Sunday, December 31, 2006

Chad Vader #5 is up!

Those guys are so funny over at Blame Society Productions.


Friday, December 29, 2006

My new query

I fixed my query letter! I also picked three agents to send partials to (these three automatically desire partials with queries) and prepared separate queries for them.

Now to ship them out tomorrow.


For those of you who might be interested, here is my new, improved query letter. I renamed the file to become this one. Never destroy an original! You never know when you might need it again!

---

Attn. XXXX:
Annabelle loves life. Her brother, Roland, loves adventure. What happens when you take two happy, optimistic children, and turn them into vampires? An evil vampire destroys their family and leaves the children to die. His estranged, gentle wife rescues the children the only way she knows how, by making them into what she is and teaching them how to become children of the night instead of night monsters. The children discover how to turn into bats and learn to control their cravings while facing a ruthless vampire hunter, witches, werewolves and finally the evil master vampire that killed their parents.

ANNABELLE & ROLAND, THE NIGHT CHILDREN is an 89,000-word young adult fantasy novel. It begins the ongoing adventures of these two children as they are thrust into the strange, hidden world of vampires, werewolves and other mysteries in the last years of the 1600’s. This book covers their first seven years of discovery as they learn to be vampires. It is a self-contained story that has the potential for more adventures afterward.

For eight years, I have honed my skills by writing various short stories for some of my friends and close associates. While this is my first try at professional writing, I feel extremely confident about this novel.

Thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Sleepy

Man I'm tired. I dragged myself out of bed this morn, did all my pre-work stuff (shower, walk dogs, etc) and drove to the van stop. It was all I could do to stay awake.
At work it was hard to get through without nodding off.

Maybe it was those stupid cats, fighting all night? We so need to fix energetic, crazy Monster so he wont pic fights with tired, lazy Rascal.

Christmas '06 Pic is UPDATED!

Christmas '06 Pic from my Caption the Pic site has been updated with captions.

Page 28 of my Caption site


WATCH THIS SPACE! Tonight I'll be putting up a new caption on the regular sites.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Updated Query

Well, I've taken the wonderful advice to heart and altered the query. I've also fixed the hook and removed the mention of 13 books in the series.

I've got it up on Absolute Write for review. I'm going to send three queries out this weekend with the new query/hook. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

I'm on the crapometer!

Well, it’s on there and it made it ok. I mean, she didn’t say "It sucks!" or anything.

Here it is…



HH Com 490


Vampire children, excited to learn what they can do, while at the same time scared at the new world of danger all around them.
Annabelle loves life. Her brother, Roland, loves adventure. What happens when you take two happy, optimistic children, and turn them into vampires? This question is answered in this 89,000-word young adult fantasy novel when an evil vampire destroys their family and his gentle wife rescues the children the only way she knows how, by making them into what she is and teaching them how to become children of the night instead of night monsters.

ANNABELLE & ROLAND, THE NIGHT CHILDREN, begins the ongoing adventures of these two children as they are thrust into the strange, hidden world of vampires, werewolves and other mysteries in the last years of the 1600’s. This first book covers their first seven years of discovery as they learn to be vampires.
The children discover how to turn into bats and learn to control their cravings while facing a ruthless vampire hunter, witches, werewolves and finally the evil master vampire that killed their parents. This is book one of a thirteen book series. The following twelve books will chronicle their many adventures, covering three hundred years of world history from the perspective of these vampire children.

And her comments…



Ditch everything in red (green for my blog).
Focus on ONE book. You'll make my blood run cold to hear it's a 12 book series this early in the game.

Tell us this story. Use the Hook Me Up starting point for your mis en place.



Hmm. Not bad. I was afraid of far worse. I could easily ditch the stuff in red, but then there would be no word count, no title, how would potential agents know that info? I heard you have to include it in the query.

Also, I heard that you should let the agent know up front that it’s a series. Should I keep mum about that until later? I could. That’s no big deal.



What did she mean by "Use the Hook Me Up starting point for your mis en place"?



Thoughts guys?

Post Christmas

I had a good Christmas. The kids got us up around 6 am. Everyone was happy about their presents. There were a few things that didn't fit but it all worked itself out.
All in all we rested a lot and had a good time.

I'm sick today. My stomach has been threatening me all day. I'll just keep plugging along. Work can't stop for sickness. I wish it could, but it cant.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Christmas Eve night

It's so peaceful. A part of me wants to stand out in the cold, feeling the spirit of the season as the snow sparkles, the stars twinkle and a quiet feeling of love and peace fills the air.

My sweeties are in bed. Some truly are asleep, others are trying hard. ;)
Neen and I are roughly half way done with preparations for tomorrow's Christmas dinner and stuff.

I love this part of life. I love this whole thing. I hope when the kids are moved away, before the grandchildren are born, that this spirit will continue to fill me.
I'm pretty sure I will. ;)

Mysterious lurkers, friends and whomever else, may you have the best in holidays.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

The Greatest Action Story Ever Told, Mad TV

I remember seeing this back when it first aired. I couldn't help but laugh. The last line is the best.


What a send off! Doctor Who Spoilers

WOW!

Very good send off for Rose!
My friends, Ian and Willard, did such a great job keeping it secret. When Mickey stayed in that alternate universe and there was a Rose dad who had lost his Jackie, it was a perfect set up, but my friends told me that was it for Mickey. Or they led me to believe that was it.

It was a perfect full circle. They set up Jackie's loneliness and her love for her husband since the very beginning and resolved it as she says "What have I done for my life." Now she and her lost husband are together.

I liked Rose but to be honest, there have been times when I wanted to shout at the screen "Look at Micky! He's trying! You're so head over heals on the Doctor you can't see that you're ignoring where you need to be!" She didn't have Lana-winer-itis but she was central minded. She needed the heart break. Only through heart break can we move onto the next, greater part of our life.

That black actress who became the first Cybermen victim did a nice enough job to empress the creators to sign her on as the new companion. Should be interesting to see how that works out. I know the runaway bride at the end wasn't the new companion. Ian and Kirk gave that away. That's OK though.

I loved how the Doctor imitated Bill Murray in Ghost Busters. He even got the voice slur that Murray does as Doctor Peter Vicman (I know, the spelling is off and I could go to IMDB and fix it, but I'm short on time right now).

