I have returned!!!

It's been a while since I've posted anything here, but this time I have a good excuse. My internet access was offline for a while. That's it, but it's a good enough reason to keep me out of touch here. Fear not, however. The lights on my router are blinking once again. I have email to sort through and I will quickly resume my aimless babbling on this blog. Thanks for sticking with me!!

Fitting things together

Starting in on the next draft of Skinners. As with any round of editing, I'm stricken by the occasional "What the hell was I thinking with THAT?" sentence as well as a few "I wrote that? That's actually good!" ones. Won't bore you with the details, but it's coming along nicely. With this schedule, it's strange to hear people talking about Howling Legion because I'm two books ahead of it. In my mind, I'm already starting Book 5! Ugh!

In totally unrelated news, I put a new TV stand together tonight. It's one of those stylish black steel and glass shelf numbers that's a lot heavier than it looks. I only say that because I had to wedge it into the back of my car and thought I'd have to leave it there for a few days until I found some younger helpers to carry it up to where it needed to go. I'm not really old, but my back and knees aren't really young. Rebelling against that, I got it out of my car with little effort. "I can drag it to the front door," I thought. So I did. "I can use these packing strips to carry it up some stairs." So I did (this was the part where I tweaked my back). Once I got it to where it needed to go, I put it together.

The box said is was made to be assembled and disassembled easily. Good thing, because I needed to disassemble it after I screwed one of the shelf racks on upside down and then assemble it again. Easy? Maybe not. There's always the possibility I'm just impaired. Ok, that's a STRONG possibility. Anyway, the shelf is up and looking good. Hopefully it stays together when I put the TV on it.

That's how we laugh the day away in the merry ol Omaha!

Made a few little adjustments to the blog. You may have noticed the new picture across the top title. That's been a long time coming. Also, I put some song quotes along with the books they go with on the side. When I first put this blog together, I thought of putting a play list of songs up since there are a few songs I listen to a LOT while writing the books. Then I saw how many other sites do this same thing and decided not to bother. I'm such a rebel. Some of these lyrics are just too perfect, though, so I put them here. It's some cool decoration, anyway.

Today was Tax Day for me. Since we get all of our stuff by now, I don't see any reason to put it off. Thanks to the myriad of financial forms, mumbo jumbo and black magic that go along with figuring income and deductions for the self-employed, we have to get ours done at H&R Block. It comes out much better in the long run and it's worth it to me to sit and watch an accountant sift through all of that crap than having to do it myself. Still awaiting the final verdict, but things aren't looking too bad.

Starting in on the next draft of Skinners 4. This will be the last one I do before sending it to my editor. I'm really happy with this one and excited to get into #5. Books 4-6 will be coming out at a pretty good pace. So far, the release schedule is: Book 3: Teeth of Beasts releasing on April 27th, Book 4: Vampire Uprising releasing on Oct. 26th, and Book 5: Werewolf Boogaloo releasing on April 26th of 2011. I may have to re-think the title for #5, but the release date is accurate.

Excuses...

Ok, I've been slacking on the ol' blog lately. Sorry about that. The good news is that it's mainly because I've been hard at work polishing the manuscript for Skinners 4: Vampire Uprising. Did I mention that was the title yet? If not, it's a little bonus treat. If so, my memory sometimes fails me. We've covered that before. Or have we?

Only a few more months until Skinners 3 hits the shelves (April 27th). Then 4 will be out in October. I like this release schedule because the books are really starting to flow continuity-wise. I'm able to leave a few tantalizing cliff-hanger-type things from book to book without there being too much space in between them. Things are looking good in Skinnerville. Maybe that should be a new Facebook game? You could feed your little werewolves and build up enough Full Bloods to lead a charge into the Webkinz universe. THAT would be cool. Although, I am a little sad that I know what Webkinz are.

In other news, the Paige tattoo on my leg is coming along as well. She's all but done and looking fine! Shimmy's is in the background and all that's left is for the bright neon in the tacky strip club sign to be lit. I'll post some pics when it's completed next month.

I've figured out my new Droid phone to the point that it's become permanently grafted to my hand. Of course, that means I need to charge the battery every hour or two but that's the price I pay for being able to wave it around as it makes cool lightsaber sounds and plays Duel of the Fates. AWESOME!!!

That's about it from here. How are you?

Sometimes a leaky memory is FUN

Hey, remember that movie Zombieland?? The one with Woody Harrelson and all those zombies? Of course you do, but I forgot about it. I wanted to see it before and didn't get around to it, so I was pumped for the DVD. Forgot about that too until I saw it on the shelves yesterday. It's like a brand new movie with no wait times! WEEEEE!!!

I've only recently read the Planet Hulk graphic novel and it's awesome! Remember hearing they were going to make that into a straight-to-DVD animated movie? Neither do I and I try to keep up on that stuff. So far I've been pleasantly surprised with the Marvel and DC animated offerings so seeing this one was very cool.

Remember Bioshock? YES! Only one of the best shooters in a long time. Of course there's a sequel, but I didn't realize it was set to release next week!! And I keep up on that stuff!! Obviously work's been crazy so my "keeping up on stuff" has fallen by the wayside. Then again, it makes for some giddy trips to Best Buy as I'm surprised by everything I probably had marked on a calendar somewhere.

Next step...forgetting what's in the blue plastic bag in my hands when I get back to the house from Best Buy. What's this? Awww, Santa! You're the BEST.