Come on, now!

Yesterday was nearly pain-free as far as my constant headaches go. What was the stress-relieving combo (other than Ibuprophren), you might ask? I played a game called Da Blob on Wii and watched the Friday the 13th reboot from last year. Da Blob is a game where the world is colorless and you play a blob of paint that turns everything red, blue, or whatever by rolling around on everything. Sounds stupid? Well, it's actually very relaxing. The music is nice and it does my right brain some good to slap different hues on an otherwise drab world. Heh. Then there was Friday the 13th. I hadn't seen this when it came out and finally got around to watching the DVD. It was an awesome combo of hot girls being naked in a summer camp and a huge psycho chopping up said girls. We all know the story. Jason hacks up the guys too. Oddly enough, this was therapeutic as well. Laughter truly is the best medicine.

And then I went to bed. Apparently, my brain wants to escape from my skull because it's doing its best to crack it open. Ever have one of those dreams where you're back in school and you miss a class or test or something? I've had them where I go through an entire school year and remember I've spaced off going to a class all semester. Pretty common stuff dream-wise. Well, the relief comes when I wake up and realize I'm not in school anymore. Whew. Well, my brain got one ahead of me last night and gave me a dream where I had a bill for a little line of credit I don't normally think about too much, but haven't paid for the better part of a year. I've still got bills! I've got lines of credit!! Shit!!!! Is this real? Did I really forget about a bill for that long? It's possible. Things have been crazy around here lately. And because it's my brain doing the meddling, there are little doubts inserted into my thoughts regarding this fictional(??) line of credit. Come to think of it, I don't exactly remember paying ANY bills this month! Now, along with my splitting headache, I've got a nervous stomach going.

Thanks, brain. Love you too.

Oy

Finally done with the first draft of Skinners #6! Whew!!!! Now I can take a few days off and collect myself before editing. There's a lot going on in this one, which I can't really talk about since Book 5 isn't even out yet. Oh well. Take my word for it. It's cool.

Looking forward to watching some movies over the weekend. Probably just some mindless special effects festivals like Prince of Persia or The A-Team. A-Team looks perfect for me right now. Lots of stuff blowin' up and things gettin' shot. Sign me up for that.

Christmas is almost here. To be honest, I'm looking forward to when it's all over. Just fast forward me to January 10th or so, let me know if anything cool happened in those previous weeks and get on with 2011. Remember those other prospects I mentioned earlier? Still nothing about them, which isn't a huge surprise. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but no news is better than bad news, so I'll take it. Not that I wouldn't mind some good news right about now. Don't want to jinx anything.

Speaking of good news, Skinners made the Barnes & Noble list of Best Paranormal Fantasy releases for 2010!! Here's the link: http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Explorations-The-BN-SciFi-and/The-Best-Paranormal-Fantasy-Releases-of-2010/ba-p/760466. YAY!!!!! Thanks B&N!!!

I'm off to plop in front of the TV for...ohh...about two or three days. Later.

Fa la la la....aw forget it

Should be wrapping up draft 1 of Skinners 6 today. This one's been a long haul, mostly because of rescheduling conflicts, the holidays, and various other wrenches tossed into the works. As far as first drafts go, I'm pretty happy with this one. There is a TON of editing to do, lots of which is hacking and slashing. The good part of that is that I'm just holding off on those plot lines so I can insert those pages directly into another book. The bad part is that I'll be working my butt off throughout Christmas and the New Year.

New Year has never been a big deal to me. I've always got goals/resolutions in mind and have submissions or proposals in the works to see them through. I'm not a huge drinker and am firmly of the belief that if you want to party and get trashed so badly, you shouldn't need a sanctioned excuse from Hallmark or the calendar to do so. My tradition has always been to stay home, cook up a bunch of snacks/appetizers, watch movies and have a toast at midnight. To all of you party people out there, have fun!

Still pumped about Tron Legacy. I'll be seeing this one in a theater and will actually be my second mainstream 3D movie in modern days. By that I mean it wasn't at an amusement park and the glasses won't be the red & blue numbers. Remember when they showed classic 3D movies on TV and you had to go to a 7-11 to get glasses? I saw Creature from the Black Lagoon on our Creature Feature that way. Also saw a bunch of the old goodies at a theater on retro night, but Tron in 2D should blow those away.

Head Asplodin'

Yesterday was pretty much filled with blizzard-force winds from 4AM - 3AM today. Right now, there's an eerie calm. It's quiet....TOO QUIET! Heh. Three degrees and snowy, but hey. It's December so what should I expect? Wrapping up the first draft of Skinners #6. It's shaping up, but there's a LOT to do in editing. Already talked about that and it comes up yet again. Welcome to MY WORLD!!

Still trying to get some business stuff done before the holidays. Technically, the holidays are already upon us, but there are still a few folks in their offices pretending to work, so I need to try and enjoy that while it lasts. Got a few more irons in the fire as far as some promising possibilities and I will let you know if anything pans out. Could be some new series or projects other than Skinners. I love Cole & Paige and don't plan on abandoning them, but a change would be nice for a while. Also, taking a small breather would allow some of the new Skinners stuff I've been coming up with to gestate into plot lines for other books. The more I write/edit #6, the more I want to do for #7 and beyond.

As far as those other projects go, I've always had interests in multiple genres. I got my start in westerns and have ideas for fantasy, science fiction and mystery. Of course, I've got other ideas for horror and urban fantasy, but that goes without saying. It's exciting to think of planting my flag in another section of the bookstores. Even for someone who's already published, the publishing industry works how it works without bothering to inform anyone like the writers (unless you're a massively popular writer who can write their own ticket, aka "not me"). So we just have to sit around for months (or years) and wait to see if we'll have a source of income next year. Ugh.

In possibly related news, I've been having these headaches for oh....about two or three weeks now. They're in my neck as well as specific spots in my skull that feel like a little knife is lodged there and occasionally twisted. Could be stress. Could be a tumor. Does thinking about a tumor give me stress? Can too much stress give me a tumor? Uh oh...I think something just popped.

The Log Jam at the End of the Ride

It's been a while since my last post. Sorry about that. Mainly this is because I've been tying up the first draft of Skinners #6. It should be finished this week, just in time for me to be editing through the holidays. Yippee. The good news is that I know where I'm headed and am getting there fairly nicely. The bad news is that this is only because I've been slaving over the keyboard trying to get everything just right for several weeks.

I had to come to a painful realization that I just can't address EVERYthing I want to in every book. My whole purpose has been to make Skinners something that broadens in scope with every book. Naturally, one side effect of this is that the scope is pretty freaking broad by half a dozen books. That's fine. I can just set some stuff aside and get to it later. After all, not every character will be doing something in every book. That just leaves me with a bunch of stuff I thought I would address when I started writing this one that now needs to be taken out and smoothed over during editing. Yes, loyal blog readers. It's almost time for the "bitching about editing" section of the process. Heh.

In distraction news, I picked up Disney's Epic Mickey for the Wii and it is very cool! I'm also 97% sure I'll be heading out to theaters to see Tron Legacy in 3D (maybe even 3D IMAX!). Nerd-gasm alert.