Scarlet Letters

29,459 / 90,000 (32.7%) I'm amazed I could get any words at all tonight, the weekend I've had. The Pirate Festival yesterday, church this morning and Six Flags this afternoon. My aches have aches, and the rum is gone. (Make your own jokes, I'm tired.) But I picked up the new CD from Three Pints Gone, which seems to be a group that conspires to inspire me. Last year's sea chanties inspired the final sequence of THE COLD ONES, believe it or not, and this year's collection includes several songs that seem designed for YELLOW ROSES. Playing them helped me get through the first of the flashback sequences. Not much to be changed here, just language and cleaning it up. I did note that I named Colin's adoptive parents Parker, which is a bad move since Det. Parker is such a major character in the NU series. So I switched it to Massey. I knew a Massey once. Other research: • Diptheria was quite common at the turn of the last century. In the 1700s it was rumor...

26,644 / 90,000 (29.6%) In the end, I solved my JASPR problem by ignoring it. I fixed it up a bit, but nothing was making me like it. So I went on to the next scene. What do I tell aspiring writers all the time? If you get stuck, bust through it. If you can't bust through it, step around it and keep going. If other JASPR scenes also suck, I may rethink their position in this book. But for now, we're on to the flashbacks. Get ready to cry.

One of the prizes I gave away last night needs some explanation. There is a true Elizabeth Donald collectible, believe it or not. My first print publication was in a small Canadian horror magazine called 13 STORIES. It was adorably pocket-sized and had really good stuff. They bought my short story "Silent," and it appeared in 2003. I celebrated like mad - there was little to no money involved, but up until then I had only been published in small online magazines. Unfortunately, that was the last issue for 13 STORIES. They went bust. I still have a handful of my contributor's copies. And Mr. Drew Sanford won one in the contest. It's rather appropriate, since I named a major character in ABADDON after him. If I ever make the big time, the final issue of 13 STORIES will be worth something, I expect. If not, well, it's cute.

It's odd how one gets reinvested. I haven't written anything on YELLOW ROSES in at least a week. Of course, the whole "flying to Phoenix" thing didn't help, but the real reason was that I felt blocked. The JASPR scene was not to my liking. I still want JASPR in the story - I think it will help a lot with tone, pace flow and so on - but it wasn't funny. Or interesting. And I didn't know how to fix it. The scene needs to be there, it's important both for the storyline and for the pacing, but... meh. It really kind of derailed me. And right after this is the flashback sequence that, to me, is the best part of the book. So I need to slam-dunk this scene. The boy gets the benefit, I guess. I need several hours uninterrupted screen time. So unless he gets his little self in trouble today, he'll go to skate night and I'll hole up with the laptop at St. Louis Bread Company or Sacred Grounds. Maybe Sacred Grounds would be better. Nothing breaks up a bl...

I am happy to report my new horror-mystery novel, ABADDON, is now available for purchase on Cerridwen Press's web site. http://www.cerridwenpress.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419911224 ABADDON Beneath the dark Memphis streets, something is stirring. Filled with ancient fury. Seeking revenge on the ones who live above. A revenge born in fire. The fires are raging in Memphis and no one is safe. Ryan and Samantha must descend into darkness beyond their imagining to find answers to mysteries of the past as Detectives Freitas and Parker seek the truth about the present. And the return of an old foe could make the future a dark place indeed…save for the flames of Abaddon. Go forth and buy! And don't forget, if you don't like the ebook style, email me at elizabethdonald at yahoo dot com after you've bought the ebook. I can arrange for it to be printed at cost for $8 and shipped to you. Hope you like it!

In case you missed it, my vampire novel ABADDON comes out tomorrow from Cerridwen Press. FINALLY! My first horror novel to begin as an ebook, so I'll be interested to see how that goes. (Link will be added as soon as it's up.) WHAT: Online chat party to celebrate the release of ABADDON WHEN: 7-9 p.m. CST Thursday, Sept. 27 WHERE: The Wilderness Chat Room (directions below) WHO: Everybody! Including me, probably with a rum and coke in hand. WHY: Fun! Prizes! Free! Wilderness Chat Room Directions: a) Go to wilderness.homeip.net/wil...ndex.html. b) Wait while it loads. This can take a minute. You may see a little coffee cup thinking. c) If it asks you if you trust the applet, you say YES. d) You'll see a little black screen. Click File and go down to Connect. e) It will ask you for a login name and password. You only have to do this step once. Don't worry, no one's logging so much as an IP address. We got goooood prizes this time, folks. Be there! And oh yeah, buy the ...

