Katie MacAlister's Blog

Some of you may remember that earlier this year, giving way to the many, many demands to find Noelle a vamp to call her own, I did, in fact, break down and write a novella for her. That novella, Shades of Gray (no relation to the risque novel of a similar name), will be out at the end of September, and since I can now share the cover for the anthology that includes Noelle's novella, I thought I'd do just that.

I'll put up a tiny little excerpt for the novella soon, but until then, you can read a bit more about Noelle and her vamp on my website.

Cast your mind back about twenty-five or so years. Way back then, I was a student at the University of Washington studying--of all things--physics and astronomy. And one of the things I badly wanted to learn was the Russian language. Why? I have no idea. I'm not sure I even knew then, and I certainly don't know now. I simply remember that I wanted to learn Russian.

For two happy undergraduate years, I frolicked with the Russian language. I was Katya, and I was quite happy to tell all those pesky Young Republicans who hung out on campus soliciting voters to join their flanks that I was studying Russian *and* astrophysics, and then watched with great pleasure when, sputtering something about patriotism, they cautioned me against ever visiting the (then still Soviet Union) while in possession of Valuable American Scientific Knowledge.


MY FIRST YEAR RUSSIAN TEXTBOOK

Fast forward a couple of decades. The sum total of the Russian I could remember were pithy phrases like "Today, I have no mind" and "My name is Katya. I am an American student. Would you like to buy my valuable physics secrets?"

Now, I've always been fascinated with learning another language. And I have a small, very, very small smattering of many languages, usually just a few phrases because as we all know, I have the memory of maple syrup. And while I enjoy the process of learning languages (hence my desire to learn Greek last year, which failed when it became clear that Rosetta Stone's method of teaching was not working well with my brain), previous attempts of learning on my own have forced me to face the fact that I'm one of those people who really need an actual class with an actual instructor, and more importantly, actual interaction to learn languages.


ACTUAL PAGE WITH NOTES FROM RUSSIAN TEXTBOOK SHOWING THAT AT SOME POINT IN MY LIFE, I UNDERSTOOD THIS STUFF.

And since I'm busy writing books, and live in the boonies, and am a shy little hermit who refuses to go to metropolitan areas like downtown Seattle in order to attend such classes, I've had to simply wander the house with my arms flailing about vaguely while muttering things like, "Man, I wish I could speak French. Or Greek. Or Russian. Hey, I used to speak Russian!"

A few days ago, I decided to give the ole language-learning part of my brain another shot at showing its quality. But this time, I was going to attend an actual class. And rather than going for a language that was new to me, I'd go back to my old love, and try to resurrect the Russian that must surely still be stashed away somewhere in my brain.

Starting May 21s, I'll be attending an (online, true, but with streaming video hookups) ACTUAL LIVE RUSSIAN CLASS. My brain may never be the same.

Oh, and if you'd like some valuable undergraduate astrophysics secrets from 25+ years ago, let me know. I've still got the paper I wrote about the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

I should be writing today. But then I caught sight of my inbox, and even though I cleaned it out just a couple of months ago...well, the screen grab below says it all.



*sigh*

This is why I ask for patience when writing to me. My inbox sometimes becomes quite unruly and threatens me with bodily harm if I don't prune it down to a manageable level. Guess what I'm going to be doing today instead of writing? And can your inbox beat up my inbox, or is yours in proper shape, the shape that indicates you are not only in control, but organized to boot?

I know what we can do on this arrived-way-quicker-than-is-seemly Monday...let's play a rousing game of Spot the Sun-Loving Dog.

Yes, my idiot boy dog loves lolling about on the deck on a sunny day. Except for the, you know, actual part of being OUTSIDE.

I know some of you have been waiting patiently for this, and I apologize for it being seventeen days late. But hey, it has a hunky guy on it--worth waiting for, yes?




Second Quarter Wallpaper (right click on the image size you want and save it to your desktop)

Sizes available:
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Those of you who follow my posts on Facebook know two things: one, I recently had a birthday, and two, I celebrated said birthday with a week long party with five of my friends. I thought I'd share some of that fun with you all.



Amongst those friends is my darling agent Michelle (in the red jacket), who I was delighted could spend almost the whole week with us.

We had all sorts of fun during the week. One member of the party, Sara (of Looming Moon), was most excited to see groceries being delivered.



