Blog, at last

I tried to write a blog today, but it ended up being seven pages long. So, it'll be my piece for the fan club newsletter, instead of a blog. It's been a very odd week. I'll blog about the weirdness after I've had time to think about it all, for now I'll just tell you what I've been doing work-wise.

I finished Sharon Shinn's new manuscript that will be critiqued at tonight's writer's group meeting. Yes, one of the pluses to the writing group is getting to read stuff way early.

I'm still making progress on Merry #7. Still untitled. I had to spend some time this morning going back through early books to make sure how much background I've given on the men. I was particularly interested in Kitto. Part of the problem is that I'll often write something very detailed, then tone it down, or cut it completely from a book. But I remember, that I wrote it. I just don't always remember if it made it in the book, or got edited out. So, I have to go back and find out. Oh, but more fun, Kitto starts out the series as being 4" even, but by last book he's 4" 11'. He's grown almost a foot. So, did he grow, and I let him keep the height, or do I go back to his original height? They're both in print, which makes them both fair game to keep. I have trouble remembering height. I think because it's not that big a deal to me.

Monday, I have to hit the BLOOD NOIR edits hard. But first draft pages are so much more fun, then editing. I have so much work on my plate that I can procrastinate by writing other things that are under contract and due. Interesting. But it is a type of procrastination. So, Monday, it stops, and I edit. Merry will have to wait a little while longer.

Enjoy

I've managed six pages today. Jon and I may have over done it on date night last night and I am way tired. But progress on the new Merry book, as tired as I feel, six pages is more than I thought I'd get today. Here's hoping after a good night's sleep that it doesn't read like I'm tired. It usually doesn't, but you never know.

Those of you who went to the signing and Question and Answer session in St. Louis for A LICK OF FROST, know we had a friend tape it with our nifty, and much better quality camera. Jon has loaded up several segments of the talk on You Tube. So it's there for those of you who were there to see, and those who weren't. Enjoy.

The Official LKH YouTube Channel

LKH Bit 11/25/07

In this bit: Q&A from St. Louis Signing of A Lick Of Frost, Secret
Santa Contest, Message Board, Amazon’s Best Of 2007, T-Shirt Sale,
Holiday Ordering, Release Dates, False Rumors, Upcoming Things



Q&A from St. Louis Signing of A Lick Of Frost
---------------------------------------------------------
For those of you who couldn’t attend or have never attended a
signing. Here is the Q&A portion of the first signing.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jondgreen



Secret Santa Contest
----------------------------------------------------------------
Secret Santa is a contest for you and a friend. It ends 12/08/07.

The winners will receive two signed LKH books. Don't know which two I
will send you. Just that it will be two. Your assignment as a Secret
Santa is to give one away to someone, preferably someone who is not
yet a fan.

Okay, I told you what to do with one, but what about the second? That
one is a gift for you, the Santa. Hey even Santa gets goodies!

Enter at the link below:

http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/SecretSantaContest.html

If you have difficulty with the link send an email to:
To: accounts@laurellkhamilton.org
Subject: Secret Santa Contest
Body: Name and address.

NOTE: Please do not worry about your spelling and grammar when
sending notes or answering contests! Really, I am totally serious
here. We are not highlighting every mistake you make. No one here is
that anal. Both Laurell and I are dyslexics. We both have problems
with spelling and grammar. We are working on it, which is all anyone
can ask or do.

I know spell and grammar checkers are there, we do use them. But
even they sometimes either want to change a word to something it
shouldn’t be, or worse give you more than one choice. So please
don’t worry about it. We won’t count it against anyone! Especially
not with a living language that is as fluid and ever changing as
English.


Message Board
--------------------------------------------------------------
For those who have never been there: forum.laurellkhamilton.org. I
do ask you read the rules before posting so as not to run afoul of
them.

Seems we must have had a rather large influx of new folks or at the
least experienced folks (not sure which it is, mostly likely a
combination of the two) who are wondering the same thing. At least
from the messages we get and comments, about why we allow those who
claim to dislike the books to stay on the board.

If their not breaking the rules, then they are free to stay. The mods
truly try to apply the rules evenly and fairly. (Which is one reason
I stay out of it for the most part unless some thing becomes an
issue, hardly anyone thinks I am unbiased. Truly there is no such
thing as unbiased when you come right down to it. The mods truly do a
wonderful job, and a hard one at that. Like most things, I get mail
going both ways. This mod is too strict, and then a one that says
they are too lenient. Such is most things in life. What suits one
person will not another and they can both look at the same thing and
come up with different opinions.)

I know we answered the "Why" question not long ago in the Questions
section. Pretty much I didn't answer it. Why not? Because no matter
what I say it will be taken from here, bandied about the web,
misconstrued and twisted. I now know why politicians rarely do
anything but live interviews.

Even my non-answer was treated as if I said things I did not. It
wouldn't have mattered what I said, it would be treated the same way.
Someone somewhere would treat it as if I personally attacked them.
Use my answer as if it as some rallying cry about how mistreated they
are by us. Even this answer will receive the same treatment I am sure.

So here is my final answer on the topic:
Think up any reason that suits you for their presence on the board
and/or their continued reading of books they say they hate. Be it
logical or wildly imaginative. Make it however you want: polite,
rude, nasty, funny, silly, stupid, outrageous, whatever makes you
happy. Just don't post it on the board. Then that will be your
answer. It will be as good and as truthful as any opinion I could
offer on the topic.

Of course I have my own ideas and opinions on it. And it will vary by
person who is being discussed. I can only guess from the posts they
put up as to which fits. So my opinion may be totally wrong, it may
also be totally right, mostly likely some of each. But either way, it
isn't important really. My opinion is just that, mine! So make your
own. Enjoy the heck out of it.

If someone truly disturbs you by their opinion, be it positive or
negative, then please use the Ignore function available on the board.
Then you can just pretend that person and their opinion does not
exist.

Should it cross the line into personal attacks either on the board or
in board IM's, please notify one of the mods or me and we will handle
it.

Outside the board, there is not much we can do about someone’s
postings unless it moves in to the realm of threats of physical
harm. Sadly, it has in the past. If the threat is directed at
anyone here, we can take it to law enforcement for proper action even
if it is meant as a joke. We no longer bother with taking it to the
board owners or their ISP’s. Both proved to be a waste of time and
effort in the past. Please do not bombard me with emails about Free
Speech. Yes, you have free speech, you do not have the right to yell
fire in a crowded theatre, you do not have the right to make threats
or encourage others to do so. Think about if you would want someone
to make a similar threat against someone you know and if you would
think it funny. All I can say if you do, you have a strange sense of
humor and I don’t get it.

As my final word on the topic, I offer the following two quotes from
Salman Rushdie:

It is very, very easy not to be offended by a book. You just have to
shut it.

Be sure that you go to the author to get at his meaning, not to find
yours.


Amazon’s Best Of 2007
------------------------------------------------------------------
Both The Harlequin and A Lick Of Frost made the top 10 list! Whoo hoo!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_19830_7361460_as_txt_28/?
docId=1000159331


T-shirt Sale
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sale! $5 off all Comic Con shirts, $2 off all Brett Booth shirts.
Why? Because I want to do more shirts and cannot till we have room!
Also, end of the year means inventory. I hate counting em. So please
buy some!
http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/Goodies.html



Holiday Ordering
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you’re ordering from the fan club. You must order by 12/10/07 to
get it by the holidays in the US. I am not going to give you a date
for foreign, because of Customs it varies from country to country.
But figure at least 2 weeks minimum.

If you order from the Café Shop, www.cafeshops.com/lkhprem, be sure
to check the web for coupons and deals for Café Press. They are
available codes all over. So save some cash!



Release Dates
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Blood Noir will be out June 3, 2008.
The Harlequin will be out in paperback 4/28/08.


False Rumors
--------------------------------------------------------------
For some of you this will be a repeat. But the rumor has again
surfaced, which it does periodically and emails are coming in asking
about it.

No we are not launching lawsuits against sites that hosts fanfic or
RPG’s. We do not have a cadre of lawyers scouring the ‘net for
offenders.

