Nanoedmo - finished at 30 hrs 5 mins

It closed before I got home from work or I would have had 5 hours and 29 mins more.

Proud and Loud

Okay , I admit it - I think that this is a good idea. Thanks Lorelei!

Vampires should be sexy, intelligent, and creative .

Keeping up with my vampires has been and will continue to be an educational experiance. While polishing up the first one, I have begun the second ( which was a suggestion by an agent blog). The other suggestion that I follow is to get the story out there first. The original draft of Ceiling does not bear much resemblance to what exists today. I suspect that the final draft will be even a little different from the current one. But I know where I am going and it makes the writing better. No plans for more kids in the second for this duo, this is basically Henri and Arina together without Jean Paul to oversee. There were hints in Ceiling that Henri and Jean Paul had quarreled before Ceiling , and I intend in the second one to bring in some of where Henri was during the time apart. This will develop his character a little more deeply than the baby beef cakes with dimples /good husband and dad mode that was prevalent in Ceiling. There are unresolved issues from Ceiling that will bleed over into the WIP. Where Ceiling was largely about Arina's transition through her Change , the raising of their kids, and their development as a couple as they established a rhythm in their relationship,the society in which they live, the second one deals with perceptions of those outside their immediate world as they help to relocate the Colony from one coast to another. I definately want to do more with Rosie and Joshua who came in late to Ceiling -like  Henri and Ariana , their kids are grown and there is nothing to hold them in New England. From the very beginning, these stories were always intended to be a series.
I just recently started reading one of the Vampire Babylon series, Night Falls. Love the writing , hate the vampires. Its better , I think than the much touted Empire, which I just could not get through .( Lorelei, you are a better woman than I for finishing it- I hated the vamps in it so much that I had to stop.) . I like my vampires evolving, intelligent and not guilty about who they are. I don't believe that Human is necessarily the most desireable existence .
I don't hate everyone else's vamps - I like JR Ward, Christine Feehan and love Chelsea Quinn Yarboro. I am currently getting through the True Blood  dvd series from the library here - and may try some of the books after the fact. I don't find Bill particularly attractive and the camp is annoying.
But , I don't hate it. I loved the Buffy movie - hated the tv series except for Spike and Darla . I liked Julie Bentz well enough to follow her over to Dexter where she was his wife through season four(I think). (I only did that for one other actor and that was baby beef cakes ,Julian McMahon. He started off in Profiler and later went to Charmed. ) Cole Turner can be the " source of all evil "in my apartment anytime. All the demons were better looking than the good guys in that series. Everytime that it was announced that someone would not be back- I kept hoping that it would be Leo. He was a perennial wet blanket.

Advantage of My Chapter Buddy

I did, on a suggestion , take on a chapter buddy over a month ago. She is writing quite an interesting story of her own , which I look forward to each segment. She also made it through two of the three most violent chapters of Ceiling, without a whimper. I had been nervous over showing those chapters to anyone because although justified, they are very dark. Her comments were positive and encouraging as I am walking the fine line between wanting people to like my vamps and what happens when they are attacked. Most of their lives are normal , PTA /business owner lives, but they do have this little tiny physical necessity in the form of the need to drink Human blood. And they will do what they need to do to get it. They are not avenging angels killing the criminal element or solving the problems of homelessness by sticking to those not as readily missed.
Few people are totally good or totally evil. I don't think that the Victorian model of humans or vampires works unless you are doing a historical piece. As I work on tweaking the elements into place on Ceiling, I am starting the preliminary work on book 2 . It was always intended to be a series.
Anyway, I just asked her opinion on a recent section with dealt with time management on the vamps side , resulting in Arina hunting with two other females  instead of her mate and not asking permission or even opinion. Her father in law had predicted that at some point this would be necessary - and it became necessary before he could suggest it. This causes Henri to trip on his ego because he has pretty much been (in theory) in charge since they got together. It also reinforces a theme that while the men are in charge on paper, the women are not powerless. I am looking forward to her reply becaue I spend so much time with these characters and have for over a year, it gets a little bit myopic at times.
I hope that when the time comes to share the second one, that the chapter buddy then is as wise as the one that I have now. We had both had chapter buddies for our current  efforts who dropped out for whatever reason . We seem to be a good fit.
I would recommend a chapter buddy if you write.

Sunday in My House

I did over 5 hours today on Ceiling. I added and subtracted, corrected and clarified.As dark as my vamps can be from time to time, their kids are the light sparks that bind them to any semblance of humanity . (Remember my vamps are genetic and living. ) My Chapter buddy liked the corrections. Added benefit, is that I have a sweet girl kitty warming my feet. Maxie Malone ( for the Glenn Close character )-female- joined me in August . If you have read some of the early chapters of Ceiling, I really did have until July , a calico cat for over 12 years named DaisyBunny. She was everything that Arina said about her.Maxie is grey tabby, siamese and Mau- I have promised her that she can be in the story as well ( but not till book 2) .

Like Arina , I am allergic to trees when they bud and dogwood in particular. When they "die" in the fall - I do another 2 weeks of pure hell.  I am not allergic to too much else.

Color me crazy-Nanoedmo

In addition to committing to the 104 (books) in 2011- I have agreed to commit 50 hours in the month of March to editing my manuscript. Its a challenge to motivate.
http://www.nanoedmo.net/xoops2/index.php