It's Friday of RT week and it's been a busy, busy time so far. Events attended include: marketing for e-books, the Ellora's Cave Old Hollywood Party (where I had my OWN Hollywood Star since I'm with Cerridwen!), a thriller workshop, the Faery Ball, an urban fantasy workshop and, as they say, much much more.

Tonight is the Vampire Ball. I only have some cheesy fake teeth I got as a give-away (cute for promo, but maybe not so cute compared to the smashing outfits I'm sure will be there) so my costume will have to get all its merit from the dress.

I've met some really great people so far and I'm so glad I came for my virgin RT experience this year. Some authors I've been anxious to meet I'm actually getting to hang out with! Vanessa Gilfoy, M.A. Ellis, Kaenar Langford, Joanna Waugh, Cheryl Dragon, Lacey Savage, Natasha Moore - it's been an absolute pleasure hanging out with all of you - and it's not over yet!

Wow, how the time has flown by at supersonic speed! It's almost time for RT!!

I still feel like Alice in Wonderland, trying to figure out where I'm going. I know what's supposed to go on but I have no clue what to do, how to do it, why, where or what to wear. I have absolutely no idea what's going on but I'm very excited. All I can do is fake it and hope no one notices that I'm really Alicia-Silverstone-CLUELESS!

That said, I'm really looking forward to meeting all these great writers I've been reading and corresponding with, editors, publishers, agents, and of course, READERS! It's not every day that a writer gets to have direct contact with those they are desperately trying to please. Hopefully I won't be too disappointing :)

I've been in a panic the last two weeks trying to get all my promo gear arranged, come up with costumes for the parties, etc., etc., but the most important thing, really, is to just get there. Experience it. Meet people. Have fun!

Imagine my suprise yesterday when I discovered that A Rapture of Centuries is now IN PRINT baby! Woohoo! Everybody run out and buy a copy and tell your friends!  

Now if I can just get a release date on Tell Me Lies the world will be complete!

I should have known I was in for it when the instructor introduced himself to me and said, "It will be my pleasure to kick your ass."

I've been thinking about doing some kickboxing for a while so finally this week I went down to the gym and took a class. Get out a little agression, I'm thinking, maybe work off some of that cave aged gruyere.

Jesus Mary and Joseph. Five minutes into it my shins were SCREAMING. I have new found respect for kickboxers. After years of martial arts I was not prepared for the punishment I was about to endure. I'm used to kicking with the ball of my foot, not my shin. And they do a LOT of it. They should call it kickkicking. I hit the bag a few times with my fists, then abused my legs some more. The bruises will be with me for a while.

So what am I going to do? Go back tomorrow, of course. I'm going to give that bag the evil eye and say, "You've been very, very BAD!"

I'm all set for RT! I've got my registration, flight and hotel arranged (well, hotel's a little screwed up at the moment but all will be well!) I'm totally jazzed and can't wait to meet all the great authors I've met virtually. Maybe I'll even have a fan or two to grace my table at the book sigining! :)

The costumes for the parties are a bit of a concern. I bought a costume in a bag for the EC Old Hollywood party. They said a small would fit a 6-8. Whatever. I can't squeeze my ass into it. So I'm thinking about altering a dress I already own to make it more "roaring 20's" and less "I was broke so I went to Burlington Coat Factory." I am, however, very excited about seeing everyone else's costumes. Should be a blast!

I don't know where I live these days. It has snowed twice this week in Georgia. the snow that came down this morning is STILL on the ground. Very strange indeed, for the Atlanta area. So much for HOTLanta. I'm so confused.

The most irritating thing about today's snow is that it made me miss Tai Chi this morning. I will not drive in snow/sleet/freezing rain in Georgia. Not that I can't, I mean, I grew up in the frozen tundra. It's all the other crazy ass drivers that a) think precip means they should drive 10 miles an hour or b) think that precip means they should not change their driving AT ALL. Dammit. I could have learned more of Yeh Fey this morning.

Writing has been slow as of late. I'm getting through the second set of edits on Tell Me Lies, which I will be returning tomorrow, and hopefully will get a release date on that one soon. I've been polishing a few shorter pieces to submit and thinking a lot about a few works in the pipeline. More to come on that!

I'm rising from the ashes of December to announce my new cover for Tell Me Lies, release date soon, but TBA!

Check me out! No really...check me out!

Adrian Ennis has only known the life of organized crime, having been trained to be a mob assassin from age eight. Crime king pin Ezra Drake is more like a father to Adrian than her boss and is one of the few people she feels she can trust. But on the evening of her 29^th birthday when Ezra orders her to kill Tony, her friend and lover, Adrian's perception of who is and is not her friend becomes a blurred line of blood and bullets. When Adrian makes an unlikely ally in Atlanta PD detective Damon Wyatt she learns the truth about her past, an unsavory web of murder and deceit that includes the destruction of her entire family. With an innocent life hanging in the balance – Tony's ten-year-old son – Adrian has an opportunity to amend for the wrongs of her past and to bring those who destroyed her life to justice…her way.

Cumulative NaNo Statistics:

Word Count: 50,061

Sex Scenes: 9

Cups of coffee: 348

Glasses of Wine: 20

4,000+ word count days: 3

Top word count for single day: 4,650

Well, I did it. At 7:14 EST I completed my NaNo novel, The Box, by the skin of my teeth at 50,061 words. Is it pretty? Some of it. Is it shit? Some of it. But hey, that's what December is for - editing!

Cumulative NaNo Statistics:

Word count: 30,399

Sex Scenes: 6? 7?

Cups of coffee: 34

Glasses of wine: 12

I didn't get much done over the weekend because...well...I was busy partying. But a girl's got to cut loose every now and then, right?  I mean...am I right? So I've been paying for it the last couple of days, trying to churn out ridiculous word counts.

But, that's what NaNo's all about. Procrastinating, then panicking as you realize you're 5,000 words behind so you start cranking away and the next thing you know you've got 2,000+ words under your belt. In the case of this book, most of the words take place under the belt. Tee hee!

So today I got another 2,500 words done. It's past my bed time, but I wanted to post an update and let everyone know that I'm not drowning in despair like Eeyore. I'm still behind, but I'm nipping on the heels of being on track.

Long live NaNo!

Cumulative NaNo Statistics:

Word count: 21,351

Sex Scenes: 3

Cups of coffee: 24

Glasses of wine: 9

Uses of the F-word: 3,181 (estimate)

It's been a rough week or so for the NaNo-nator. But today I fought back with 3,100+ words. I'm still behind, but by God, I will finish.

Today a character RUDELY introduced himself without my permission. I was just going along, minding my business, when all of a sudden character SCOTT decided he was tired of sitting in the store room and made an appearance. Totally without regard to my schedule, agenda, or plan.

What do you say when your character says "F*ck you, b!tch, I'm ready to be in the book. So deal with it!"

Well, I'll tell you what you say.

You say, "ok."

Sigh.