CONTEST: Weird Sh*T Found in a Writer's Desk Drawer.

Okay, I've cleaned my desk out approximately 5 times in the 10 years I've had it. Today I opened a drawer for my cat to step on instead of my laptop (I'm training him) and I noticed more than a few oddities languishing inside.

Here's my at-a-glance inventory:

A Rose Rock from Oklahoma that my Aunt and Uncle gave me when I was 10.

2 industrial files (for metal, not fingernails)

The "N" portion of a 75 Chevy Nova logo

A Pen that resembles a bone.

A multitude of business cards

Miscellaneous nuts, screws, and bolts.

Feeler gauges

Tacky glue

Sega Genesis Booklets for Sonic The Hedgehog and Mortal Kombat II

A Maneke Neko (Japanese Lucky Cat) Chopstick Rest

CD Scratch Remover

A Wrench painted like a Christmas Ornament.

Sewing needles (I can't sew)

Scissors

Flashlight

A cigarette case

A bag clip

A steel... marble?

A knife

Misc office supplies and business cards.

This makes me curious about what other writers have in their desk drawers.

And now I want to run a contest.

For the chance to win a $35 Barnes & Noble gift card, open a random desk drawer and tell me what's inside. I'll assign some judges and announce a winner on Monday.   

REAL Character Mashups: Do any other writers do this?

I have two friends who are both computer guys as well as musicians. Both are also excellent with intellectual debates. Other than that, they're complete opposites. One's country, one's rock and roll. Needless to say, I'd been dying to watch them have a conversation/ debate.

The opportunity arrived on our annual 4th of July barbecue. As there were many fun guests, great food and festivities going on, it took awhile for me to get them together and talking. Maybe they waited until I was done with my hostess duties to indulge me, or maybe they just decided to placate me since I wasn't exactly subtle as to my intentions. Either way it was well worth the wait and I got a front row seat.

As I'd suspected, they got into an epic debate about computer stuff. 90% of it was gibberish to me, so I had to observe their tones, facial expressions and body language to figure out who scored a hit. It was as fascinating as I'd hoped.

Which brings me to my question: Do other writers do this? I know we all create interesting fictional characters and thrive on watching how they react, but does anyone else do this with real "characters?" Does anyone else think, "I want to see how this guy reacts to that guy?"

If so, how does it inspire your writing?

Check Out My New Writing Aid! (Metalheads pay extra attention!)

I get a lot of inspiration from music. Whenever I have writer's block, I often plug in my MP3 player and listen to my favorite bands for hours. This has worked great for my urban fantasy and contemporary romances, but with my regencies, not so well. Because, face it. Historical romances just aren't metal. It's not their fault the electric guitar wasn't invented yet.

I found a way around this problem. It was under my damn nose the whole time. When planning my wedding, I had to be clever with the music. I didn't want to traumatize my grandparents. The solution? String Quartet tributes to my favorite bands.

We look smug because not only were we just married, we were walking down the aisle to Iron Maiden, and only a few people realized it. 

Here's a few good ones they sound so pretty!

                                                                     Tool: "Parabol"

                                                      IRON MAIDEN: "Aces High"

              METALLICA: "One" (I'm surprised they didn't break their violin strings near the end of the song)

                         LED ZEPPLIN: "Stairway to Heaven." This one's so beautiful I got teary-eyed.

And OMG OMG OMG!!! There's even MEGADETH!!!!!! (They're my favorite, can't you tell?) :)

There's also string tributes to AC/DC, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Guns n' Roses, Slayer...I could go on forever. Just google "String Tribute" and you'll find all sorts of awesomeness.

My muse is pleased! 

My Letter to Santa.

Dear Santa,

I think I've been pretty good this year and I am splitting my list into two categories: Things I want and things I need:

THINGS I WANT:

The stuff I mentioned on last year's post.

And speaking of shirts, I also found some that reference one of my favorite novellas ever.

I also wouldn't mind the ones for Stebbins or McVries:)

Music enlivens my muse, so the 2 newest MEGADETH albums wouldn't be amiss.

Since I'm working on Regency romances, I'd also adore the miniseries, LOST IN AUSTEN....um, for research...not that it was fun or anything...hell, who am I kidding, IT WAS AWESOME!

An MP3 Player: I used to borrow my son's...until I accidentally washed it with the laundry. I got him a replacement for Christmas (SHHHHHHH!!!) and I'm totally jealous!

M'kay, now for things I need:

One of those air spray can thingies for blowing the dust out of electronics. I'm sick of doing it with my mouth.

A laptop cooling pad...because frozen corn never makes a level working surface.

A new set of clunky, cushion-y headphones. They are imperative for late night research and muse-summoning.

Ear Plugs. Because my husband snores.

Book gift card...because writers don't just "want" books, we NEED them!

And finally.....

The continuation of the love and support of my friends and family. ::looks around:: It looks like Christmas has come early in that aspect! Thanks so much to everyone and Merry Christmas! 

Awesome Deviled Eggs!

Makes 24 servings:
Ingredients:

1 Dozen Eggs
1/2 cup Mayonaise (Not Miracle Whip or salad dressing)
2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions. (Scissors are your friend)
Snipped fresh chives
Dried mustard (wet mustard works too. I usually use both)
Parsley
Paprika
Seasoned salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Dried Dillweed
Milk (optional)

1.) Place eggs in a large saucepan and add enough cold water to cover them. Bring to rapid boil on high heat.

