Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 169

Happy New Year…

via Photobucket | zar72pk

May your 2011 be wonderful! And if you plan on partying today/tonight…stay safe!

Weird and random rambles from yours truly

I haven't been random in a while.  And I need random today because I can't think.  Why?  Well, because Nessa is killing my brain.

I'm editing. Specifically, I'm editing this:

And it's killing my brain.

The book starts out like this… (relax, it's a romance, so it ends happy…)

"Ah, Nessa . . . my beautiful, foolish, wonderful girl. I love you so much. I will come back . . . I will find you again."

He coughed and a sob wracked her body as she saw the blood trickle from his lips. "Promise me!" she choked. "You promise me! Promise me you'll come back."

"Only God Himself could keep me from you, love," Elias whispered. He sighed and his entire body trembled. She could feel the pain tearing through him and she forced herself in between, using her power to separate him from the pain as she filtered it away. She could not heal him, could not save him—but she could damn well stop him from hurting.

The tension eased from his body and he breathed a little easier.

"Elias . . ." she moaned, wrapping her arms around him.

"Just hold me, Nessa," he murmured. His voice was weaker. Lifting her head, she stared down at him, brushing his hair back from his battered face. "I do wish I had listened to you, my beautiful witch."

Closing her eyes, she whispered, "Just come back, Elias."

"My Nessa."

But that's how it starts.  And do you think she gave me an easy time with it? Nooooooo.  Put her on the PITA character list.  PAIN IN THE ASS.

I want this book case. Badly.  It's a case of bookcase lust.  It's from Levenger, though, which means it's expensive as hell for the entire thing.

I had a blog up at RT go up yesterday-all about author drivebys.  What's an author driveby?  Check it out.

I'm now well over the halfway point on The Departed.  FYI, this one is gut-ripping.  I kind of feel bad for Taylor.  No wonder the guy is such a cold bastard.  Sigh.

Okay.  There's some rambles.  Enough to fill a blog post anyway…ciao!

Haven't I Seen You Before…

Okay.. so it's an attractive couple.  I get that.

But…c'mon.

Let's retire them already.

The good news is that all are different epubs-one is self pubbed.  The bad news… I'm pretty sure I've seen this couple elsewhere, too.  O.o  The image comes from a stock photo site.  I've actually seen it.  I bypassed it when I was shopping for photos because I've seen the couple before.  You see it too many times?  Well…they all start to look the same, those books.

Finishing the book despite the book

Ever read a book that was annoying the snot out of you but you couldn't put it down?  Generally if I'm not enjoying a book, I don't bother finishing it.

(FYI, don't ask what book/what author/etc, cuz I'm not telling…I didn't put it on Goodreads or anything else, either.  This just my rule, because it makes my life easier and I'm all for easy).

I just don't like to mess with a book if I'm not enjoying it.  Now I don't have to love it.  I just have to enjoy it.  But I started reading a book on Christmas and the first…I dunno…third?  Was pretty good.  Even though I saw some serious flaws with the worldbuilding.  Even though I was thinking….oooooh-kay with the how-zits and what-fors of the creatures in this world.  I was enjoying it.

But about about the first third, those flaws and howzits became a little too, well, much.  They were annoying me.  I kept thinking 'damn it, this is just crap.  No way.  NOT making sense.' There was a mock-fight scene with the heroine learning how to train against the baddies of this world and she starts kicking butt and I was hard-pressed not to laugh.  I should have just thrown the book against the wall-nice thing about paper versus E.  You can still throw the book.  I didn't, though.  I kept reading.

Why?

Because as annoying as the book was, and as flawed as this author's world-building was…I wanted to see how it ended.  I guess that's saying something for the author's storytelling.  Even as much as her world annoyed me, I wanted to see how it ended.

Ever read a book like that?  I can't say I want to do it again, because I'm still annoyed with myself for finishing it.  And…um…I even gave it to my nephew to see if he'd enjoy it…lol.  Sharing the insanity, so to speak.

Christmas…

Was yours good? Ours was, although I ended up sick. Again. Bleh. This is the second Christmas in a row I ended up sick. I'm not sure if it's strep or a raging sinus infection, but my throat is killing me and my asthma is kicking. I'll be heading to the doctor Monday (yeah I know this is posting Tuesday, I prewrite the posts) if I'm not feeling better.

The kids had a good one-they didn't get as many presents this year, although they didn't seem to mind. The main reason they didn't get as many-they are getting a swimming pool in the spring and we told them. They got a few presents from Santa and few things from us, but their 'big' gift is the pool.

I bought my mom one of the new Cruz readers and I hope she likes it. I've been fiddling with mine-still getting used to it, but the Borders reading app is pretty simple and loading ARCs-both doc files & PDFs onto it is pretty simple. It is a little heavy, though. Mom's pretty good with tech stuff, so I reckon she can figure out how to use hers.

