Happiness makes me happy!

Autumn is here and it's frigging cold in Yamalamadingdong!!! Duh, I know, but I'm too old to shake the chill apparently. As pretty as autumn can be, it's also a time for tedious yard work. Tigger and I have nearly finished winterizing our yard. The end can't come too soon.

I'm getting ready for the holidays too. Cleared out a spot for the tree, wrote my Christmas letter, and nearly have all the pics ready for the card. Oh, and I'm even a few gifts away from finishing Christmas shopping. Yeah, I'm that good.

I love autumn because most of my favorite shows return (waves sadly at Community). The Walking Dead is wonderfully gross and Rick isn't pissing me off as much this season. Supernatural is sexy awesome. How I Met Your Mother is apparently spending the whole addictive season at Barney and Robin's wedding. Finally, I'm hearting the hilarious Brooklyn Nine Nine. Of course since I love the show, it'll be cancelled. All the great sitcoms are. Weeps for Happy Endings.

The fall weather has caused a lot of sinus headaches and I slept most of last weekend. This means I'm behind on writing Damaged and the Outlaw, so it won't be ready by Halloween. Denial was my best friend until Candy Girl gave me an intercontinental pep talk and I had to accept I couldn't finish by my self-inflicted deadline. Why rush the book and shortchange the characters and by extension my readers? As soon as I admitted on FB I wouldn't finish Outlaw until closer to Thanksgiving, I felt a sense of peace. The pressure was off and I could breathe.

I don't normally write one book at a time. Having pushed back my Outlaw deadline, I will be able to bounce to Blue#2, Scattered, and Shadow City. I'm also thinking about goofing around with Memphis Death Wish. Occasionally writing silly stuff relaxes my writer's block. I don't currently have writer's block, but Outlaw is dark and a little fluffy fun might keep me focused. That's the plan anyway.

Blogging-wise, I suck more than usual when it comes to interviews and showcases. I did post reviews from Deadly Dee and Miranda Macabre on Where Zombies Come to Read. Soon, Dee will provide reviews for my new currently unnamed and unformatted blog. I should also write an update for Bijou's blog and probably some other stuff too. Yeah, I'm totally on top of it.

I did write a few posts for the Whisperer blog. Rick and Melissa are having a really funny battle which gave me lots to mock. In her attempt to dox me, Melissa managed to out one of her socks. D'oh! I did take time out of pointing and laughing at asshats to reformat the Whisperer blog to a holiday theme. Plus, on BL, I started a thread about what BBA we would dress up as for Halloween.

This week, I'll post an interview with GB Banks on Where Zombies Come to Read and those reviews from Dee. Might get that blog up and running. Will totally move Outlaw closer to the finish line. I'm nearing the abduction scene with the quote I posted on the Bijou blog. Most of all, I suspect I'll be lazy and goof off. That seems to be my go-to move lately.

Monchichi Goes Military

With Halloween around the corner and zombies back on TV, I had to change my Monchichi avatar. He's a precious little guy prepared for the mayhem of the zombie virus breakout. Ah, I love freckles!!!

I want to start off by wishing Mustang Sally a happy birthday. A few months ago, I mentioned buying her a laptop. Instead, she wanted a new recliner for her reading den. I also bought her all of the books in the Hollows and Fever series. Sally has been hogging the library's editions for over a year. Now, she has both series in her personal library and is super stoked. I have no idea how I'll wow her for Christmas.

With all of the shopping I did for Roo and now Sally, I'm psyched about the holidays. In fact, I'm already putting together our Christmas card and letter. Yesterday, I bought new tree ornaments to replace the ones destroyed by our then kitten Tinker. Even a year old, she'll likely view a tree in the house as an invitation to attack. Plus, those colorful balls dangling are just begging for a beating. Yep, I bought the shatter-proof ornaments.

I've been pretty lazy the last week. Writing Outlaw with the hopes of publishing around Halloween, I didn't focus on editing Scattered. I did take a break from goofing off to post an interview with Jeffrey Littorno on Indie Angie. Plus, I added book showcases on Indie Angie and Where Zombies Come to Read. KT Grant's new romance, The Gate, was published last weekend. The sequel to the zombie novel Red Dust is also available. Finally, check out Zombie George Washington by new authors by GB Banks and Blaine Hislop. This week, I plan to post Deadly Dee's review of an erotic zombie compilation. Yeah, it's as gross as you're imagining.

Speaking of Dee, I'm creating a book review blog soon and she'll be my main reviewer. She reads everything from horror to romance/erotica and even young adult on occasion. Candy Girl might share her eclectic tastes on the blog too. Eventually, I'll add a few more reviewers, but I don't want to take on too many projects for the rest of 2013.

The main reason I decided to start a review blog was because authors I'd interview would often ask if I wanted to read their books. I know how difficult it can be for new authors to get reviews. Especially since the bigger bloggers are avoiding indies now. Thanks, BBA.

