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?

music post!

For some reason, whenever I'm revising, I start searching for new music. I guess new songs just get me in the mood/distract me enough to sustain my sanity during the grueling reworking process (woof).

Anyway, while I'm waist deep in revisions for Cutthroat Novel, let me share my latest finds with you:

Gangnam Style by PSY - Guys, if you aren't up and dancing by the end of this song, I don't think you heard it right! Husband and I find it doubly catchy since we spent a year in South Korea. (We actually went to church in the Gangnam neighborhood!)

The name of this song is a little weird, (Start Shootin' by Little People), but I really love the atmosphere it encompasses.

Alright! I'm back to the revision cave! *ducks away*

where i gush about Avengers and certain songs

Happy Tuesday. What have you guys been up to this week?

I finally "finished" CutthroatNovel last Friday. It's sitting pretty at about 82,000 words. It's also snuggling up to some beta readers at the moment and I'm keeping my distance for a bit. This means I have a spot of free time, a spot I've been thoroughly enjoying for the past few days. 


I've also been discovering some wonderful new music and treating myself to a movie or two. Last week husband and I went to see The Avengers (a bit late, yes, but to be fair we've both been a tad busy!). When I first heard it was coming out I must admit I wasn't tugging at the bit to see it. Superhero movies (while good) have a terrible habit of becoming predictable/repetitive.


But-- The Avengers was magic! Really. Joss Whedon captured my loyalties long ago with Firefly and Serenity (only one of the best sci-fi works of all time...), and it was a big selling point for me that he'd written/directed Avengers. It shone through majestically in the movie. There were kickass women. Clever quips. Wonderful inter-character relationships. Fully realized arcs for the wide array of characters (I can't even imagine how much creative coordination that took).


I walked out of that movie theater wanting very badly to be a superhero. Which means, of course, that Joss Whedon did his as per usual fantastic job. Stuff like that makes me want to write for television/movies. Maybe one day.


Let's see. Music. Here's some of the songs I've had on repeat for the last few days:

Hem - Half Acre

Iron and Wine - Boy With A Coin

If you like them, go buy them!! Good music deserves good money (plus I want these wonderful artists making MORE fabulous music).

time for another awesome music post.

So for Easter my wonderful mother slipped iTunes giftcards into our baskets, which is a completely awesome and practical gift for my music-addicted self. I'm not really able to write without music playing, and the song will often set the mood of the writing, so I need very specific and ever-changing styles of songs for my different WIPs.

Here's a few of the tunes I've dug up during the past few days:

I (like so many writers) adore Snow Patrol in ways I cannot verbalize. This song "Fallen Empires" from their latest album embodies everything I love about them. Epic lyrics. Epic composition.

This song I discovered via The Hunger Games movie. It's called "Abraham's Daughter" and it's by Arcade Fire. This is one of those rare songs that fits more than a single WIP for me. It fits very well with SouthernGothic novel and Cutthroat novel. It would probably do well with Luminance Hour too if I let it.

The cover of "Sweet Dreams" by Emily Browning for the Suckerpunch soundtrack is amazingly haunting and perfect for Cutthroat novel.

And the best part? I get to listen to them on my shiny, new headphones!

So anyway, I still have money left on said iTunes card. What are some awesome, epic songs you've been listening to lately?

today's writing is brought to you by:

Some wonderful electronica. Very fitting for the streets of Cutthroat Novel (which is a scary, kick-butt place).

latest musical obsessions

I realize I've been lax in posting my most recent musical infatuations with you guys. So here goes:

Nick Drake's "Three Hours" is such an awesome song. So sombre and almost like a ballad. Exactly the kind of song you need to listen to to get your angst on. (Or to write heart-breaking scenes set in the Civil War South, which is my current duty.)

"Rocks and Water" by Deb Talan. Also a really good song for my current Southern Gothic WIP. It has that folksy slant I need without getting too overwhelming country-like. (No offense, lovers of country music!)

