The good:

1. Had an AWESOME visit with my folks, who came up from SoCal to see me. Spent a week playing tourist, including taking them gay two-stepping (one of the best nights) and wandering around San Fran (one of the best days). Went to the SF Zoo with my folks, my sweetie, and my sweetie's twins, and had a blast! Watched my dad get his butt kicked by said 8-year-olds in card games, which was hilarious. And my mom is the only woman in the world who walks into a gay bar and gets picked up by the only straight guy there... o.O

2. Got the submission okay for Dragon Soul. Woot!

3. Leave for Cancun in a week and a half!

4. Parents turned me on to "Lie To Me," which is awesomesauce.

The bad:

1. Exhausted. OMG.

The ugly:

1. The guy who owns my awesome, perfect, amazingly wonderful house... has just been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in addition to his MS. Aside from the fact that I like Charles and don't want him to have all these problems, I heard a rumor that he might sell the house. Calls to his sister to check in have given me no info. Hopefully I will have more info in how he's doing tomorrow. :(

I am now in that state where I'm too brain-dead to do much beyond watching TV, but too busy ripping out my eyebrows being tired of TV to watch more. Life is hard. ;)

J

I suppose if I'm going to get a cold, now is the best time to get it (even if it means that I won't get much editing done over the next few days. *sighs* I'm beginning to feel like I'm NEVER going to finish that fantasy novel. :().

It's a week before my parents get here, a week after work was insane, two and a little weeks before I go to Cancun... And things have been insane around here since before the holidays. I guess I'm overdue. *sighs* I still don't appreciate the sore throat. >.<

J

This is an LGBT article about how hate groups are actually creating support for pro-equality things. Awesome!

But I actually got online to talk about my fantasy novel. And that I'm so excited! I figured out how to solve an issue I was having, and while it requires some serious re-writing of, say 3 scenes, and some minor re-writing of a lot more, I figure it'll only take me a day or two and it'll have a HUGE impact. YAY!

...I need a working title for this novel. Everything else has had a working title. Somehow, this just became "the fantasy novel," which doesn't work so well because everything I write lately is a fantasy novel of some sort. >.>

JB

Also, have you seen the show on Hulu called Endgame? It's TOTALLY KICK ASS. It's a Canadian show, and if you live in the US you can only see it on Hulu, but the whole of season 1 is up for free to watch right now. NOW NOW NOW.

...Because I'm completely addicted and it's not going to get picked up for a second season until they see how it fares on Hulu.

It's about a tragic hero (who's a little snarky), whose fiancee was killed in an explosion right outside his hotel. He's a chess grand master, a total genius, and agoraphobic. He wanders around this fancy hotel in his bathrobe periodically (and he's remarkably attractive, and I swear gets more attractive as I watch the show) (I LOVE HIM FOR HIS BRAIN. And snark. And shoulder and chest muscles, which are only really shown under nice, button-up shirts.), and the supporting cast is awesome and varied -- equal number of women to men, and *gasp* people of color, too! (...sadly, I don't think they're in equal numbers) -- and if you like White Collar and/or heroes that are snarky with just a leettle bit of trauma (and occasional torment) you should watch this show!

I best like the ones where things happen to freak him out. They are rare, but beautiful. >.> (If you like those kinds of shows, you should watch the episode "Mr. Black." He gets panic attacks. >.> I kinda love it when he gets panic attacks. They don't happen often. Usually when someone evil tries to drag him outside. Oh! "I Killed Her." That one was good for that, too. <.<)

Then there's Sam, who's a grad student and totally sweet, and Dani, who is one of my favorites. She's the (hawt!) bartender with a semi-shady past who gets Arkady (the Russian -- did I mention Russian? -- hero/grand chess master) his alcohol, and there's Elsie (sp?), the staff maid who gets roped into helping solve crimes, and is a young grandmother, and is kind of motherly toward Arkady in an awesome, "Do this or I'll slap your hand" kind of way, but also in an, "I have faith that you'll overcome your agoraphobia and then I'll invite you to my granddaughter's birthday party" kind of way. Oh, and Pippa, his almost sister-in-law, who's trying to figure out who murdered his finance/her sister.

