the wolf among us.

So I tried really hard this year to be festive and fall-y. And by this I mean that I bought a pumpkin and put it on my porch. I was slightly apprehensive about it being smashed by some middle-schoolers. But it wasn't the rowdy neighborhood children that led to the pumpkin's poor demise...

I came home last night to find wolf-pup happily doing some freelance pumpkin carving with his teeth.

He's taking commissions if you want your own custom wolf-gnawed gourd.

breaking radio silence (aka a post of excuses)

So. It's been a while.

I have excuses! I swear! And photographic evidence to back up ALL of them. In fact, maybe it's just better if I let the images do the talking. (A picture's worth a thousand words, right?)

About a month ago I got this in the mail:

First pass pages for ALL THAT GLOWS! For those of you who don't know what FPP are, they're pretty much the final chance the author has to go through the manuscript and change things. It means reading your story for the *^%$-teenth time searching for typos and things you want to change.

BUT when you get to that last page you're DONE!!! And you have a brick of paper that could probably kill someone if you dropped it from ten-stories up.

So, lo and behold, my first completed novel:

About 24 hours after I slipped the death-brick FPP back into the mail, husband and I got on a plane and skipped the country for two and a half weeks. I plan on doing a more extensive post on this once the photos are edited (though this could be a while). But here's the outlined version:

We hung out with my husband's side of the family in Bolivia for a week and a half (his sister lives down there.) We went to the jungle and tramped around looking for anacondas and fished for piranha. And I realized my lifelong dream of seeing a wild capybara! (They're the cutest giant rodents ever!)

Then we scuttled on over to Peru and did a 5 day trek in the Andes around Machu Picchu:

We also got stalked by llamas.

Then I came home to a round of revisions for THE WALLED CITY! AAAH! You guys, I'm so excited about this book I can't even--

Here's my handy revision map. I just finished them up on Saturday.

Meanwhile, during my break from the revision cave, I moved my baby brother into college!!! He's all grown up now. Or at least, he's now responsible for his own diet and schedule! It was so weird being back in a dorm on move-in day. You could smell the sad and excitement and now what the heck do I do oozing from each freshman's room. Don't worry, kids. You're about to start one of the funnest, free-est times of your life!

And then there were a few boat breaks. Where we taught wolf-dog how to swim.

We also determined he's about twenty times the size of a Maltese. (And still growing!)

So yes. That's what's been happening while I've procrastinated posting.

Hopefully the silence won't be so long next time!

the SNIS is alive!

The past few weeks have been packed with amazing things, hard things and all the things that lie within that vast spectrum. A quick rundown (though I shan't depress you with said hard things):

-I finished teaching at the preschool and I'm once again OFFICIALLY FULL TIME! Hooray! Only this time, I'm not going back when the summer ends. I'm a full time writer full time. I'm still figuring out what this means, now that I have 5 extra hours in my days to sit in front of the computer and resist the temptation to forever Tumble and Tweet.

-I've started exploring a brand new project, which is actually the SNIS (shiny new idea syndrome) that struck me around this time last year. I'm about 40+ pages in and it still feels pretty shiny. Motorcycles and tattoos. Nesting Dolls and Walther P38 pistols. It's a terrifying project in that I don't know if I can write the subject matter well enough (ie. the doubt monsters like to creep in and tell me to give up before I even begin and to that I say "H*ll no!").

-Hubby and I are joining a gym so that the Andes don't royally kick our butts in 8 weeks when we deign to hike them. They probably will anyway.

-In about 3 weeks I'll be able to show you the cover for ALL THAT GLOWS!!!! (Finally!!!) It's been sitting on my desk for quite an impressive amount of time, waiting for just the right moment to make its online debut. I can't wait to reveal it! (Also, 9 more months before ATG hits the shelves! That's a mere pregnancy away!)

-My awesome friends completely surprised me with a VINTAGE TYPEWRITER yesterday! I've always secretly wanted one (perhaps not to type with, but to at least put on a shelf, so that I'll look like I'm a "serious" writer. With black-ringed coffee stains on my manuscripts and typewriter ink on my fingers and all that.)

I'm thinking about stripping down the grimy gray and painting it. What do you guys say? My house is very bright, so it would go better with the decor that way!

-Hubby and I finally took our wolf-pup Raiden out into the wilds of Georgia. But that deserves a completely different post of its own. :)

sabbatical sunshine

Hello lovelies!

How are we finding ourselves today?

I've recovered from my paintball bruises just in time for shorts weather (which has come late this year I might add). Southern spring is not living up to its reputation this year.

