Evidently, I'm a Hufflepuff

Got my activation email from Pottermore last week and have been playing on the site on-and-off. I've been sorted: Hufflepuff (okay, okay, I admit it, I really wanted to be a Slytherin). I've got a wand: 12.5″, Pine with a dragon core, rigid. I've cast my first spell: Alohomora (and boy, is that tough…mostly because the directions weren't quite so helpful).

I'm enjoying seeing the extras written by Jo Rowling: background on the Dursleys, on Minerva McGonagall and various author's notes, including a ton of wand lore. This is kind of every author's dreamhouse. You get to share the stuff that didn't get published. The nifty world-building that takes up megabytes of data and otherwise, would never see the light of day.

It's kind of like the DVD extras/easter eggs but throughout a whole site.

I can't foresee spending a lot of time casting spells, dueling or brewing potions, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying the trip through Book 1 (via the interactive areas) and discovering the notes.

Sure, this totally Josses a whole ton of fan-fiction, but that's okay, because other people's stories are set in alternate universes. Doesn't bother me in the least.

It's fun to see how the originator came up with wand lore or what she thinks Minerva was like as a girl.

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In other news:

If you are a Facebook friend or "Like" my fan page, please check out my note of yesterday evening. For various reasons, I'm going to (a) be removing the fan page and (b) whittling down my friends list to folks I know personally (either in meat space or via online interactions). Not to worry, though, as I've enabled the "Subscribe" function, which means that you will still be able to follow my all my public posts and comment on them. As 99% of my posts are public, that means not much will change.

The fan page will be gone by 9/30, so please be sure to change to a subscriber of my profile page!

Work proceeds apace with the audio recordings. I'll be doing more today & tomorrow. Hoping to finish up book 1 shortly. Then it's QA time and then turning it over to Wildside to post on Audible!

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Thanks ever so much to all of you who have commented on the Blood Lines series and asking for more books. At this point, Keira and the gang are going to be taking a break as I work on audio and consider what's next. I've got a couple of ideas floating about for some short stories and, if they work out, I'll publish those to e-book. As far as another Blood Lines book in the future? Well, never say never, but I'm not going to string you along. I really don't see that happening. I thought for a bit that perhaps I could do a Kickstarter campaign and write book 6, but then after some very deep thinking, I decided that would be a mistake. The main story is told and wrapped up. It's time to move on. But, as I said, that doesn't preclude short stories.

There is a new project in whisper mode right now – that being the very early stages of "oh, that would be a good idea to pursue". It's amorphous and wispy, but may gel soon. The only thing I can tell you it's that it's a middle grade novel and would include a diverse set of characters. This came into mind when conversing with a co-worker. She commented that it was too bad that her 8 year old son didn't have any books he could read that showed families like his (he has 2 moms). Not as the theme of the book, but as a matter-of-fact situation as part of a good read. So I'm mulling this over. Not so much the diversity aspect, but the plot aspect. I mean, what do middle grade kids read? (Other than Harry Potter or Percy Jackson?) I don't have kids and my 1 niece is only three, so I'm kind of out of that loop.

In any case, it's definitely percolating and I'm hoping that I can get a handle on it because I'd really love to do this.

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Fall is here, the weather is GORGEOUS and COOL, so I'm enjoying the morning with great pleasure! I'm looking forward to not sweltering!

TTFN, all!