The only character I don't care for is Hugo (security manager), and I only don't care for him because I think they should treat him a little more seriously, since he was a homicide detective. Instead, they mostly use him for coming up with idiotic ideas. Granted, Arkady comes up with his own idiotic ideas sometimes, but he's smart enough not to say them out loud.

Mid way through the season they laid off the stupid flashbacks to Arkady's fiancee, too, which I appreciated because they were way too frequent. 

I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH I WANT TO WRITE FIC ABOUT IT. So go watch it, so there will be a season 2 and I don't resort to fic-writing. >.<

J

1. Heyyy, Dragon Whisperer is out today!
2. You can win free stuff by checking in at <LJ USER="torquere_social"> today and commenting on my posts!
3. What with all this good news, I checked for reviews on the Dragon series. Obviously, Whisperer hasn't been reviewed yet, M/M Good Book Reviews gave Dragon Hatching 4/4 hearts, and Brief Encounters gave it a B+. Woo hoo! (You can find other reviews for the other Dragon stories on my webpage.)

Dragon Whisperer:

Getting magically eaten by a dragon wasn't part of the plan. Really, there hadn't been much of a plan to begin with, but it had definitely involved more dragon slaying and less getting knocked unconscious. Even the unconsciousness wouldn't be so bad if it didn't push Ashe closer to death each time.

Katsu is worried sick at Ashe's descent. He's worried enough to find a dragon whisperer to help, despite the fact that he hates her. He hates her appearance, he hates her attitude, and he especially hates the way she's helping his lover when he couldn't. Despite this, he hopes she succeeds -- or soon Ashe won't be alive at all.

Hey, guys!

Tomorrow I'll be posting over on the <LJ USER="torquere_social">, and giving away stories and gift certificates! So head over and comment; that's all you have to do to enter to win! If you have friends who like m/m stories, tell them, too. ;)

Why so much fun tomorrow? Because DRAGON WHISPERER comes out! YAY YAY YAY!

JB

Just sent off the final notes for the trib copy of Dragon Whisperer, which comes out Wednesday! Dragon Soul is done, and will be sent off... I dunno. Tomorrow? Maybe Monday. After I get the query letter written!

This means I can go back to re-reading and jotting down notes on my unnamed fantasy novel. Also, I need to plot out the next Dragon story. Until now they've been pretty much plotted out; I know what needs to happen and how it'll end up, I just need to sit down and figure out where each story break occurs.

Writing the Dragon stories is different than writing novels. See, there's an overarching plotline. Currently, I need to wrap up Ashe's confidence-building and Ashe and Katsu falling in love totally, but that'll happen over the course of the series, and it'll happen right together. Each individual story, however, also needs to be a complete story in itself.

I'm trying to figure out what the next complete story will be. Also, if it'll be 2 stories or 3 before the series is wrapped. (Now watch it be 4 or something!) Sadly, I can't do much pondering here, or it'll give away Dragon Soul!

Dragon Whisperer, the next one out, is the longest in the series so far. Dragon Soul, which'll probably end up coming out in 3-4 months, is the shortest. I find this amusing! The following ones, which don't have titles yet, will likely be back to middle-length, like Hunted and Traders were.

My only complaint about the Dragon series is that it really hasn't sold as well as my books. I mean, I expected that: 1. It's a short-story series, and I don't think they sell as well. 2. It's fantasy, and romance readers don't typically lean toward fantasy. 3. When you have any series, the first book sells best, but then the people who were iffy about it don't pick up the following books, and people don't tend to leap into the series mid-series, so you don't pick up as many readers.

Still. It's kind of frustrating, since I think this is one of my best stories. It's the most fun and light hearted, certainly! I wish it were more like fanfic, where people posted them on their LJs or added them to rec lists (which typically get more traffic than review sites do!).

Well. Hmm. Oh, readers, the best thing you can do for your favorite authors? Say you're reading their books! Those kinds of referrals go a long, long way!