I've just finished up several rounds of revisions and edits for various projects, so I've decided to take a small sabbatical to regain my sanity and refill the creative well (if you will). This means stocking up on lots of books to read, soaking in new music, playing with my wolf-pup, watching lots of Doctor Who, baking things... 

You get the drift.

I've also been trying to go on more little adventures. Like dolphin spotting in the Charleston harbor and reverse-storm chasing in a speedboat while trying to keep my 73 pound dog from leaping into the water after my wake-boarding husband. (Wolf-pup has a bit of separation anxiety if you couldn't tell). I guess it serves us right for working from home and spoiling him rotten.

Reverse storm chasing. 

Imagine this critter. In a boat. Howling.

I'm also getting back into the habit of art. The extent of my visual arts training is basically a 101 drawing class in college. Where I saw lots of old naked guys. And then tried to erase it all from my memory. I think I've pretty much succeeded, though I have a bunch of old charcoal drawings to prove it. (Trust me, I'll spare you the awful, awful pain).

I was weeding in the yard the other day and thinking about all of the things we can't see beneath our feet. The mysterious underground. I then started thinking about roots and how they all weave together under the ground. It must be such a cool sight-- so that inspired me to start working on this piece.

It's not done yet, but I like where it's going. I'll post more pictures once I get it all sorted out!

I've been poking my nose around the online universe to look for fresh music to put on my iPod. I've become very obsessed with the Doctor Who soundtracks (they're very well done and there's SO MUCH OF IT!). 

Like this theme for the 11th Doctor:

And the theme for his home planet Gallifrey!:

It just wrenches the heart out, doesn't it?

Then there are the peppy tunes like Yeasayer's Rome (I'm totally going to base a character off this song one day. Mark my words.):

Lenka's song "You Will Be Mine" is a really good song reminiscent of Ellie Goulding and Florence Welch. P.S. I really want her dress.

And then I was watching Hulu and found this song via a Sprint commercial:

I'm sure it's been around for a while, but it still spoke to my soul like a poem.

What songs have you guys been listening to?

try new things. get shot at.

So yesterday I did something new. (Well, perhaps not new, but definitely within the past ten years of experience).

My husband is of the video-gaming persuasion. You know the type. The guys that sit in front of the TV frantically pushing controllers and screaming random obscenities at the pixels shooting at them. The guys who have absolutely no idea what's going on in their immediate surroundings for hours at a time (though I must say I can't be too harsh on him, since this is what happens to me when I'm immersed in a good book!).

All this goes to say that my husband really, really wanted me to go play paintball with him and his other video-gaming friends yesterday. Now, I consider myself pretty fit and feisty, though I'm not the best at first person shooters. (Usually I get slaughtered while shooting at the floor. I'm more of a Zelda kind of girl.) When the husband first brought up the possibility of my going I had visions of orange paint and red welts drenching me from head to toe. Visions of being surrounded on all sides and getting lit up like a tiki torch.

Turns out real life is different than video games.

I actually did pretty well. On a field with four other girls and about fourteen guys I managed to stay alive most of the time. Not only that. I SHOT people too. And leapt over crevice canyons to get into forts and waded through swamps.

And I wore camo.

By the end of the day I was sore (I did get shot several times. By my husband actually. Our friends thought it would be hilarious to make us captains of opposing teams and pit us against each other.) but I couldn't have been happier. When I was babbling about how awesome it was in the car my husband pointed out that I'd been less than enthused about going. And "wasn't I glad I just went ahead and did it?"

He then went on to remind me about the time I did not go bungee jumping. It looked a little bit like this:

That tiny dot in the middle of the picture is my husband. I was behind the camera, sitting on a cliff, wishing I hadn't said no. You see, before we got to the bridge, I was thinking through the scenario in my head. I imagined myself standing at the edge and looking down and now wanting to fall. I didn't think I could do it, so I didn't pay the money/put down the deposit. I spent all afternoon watching person after person in our tour group jump off a bridge without me.

I've regretted it ever since. I now know I could've jumped. And I would have loved it.

You are braver than you think. Stronger than you know.

So try new things.

joy in the little things.

It's spring! Finally! For joy!

There's just something about those golden-glow mornings and the scent of flowers on the air that lift my spirits up in a way nothing else does. And shorts. I do love wearing shorts.

In the past few days I've been focusing on the little things that make me smile. There've been a few fun surprises I've faced in the every day.

1. Doctor Who graffiti:

I've probably seen this before (it's in a bathroom at the bar where I go to church), but this is the first time I've appreciated its allusion. (Also, I just noticed the second wolff in the picture). Awesome vandalism. 

2. Unique vintage clothing finds:

 I was in Charlottesville, VA a few weekends ago and happened across a cute little vintage clothing store. I went in and found this skirt in the racks. It's all cross-stitch. As soon as I saw it I knew I couldn't leave it...

