Is at Romancing the Blog. Stop by and read all about my extra books.
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(Everyone keep Annie in your thoughts today.) So on top of the new house, the new puppy, and the new title, there’s even more new news. No, not a new contract (but wouldn’t that be nice? Maybe soon…) Instead, we have some new author photos, taken by amazing photographer Guarina Lopez on the National Mall:
And then some variety, as needed (full body shots, different “moods,” etc.):
This one is my father’s favorite:
I really wanted a variety with this set of author photos, as well as some outdoor, colorful shots, since I already have my studio black from the last set (photographed by amazing photographer, Tara Kearney). I chose the memorial to evoke the Roman setting in Rampant. I think this one would be perfect if I were only holding a bow:
Drumroll, please…
TAP AND GOWN
Wish I could say that I came up with it myself, but, like ROSB before it, TAG is the product of intense brainstorming sessions with me, my agent, my editor, and the other brains at Bantam Dell. Now all we need is a cover. Oh, and the polished manuscript to go inside. Bear with my puppy-oriented posts. Rio likes ice cubes:
Also, the sock monkey our new neighbors got her:
She is not, however, that into baths. Here is her first one:
Well, she might not think she looks good here, but I was dying of cuteness poisoning. And here she is resenting me afterwards:
But all is forgiven after a round of tennis:
Mmmmmmm, yummy yummy tennis balls!
That’s my girl! Neither Sailor Boy nor I have been getting much sleep. At first we tried Rio tethered to the bed (per the German-Shepherd-training Monks of New Skete), but I kept waking up every hour to make sure she hadn’t strangled herself with the leash. Then we tried letting her sleep in her crate next to her bed, which I loved, because I knew she was safe in there, and also, I thought it gave her a more relaxed, restful night. But Sailor Boy kept waking up every hour to see if she was restless or needed to go out, and said he couldn’t see her inside her crate as easily as he could when she was just out in the open. I still think the crate idea is the best, even if it takes me being on patrol duty instead of SB. So since I got the good night’s sleep last night, it’s my job today to go grocery shopping and finish packing up our old apartment. The moving process has been made very difficult by the fact that the week we moved, our apartment had a HUGE fire in the garage, so the area where you throw stuff away is off limits, and they’ve made us move all our cars while they pressure wash the entire place. Which meant I moved my china out in a SEA of sooty mud the other day. My cool slip on sneakers are destroyed. So that makes two pair of shoes destroyed this week. Oh, yeah. Rio’s a chewer. SB and I have the marks on our noses, ears, feet, and hands to prove it. Still, she’s a doll face. A dollface with very sharp little milk teeth. We have been working very hard on convincing her what she can and cannot eat. We’ve got a house filled with chew toys to hand to her whenever she starts getting mouthy with a “forbidden” item. She’s already discovered the two best places to sleep in the kitchen: over the AC vents. She’s mad about a peanut-butter filled kong (though we have learned a lesson about giving her one too late at night, lest we bear the wrath of Hyper-puppy!), and she has already made friends with all our new neighbors. Today, SB and I took her over to a nearby park and played hide and seek with her in the jungle gym. I can’t believe she already knows her name! She loves to come running to us. She follows SB wherever he goes, and whines every time he’s out of sight. She loves other dogs and children. She loves to chase and be chased when it comes to other dogs. She loves frisbees. So between Rio and writing, my house is still in boxes. Unfortunately, we knocked over one last night and broke a whole bunch of our dishes. YIKES! Right, back to packing… Introducing Rio!
Isn’t she gorgeous? My baby girl! I’m in love.
Sailor Boy and I brought her home yesterday. She’s an eight week old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (”Toller”). Longtime (and I SERIOUSLY mean longtime) readers of the blog know that we’ve had our eye on this breed forever. We’re so excited. And if you think I’m the only one afflicted thusly, you should see Sailor Boy. I think I’ve been usurped in his heart. I swear, once I’m settled in the new house, I am going to toss a large percentage of this stuff. Thirty percent. That sounds good. I can’t believe how much I hate packing. I can’t believe Sailor Boy and I have over 20 boxes of books and we’re still finding the heavy little buggers around every corner. Lift up a sofa? Book. Move your dresser away from the wall? Book. There was even a book in my underwear drawer. A thin one, but still. How did that get there? Since the consideration of what to take and what to toss is a lot harder than the one about where to pack it, I’m leaving all that stuff to Future Diana and Future Sailor Boy. But as Blog is my Witness, I am getting rid of it. Just not today. Still drowning in The Busy but I will have Tremendous Secret News the Third to share with you all this Thursday. Yay! In my approximately 7 seconds of free time today, I followed one of the many “H.I.M.”-related Google alerts I get regarding Under the Rose, and thus spotted this series of plotting posts by fantasy romance author Joely Sue Burkhart: I haven’t read her Keldari books, but the posts got me vastly intrigued. Reminds me a bit of Dune and also of C.L. Wilson’s Tairen Soul series, both of which I love. I’m a little in awe as well, since Burkhart’s books are apparently novellas. How does she get all this worldbuilding into a novella? ::Looks at >100k fantasy novel heading to typesetting as we speak:: It’s fascinating hearing about another author’s process, especially when you see in it echoes of your own. For instance, reading this, I was far more fascinated of the story she crafted for the heroine of her piece than for the hero, though the original inspiration talked more about the hero and didn’t even know who the heroine was. So often, you only get to see the end products of an author’s story and the creation bits, those wiggly, nagging bits of “raw data,” as Burkhart calls them, are lost to time. People are always asking me where I get my ideas. There are certain bits I remember — I remember coming up with the name “Rose & Grave” or remember when Amy let on she was afraid of water — but so many others that I don’t. By now, they just are — fact, once and future. I don’t always know where I got my ideas. Did I ever consider another name than Bugaboo? Where did I come up with Clarissa and Jenny? And Poe? Him I remember least, because he wasn’t supposed to be a significant character. Shadow #2. That was him. Interesting read… I am doing laundry. I am packing up for my move into my new house. I am shopping for sundries for surprise #3. I am writing SSG4. I am staring at approximately 53, 425 unread emails in dismay. I am likely not going to be around much online for these reasons. I am off to the British Virgin Islands this morning. Sailor Boy and I are going — wait for it — sailing for the next week. Yes, it’s a honeymoon. Yes, it’s belated. I’ve heard belated is best. I will be absolutely unreachable for the next week. Wish me luck with those knots and stuff.
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