Some of the sites who host such things have asked for permission and
been denied. They then chose to remove them. If you need a reason
why, here it is (taken from the message board):

It is true, we say NO to fanfic. The question of why comes up often.
So here below is the reason. I have also listed the sites where the
info came from it you want to look at all of it yourself.

Some of the fanfic sites require the originating author to give
permission. When asked, they receive a polite no letter. We have
never sicced a cadre of lawyers on fanfic sites as some rumor we do.
Nor do we comb the Internet looking for fanfic. No one here ever
reads fanfic. Of any sort. Mostly we are too busy to do so and it
holds no interest.

(Personally, my TBR pile is huge and I don't like reading on screen.
There is something about holding a book in my hand, curled in bed
with a cup of hot chocolate that is almost magical to me. )

As far as we know, no court has yet ruled on fanfic legality under
the Copyright Act. I know there are many "Internet" lawyers out there
positive it is okay to do. But they are not judges and their opinions
have no legal standing. In fact, many copyright lawyers have no doubt
that fanfic is simply an unauthorized – and therefore infringing –
derivative work that takes without permission the originating
author’s plots, characters and other copyright-protected literary
elements. In any event, until a court ruling comes down that clearly
states one way or another, we will go with the blanket no policy.
Laurell is not the only author to have this policy. Many do now due
to the situation cited below.

MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY

She created the planet of Darkover as a setting for her own series,
writing a large number of Darkover stories as a solo author and later
collaborating with other authors to produce Darkover anthologies,
where once again she encouraged story submissions from unpublished
authors. For a time, Bradley actively encouraged fan fiction within
the Darkover universe, but this came to an end following a dispute
with a fan over an unpublished Darkover novel of Bradley's that had
similarities to some of the fan's stories. As a result, the novel
remained unpublished, and Bradley demanded the cessation of all
Darkover fan fiction. The Darkover novels may be considered fantasy
with science fiction overtones or science fiction with fantasy
overtones, as Darkover was a lost earth colony where psi powers had
developed to an unusual degree.

US COPYRIGHT LAW
Also noteworthy is the series of Darkover anthologies published by
Marion Zimmer Bradley, beginning in 1980, consisting largely of fan
fiction extended into her canon. At the time, the intent was to make
Darkover a shared universe similar to the Cthulhu Mythos. The author
eventually discontinued these after a 1992skirmish with a fan who
claimed authorship of a book identical to one Bradley had published
and accused Bradley of "stealing" the idea. The resultant lawsuit
cost Bradley a book, and her attorney advised against permitting fan
fiction of any kind. This incident is credited by some to have led to
a "zero tolerance" policy on the part of a number of other
professional authors, including Andre Norton, David Weber, and
Mercedes Lackey.
From Wikipedia

An excerpt from a letter to the editor of "Writer's Digest", March,
1993. The letter was written by Marion Zimmer Bradley:
". . .While in the past I have allowed fans to 'play in my yard,' I
was forced to stop that practice last summer when one of the fans
wrote a story, using my world and my characters, that overlapped the
setting I was using for my next _Darkover_ novel. Since she had sent
me a copy of her fanzine, and I had read it, my publisher will not
publish my novel set during that time period, and I am now out
several years' work, as well as the cost of inconvenience of having a
lawyer deal with this matter.
"Because this occurred just as I was starting to read for this year's
_Darkover_ anthology, that project was held up for more than a month
while the lawyer drafted a release to accompany any submissions and a
new contract, incorporating the release. I do not know at present if
I shall be doing any more _Darkover_ anthologies.
"Let this be a warning to other authors who might be tempted to be
similarly generous with their universes, I know now why Arthur Conan
Doyle refused to allow anyone to write about Sherlock Holmes. I
wanted to be more accommodating, but I don't like where it has gotten
me. It's enough to make anyone into a misanthrope."

http://www.fanworks.org/writersresou...ne&authorid=53

You too can hunt up articles that are far more extensive on the issue
through any of the search engines.


Upcoming Things
----------------------------------------------------------------------

It really should say Upcoming Things I can talk about!
Our annual Holiday Auction for three charities: Granite City APA,
Midwest Pug Rescue and The American Juvenile Diabetes Foundation

Got more in the works we hope to announce soonest!


That’s it for this bit! Hope everyone is having an enjoyable weekend.
Darla

Thanksgiving Re-Cap

So yesterday was Thanksgiving Day in the US. The official start of the "Holiday Season" here, and boy are my arms tired. No wait. Wrong line. Sorry.

Any way. Thanksgiving, we spent with my family, over at my mom's place. Aunts, uncles, and cousins all gathering to eat my step-dad's turkey and dressing. Oh, and my bread.

Yep, you read it right, my bread. I baked two loaves of bred for thanksgiving. No bread machine, only the counter top and a mixing bowl. I made Anadama bread, which is a molasses and corn meal bread. Both loaves are now gone. Everyone loved the bread and ate all of it.

I got the recipe out of a cook book that we got this summer while on our family vacation to Philadelphia. Its a colonial recipe, and there's a reason it's stuck around for this long. Its a nice heavy, sweet bread, but not soo sweet that it tastes like a pastery.

Yes, I'm talking about cooking, and for those of you who don't know, I do most of the cooking in the house. I enjoy it, and I'm actually pretty good at it. Laurell would say that its "just one of the many things I do well." After seven years together, I' beginning to believe her when she says things like that.

Anyway, Here's to everyone in the US: Hope you have a enjoyable Thanksgiving. Everyone else: Here's to a pleasant weekend.

Love and hate

The blog last night ended with me saying that writers either end up hating their creations or loving them. I prefer love. I took a lesson from two of the most important mystery writers, ever. Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie. Their books are still in print decades after their deaths. Movies and television shows are still being made from their literary work. By any standard you care to use, almost, they were successful in their field. They both hated the character that made them successful.

Arthur Conan Doyle so hated Sherlock Holmes that he killed him off. He never intended to bring Holmes back. He thought that Holmes and the good Dr. Watson, took attention from his more important historical novels. He wanted to be rid of the great detective. So, why bring him back? Money. He was offered enough money that he couldn't turn it down, and nothing else he wrote ever reached the popularity of Sherlock Holmes.

Agatha Christie said in interviews that she based Hercule Poirot on a man she saw in a restaurant. A stranger to her, that was irritating from the moment she saw him. She never liked Poirot, apparently. Now, I can't imagine sitting down to write a book with a main character that you know, from the get-go, you don't like. Writing is hard work, writing a novel is a lot of hard work. Writing a book where you don't enjoy the company of the main character from the moment you begin, well, that's like going on a year long around the world cruise in the company of some one you can't stand. Yeah, the trip may be nice, but having to do conversation with someone who bores, or irritates you, makes the journey not half so nice. A boring day can be made interesting by the right company. A wonderful day can be ruined by the wrong company. Christie started her journey with a character that she disliked, and her dislike of him grew over the years.

Okay there are spoilers below about Poirot, so if you are fresh to the books, then stop now. Spoiler alert!!!


Her dislike of him grew so large that she wrote a black book.


What's a black book? A book where a writer kills off the major character, or otherwise pretty much destroys the franchise. She wrote the book, put it away, and dictated that it only be published after her own death, but it was actually published just before her death. She knew how well this book would go over with her fans, and she didn't want to be around to hear the roar. Having muscled through this book, I don't blame her for not wanting to have to defend her choice. CURTAIN is a hateful book, where she strips Poirot of everything that ever made him happy, or good. She makes him loose his hair, cripples him with arthritis so that he is wheel chair bound, and makes him the murderer. No other mystery writer that I'm aware of has ever so destroyed their own creation.

As I said, at the beginning of this blog, I took a lesson from Doyle and Christie. I decided that if I was going to create a series character that it would be someone I liked. Someone that I could have a cup of coffee with, or see being friends with. I accomplished that, twice. I think I'd have a greater chance of being close friends with Anita than Merry, but I like them both. I respect them both. I enjoy their company on paper. Heck, I enjoy the company of their friends. I have not just created main characters that I like, but a supporting cast of people that make me happy to go to work.

