Happy Halloween!

Howdy, Mushrooms! I know it's been a really long time, but today I have more to say than will fit in a simple tweet or tumble (and I have more planned for the very near future, including some book reviews and some exciting developments over at a most excellent and exciting venture I've been invited to participate in!).

First of all, I'm lucky enough to know some AMAZING writers, and some of us have gotten together to form a fantastic and spooktacular venture called The Midnight Type. It launched today, on the creepiest day of the year, appropriately enough, so please go check it out!

On a more personal note, this might be the last year I get to go trick or treating with the kid. She's going to be in High School next year, and that's really pushing the age limit for candy begging, so we made the most of it this year. She dressed as Castiel from Supernatural.

Lucifer as Castiel

We took bets on how many people would guess who she was. Five. The winning answer was five. Out of about a hundred. Most frequent guesses were Harry Potter (?) and Doctor Who.

Three or four houses in, we sort of realized we'd made it a family Supernatural outing. Tim was wearing his Crowley t-shirt, and I was wearing plaid flannel and an army green jacket (and drinking a beer) a la Dean. So. We sort of worked out without even trying. The few people who picked up on it were ecstatic. We even introduced a few enthusiastic new viewers to check out the show. Mission accomplished.

The three of us are actually kind of sad now. We spent about 50% of our conversation indulging in quotes from the show.

Every year these two are wearing different costumes.

The best part, far and away, of the whole night for me was when I corrected a Star Wars reference Tim made. You don't understand. He saw the original in the theater, and actually wore out his old copies of the VHS tapes. Compared to him, I'm a total n00b. I danced half way down the street chanting "I'M A JEDI" over and over again. This is a first, people. I feel victorious.

I had a dozen other anecdotes I recall being amused by at the time during our walk through the steady drizzle tonight, but one of the houses we visited was handing out mulled wine and hard cider. TRICK OR TREAT FOR GROWN-UPS IS AWESOME. I don't really recall most of the entertaining moments from the evening. Oh, well. I'll have more updates in the days to follow. Stay tuned, and don't eat all your candy at once. :)

Long time no see on the bloggity

First of all, I did survive GISHWHES, in case anyone was wondering. It was an amazing week, but since then, I've been so distracted by other things, I haven't bothered to write any of them down here. For the most part, I've been putting my strange thoughts into tumblr posts as they occur to me, rather than saving everything up for a big post here.

It is time, however, for a BIG POST HERE. So, uh...here it is, a big post.

I finally finished editing Torn, and wrote a query letter, and I'm making my list and checking it 93,572 times before sending out queries. Riiiiight. Finished-- as if there is such a thing as finishing when it comes to editing. It's more like resigning from the task after conceding detente. Continuing would lead to mutually assured destruction, so the manuscript and I shook hands and bought each other a few drinks. We'll spend the next few weeks glaring suspiciously at one another while we wait to hear back from agents.

In the meantime, there are other exciting things in the works. Things that are in their infancy. Things that are not yet identifiable as infants, but more as three-headed-demon-raptors, howling into the night from their nests in the rafters of the attic. We (in the nebulous, mysterious sense of the word "we" because there are other "people" involved in this endeavor. I won't name them yet for fear of drawing down the wrath of heaven upon us all for plotting such a diabolical... plot) are nursing them along on a steady diet of secret potions and the blood of innocents. All will be revealed in good time. *chuckles maliciously* In good time.

The next step is to start writing the next thing now. It is my most favorite, and also my least favorite, part of writing. The thrill of a new plotline and new characters, and the thrilling agony of research, the hesitating stop-start-stop of molding a new world into a sensible story, and hoping I can keep flinging myself forward to the end. I can already feel my heart racing. It might be a caffeine overdose, but I don't think so. I think it's ecstatic terror that grips me every time I start a new story.

So I'm off to stave off the inevitable heart attack by draining off the bad mojo through my fingertips. I'll be back with updates as soon as the demon raptors are weaned and ready to take flight. Until then, beware of strange screeching noises from the attic.