2.)Reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. (Times may vary due to elevation differences. I'd check cooking times for hard boiled eggs in your area)

3.)Pour off water and fill pan with cold water and ice cubes if you have 'em. Let stand about 3 minutes

4.)Pour off water. Gently shake pan back n'forth to roll the eggs around and crack the shells.

5.)Peel off shells staring at larger ends of the eggs. Some are a pain, but most come off easy.

6.) Cut eggs in half lengthwise, scoop out the yolks and put 'em in a bowl. Set the egg halves aside in a shallow container.

7.) Mix in the rest of the ingredients to taste, except for paprika n' chives. Add more mayo or milk till you get your preferred creaminess.

8.) Fill egg halves with the mixture, top with paprika and chives. Cover and chill until serving.

Do not leave the deviled eggs at room temp. longer than two hours. They should keep for a week in the fridge.


Happy Easter and I hope you enjoy!

Eye Candy to Improve Your Monday

Sigh. It's Monday already, so I thought I'd give us all something good to look at. As you know, due to my current project, I've had rock stars on the brain. It's been a very nostalgic time, researching and remembering my old teen crushes. My practical side eventually won through as my childhood ended. I could never date a musician. I'm too dedicated to my own personal goals...and I'm crazy jealous. But now that I'm working with fictional rock stars, I'm remembering the old charms of the real ones. So let's bring on the eye candy!

 PETER STEELE (TYPE O'NEGATIVE)

He once posed nude for Playgirl. Alas, he died a few years back.

                                                            
      DAVE NAVARRO (JANE'S ADDICTION and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS)  
He did something with a pearl necklace in a music video that had my friends and I melting

                                                   JON BON JOVI
I added him 'cuz my crit buddy mentioned him, but he was more my mom's crush than mine. :)

                      
                           ANTHONY KIEDIS (RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS)
          Gorgeous man...until he cut and bleached his wonderful hair. :( Why, Anthony, WHY?

                                                 DAVE MUSTAINE (MEGADETH)
   Lead singer of my most favorite band ever! ... and one of the few blonde guys I find sexy.

....Because I adore him, he gets two pics. :) He looks sad here because he wants me to sit on his lap....(I can dream, can't I?)

                                        TRENT REZNOR: (NINE INCH NAILS)
I think I obsessed over this guy for half my adolescence. He wrote some of the best break-up songs ever... Hey, he kinda looks like my vampire character, Razvan!

                                        JIM MORRISON: (THE DOORS)
         Because I can't blog about hot rock stars without including him. Look at that face!

      RONNIE JAMES DIO: (RONNIE AND THE PROPHETS, ELF, RAINBOW, 
                  BLACK SABBATH, DIO, HEAVEN AND HELL)
In my opinion, he had one of the most impressive musical careers ever, spanning across six decades. (1958-2010) He started out looking James Dean-ish cute in a doo-wop band and ended up becoming a metal god.

                                  ...and because he's freakin' DIO, he so gets another pic.

                                             ::Sigh:: THAT SMILE!!!!
What rockers get your pulse pounding?
Anyway, I hope everyone has a good Monday and let us all have a good and productive week! My goal is to get 10K by Saturday. Daunting, I know.

Celebrations, shout outs and topless Johnny Depp

I'm not in a really "bloggy" mood today, but I totally wanted to share the good news! If you'd care to take a peek at my progress bar on the right, you'll see that I completed the second draft of WRENCHING FATE!!!! W00000T!

This is a bigger deal than usual because this book has quite a history. I started it nine years ago...that's right, nine years ago. Then in 2008 when I got back into writing, I finished it, called it BLOOD PROPHECY and began querying it too soon. Needless to say, it didn't get anywhere. But I learned a lot from the experience, though not enough at the time. I revised it a kajillion times and still tried querying it until I finally realized it was so broken it would take a major overhaul to fix it. So I trunked BLOOD PROPHECY and wrote something completely different. That something different got me an agent, but I couldn't get the characters from my other project out of my head.

Finally I decided on a compromise. Seven years ago I had started a novel that began with a bang...and then I got stuck. This novel was AN IRONIC SACRIFICE and it was to be the sequel. I dug it out, intending it to be a stand-alone. I managed to finish it, but it still had too many elements of a sequel. So I resigned myself to overhauling book 1. I changed it so much that it needed a new title. And that's how WRENCHING FATE was born.

I gotta shout out my thanks to those who helped me along the way.

First to Jamie De Bree who gave a valiant attempt to read BLOOD PROPHECY. By chapter 5 she said, "I quit reading here" and thus showed me that the book was broken.

And thanks to Erica Chapman and Rissa Watkins for slogging through that awful draft and showing me what was salvageable and what had to be cut.

Finally thanks to Monique, Anahi, Millie, and Dana for reading the first draft of WRENCHING FATE and providing much encouraging feedback. And a huge hug to Danae Ayusso for hooking me up with these lovely ladies!

And now, for our viewing pleasure, here's some topless pics of Johhny Depp!

A Writer's Christmas Wish List.

First off, I must thank @Branli from Twitter for this wonderful discovery. She led me to the most delicious website ever: Cafe Press Writer's Gifts I spent hours going through the site, drooling over everything in sight. Here are a few awesome items.

 And one of my faves (I had to zoom it in) is a tee shirt featuring Shakespearean insults! Excuse me while I have a nerdgasm!

This was the US site, but there are sites and options for almost all of the other countries. :)

These are all going in my letter to Santa. Happy Holidays to all!