As for my own referrals, if all of this has made you curious, you can see everything on my webpage or if you just want the Dragon series, it's Dragon Hunted, Dragon Traders, Dragon Hatching, and as of Wednesday Dragon Whisperer!

WOO HOO!

JB

Hey, folks!

There are prompts, recaps, and fun author commentary by me for the Dragon series going up on the torquere_social; today! Come visit! You know you want to...

And as if that weren't enough, Dragon Whisperer comes out next Weds the 4th, with more bits and pieces and CONTESTS! We all like contests, right? RIGHT! Totally exciting!

I shall be releasing snippets soon... :D

J

Have I mentioned that Dragon Whisperer has been picked up? IT HAS! More info forthcoming! :D

J

You want to know what I'm working on? Of course you do!

This is the first scene of my almost-finished (untitled) new fantasy novel. Hee hee hee. :D

**

Yanagi fell, his palms hitting the dew-slick cobbles. He shoved back up to his feet before any one of the militia surrounding his group could close in and kick him. One of them had drifted closer, identifiable by the red strip of cloth circling his upper arm. "This is a mistake," Yanagi said to him, speech rapid with only slightly feigned panic. "I'm a bard. I spread information and--"

The soldier shoved Yanagi hard, nearly sending him into the tispy woman he'd been flirting with all night. She was crying, stumbling along as fast as she could. "Well, bard," the soldier growled, "I suggest you start spreading information. One of you is a spy, and we want to know who."

"These people?" Yanagi nearly laughed, choking it off when it spiraled upward. "They're half drunk!"

( He'd already lost the soldier's attention. )

Something to be proud of: this time last year, I was writing about 9000 words per week. Even with my soon-to-be cut, I'm up. Woot!

J

Soooo... I had a meltdown this week. If you'd like to understand why, check out this ( list of things to do )

So after my meltdown (which was of epic proportions -- I don't do things by halves!), I took two days off writing so I could Get Shit Done, and I think I'm going to alter my work plan. Currently, I train dogs Mon, Weds, and Sat, and I write Tues, Thurs and Fri 4500 words per day, for a total goal of 13500 a week. I think I'm going to keep training Mon, Weds and Sat, but start writing 5500 words per day twice a week, for a weekly goal of 11000 words a week, which is still enough to keep me happy, but will give me an extra day off (for a whopping TWO days off a week) to Get Shit Done.

And also, if I do more than my 5500 words a day, that would be awesome, too. Lately I've been writing at more like 6500-9000 words per day, so... I won't make that my goal, for days that aren't good writing days, but I'll continue doing it when I can. ;)

So! That's the new plan. Here's hoping it'll work.

J

Well, it's that time of year again. The busy time! (For dog training, that is.) Here's my theory:

1. In October, a few people realize they need to train their dogs so they aren't monsters for Thanksgiving.
2. In December, a few more people realize they need to train their dogs, who were monsters at Thanksgiving, so they won't be monsters at Christmas.
3. Tons of people make the new years resolution to Fix The Dog.
4. Tons more people GET PUPPIES.

Even if they aren't purposely getting Christmas puppies, it does seem to be the season...

Anyway, I'm booked solid until next Saturday the 14th, which also happens to be the day after my birthday. WOO HOO! I'm also boarding a biologically aggressive puppy in the attempt to turn her around enough that she doesn't have to be put down.

No, really. She's already bitten up her mom, and she's only 9 months old. It's VERY exciting.

She's a good prospect I think, though; she's very smart, she doesn't like being in trouble, and she's highly trainable. (Smart and trainable DO NOT always go hand in hand.) Honestly, I think half the problem is that once she realized attacking worked, she started applying that to everything she didn't like. Her actual triggers are pain to her formerly broken leg (a very bad break, and now she has PTSD around it, essentially) and taking away something she's possessing. Of course, she's generalized out to a bunch of other things... but she's already figuring out that the rules have changed, and her shitty behavior doesn't work anymore.

...In two days she's bitten me three times despite my care, but hasn't broken the skin. PHEW. Also, thank goodness she's so little. And thank goodness her mom is dealing with it NOW, at 9 months, instead of waiting for her to "outgrow it." At 2 years, this wouldn't be treatable and the dog would have to be put down as a menace. Right now, we have a chance to change it, and her mom already knows that this will never be a "normal" dog; we'll have to tread carefully and manage things for her whole life. But we can make it livable.

