And the next Hollows book will be called . . .

Ya know, I actually watched a Dirty Harry movie last night while working on adapting my horse pattern to a giraffe. (More on that later.) It seemed apropos after getting the title for book twelve, and yes, we’re calling it THE UNDEAD POOL.

Woot!

Not that bad!

Got a lot done this weekend in the yard, mostly revolving around putting in a pond, which was nice. I brought it with me from my previous house, and it had been up in the garage rafters all this time. Birds are already using it, so I’m thrilled. My original, much smaller pond I put in when we moved is getting lots of activity, but I can’t see it from my desk, hence the new one.

So you can imagine I’m ready to sit at my desk for a while and not move anything but my fingers. Phew, I play too hard. I really do.

I hope everyone who wanted took advantage of the DEAD WITCH WALKING Amazon daily deal this Sunday. It was fun coming in from the yard periodically and watching my numbers shift. Thanks guys, for helping spread the word! You really are the best.

You like a good deal? I’ve got one!

Early heads up! DEAD WITCH WALKING will be Amazon’s daily deal this Sunday, which means it will be 1.99 for a very short time. I know if you’re like me, you’re going to be out in the sun, (Yay sun!) but you have to come in sometime and check your email! If you’re wanting to start your e-collection, or add to it, or even better, gift it to someone you know might like it, this is a very good way to do it for less than a cup of dessert coffee. (Grande, extra hot, whole milk, no foam, with a shot of raspberry in it. )

I’m sorry but I don’t know if this offer ends at the U.S. border or not. Also, I noticed on the page this morning that Amazon is offering free kindle reading apps to read on your computer or mobile device, which is very cool.

And again, this is Sunday only. The price will not reflect the sale price until then.

http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Witch-Walking-ebook

Things that make you go, hummm

So I’m answering my posts this morning, and I realize that two of them over the last two days are the names I’ve used for my characters. How cool is that? I’m taking it as an omen. -laugh-

I second the motion . . . All in favor?

I’ve been watching the weather forecast all last week hoping they were just kidding about following up a lovely string of 65-75 days with one. Night. Of. Below. Zero.

But alas, the forecast never changed, and yesterday afternoon had me covering up the hosta that had come up. It’s a perennial, so it would come back from the roots even if it did die back from the cold, but it’s been up and actively growing for almost two weeks, and I didn’t want them to have to start all the way over because of one. Night. Below. Zero. Everything else in my yard will be okay apart from perhaps the apple blossoms. Not sure how much cold they can take, but the hosta are sensitive.

The high/low thermometer we have says it got down below zero for a few hours early, early this morning. I’m waiting until it hits 40 to go unwrap them and put the hanging baskets back out. A quick peek under the frost blankets while out with the dogs shows them just fine, but it might be days before the final verdict is in and I know if they got away cleanly. At least they’re not laying on the ground, black with cell damage.

The forecast for the next couple of days has us inching up about 10 degrees a day until we hit 80, and then it settles back down to 70s. That would be a good spring. I second the motion. All in favor?

Whoa, where did that come from?

Had a very productive day yesterday where lots of things evolved and I got to develop a new character, one I hadn’t been expecting but excites me nonetheless. She solves a lot of issues I’ve been running into, and she’s very satisfying to write. She isn’t the protagonist, but she’s tied to the antagonist. If I’m not careful, the antagonist will take over the entire story line.

I think I’ll encourage that. -laugh-

P.S. As a reminder to the unpubs working on their WIPs, this didn’t just happen. I’ve been wrestling with this story line for over a week, the core of the idea for over a year, and I fully expect to run into more issues about 100 pages down the way. It takes time for the eureka moments to gestate, and if you don’t put the pull-out-my-hair time in, you won’t get the ah-ha!  So have fun with it!

Malleability

I’m in a good ways into my new work in progress, and since I’m going more pantser on this one than usual, I’m finding my characters are more malleable than I generally like to work with, changing professions and backgrounds with a lose fluidity as I find what works best with the unchanging needs of the story. Frankly, it’s a glorious mess right now.

The thought process and actions of the character, though, seem to be unchanging, which is why I’m forging ahead and leaving him, say, a carpenter in chapter one, and a ship’s captain in chapter five, making notes as to what has changed in the upper margin and forging ahead.

I guess what I’m saying is that I could spend a month on the first fifty pages trying things out, or I could write two hundred ugly pages, knowing I will need to go back and change things, but all through those two hundred pages, I will be finding out what works, what doesn’t. Even if nothing changes, I will be rewriting those two hundred pages at least three more times, so no hit, no foul. Let’s get on with it and write the story.

Thank God for malleable characters, the ones that can take the tugs and pulls of the creative process–become stronger for it, smelted in the fires of inspiration and folded and refolded like steel until they are the sword that cleaves to the soul and shows us who we are–or could be.