I realized fairly early that the ghosts were coming from an alternate universe. I've seen too many alternate universe stories (and I love them all) to not pass up the signs. Once I realized that and the Doctor started to talk in ways that tipped it off, I started thinking of how stiff the "ghosts" were and then it was just another step to realize they were Cybermen and that Micky was coming back. I took Willard's advice and stayed far away from Sci Fi Channel because they were giving it all away in their previews. I managed to stay spoiler free! When the Doctor was describing the sphere I was certain it was the Beast/Satan/Devil inside. The Dylacs took me by surprise. I HAD to call back Willard and share my excitement.
It was fun watching the robots argue and insult each other. I LOVED IT! And then they tossed their catch phrases at each other. "Exterminate!" "Delete!" It made me wish Star Wars Episode 1 droids and Star Trek Borg were there to add "Roger, Roger" "You will be assimilated" to the chorus of robotic villains.

Ahhh. A fine meal. That's what that two-parter was. My only regret is that I have to wait till next year to see the season (3) that is just beginning in good ol' Londontown.

Friday, December 22, 2006

I wrote a New Parodyverse Story!

Christmas Special ‘06

Come check out the adventures of the Son of Santa!

Excited

Wow, here I sit at the beginning of Friday afternoon.

Tonight we're going to see a movie and that's always fun. This one is Night at the Museum. I've been waiting to see that one. It's looks filled with all the things I like in a movie; comedy and special effects! And as if that wasn't good enough, the premier for Fantastic Four II airs before the movie!

Then tomorrow will be a nice Saturday where well catch up on cleaning, baking and wrapping (and if I'm lucky, buying Marvel Legends!).

Then we have Christmas Eve, where we'll go light looking and family stuff, and finish Christmas dinner preparations.

THEN CHRISTMAS! I don't think I need to say more about that!

Then another day off with nothing to do except maybe write. ;)

So I'm VERY excited right now!

First pic of ther Silver Surfer!

Click me!

I can't wait!

And we're going to Night at the Museum tonight so I'll get to see the preview!

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Full

Whew. I'm tired today. We had a pot luck lunch at work today and I ate too much.
Now that the work shift is done I'm ready for a nap!

Title to the next Harry Potter book

Well now we know.

It's called...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I guess this is the beginning of the end for the Potterverse. Of course no one knows what the title means, but we do know that we're on the home stretch now. Soon she'll be done writing it and I'll read it and then no more new Potter.

So in some ways the news has me excited an in other ways it has me sad.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Joseph Barbera, Rest in Peace

Cartoon legend Barbera dies at 95


As a child, Hanna & Barbera were my favorite cartoons. I watched as many as I could. The best was Laugh A Lympics, at least in my opinion.

I wanted to grow up and work for them. I had these characters and I would always play my own cartoons.

Nowadays there is a channel on the Satellite. It's a spin off of Cartoon Network. It's called Boomerang and every Saturday and Sunday morning they play tons of those classic H&B cartoons. It's the only that my Davie wants to watch at that time of day.

You will be missed.

Another submission

Well, I just submitted to another agency. I'll keep at it till someone represents me. There are plenty of fish in the sea!

Oh, and 6 more days till Christmas!

Monday, December 18, 2006

Positives and negatives

Well, the negative is that I received another rejection. This time from Shadow Mountain. That's a small imprint of the local Deseret Book. It's not bad in and of itself, because I really did not want to go with that small publisher, but this means another rejection.

Doesn't ANYONE want this book?

The positive is that I got some action figures in the mail. I'm excited to see them, but it's kind of tarnished because of the continual rejections.

1 week!

1 week before Christmas!

YAAAYY!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Little better

Sorry for my depressed attitude earlier, oh faceless lurkers. See? Sometimes I can get down too.

I don't know what the future will bring. I long for someone to give me a chance. Who knows.

But this is Christmas week and there is a lot I'm looking forward to so I'm swinging back to being happy and excited.

Kinda depressed

On the blog belonging to Lit Agent Jenny Rappaport, a question was raised...



Dear Jenny,

What is more marketable these days for fantasy and science fiction - series or trilogies?

Kimberley in Alaska

"Personally, I think trilogies are more marketable in general, but only because I can do the following. Say you've written me a great book about elves. I love your book. The editor I send it to loves your book. The publishing house wants to buy your book. Everything looks rosy! Then the editor we're doing the deal with calls me up one day and says, "Jenny, we love Kim's book. Does she have more? I'm thinking we'll make it a three-book deal." At which point, I call Kim, we have a little chat about making that book about elves into a trilogy, and voila, she whips up some material for me to e-mail off to the editor. The editor loves it, the publishing house loves it, and there we go, a contract for three books. (This is an idealized picture, by the way.)

The reasons why three is often the magic number in terms of series' are many and varied. From the pure publishing perspective, NO ONE is going to offer a new author a book deal for anything more than three books. It may occasionally happen, but it's really a statistical anomaly. You're an unknown quantity, even if your book is great, and when they make you an offer, they have to put their money where their mouth is. Simply put, more than three books is too great a financial risk to take. Many new authors don't get three-book deals on their first go; most will probably be given a two-book deal, if the agent is persuasive enough, and they love your writing enough. Some will only be given a one-book deal (with an option clause, of course).

This is something that you should be aware of, if you've planned out the next Harry Potter or GRRM saga. Structurally, it's better to make your masterpiece into a trilogy or a duology, since you're not going to get the book contract for more than that. Also, be aware of the fact that if you have an eight book series planned, and your first two books sell badly, they're not going to give you a publishing contract for the next six books. I have an online writing friend whose first two books sold decently, but didn't have spectacular sales numbers behind them. Her editor decided not to pick up her option book, which is the last one in her trilogy, based on the sales numbers. So it's not going to get published--at least not for the forseeable future. That sucks, and really, you'd like to avoid that happening. And trust me, it happens all the time."




Ouch. I've got a thirteen book series in my head and I just queried her. I responded with this...



Thank you for this information Jenny.

It’s kind of scary for me because my over all story arch is a thirteen book saga.
It shows three hundred years of world history through the eyes of vampire children so it would be hard to cram that all in to three books.
I suppose I shouldn't’t concern myself though. The first one is a stand-alone story and all the others are planned to be. All thirteen would hook together into a bigger story but each one would have it’s own proper conclusion.
I’ll just keep hoping I get the first one published. If people like it, then each book will have to stand on it’s own.





OK, some guy replied to me...



annabelle's scribe:

A single title is a one night stand. A series is like a marriage: the publisher has to know you can deliver on time, on spec, no b.s., no excuses. Do you have proof that you can do 13 books? More to the point, can you do 13 books?

