I've been busy on my writing blog (http://www.evilauthor.com), and neglected this one a bit.
Bad bad me.

I've now updated some of the lists (Silhouette Nocturnes are up to date now), and will update the others soon, too.

I've stopped reading Christine Feehan's "Dark" series though and won't be adding to that one. Sorry, I just got bored with it.

Still reading Sherrilyn Kenyon, and adding a few new authors to my  list. G.A. Aiken being one of them, I totally adore the Dragon series.

Anyway… will update more soon!

Part 1 – Rhode Island

Let me extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to my fellow critters and to Karen, who looked after me wonderfully through my 18 day trip.
I loved every minute of it.
Even those minutes where I blew my nose, swallowed Benadryl and DayQuil, and sneezed my head off.
Apparently I gave it to everyone I met, so at least I left… something.

The trip started on a damp, cold October morning.
The 29th had me crawl out of bed at 5am, and on the road by 6am, to make my flight from London Heathrow to Boston.
Lucky I got there early, the check-in line was endless!
Uneventful flight, edible food, nice crew. Thanks AA, it was a pleasure, but damn… that approach to Logan was scary.

I get to Boston (omg, I thought we'll land in the water!), and after the immigration mayhem (I think I filled out that green sheet 5 times, at least it felt that way.) I trundle through the Baggage claim and got my suitcase (they didn't lose it!!) and headed to arrivals… realizing I have no idea what Cyn looks like.
Well, duh.
So I look around and there is this nice lady sitting on a bench, holding up a sign with "NEPH KEEPER" on it lol.
I kinda sorta felt that was me – so this blond lady had to be Cyn. She didn't know what I looked like either.
We said hi and all, and hurtled ourselves out of Boston toward Rhode Island — with me sneezing every 2 minutes.
I'd started to sneeze about 5 minutes after landing, so I figured it is pollution related. Off we pulled somewhere on the way so I could get some Benadryl.
So finally we get to Cyn's house and I have to admit, I was pretty zonked. I don't remember much of the afternoon to be fair lol. Carted my luggage downstairs, where Billy had vacated his "Man Room" for my stay. Picked up the hire car.
However, I do remember Cyn's face when I handed her some very nice slippers with heating pads lol. I'm just glad they fit!
Hope you get lots of warmth out of them, Cyn.
In the evening, we went to Marchetti's in Cranston, RI, and I ordered the Tortellini.
(Check out the menu!)
It was the biggest plate of Tortellini I have EVER seen lol! I think Billy, Cyn's husband, is still laughing about my shocked face.
I can heartily recommend the restaurant, if you're looking for first class Italian food in Rhode Island. Seriously. I know what I'm talking about, I practically spent my childhood in Italy — and the food at this restaurant is well worth the trip.

I woke up at 3 am, and after a quick trip to the bathroom, stretched out on my sofa again, when my bleary eyes settled on… a huge spider. 
I was not amused. I'm terrified of spiders, and this thing was massive. So I sat there, terrified, staring at the beastie. What to do? I could hardly scream the house down at three in the morning, hoping someone will rescue me from this monster. I waited for it to move. It was right next to the sofa and there was no way I would sleep with this beast roaming the unfamiliar room.
Ergo, it had to be trapped somehow. I spotted a little woven basket, edged my way over to it, grabbed the thing and tossed it over the top of the offending insect.
A breath of relief, I waited to see if the spider would run off with the basket. (Hey, I said it was big, and it was 3am, I wasn't exactly lucid. At that time, spiders can run off with loads weighing easily 100 times their own weight.)
Finally it was just too late and I was too tired, and I fell asleep again.
At about 7am I crawled off my sofa and headed upstairs (Not staying in a room with a spider in it, thank you very much.) reporting the spider trapping, hoping one of the kids or Cyn will squish the blighter.
Faces scrunched up. They all looked at me as if I'd just reported an elephant in the basement. Finally they laugh.
Well.
It turns out yes, there was a spider. I didn't imagine that part.
A PLASTIC spider.
Man… I'm never gonna live down trapping plastic spiders at three in the morning lol.

