Weekly Round-up, and the WSJ YA storm.

It's been a crazy one again - getting used to being back at work, plus getting Basement Blues out there, sorting out artwork, and screaming hysterically at the electronic malfunctions in my life.

Before moving on to the round-up though - I've had the extreme displeasure of reading the Wall Street Journal article about YA.

Now, I don't write Y.A. I do however read it, and have done so from a fairly early age.

The article is an insult to writers of Young Adult fiction, their agents, and publishers. It is an even bigger insult to the people who read it, most of whom are teenagers.

Teenagers are a lot of things. Often confused, alienated, and trying to figure out the world they are in. The one thing they are not, is stupid. And if they don't like a book, come hell, high water or 6 months detention, they won't read the blasted thing.

Opinion writers like Ms. Gurdon seem to have forgotten this. She seems to have fallen into a trap I've seen before,  which is the one of wishfully relegating teens to the status of children who still require adults to make every decision for them, from the clothes they wear to the books they read.

Hate to tell you this, sweetie, but it doesn't work.

Pretending that teenagers need to be wrapped up in cotton wool and not exposed to the horrors of life is beyond stupid. It's actively dangerous.

They might not be adults legally, but teens are exposed to the world, with all the beauty and brutality that entails.

Pretending they aren't makes Ms. Gurdon appear so far removed from reality, she might as well have invited Tinkerbell to tea in her article.

Moving on from the mini-rant, the round-up:

Travel
Liverpool (cold) and Romford. It was my first visit to Romford, which is not that far away from London. Unfortunately I didn't get to see much apart from the train station and the business I visited.  Best part was chatting to two delightful elderly gentleman on the train coming back about the merits of kindle versus tree books.

Technical Malfunctions
My new wireless headphones decided not to recognise my phone any more. I got them because I was very tired of fighting with the cord on my normal headphones. LSH, who got a pair because I was so chuffed with mine, is still laughing at me. Hers are working fine.

Home PC has (again) become the worlds largest paperweight. Not happy.

And for something completely different, the light fitting in our home toilet has discovered new life as a water feature. Hopefully, the letting agent fixes it before either LSH or I end up crispy crittered, which is a distinct possibility if one of us forgets and flips the light switch while its still raining.

Writing
Got Basement Blues up on Amazon this week - the link is here. I sent a couple of preview copies out and the response was incredibly positive, so I'm moving forward with plans for a full length series with these guys.

Now it's back to working on the follow up to WolfSong. I think the break to work on BB was a good thing. The only problem is I now see a huge amount of the book I want to re-write since it's just not up to scratch. The weird thing is, a year ago I would have been happy with it. But I think in the past 6 months I've learnt so much - and hopefully improved - that there is no way I'm happy putting it out the way it currently stands; so we're talking a major re-write. Possibly from scratch. Ah, well..

I have about a month before university starts up again, so will be writing as much as I can.

Books
Found some absolute gems:

Bubba and the Dead Woman by C.L. Bevill. Waiting for pay day so I can download all of the books by this author, I enjoyed it that much.
Scary Mary by S.A. Hunter - I really hope there's a follow up to this one. Loved the characters.
Wild by Naomi Clark. If you aren't following this particular author by now, you are really missing a treat. And I LOVE the cover for this. I have the feeling it won't be long before this author gets to write full time; there's just too much talent here for it not to happen. Personally, I can't wait, since it means more books from her. :-)
I've also just discovered Camile Laguire and the Mick & Casey adventures, & I can't wait for the next lot.

Birthday Round-up

Today is going to be kept short, because it's my birthday and I want to go and play in the sunshine.

The past week could also be summarised quite easily as follows:
Work. Work. Study. Work. Have hysterics at pc. Study. Write. Work. Last day at work. Study. Have hysterics at pc. Write. Night out with LSH. Whimper. Whimper. Post blog.

(Said whimpering caused by first consumption of alcohol in 6 months.I pretty much knew it would happen halfway through the first glass of wine. And yes, I drank a lot of water with it. Didn't matter; my body and alcohol are not friends).

Anyway, I thought rather than summarising a relatively boring, though short week, I'd run through my list of Good Things in My Life.