Writing is hard, and a series writer has a harder time of it, in some ways. What amused us, or intrigued us, at the beginning of a series often seems to grow stale for many writers. They don't hate their main characters as much as Doyle and Christie did, but they fall out of love with them. It shows in the writing, even if the series continues, there is a spark missing. It is like falling out of love. The things that were mere trifles when you loved them, become huge irritations when you don't. Or what you will tolerate when in love, can be a deal breaker when the affection is past.

I'm lucky, but as with much good luck, I laid a ground work for it. I planned my world and my main characters, and the supporting cast, to entertain and be important to me. Where the real luck that you can't plan for comes in is that so many other people are entertained and feel connecting to my characters, my books, and my world. Finding an audience is something you can't plan for, only hope for. I am lucky that what interests me, interests you guys.

So, I'm still in love with my Anita and the gang, and I'm falling more in love with Merry and her men with ever book. If I were the master plotter that Christie was, then I don't think love would enter into it. No one plots mysteries like her, still to this day, if you want a puzzle, then she's the patron saint of mystery twist and turn. But her characters are pieces of her puzzles, and don't seem real to her, in my humble opinion. Because if Poirot had been as real to her, as Anita is to me, then she could not have done what she did to him. No way.

If Arthur Conan Doyle had felt that Sherlock Holmes was as real to him, as Merry is to me, he could not have killed him off once, just because he wanted to stop writing the stories. When it comes time to stop Merry's stories, years from now, I want to know she's alive and well, and living happily ever after. Like an old friend whose moved away, you still know they are out there, and a phone call will put you back in touch.

My plots are not as clean as Christies, and not the puzzles of either her, or Doyle. My plots are messy with characters, and sometimes the mystery gets a little lost in the interactions, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Life is big and messy, and exciting, and scary. I want my books the same way.

Secret Santa Contest

Secret Santa is a contest for you and a friend.


The winners will receive two signed LKH books. Don't know which two I will send you, just that it will be two. Your assignment as a Secret Santa is to give one away to someone. Preferably someone who is not yet a fan.
Okay, I told you what to do with one, but what about the second? That one is a gift for you, the Santa. Hey even Santa gets goodies!
Enter at the link below:

http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/SecretSantaContest.html

The new office in the dark

I finally know my new office enough to come up in the dark, and be typing this in the dark. Okay, except for the computer screen which is alight. But I know this room now. I have to admit that I missed my old office for awhile, and autumn is a wonderful time in my old room. There is a beautiful Sweet Gum outside the window. In the fall it glows yellow, and fills the room with golden light on sunny days. But when we got back from our working vacation I walked into my new office, and was so happy to see this space. I no longer remember which book I was in the middle of when I had to move offices, just that I hated moving in mid-stride. I think it was a Merry book. I think it was MISTRAL'S KISS, no. I did KISS in the new office. It was DANSE MACABRE that I was in the middle of, when we moved, so an Anita book. Or am I wrong again? I simply can't remember. Either DANSE was in process, or it was the first book I completed over here. I know I began DANSE MACABRE over in the old office, because it was the book I was working on when MICAH interrupted me, and demanded to be written. I know that MICAH was written in the old office.

I know for certain that THE HARLEQUIN was begun and finished here in the new office. I'm almost certain that MISTRAL'S KISS was new office. A LICK OF FROST, the latest Merry book, was most definitely the new office. BLOOD NOIR, out next June, was new office. Whatever book I was in mid-stride with, whether DANSE MACABRE, or A STROKE OF MIDNIGHT. Four and half books, and the office is mine, at last.

It's always been a beautiful room. An amazing space, in that architectural kind of way. It was the office of my dreams, but it wasn't home. Home was the smaller room where I'd written for five years, or was it six? That room had been home in a way that no other office had been. I think, because for the first time, I was truly happy, truly content, in the other parts of my life. There had been years when my writing was one of the few things that was working in my life. Now, suddenly, the writing and my life were both good. It was a nice change.

But now, I think I've finally got the office the way I want it. The way that feels right, and let's me work to the best of my ability. I have space to stretch out. I have light and air, and a view. The trees have been gorgeous this year from my windows.

I've written when the only space I had to call my own was part of a kitchen table. My first writing desk was a typewriter stand in my childhood bedroom. My first computer desk I shared with my first husband, who was a serious computer geek. I could only write on the computer when he wasn't using it to play games. Admittedly, I preferred to work in the mornings and he preferred to play at night. So it wasn't as big a conflict as it sounds, but it also wasn't my computer, or my desk. I had to share, and so did he. The computer desk was against one wall in the dining room/kitchen of our tiny Los Angeles apartment. When we moved to St. Louis, then I got the second bedroom of our apartment as my writing room, though, we still had to share the computer. But I thought of it as my office.

Then the first house, and I got a room and a computer all my own. But it wasn't quite right. I spent a lot of time at the kitchen table, or out at restaurants. I wrote most of OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY, Anita number nine, at the St. Louis Bread Company nearest that first house.

Then, many life changes later, Jon, Trinity, and I, moved into this house. I got to paint the room the color I wanted, and have, at long last, a room that I could do anything with, and no one would protest. I was finally with someone that I knew wouldn't think I was weird no matter what I decided to do. Frankly, my offices are pretty mundane looking. One friend said, it was the emptiest work space he'd ever seen. I try to put in the office only things about the writing, the work, other wise I get distracted. It's why one of my desks always faces a blank wall. Some days my concentration can't be near a window or I'll look out, and not inward, and thus, no writing gets done.

Then there was the great addition, and I finally could help design the office of my dreams. The only thing I might change, is I might have put a small balcony out side the office so I could put bird feeders outside my windows without risking life and limb to fill the feeders. But the outside of the room is so lovely, such nice lines, and I think the feeder area would have spoiled that. So, really, the only thing I'm missing from my dream is an ocean view. It's St. Louis, MO, we're a few million years late for the ocean here. A lake would have done, but, the original part of the house which we fell in love with is far from a lake. But the trees are lovely, and I can't complain.

But, this lovely room, wasn't mine, at first. Now, as I move around all my things in the dark, it is mine. An office, for me, is as personal as a bedroom. Just as you learn how your partner's sleeping body feels in the dark as you slip in beside them, so you learn the nooks and crannies of a room. You learn the feel of the desks, the chairs, the shelves where the books pile high, and the nick-knacks sit. I know this room now. I can run my hands over it in the dark, put my body in any chair, navigate around the sharp corners, and find where I need to be, without turning on a light. I know this room in the dark, and maybe because of how personal I feel about my characters, how real they seem to me, I feel about this room almost like a lover. If that sounds weird, so be it. What I mean, by lover, is the physicality of this room makes me happy. Being in it, being near it, touching the things in it, make me feel safe and cared for, and gazing up at the walls of sticky notes sparks my imagination like staring into the eyes of someone who makes every inch of your skin react to just a glance. Let other writers do their cold out lines, and manipulate their characters like puppets. I write with nerves and emotion. I waste tears on my characters, and laughter, and smiles, and love.

Eventually, you have to love what you write, or hate it. I prefer love.

Laundry fairy, where are you?

It's our first Sunday morning back since our working vacation. I actually had to ask Jon last night if we only got back into town on Tuesday, like this last Tuesday. It seems like we've been home longer. It seems like this should be at least our second weekend home, but it's not.

I've got the house to myself and the dogs. Both Trinity and Jon are still up stairs asleep, though I'll be waking Jon soon. He always requests a wake up call if I get up earlier than he does. Trinity is getting older so she can sleep in, besides she finished all her homework yesterday, which means she gets to sleep in, she's earned it.

So I sit in the silence. The loudest noise is the refrigerator nearby, which has acquired a rattling hum. You only hear it when the kitchen is majorly quiet, but it has become progressively louder over the months I've noticed it. We're going to have to get a new fridge, I fear. Since it's a built-in, it just seems like too much hassle, but better to replace before it goes, then after. The dish washer also needs a refit. Can you tel that these are all things that came with the house when we bought it? We've replaced the microwave already, but it's like the march of doom. One appliance goes and it's just a matter of time.