Later I was faced with a muffin the size of a cake for breakfast. It was… huge. Big pot of coffee, while Cyn sips on PG Tips tea heheeh. I got everyone converted to tea with milk.
Then we were off to Plymouth, MA. It was an interesting day, beautiful weather, too.
Cyn took me to Plimouth Plantation, which is a recreation of a Pilgrim village.
The actors were great, staying in character the entire time, trying to recruit Cyn's entire family "We could do with more families." and me "Oooh… single? We could use some more women here, we have a lot of fellers who could use a wife and–"
*Blink* Maybe I should have told him I've been living in sin with the same man for the past 25 years, before he got his hopes up lol.
Brady had a whale of a time, and so did we.
Afterward we decided to have some lunch, and — since I'd tried to distract Brady by saying "But Brady! I thought you were going to show me the beach!" — were out looking for the beach. Easier said than done, since the Brady-GPS was clearly broken. No matter which road we took, he would invariably point somewhere and yell "Beach!" Cars don't go through buildings, and you have to go in a certain direction when on a one-way street… which isn't a concept a 2 1/2 year old has any grasp of.
You guessed it. We got lost. LOL.
Eventually we found the harbor, and the Mayflower II.
Plymouth is beautiful, I have to say.
We headed down there and looked at Plymouth Rock, where the settlers apparently first set foot on US shores, but alas… it was in a cage. Met some funky pirate– pardon, privateers. All in all, it was fun, and for me it was great to see all the scenery and stuff. We came across a beautiful church somewhere on our way down to the harbor, too. It was a case of "Stop the car!!!" and me jumping out, running across the road to take pictures hehe.
It had to be done.  

Then, of course… it was Halloween!
And I'm struggling to remember what we did during the day lol. Figures.
We went to see Cyn's parents after dropping Thomas off at school. (Which was kinda fun for me, since I've never seen the inside of an American school…)
But Halloween was a blast. Halloween was… magic. I was going out there accompanied by Curious George and The Angel of Doom. Thomas was a bit grumpy at times, keeping with the Angel of Doom scenario.
The weather was fantastic, warm, with a light wind and a full moon above. Everyone and their dog was out having a great time — and so was I.
I took pictures of pumpkins and kids (and some adults) in their costumes, had the merits of "100 Grand" explained to me (Yummy stuff! Thomas shared some of his candy with me. Thanks pal!)
In fact, the kids were great, all of them. It took some getting used to, since I'm really not a kid person and have zero maternal instincts, but all in all, I really enjoyed having them around.
We shared some homemade wine after we got back and de-leafed Thomas's costume lol.

The next day, we went out early to go horse riding. It was slightly miserable and damp, but the horses and the people at the stables (barn) made up for that.
Great stuff and I really enjoyed being back in a western saddle. Being back on a horse, period!
Once we got back and dismounted, finished the rest of our coffee, we headed home. Cyn wanted me to see a Victorian Mansion nearby, so we headed there.
As we stand outside Clouds Hill, a man comes out and we got talking. And ended up being shown around this fantastic house.
I recommend visiting, it's a lovely place and the volunteers are very knowledgable. (And entertaining!)
So after that, being late as all hell, we get back.
Then, late afternoon, it was time for my lesson in NFL rules. Billy is a New England Patriots fan, but they weren't playing that day.

I got to throw a football, and we went to the bar to watch the Greenbay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings. Well now. That was interesting, and even more so when you have a bar full of guys you can ask "What did he just do?".
The only problem was… my glass of beer never got empty. Ever. Eek. By 7pm, when Cyn came to pick me up to go see the Pumpkin show at umm… some zoo, I was well and truly slaughtered lol. God, I was seriously sozzled. No amount of coffee worked — other than me needing to head for the bathroom every 5 minutes lol. Damn it was bad.
Cyn was in charge of taking photos, because frankly, if I'd took them… we'd have had an orange blur on every image.
Even so, the pumpkins were stunning. Totally amazing. I just wish I'd have been a little more sober lol.

The next day it was time to head to Long Island, to see Debora and her family. Cyn took me down to Connetticut (after lending me a diaper bag lol. I could hardly show up with the big ole suitcase!) and dropped me at the ferry (when we finally found it! And the cops we asked were no help either!) and I suddenly realized… the battery in my camera was dead. :/
Oh well. No piccies of the ferry port in CT, or my arrival at Ocean Point. The image is actually from when I left again.
I had woken up in the morning with a throat ache, but didn't think much of it.