The DH bought me some shiny stuff-I do love shinies. I also got a GC to Dick's Sporting Good-for some cold weather running gear-yay! I need it. And some stuff from Lush. Also got some stuff from Lush from his folks, a AmEx GC. Shopping… do love shopping.

Christmas Eve, my mom, my brothers and their families came over and we had a good time. I'll have another niece or nephew soon. This will be my mom's 13th grandchild-and her last. The SIL is making that final, I think and the rest of us have already done that. Thirteen grandkids… is that good or bad? Eesh. Can you imagine the greats she's gonna have?

We had a good Christmas. I would rather I hadn't spent it sick, but we were together and in the end, that's the most important thing for me.

Hope those of you who celebrate had a lovely one as well.

So…about QR codes

I keep hearing about these. I made one. It points to here. But I'm not entirely sure what a QR code's purpose…

Can somebody explain plz…in…um…non-tech speak?

Just wanted to say…

Another soldier

Heard from Kelley re: 1stLt Joseph Mazzara USMC and it sounds like he's getting lots of mail.  And we've got another name…I know it's too late to get him any letters or cards for Christmas, but if you have any leftover Christmas cards, I think he'd appreciate them.

From Joseph's wife, a friend of this soldier:

This is a young, single, Christian guy.  Very straight arrow, very smart (b.s. degree in Political Science).  He's a good friend!  And yes, my [Jennifer's] Joseph is getting lots of mail.    He asked today for Cheez-Its.

Merry Christmas,

Jennifer

SPC Vicinanzo, Joseph D

HQ, 197th Fires Brigade

APO AE 09366

FYI, I checked with my friend Kelley for those who do like to send packages and I've put together a page on what she normally sends out, and what can't be sent.  If you want to send more than a letter or card, check out this page.

An extra little Christmas present… sorta

Don't forget, you can get A Present for Christmas, contemporary romance, for free at Smashwords.

Also…from now until 12.29.10, you can also get Beg Me (click here for an excerpt)for 50% at Smashwords if you enter the coupon code EN99Z.  (Sorry folks, I can't do coupon codes elsewhere.) But just a reminder, it's very easy to get the story onto the various readers from Smashwords-they've got an FAQ that breaks it down and you can also email their customer service (link up top).

Heh. I like this scene

I'm working edits-(I try to slow down a bit the week of Christmas but no help for it) anyway, Hunter's Fall is up for edits, and I'm working hard and fast to get it down.  Came across this scene, and I love it.  It's not between the hero & heroine, though.

It's Mal & Nessa.  I really love the last line.

"He took too much blood," Malachi said softly, his voice tight and controlled. Controlled, because if he wasn't careful, he would start shouting and he'd learned quite some time ago how shouting affected Nessa—she either laughed, or did something that would make him want to shout louder. "You're running a pint or two low there." He could see it in the pallor of her skin, and more, he scented it in her blood. Another few minutes and she would have been completely drained.

Nessa shrugged. "Nothing I haven't dealt with before." Then she grimaced, glancing down at her rail-thin body. "Granted, not in this particular body."

"That particular body is the only one you have. Perhaps you should care for it better. You need food, red meat. Rest. Hell, even a pint of Guinness would do you a world of good."

"Hmmm." She turned around and peered over the edge, staring down. The naked yearning in her eyes turned Malachi's gut into a cold, empty pit.

She wanted to jump. If he hadn't come when he did, would she have tried it? Would she try now . . . with him watching?

"Come back to Excelsior with me," he said quietly. He held out a hand and watched as she turned around. "Come home."

Come home, he thought. If he could just get her back to Excelsior, back to the school, they could help. There, perhaps she could find herself again. Perhaps she could heal.

He hoped. He prayed.

"Home." A faint smile curled her mouth upward, but it didn't reach her eyes. She never really smiled anymore. "Home is where the heart is, isn't it, Malachi?" She slid her gaze east, east over land and ocean, to a village that hadn't existed for centuries. "My heart's been buried for so long, there's not even dust left of him. I have no home."

An impish grin appeared on her face and she added, "Besides, there are still some nasties out there that I missed the other day. A good Hunter never leaves the job undone and all that rot."

"You don't need to be Hunting right now, Nessa," Malachi snapped. "You're weak, you're low on blood." You're insane. He kept that part to himself. He reached out, grabbed her wrist and jerked her back from the edge. She went flying and if he hadn't still held her wrist, she would have flown halfway across the roof before she landed. "It's a bloody miracle you can even stand."

Tugging her wrist, she said, "Oh, nonsense. You don't really believe a couple of pesky, bloodthirsty vampires are that big a threat to me, do you?"

His eyes raked over her from head to toe, lingering on the barely concealed bite mark at her neck. "Right now? Yes. You're vulnerable, damn it. A toddler having a temper tantrum could well prove to be a threat to you in your state."

Blond brows arched over wide blue eyes. "Vulnerable? I haven't been vulnerable since—well, since I don't remember when. At least not to vampires. And obviously, you haven't spent much time around toddlers—toddlers in a tantrum are a threat to damn near everything."