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But I’m feelin’ very Brazilian, or at least a certain part of me is. (hint, hint) There are many pros to this newfound freedom. I am now unconstricted. Velcro is my friend once more. No longer do I shy away from the maxi pad aisle. I can use adhesives without hesitation. Better than that I can now avoid the senseless squirm when my hubby decides to travel to exotic locations. The beaches have not only been combed they have been sandblasted.
The cons. For a solid two days after my newfound freedom my ‘lips’ were swollen. Can I just say ouch and get a hug? The incredible lengths we as women go to will never cease to amaze me. If I’m not plucking, I’m waxing, or sanding it (yes, you read that right). I’m Italian, why is it that I feel the need to fight nature? And what do you use to ease the discomfort? Chap stick? Utter cream? Can you approach the pharmacist with a stratight face? “Excuse me, Sir…my lips are chapped… can you help me?” Do you then have to elaborate further?
Do men go through this? NO! Do I have penis envy now? If it would ease the pain I would take one, thank you! ROFLMAO! I have no clue what I would do with it, and I’m thinking that my aim wouldn’t be so good.
Hmm, moral to the story is that a tropical trip is a wonderful experience and can leave you feeling ultra sexy or utlra sore. Roll the dice, baby!
Mandy
(who is now wondering how long it will be before her mother calls to yell at her for writing this on the internet)
As I sit here and try to write this with three boys throwing a Nerf ball over my head I wonder why it is that his vacation always leaves me three bottles short of easing my headache. Could it be because our boys still think of daddy as a novelty. The one that is ‘fun’ and plays catch, wrestles in the house, and drags them to see blockbuster movies. Perhaps. Could it be that people assume that sense he’s home and has a few days off that we should spend those days with them? Perhaps. Could it be that since he’s home he feels the need to trail me like a shadow I can’t shake asking repeatedly what he can do to ‘help’? Perhaps.
I’ll think more on this as I down another cup of coffee, duck to avoid being tackled, find something for him to do, and avoid the phone at all costs.
Gosh, I really love it when he’s on vacation.
Mandy
I almost forgot to tell you all that Daughter of Darkness will be released in paperback Nov/Dec this year!
*slaps forehead* How did I forget that? OY!
:)
Mandy
Bad girl….
I know, I know… I’ve been a bad girl about updating my blog. I’ve been so busy writing that I haven’t had much time for anything else. I did get three more contracts and have an additional two stories started. It’s my hope that by sharing this I can avoid the beating you all threatened to give me if I didn’t get back on here and blog. LOL
Vacation….
Hubby is on vacation this week so that means one week of my kids losing their minds and him walking around behind me asking if I need anything done. I get that’s it’s mean to say ‘go away’ but really can’t he go somewhere for a bit. LOL
Stupid thing of the week…
We had a computer problem here a while back. The power surged and Shane’s computer wouldn’t turn back on. He MADE me call the insurance company and jump through all these hoops which I did. The insurance man comes to the house and takes photos. He then has me take the thing to be repaired. They have it a week. I call to check on the status of it and they say that they can’t find it (never good). They then call me back and tell me that once the tech took the 3 1/2 floppy out of the drive it booted up just fine. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I called Shane at work and let him know how pleased I was for having to take my writing time to fix his non-problem. Oh, I also told him that I was free to pick on him about this forever!
Kid update….
I took my oldest two boys school clothes shopping. They suddenly turned into girls and got all picky on me. Four full blown arguments later we were heading out of the mall and I do not plan on going back. They better hope they don’t grow!
My youngest one was listening to me talk on the phone to my mother-in-law. I was telling her about a mysterious order from my oldest sons room (I have boys what do you expect). All of the sudden my youngest breaks out into That Smell by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I thought that was pretty darn funny.
Book/writing up date….
I got paid… I got paid! Sorry, it still amazes me that not only would someone want to read what I write, but they’d want to pay me for it too! I’ll be on a natural high over this for months so bear with me please. I will tell you that for being a brand new author, for mixing many genres, almost no HEA(happily ever after endings), and just barely qualifying as romance I was VERY please with my sales with NCP!
I think I mentioned above that I signed three more contracts. That brings me up to 11 with NCP thus far. I’m heavy into a Rockin’ Vamp one that I hope you’ll all like. I promise to finish the Italian Gods one soon!
