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.

And then there were leaves

I get about three days a year where the maple trees are strewn with flowers/helicopters, before the leaves come out. The trees don’t look anything like themselves, either in color or shape, and the unusual pale green color against the blue of the sky is singular and breathtaking. I wait for it every year. This year it started on Friday, and will end probably today as the leaves finish coming out.

Needless to say I didn’t get much book work done on Friday.

I am pleasantly tired and worn out from my weekend of gardening and potting up some annuals into hanging baskets, and hanging out with my folks a bit at a garden center. We had a full trunk and plants on our laps on the way home, so it was a success. The yard is really starting to look nice again, and I’ve been busy tweaking and adjusting things to suit my sensibility. But having said that, I should add that I’m tired, pleasantly tired. I don’t always sleep well, but working myself into exhaustion always results in a restful sleep and I appreciate it.

It should be a great work week. I got up almost a half an hour early to start it. The more I  reserve my weekends for non-book work, the more productive I am during the other five days. Or maybe I’m just too tired to do anything other than sit at my desk and move my fingers . . .

Signed first editions

I got a call from Nicola’s yesterday, which means I’ll be going in this weekend to sign their stock. If you’ve not heard, Nicola’s is my local store and I’m able to provide year-round access to signed books through them. (Not personalized to you, just signed.)

So if you’re looking to round out your signed library or get someone hooked on the books, this is a great place to do it either one at a time or all at once. They will ship overseas as well, and getting that signature is a nice bonus after that ungodly shipping. Just email them for an international shipping quote before ordering overseas from Nicolas at nicolasbooks@tds.net Domestic shipping is pretty standard.

To order, follow the links below and be sure to ask for a signed book at comment box when you order or you will just get a book. If you’re interested in any of the others in the series, or even the Dawn Cook books, a quick search on their site will bring them up.

Oh! And I can guarantee that the EVER AFTER you will get from Nicola’s during this offer is a first edition. How do I know? Well, they bought them before the second week of publication. Also, they have a full 10-1 number line on the page before the title page. That’s how you tell.

To purchase first edition  Ever After

To Purchase first edition Hollows Insider (It glows in the dark!)

To browse Nicola’s