1) Family. I'm so lucky to have my folks, my brother, and a huge assortment of cousins, aunts & uncles, not to mention the rug rats multiplying each year.
2) Writing. I love to write. There is something about falling into your own world that is more addictive than coffee, and without any nasty side effects. When I write I don't worry about money, or my weight, or passing my university course. I just am, it's just me and the story, and I don't think there is a drug on the planet that could replicate that feeling. I've also discovered the world of indie writers, bloggers and readers in a very positive way. And twitter, which has a fairly high percentage of crazy scrolling past my nose each day, and never fails to amuse.
3) Reading. The greatest gift my parents gave me was teaching me to read at a very early age, although my gran was less than amused some time later when she realised her 7 year old grandchild was reading Cujo.
4) Health. The flu has almost totally gone, and the weather is fine and sunny so the plates in my leg are behaving. I feel good.
5) Holiday. I travel to Australia tomorrow, which is a place I've always wanted to go. I get to see my brother and some totally awesome wildlife. I can't wait!

So, it's a beautiful day and life is good. I probably won't be on the blog while I'm torturing the Aussies, but promise a run-down when I get back. Until I do - I wish everyone who reads this joy. Live your life guys, and enjoy every second of it.

Weekly Roundup

Due to my PC throwing all of its toys out the cot, plus one hell of a dose of the flu I missed the last weekly round-up. This coming weekend is going to be crazy study wise, since I now have a full week & a bit to catch up on. So ..


Travel
Not for the last two weeks. Was supposed to be in Bristol this Tuesday, but banned from anything work related due to the flu. Been working (or trying to - hard to concentrate on anything except shivering and feeling pathetic) from home and haven't actually left my flat since last Friday.


Technical Malfunctions
My PC is trying to break my heart, and possibly what's left of my sanity. Couldn't write. Couldn't study. Did remember how to swear in Portuguese and Zulu. LSH kindly talked me out of dropping it from the 2nd floor window. It appears I either need a new graphics card (Scream!) or a new screen. (HOWL!) Since right now I can't afford either - visiting Australia in a couple of weeks and scraping every penny together, it looks like I will continue whining about The Infernal Machine for a while.


Study and writing
*Sigh*. See above.. I haven't been able to read for pleasure, never mind study this week.  A couple of well-meaning friends suggested I catch up on writing. Sadly, there is no way I can write anything coherent while feeling like hammered horse-shit, so nothing on that side either. 


Books
In the week before I got ambushed by the snot troll, I found a few real gems:


Flies for the Mayans by Ian Fraser. Disturbing, gorgeous writing.  Don't touch the book with a bargepole if you are sensitive about religion, drugs or sex. On the other hand, if you want to read one of the best stories ever written, I'd recommend snapping this novella up. He also has a  free story up at  http://www.the-utopian.org/post/3459062850/pigmans-fingers - once again dealing with some incredibly dark, usually taboo topics and beautifully written.




Ungrateful Dead by Naomi Clarke. Ethan Banning may just be one of my favourite characters ever. I would have liked a longer story, since I just didn't want this to end either. For 0.71p, it's a good fun read.


No Fear by Allie Harrison - currently free on Amazon and a fun read. Sympathetic characters and a cool little vampire story.


Indie Book Blogger has just posted his best books of March list - cool list. I already have these downloaded to my kindle, saving them for the flight to Australia in a week. Congrats to all the authors on there, I can't wait to read your stuff! Indie is also doing the A-Z blogfest, which sounds like a massive undertaking. 


For the first time in a week I no longer feel like my head is going to explode, and am no longer barking like a small Alsation every time I try to talk. Unfortunately, it appears LSH now has the bug, and is giving me the evil eye every time she shuffles sadly downstairs for more med-lemon. I'm just grateful I'll be allowed back to work next week. Although you know I'm sick when I don't even have cabin fever from being in pretty much one room for a solid week.


Now all I need to do is panic over catching up on university stuff..


Mood: Not quite dead yet. 

Weekly Round-up

I'm posting this a bit earlier than normal, since I'm going to try and get a bit of writing done as well as the next Uni project.
I got ambushed by the head-cold fairy on Friday, so the entire weekend has been spent feeling sorry for myself and whimpering into a pile of tissues.

Travel
Just London this week. My overnight bag is sulking in a corner, feeling neglected.

Technical Malfunctions for the week
Where to start on this one?
I haven't used the net book this week, so nothing to report there. The rest of the appliances in my life have tried to make up for it though:

iphone - decided to hiccup gently and give me hysterics about halfway through the week. The screen went black, with the Circle of Doom permanently revolving over it. No matter what I or LSH did, it would change. This included holding down the power button to try to switch it off, removing the sim card - you name it, we tried it.
 I thought it was broken. When I shuffled sadly into work the following morning and showed it to a colleague, he fixed it in about 20 seconds. By holding down the power button..
Home pc - not content with booting me off the internet for no apparent reason, the screen now suddenly pixelates and freezes. If I force a hard shut down & re-start, its fine. I've de-fragmented, run virus scans, the works. Any suggestions (Jeff! HELP!!) would be good here.
Work pc - Let's just say my entire IT department is currently avoiding me. (Maybe I shouldn't have asked for a machine that would cry if I slapped it?)
Work elevator - the last time I used it, it made a strange croaking noise and bounced when it reached my floor. I'm currently using the stairs.
Washing Machine - took a note from an old Stephen King story and tried to chase me across the kitchen last night. The bloody thing lunged at me. This is not something you need to experience at 1 a.m, while desperately needing to visit the bathroom.