3. Puppies who bury things that aren't bones:

Husband went outside the other day and found this in the crater-sized hole Raiden made. Apparently he found a beer bottle our neighbors so graciously threw over our fence and decided to deposit it in his hole. Note how happy he looks about this decision.

4. Cadbury chocolate from England!:

One of my friends just took a trip across the pond and brought back some genuine Cadbury milk chocolate!!! Yum. Cadbury is my most favorite chocolate of all, but it doesn't quite taste the same when you buy it here in the US. And I don't get over to the UK nearly as much as I like, so this is a rare treat! (Also, did you know they have Cadbury vending machines in the Underground stations? It's probably a good thing I don't live over there... I'd live solely on a chocolate and fish and chips diet.)

What little things have you been finding joy in lately?

wolf pups and cherry blossoms

I told you guys I was going to torture you with puppy pics. Enter at your own risk.

Raiden has been growing at a ridiculous rate. Even these pictures are a week or so old, and he's bulked up considerably since then. Almost at a pace of a pound a day!! He's 26 lbs now and always growing. Probably one of the best behaved puppies I've ever encountered. Sharp as a whip too. He's already learned sit, lie down, stay and howling on command.

Bounding through the yard like a wolf.

Attempted family portrait.

Playtime!

He loves playing tug of war with the hammock. 

 Other than puppies and rough drafting, I've also been lucky enough to get my hands on some Lucky13 ARCs. I just finished reading INK by my friend Amanda Sun. I'd been looking forward to this book for  quite a while. It's set in Japan, and while I've never been there, I've spent a good amount of time in Asia and loved it. The storyline involves ink drawings that come to life, and it's so vivid and lovely. There's even ink sketches inside the book (a few of them form flip drawings!).

Definitely add this one to your to-read list. I was so inspired by the descriptions of cherry blossoms inside its pages that I had to draw some myself!

I miss Asia so much at times like these...

my newest sidekick

Husband and I just bought our new house a few months ago, and it's seemed a little empty with just the two of us. So, like any good wife, I've been nagging him about getting a puppy. More specifically, a malamute.

In truth, the pleading has been going on pretty much ever since we got married.

Me: Can we get a puppy?

Husband: We don't have a yard. Or money. Puppies cost money.

Me: Please? Please please please please?

Husband: You're going to do this until I cave don't you?

Me: Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.

This Christmas I was hopeful. But we were traveling around the country for a while. But lo and behold, the day we came back, Husband went grocery shopping and asked me to help him unload the trunk. I went outside and found this:

Meet Raiden*! He's a part malamute, part wolf pup in his seventh week of life. And he's so cute. And he has eyebrows. *flail*

We've only had him for less than a week, but he's already made himself at home! One of his favorite places in the house is the space between our futon and the wall. He'll have to enjoy it while he can... his dad is apparently 120 lbs. He's going to be a beast of a dog.

He's already been a great writing buddy. He likes to snuggle up under my feet while I type in the afternoons. (And bite too).

I'm in love. And I don't care who knows it!

Brace yourself for a future barrage of puppy pictures.




*I actually stole his name from one of my character in a WIP. The character is not-so-nice, but I loved his name so much that I decided to use it. It's Japanese for "thunder and lightning." Also the name of a character from Street-fighter. Not-so-nice character has since been renamed.

being katniss (a lesson on form)

Yesterday I got to play this lovely little game called archery tag, which involves shooting opponents with large fluffy marshmallow ends. So basically I got to be Katniss for the night. But instead of running around and hiding in trees I got to fire projectiles at my in-laws for three hours.

There was lots of fun and screaming and bruises and blacklights. Along with a fog-machine.

Problem was, I never actually paid attention when my brother-in-law first instructed us how to draw the bow and shoot the arrows. It seemed self-explanatory. Draw back string. Release. Watch your (not-so) deadly weapon hurtle through the air and find it's mark.

We started playing. My arrows flew. Quite a few of them hit their marks. I was feeling pretty good about my potential Hunger Games survival skills. About an hour in we took a water break, which was when I first noticed the blister-like strip of skin on my forefinger. I ignored it.

Bad move.

When we finally finished the night I looked down and realized that the wound had only gotten worse. Not only that, but there were three other spots of raw, throbbing skin. I hadn't felt them during the game, because in the words of Sidney Bristow, "There's no drug like adrenaline." (Can you tell I'm rewatching ALIAS right now?)

But I sure felt them when my brother-in-law led me back to the first aid kit and spritzed hydrogen peroxide on them.