A trilogy can be just one long book -- like LOTR. But if you extend out beyond that you start running into the structural differences that define a series. Series have their own issues -- back story that starts accumulating like barnacles, the fact that characters can't have much of an arc, the out-of-control proliferation of characters and subplots (see George R.R. Martin).

Series come naturally to some people, but it's easy to see why publishers are dubious.



Double ouch. I know he has a point. I believe I can do 13 books, but how will I ever prove that?
Maybe I shouldn't have joined Miss Snark's Crapometer. After this, and another rejection I got in the mail yesterday, how will I take it when she obviously is going to tear me up?

I'm fooling myself.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Miss Snark's Crapometer

Well I did it. I emailed 215 words of my query letter to Miss Snark. See, she's having this "Crapometer" contest. If she likes your hook, she'll request pages. Even if she doesn't want pages, she'll still post the hook on her blog with a critique as to where I can improve it.
She could rip it to shreds, so I need to toughen up and prepare for the worst.

Had to try though.


Here's the link.

Wish me luck!

Friday, December 15, 2006

Oh Rose Tyler, you had to go and say it. Doctor Who spoilers

You had to say that the bad guys will never break you two apart. Didn't you? Well, I'm told in two episodes she's gone.
Sigh. End of an era.
But this show rocks and change only helps it so I'm looking forward to it.

"Fear Her" was a nice episode. A lot of great pathos. Excellent concept. I was worried about what the dad would look like. Glad he wasn't deformed or something.
The Doctor and Rose have reached a common spot in their lives. I can see why it's changing. Things always need to be mixed up.

Last week's episode was cute. "Love and Monsters" was a great look at an everyman in the background of the strange and unusual. I don't understand, however, why the Doctor just didn't take Elton's gal to the future and get some skin samples from her cheek, then get her cloned a new body. At any rate, Moaning Myrtle did a fabulous job and it was a blast seeing her there.

So two more episodes and the season is over. :(
Man it's hard, waiting for my Doctor fix!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Scan day, nice emails and normal stuff

Nothing to report today. It was scan day so I was on my feet all day. I'm currently updating my files a bit.

Just normal stuff.
Time to spend time with the wife.

Bye for now.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

I actually wrote a Parodyverse story!

SHOCK!

I've got some more ideas for the board so I'll write them as well. I need to get some more novel work done, then it's back to the PV.


Pretty Bird : AG’s CrazySugarFreakWedding! Story

Go ahead! Click and read! You know you want to.

RIP Peter Boyle

'Raymond' Star Peter Boyle Dead at 71

He will always be my Frankenstien's Monster.

Rest in peace to a very good actor and a great man.

..................

Probation

Yesterday I was put on work probation for too many absences.
I have missed nine times in the last year.
Why? Because there was nine different situations (including last week's three days helping my wife who was in the hospital and then home after surgery.
They tell me that I cant miss for my family, for sickness or for anything for a period of twelve months.

Yesterday I was upset about this. I'm not now.
I feel that everything will be fine. I wont even be there during the whole twelve months.

Monday, December 11, 2006

*COUGH*

I'm sick. Step back a bit. Got a cold. I'm still going to work though (no more time off).

*COUGH*
Ooops. Sorry. You should wash that.

Hail Hydra!

No, this post is not about the Marvel spy organization. I was never a fan of them.
Their slogan, however, applies a little bit to me today.

"HAIL HYDRA! Cut off one head and two more shall take its place!"
Blah blah blah. Captain America beats them up every time. Wimps.

Anyway, I received a rejection Saturday. This one left me flat footed. I should have known not to expect much, even if the agent sounded excited and wanted the whole thing quickly.

Today, despite my recent rejections, I sent out two more electronic ones, one snail mail one and set up eight more snail mail ones for Friday (pay day). Cut off two heads and eleven take their place.

I'll find that agent. She/he is somewhere out there.
Now please don't start singing "Somewhere Out There". OK?

Dang. It's stuck in my head.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Chad Vader

Ever heard of Chad Vader? They are made from Blame Society Films and they are hilariuos! You can find them at Youtube.

Part 1




Part 2




Part 3



Part 4



Still waiting on part 5.

These guys are great.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Expensive Rejection

About a month ago an agent requested the entire novel before the coming weekend. She was very excited.
We spent $100 to get the whole thing (450 pages) over nighted across the country so she could have what others called a "weekend read".

A month later I just got the form letter rejection.
Why did she want it so quickly, costing me money I did not have, to just reject it like everyone else?

This isn't the first rejection and I'm sure it won't be the last. I'm feeling depressed today.
So many people get to create and share their creations with the world. Why am I blocked from doing the same?
I'm feeling a lot of self doubt today.

Just the other day I got a rejection where a different agent took her time and wrote me a note of encouragement. It still means a lot. I just feel very deflated from this other one.
Am I going to be a sub-par drafter with false aspirations of grandeur all my life?
What if everyone rejects it? What if I'm no good?

Weird Al - Behind the Scenes of "White and Nerdy"

I really like Weird Al's White And Nerdy video.

Here is a behind the Scenes look from You Tube...



My favorite parts of the original video would be Donny Osmand and Seth Green. Donny is in this making video.


Here is the actual video, in case you haven't seen it or want to see it again.





As you can see, I discovered how to link Youtube videos!

Plastic Patronus

Harry Potter figures at Action-Figure.com?

Hmm. Tempting.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Peanuts, Marvel Style!




Here is a great site where the artist mixes Marvel characters with Peanuts.

They're so cute!


Peanuts Meets Marvel @ StatueForum

Check it out!

Art by jdh.goodgrief

Home

It's nice to be home, taking care of my honey. I'm glad to be in control of the situation instead of at work.
She's sleeping and that's how it should be.

I've got a lot to do on the computer. There are lots of new PV stories to read, I need to update CTP and I'd like to write some of my WIP today.

Now lets see what I can get to.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Good Day Part 1: Sweetie's Return

My sweetheart is home!

She has a cyst on one of her ovaries. It ruptured and that's why the pain.
I was able to get today and tomorrow off. I wont be on probation. Company policy says I'll get written up, but no probation.
So I was able to be with her all day and help her.
WHEW! What a good feeling, being there for her!
She came home today and now she's sleeping in her own bed.

Thank you Lord!

I'm SO relieved.

See? I told you this blog would get a better outlook this week.