Study
Group work done. I'm now ploughing into the solo assignments. Been having some great philosophical debates with my brother via Skype over the different areas, which is really, really cool. Anything that lets my inner geek out is fun.

Writing and stuff
Had a bit of  a drive this week, along with a couple of other awesome indie authors, to try to raise funds for Japan. I'll post the stats separately, as promised - not a huge amount, but every little bit helps.
Fighting with the vamp story, so I'll leave that and come back to it later, have a couple of other shorts I'm playing with as well.
Indie book blog posted my interview yesterday. Gotta say - it's really weird reading an interview with yourself. It feels slightly unreal, like one of those dreams you have when you get a really bad dose of the flu. Really, really cool, but weird.

The best thing about the whole publishing experience has been the community involved - the writers, the bloggers, the readers.  I love what I do as an Indie author and the people involved, 99% of whom I'd never have met if I hadn't taken the step of publishing WolfSong this year. So many people who are all so supportive of each other, who want you to do well and hone your craft.  Where else do you get this?
So yes - I'm (usually) broke, frantically busy, and occasionally feel like I'm playing whack-a-mole to keep track of where I am. I also think I am very, very lucky indeed.  

Weekly Round-up

Crazy busy (again!!) with university stuff, so let's get down to it:

Travel:
Leicester, which is starting to seem like my second home. No other travel planned for a couple of weeks which is good - I love seeing my guys, but am totally exhausted right now. Barring something really evil happening, the next time I travel any distance will be April, when I'm flying to Australia - more on that later though.
I anticipated another evening of hunt the decent restaurant, so when my friend offered to take me home & cook a meal before I went back to the office I jumped at the chance.
Dinner was salmon with a slice of Emmental cheese, wrapped in pancetta and roasted. Followed by home made fruit crumble and custard. It was a very happy little Aries that waddled back to work later that evening. More than I usually eat in a week, and absolutely to die for.

Technical Malfunctions for the week:
Not too bad this week - my iphone is doing some weird stuff & I tend to suffer from Angry Bird rage, especially when the screen doesn't seem to recognize that I'm touching it. Since I read the screens are based on reading electrical impulses, and I wasn't wearing gloves, this freaks me out a bit.
The TV at the hotel was rolling - this is one of the reasons I hardly ever end up watching TV at a hotel; there is always something going pear-shaped with them. I'm actually not allowed to touch the remote control at home, as LSH reckons I'm the kiss of death. One day I'll post the saga of what happened to the computer shop when I went to buy my net-book..
The elevator at work tends to go in the opposite direction to the button I've pushed at the moment - a bit irritating, but I can live with it.
My home pc still insists on disconnecting from the net on a frequent basis. I have no idea why.

Study

Making headway; I'm about to post my draft of the group assignment to the forums for review. Then we have a week to put everything together.
I volunteered to type everyone's notes into one document (it's called masochism. I also type pretty fast), and then one of my classmates gets to put the slides together.

Books
Finished Night and Chaos, by Naomi Clark. Oh, my. This lady is good! Of course, it means she's going to cost me a lot of money in the future, since I'm going to be buying everything she releases..

Finished The Abbey, by Chris Culver. 5 stars all the way - from what I can tell this is his first book. I can't wait for the next one. Good, solid crime writing. At the moment it's sitting at 0.71p on Amazon - get it before the price changes. Hell, get it if the price does change. It's worth every penny & more.

Finished River Marked, by Patricia Briggs, the latest in the Mercy series. I love this series, and thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Haven't started anything else yet due to university work.

Writing and stuff
Time wise, I haven't had much chance to write this week. The deadline to get the uni stuff done is just too tight, and I desperately need to finish.
I get extremely cranky when I can't write, which is never a good thing.

LSH finished her copy of WolfSong and wanted to see what happened next. Made my day, although the first draft is nowhere near ready for beta reading yet, so she is currently sulking a bit.

