Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 206

Demon Kissed

It's official! My Nocturne Bites story now has a title and a release date! Look for Demon Kissed May 1st.

I've updated my website with the information, including a little blurb about the book that needs more work, but gives the gist of the story.

When a demon slayer discovers a price has been put on her head, there's only one person she can trust--an enigmatic fellow demon hunter named Andras.

This is the story that was sparked by a headline post on Twitter that said something along the lines ...

OneNote Is Geek-tastic!

I reached a few milestones setting up the new laptop. 1. All of my email was transferred over--not quickly or easily since it required me to import them into Windows Live Mail before exporting them to Outlook 2007--but that's done. And 2. my writing program is setup and ready to go. I was able to bring over my quick correct words (I use that a lot, including for character names, words I frequently typo, and for words I consistently misspell. There are a few of those, although once I enter...

Kindle Take 3

I made an interesting discovery this week. I prefer reading on my Kindle now to paper books.

It's almost a year since I received my Kindle, and in that time, I've done the vast majority of my reading on it. Yes, there are frustrations as I blogged about in my updated review. I'm still working my way through a research book that is heavy on charts and tables and those are still all but unreadable in Kindle. But fiction, well that's another story.

How'd I discover this?

I'm judging the RITA th...

I Forgot How Much Work It Is

Yesterday, I got my new laptop. It was past time to replace my current one--it's made it five years and is still running, but it's so slow, I spent Saturday cursing it. The new Vaios had finally arrived in the store and it was time. I just forgot one, little thing: How long it takes to setup a Windows computer.

My last replacement was for the desktop computer and I switched to a Mac there. I literally took it out of the box, plugged it in, loaded a couple of programs and was good to go. ...

Adventures In Auto Repair

Monday, on my way home from the Evil Day Job (EDJ), I stopped off to get gas. It's been thawing in Minneapolis the last week or so and my car windows were pretty coated with ick from the roads. After filling up with gas, I reached for the squeegee thing and began cleaning them. I saved the front windshield for last. All was well until I lifted the windshield wiper on the driver's side and it came off in my hand. There I am, standing at the pumps at the convenience store with a wiper blad...

Talking a Little Music

I never really considered myself that into music. Sure, I had a lot of CDs and I'm always buying MP3s, but I can't sing worth a damn and my attempts at playing an instrument went nowhere. Not that I didn't try. I attempted to learn the viola, the guitar, the piano, the drums, and I think there's one more, but I can't remember what it was now. I failed miserably at each. I even know why--I never practiced.

I think this is what separates an interest from a passion--the desire to work at the...

Dancing Hobbes Time!

Yes, the dancing Hobbes means another project is complete and turned in! This is a short story for Nocturne Bites. I don't know the title or release date yet (my working title didn't stick), but as soon as I have that information, I'll post it.

I love finishing project and posting my animated .gif. It makes me feel so happy inside. :-)

This story is set in the same world as Blood Feud from The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2, but it totally stands alone. In Blood Feud you met Isobel who's...

Easily Influenced

I have the time in Papeete, Tahiti on my computer. Seriously. You know why? Because the parents of the heroine in the proposal my agent is shopping around are in Tahiti during the book.

Weird, huh?

But I do stuff like this all the time while I'm writing. When I was working on The Power of Two, I was checking into whether or not Americans can travel to Vietnam because Cai, the heroine, was a quarter Vietnamese. I developed a fascination with Japan when I was writing my Japanese-American her...

Sharing the Giddiness

I wasn't a good athlete when I was growing up. I was one of the last picked for every team in grade school and things never got any better. Now I think kids can letter for excellent grades or community service, but when I was in school only athletes got letter jackets and trophies.

Spending every quarter on the honor roll, being a member of the National Honor Society, or editor of the yearbook didn't get me anything to show off. Maybe this is why I get so excited now when I do win something...

I'm Not In Charge

Once upon a time, before I ever started writing (which was in 8th grade), I believed the author had complete control over her stories and her characters. Then I put pen to notebook and discovered that my characters were the ones in control. I didn't worry about it too much, but I did check out every book the library had on how to be a writer.

I found out I was doing everything wrong. Instead of sitting down and just writing, I needed to color code index cards and pin them to my corkboard in...