We could go shopping for appliances today. We already have one thing on the schedule for Trinity's school. But I don't really want to shop for appliances. I want to sip my cup of tea and be still and enjoy the silence. Oh, the noise in the fridge has stopped, and now the loudest thing is the soft clacking of the computer keys. Cool. But appliance shopping is like grocery shopping, you can put it off, but eventually the point of diminishing return gets to be pretty high. You have nothing to cook for dinner, or your dishes didn't get washed, or the thing floods, or the fridge just goes one night and you wake up to ruined food. Darn, I guess I have to be a grown-up. We should go appliance shopping.

Once upon a time I thought if I was successful enough that stuff like appliance shopping would no longer apply. As if a certain level of success would magically make all the petty, mundane, chores go away. When I sold my first book I was in the middle of folding laundry. I got off the phone and the laundry was still there, waiting to be folded. The laundry fairy had not come with her magic wand just because I had accomplished one of my major life goals. I'd sold a book, but I still had to fold the laundry. When my agent, Merrilee, told me of my first really big deal, I was again in the middle of laundry. Again, no laundry fairy showed up, so I had to do it. But it seemed wrong somehow, as if such amazing news should let me out of domestic duty.

The first person I hired about eight, or maybe nine years ago, now, was Sherry. She is our Chief of Domestic Operations; CDO. I'm off laundry duty now, and a lot of other domestic stuff that I always sucked at. The older I get the more I admire people who can make order out of chaos. I can do that on paper, but in a room, or a house, I'm pretty useless. I'm the guy; you know I never notice there's dust on the window shades. Sherry has trained us up some so that we pick up after ourselves better, but Jon and I are both cluttery people. My office is always my neatest room. My work space is organized. But the rest is a constant challenge, mostly to Sherry.

People ask me what is the best thing about my success. They want some high minded reason. But I think in honesty, the two best things, are being able to have someone else do the domestic bit, and having money so that if my kid needs anything she can have it. That comes from being raised below the poverty line. I remember when growing out of pair of shoes as a child, was a true hardship on the family budget. I think Trinity has more shoes that fit her now, then I did during my entire childhood. She's always liked shoes. But she can have more than one pair of tennis shoes, and more than one pair of dress shoes, and then there's boots. Does it seem weird that looking into my daughter's closet helps me realize how far I've come?

The Seventh Merry book has begun

Seventeen pages today. It's the start of Merry #7. I've begun the debate with everyone in New York on what the title will be. I'll let you guys know when the title is solid.

I knew I needed more vacations; more time off. I was feeling so burned out before Jon and I left, that I thought I'd need weeks, or months of recoup time, but seven days was enough. At the end of it, Jon and I were ready to come home and eager to get back in our routine. My friend Shawn, yes the policeman, says, that being ready to come home and eager to go back to work means you have had just the right amount of vacation.

We enjoyed England five years ago, and Jon and I loved Italy, two years ago, but I think part of the challenge for me with both trips is the flying phobia. Each European trip ended with eight, or more hours on a plane. I think it takes the edge off my relaxing. But also, Italy, especially, was business. Jon and I had only three days; one in Milan, and two in Rome, to do none-businessy stuff. We loved meeting our Italian and British publishers. The Italians really took good care of us for our stay. The Brits only got to see us briefly, since England was a family vacation, and we protected that fact from getting too business oriented. The trip to Italy was primarily a business trip, with only a little vacation stuck in, which meant we put business first and pleasure second. It's why the trip to England was a vacation and the trip to Italy was not. Both had some lovely relaxing moments, but the orientation was different.

I think, unless I get my phobia of airplanes well in hand, that I need a vacation within the continental United States. I'm still hoping for more European trips, but I think it's the plane that just takes the shine off the happy for me. Damn phobias. I am getting better, really. But there's better, and then there's okay with more than eight hours on an airplane. That better, I'm not.

I had one of those weekends that women get. When I was full of ideas for what we could do today. Errands, tasks, all that busy work that you don't do during the week. But I knew why the mood, because I had just taken off the most time I'd taken off in the last oh, twenty years. So, I was almost frantic with needing to 'DO' something. But Trinity wanted a lazy Saturday, which means relaxing around the house. She's been at school, which is her work, all week. She's allowed time off. Jon wanted to sit at his computer and veg today. Only I wanted to WORK.

They would have done what I wanted. I could have made them both do errands and all sorts of workie things. But, I explained my mood to Jon, and told him, "I'm going to take my mood to my office and use it there." He thanked me, both for understanding my mood and using it to good purpose that didn't involve him or the kiddo. So, they get to do what they want this Saturday, and I get to do what I want. My mood wasn't about certain goals, or tasks, it was about any goal, any task. I just had to accomplish something. And I did. Seventeen pages for the first time I have sat down to Merry #7. I started by typing in the notes I made on the plane ride home, but have far exceeded the notes.

When you sit down the first time out of the box, and get this many pages, the book is ready to go. Merry's voice is clear in my head like a bell. The men; Doyle, Rhys, and Sholto on stage so far, are working. I'm having a little trouble with Sholto, but then he hasn't been in every book, so he doesn't talk as clearly in my head. But we'll fix that, either in this book, or the next. Yeah, we'll fix it.

I listened to my usual music today. Everything from Hoobastank, Revis, to Evanescence. But I'm writing this blog to Christmas music. One, I'm tired, and two, my muse was going, aren't we done? When your muse begins to whine, and she's been so very good, I got out the Yuletide songs to get my muse and me through just a little more writing. Besides, the album is too fun. It's AN EVEN SCARIER SOLSTICE from the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. So many fun parodies of favorite Christmas songs, but I think my favorite has got to be, "Harley Got Devoured by the Undead," which is based on, "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,", it's just too much fun.

They've also put music to a Lovecraft poem, "A Brumalian Wish." Lovecraft for the holidays. Ho, ho, ho.

My muse is letting me know that if I want her to show up tomorrow, I need to stop now. So that's it from me today. A good start, no, a wonderful beginning.

Getting back into the swing, and Amazon news

It's Christmas music this afternoon. Any of you that read the blog on a regular basis know what that means. The writing is not going that well. I know, I know, I'm not suppose to actually be writing anything new. But I have notes from the research trip to write up, and the edits on Blood Noir. Some of the choreography of the action scenes has changed now that I've been on the ground and walked around where Jason grew up. You can plan all you want, but once you get on location the plan has to change because what works in your head doesn't work when you have a hard reality to walk around in, and on. But the changes aren't that major. Since I put the book in about a month early, I actually have plenty of time to do the edits. But since this last week and some change is the longest I've gone without making actual pages, I just had to make pages today. I couldn't help it. So why the Christmas music?

Because I have so many ideas ready to go that I was stymied as to what to choose first. I mean yes the rewrite of BLOOD NOIR is due first, but Merry #7 is due soon enough that starting it would be helpful. I know the first scene, so I thought if the book is ready then why not get a jump? Of course, I now have two Anita books that are pretty much ready to be written at the same time. I mean new ones. I had hoped that getting out and seeing new sights would refresh me and inspire my muse, but even to me it's an embarrassment of riches. So much ready to write that I actually didn't know which one to pick.

I finally decided to let my imagination choose whichever seemed most fun at the moment. I've never done that before, but then I don't remember the last time I had this many things pushing around in my head ready to be committed to paper. I actually got my minimum page count of four today. I think the pages aren't the next Anita book after BLOOD NOIR, but probably the book after that. Talk about getting a jump on things.

Oh, and of the top selling Fantasy and Science Fiction on Amazon.com, I have number two and number eight. Number two is THE HARLEQUIN, and number eight, is A LICK OF FROST. I thought FROST did really well since it hadn't been out very long at all. We might have gotten even higher if we'd had more time to be counted. But either way to have both my books for 2007 on the top ten was pretty, darn, cool. My understanding is that it's based on orders on Amazon. THE HARLEQUIN was number 81 over all in the top one hundred. Considering that most of the books ahead of me were diet, cook book, self-help, and political books, I was pretty happy. There is fiction ahead of me on the top one hundred, yes. There are writers listed who I'm still using as role models for what I want my print runs to be, or my sales to be. There's always room for improvement, no matter how well you're doing. Okay, maybe not if your J. K. Rowling, but short of her numbers, there's always up to go.