Smashwords downloads took off this week thanks to e-book week. The site was incredibly slow up until Friday though - if you were trying to download a copy and couldn't let me know, I'll make a plan for you.

On Amazon.uk I hit the top 100 under epic fantasy for 2 days. I have no idea what, if anything, this means sales wise - I think you need to hit the top 100 overall for this to be a sales thing. But it sure felt good.

There's been some discussion on different blogs about being able to write full time. I'd love to. The thought of making a living from my writing, and not being so broke I have trouble paying attention (which is my usual state) is wonderful. Since to date I think I've made around $5 in total, I'm keeping that under the Sweet Dreams file. However, should the gods of Kindle change their minds and decide I'm about to become a mega-seller, I won't complain at all.
Considering most authors work a day job their entire lives, and in the current economy I'm actually happy to have a job at all.. Shrug.
 I don't write for the money, which is just as well. Even if I never sold another book, I wouldn't stop writing (although I would be a bit depressed about it).

 I'd love to end up like Amanda Hocking or J A Konrath, two of the top e-book authors out there. Maybe it will happen. But keep in mind that guys like that worked damn hard to get to where they are; nobody waved a magic wand at them and said "Okay, snookums. You're rich."
Too many new indie authors seem to think they'll be rich and famous in a matter of weeks. Unless you hold a winning lottery ticket - um, no. No matter what genre you publish in, (or how you publish for that matter) this is the real world, where you have to pay bills, and rent, and buy food. Stuff like that.
Word of mouth takes time to build up, your Amazon check won't come through for a while, and quitting your day job on Monday because you published your first e-book on Sunday is a horribly bad idea.
Please don't do this to yourself.  Reality bites, and sometimes she has rabies.

Weekly Round-up & first fun contest

My home pc is still channelling it's inner Regan MacNeil. So far, though, it has not managed to throw up on me, for which I am incredibly grateful. I'm not really a fan of pea-soup, anyway. However, in honour of my history with electronics, and considering the fun I had with them this week, they've now earned a place of their own in the weekly round-up.

It was a pretty busy week, and both really, really good and frustrating ..

Travel
I hit Scotland this week - Glasgow on Monday evening through to Wednesday morning, and Edinburgh Wednesday and Thursday. If you ever travel to Edinburgh, I thoroughly recommend the Hudson hotel in Hope street, and a great little seafood place called the Mussel Inn in the Rose street area. For once, Scotland was warmer than London - arriving back on Thursday evening was a nasty shock, temperature wise. London on Friday.

Technical Malfunctions for the week (also known as Computers Hate Me)

Home p.c. is possessed and has consistently booted me off the net every time I try to log on. Either that or the entire screen turns into a pixilated nightmare that won't budge, forcing a hard shut down and copious amounts of swearing.  However, seems to willing to let me complete this blog and do a bit of posting to university forum, so right now I'll live with it.

I have a net-book that travels with me. I need this little darling, both for working remotely and studying when I'm out of town. On Tuesday evening it started making a howling noise and got so hot I thought the key board was going to explode, and wouldn't switch off. When I finally got it off, and cooled down, it sat there and sulked. Cue me rolling on the floor and biting the carpet - no remote work possible, no study possible.

I tried it today - no problems. GAH!

My phone kept switching itself on & off, including on the plane.Since I'd physically switched the phone off - not to silent, off - this was disturbing. (Two weeks ago I woke up in Bristol to find the charger socket twisted and black - the phone had only charged to around 80% so that wasn't the issue - and I currently have to rely on computer charging.)

The possible highlight, though, was triggering the alarm at Edinburgh airport. I had no metal on me (not even a belt), and although I have metal plates in my leg they are titanium and shouldn't trigger anything. The end result though, was a very thorough pat-down by security. It's the closest I've come to a full body massage in months - strangely soothing. Although the woman doing the pat-down got the giggles when I told her I couldn't afford to tip..

Study
Frustrating due to technical hiccups. And finance still leaves me in a gibbering heap. I just want to pass that section. I do not want to have to repeat it, ever.

Books 
I was lucky enough to win an e-copy of Naomi Clark's Demonised. If you read fantasy, urban fantasy, or horror, get hold of her work. As yet she doesn't write full-time, but if she finds the right audience I reckon she might start giving the big boys a run for their money. Talented lady. I'm halfway through Night and Chaos and loving it. She has a blog over at http://naomijay.blogspot.com/, swing by and give her a shout.

I also finished William Meikle's The coming of the King - loved that too. Another alternative history/vampire combo, and a great ride. You can find him at http://www.williammeikle.com. Much though I enjoy a lot or urban fantasy, I'm thoroughly enjoying the return of the totally evil vampire as a character. Nasty, but fun.

