La La Fun Facts

As part of the promotion of the Bikers-Babes & Books signing next month, I wrote up a few fun facts for the Damaged series. Since I'm vegging at the end of the year, I figured I'd write up a few fun facts for the La La blog.

Fun Fact #1: Pen Names

Bijou is the name of a character in my Angelic Redemption series written by Dakota Shepherd. Dakota is the name of a character in the Vivi Rios series written by Angela Horn. Angie is the name of the whore who cheated with Tony and suffered Belladonna's ghostly wrath in Blood Tide. Circle of life.

Fun Fact #2: Character Names

In my first series (Angelic Redemption), I just used my favorite names for characters - Lila, Sophie, Ivy, etc. As I wrote more books and needed more names, I relied on the Baby Name Wizard book.

I also like to theme family names. Lola, Jules, Rocco, Bruno, and Maisy from the Shadowburbia series were "Guys and Dolls." Cooper, Tucker, Bailey, and Sawyer were "Last Names First." Lark and Raven were "Charms and Graces." A crazy method to my madness.

Fun Fact #3: Angelic Redemption stuck in a loop.

I worked on the first book for several years. I could let it go. Finally, I started on the second then third. Eventually, I found the urban fantasy genre and began writing Vivi, Gigi, and Shadow Sisters. Now, I average seven books a year. I guess that means I'm less obsessive.

Fun Fact #4: Shadow Sisters are my answer to a depressing Supernatural episode.

I was driving to Denny's one dark morning and thinking about an episode of the show Supernatural. I imagined if the show was about two sisters and funnier and less angsty and involved considerably less crying. The Shadow Sisters were born.

Fun Fact #5: Gigi Monroe is my cliché girl.

With Gigi, I threw in every UF stereotype I was reading. The special chick who gains the attention of every hot guy (for no apparent reason) and is the only one who can save the town even with more powerful creatures around. To make her different, I imagined Gigi with Asperger's like awkwardness. I figured readers would love or hate her. I was right.

Fun Fact #6: Destroy my enemies

I often use the names of people I don't like as the bad guys or losers in my books. In Damaged and the Beast, Farah's nasty mother was originally named after someone I ended up liking. I had to change her name to Amy after someone else who pissed me off.

Fun Fact #7: I take on the some of the characteristics of my characters while I write them.

The most obvious of this is cussing. When I am working on my Christian books, my cussing dries up to nothing (unless I'm watching The Walking Dead. Man, I hate Rick.).

When writing the Damaged series, I say fuck like I'm Judd and using the word as salt to give flavor to everything I say. Let's just say after writing four Damaged books in 2013, I cuss like a sailor most days.

Fun Fact #8: Christina Perri is my go-to mood music.

No matter what I'm writing, I can listen to Perri and concentrate when I write at Denny's. At home, I don't listen to mood music since I write downstairs where the TV is playing and kids are talking.

Fun Fact #9: Changing the font in Word can break my writer's block.

I was stuck recently with what to write. I changed to the Papyrus font and wrote 2500 words. Sometimes changing a little detail can make all the difference in my head.

Fun Fact #10: I hate coffee and it shows.

Until Blue Sacrifice, none of my characters drank coffee even though most people love coffee. Since I hate it, I couldn't stand having my characters drink it. After awhile, I realized having them all drink Diet Coke wasn't going to work either.

I don't know how fun those facts were, but they needed to be said, dammit!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

We had a very La La morning with ups and downs, laughter and tears, and lots of fart jokes. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!!

Happy Birthday, Tigger!

This week, my oldest darling stink machine turned nineteen. To celebrate, he chose The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We were fortunate enough to be seated in the cove section and had a wonderful waitress. I learned I hate arugula and there is something even Tigger won't eat. Here's a hint: arugula.

It was just last month I learned I actually love Brussels spouts. At least, I love them in Longhorn's au gratin. Little cabbages, so different from the horror show my grandmother created when I was a kid. Just yummy. I'm hoping Longhorn still has them for my birthday even though the Brussels sprouts au gratin is a fall special.

It's still Tigger's birthday week. He's excited to get our tree and about the now falling snow. While Tigger is the same age as most of the characters I write about (including Nick for the next Damaged book), he is so much sweeter than an average nineteen-year-old dude. He's a gentle kid who loves music, animals, and caring for others.

Even though this week has been great in many ways, I finally visited the doctor about my nearly constant headaches. I hadn't gotten much editing done all week, but hopefully the antibiotics for the sinus infection will get my ass back into gear.

I'm still chugging along (oh so slowly) on editing Scattered. I'm also writing up a new romance idea (another one) and trying to get into Blue Awakening. As a result of my sickie, post-publication funk, and a good dose of laziness, I won't be able to publish Blue by the end of December. Just another book on my overbooked schedule for 2014. I'll have to be satisfied with publishing only eight this year.

In blog news, most remained on vacation mode through the holidays. However, on Just That Good, Sheena wrote a glowing review for Bad Games by Jeff Menapace. 

It's been a wild week with lots of fun because of Tigger. Next week will be another busy one, but that's how it is for everyone around the holidays.

Thankful in La La Land

I meant to write this sooner, but it's difficult to put into words how blessed I've been this year. Finding enough success as an author to consider writing as my career was a giant turning point in my life. 2013 will go down as one of my best years.

All of the blessings from this year were thanks to the Lord. Even the hardships He provided were meant to test me and my faith. There have been times this year when I wished to take the easy route. Instead, I relied on the Lord to lead me and I was never disappointed.

Preparing for our ninth Christmas in Indiana, my family is healthy and happy. The boys are home for schooling, so I get to spend more time with them. Sally loves her new den and reads like crazy. This has been a great year for her too and she's rarely been happier.

One of the decisions I made a year ago was to take up the cause of reader rights. It hasn't always been easy. On several occasions, people I liked on a personal level lacked the professional behavior I could support. Losing people I considered friends was the most difficult part of the last year. In the end, they showed their true colors and I realized I had lost nothing. God tested and I passed.

Another blessing from this choice was learning to love blogging. I started Indie Angie with no clue how to blog. What would I write about? Who would care? I was just writing to myself, so I started interviewing authors. Writing about others is always easier than writing about myself. I eventually created the zombie and review blogs. Had I not decided to reach out to other authors, I'd still find blogging an awkward pursuit.

I've met many amazing people through my reader rights efforts. The most important is Candy Girl who became my friend, co-blogger, sounding board, beta reader, and voice of reason. She was a sweet thing from the Netherlands who showed up on my blog to share how she was attacked after writing a negative review. Both new to the cause, we became fast friends. Oh, but do we go meow with each other on occasion! It's our personalities. Where I'm impulsive, she's wise. Where I'm hard, she's soft. We make the best team.

The weirdest turn of events from the last year is my friendship with Lauryl. Man, did she piss me off at the beginning of the year. I really hated how someone who wrote cool books would turn out to be such a dumbass. I thought Lauryl was a whiny brat. She thought I was a jealous bitch. We joined forces when someone messed with our friends (don't mess with our friends EVER). Months later, we're like sisters from a different mister.

We each have three boys and  enjoy writing more than one genre. We have the same phobias and pet peeves. If we're sisters, I'm the bossy older one and she's the patient younger one. Meanwhile, Candy Girl is the youngest sister enduring us both.

So this year, I've made wonderful friends and grown as an author. I learned a lot from my amazing readers on how to improve my writing. I was one among many indie authors who found varying degrees of success this year. From the huge hits to the smaller ones, I've heard more and more about indies building fan bases.

This year has been amazing in so many ways and I'm thankful for every blessing and trial the Lord has given me.

Next post: I return to my snarky self.