But enough about crazy dogs! Let's talk about other things.

It's been a hell of a winter. I've had family battles and make-ups, major upheavals, struggling with feelings of isolation, struggling with scheduling time for myself as well as time to work... It's part of the reason I haven't been blogging, ironically. When I have the time, the prospect of trying to write it out so it makes sense to read (ie, catching people up on everything so I can talk about the current issue) is daunting.

I got a paper journal so I could write about my relationship issues. I love Quin, and I can't tell you how relieved I am that we have excellent communication. But that doesn't always make it easy to communicate, and I totally failed for several months before I came clean about something that was bothering me. I completely freaked out, in all honesty, and it lasted for days before I realized that things really were getting better.

That's one of the things I feel very lucky about, with Quin. I've talked to other friends lately who have similar issues, who tell me that when they talk to their SO their SO freaks out in turn and gets co-dependent, and not only is the initial issue not resolved, but it creates a secondary issue of the SO freaking that the person is going to leave them. It makes me realize just how awesome Quin is, that I can talk to her about my freak out and we actually work toward changing things for the better, instead of it creating more issues.

I do worry sometimes that I'm putting too much on her. Asking her to moderate her tone AND deal with the kids at my house AND be aware that I'm struggling... it doesn't matter that I'm also helping with kids at my house and moderating my reactions and emotions, it feels wrong. It feels wrong because I'm moderating by holding back, and not doing too much. (I was completely over-extending myself.) If I'm not doing something, and I can see that someone else is, I feel like such a loafer. I have to learn to let that go, and trust that Quin will ask me if she needs a little extra help. But God, I'm struggling with that.

I'm still working on accepting that I need more rest and more personal TLC than other people do. That I should just be grateful I'm able to work in a field where I can take that rest and TLC, and not berate myself for doing less than others or needing more sleep. I think that'll be a LONG haul, trying to get that under control, but at least I'm aware of it and working on it.

Other things I've been thinking about: though I haven't been posting, I've been reading as I can. And of course, lots of people are posting new years resolutions and things like that. Quin's resolution is to see more friends, and I think that's probably a good one for me, too. I'd also like to start blogging again. I think of the first year I moved up here as the golden year for blogging (I blogged daily, and was doing so much reading that it was often interesting things), but I also was barely WORKING at that time. Now I have a full time job and a part time job (between dog training and writing I work... a lot. And I said I can't do as much as others up above. HA. Sometimes my inability to see reality is amazing.), and between that, running errands, seeing Quin and trying to see friends, I don't have much time for blogging.

Beachlass mentioned Nezu's old morning pages, and I was thinking how awesome it would be to start those. But... I don't know that I have time to blog every day. Maybe, though, I'll try and start blogging once a week. Here or on my femme blog; either one. Whether it's thinky posts or just daily rambling. I have a lot of thinky posts I WANT to blog about. For instance:

1. I went to a Christmas concert with Quin at her ex-wife's church. It was awesome! It also hammered home to me how much I disagree with Christianity. I'd like to process that. It also made me realize how much I LIKE ritual, and the noting of holidays or special occasions, and how I don't have any if I'm not celebrating the Christian ones. I'd like to blog about that: both the emotion and reasons why I don't have them and why I like them, and possibly problem solving about how to get them.

2. I'm reading this neat book about new findings in archaeology as relates to the Bible. I'd like to talk about that; not only what they're finding (though it's highly controversial; I guess that's an area where knowledge and new theories are exploding at the moment, and it messes with religion, so OF COURSE it's controversial), but also my reactions to it -- which aren't at all what I expected, and are quite spiritual.

3. My feelings of isolation, and wishing I could go back to writing with my online friends. The fact that I don't really feel a part of any online community anymore, and I miss that, too.

4. My writing blog. I finally got an official wordpress one, but I haven't put anything on it. Should it be an official blog, leaving this one up for random personal crap that not everyone wants to read? Or should I shift everything over to it? Or should I let it lie and just keep using this one?

