Kyle Michel Sullivan's Blog: https://www.myirishnovel.com/, page 8

Done, again, and now for Four...

 Here are my new avatars...

BA-1 ... When Léonidès met Gregory and his friends, his life was complete...until they raped and murdered him...and he became a Blood Angel, the highest caste of vampire, and they became his pack.

BA-2 ... In 1870 during the Franco-Prussian war, Léonidès thinks he's found a fellow Blood Angel to be his mate...a handsome cuirassier named Franz. But for that to happen he must get approval from the Oiym council, and the man has to be willing.

BA-3 ... Leon is denied permission to turn Franz so decides to offer him to Gabrielle in exchange for Dmitriy. But The Council may have other plans, especially Luahl...who’s never liked Leonides.

New covers for all?

Today I worked on the avatars for Blood Angel's 3 volumes, so far. And this is what I'd got.

BA-1 Léonidès in rough form.

When Léonidès met Gregory and his friends, his life was complete...until they raped and murdered him...and he became a Blood Angel, the highest caste of vampire, and they became his pack.

BA-2 Franz looking pretty close to what I want.

In 1870 during the Franco-Prussian war, Léonidès thinks he's found a fellow Blood Angel to be his mate...a handsome cuirassier named Franz. But for that to happen he must get approval from the Oiym council, and the man has to be willing.

BA-3 Revelation too. Léonidès' plans explodes as he notices fractures in the Oiym Council and wonder if he might be able to take over.

Consistency in image to go with them being part of the same story.

I can change the thumbnails without issue, in an ebook; I just need to verify I can update the text without using another ISBN. All I want to change is the Phots by part of the title.

Next is BA-4 Betrayal, and after than BA-5 set in WW2, BA-6 set in New Orleans after Katrina, and set in modern day.

This work?

I perused Shutterstock and found a nice series of vampire images from this one photographer that might work well for BA-3's thumbnail or avatar. This is my first go at one, just to see how it looks. It's pretty damn specific as to what the book is about.

The hanging figure needs to be more distinct, and maybe a bit of blue on the blood-soaked image. Not 100% on the font, either; it's bland but easy to read.

I think I'm going to redo the first two avatars, as well. Make it more obvious they're about vampires and not a romance or something dark but not much more. I tend too much to the suggestion sort of imagery than the kind that will catch a vampire-lover's attention.

I may do it for Dirc and the Dyarvos Bones, as well, to emphasize the SF/Horror aspect of it.

If I do combine all the parts into a single paperback book, I'm thinking I may add in illustrations to help carry it along, like was done in Victorian times. I'd have to work in pen and ink because Color printing would be prohibitive and might lessen the quality of the book. Even if I do it in hardcover.

Hmm...I wonder if it's too late to work up a 2026 calendar of images for BA, so far? Offer them online, myself. Or even of all my books to be colored in...

Something to garner attention for my work...

Calming down...

Got 90% of the reformatting done on BA-3 but started feeling weird. I hadn't eaten on schedule, today, so thought that might be it. Heated some of my potato soup and that worked nicely for my stomach, but when I checked my blood sugar 2 hours later, it was 255 and my BP was 160/96. I make that soup rich but that seemed excessively high.

So I stopped everything and kicked back to read more of The Thursday Murder Club. No surfing the web or snarling at MAGAt assholes who are proud Felon47 is destroying the country. That brought my blood pressure down to 135/83.

I also had some tea and muffins I'd made but were burned on the bottom. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn't get a fair reading on my blood sugar, but I do feel better.

I think tomorrow I'm going to track down the psd file of the first two avatars for BA and steal the title lettering off them, then work on making the image I posted yesterday as its cover. Keep the feeling of the first two going.

I'm going back to my book, now. I'm enjoying it, despite Orman's writing style. He actually got a couple laughs out of me. There's one moment where a young woman goes out on a date with what I think is a personal trainer she met online...who doesn't believe in books, but thinks you should learn from experience and keeping an open mind.

As he eats a salad and has a protein shake! At an Italian restaurant! Sacrilege!!!

She's bored to tears so decides (in her mind) that she should kill him by injecting cyanide into a dough ball that came with the meals, but then realizes it wouldn't work because he doesn't eat carbs. It came so quickly, I laughed for a good minute.