Good Day Part 2: Agent's positive rejection

I received a return in the mail today. I sent several partials to many agents and some are just getting back to me.

See, agents are swamped with emails and snail mailed partials. They have full manuscripts to read, authors to help get published and all sorts of other things.

If you're trying to get published or you're just writing your book now, you're familiar with literary agents and you've probably seen their blogs.

One such agent is very famous for her blog. She's a big name and everyone who's trying to get published or are published know her.

She was the one who sent back my partial with the standard form letter. No biggie. She's not the right one for Annabelle, apparently.

But here's the thing. She's very busy, but she found the time to hand write on my query that she really liked the whole idea. She has good reasons why she cant represent it right now, but she told me to please keep submitting to agents.

She likes it! A big name in agents, whom all of you out there whom are agent blogging know, likes it! She took the time to give a personal, positive message!

It's coming. I'm telling you right now, it's coming. My friends and all you mysterious lurkers, you need to understand, Annabelle WILL be published. You're going to know her.
I've know since day one that she is supposed to be out there, in book stores, schools, libraries. Annabelle and her brother Roland grab everyone who reads. Not all readers may like vampires, but everyone can't stop reading. They get sucked into Ann's world, follow her for 450 pages and then want more. As the author, the ideas flow at an incredible rate.
Ann will overcome all opposition and she WILL be out there. She has a goal. When Harry retires, she will step in. Watch it. Expect it.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Half my heart, half my soul

Do you know what it’s like?
I drift through life, unknowing. You’re there beside me like always. A comforting companion in life’s journey. I continue on, assuming the longevity.

Then I’m here. Trapped. I stare through these bars, reaching for your hand. Where is my companion? Where is she who has always been there?

But my hands grasp at that cursed empty air. My heart pulls away, bit by bit. It’s reaching across the miles for you. Where is my heart? Where is my mind? Where is my soul?

Half of everything I dream. Half of everything I think. Half of everything I laugh about. Half of everything I long for. Half of my heart. Half of my soul.

That’s what you are. After fifteen years of marriage, two years of dating, total seventeen years of life, I am defined by you. I can’t exist in this dark world without you. I can’t perform the simplest functions if half of my everything is missing.

I’m incomplete. I sit here at this temporary, foolish, small little existence. I sit here at work, but my soul reaches outward. I sit as if I’m behind iron bars. I DO NOT BELONG HERE! My soul is elsewhere. My soul is beside you. Guarding you. Protecting you. Why am I here? If my essence is with you in that hospital room, what is left here in this ‘cell’?

I know this stupid remaining hour of ‘prison’ will soon be lifted. Then I shall fly to your side. If I could pull this sickness out, wrestle with it and throw it far from you, I would. If I could open my chest and command the infection to jump into my body and free you, I WOULD!

You suffer too much. You deserve better. You don’t belong in that hospital. You belong with me. I might be selfish to think so because without you I am scraps of a man, but then again I cant have you suffering. It’s my job to block those monsters.

I love you. Three words but truthfulness is in each one. A defining statement that tries to best explain my heart. How else can I exclaim that you are my reason?

I love you, my half of heart. I love you my support. I love you my companion in all things. I love you my soul.

I love you.

Wife in hospital

My wife woke up in even more pain. She threw up and needed to go to the hospital. Since I've missed 7 days in the last 7 months, if I miss I'd be on probation.
So I drove down, woke her parents and begged them to help. They did. Her dad took her to the hospital while her mom will watch the kids.

The kids might miss school, again because my wife will be stressed that one one will be there to pick them up.

So now I go off to a stupid job where I DON'T want to be, working on things I DON'T want to work on, while she suffers what looks like an appendicitis.

I belong with her! It's not fair! What will I do tomorrow, when she's home and needs me?

My work wont tolerate it. Some of my bills are over due.

She needs me and I can't be there for her. DAMMIT!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

sigh

Got in another argument with my eldest. I asked her if she had picked up her dirty clothes and she told me she had. When I entered the bathroom hours later, there they were on the floor. She didn't do it AND she lied about it. After I confronted her about it she screamed and fussed about my yelling and not listening. In other words, she tried to change the problem to me instead of owning up to her responsibilities and shortcomings.

Sigh.

All this and I'm dreading work tomorrow too. Today's absence marks number 7. The next one means probation. I'm so tired of the lecture. Why cant these employers understand that some people have families who need extra help?

Sooo, sorry guys. My mood isn't the best tonight. Maybe tomorrow it will improve.

At least I hope it will.

Home today

Well, here I am. I just drove the kids to school and now I find myself trolling message boards. I need to open up my WIP and do some writing.

I'm home because my sweetie has been sick for awhile now. She threw up and her stomach has been hurting her. I scheduled an appointment to take her to the doctor later this morn.

For the moment I've got some times on my hands.

Hmm. Write or browse the net?

UPDATE: The doc said stomach flu.

Monday, December 04, 2006

The class like it!

My teacher freind, Jeff, is reading my novel to his 6th grade class. I was scheduled to talk to the class this Friday, but he's still got a ways to read (it is 450 pgs after all). We've set my appearance back to January. That's cool with me becuase I want them to read a lot of it before I show up.

Anyway, I called him yesterday to check in and find out what the kids feelings and reactions were to the story.

They love it! The boys cheered "cool" during the part where the parents died (lol) and when vampire children found out they could turn to wolves.
The kids are asking for it and want to get to the next parts.

I was at the store on the cell when he told me the kids reactions. I did a dance right there!

"She's" doing it! She's getting more people to like her.

Oh agent! Where ARE you?

Tired

I'm beat. I get this way every Monday. It's hard to focus on work and my body calls out that it wants to go back to bed.

Sigh.

Well, just a bit longer and work will be done for the day.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Full Moon

Oh glorious orb of light. Oh great glowing champion of the night.
I walk my dogs in the crisp night air, looking upward at that beauty. It draws my attention like the porch light draws the moth.
I can't get enough. As my glasses fog and the chill rubs my cheeks, I find my eyes focusing on the glorious orb.
I see the marks of it, across it's surface like some strange map. I roam is shape, bask in it glow and stand transfixed by it's wondrous power.
Oh great moon, bringer of light in the darkness, I feel your pull.
I could watch you all night.
I could sit under your light and create a story that would otherwise remain trapped in my mind, unborn.
Roam moon. Roam the sky above and inspire!

More clips on Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix

ABC Family turned up some more great clips of the next Harry Potter movie.