Him: Looks like you were shooting the arrows wrong the entire time.
Me: Ow. Ow. Ow. *hisssssss*

So yeah. Moral of the story. Next time I will pay attention to arrow shooting instructions. And I will not ignore baby blisters.

Farewell 2012.

2012 was a strange year for me. Writing-wise, there was a lot of waiting (isn't there always?). ALL THAT GLOWS still has another year before it finds a snuggly shelf home, but that hardly means I was sitting on my butt all year. No, no. I've been hard at work, finishing the rough draft of Cutthroat novel and starting the rough draft of the sequel. With a few rounds of edits and short stories in between.

But there were a few unexpected surprises along the way. We bought a house. I got a new baby cousin and simultaneously become a godmother. My husband filmed a cross-country documentary. I got my nose pierced.

It's amazing how quickly a year seems to go, yet how much actually happens in that time.

There were some amazing things this year in regards to music and books and movies.

Some amazing books I devoured:

Some amazing musicians I discovered:

Jenny Dalton

Nick Drake

Kye Kye

I hung out with some amazing people:

Isn't my niece the cutest?!

So. 2013. What will you hold?

My goals are to get Cutthroat Novel into submission shape (I still maintain it's plotting to kill me). To plant a garden. To travel to Bolivia and convince my designer friends to create handbags for my sister-in-law's nonprofit. To explore a screenwriting class with my brother. To hang out with my cousins more. To get a puppy (I am slowly but surely wearing my husband down on that front).

And... hopefully... to publish my debut novel! (I say hopefully because it's scheduled for Winter 2014, which could be December 2013 OR January/February 2014)

What kinds of goals do you guys have for this next year?

color and gloom

 Can you believe it's December already? Me neither! Time is ghosting by. As it always does.

Winter has always been my least favorite of the seasons. So dead and colorless. But I'm preparing by putting even more splashes of brightness around my house. We've joined the "paint-your-door-a-pretty-eye-catching-color" trend. I'm quite pleased with the shade of teal hubby and I settled on. 

Woodpecker is very happy with the shade of his door.

Also, one of my good friends just sent me a wonderfully bright paper-bird cutout from China. An artist cut this design out of tissue paper (which blows my mind). But I think they look really lovely against the yellow paper and orange frame.

Also: baker's twine and parcel paper. Who knew such simple items make for such fun gift-wrapping? The snowflakes are perhaps a bit more elaborate. I blame Pinterest. 

And while we're on the subject of crafty things: aren't these pinecone Christmas trees the cutest? I made them with my preschoolers today. All it takes is pinecones, spraypaint and pom-poms. And its super easy for little ones (as long as they're careful not to poke themselves.)

I've been hard at work on the sequel. It's very slowly (might I emphasize the very and the slowly) coming together into something that resembles a story. (Yay!) I'm definitely resigning myself to the fact that I am indeed a pantser. And not a plotter.

I tried to plot. I really did. But the characters were not cooperating.

Typical.

I got this in the mail a few days ago:

*this is supposed to be my scary face...

It's the anthology I was telling you about a few weeks ago! The one with my short story in it!

Here's a quick teaser of said short story:

I'm sorry that I've now ruined Gushers for you forever. Probably KFC too.

Want more anyway? You can get it here (electronic or actual book-style).

the busyness of life

Fall is busy.

Which makes Ryan a terrible blogger. The busyness also addles her brain a bit, which is why she's now referring to herself in the third person. Alas.

Which I will now stop doing because it requires too much brain power for my addled brain.

Because I'm insane and I really want to take big and expensive trips all around the world, I have not one, but two other jobs I maintain aside from writing big, fat books. I also try to have a semblance of a social life. And settle in to my new house. So when revisions roll around combined with all of these other things, I have a minor panic attack and then sacrifice my blog posts as a result. So I'm sorry. You have fallen victim to my insane schedule.

BUT I'm starting to see the light at the end of the revision tunnel, which is always a good thing. (Generally it means I have about a week or two left in the process.) 

To destress I've been painting furniture. It helps. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the paint fumes. Or the very bright colors. 

The colors go into my grand scheme to give my new house pops of cheer and bright. (Yay!)

I also had a friend show up today to help me paint:

He meandered into my yard and helped by bounding around, wagging his tail and looking generally cute until his actual owners arrived and took him away. I have a feeling I'll see him again, since I've seen this particular pup roaming the streets of our neighborhood before. He must be a jailbreaker.

Other than paint I've been on the road a bit, going to weddings as both a photographer and a guest. While in Richmond I stopped here:

And bought a book just because I loved its cover. A good enough reason, right?

I've also been enjoying the colors of fall. Leaves. All things pumpkin. Cool air. I LOVE this time of year.

What has everyone else been up to? Is fall just as busy for you guys?