I'm still on Protector, by Laurel Dewey - reading slowed up a lot this week from sheer exhaustion. Text books don't count.

Writing and Stuff


Indie Book Blogger listed me in the top 3 books for February. I had a grin on my face all the way to Glasgow.


I got my first ever 5 star review on Amazon.uk today - I'm so chuffed. I've commented on each review so far, and will continue to do so no matter what the review says - nothing major, just a thanks for the review. If someone has taken the time to read my book and put their opinion out there, I just feel it's polite to thank them. So far, no bad reviews yet, although I'm sure that will come, and when they do I'm hoping I can pull on my big-girl panties, and thank the reviewer for their time and trouble in the same way.

The best part of the reviews is reading that people like your work. The most useful part is where they point out issues; so far two people have commented on introducing new characters, so it's definitely something to work on. If they hadn't mentioned it, I'd never have known, so I'm even more grateful.

Indie book blog has a  free coupon announcement for Jeffrey Pierce up, and an interview from Andrew Warwick, author of Tears of the Mountain and Winter Wolves.
Also worth mentioning again is Jeffrey Poole over at www.lentari.com - author of The Bakkian Chronicles. He is offering technical help for converting books to e-format, and unlike me, knows exactly what he is doing.

Fun Contest

If you'd like a character in the new vampire short story named after you or someone you know, post in the comments.
I have three names available - one male (semi-traumatised immortal with issues), female (spoiled, sadistic rich bitch) and boyfriend (busy sugar-daddy to spoiled rich bitch and a very small walk-on part).
The story is for the collection I'm releasing in May, and I'll send you a copy of the story as soon as it's done.

You can nominate yourself or a friend, or yourself and a friend - first come first served. If you don't want your name in the story but still want to comment, feel free - just state "no name please" in the comment.

=========
PS: The roast was brilliant. Table 7 in Chingford - worth the visit.

Weekly Round-up

Right. After the mother of all computer malfunctions, I finally have access to the internet again. I still have no idea what the problem was, but the connection suddenly died earlier this evening. Since I'm now way behind on both writing and university assignments, I'm going to post this, go for a bath, and gibber gently until the world becomes a nicer place.


Travel
Busy week on travel - hit Manchester, Watford and Bristol. I really like Bristol, it reminds me a lot of Edinburgh with the hills and old, old buildings. If I ever move south of London it would be my pick. The drawback to travelling to this extent? I woke up on Friday morning and it took me nearly five minutes to remember which city I was in.


Study
Was nicely on track until my computer decided demonic possession was the new way forward this evening. Since it is now working again, but appears to have either eaten the assignment I was working on (or transported it to some alternate dimension where I am filthy rich, skinny,  and confused as to why I suddenly have a partially completed power point presentation on stress appearing on my machine.), I am no longer screaming hysterically at a black screen and LSH has stopped hiding in her room.


Books
Apart from Amanda Hocking's Switched, which I seriously recommend, I've also finished The Vampire Kitty- cat Chronicles by Ray Rhamsey (great political satire with some real laugh out loud moments) and the latest J D Robb, Treachery In Death. 
I'm addicted to the J D Robb series, although the only reason I got this was because it was pay day  and I wanted to spoil myself. There is more than one reason Indie writers are burning up the kindle charts, and a big one is price. Great stories at less than £5? Sold. Anything higher on my budget makes me twitchy. So although the book was great, I'm unlikely to buy new releases from main stream publishers because of the price.
I finished The Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker - great read & I recommend this one. I'm starting to pick my reading list based strongly on Indie Book Blogger's recommendations, which is saving me a lot of hunting for good new fantasy.
Currently reading Protector, by Laurel Dewey.


Writing and stuff
Worked a bit on rewrites for the next Crescent book. There are still a couple of paragraphs in the chapter I'm on that clunk a bit for me, so they might have to go. Still struggling with Fur, the vampire short. I think half the problem is the M.C. makes my hands itch. Wanting to bitch slap your protagonist is never a good sign..


Scott was an absolute sweetheart and re-posted his reviews to the new edition of WolfSong, which is brilliant.
 He has now joined twitter. You can find him under the user name @indiebookblogge.
 I did a second round of interview questions of my interview on Indie Book Blogger - we'll be giving away a copy of the book when he posts the interview, so quite excited and hoping this drums up a bit more interest. (Also known as  Praying to Gods of Kindle).