Back to work

My muse has fled to warmer climates. We just got back from walking the dogs and I needed ear muffs, or at least a hat. I didn't have either. The wind was that kind of cold that just goes right through you. According to James Herriot it was a lazy wind. So lazy that it went through you, instead of around you.

We spent yesterday going over contracts for various foreign publishers, and such. Lot's of comic stuff to look at; everything from new script, to checking new art with old script, and colors. I have to say that the comic stuff piles up faster than anything else. It clamours for attention like the proverbial squeaky wheel. We have to keep perspective between the immediate demands and the long term goals.

There was a lot of busy work to catch up on.

Long term means novels, for the most part. Today, I'm hoping to type up the notes from the trip, or begin to type up. The next Merry book is also moving liquid in my head, and I typed up more on the plane coming in, so I think I may actually start with that in the morning, and the Anita rewrite in the afternoon. Of course, I still have a half dozen phone calls to make. We have allergy shots. If we miss them we'll be back to having to go every week for awhile instead of every five weeks once. So, no skipping those. Darn it. So, I may not get to both Merry and Anita today. We'll see how quickly everything goes.

The to do list looks something like this:

1. phone calls, at least five. I'll list them and prioritize. Either by time sensitivity, emergency level, or pleasure level. Do I want to talk to this person. Hey, it can be a deciding factor.
2. rewrite of Blood Noir to incorporate research trip.
3. rewrite of Blood Noir to incorporate notes from my editor and me. Just stuff I knew would need fixing.
4. notes from research trip to type up and organize for the new Anita book.
5. new Anita book, either short or long, that needs to be out there before the out of town book that we got inspiration for from our trip. I want to at least begin organizing notes for that.
6. New Merry book, need to organize notes for that, and at least make a start.
7. Fan club newsletter essay. I have no idea what to write.

There, I think that covers it. There's probably more that I've forgotten, or the list just looked long enough. I'll never get to all of it today. The allergy shots will sink a lot of time. But somethings are just necessary.

I'm off for a second cup of tea. I don't want to go back out into the cold until my ears warm up. I think living in St. Louis for the last twenty years has thinned my blood out. When I lived in Northern Indiana I'd have shrugged off today as merely pleasantly brisk. I'm becoming a weather wimp, oh no.

LKH Bit 11/14/07

WOLF SANCTUARY CHARITY AUCTION, A LICK OF FROST PROMOTIONS WINNERS,
SIGMUND GETS A TATTOO, RELEASE DATES, INTERVIEW, A LICK OF FROST, T-SHIRT SALE

WOLF SANCTUARY CHARITY AUCTION
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Hi all! We have item for auction for Wild Canid Survival and Research Center aka The Wolf Sanctuary in St. Louis Missouri in our continuing quest to raise funds for them. (Check out Wolf Sanctuary at www.wolfsanctuary.org)

On October 17, 2007 Laurell and the Sanctuary held a special Wolf Howl to raise funds for the Sanctuary. Laurell read the first 34 pages of Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Book 16: Blood Noir. Blood Noir will be released June 3, 2008. Laurell has donated those manuscript pages that she read from at the Howl, she also signed the first page!

This is a one of kind item. We will not be offering any more manuscript pages from this book. This would make a unique and fun gift for your favorite Anita fan for the holidays as well as help out a truly outstanding charity.

As always, the fan club will pick up the shipping for the winning bidder. We reserve the right to ship it how ever is most reasonable.

Winning bidder may pay via check, money order (preferred) or Paypal. Check or money order should be made out directly to Wild Canid Survival And Research Center.

Thanks for looking and happy bidding!

Search by item number: 140179400971

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140179400971


A LICK OF FROST PROMOTIONS WINNERS
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The books have been mailed to our winners!

Rachel B of Oregon
Inga E of Latvia
Glory P of the Phillipines
Mary B of Tennessee
Shari G of Texas
Tina L of Washington
Kimberly W of New Jersey


SIGMUND GETS A TATTOO
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http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/Photos/SigmundOnVacation/SigmundTattoo.html

Thanks Britany for sharing!

RELEASE DATES
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The Harlequin paperback - April 29, 2008
Blood Noir hardback June 3, 2008

INTERVIEW
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Coffee Time Romance Interview
http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Interviews/LaurellKHamilton.html

A LICK OF FROST
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Debuted at 2 on the NY Times List,Publisher's Weekly -- 2. USA Today -- 6. Barnes & Noble -- 2. Borders -- 3. Booksense -- 12.



T-SHIRT SALE

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Sale! $5 off all Comic Con shirts, $2 off all Brett Booth shirts.
Why? Because I want to do more shirts and cannot till we have room! Also, end of the year means inventory. I hate counting em. So please buy some!
http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/Goodies.html

That's it for this bit!

Darla

A working vacation, so that's how it works

So this is what a vacation is supposed to feel like, relaxed. Or rather I'm supposed to feel relaxed at the end of it. I've been on vacations before, both as a child, and an adult, and I've never really felt this. Okay, the last time was the trip to England which is about five years ago. But even then the eight hour and some plane trip loomed and took some of the fun out of it. Hell, that's not even true. I was ready to go home. I was homesick. We loved England but Jon and I felt the same way.

What made this vacation different for me? Work. It was a working vacation. I wasn't suddenly thrust from working as hard as I could to being told, don't work. Changing gears that abruptly throws me. It makes me feel itchy and uncomfortable. But this was work, and so I had goals, things to accomplish. Of course, my goals had to totally change once we got on the ground due to a lot of things. So, for a few days when it looked like this trip wasn't working for work, I had to let go and just try to enjoy the down time until we could figure something else out. Then, when I let it go, it began to work.

The motto for this trip has been, "What a pleasant surprise." Most of the nice stuff both work and fun has been unplanned, or so different from the original plan that it might as well be something else. But it's all worked. It's all been fun, even the not fun parts. I got an entire book idea out of the worst room and the worst noise. An entire new book idea, that I wouldn't have gotten if the plans had gone the way that I wanted. Heck, we wouldn't have been here for a week if they weren't spraying our house for spiders. I've always tried to go for less time, five days tops on vacation (except for England) and I think five days isn't enough. Seven is about right. It gives me a few days to fight the whole relaxing thing, and be grumpy, then a few days to enjoy, then a day or so to get back in the saddle for work. Seven days, like most people take. I always try to short change myself on rest and relaxation, but damnit, even I need it.

We've enjoyed the trip. We have our research done on the ground, for now. There may be another trip in future, but not for BLOOD NOIR, for the next Anita book. I'm pretty sure this is the next one. Though there's an idea in the middle that maybe a smaller book, or even a smaller story. Not sure. I may write it because I want to know what happens, not because it's under contract. An interesting concept that.

We've enjoyed the trip, but we are both eager to get home. We've missed Trinity. We've missed our house, our stuff, our routine. We saw a woman walking a pug today and you would have thought we both had lost about twenty points of intelligence right off the top, the way we oohed and ahhed. We miss our dogs. So, we feel better, more rested, did good work, and we're ready to go home. I am looking as forward to going home as I was to leaving on the trip. A working vacation, it just works for me.

Portland and Today

We got to ride the train from Seattle to Portland. It's actually a type of transport that I don't seem to be afraid of. Cool. It was sunny and beautiful for the trip, which all the natives to the area said was highly unusual for November.

The signing was at Powell's Books. The crowd was large, spilling out into the mall for the question and answer session. I got a lot of what I got at Seattle, which is so glad I was back in the Northwest after so many years away. We had a lot of fine artists making us pictures as gifts. It was all Merry art, actually. I still haven't got all the Anita art up at home, where am I going to put it all? A lovely problem to have though.