Well, by the time I got to Long Island, I had a stinking, rotten cold. It was a wet day, and cold too. But alas… I got there. And didn't see anyone who might be Debora.
Yup. You've guessed it.
Once again I had no idea what the person I was meeting actually looked like. (I'm getting really good at this!) I didn't have to wait long though.
So once the hugs and hellos were out of the way… on the road we were. Talking, laughing and more talking. We looked for a place to eat and could we find one?
Well. We did, finally, after a stop at the bank, and a pharmacy to get me some throat lozenges and cold meds. Now… what Deb didn't realize… there were some shenanigans going on behind her back. So we were finally sitting down to eat, and I slid a bunch of dollar bills across to her. "That's from your critters."
Deb stares at me as if I'd lost my mind. I explained that we'd all chipped in and that's the result. (She had some awful car troubles previously) Now, the silly woman wasn't going to take it, and I wasn't going to take it back. Stalemate.
She took it, eventually, after I told her I had no idea who to return it to, so she'd have to take it. End of debate.
HA!
Shortly after a lovely lunch we were on the road again. Long Island is very pretty, indeed. Tons of Vineyards everywhere. Unfortunately I was wrestling a serious cold by then, my throat was trying to kill me, throat lozenges or not. Well, we got to Deb's house, which — according to her — is a miracle, because allegedly she keeps getting lost. There we were met by Alyssa and Paul, her husband.
I've had a ton of fun, got introduced to Reese's Peanut Cups (Or is that Chocolate cups??? LOL) and ended up with a ton of them in my bag, thanks to Deb's sons. (Thanks guys! I had chocolate/peanut overload!) This was after a great dinner cooked by Paul, who was a real sweetie and just left Deb and me to our own devices — probably knowing we'll talk writing until everyone's ears fall off.
Josh showed me his Eve Online, which looks darn impressive, I'm gonna have to try it. (I haven't had a chance yet.) And I have to say, Josh draws really well. He drew a bomber while we sat at the dining room table, and it was darn impressive.
Alyssa, the sweetheart, gave up her room for me and I had a great night's sleep — which I probably needed, thanks to the rotten cold I had. In the morning we had a nice breakfast, took Josh to College.
Paul escaped my camera though! Grr!
 
Too soon it was time to leave, but not after trying to track down some fountain pens — which proved futile. (There's a little something winging its way to you guys. )
Alas… I was sad to leave, but I had a ferry to catch. This time my camera wasn't out of batteries, so I took a lot of pictures from the ferry — especially of the Blood Moon over Ocean Point! Spectacular!
My sneezing and runny nose weren't as spectacular, let me tell you. Thank God Deb handed me a box of tissues to take with me, lol!
Back in Connetticut, Cyn picked me up and we went back to her house, for the last hurray. I was off the next day, back to Boston, to catch a flight to Atlanta, and then to Huntsville.
Morning came too soon, and we headed to Boston in the rental car, which had served us brilliantly. What didn't go so smoothly was the traffic…
We got stuck in a traffic jam, which wouldn't have been so bad, but oh my God, I needed a bathroom! Badly!
I think I gave Cyn a few giggles on the way lol. I was practically wrapping my legs around my ears, trying to stay sane.
We made it, with minutes to spare. I dashed off, took care of umm… yeah, and rushed back to get my luggage.
I left the tissues with Cyn… because… her nose was running. My last parting gift was… a rotten cold. Oops.
Lots and LOTS of hugs later, I'm in the terminal… ready to embark on the next stage of the grand adventure: Huntsville, Alabama!

Okay, time I posted this!

(Are you tired yet?)

Wordles are… images made with words.
A.K.A. A great way to procrastinate.

So I made one. Or two. Or uh… yeah. Never mind.

Click to see the big version

I’ve decided to jig things around some.
Since I want to blog about writing, and "stuff" keeps creeping in, I’ve added a second blog to my list of things to do.
The "Other" blog is here: http://www.evilauthor.com.
That’s the writing blog from now on, although I will still blog here about it too. I just won’t blog other foolishness over there.
And while I was at it, I’m rearranging my gallery as well.
It also has changed into a blog. You can find it here: http://www.digitalmagic.tv (Contains artistic nudity.)