I wanted to give a quick shout out to Jack, a friend of mine, who is helping me with weapons questions. He is an amazing asset! I’d also like to thank One (don’t ask) for his help ahead of time too.
Well, I’m off to listen to some more Alice in Chains and write my Rockin’ Vamp one. Wish me luck! :)
Mandy
When you need a speedwalker around there’s never one there. I’m talking on the phone to my hubby and hear the doorbell ring. I tell him that I’ll call him back because I’m putting the nekkie child from the previous post down for a nap. I head downstairs and find my five year looking at the TV saying “I do NOT know what dat is”. This is good that he didn’t open the door because just last week he was still opening it for anyone and their brother.
I head to the door, look out and find a man standing there. He introduces himsels as Lee the carpet something or other. Anyway, he shows me an ID. Truthfully, he flashed it so damn fast that it could have been anything. I don’t bother to smile, I’m not a nice person. He launches into his carpet cleaning pitch and I offer to save him time because we have next to NO carpet in our house. He then leans in, and takes a step into my home to look around at it. I backup just a bit before I realize that this is MY house. I then give the evil eye and walked towards the door. Trust me when I say that budging a bitching me isn’t easy.
He asks about what my husbands does, about what I do. I’m nice enough to tell him. Most people assume that I’m a freak when they hear about what I write about and they are all on the mark.
I start looking around for signs of the famous speedwalkers and get nothing. Great, just when it would be nice to have another human near who is not under three feet tall there isn’t one.
I then start to think about the laws and what you can and cannot do if someone should happen to attack you within your home. This brings a smile to my face. Am I sick, perhaps. Did the poor man selling carpet cleaning services deserve me running these scenarios through my head… maybe, propbably not.
LOL
Mandy
It’s June Bug time here in Ohio. Always fun. Surrounding towns have been known to have to bring in heavy machinery to scoop them up off the roads. We’re used to it. No biggie. My youngest son had one land on his arm and he said “weally lil bird-ee”. It was oh so cute right up until it fluttered its tiny wings, he freaked, brought his chin down and smashed it. He didn’t seem to like my answer that the June Bug was dead. He took it and put it back on his hand and continued to sing “weally lil bird-ee” over and over again.
I’m not sure if this is cute, sad, or just plain creepy. My creep-o-meter is a bit skewed compared to others so the jury is still out.
:)
Mandy
I’m looking through my emails this morning and decide to sort them out. My thinking is that this will help me keep track of what I need to do. All in all it depressed me. So many emails and so little response on the part of me. I’m not entertaining the thought of a mass ‘I suck’ email. I’m hoping that all the ones I haven’t even looked at in a month have forgotten about me. Why am I obsessing over this? I’m not sure. Could be that at one point in my life (prior to writing) I was extremely organized. I think, but I’m not sure, that my muse ran away with my organizational skills when she took my sex drive. LOL!
If anyone should she her please smack her and then grab my good points back. I miss them!
Oh, I set aside the Italian gods thing for a bit. It seems another project has started whispering in my ear. It involves a young woman, who just obtained her teaching degree. Needless to say she is beside herself when she offered the opportunity of lifetime to interview at Leviathan academy. She arrives thinking she’s in the running for the new art teacher only to find that Jonas Leviathan, headmaster, has already given her a job. Allison will be heading up the wortcunning * practical sorcery departments for the school. She’s shocked to say the least. Magik wasn’t something she ever talked about. It was a part of her past that she keep hidden. Raised by her grandmother, a practicing witch, Allison thought her tales the talk of a crazy old women. She listened with half an ear when her grandmother tried to teach her the power that herbs and nature holds.
Now, a teacher in a school for supernatural children, Allison finds herself dropped into a world she did not existed and caught in a bitter love triangle.
Whew, that was mouthful! Yeah, this one seemed to be poking at me for a bit now. Michelle was the deciding factor on starting it. She told me to take some of my college experience/high school fun days and create a series with them.
This seemed to fit well so I ran with it.
I’m done rambling for the moment and that’s good considering my youngest is now beating the tar out of the oldest.
Duty calls!
Mandy
I just finished up another story. Very happy to be done. I love the story but it was a slow train coming. My five year old deleted it once, and then I deleted the ending once. OY! Thankfully, I was able to put it back together again and am happier with the ending than I was the first times around.