It was amazing energy in Portland, a lot of questions, a lot of just . . . people energy. A lot of pictures were taken, and I did have to ice my arm this time. I'd been doing pretty well, but it was the fourth signing. One of the things that saved me from having to ice sooner was that for the first time I got a day, or so, scheduled between events. That helped my injured arm recoup. We signed for a little over five hours. The bookstore employees, who were real troopers, though our picture person kept changing, asked, "Is it always like this?" We had to say, "Yeah." Five hours was because I pushed it. I didn't try and conserve my arm, because I knew there was no event tomorrow, and, in fact, this was it. It allowed me to push my limits and get us all out of there sooner. Though some of you guys were disappointed I didn't ice up a second time since I did more Q & A during the icing. Greedy.

By the time we finished it took both Jon and Charles to get my arm in my jacket. Eek. But, more ice, and before bedtime that night I could move. I tried something different this tour, and tried to change how I sign my name. The actual movement of my arm. It helped save my injured part, but left things higher up, strangely more tired and sore. It was still an improvement. So, those of you who got the big, loopy signature, that was what was going on. It hurts less.

Today is our last day here in the Nameless City, that I'll blog about when we get home. We're making a list of last minute research still to do, though one of the buildings we most wanted to go to is closed today. Bother. But we had another interesting meal at an Irish pub this time. This is the longest I've gone, maybe ever, without writing to make pages. Okay, longest in over twenty years. It felt weird at first to not be actively working. I noticed that the blogs were getting longer and chattier, and some of my e-mails have been enormous. The writing has to go somewhere, I guess. Which proves to me that some of you guys who want to write use up the steam you need on blogs, e-mails, letters. Writing is writing, and if you do too much of one kind it takes heat away from the other. Or, it does for me.

I'm going to go and check our list of research. I've checked it twice already, but you know me there are always more alternatives for my list than just naughty or nice.

Better this morning

Morning, and a little sleep helps brighten the mood. Thanks for people who wrote in and suggested we try local watering holes to find the charm. We had already discovered the local coffee house. Excellent coffee. When Jon and are home, we'll get to blog about all the actual cool places we've seen, but for now, mum's the word.

Thanks to the people who have recognized us, and not gotten on the internet and outted where we are. We really appreciate that. Thanks for just being cool, talking quietly to us, and letting us go our way. Those that just nodded and and got that little twinkle in your eye, hey to you, too, and thanks.

We have a great view this morning. It's sunny, cold, but not too cold. We're off to drive the routes, and see the sights, and see if we can get a tour of a few places. Then back to our main city for this research. I finally think I understand what John Grisham meant when he said in interviews that he picked a city he wanted to visit then set a book there. When I first heard it, I thought, how cold blooded, how un-muse-driven, but now I think I understand.

I came into a city and it wasn't Jason's home town, at all. Totally different than I thought, so Jon and I had to drive out and find that town. But the originally city we stopped in has given me an idea. A completely new idea for Anita. It's a zombie idea. It might even have both Manny and Larry coming in to back her up. How cool is that? If we had not gotten into the 'wrong' city, stayed in the 'wrong' hotel room, in that mess, the idea wouldn't have found me. Proof that two wrongs can indeed make a right.

I think I understand that Grisham meant he was confident enough that whatever city he landed in, if he'd done some preliminary research, that his muse and he would find a story to put there. For the first time, ever, I get that. My imaginary friends and I play well enough together that we can find friends anywhere. Almost anywhere. There are always exceptions.

This is a working trip. I'm finalizing stuff for BLOOD NOIR, and I'll be laying the ground work for another different book. But in between the work, I've also been able to relax some. In fact, if the trip had gone according to plan I probably wouldn't have relaxed as much, just worked more. Because so much didn't go right, I had to adapt, improvise, and finally overcome. Charles was the one who gave me the Marine motto, when I was being all gloomy about my plans going awry. Adapt, improvise, overcome. Or, at the very least, enjoy yourself. (No, Charles is not ex-marine, he's ex-army.)

Adapting to change is not my best thing, but I'm working at it. This morning Jon's breakfast came, but not mine. I didn't freak, or even have a moment's pause, it seems par for the course on this trip. They had given us two tea's, so I told him, "Eat, I'll drink my tea while it's hot and look out at the mountains." Which is exactly what I did. Breakfast came, I got to eat, it was all good. If the fact that I didn't let that small thing ruin my mood seems like, well, of course, then you don't know anyone as high strung as I am. Moody, uncompromising, perfectionistic to the point of driving everyone around me to their best efforst, or else. But I'm learning to let it go a little.

I realized that the last time I took this much time off from actual writing, and my actual life, was over twenty years ago. Before Jon, before Trinity, before I actually sold anything as a writer. Work-aholoic, who me?

Happy Veteren's Day

We slept in this morning and got to eat breakfast looking out our hotel window at the Veteren's Day parade for the city we're in. It was a nice parade, full of uniforms, flags, waving crowds, classic cars, some amazing motorcycles, and heroes. You think hero is too old-fashioned a word, or too simple for such complicated times? I don't. There were men in the cars that had gotten their medals in older wars, when people didn't debate why we were doing what we were doing. Frankly, whatever I believe polticially, if someone is willing to strap on a uniform, and weapons to defend my constitution then hero covers it. I hear that it doesn't feel very heroioc over there. It feels scared, and dangerous, and so many things. But hug a Vet today, and remember that when push comes to shove they are who and what we have standing between us and the other guys.

I feel the same way about the police, too, but today was for the Vets. Do we have a police day? Or a fireman day? Should we have? These are all the people who start running towards the trouble, while the rest of us run the other way. That counts for something in my book, both fictionally, and in real life.

Jon and I are at a different hotel in a different city. We're in Jason's town, or close to it. We'll be driving the route that he and Anita take in the book and try to get land marks tomorrow. I also have to decide how many real locations to use and how many sort of real ones. My rule is that if nothing bad happens, we use real life, but if something bad happens, then I usually put it on a real streat or a real location, but just not quite findable.

I'm to bed guys. It's been a wonderful day, exciting, and helpful research-wise, but tiring.

Merry in my head, but not my heart

Okay, I tried to get up and put a blog up for you guys, because I couldn't sleep. The blog below will eventually explain why, I couldn't sleep. But when I went to blog, I couldn't get blogger to work. Jon was still asleep, so I didn't want to wake him, it's one of the reasons we got a room big enough for a separate work area, so if I woke up at an odd hour I could work and not disturb. But Jon has taught me that there are always options with tech, so, I opened up a new e-mail and typed in the blog that way. I knew Jon would be able to cut and paste it into blogger later. Which is what has happened. All this to explain why the first sentence of the next paragraph begins with me talking about finally finding a screen to write on. Enjoy.

In desperation I’ve found a screen to write on. My frustration level is pretty high right now. I guess this blog is about the difference between fact and fiction. As I write this A LICK OF FROST is still on the New York Times List, and doing damn well, but there is never time in my schedule to truly revel in the success. I have to keep moving towards the next deadline. Sometimes it feels like I’m an officer in a war, in a theoretical way. I win my battle, victory! Then I get to the top of the hill I’ve just conquered, begin to collect my wounded, and see the enemy spread out below the other side of the damned hill. No time to rest. No time to gather reinforcements. There is only time to gather what men I have and prepare to either attack, or dig in and defend. I’m on the hill. I have the high ground. I’ll make the enemy come to me. This morning this is the analogy that works. It’s almost depressing, isn’t it?

Why so glum?

Because, Jon and I are off finishing up research for the next Anita book. Those that read the blog regularly know I delivered the book, BLOOD NOIR, just before we all went out on tour for A LICK OF FROST. Well, tour is over, and now it’s time to do that last research trip to finalize the lay of the land for Jason’s home town. Jason being the major/minor character that finally gets his major role in a book after ten years. Interesting. He has been waiting at least a decade for this book. But the book is done, right? I thought how hard could it be to come done here and get the streets and stuff? Harder than I thought.

