Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 207

Looking Backward

As the corporate showdown between Amazon and Macmillan continues, I wanted to remind everyone that you can still buy my books and preorder In the Darkest Night (March 30, 2010 release) at Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books a Million, Powell's, as well as many others. Until the situation is resolved, I'll be adding this to my blog posts, but after today, I promise to put it at the end of the post so you can skip it if you'd like.

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One of the interesting things about writing is looking back...

Setting the Scene

Some of you are probably aware of the Macmillan/Amazon flap that started Friday. Even though I write for Tor, who is under the Macmillan umbrella, I don't plan to blog about this tonight. There are many other people who've said things much better than I have, and frankly, I'm tired of thinking about this. I wasted far too much time this weekend reading about what was going on instead of writing.

Instead, let's talk about something much more fun. Stories and setting. :-)

I confess, as a read...

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...