Follow the links to Mugglenet.com and you should find each one if you scroll down just a fraction.
Take a look! If the sound cuts out, refresh your screen.

Mugglenet's page where each preview is listed. They are under the text "Most revealing look at OOTP so far!"


Or you can click links to the separate videos below.

Behind the Story
Harry
Hermione
Ron
Umbridge
Bellatrix
Luna
David Yates
Dumbledore's Army
The Order
The Kiss
Sirius Black
Wands

I'm still very excited about this film. I'm halfway through reading the book and there are more things and characters that seem to be missing. That disturbs me.
Well, we'll have to see.

UPDATE: I just updated the links. They should work. Click them and you'll go to each page on Mugglenet where you can find the videos. I would post them here, but I do not know the code for that.

Looking at these again, I'm excited... again. :)

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Scroogeistic Pessimism sucks!

So there I was, trolling through the Absolute Write web site when I found a thread about Santa Clause. Apparently this guy doesn't believe and asks people why they keep teaching about Santa.

Well, I'm not going to go into that right now, but reading so many pessimistic people's opinions on that thread just made me mad. I know, I know, they have a right to cram their depressed opinions down our throats. So this morn I was checking out Raving Toy Maniac's site and there are people dissing the movie Polar Express.
When I watch it, the movie fills me with a great uplifting feeling.

Am I gullible? Am I stupid and my simple brain filled with too much glitter? Maybe I should stumble around, mumbling about every little thing, casting good messages of hope and love for my fellow man away? Maybe I should just ignore any positive uplifting stories and ideas and instead embrace apathy or a pessimistic attitude?

So if being positive and optimistic is foolish, and being negative is logical and correct, then where do all the dreams go? Where does the creativity go? If you can no longer hope, why try? If you don't try, nothing wonderful will be created.

Why is it so popular to think in a pessimistic way? Do these sad, lonely, depressed, self loathing people even know the definition?

pessimism
pes·si·mism [ pĂ©ssÉ™ mìzzÉ™m ]
noun
Definition:
1. tendency to expect worst: a tendency to see only the negative or worst aspects of all things and to expect only bad or unpleasant things to happen.

There is more than one side to everything. You can't focus on just the negative on concepts like Christmas (commercialism, crowded stores, etc). There is good too (helping others, child like faith in people, putting differences aside and sharing a loving feeling).
There are good things in movies, art, school, work, LIFE! You have to see the good side too, even if all your peers think it's cooler to grouch about everything.

OK, rant is done.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Fantasticar!

And speaking of geeking out, we finally can see the new Fantasticar!

What is a Fantasticar you may ask?

It's only the Batmobile to the Fantastic Four!

The new movie comes out June 15th of next year. Between Spidey 3 and Harry Potter 5.


USA Today; First look: Fantasticar flows onto film

So the FF get thier main ride in the film. I can't wait to see this movie. I liked everything in the first film except Dr. Doom.

Geek Week #5!

Geek Week is a video put up by fans of comics, figures, games and shows. They're a lot like me. Or I'm a lot like them?

A couple of them post at RTM (Raving Toy Maniac) too.

Anyway, last Spring was the Comic Con International. That's where all the cool new figures for the coming year are displayed.

This Geek Week took place back then and the guys just barely updated.

Here is their You Tube broadcast.


And here is their site.

ARRRRRGH!

All day I tried to get on here and edit. All day I could not. Here at home I wanted to edit. Here at home the net did not work.

GAAAAHHHH!

Had to get it out of my system.

That is all.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

NEW LAYOUT!

As you can see, I just updated my blog layout. What do you think?

Any thing a problem?

Is it hard to read?

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

animal cruelty vs animal friendship

Y'know, I'm sitting here on the web doing my thing and one of my cats is just lying here beside me, as calm as can be.

Back in the day (yes, I'm an old foggy, I say "Back in the day". Sheesh) I used to tease my pets like crazy. Nothing hurtful. Just putting tape on their feet, shoelaces just past their whiskers, that sort of thing.
I had my fun.
But the animals always looked at me with apprehension.

Today, I never tease these creatures. I play, I pet, I treat and I walk, but I never tease. Now these animals look at me with trust and love.

It's a good feeling.

email fun

There is something to be said for passing back fun email banter between writer friends. I just had a blast doing that. A writer friend of mine had her characters meet my characters. It was so fun!

I also was able to come up with ideas on where certain characters are "now". This will help me to project them there when the time comes.

I sure love letting the characters on my novels come out and play.

architect

The guy on the van share ride always calls me "architect". I'm not one, but I am working on architectural plans lately.

So maybe he's closer to the truth then he knows. :)

Sunday, November 26, 2006

nothing new

I really have nothing special or new to type. It was a quick four day weekend. We kept the house clean, had a good Thanksgiving and talked to family.

I didn't get any writing done but I'll just try harder through out the week.

All in all, a plain ol' weekend.

Nothing new but maybe later this week. Watch this space.

(Can this blog BE any more boring?)

Thursday, November 23, 2006

I hunger!

The smell of that turkey, covered in my wife's stuffing, is too much to handle.
I awoke to crave that wonderful scent, much like a young, sweet vampire child craves her first drop.

Come to me turkey! Come to me!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I'm very thankful to the Lord for ALL His blessings. He's given my so much!

I'm grateful for my wife, who is both long suffering and supportive. ;)

I'm grateful for my children. I'm so glad they're healthy and sane (even if I'm not sane).

I'm grateful for the ability to write. I'm grateful that I had help from above to finish this novel, get it beta tested from the right people and then edited, and finally to have the burning desire to bang on agents' doors with it. I'm grateful that I know the "end of the story" even if I don't yet know how I get from here to there. LOL

Anyway, I'm so grateful for my life and all the things in it. I hope that my Friends and the mysterious lurkers out there each have a good Thanksgiving Day, even if it's not Thanksgiving where you are!

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Some words

314 words.
Not a lot, huh?
That's all I've been able to add to my WIP today, but HEY! It's progress!
Hopefully I'll get more down this weekend.

I did come to a realization about my famous pirate cameo. The reason it doesnt feel right is becuase it belongs in book three! I'm pretty happy about that.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Harry Potter, the Order of the Phoenix behind the scenes!!!!

OH MY FLIPPIN COW! I... they had... they're going to use...

*starts to cry*

It's so beautiful! It's the book! They're doing all the great things that are in book 5. It's going to be so perfect.


It's the HBO behind the scenes look at the 5th film. So beautiful.