This week, we wrote a few posts on the Whisperer blog. One was the update and the other focused on F&G's lie about doxxing. With the hate site retiring soon, we'll likely blog less. Candy Girl and I could really use a break for the holidays. No doubt in the future, the asshats will congregate around a new whiner cooler to moan about conspiracies. Until then, we hope to reduce our blogging to the weekly updates. Our work will continue behind the scenes though.

In fact, this week F&G pissed themselves in glee over how a jackass created a fake book on GR to mock a reader. Their happiness led Candy Girl to discover the sock who created the book. GR deleted the book as well as the sock. We have no doubt the person behind the sock will return. She's had plenty of fake accounts deleted. No doubt she thinks she's sly, but we know what she's up to when not hawking her books. We'll let the pathetic whiner have her fun. It might be the only amusement she has in life.

As for me, I love October. Two big birthdays and Halloween begin the holidays in the best fashion. If I manage to hit my deadlines with Outlaw, Scattered, and Blue Awakening, I'll take December off to write Shadow World books. After all, I really haven't written enough poop humor lately.

High Five for Book Six

What can I say? Organization is my new thing. While I planned to get Damaged and the Cobra published by October 1, I had it on sale by September 30. Look at me, ahead of the curve!!!! Ammy decided to make me squirm a little though.

When I asked to have the Kindle and paperback editions linked, a goof up occurred. The Kindle version was hidden and a few readers received errors when attempting to buy it. Plus, the paperback was attached to my Angela author page. I know Ammy gets a lot of grief for being a cold empire, but I sent another email asking for the issues to be fixed and they were quickly dealt with. Now, all of the links are where they belong. Having worked in IT, I know how easy it is to pick the wrong option and mess up something simple. As bothersome as the issues were, I believed everything would work out. Hooray for positive thinking!

Since Damaged and the Beast found an audience, I've made a habit of going into a bunker mentality after a new book is released. It's too easy to get obsessed with sales, rankings, and reviews. Since the link was dorked up, I was checking the book page a few times a day to see if it was fixed. Yes, I checked my rankings and noticed I am technically a best-selling author in subcategories of contemporary and new adult romance. The proper etiquette is not to call yourself simply a best-selling author unless you've had a book under a hundred in paid Kindle sales. I don't know where I'd announce I'm hot shit besides on my blog, so I just did it. Bragging complete.

The problem with even checking comments on my Bijou Facebook page (I have awesome readers) is I get into an "author" mindset, instead of the lowly writer mentality.

I have no time to pat myself on the back since I announced I would release Damaged and the Outlaw around Halloween. Why so soon? Well, Cobra was a novella (technically a novel, but barely) and I feel like readers need another full-length book to enjoy. Especially since I'm thinking this might be my last Damaged book for the year. I still plan to write Dragon and Saint in early 2014. There are a few readers who seem interested in Dylan getting a book, but I'm unsure about that idea.

So I'm already writing Outlaw, but it's in the early phases. Meaning, I'm jumping around to scenes I have written in my head. Later, I'll piece things together as the story takes on a life of its own. I am really enjoying Vaughn and Raven. As much as I love sweet romances, Aaron and Lark were tougher to write. They were such well adjusted characters and knew what they wanted. There was less drama in their pairing, but I didn't want to force conflict into the book. Readers are savvy and they can feel when an author is feeding them bullshit. Better to keep the book true to the characters and take the chance that it's not wild enough.

Roo had a great birthday last week. Very mellow like we wanted it. We're a mellow family chilling in our tightknit clique. His birthday week basically started on Thursday and is still going. We have a few plans for the next few days.

It's finally starting to feel like autumn here. Cooler weather and the leaves are changing. Speaking of where I live, F&G tried to dox (reveal personal info) me last week. They commented about the city they claim I live in, even though I'd never mentioned the location before. Hmm...if they knew anything about me, they'd understand I don't spook easily. Whisperers aren't wussies.

Last week was busy with Roo's birthday, Cobra's publication, and starting Outlaw, so I didn't get much blogging done. I did post an interview with author Jonathon Kane on Where Zombies Come to Read. He's currently working on a paranormal novel, so I look forward to interviewing him on Indie Angie when the book is done. On my Bijou blog, I added a Bijou Babbles post today along with a poll.

Really digging BookLikes. I changed my profile picture and blog background to something more October festive. My Monchichi is in a costume!!! How f'ing cute!!! I found a pic for Christmas too.

I also set up Mustang Sally on BookLikes. Adding books she wants to read, but doesn't have time to get to yet. Set up her cool looking background. She really liked the profile picture of us back in the 1970's.

I have a lot of interviews to get done for the zombie blog plus a few for Indie Angie. The weekly whiner update for BBA Whisperer is due soon too. Eek! Better get to work.

Happy second week of October and keep a lookout for zombies. This is their time of year!!!