Oh yeah. I’m not evil.
Honest!

Yeah, yeah… I know… I’m boring everyone to tears.

I ordered some new pens from the US, and they are (nearly) here.

Arriving tomorrow, in fact.

And I ended up paying £18 tax on the dang things! (More than the postage, and more than one of the pens in the package!)

Let’s just say I hope they will be worth it, and it’s been the last time I ordered new pens from the US. Not going to drop $100 on pens, only to get hit with £18 tax on them. I can buy some damn nice pens in the UK for that.

*sigh*

UPDATE!

That’s the Bookworm with the Chinese Calligraphy Nib.

This is the Jinhao "Evening Stripes"

Definitely not a waste of money. Both are gorgeous pens, both write incredibly well, and have a weighty feel which is both comfortable and reassuring.

I’m sorry.

I’m not into babies and stuff… but this photograph is just… totally awesome.
I don’t know where it came from, someone sent it to me, but… wow.
Even if it isn’t real (I have no way to verify if it is), it is still awesome.

I read a blog recently. (I do that, occasionally…)
The author had a "25 things about me" thing going.
I thought that was kinda fun to read, but I won’t step into those boots.
I’m just not that interesting, honest.
Instead, I’m going to try and do a 25 things I learned about writing.
I write paranormal romance, so some of this pertains to romance writing. Most of it is useful for all writing, no matter which genre you aim for.

1. If you want it to sound authentic — do your research.
2. If you make it up as you go along — keep a record of what you make up.
3. Try to establish a sense of time and place in the first paragraph.
4. Don’t describe something just for the sake of description.
5. GMC (Not the car company!) Goal, Motivation, Conflict are what moves the story. It needs each to progress and without GMC you don’t have much of a plot.
6. Suspense. You need it. It doesn’t mean a dramatic event, it just means you need to keep your reader reading. Keep the anticipation alive!
7. A book is (usually) about a person, not an event. Therefore you need to have a strong central character whose story you tell.
8. Avoid passive verbs.  Adam held the rope. vs. The rope was held by Adam.
9. Adjectives are the devil. (Allegedly.) (Don’t ask. I have no idea what I’m talking about! The link is a list of them.)
10. Adverbs are the devil. (That’s the ‘ly words, in case you wonder which I mean.)
11. You’re the reader’s entertainer. Not the lecturer.
12. Try to make dialogue sound natural, but don’t overload it with information.
13. Don’t tell me Eva cried. Show me the tears running down her face. 
14. Know thy Enemy. It’s not enough to know all about your protagonists. You need to know the antagonist very well too. You need to know what makes him / her tick, flaws, strengths and motivation.
15. Make it immediately obvious who the hero and heroine are.
16. You need a black moment where everything is lost. It’s the turning point, the place where the ending starts.
17. Read the genre you intend to write. Just because you think you can write something, you need to know the market you write for, know what’s out there.
18. If you get stuck, put it down, put it away. Let it rest. Don’t look at it, do something else. Come back a week later and look at the story with new eyes.
19. Avoid unnecessary subplots and superflous characters. (GUILTY!) If a character only shows up once in the story — consider killing them. Unless it drives the story forward, and is integral to the plot, cut it out.
20. Don’t stereotype your hero and heroine. Make them stand out. Give them quirks. Know them. 
21. If your characters sigh with relief, gasp in surprise, jump in excitement and burst out laughing a lot.. then you’re guilty of clichés. I know I am. I’m going to get a damn book on the things and try to weed them out.
22. Use clear action words. Adam ran toward the car. Did he? Or did he dash? Jog? Barrel? Race? Flee? It gives an entirely different feel if Adam fled toward the car.
23. Said. Sometimes… people just say things. I try to have action tags, rather than said’s. (That goes for gasped, breathed, choked etc too.) I could do better, but at least I’m aware of it.
24. Edit. You have to. We all sometimes write complete tripe and it needs to be cut or restructured.
25. Never, never throw anything out. If you cut a scene, save it in another file. Just because it doesn’t fit the current story — it might come handy for another one. Did I say never? I mean it.

Well hopefully you’ll find these useful.

I used to read (still do, occasionally) Edgar Allan Poe.