*Sniff!*

I'm getting perklempt.

Talk amongst yourselves. In the film When Harry Met Sally, how come Harry didn't have a scar? Discuss.

My figure want list




As I've said before, I have a weakness for action figures. Particularly, figures of DC Comics' Justice League and Justice Society, Marvel Comics' Avengers and Fantastic Four and assorted heroes and villains from both companies.

When I get a better sculpt or better articulated version, I pass my earlier ones to the kids. DC Direct's new Powergirl figure will be arriving this week. I wont get her till Christmas and that suits me just fine. When I get her, my old one goes to my daughter "K".

This is a picture of the figures I still have to get. Some are out now, some come out soon and some wont be out until next year.

What's up with me

My friend Jay posted a question, asking all of us at the Parodyverse site to tell about how our lives are going. I replied and now I figure it would be great bog material so here it is...


Lets see,
Well, things are in a holding pattern, pretty much. I feel very strongly like this novel will hit, but until either this New York agent from PMA finishes it and wants me, or some other agent wants me, I have to carry on and try to focus on other things. That particular agent was very interested in the concept of the book. She wanted the entire thing by the weekend of the 4th. She got it and she’s reading. Agents take a while so it’s a painful wait.

I was called into my bosses’ office Friday afternoon. I got the same lecture I’ve gotten at other jobs. I’m apparently “not bringing enough to the table” in regards to my skills and knowledge. I can see where that’s true, but I also find that my brain seems to have a hard time focusing on work.

It’s not the novel or anything like that. After a few months of drafting, I just seem to have a hard time thinking things out clearly. So I need to redouble my efforts and try to focus. Try to access my memories of working this stuff for over ten years. It’s hard because in some ways Friday’s meeting hurt. It wasn’t like the painful abuse I had at Stantec, but it still hurt. I’ve lost any positive feelings for this place. I can’t go looking right now either because no one hires during the holidays and I am not allotted the time to miss.

Family is good. We’ve still got a lot of cleaning to do before Thursday. We’re going to have a lot of family over for Thanksgiving, so we need to make sure the house is ready for that. Friday in our cleaning, I ran across those cards I promised you Jay. I’ll try to get them n the mail soon.

That’s about it. I’m in a Harry Potter mood because I just saw the preview for the next movie and I’m currently reading that book so that I remember everything that’s supposed to be in the movie. I’ll move onto book 6 next because book 7 comes out next year too.

I’ve slowed down my participation at Absolute Write because if I have time to go there, I should be working on my WIP. A WIP is the Work In Progress. So that’s book two. I want to jump back in and write like a crazy man, but this work bump kind of shook me up. I need to get back at the novel.

As for TV, I’m excited for more ‘Heroes’ and ‘Dr Who’, waiting on more ‘Stargate SG1’, ‘Ghosthunters’ and ‘Eureka’, and trolling through ‘Smallville’ just to see how that disappointing mess eventually ends.

That’s everything on this end.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Kinda Busy Weekend

The weekend started out at light speed. The wife and I marshaled the kids to help us clean two rooms in preparation for Thanksgiving. We cleaned and organized the heck out of it and for the most part have kept it that way.

We also set up Christmas. I sure love the lights and decorations. It's nice that we're all set up for that season, instead of having to do it later.

We have three more rooms to clean. We'll get to them in the evenings and my sweetie will be catching them during the day as well.

Finished off the weekend with our niece's birthday party which consisted of the usual fare followed by going to Happy Feet.
The movie was OK. It was cute and got me feeling the groove. The animation was of course incredible. I think they used real people footage instead of animating the people. Our nephew Steven thinks the humans were animated too. I could research, but it's not important.

Saw my preview. What preview? THE preview. Harry Potter 5! It was great! I recognized some scenes from the book. It's great to finally have this movie coming out. There is SO MUCH they HAVE to do to make the overall series make sense. I hope they have time to do it all.

Saw Steven (our nephew) tonight. It's always fun to see him. I was hoping he was going to come out for Thanksgiving but it looks like their visit will be horribly short.

Well, the weekend is done and I need to settle down for bed. Tomorrow it's back to work. The job has lost any flavor it had because of that stupid meeting/lecture on Friday. I'm not looking forward to it.
One day I will be working here, at my home, letting the story flow like water and producing entertainment for people. It's going to happen, but for now it's back to "Can't-measure-up" Land.

At least it's not like the last firm I worked for. THAT was Hell.
Sorry. "Heck"

Saturday, November 18, 2006

I should be depressed this weekend.

Well it was bound to happen. After my first seven months my boss had me in his office for a closed door meeting. I'm apparently not giving as much as my résumé says I can. I need to try harder and put more effort into it.

I know I've been greatly distracted. I know I could work harder. I will, of course.
But this has happened before. Maybe I'm not confident as a drafter. Yeah, I suppose that's it. I'm very confident as a writer, but when it comes to the day to day grind "be a grown up and don’t screw up. Ask if you have questions, but don't ask because you should be able to do it now", well I never quite measure up.

I'm so sick of this crap.

Alright, so this brings us to the title of this entry.
I should be upset and depressed, but I'm not. When those feelings of doubt and frustration, fear of the future and the deep questions about my own self worth, when those feeling start to rear their ugly heads, a calm feeling comes over me. A feeling that tells me that this is all a temporary situation. Wait for something very big and positive that's around the corner.

So I will work and schedule my time better. I'll get more done and try to think through my day job to improve. All the while I'll listen to that little voice that has been right so many times in my life and has never been wrong.

Instead of despair, I feel confidence. That's not normal for me but I know enough to trust this external prompting of hope and forge on.

*Hides under blanket* Doctor Who Spoilers

Wow! THAT was a great episode! For all intents and purposes, it looks like those guys woke up Satan. Once again, the show has me reeling. I sooo can't wait till next Friday!

Friday, November 17, 2006

He Who Shall Not Be Named

YES!

My fav Harry Potter site, Mugglenet , has revealed the first movie poster for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

It looks great!
Voldemort!

I CAN'T WAIT!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Slow of speech

Yesterday I typed a little thing that offended a very important person in my life. That shook up things and so, in trying to make things better for that important person, I wrote an email to a freind. Then, after I apolojized to the important person we were able to talk. Then I sent another email to the freind, apolojizing for how he first email might have sounded.
Turned out my freind never recieved that first email and was hurt from my second.

I screwed up, again!