Jeffrey M Poole, author of The Bakkian Chronicles, is offering help on technical issues and formatting over at www.lentari.com - great looking site as well. Considering I'm about as technical as a small drunken goldfish, this is huge. Thanks, Mr. Poole!


Mood: Computers hate me.

Weekly Round-up

I'm keeping this one brief, it's been a very long day what with studying and having a minor panic attack over the finance assignment.


Travel
Leicester for 3 days. Gotta say I like the city. The guys I deal with there are probably the reason - people like that are why I love my job. Plus a really awesome fresh food market, and a weekly farmers market - if you're in Leicester on a Thursday, hit the town centre for some really good cooked food from the stalls.


Study
Gah. At least an hour most nights. I'm enough of a geek that I'm loving the textbook on work psychology (I've ended up reading chapters I didn't need to for the assignment, and thinking of buying the book in hard copy). So far, so good. Tonight though, I realised the finance assessment had been posted... To explain : Although reasonably intelligent, when I look at figures my IQ automatically drops about 80 points. If this was a  relationship, it would be the kind that ends with one partner sewing sardines into the other's curtains before leaving the house for the last time. I opened the assignment and read it, and pretty much hyper-ventilated on the spot. 
LSH (who is actually pretty good at figures) came through while I was rocking gently and hugging myself. She took look at the brief, turned and patted me gently on the arm, and said, "You're screwed."
Which, frankly, would be the most fun I've ever had with financial studies. 


Books
Finished CS Marks Elfhunter. Get it. This is going to be a classic people are still reading in 15, 20 years.
Finished  The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu.    Some real laugh out loud moments here; I'll be looking for more by this author.
Finished The Light of Eidon by Karen Hancock - this was free at Amazon (gotta love the free kindle stuff!). I didn't realise it was Christian fantasy when I downloaded it (although got that pretty fast in the book). It's actually not a bad story at all, although it did get a bit preachy at times. Still, no worse than a lot of-non-Christian fantasy gets, despite some really bitchy reviews on Amazon (some from Christian readers because it wasn't written to their ideal standards. WTF? Give the bloody woman a break.)


Currently reading The Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker, for which I blame Scott at Indie Book Blog. (I read his review.) This is a lot of fun - it's kept me intrigued all the way so far & the price is good. Love the main character as well and as the plot is far from obvious I have no idea where it's going to - can't wait to find out though.


Writing
Still over the moon about my first review - although I'm now panicking that when the new version uploads it won't have any. I don't want to leave the old one up with the formatting issues in it - that's just shoddy and won't win me any fans. Not sure what to do here - I'll have to sleep on it.


Re-started the short story that died a couple of weeks ago - let's see if this one works better. It's hopefully a totally different spin on the vampire myth. 

Weekly Round-up

Monday
Work in London today, so get home fairly early around 7). Log on to university and found 3 assignments now up. Promptly have valium moment. (To put this in perspective, 3 different papers on various dates from end of April until May. When you work full time, try to sell an indie book, are working on the next one and travel a lot, this makes for an absolutely frantic first semester.) Start  working through finance module. Go  to bath around 11 p.m. feeling like my brain is going to melt through my ears.
Tuesday
Work  in London again.  Log on to university. Gibber at LSH regarding coursework when she hauls me away from the p.c for dinner. LSH makes soothing noises, feeds me and lets me go back to bedroom (also currently known as Pit of Doom). Look up and realise it's 11:30. Lie in bath fantasising about winning lottery and chocolate. I'm eating a lot of fruit & drinking water by the litre to try to get energy levels up, with the result that my bladder wakes me up singing Ave Maria twice.
Wednesday
Cranky as hell. Zombie shuffle to tube station with LSH and promise to take tonight off from studying - Wednesdays are now officially my night off. Drink a lot of coffee at work. Get home, eat, bath, crash.
Thursday
Same  as Tuesday - rinse & repeat. 
Friday
Travelling again. While waiting for train at Paddington station am treated to delightful experience of guy sitting next to me and adjusting a certain part of his anatomy for nearly 15 minutes. Firmly restrain myself from telling him that if it takes that long to find, he has a problem. Guy then rests a large sandwich on the results of said adjustment. WTF? Was he trying to coil it into a frigging place-mat? Guy eats sandwich, reach into tracksuit pants every so often for further tweaking. Feeling mildly traumatised and wishing desperately for mind-bleach, I get to the train. Guess who is sitting at the same table on the train? Train is packed and seats are booked - I can't even move. Dial up Rammstein at full volume on iphone and try to pretend today isn't happening to me.
 Bit of a sad moment when I get to the office I'm visiting - they are relocating and one of the girls has decided she can't go with. Sad because she is one of the bright stars; I'll miss working with her. The team left in place though absolutely rock, so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens after the move.
Get onto a slightly earlier train than normal to head back to London. Some sort of issue means the train stops outside every station, at every station, and on occasion at random places on the line. I reach London way later than expected, too late to head back to office - by time I reach it, it would be after closing time. Decide to head home and catch up from there. Get home and electrics are out - meaning no computer, until nearly 9 p.m. 
Monday is going to hurt.
Saturday
Busy with coursework. Take an hour to tweak to shorts for the collection that I'm quite happy with, jump  onto Kindle boards and post  a review on Amazon for The Scavengers Daughter.  Get almost immediate  feedback from the author, which is seriously cool. 
LSH feeds me (Lamb & Apricot casserole type thingy from the Tony Ferguson diet - Yum!) and we watch True Blood while we eat.
Back to studying until around 3:30 a.m.
Sunday
Coursework. Updating blog; will be back to coursework immediately afterwards.
LSH has promised to drag me away from the pc for at least two hours  tonight, which will be a good thing. 