When I was in school, we were given a choice of poets, and he was the one I picked.
I don’t think I’ve found any poem I didn’t like.

However, every now and then I trip over something I like (and I’m a morbid person, so watch out) and add it to my favorites collection.

One of the ones I like, and think people should read at least once, is "The Bridge of Sighs" by Thomas Hood (1789-1845) (I like quite a few of his.)
Another is "The Sleeper" by Edgar Allan Poe. I’m sure everyone knows the famous Raven, but how many know The Sleeper?

There are many others out there, which ones do you like?

It’s that time of year again.

The time, when all sense goes straight out of the window and only one thing matters:

Brussel Sprouts.

The annual Brussel Sprout War is in full swing, as witnessed by myself in Waitrose earlier today.
I don’t know why people go crazy at Christmas time. You’d think everything was closed for the next eight weeks, the way some people are shopping.
Seriously, do you think you’re going to starve? That the shops run out of food by Saturday?
Worse, apparently it all hinges on a little green vegetable.

So…

Have you got your sprouts yet?

If not… you better bring a shotgun.
You’re gonna need it…

It’s the same thing every year.

Christmas Eve arrives and I get a little melancholy and homesick.

It all has to do with Christmas Tradition, the smell of the tree, the cookies I used to bake with my grandmother (Gutzle, if any Swabians happen to read this.), Butter-S’s, Glühwein!
Sorry, I digress. We didn’t really have Glühwein (Mulled Wine) on Christmas Eve. We had that during the run up to Christmas, because it was… well… cold.

We never used to bring the tree inside before Christmas Eve.
It was kind of a ritual, and the day went something like this:

Morning — Noon

We’d get the tree up three flights of stairs, into the living room. Eventually. When we worked out how to get a tree that was too wide, too tall and otherwise unwieldy, up those winding stairs and through that door, without leaving half of in on the stairs or in the banisters… One of us was always on a mission to unsnag snagged branches and hide the broken bits from mom.
There it would be erected and left to settle for an hour or so, while my dad, my brother and I climbed into the attic to go get the Christmas decorations down.
Then came the ritual "Oh no! You BROKE it!" of the dropping of any baubles that were breakable.
We would pull tinsel apart and lay it out, dig out the candle holders, the stars, the bows…
Then my mom would come in and we’d decorate the tree, taking extra care to put the candles where they wouldn’t burn anything. (Yes, REAL candles.)
Once we were all happy with our tree, we’d clear up the debris (there was always debris…) and leave the living room.
Usually by around noon.
Door shuts.
No one is allowed inside anymore.

Noon — Afternoon

I’d go downstairs to my gran’s and we’d make more cookies. (We started baking cookies on the 1st Advent, and after Christmas Eve you didn’t bake any more.)
Our cookies never lasted long. There were Butter-S’s, Vanillkipferl, Coconut Macaroons, Ausstecherle, Haslenut Macaroons… you name it, I’ve probably made it before.
Tons and tons of them. (And I’m still making them…)
I might dig out the recipes and post them some time, because they are worth preserving and making, they were that good. And there is nothing like baking with gran, or mom.
By 3pm we’d start asking if the "Christkind" had been yet. (In Germany, presents are not brought by Santa, but by the Christ Child.)
By 4pm we’d "help" my mother prepare Christmas Dinner. (I think she would have preferred us not to, but there you go… at this point we were unstoppable.)
By 5pm (it was pitch dark outside by then) we’d be camping in front of the living room door.

Afternoon — Evening

At 5pm, everything was silent outside. You didn’t hear a car move, or anything.
Then the church bells of all the churches in town would start to ring.
When they fell silent again, you would hear "Silent Night" ring out over the town, played by a trumpeter on the church spire.
I swear, I hear that, and I’ll be in tears. They probably don’t do it anymore now, but they used to, when I was a kid.

And that’s when a little bell would ring in the living room.
My mom turned all the lights off. Every single one.
It was a time when I held my breath, waiting… waiting for that door to open.

And then it did.
And all you saw was the lit tree, sparkling tinsel in the dark room, glistening baubles, stars…

Magic.

I tried hard to find anything that could do justice to that view.
Below is pretty close to what we’d see when that door opened.
 

Merry Christmas!

I hope your Christmas is a magical as mine used to be.