OK, I may have egged her on to take a picture with the truck, and the driver didn't quite know what to make of her plastering herself to it, but it was a perfect way to start the week.

The dogs loved having new people to molest.



White Girl especially loved going on walks with people between bouts of rain.

The lemon drops I mentioned on Facebook?



Yeah, we had a full counter of booze and snackies. The lemon drops were divine.

We played an awesome game that involved drawing phrases, and having the next person guess what the drawing was supposed to be (the game is called Telestrations, by the way. I highly recommend it).

Here's my guess of one of darling agent Michelle's drawings:



And the next person's rendition of my guess (slightly enhanced so as to remove the naughty part)



Lots and lots and lots of spinning (of yarn) went on during the week. We even taught darling agent Michelle how to spin.



[And yes, we sat around in our jammies most of the time.]

It was a glorious week of non-stop fun and frolics and my dogs waking people up at five in the morning. And of course, fish crossing signs.



Photos courtesy of Vin and Sara and my mother.

I realize that the first quarter of the year is almost gone (man, where DOES the time go?), so this wallpaper won't be enjoyed for long, but in the spirit of better late than never, I've uploaded the Yacky wallpaper for those of you who wish to enjoy him. It. The wallpaper. *cough*

As usual, the wallpaper is available in three sizes: 1900x1200, 1600x1200, and 1024x768. You can download one or all of the sizes on the Katie Mac Wallpaper Page o' Manly Goodness.

In a few weeks it will be my birthday. I decided last year that I was going to give myself a really big birthday present this year--I am going to host a party with a bunch of friends.

For a week.

In my house.

And while all five of the visiting friends are excited about our week o' fun, filled with events such as:
Pride and Prejudice DayColoring DayHenna Tattoo DayTiara-making DayDr. Who DayEat Sundaes For Dinner DayTeach Darling Agent Michelle to Spin Yarn Dayit occurred to me that in order to fit five extra people into my house, I'd have to organize my stuff. So I did. And now, when I need to find something, I can't.

And this is why cleaning is bad for you.

I rest my case.

Some of you may remember the fabulously gorgeous Nikola cover that I recently shared and may or may not have slobbered all over.

Here is a reminder for those of you who might have missed it:



If you recall, I made much over the look that the model on the cover was giving us. There may have been some swooning involved when I posted the following close-up:



A short time after I posted the cover, the model--Bo--contacted me and also posted his thanks for all the oohs and ahhhs and virtual slobbering done on the cover.

Because he took our collective admiration in the spirit it was intended, I figured Bo would bear up well under the swell of estrogen (and a fair amount of testosterone) that would follow him being featured for Dishy Guy Monday.

And thus it is that this week, DGM is all Bo. Break out the drool cloths, ladies and gentlemen. You're going to need them.

First up we have Bo being enigmatically sexy.



Bonus points for tat.

Bo the boy-next-door:



Bo with a potentially stiff neck, and thus in obvious need of a massage. *cough*



Bo the former boxer showing his style:



Bo in black and white looking all moody and tortured and angsty 'n stuff.



And finally, Bo in the shower. OK, with a swimsuit on, but he's IN THE SHOWER. And soapy! 'Nuff said, right? Right.

Now that Nikola's book is done...wait...one moment to drool over his cover again...I can resume Dishy Guy Monday. Yay!

Since I haven't done a DGM in a while, I decided to go with the easy pictures, rather than searching for a guy worthy of the DGM title. Thus, we have another episode of Awkward Dishy Guy Monday.

As before, these are models who for some reason, were put in odd poses/situations/clothing choices. The models themselves are just fine, but the pictures have an awkwardness to them that makes me giggle.

First up is Undulation Model



He certainly is flexible, isn't he?

Second we have...um...I don't know what what this is.



I guess the guy is stuck on some branches, but I'm not sure. Maybe he was falling into the branches. Maybe, like Goths Up Trees, this is a new phenomenon called Models In Shrubs. Who knows.

Our third selection is just...um...yeah.



I frequently go out into the jungle in nothing but my underwear and boots. That's totally normal, right?

Our fourth model is a little risque, so if you have peeps standing near you who could see the screen (or young eyes) you may want to not scroll down.



So many comments...none of them really tasteful, so we'll let them go.

And last, but certainly not least on the awkward scale, is Mr. I Really Love Down Pillows.



I mean, he REALLY loves them.