I'm wondering if I should consider trying to write a quirky murder mystery using a pseudonym and see if that could bring in some good sales. I just need a fun gimmick. Ideas are welcome. Maybe an update of The Bobbsey Twins?

Done, again...again...

All the changes for Blood Angel 3 are input. It's now 17,135 words and ready for formatting and one last pass of the editor. Then it'll be up. And I will be fucking proud of myself for doing what I didn't think I could do.

True, that sounds a bit arrogant, but I don't care. It's not often I get to pat myself on the back.

I think I may use this image instead of yesterday's for the avatar. I like the feel of it, more. And there is another image I have that's potential...but this is more in line with the first two covers. I'll think about that, tomorrow.

I made blueberry muffins to celebrate...only the bottoms are slightly burned. Seems I can't cook anything in my oven without fucking it up, outside of a casserole. It's electric, and always gets hotter than I think, so I usually heat it to 25-50 degrees less than recommended and check early...but this time that didnb't work.

I should have just made a little cake and cooked it in my toaster oven. That one I have little trouble with. A chef I will never be.

Now to do dishes and cleanup. Back to reality.

Digging...digging...

I finally found an image I thought I had but had put away in a place to protect it. Did so well, it was hidden from me. But this could work as the avatar for Blood Angel Book Three-Revelation. Play with the color, a bit...though I also found another possibility that would work better in the initial color schemes. So we shall see. 

The one issue is, the font I used for the first two books' avatars is no longer available in Ps and I still can't find the psds of the titles so I can just capture the main words and transfer them to the new book. Or at least find out the name of the font.

I also found a couple of Word docs that I'd forgotten I'd written for BA. One was set in 16th Century Milan. Stephane is telling the rest of the pack about his trip to Venice, where he allowed himself to be kidnapped and raped by a pack of vicious monks before he fed on them and burned down their monastery...over the space of a week.

He also set up a couple of good business contacts and political connections. Even though he has the appearance of a college-age boy, he's been around for hundreds of years, already, so is pretty savvy. Not sure if I can use it, yet, but it was solid as a story and might come in handy, later.

I really need to go through all of my thumb drives and disks to sort through what I have and need and what I don't. I've done a lot of repetitive saving of documents and images, partly because I'm paranoid about losing them. But it's now at the point where I have a hell of a time finding anything.

Just proving to myself I'm chaos, defined, when it comes to this...

Red Pen done...

I printed out a copy of this part of Blood Angel and have gone through it with my red pen. A number of changes, edits, cuts and clarifications, all doable within a day. I'll get onto it, Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I've started playing with working up an avatar for the ebook. I like the idea behind this one, but it's kind of clumsy. Got a ways to go.

I have a number of things I have to do, tomorrow, instead of inputting. Insurance review, update checkbook, a pile of paperwork to sort, going through my computer files to get everything in order, the usual crap I just let pile up till it screams take care of this or you'll regret it.

I'm also doing what I can to push back against the vile actions of Felon47's administration and the rabid hypocrisy of the MAGAt Class. Not a lot, due to my health limitations, but what I can.

The one thing I can say that's positive about me at the moment is, this time last month I didn't think I'd be able to even write Blood Angel (Book Three) Revelation. Yet here it is, close to completion. I think it's because that let me give up on the idea of making Franz into a vicious creature Léonidès cannot control. That made his wish to swap the guy for Dmitry on the silly side. No more.

I should tell myself I can't do something more often; it seems to set my subconscious going to where I basically say, Fuck that. Yes we will.

And so I do.

Fourth draft done...or fifth, not sure...

Another draft of Blood Angel-volume 3-Revelations is done. It's up to 16,300 words and sets up Léonidès to go looking for Gabrielle. I think I have it as consistent as can be, right now, so I'm going to print up a copy and go through it with a red pen. Then I'll be ready to format it.

No word about the cover art, yet. I may go with this image, which sort of fits the story. It's like Franz coming awake and trying to figure out where he is as Léon fights to wait to turn him. That or Luahl is planning to take Léon for a fun ride.

The thing is with this photographer, 90% of his images are slim guys who are barely of age. Not my type nor right for the story. I lucked out with the first two books.