This song is drastically different than the other two. A dancey, electronic bit. Perfect for jogging to! (And writing club scenes, but sadly, there are none of those in SouthernGothicNovel).

What about you guys? Heard any good music lately?

it's my birthday and i'll blog if i want too!

Hello all! Greetings from the tiny, unforgiving opening of the edit cave! I've been in here for almost 4 weeks now, getting nice and cozy, shifting words around, becoming poetic and wrestling characters to the floor (metaphorically of course). To be honest, the process has gone a bit more slowly than I first expected. Husband still claims that I'm moving through my notes at a lightening speed, but I don't believe him. Average pace so far?

3-4 hours a day = 10 or so pages of manuscript edited/written through.

At this point I still have around 17 days of work ahead of me. I'm just about at the halfway point. Right now it feels like a juggling act about to fall apart. Have I remembered every theme and subplot and character development point? What the heck happened 3 chapters ago? Dear Lord, it just keeps growing and growing... it doesn't STOP! How long will this be?

Somewhere around 100 pages in I lose perspective. Is this working? Am I making it better or worse? What the **** is going on?!

Fortunately, the wonderful Wendy Higgins (author of SWEET EVIL out May 1st) came to my rescue with a beta read and so assured me that I wasn't going crazy. And my MS is not in shambles. I just have to keep going.

So I will.

Oh, and I turn 25 today. A strange age... halfway between teens and 30s... I feel like I should be way more grown up than I am (or feel at least). Like I should own a house with white carpets and fine china instead of a 100 year-old apartment with mismatched chairs and a tin-camping tea kettle. But then I remember that I would just spill tea on the white carpets anyway (it's true) and I don't feel so bad.

Here's to getting older, but not getting TOO grown up. :)

Ooh. And here's a music recommendation since I haven't made one in a while. This band's cover is awesome and done completely on a single instrument:

monday musings: time

There is one song on my playlists that I can literally put on repeat and listen to forever. I have yet to grow tired of it. There's just something about it that's so moving and epic. Hans Zimmer is a really great composer, he's written a whole host of amazing movie scores: The Lion King, Gladiator, The Dark Knight, Sherlock Holmes... Inception's entire soundtrack is really great, but this song, its final track, is really worth a listen (on full volume, the beginning is super quiet).

monday musings: you can't take the sky from me.

This week I want to share something I actually stumbled across on my internet roamings last night. I am a huge fan of Joss Whedon's old series Firefly as well as the movie Serenity that takes place in the same universe.

For those of you who haven't been exposed to the awesomeness of this universe, it's basically the story of a mercenary captain and his crew navigating their way through a futuristic western/sci-fi universe. It is very much a Space Western with some magical lure that takes fans and turns them into fanatics (also known as Browncoats). I happen to consider myself among the latter. Not only do I own and regularly rewatch the series, but I also have a license plate holder on my car that reads: A Leaf on the Wind-Wash is my co-pilot. (I briefly considered taking a picture, but then thought it perhaps not completely wise to so proudly display my license numbers...).

Anyway, about my discovery. A rapper by the name of Adam WarRock apparently compiled a rap album based on the series. Each song is based on a character. A lot of them hold snippets from episodes and feature riffs from the show's awesome soundtrack.

Here's the song based on Mal, the ship's captain:

If you love it, then you can download the entire album for free here. I would highly recommend doing so. It's awesome.

monday musings a day late

So, apparently there are still people in this world who don't use the internet. (I know!!!) I happened to be staying at one such house, which is why my monday musings posts did not happen as it should have.

Today's musing is a song that I've had in my music library for a long time. It's called Selig and it's by a European band by the name of Helium Vola. I stumbled across the song in college and have loved it ever since. I think it encompasses the mood of LUMINANCE HOUR (ie GODMOTHER for all of you who weren't apprised of the title change). It's so wistful and ethereal. Enjoy the listen.