Let’s just say if I put in all the things that have gone wrong with our hotel room in the book, the plot wouldn’t start for at least a day. Our room wasn’t ready, the hotel restaurant wasn’t open, the heat in our room didn’t work, and it’s cold here, and now, on a morning when we planned to sleep in, there is huge construction equipment just outside the window. Jon is sleeping through it, yea for him, but I am not. The damn pile-driver is trying to chop up a boulder. How can anyone sleep through that? Both Jon and Charles are heavy sleepers, and my first husband was, as well. Strangely, enough in the past when I used to go to science fiction conventions and I was a poor struggling writer so we all shared one room in a large group the guys in the group slept heavier than the girls, then, too. Is it a guy thing? How about it men? Any light sleeping men out there? Though, most of the couples I know are divided up between heavy and light. I think it’s nature’s way of making sure that one of us is on watch at any given time.

There were other things that went wrong, but mostly, the town just doesn’t look right. It doesn’t feel right. I haven’t seen anything to charm me. There’s an idea here, but it’s a different idea, a different book. I actually have the words moving liquid in my head, “That last time I was in FILL IN BLANK, I never saw downtown. This downtown was so without charm, so the same, that I could have been in a dozen different cities across the country. Corporate America has made so much look the same, that if you didn’t have local bars you’d have no way to tell where the hell you were. The local bars weren’t because I drank, which I didn’t, but because sometimes they were the only differences, the only things that let me know I’d never truly been in this bland and charmless downtown mess.” But, truthfully, the mess and blandness is what has helped spark the idea. But it’s not the idea I’m here for. Weird. Oh, and for those of you who wonder how rough the first beginnings can be on a book, now you know.

So, today’s goal is to get the hell out of down town, and try to find the charm that Jason told me of. That part of town that he was excited to see. That part that had personality and difference, and made me feel like this trip was worth it.

That’s the goal today. To find some charm. To find where I thought I was supposed to be in the physical world.

And on a weirder note, Merry is also moving liquid in my head. I can feel the first scene of the next Merry book. I can see the darkened hospital room. I can see Doyle sitting by Merry’s bedside. I know that some of her female guards have taken the harm she suffered at the end of the last book very hard. Some of the fans on tour asked when we would see the female guards fight. It’s coming.

So, on one hand, I’m frustrated, and tired and grumpy. On the other hand, my head is moving from one idea to the other, and strangely, if I had to write something today, the thing most clear in my head is the opening for the next Merry book. But then first draft is usually more attractive to my muse and me then rewrite, and that last research trip is about rewriting, really. Though, that new idea keeps wiggling at me. We’ll see, today’s research maybe a two-fer.

Hopefully, breakfast will be good and help me be more cheerful.

Oh, and why have I avoided saying what town we’re in? Because, some of you guys try to find me when we travel. I find that a little disturbing, so mums the word. It’s not that I don’t find most of you guys charming and polite, but there is that small percentage of you that seems to be a little more zealous than is comfy. So, forgive me, but I’ll keep my clues to myself for now.

Breakfast did help. We have our destination for the day. I'm going to see if they can move us to a room farther away from the construction stuff. It's all good. The heat is fixed, and it's now not too hot, or too cold. Food was good. I'm awake so the noise of the heavy equipment isn't that big a deal. I can always put on my headset. We'll go out soon and find something charming. If not, then we'll change towns. Edward did that to me in OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY. We landed in Albuquerque, but it was Santa Fe, that he lived in. Driving around with your imaginary friends as your guide can get a little odd, but when it works, damn, it works. Here's hoping today, at some point, Jason looks out through my eyes, and it works.

Decompression

I got to take a long, hot, bath. Not for need, but for just wanting to do it. It's the beginning of my decompression from writing BLOOD NOIR. From touring for A LICK OF FROST. From, everything. The last time I tried the jacuzzi tub I couldn't use the jets because they hurt my spider bite. That was a bummer. But, today, I got to use the tub in all it's glories, and I feel much better. Better, not just relaxed, but better that the damned brown recluse bite is finally letting go.

My schedule really isn't ever going to be user friendly, so I've got to be more adaptable, and find ways to relax in the midst of it all. I think it's the only sane way to go. Ah, to have Grisham's schedule where he takes six months off between books and travels. But he, and, I are very different writers, and I suspect very different people. What works beautiful for one writer wouldn't work at all for another. Writing is like a relationship, what makes one couple's marriage fly will sink another. What allows one writer to have an amazing and successful out put would make another type of writer flounder. So, instead of bemoaning that I'm not ever going to be one of those writers that takes months off between books, or gasp years, I'm just going to have to snuggle down and enjoy who and how I work.

I'll put this bit up tomorrow for the blog since you got a really long one already today. I'll put the bit up about the Seattle signing day after. I think if we keep doing the tour in pieces like that I won't skip anything this time. G'night, all. I've got to go finish packing for the trip tomorrow.

I was all bright and shiny last night when I wrote this, but, of course, my moody bastard kicks in eventually. But I am going to do my very best to enjoy this trip. I haven't had this kind of time to wonder around and be inspired for background on a book since OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY. God, I have been working about as hard as I can for about as long as I can think. It's time to step back a little, and let my muse and I play a little more.

Halloween

I am doing one of the hardest things I ever do, right now. I am trying not to work. Oh, yeah, I'm writing a blog, which is technically work, but I'm not working on the next Merry book. I promised myself and my muse that we would get a break. We would truly take some time off to explore and renew ourselves. But it's day two of being back from tour and I'm getting antsy. I'm much easier to live with when I'm working, because like most work-aholics, I don't quite know what to do with myself when I'm not working. Work, for me, means making pages.

I actually gave in on one of the plane rides on tour and started the beginning of Merry #7. Just the beginning. Charles caught me at it on the plane. He knew I wasn't supposed to work, and he chided me for it. My explanation was that when all else fails with my phobia that nothing helps distract me like my own writing. Reading other people's work doesn't cut through the fear or take me away from it half as well as my own creation. I guess it's just more all consuming. I did less than a page then felt better. See. But we get on a plane tomorrow, again, for more business.

It's a research trip to try and firm up some of the details for Jason's home town. When Edward chose a place to live, he was very insistent. Which meant he knew exactly what he wanted. Pushy, but easier to work with. Jason is less dictatorial, so we had some vague push from him. Okay, he actually liked some place that is now got snow. I bargained with my imaginary friend, and he acquiesced to some place a little warmer. Yea! But, now I'm having doubts. Doubts that I've talked him out of where he wanted to be from. Doubts, that I won't step off the plane and see what I need to see. What I'm wanting is that magical moment when I stepped off the plane in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I knew Edward had been right. One of the reasons I don't argue as much with my imaginary friends as some writers do, is that I'm not entirely certain how the process works. It's mysterious even to me. So, I'm already worried I've screwed up by manipulating Jason into picking a new town. Jon assures me it will be all right. I've been looking through the books we got on the area. It will be fine. Really. But I don't believe it. It may have something to do with the whole plane again tomorrow.

Oh, and the fact that I don't see cleaning up a dozen things on my desk that were waiting for us to get off tour as real work is just me. I've got foreign contracts to go over, comic stuff, and notes on BLOOD NOIR, which is the Jason book. I'm making a list and checking it twice, because we'll only have seven days to do the research and get back to St. Louis. seven days seems to be the magic space for me with research. Sometimes you'll need more, but it's about the right on the ground time. When we do the follow up for Edward in New Mexico, we may need more because of some of the choreography of the fight scenes. But that's several Anita books down the road, not to mention Merry books. So, let's not borrow trouble, eh?

Okay, that's enough of what I'm doing today. What follows is the blog about Halloween, as promised.

A lot of people asked, if we went home for Halloween. Yes, of course we did. Trinity still thinks we're cool enough to trick or treat with, and until that changes we're home for the holiday. As Wiccan's it's also a major religious holiday, and is the official end of the year for us. This year, because of tour it didn't seem so much that. I think it's one of the things I like least about touring in October, it just seems to interfere with the celebration. We were home, and we got to do the normal trick or treat, but there wasn't a lot of energy left over for anything else. Too tired.

But the kiddo was with us, and that's what counts. This year she was Botan (what is that name) from Yu Yu Hakusho For those of you not into Aime, Botan is a Japanese grim reaper that happens to look like a cute girl with silver hair, wear a kimono, and ride around on a boat paddle. Cultural differences, I guess.

