Helloooooo, muscle car

Today I stepped out of Panera's and found a muscle car that could have easily belonged to Stephen Dominick. It was a beautifully restored 1968 Camaro SS 350 (and I know it was a 1968 not because of my vast knowledge, but because the license plate helpfully labeled it 68 Camy), painted, I believe, Matador Red. I was rather horrified to see someone driving it instead of keeping it in a garage (I could have easily dribbled Mountain Dew on it by accident!), but when I got home and looked it up, it appears that the car is "only" worth $20,000... which still strikes me as a lot for a car that's almost as old as I am. There must have been a lot of them produced. Nevertheless, it was a stunning car, and when I hit it rich, I'm going to buy one:-).

Annoying minor details

Google is both a blessing and a curse. There's a line of throwaway dialogue in which Dom mentions that he's getting ready for a merger with another company. I originally had the name "CapCo" in there, but it's taken. I started trying to come up with other names, but that's not as easy as you'd think. Senesco? Taken. Jupiter Industries? Taken. Aardvark Industries? Taken. AardCo? Taken. No matter what silly name I come up with, it's already been used. Go figure.

Happy happy work work

Illumination is coming along beautifully. Editing is really my favorite part of the process. When I finish up a book, I almost always think, "God, this is total crap."  But when I start editing, I realize it really isn't that bad... it just needs a little fine-tuning to make it better. I've been editing quite literally since I got up this morning (with a brief break for lunch), and it really feels like it's flowing much more smoothly. I am much happier with it now!

Website updates

Did some updating of my Meg Harris and Gem Frost websites as I try to learn how to use Ganxy. I also prettied them up a bit and tried to streamline them, so they're easier to get around. I do still need to get up excerpts for most of my books... this is my last major project with regards to website design. But I think I'll wait on that till after I have my two serial installments finished!

Illumination is done, sort of

I finished up the "first draft" of Illumination today. I put "first draft" in quotes because I edit as I go, so the book is already in fair to middling shape. There is still a lot of work to be done on it, though. It wound up a bit over 19,000 words, but because I usually expand as I edit, it will probably wind up over 20,000. I will work at it hard the rest of the week and this weekend, and hopefully put it up on Monday.

I also wrote quite a bit on Gambit last night. That one's coming along well, too. I don't usually write heroes who are such total bastards, but I have to admit, I'm beginning to see the appeal of the alpha male. Between Griffin and Dom, I'm starting to develop a taste for alphas!

Illumination excerpt

Thanks to those of you who have been so hopefully emailing me-- I really do appreciate the encouragement! Here's excerpt #2 for Illumination.

Working, and new covers

Easter was predictably a wash as far as writing was concerned, and yesterday I spent four and a half hours in the doctor's office, getting my Remicade (and waiting around for the doctor to see me, which she never did). So yesterday was kind of a bomb as far as writing goes, too. But today I'm back at it. This morning I wrote a nice hot sex scene for Illumination, and I'll see what else I can fill out and edit this afternoon. I'm thinking about putting up excerpt #2, but haven't quite figured out what I want that excerpt to be yet.

In the meantime, I've gotten a couple of great new covers from ebookindiecovers. The first one is, of course, a replacement. I loved the original cover, but I'm not sure it was "paranormal-y" enough. I think this one is eyecatching and says "werewolf romance" quite clearly. The second one was a premade that caught my eye, and when I thought of the title I immediately thought of a short story to go with it. I intend to write that as soon as I've finished up Illumination and Gambit: