Random Update

Er, I forgot to do a February update. Well, it was a short month anyway. ;)

The developmental edits for, er, whatever FreakTown winds up being called are completed. It was hard work but worth it. The things my editor Jeff Seymour had me work on definitely made it a better book. I didn't think it was possible but I'm even more excited about the book now than I already was. Next up is line edits and copy edits and at some point a new title.

As for the current work in progress, Hoodoo Woman is just a couple hundred words shy of 75k. That makes it the longest Mojo book to date, and I'm not quite finished. I'm still not very good at estimating word count so I can't guess how much longer it will be, but it's getting very, very close. The other day I joked that the book had entered the carpal tunnel phase. The pain in my wrists is no joke, though. When I was writing FreakTown and had this problem, my doctor said it was part of the pregnancy. Well, that's not the case now! I'm going to have to do some research about how to handle this so that it stays a joke and doesn't become a serious problem. Dictation software is not something I'm remotely interested in - it would not work with my thinking and writing process. I'm also not interested in relearning how to type on a keyboard with the keys in a different place. My best bet is probably a wireless ergonomic keyboard. I told my husband he could get me that for Mother's Day. Or Supernatural on Blu-Ray, whichever. :)

I can't remember if I announced this on the blog but I'll have my first anthology release later this year. My short story Musicmage will appear in Dark Harvest, released by Dark Continents Publishing and edited by Nerine Dorman. This is a project I'm pretty excited about. For one thing, I was invited to participate, which is so very cool, and for another, I just really love this little story. It's about magic, of course, and music, of course, and, well, I just love it. So that's really cool and I look forward to its release.

My personal assistant is keeping things exciting. The other day I put her down for a nap and went to check on her after a few minutes when I could still hear her babbling. She had worked herself into a sitting position! She's been sitting up for a while but this was the first time she did it on her own. We're still waiting on teeth and crawling. Here's a pic from this weekend:

I had two picked out for possible inclusion and asked my husband for his opinion. In one she looked thoughtful, in the other maniacal. Of course he went with maniacal. :) She was babbling up a storm when this was taken. Sometimes she bops her head as if keeping time with music only she can hear. I've joked about there being pixies in the house now that only she can see (which would explain the occasional tiny flash of glitter that will show up in random spots on the carpet or the furniture). I like the idea that she has brought her own magic into the house.