I should never take a nap during the day. I had a late one that went 2 hours, yesterday, so wasn't tired enough to go to bed till 6 this morning. Now I'm zoning.

I made another Dolly Parton peach cobbler for dessert and now feel quite fat and sassy. And ready for bed even though it's only 10:30. Old man vibes kicking in.

I'm too old to go so fast...

This is one of those days when all the bullshit caught up to me and I'm looking at over more than a dozen things I need to do, other than write, and am just overwhelmed. I wasn't raised in a world that was running at top speed 24/7. And I'm not emotionally or mentally prepared, or even equipped, to handle that. I never have been.

I've got insurance coming up, for both car and apartment, required. I've got to decide on whether or not to have my gall bladder removed, and when to schedule a colonoscopy, and worry about the co-pays. Prep for a packing job in Houston as well as overseeing an archive pickup in Rhode Island. Work out a way to get to Hong Kong in December, and maybe do Seattle in October. Consider if I want to change health insurance, which is fast approaching, because United Healthcare is messing with my prescriptions. Deal with Walgreens being overloaded by new clients from RiteAid and forgetting to fill my prescription.s Work at publicizing my books. Plan out a trip to Taos for my niece's Christmas get-together when I can't really afford it. Deal with my bank's quirks now that I have a credit card with them...and that's not counting what I'm doing online in supporting Ukraine and fighting against the fascism of Felon47's administration.

Shit...looking at that pile of nonsense, I feel like I'm whining. For no good reason. Which I am. So many people have it far worse. It's just...well...what sent me careening into my own little bit of chaos was receiving a stupid calendar of Ronald Reagan from his ranch or foundation or whatever. I never asked for it. Never gave them a fucking dime, and they're acting like we're best buds? That motherfucker is the reason I left the GOP in 1980 and haven't voted for a Republican since. And I'm going to waste a stamp to let them know it.

Silly thing to trigger me in any way, but when I worked at Heritage a co-worker thought it would be funny to sign me up the with GOP by donating a dollar in my name and using the store's address. I'd get mail non-stop from them, no matter how hard I snarled that they should stop...until I got really vicious and began sending them images of W overseeing the rape of American soldiers. Really nasty shit. That shut them down. I'm just wondering if I'll have to do that, again.

I did get a bit of an uplift in a reel I saw on Instagram. A medical professional pointed out all the reasons they think Felon47 is dying of congestive heart failure...and what hit my brain was "Clots and prayers." May he die sooner than later. And I'm not ashamed of thinking that. He's a menace to America and humanity, and the sooner he is gone the sooner we can start dismantling the MAGAt Class.

It's not much of a bright spot, but it's something...

Whoosh...

Did you ever have a day where you wake up and 13 hours later you can't remember a thing you did? I mean, I know I washed my dishes because I left them from last night and now they're in the rack, almost dry.

I know I made enchiladas and rice because I ate some and built three meals out of the rest. I know I intended to go out to get something I needed but can't remember what it was.

And all of a sudden it was dark outside and I hadn't changed out of my sleeping shorts but have been doing something at my laptop all day. Just not working on BA3...

Where the hell did the time go? And what did I do, during it? It's like I stepped into another dimension and just returned.

I've had moments like this happen before, but usually when I'm driving. I'll be on a freeway zipping along and it's like I pass an exit and think I've got another hour's drive ahead and suddenly I'm there. I'd zoned out and would still be driving like it's no big deal. Fortunately, nothing happened to cause a wreck or problem.

This isn't an age thing. I've done it driving between Austin and Houston or San Antonio, along I-35 or I-10, both of which I'm overly familiar with. That would be 40-45 years ago. And I've done this for short periods in my apartment, before, but not this long.

Yet I cannot visualize or even mentally recreate what-all my day has been. It's a bit spooky.

Oh, I just noticed on my laptop my Photoshop is still open and I made a meme about choosing your battles carefully. Okay...I vaguely recall that. But why is there also a jpg of the image of a '54 Hudson on my desktop, along with a number of gifs that are very NSFW? Meaning I was perusing BDSMLR.com.

Man, as if I'm not crazy enough, already...