I’m trying to decided what to dig into next. The Italian Gods one is calling me, but the anthology wildcat shifter that I’d been working on keeps answering the phone. I’ll let them duke it out. May the strongest story win. LOL.
I’m thinking that my writers block may be over now. It was short lived, but felt like an eternity. I hate not getting things done!
I’ve been researching different languages for the books I’m working on and now know how to say “I can’t get it up” in five languages. Always good to know. Now if I only had that kind of equipment it’d make more sense.
It’s been raining most of the day here and my oldest two don’t seem to care. They’re drenched but having a blast playing outside so I’m leaving them be. My youngest is here watching a Ronald McDonald video. I never thought a five year old VHS tape that we bought at a drive-thru would make him so happy. Proves I know nothing!
Am I the only one who feels like they are parenting blind? I hope not. My poor children are going to need so much therapy when they’re older. I remind them when I correct them now to write it all down so they don’t forget it on the ‘couch’ later in life.
hmm, oh, I’ve spent most of the week updating my homepage. It’s coming along nicely. It’s a bit harder to do than I first thought it would be, but I’m happy with the results. Maybe someday I’ll be an html guru but in the meantime I’ll have to settle for my limited skills. That or hope for a sexy young buck who knows how to build websites to fall from the sky. If that happened, I’d hope for a storm. Might get more than one that way. :)
Okay, getting myself aroused writing a damn blog entry. Best to go now.
LOL
Mandy
I’ve been trying to work on Raven chapters all day. I was working on that story about the Italian gods, but had to set it aside. Lost my muse again. I think someone musenapped her… I can’t be sure though. If insane muse is found lost and wandering the streets, please return to…. J/K
I got more email from folks wanting to know who Gwen picks and now what happens next to Valerie. Some are so passionate about who they want to win out in each book that I get all excited. Seems sort of surreal that anyone would care let alone email me about it. I’m loving them and find that they are helping get me through this blocked period. I can say that some new reviews for my work recently came out. I need a disclaimer that says that I’m NOT a normal romance book. I love tossing extra obstacles (in most cases more men) in my books and I’ve noticed that the reception to that isn’t always warm. I have yet to write a HEA ending and am not sure I could. The problem stems from the fact that I sort of thought DOD and VALK did have happy endings. I’m obviously not right in the head so that’s the last time I take my own advice! LOL!
I’m trying to pull together some authors to do an anthology called GHOST CATS about wildcat shapeshifters. I think it’ll be fun. The response has been good so far. My story for it is pretty much done. I’ll post more about it to my website when I get the chance.
Oh, I think that Immortal Ops will be coming out this week or next. I’m not really sure. It’s completely different from DOD and Valk, so I hope everyone will like it. :)
I’ve rambled on long enough now… off to write more Raven chapters.
Mandy
I’m not sure what my problem is today. I can’t seem to keep my head in the game. Each time I sit down to write I find myself being easily distracted. I’m thinking that I may chalk this day up as a loss.
I did manage to work a bit more an a new paranormal. It’s about a girl who travels to Tuscany for reasons that even she is unsure of and ends up catching the eyes of two very powerful men. One is the god Anteros. He is the god who punishes those who scorn the people that love them, and he’s also brother to Eros (god of love). The second man is Cel (Puccello), god of death. His title was taken from him when he fell in love with a human a thousand years ago, and now he looks to be making the same mistake. It’s a struggle for me because its in third person. First person flows for me, third makes me concentrate a bit more.
I should be going through DOD2 (The Enchantress) and checking for passive voice and plot holes. I got to page 50 and bailed. My head wasn’t in it. Every time I look at a page I start to second guess myself. It was easy to write it before everyone read the first one. I should just turn the damn thing in and say the heck with it. I’m sure its fine, but I’ll peek through anyway.
I’ve gotten some emails from people giving me suggestions for book III of The Valkyrie (two is a prequel and already done). I love reading their suggestions. Its especially fun to see how they think my mind works. The scary thing is that I just sit in front of the computer and whatever comes, comes. I rarely have a masterplan. Normally its just to finish the darn thing before I go insane from the voices in my head. LOL!
I’m signing off now…
Mandy