In the Bible, Moses (I think it was him) called himself "slow of speach". I see that as he goofed when he spoke. How many out there do the same? Come on hidden lurkers, I KNOW you do! Yeah, you in the back, on the right! You've said or written things one way but didnt mean it in the way it was taken.
We all have.

Anyway, I messed up bad. I've apolojized again for my screw ups. All I can do is carry on and do everything I can to not make those same mistakes.

Sigh.
Life.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The Trickshot Mythland Special is up!

Finally I finished my latest Parodyverse story. It's not very long and ties into other people's stories, but it's the newest thing I've written for the PV in a long time.

Trickshot Mythland Special

I threw in a subplot that should help me get back on track with my PV stuff. I figure if I try to write one PV story a week, and keep it small, I'll be able to catch all my characters and stories up and put them where they need to be.

Now, after I finish reading a freind's manuscript I can return to my WIP. A WIP is another name for Work In Progress. That's the current novel I'm writing. Annabelle & Roland, Threats From Sea & Shadow. It's book two in the Annabelle series.

The muse is happy. :)

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Requests abound!

Another request for a partial. I'm not exactly sure how many that is now. Shadow Mountain, a small publisher here in Utah also mailed me stating that in 8-10 weeks they'll decide. This new fellow, an agent from New York, also just emailed me and requested 50 pgs. He stated in 8-10 weeks if I haven't heard from him to email. I still want Adrienne and that's still in the air, waiting on her thoughts.

Wow. So many out and some getting read. STILL no clue who will get hooked. Dani is voice number 10. My friend, Dani, is finishing the manuscript and she echos the other nine in the fact that she gets lost in it and wants more. Which agent will feel the same?
SOMETHING will happen, but when? Who?

Time will tell.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Wiblik's BLOG!

A long time ago at a college far away in the land of sheep, I met my very good friend, Willard. We've been through a lot in the fourteen years we've known each other.
He's a great guy who is in the process of writing a novel.

I gave him the net name "Wiblik".

He's started his own blog.

Please support him and check it out here...

http://wilblk200.blogspot.com/

Friday, November 10, 2006

Darren Shan!

Darren Shan is the author of the popular fantasy/Young Adult books called Cirque Du Freak. My teacher Friend Jeff suggested I read his copies so I did. I like them.
Last night I sent an email to Darren Shan after visiting his site again. I told him about how his is inspiring me as well as how great it is that he gets kids to read (something Jeff and I are both very thankful for). I told him of my plans to be an author of vampire tales for children, too.

Here is his site.
http://www.darrenshan.com/

This morning I received a reply! He told me "Best of luck"! That gets me even more pumped up!

Thought I'd share. :)

I give up.

OK. I give up.

Back in the summer, during the big push to get the novel finished, I started listening to me vampire mp3s.
For those who don't know, mp3 are music files. They are more compressed and you can fit over a hundred on a CD.
So after a while of listening to that September came along and being a Halloween buff, I switched to my Halloween mp3s. I listened to that for two months and recently I tried my hand at my normal music.
Well one of the local radio stations has switched to Christmas music. I tried to resist it's pull but with the kids singing it and my love for that holiday, I cant resist anymore.
So I'm listening to all my Christmas music.
I know there are a lot of Scrooges out there, but I'm not one of them.

What? Did you think this post was about quiting the novel? Are you insane? I couldn't if I tried. And I wouldn't want to anyway.

New Spidey 3 trailer!

OH! OH! OH! OH!

Yes, I know I might be over excited but I just saw the new trailer for Spider-man 3.
OH this is going to rock!

http://www.ifilm.com/presents/spiderman3

A big shout out to ifilm.com for showing this.

May 4th!

MAN I can't wait!

Roland's true love has a name!

I finally have a great name for one of my characters! It's someone who will become very important to Roland later in the series. A big THANK YOU to Dani for helping me. The name I had chosen wasn't quite right and she's really good with names.
So thanks Dani!

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Salutations from a vampire muse

Hello gentle beings,

As you can plainly see by the hour, it is late into the morning. I, being a child of night, simply cannot sleep. It must have been the raccoon I had last night. I wonder what he ate?

No matter, the point of this “post” is for me to introduce myself. I thought I should use my scribe’s forum to inform others of my existence. A couple years ago an event brought to my mind the need to tell my life story so I found this mortal and watched him. He seemed the right sort so I impressed upon him the desire to write my tale.

All I will say here is that my name is Annabelle Foresight. I was born the thirteenth of October in the year Sixteen-hundred and Seventy-Seven. Yes, I’m over three hundred years old.
I look ten, however because when I truly was ten a man, no, a creature of ancient evil killed my parents and left my older brother and myself in the woods to be slaughtered by wolves. A wonderfully sweet woman named Eliza rescued us. We would have died but she gave us the dark curse of vampirism.
For three hundred years we’ve roamed the Earth. I have seen much in that time. It is my fondest wish that those stories be told.

Well, that is enough from me. I’m very tired and so I’m going to try and crawl back into my coffin and sleep. It’s a good thing we have those thick curtains or I would not be able to operate this computer thing so late in the morning.

Good day.

Annabelle Foresight
Vampire muse


Scan Day

Sucking on a watermelon JollyRancher and just sittin' here, stalling. I suppose I'd better get to work.

It's HAPPY-FUN-SCAN-DAY! As a CAD drafter, I normally enjoy a lazy job of sitting on my tush, drafting plans while jamming to music all day. Today is Thursday so that means it's the day where I go into the archive room and run lots of big hand drawn plans through the scanner so they are archived as gifs. That means being on my feet all day. I know, I know, wa-wa-wa. It's nothing compared to the real hard work the working guys have to do everyday.
Actually, I like it. I get to jam to music and do this task. It's a break from the same thing and more story ideas come to my mind.
Guess I'd better get started.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Book Fair Musings

Well, a busy day but a ok one!
It was Parent/teacher conference night. The kids are doing better. L is improving by leaps and bounds! I'm very proud of her! K is above her level. She's my little Hermonie. S is doing great too! Need to stamp out that spelling bug but otherwise not too bad. D is doing well but needs some special care. That's expected, considering his age.

It's early November and the sun goes down a great deal earlier. Walking to the car across the school parking lot at night stuck a cord for me. I see a school of monster children. Annabelle would HAVE to be a teacher. She wouldn't want it any other way. I'm not talking books devoted to it or anything, but sometime in books 10-13, in the modern era, I'll have to put the school in.

