liked and once again asked what he thought. I had only one classic name one the board, just because It sounded nice when I looked at her. It came down to Inka and Isis, because both seemed to suit her. My husband, who does not like cats and had little interest in my religious beliefs, looks at me and says, "She looks like an Isis."
Which fits her nicely, and fits with me. Isis is not just a common name, but the Supreme Egyptian Goddess, the goddess of nature and magic.
So, I have Isis. My little bit of magic.