Posts Tagged ‘anna dressed in blood’

Soft as I am, I wouldn’t last a week in a Central American war.

Okay that isn’t from a movie. But it is from an awesome show, and if anyone knows what that show is, they will become a hero in my eyes. No one’s going to know what it is. I should just resign myself to that now.

Today I wrote a very respectable whole chapter of Secret Project S. And it was a chapter that I started yesterday, crappily, so I had to erase a few hundred words and start over. When did that happen? When did my first outings become so invariably crappy? Because I know when I read over the new chapter tomorrow, I’m going to have at least twelve instances of word omissions/additions and re-phrasing. Why can’t I do it right the effen first time?! The love stories in this are starting to evolve in ways I had only a vague inkling of. Which so far is a good thing. One of the characters was flopping onto the page completely milquetoast, but now he’s taking a turn for the dark. Nice.

Tomorrow I have one more day of Secret Project S before my attention returns to Anna Dressed in Blood. My intention is to have it sent back to my editor by Monday, just shy of the contracted deadline.

In reading news, there are way too many good books these days, and nowhere near enough time to read them. My list of to-reads is growing steadily, and I have no idea where they’re going to fit in. My schedule is already packed, even with the loss of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged in the move. Bret Easton Ellis’ Imperial Bedrooms will get picked up next Wednesday at his reading, and then The Ammonite Violin and Others will probably ship from Caitlin R. Kiernan (and I love me some new Caitlin!) and in September Lisa Desrochers Personal Demons has caught my interest. Also on my radar is Sisters Red, a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. And 2666, a literary beast of a novel focusing on a search for a german author and murders based on those in Juarez, is also prodding for a place.

Tomorrow I think I will have to consider the purchase of an e-reader. But for now I’ll pretend I didn’t say that.

I’m the most dangerous man in this prison. You know why? Because I control the underwear.

The quote today is from American History X. If you haven’t seen it, then do. It’s the only thing that makes the existence of Edward Furlong worth the trouble.

Anyhoodle, REVISIONS! Complete! Anna Dressed in Blood has now officially undergone the first round of editorial revisions. It took about five days of solid work, but it came together pretty well I think. I’m going to let it rest a few days, then read it through again, make sure the edges are smooth, and send it back to NYC. Then we’ll see whether more needs to be done, or cuts need to be made, etc.

I was nervous about these, having never done them before. I was also worried that Cas just wouldn’t talk to me anymore. But my editor is fantastic, and her suggestions were spot on, and if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times: Writing is Magic. I wasn’t sure if things could be inserted seamlessly into a "completed" manuscript. I shouldn’t worry so much. And it was nice to spend time with Cas and Anna again, because I’m going to be seeing them very shortly, in the sequel.

But tomorrow I go back to Secret Project S. I want to be over halfway done with it by my birthday, which is July 14th. I want to be in a position to pitch it to my agent in August. I am really loving it. Fingers crossed that others share my opinion.

I’m also going to be doing an interview to promote Sleepwalk Society on Blogtalk Radio July 13th at 1pm. The book itself is due for release August 1st. Please buy a copy, if you are so inclined.

You Paid 800 Dollars for Fish Boots?

So I’m not sure about the actual amount Denis Leary paid for the boots, but you get the idea. Quote of the day from the fantastic screenwriter’s movie, Suicide Kings, one of Leary’s and Christopher Walken’s best performances to date. See it. See it now. Watch it again.

Did a good portion of work on Secret Project S. It was a dreaded ACTION scene, and they almost never come out right the first time around. I tried to be careful, but I don’t doubt that I’m going to have to infuse it with something or another later on. Add an extra sense or sentence. It is clicking along, finally, and I am getting the urge to push my self-imposed word requirement deadline up to 15k before I leave for Seattle. I probably should, especially with Scenes from a Sequel starting to play out in my head. I’ve got two and a half months to make a real go of this book. In between, Anna Dressed in Blood will demand revisions, and then Cas and company will probably start knocking on my brain telling me it’s time to play.

I must express my fangirlish glee at the prospect of being at a Bret Easton Ellis reading/signing in June for his new book, Imperial Bedrooms. Oh, how I love Bret Easton Ellis. He gets better and better. Some people might say that he’s no longer as relevant as he was in the early to late nineties, but those people can just suck it. I will even forego my Barnes and Noble discount and buy the book from the Indie bookstore he’s reading at, in order to get it signed. Now that’s devotion.

On a personal note, Dylan and I are suffering from nightmares caused by Stephen King’s IT. I absolutely love that things can still creep you out even when you are fully grown. It gives me hope for humanity.

Promotion for Sleepwalk Society is going to start soon. I’m supposed to do an interview for blogtalk radio. Milan Kundera would not approve. He thinks that writers should only do interviews in their chosen medium, that is, written interviews, to be sure the words come out correctly. Kundera is a genius, but come on, how much fun is that? However I will carefully practice the use of fricken and effen in the days to follow. Just to be safe.

It is a gorgeous day here, albeit a bit windy. I must grab Dylan and head out to the stable to ride my horrible, horrible horse.