Mood: Busy, stressed, want my mom.

Weekly Round-up

Fairly crazy week, time & travel-wise, and a lot of it's blurred together.
Monday
Up early since travelling for work. I am not a morning person. I am also paranoid about not hearing alarm, so start waking up at 4 a.m  to check the time. As a result I reach my destination feeling like I got bitch-slapped by the stupid fairy. Thankfully it's a nice bunch I'm going to see - I won't post work details on a public blog, but I am lucky with the people I work with and deal with. 'Nuff said. Get home around 19:15. Long-suffering House mate (LSH) is on the Tony Ferguson diet, so I'm getting healthy (surprisingly tasty) meals in the evening without having to do a thing. Starting to contemplate the full (bloody expensive) package to lose some weight - LSH looking good & bouncing around like the Duracell Bunny; while I zombie shuffle around snarling over coffee and my bed.
Tuesday
Working in London this morning, so up at normal time of 6 a.m. Loving my new electric fire-place first thing in the morning. Afternoon - off to the Home Office at E&C for my British Passport interview. The woman who takes my interview looks like she could be on the cover of Cosmo and is very pleasant to deal with. I promptly forget all the dates of birth I KNOW and leave feeling remarkably stupid. I am a muppet. Go home and sulk.. and hope to hell I still get the passport. LSH feeds me and I hit the sack.
Wednesday
Working in London again, but heading up to Glasgow tomorrow so stay late. Delays on trains and tube mean I get home around 19:15. LSH feeds me; I zombie shuffle to bath and experience the joys of an ingrown hair exploding to sudden, painful life when it hits the hot water. After yodelling, disinfecting, yodelling some more, I crawl into bed and whimper gently until I fall asleep.
Thursday
Up earlier than Monday (aak!) and end up at Stansted airport clutching coffee and waiting for colleague. She misses the flight thanks to a taxi driver with a bad sense of direction and the little darlings at easy jet not letting her book in. Since the flight only started boarding 20 minutes after she reached the airport, colleague is not happy. Land in Glasgow with an inch of ice on the passenger guardrail of the stair case. Get snowed on, re-affirming my belief that humans should hibernate until late March in the U.K. Delays coming back thanks to a really impressive fog and an easy jet staff member having hysterics over getting her passenger line board up. Reach Stansted around 7:15 with one of the hardest landings I've had in a while (we bounced. We really, really bounced) and launch myself at Burger King, then feel incredibly guilty all the way home. Through the front door at around 9. Bath, yodel at ingrown hair (still nasty) and crawl into bed.
Friday
Travelling again - pretty much Monday. Rinse, repeat. Friday night hits me like a small freight train; zombie shuffle in at around 6:45. LSH feeds me. Bath. To tired to make noise at ingrown hair. Pass out by around 8..
Saturday
Wide-awake & up around 9. Start sending vouchers for operation e-drop books for troops. Check kindle boards. Have a few more sales at Smashwords, so quite happy, and a couple at Kindle (Yay!). Check  personal accounts, note that the university course still has no assignment up, which is making me grumpy. I don't have a lot of time during the week, so I want to get as much done over the weekend as possible.
Skype the folks and end up on a conference call with them and my brother (he has a tan. Bugger.) Work on story board for you-tube trailer. Decide I hate the one I was happy with last week - looks like a bad reject from an early Doom screen-shot.
LSH feeds me while we watch an old episode of Supernatural, and the latest True Blood. Write for a couple of hours, look up and realise its late (or early). On the bright side, no chirping outside my bedroom window this week - maybe it went on holiday?
Sunday
Up late - around 11. More e-mailed vouchers to troops - had my first reply from one and it made my day. This is such a good idea, so glad I'm part of it.  Skype folks - mom still reading the book, which I am seriously still stunned over. I love my mom, but she will never be a fan of fantasy/horror, and this has both. The fact that she has bravely waded through 80% of it so far really means a lot to me, even though I'm sure a lot of it has her grimacing.
For tonight - review a couple of short stories that might work together as a give-away book - they both need a bit of work, although Pushing Janey was published in a magazine a few years ago. Work a bit more on the storyboard - Musical Genius friend (MG) came through and actually promised new stuff, so truly excited on that side.