The school is doing a book fair. Man, that's what "she" wants! I feel it in my bones. The novel HAS to be in book fairs, libraries, schools... everywhere! I looked over the many YA fantasy books available to inspire children and entertain them. So many caught my eye. I could just about see it there. I mean, I could imagine what it would be like to have Annabelle & Roland among those books, getting picked up by little fingers.
"Mommy! That's Annabelle! Teacher's reading that in class! It was so cool the way Annabelle told those kidnappers to leave that boy alone! I wish *I* could stand up to Betsy Patterson like Annabelle stood up to those men!"
Sigh.
So close I can touch it. So far I can't. I can feel it's going to happen, but when? Who will represent? What publisher will publish? I so badly want Scholastic.

Ah well. One day.
One day.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Thoughts on tomorrow

Tired.

I really should go to bed earlier. Tomorrow I'll need to focus on the job more. During my break I'll need to try and get that Trickshot in the Mythlands one shot story started. I'll have no time to write PV stuff on Thursday so it would be best if I could get it farther along then just thoughts in by brain.

Besides, there is a limited amount of time for me to write Parodyverse stuff. That muse is a real strong feeling and when I stay away too long "she" starts pounding at the back of my mind.

"Scooott."
"Go 'way. I owe my friends some Tricksho..."
"Scooooott. What of my brother? What of his travails with the vampire pirates? What of his affection for that girl pirate, Racheal? What of my constant search through London with Thomas?"
"But I'm waiting on Adrienne Rosado of PMA. She still has that weekend read. She should..."
"We both know nothing is certain except the ultimate eventuality. I shall have my desire to be published but it's the when and who that remains a mystery. You can not stall my story for too long...
... I will not allow it."
"Not those eyes again. Sigh."
"Hehehehe. Don't worry. Go back and write for them. Just do not stray too long. Others must see my tales."
"You know, you're really obsessive."
"I'm a three-hundred year old child. What did you expect?"

Huh? Oh! Sorry. I must have dozed off. Anyway, thanks for tuning in on my boring blog. I need to write... Trickshot stuff. Yeah. That's it.

Night.

(Man, I must be tired. Why is the window open?)

Adam Diller, artist extraordinare!

Adam posts at the PV (short for Parodyverse) as the hapless everyman who may or may not be fake. His potential fake man is called Visionary.

More on him later. At any rate, here is a nice close pic of Annabelle, my muse, as done by Adam. I would love to have Adam do the cover and chapter illustrations, but seeing as I'm still trying to get an agent, that idea is far far away from the table anyway.

And the guy is busy as a graphic artist for his full time job so time is very short for him.

Anyway, thanks again for this fine piece of work!




Oh, and I would not be much of a friend if I didn't give his link...

Adam Diller's Home Page! Check it out! Clicky-clicky!

Gotta catch 'em all, Avenger style!

Soon they will be mine! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ok, I'm crazy.

See, I like action figures. Actually, I like super hero action figures, namely the DC and Marvel ones. Namely the Justice League and the Avengers.

Well, Hasbro has taken over the license to manufacture said Marvel figures. This next year we get two assortments of Marvel Legends figures.

In assortment #2 we get Yellow Jacket, She Hulk and Quicksilver.

As an Avenger collector, I've very excited about these!

Here is the link to the updated pics of said figures...

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazine/toyfare/002282532.cfm

Wizard Universe dot com has given us a look.

Thanks, guys at Wizard Universe!

Now to plan the figure shuffle in my collection for these babies!

RAVING TOY MANIAC, my 3rd Fav spot on the web





The Raving Toy Maniac board. It’s a heaven for action figure collectors like myself. I go there to see what’s new and visit with my fellow Buzzers. If you’re into figures, it’s the place to be.

ABSOLUTE WRITE, my 2nd Fav spot on the web!

The Absolute Write Message Board!A place for writers, editors, agents and wanna-be writers to hang out, share info and talk about the craft. It’s an EXCELLENT site to go to if you want to try your hand at writing. They even separate the message boards by book genre!

TALES OF THE PARODYVERSE, FAV SITE #1




TALES OF THE PARODYVERSE

It’s an online community where people share stories about a fictional universe. Anything can happen and usually does! Come over and write, read, reply or just lurk. We’ll entertain you. Some of the best creators frequent there!

Trickshot rules!




Trickshot aka Carl Bastion is a charicter I ripped off for the Parodyverse site I belong to. He's brash, arrogant and cocky. He's a man's man and nothing like me.
I created him by taking 1 part DC Comics Green Arrow and 1 part Marvel Comics Hawkeye, stir well and let simmer.

He can be read in action here...

http://www.mangacool.net/parodyverse

The discovery of a muse

I have a goal. I want to become a professional writer. September of 2004, I was struck with a concept that would not go away. I watched a vampire movie that normally I would not have and saw a little girl vampire whom grabbed my interest. After she was killed in the movie I could not get her out of my mind. As I pondered the concept I realized it wasn’t her I was thinking of. I just didn’t know who it was.

I decided to write about a child vampire for my favorite site, the Parodyverse. When I sat down to flush out the character she appeared. No, not for real. What do you think I am? Crazy? No, in my head I could see her. I knew her as well as myself and when I wrote her she became more. She WANTED more. Posting little short stories on a site where only five people respond or see them wasn’t enough. She needs to be in schools, libraries, bookstores, everywhere! She needs to reach out to other children, frightened, scared children who need an example or at the very least a bit of entertainment to make the pain go away for a few minutes.

Sweet, gentle, smart, determined Annabelle Foresight and her adventurous, rebellious brother Roland were “born” that moment. I had to do something I had never before did. I had to push myself, whenever I could, however I could, to put these two fictional kids into a novel. I longed to be a part of their world, Annabelle’s world, and the only way to ease that longing was to write.

Two years later the novel is finished. I gave it to nine people to edit. All nine found things that needed to be fixed and I fixed them. They were friends, strangers and even two teachers of the age level this Young Adult fantasy novel is geared towards. All nine, despite some of them not being into the subject matter or being critical in nature) could not put it down.
Now it’s finished and I’m in search of an agent to represent it to the publishing world. I know this will happen. Annabelle wants to get out there into the world and she will. It’s only a matter of time.

It's called ANNABELLE & ROLAND, THE NIGHT CHILDREN. Watch for it!

Monday, November 06, 2006

First blog!

Hey! I've started this thing and like normal, I just have no time to do it justice. But it has begun!

Expect more soon.