5. I had others a moment ago, but alas, now I've forgotten them. This is what usually happens when I open up LJ. :(

Anyway, I'd like to start blogging again. I'd like to see my friends more. Work is finally settling down, so I might start yet another account. Put maybe $500 bucks in it and have that for next summer, when business slows again. In theory that's what my savings account is for, but in reality I starve before I touch it. If I have it set aside, right there, then I don't have to freak out over depleting my savings account (which, at the moment, is retirement and emergency funds all wrapped into one). And it's not like I need a lot of money to get by in the summer; despite my freaking out, I paid my bills last summer and things were DEAD. But it'd be nice to have that buffer, so I could also go to dinner occasionally!

And now I've spent my allotted time. I need to head to work. But hopefully I'll be back relatively soon. ;)

J

Hooray! I got Dragon Hatching up!

So pretty. :D

Dragon Hatching!

J

Oh man, you guys, I still haven't even put Dragon Hatching up on my webpage. It's been that kind of winter. >.<

BUT! I'm really looking forward to Christmas! I have some awesome gifts for my sweetie, and some fun stuff for my dogs, and I'm FINALLY done shopping. HOORAY!

...I totally overspent. >.> But I got awesome stuff! :D So it's all good. I'd like to tell you about my favorite buy, but my sweetie reads this blog. Hmmm. You could always tell me about your favorite buys instead... ;-D

J

I've read 38 out of 52 pages, and I have good news! I really like my new fantasy novel. :D

J

I just did a word count on my fantasy novel, and I'm 25,000 words through! Which means I'm 1/3 toward my goal... and I suspect it will run longer than that. >.>

J

My current debate: now that I've finished Dragon Whisperer (it's being edited before being sent to Torquere), do I continue with the next Dragon story, since I already have a chunk of it written, or do I return to my fantasy novel?

Normally, I'd return to my fantasy novel. But this is already on my mind... Of course, I think I'll sleep better if I go for the novel, as that's where the creative juices are leaning. (Since I already have the Dragon series plotted, there's less creativity required.)

It's a dilemma.

Here's another dilemma: until now, I've had titles for each of the Dragon stories already in my head. There were a few where I had several titles and had to whittle it down, but they were all pretty easy: Dragon Hunted was about being hunted by a dragon, Dragon Traders was about trading dragon eggs (and hijinks ensue), Dragon Hatching was about the dragon hatching, and Dragon Whisperer is about finding a dragon whisperer to get the hatched dragon under control. (...Sort of.)

This next story is about finding out about Katsu's past, and then starting the journey to his homeland. Hmmm. The only title I can think of is one I'm not entirely thrilled with... Going just on that little bit, do you have any ideas? His homeland is Asia-esque, pulling from different Asian cultures and with a heavy dash of fantasy, and there are definitely more dragons there of the serpentine kind -- though we probably won't deal with any of them. The dragon will be going with them, but doesn't really have a role in the story. In fact, from here on out dragons in general don't have much of a role in the story; it's more personal growth and building love. His culture is going to be very worshipful of dragons -- their kind, anyway, not Ashe's culture's kind -- in part so I can keep the dragon theme and it'll make some sense.

The title I thought of that I'm not sure I like is making more sense... But I'm still not sure I like it. Any ideas? Maybe I'll make it a contest, when Whisperer comes out. ;)

J

Well... I'm re-tooling Dragon Whisperer, ever so slightly. As it is now it's a good chapter in a book, but it's SUPPOSED to be a short story on its own! I'd hoped to get as far as finding out about Katsu's past, but I think it reads better if I put that in its own story.

It shouldn't take me more than a day, I don't think; I'll need to buff up one scene and take out the current end and then re-tool a new end, but it actually ends pretty well if I just take off the add-on. And that's the problem, really; I sacrificed part of the story so I could have that add-on. So... I'm taking it off and boosting the story itself. Damn word count limits! ;)

J

Dragon Hatching has had its first review!

At MM Good Book Reviews! 4 hearts! Yay!

JB