Also, we couldn't possibly keep Charles away from his very own kiddos. It's a holiday for being with your family. I learned that lesson when Trinity was about five or maybe, even four. I went to WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION. It was in California that year. This was back when I didn't have the Merry series, and though the Anita books were doing well, they weren't the amazing success they are now. So, I went to do business. A nice, sane, grown-up thing to do. Right? Right. Except, that, that year Trinity was Dorothy from THE WIZARD OF OZ, and her friend Melissa, my friend Joan's daughter, was Glenda the Good Witch. I was still with my first husband, Gary, and he promised, and Joan, promised, to take pictures and video. It was just one Halloween, right?

The video camera broke. The film was mysteriously ruined. Back when cameras weren't digital, so there was no saving it. I got not a single picture of the two girls in their outfits. I did a lot of business while I was at the convention. Good, solid, business, that would eventually lead to the Merry series being what it is today. I can't regret the business I did, or the time I spent with my friend Deborah Millitello, who went with me on the trip. We had a great time, and got to do some girl bonding without anyone but us, which in our nearly twenty years of friendship is still rare. But I still regret not seeing my little girl as Dorothy, or Melissa as the good witch.

I took that Halloween as a sign. A sign that there would be other opportunities to do business, but only a few chances to be with my family. To see those moments that slip by all too quickly. I've remembered the lesson, and that is why we were all home with our families on Halloween this year.

I think one of the most difficult things for me, even today, is striving for the balance between business and family. You throw in friends and I am paddling up stream just trying to do all the things I want to do. Not have to do, but want to do. Like spending time with my family, my friends, my puppies, and my writing. I still love my writing. It has always been more than just a job to me, but . . . All the things that are important to me are more than just a chore.

Right now, I'm going to go over and try to think of what we will have for dinner with Trinity, and the dogs. Though the dogs don't get to share the food, not good for them. Dinner, and a show to watch, and that solid peace when you let out that breath of tension. Let out that breath and know that you're home. Home with your family. Home with your friends. Home with your pets. Home with the job that fills a place in your heart. I hope you got to spend Halloween with who, or what, makes you feel most at home. We did.

Seattle

Okay, time for a blast from the recent past. Here's the blog for Seattle when we were just day's ago on tour for A LICK OF FROST. The hotel staff is on their way up to let us choose between a room with the continuing construction or a new room with a wedding band every night. When the hotel warns you about the band ahead of time you know it's going to be bad. I think we are going to try and change hotels today. But it's all good, or it will be. An interesting trip, as they say.

Seattle, at last. We had a greyhound rescue as our animal charity. They are such elegant dogs, greyhounds. Their fur so soft and thin over the muscle and meat of their bodies. We had a very nice auditorium to ourselves since President Clinton had the book store. (Oh, once a president, always a president. It is correct to say, President Clinton, not former-president Clinton. Just so you know.)

The question and answer session went really well, but the energy of the crowd seemed to sour. I think if you guys could have wandered a bookstore and done other things, it would have been easier, but just sitting there and watching everyone else come up to get their book signed, made it harder to wait. There were a lot of babies again. University Bookstore said it was the first time they'd seen a row of strollers. I think we finally got the word out that babies count in line for extra books, but it was a challenge for the parents to keep the babies happy. Some waited patiently, others not so. But that's a baby thing. My hats off to everyone with rug rats. I found it a very puzzling age with Trinity. So, glad she's older now.

It was great to see so many new faces, and familiar ones. A lot of you said how happy you were that we were finally back in the Northwest. It was sunny in Seattle the entire time we were there, by the way. All the natives to the area said, it should be raining, but we got beautiful weather that really set off the autumn trees, the mountains, and the water. Beautiful expanses of water, that we would see in more detail from the train we'd take the next day when we went onto Portland.

The last time I was in Seattle I was on my own. It was, I think, a six week tour. Really long, and Jon and I were dating, but not, yet, engaged. I was also divorced, but didn't feel like sharing that whole process. I guess, looking back, to some of the fans it looked like the end of one relationship was belly back to the other. Because, I didn't share. The break up of my first marriage was intensely painful, and confusing. I'm happier now than I've ever been, but there was a dark part where you believe that the death of one relationship is the death of all. It passes, but I remember it.

I did one of the most romantic gestures I've ever done on that trip. I was really missing Jon. He'd giving me one of his shirts that still smelled of his skin to sleep in, and I wanted to show him what that meant to me. I ordered flowers. Roses, to be exact, and had roses delivered to his job every day for about a week. Each bouquet came with a line from the Emily Dickenson poem, "How do I love thee . . ." He actually made some of the women at the library where he worked jealous. Why should a woman be sending a man flowers? Because, I loved him, and I knew he'd think it was cool. One of my goals when I was dating again after more than a decade of marriage was to find a man that would appreciate being pampered. If a guy isn't man enough to receive flowers at work from me and think it's cool, rather than embarrassing, we need to be dating someone else. The boyfriends of the women at work got major grief that Jon's girlfriend was treating him better than the boyfriends were treating the girls.

Oh, and if you think the stupid romantic stuff stopped when we got married, nope. I don't need Jon's shirt anymore since I have the whole of him to sleep with, but we still buy gifts, flowers, surprises for each other. I guess, at heart, I'm a romantic. A practical romantic, is what I call myself, but once someone proves that they won't throw my gestures back in my face, I tend to be a little overwhelming, or can be. Even Jon had to get used to the level of attention that I dish out. He finally decided he liked it, and the rest, as they say, is history.

If Anita ever got truly comfortable with herself in the romance department, not just sex, we could have so much fun spoiling the men.

More on Salt Lake City, more good news, anti-rumors

I wrote yesterday on the blog that we'd talk about the individual signings here, then talk about more current stuff, so you guys can get both what we did on the road and what we're currently doing. First, find below the signing stuff:

A lot of firsts at the Salt Lake city signing. Most pairs of sisters at a signing ever. Most babies. On the baby front we got to be the first day home event for baby, Katherine. Her parents brought her baby book and under what I did my first day home was something like, "Went to a book signing so Mommy could get her books signed by Laurell K. Hamilton." I signed underneath and wished her well. She was so tiny, and had that incredibly soft newborn hair.

The energy was very good at the signing. No one got grumpy standing in line and it was just really nice folks.

Oh, and the Utah Humane Society was there and actually adopted a dog to a family. A little Pappillion went home with his forever family.

Good signing, nice people, and we saved a life. A pretty good night, eh?

Now, for the current, this is what we're doing today stuff:

I must have been really tired yesterday. I can't believe I wrote, not to shabby, about being # 2 on the New York Times list with A LICK OF FROST. Let's try that again. Wow! Really cool. There, that's better. To add to the good news, here are the other lists. Publisher's Weekly -- #2. USA Today -- #6. Barnes & Noble -- #2. Borders -- #3. Booksense -- #12.

I knew that A LICK OF FROST was the book I wanted to write. It was very satisfying for me as a writer. I guess you guys as readers agree. Which is even better.

Oh, and for the rumor mill, or as an anti-rumor mill I will state again, that A LICK OF FROST is soooo not the last Merry book. I stated this just a few blogs ago, but Darla is getting so many people writing in saying that it is the last book, that she requested I reiterate the truth.

The truth is that A LICK OF FROST is not the end. How could it be? Too much still still to do with Merry and her friends. So, no fears, guys, still plenty of Merry books to come. Okay?

Home again

We're home safe and sound. Since we didn't blog from the road much we'll be putting up our rough notes into blog form so that the next thing you get will be the follow up to the Salt Lake City signing after we had it. Then Seattle, then Portland, and bits and bobs in between.

There's lot's of news, but if you check out the on-line New York Times, A LICK OF FROST is number two. It's the highest ever for a Merry book, so not to shabby. That's it for me tonight. We dropped Charles at his home with his family then went for ours. Jon and I are beat. It's always great seeing everyone, but it's never an easy thing to do, this touring. If we didn't think Trinity would protest we'd go to bed now, but seven something is a little early for the kiddo. So, we'll try to catch up on some family safe Tivo, and maybe bargain for an early bed time. How sad is that? The parents trying to bargain for the early bedtime, not the child.