Mood: Tired, satisfied, life is good.

The Kindle experience (or; this formatting will kill me)

The last few days have been a bit of a frantic blur. Thanks to the Kindle Boards, (seriously recommended to both readers and writers) I found out that as I'm sticking strictly to e-readers, I don't need to wait for an ISBN.
So to summarise ...

Friday
Up at 11. Final read through of book.
Final touches to cover.
Upload to Smashwords - issue with formatting.
Head meet desk.
Go to bed (4 a.m.)
Fantasise about finding bird chirping outside window and gagging it.

Saturday
Up at 11:30. Double-check guidelines and entire book, figure out formatting issue is on front page. Fix, while muttering to self.
Tweak cover.
Upload again.
Skype folks to help mom download to kindle.
Skype brother, who tortures me by sitting in front of laptop wearing shorts & t-shirt and telling me about business class flights to Australia and how good they are.
Accepted to Smashwords. Weehee! No issues.
Start working on book trailer.

Sunday
Woke up to 16 partial downloads. Was stunned and very, very happy.
Worked on story boards for book trailer.
Went to Kindle boards and joined up; I've been lurking there for some time to get a feel of the place.
Skyped folks, did happy dance.
Skyped brother, did happy dance. Brother sulkily claimed weather in Melbourne only in mid-twenties. Turned up heating.
Decided first story boards were awful & removed. Started new ones.
Went to bed around 3. Read on kindle until 4, when the same evil little bird started up outside my window.

Monday
Re-formatted WolfSong to Kindle guidelines.
Discovered that technophobes, HTML pages and the google chrome dashboard are not a good mix.
Had hysterics, a nice hot bath, and coffee. And several cigarettes.
Discovered some help some kindly soul had posted on a) how to format to HTML without your computer exploding and (b) how to open to bloody thing on your browser.
Uploaded to Amazon, along with cover, description and low, low price of $1.99. The UK price is linked to the US price, so currently selling at £1.48.
Completed another story board for book trailer.
Went to bed and stayed awake until about 3 a.m. wondering if that second chapter could have done with more work.
The bird sounded like it had hiccups.

Tuesday
Alarm at 6 a.m. - first day back at work. Make whimpering noise and push  snooze button.
Alarm at 06:15. Lurch  out of bed feeling homicidal. Zombie shuffle  to kitchen for coffee.
Spend entire at day at work feeling like jet-lagged, until I check Kindle store at 3pm (during lunch). The book is up. Make hysterical squealing noise through mouthful of coke (caffeine is my friend) and wiggle excitedly on bench. Guy sitting next me raises eyebrows and snorts.
Go home and Skype parents. Download copy for mom, who smiles indulgently and makes soothing noises over several thousand miles.
Post news to kindle boards and fall flat on face.
Wake up at three worrying about chapter 2 again.

Today
Alarm at 6 - second day back at work.
Get a P.M. from one of the writers saying formatting on ipad not right and there is no product description.
Have mild hysterics, but can't do anything until I get in tonight.
Delays on train. Doubly insulting after recent price hike; I'm still sulking over forking at £1700 for ticket, despite getting subsidised by work.
Get in too late to Skype folks. Take a bath, jump onto kindle author page.
No product description on Amazon.com, but UK version is fine. Growl at computer.
Takes a while to figure out, but re-submit description and e-mail support team just in case brain melted & I did something stupid the first time.
Re-check formatting and can't find issue. Kindle copy looks fine. No access to ipad so no idea what it looks like on one - eventually, give up and P.M back asking for more info, hoping the poor guy doesn't think he has a stalker.
Check university e-mails - course due to start again this week (& somebody tell me why I thought it was a good idea to do a 3 year degree? Now?) - nothing about course yet. Nervous as hell.
Check Smashwords - currently up to 29 downloads and one sale.

Mood - happy, tired and mildly confused over the ipad issue..