From Twitter 06-06-2010

• 13:26:03: Finally got my hands on Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane! Contemplating calling in sick tomorrow to read it...
  
• 14:06:14: @cherose228 There will never be enough brain bleach!
  
• 14:59:52: Back reading Bullet. Squicked that someone can feel "parentally anxious" about someone they've been sleeping with for two years
  
• 15:10:32: @thetheoryof So far, dancing.
  
• 15:13:18: @thetheoryof Yeah, I'm on chapter four and we're still at the recital waiting for everyone to have showers and change tights
  
• 15:38:02: I think Anita is being deliberately ignorant. It's a very unappealing trait
  
• 15:40:48: I wish Asher would just take off and go be master of another city. He deserves to escape this morass of idiocy
  
• 15:59:01: And now everyone's talking about each other's gag reflex! I thought this series was about vampire hunting...
  
• 16:09:24: And now I just have no idea what's going on, or who's talking to who about what.
  
• 16:33:04: Argh! So many wasted plot threads that will never come to fruition because we can just gang-bang our troubles away!
  
• 16:38:26: @RichHL Believe me when I say this is not the path you wish to take
  
• 17:08:21: @leatherzebra The strippers actually performed ballet routines, which just makes it all the more surreal
  
• 17:21:36: "Hey, let's all stop in the middle of foreplay to talk about stuff that happened several years ago! Sexy, right?"
  
• 17:33:47: @janjonesauthor Pretty much my feeling.
  
• 17:49:15: @Scarimonious After nearly twenty pages of sexytimes, I'll settle for everyone just rolling over and falling asleep, frankly
  
• 17:52:58: @Scarimonious ...And watches a movie, takes in a show, does some redecorating or even has a weekend city break somewhere nice
  
• 17:54:03: Top writerly tip: use the same phrase up three times on the same page to get your word count up to novel-length!
  
• 18:10:54: @etaknosnhoj Does it show?
  
• 18:12:30: @leatherzebra Apparently so. They also help choreograph for local dance students, too
  
• 18:15:52: @leatherzebra No, just find a few key phrases you like and repeat them at every opportunity
  
• 18:16:20: @leatherzebra Helps if you assume your readers have ten-second-memories and need details reiterating for them every page too
  
• 18:18:45: @leatherzebra Lol, it's as good an explanation as any!
  
• 19:54:17: @thetheoryof Anita watched and catalogued everyone's hair length and outfits with meticulous attention to detail
  
• 19:55:23: @leatherzebra Love how scarily plausible that theory is!
  
• 20:38:51: RT @johnnie_cakes: Laurell K Hamilton's safeword is "fucking stop that or I'll kill you..."
  
• 21:01:50: I have absolutely no words for Bullet now. Weretigers with elemental powers? Really? And Anita is the queen? Really?
  
• 21:58:53: @Scarimonious When their powers combine, she is Captain Gag Reflex!
  

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Guest Blogger - Yolanda Sfetsos is back!

I'm very happy to welcome back Yolanda Sfetsos to celebrate the release of her novella BOUNDLESS, part three of her Alyce Kerr, Faith Healer trilogy from Damnation Books. I think we can all agree that this is a pretty awesome cover. So, without further ago, over to Yolanda!

Overcoming Obstacles

"I fell apart, but got back up again."
'Alibi' by 30 Seconds to Mars

When I started thinking about what to write for this blog post, I happened to be walking. I go for a walk every morning after dropping my daughter off at school, and find my mind wandering while I listen to music on my MP3 player. This morning, I happened to be listening to 30STM, and when the song 'Alibi' came up, the line above caught my attention because it related so much to Alyce's story.

I mean, everyone's life is filled with moments when you feel as if you've fallen apart so badly that you'll never get over it, right? We've all been there several times. Yet, somehow, we manage to get back up, dust ourselves off, and move forward. As hard as it is, as unattainable as the notion seems when it feels as if you've descended so far into darkness that you're pretty sure you're going to drown... the human spirit prevails.

Without realising it, I managed to do that to Alyce and Ross in the Alyce Kerr, Faith Healer Trilogy. Of course, they're also forced to deal with a demon and other supernatural things as well. 

When Alyce's story begins in Faithless, she's in a pretty bad spot. She finds herself in a place so desperate that she turns to alcohol to not only numb herself, but also the demon who's slowly taking over her soul. She's weak, has given up, and only starts to fight back a little after Ross comes back into her life. But how can a relationship that turned so bad all those years ago eventually become her salvation? Well, you'll have to read the stories to find that out. ;) But I can tell you that she doesn't stop stumbling all the way through the trilogy.

Even in Boundless, after everything she has to do to try and get Ross back from the situation she put him in during Careless, something else manages to get in the way.

But really, isn't life like that? The good always comes with a small dose of the bad. It's all about how we deal with it that makes us stronger, keeps things balanced. It's also about the people we chose to let into our lives that help strengthen our passion and survival. In Alyce's case, she didn't think there was anyone else in this world who cared about her anymore. How could they when she can hardly summon enough energy to care about her own life?

At the end of the day, you need to start trusting yourself enough to know that no matter how bad things get, you've got no choice but to keep going. And that, at least, is something that Alyce Kerr can be proud about. She might stumble and fall along the way, but she never stops trying...

Thanks for reading!

Boundless: Book 3 of the Alyce Kerr Faith Healer Trilogy is now available from Damnation Books

Writing Meme Day 5 - Ageing like a fine wine...

5. By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about “youngest” and “oldest” in terms of when you created them?

Youngest I think is a toss-up between Kas from the Scarlett universe and Melody from AFTERLIFE. Kas is about fourteen when the Scarlett stuff kicks off, although he already has the mentality of a world-weary oldster, thanks to his Tragic Past and the general mentality needed to survive in a household consisting of one immature playboy werewolf, one slightly neurotic firestarter, a fallen angel, another psychic, and the occasional visiting alcoholic necromancer who wants to kill everyone except the firestarter... Not to mention various miscellaneous house guests.

Melody is twelve or thirteen? I should know this. But again, mentally she's a lot older, thanks to being dead and hellbent on bloody revenge in unusual circumstances.

In terms of creation, Scarlett is definitely the oldest, probably getting on for seventeen or eighteen years old, in fact. Youngest, I guess is the cast of Demonised, with the exception of Ethan, who's been around in various forms for about eight or nine years. But the rest of that novella are all brand new! Babies! Newbies! And all already scarred for life! Poor darlings *pets Anna and co*

( Full list of questions behind the cut )



Stick a fork in him...

... Ethan's done! Demonised is finished (the first draft, anyway) and in the hands of two trusty readers who will no doubt love and worship me for writing it (or tell me it sucks, more likely...) Huzzahs! Now I can stop worrying about it for a week or so and get cracking on BAD DOGS, which technically I should have started last month.

Anyway, behold my shiny gold word count meter!

37287 / 37287 words. 100% done!

Now to celebrate with voodoo!