24,835 / 90,000 (27.6%) Finally got the first JASPR scene written. I don't like it. It's not funny. I mean, they bitch at each other, but I don't know if that qualifies as funny. My ghosthunters are: • Rivka Zoole, de factor leader. She's about Cat's age, with short-cropped black hair and a two-pack-a-day habit. She's tough, and used to being mocked because of her belief in ghosts. Her grandmother appeared in her dorm room three days after the funeral, and she's been fascinated by ghosts ever since. • Shane Moore, a cop who works with JASPR in secret so it doesn't impact his career. He saw a ghost during a foot patrol, where he ended up chasing a man through the woods who had died in the road several minutes before. • Sora Newton, a sensitive who has believed in her psychic ability all her life. I'm not sure if she really is psychic or is simply sensitive enough to people's emotions to feel a presence in the room. She doesn't tal...

Beginning today, there will be a trivia contest running on my YahooGroup! Each day, I'll toss out a question and the first one to answer it wins a prize! We'll do this each day until ABADDON is released on Sept. 27. It's coming out as an ebook from Cerridwen Press, and I know you'll ALL want to pick it up! Sure you will! Join the Yahoogroup at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elizabethdonald/join, you know you wanna.

It's no secret that my favorite author is Stephen King. King was my entry drug, my segue from the world of Nancy Drew to grown-up novels. My mother deemed his books usually too adult for me, so I swiped them out of her bookshelf and left the dustjackets in their place so she wouldn't notice they were missing. I read everything he wrote, except the Dark Tower books because they were hard to understand. As I grew older and began to appreciate the value of books as collectible items as well as purveyors of story, I began to collect first-edition hardbacks of King's work. I have never had the opportunity to meet the man and have him sign any of them, but I live in hope. The problem is, I have a dreadful memory. Although I have read everything he has written outside the Dark Tower, many of those books were my mother's, not mine. I have often found myself in a used bookstore somewhere, staring at a hardback King and wondering, "Is this one I already have?" I have an...

22,214 / 90,000 (24.7%) And falls flat. Okay, not yet. But I got to the first new scene, where I introduce JASPR... and I got nothin'. I guess I'm just not feeling the funny today. Not that JASPR is supposed to be all yucks, they're going to be serious about this deal, but... it's just not in me tonight. And as my dear friend Frank Fradella says, you can't MAKE yourself write. It's there or it's not, and tonight it's not. Tomorrow is a no-writing day, thanks to an insanely early AND late day. We'll attack JASPR on Friday night's writeapalooza.

Cat knelt beside the gravestone, her gut still twisting, her heart pounding. She didn’t look over her shoulder, trying not to think who would be there. And when her mind turned from the cemetery’s darkness, she felt physically ill, as though Mark had punched her in the stomach instead of gazed on her with anger and hurt. She wanted to turn back time, make things right, fix whatever had gone wrong that began somewhere within herself. Something in her chest felt broken, and for the first time she could recall, the broken edges rubbed against each other, stabbing her from the inside out. I'm writing the cheerful stuff! 20,973 / 90,000 (23.3%) Cat is quite possibly the most fucked-up heroine I've ever written. Have I said that before? Well, it bears repeating. I love Cat so much. Tomorrow things get interesting. New scenes. New characters. Did I say tomorrow? I meant Tuesday. Alas, tomorrow is a night shift at the paper. Silly day job, making me work and stuff. Today...

News is just bustin' out all over. Can you tell a new book's almost out? • The "I Hate AirTran" Scratch-and-Dent Sale! Yes, thanks to the charmers at AirTran that managed to destroy my lovely leather duffel bag, the books inside it had some damages. Mostly crinkled covers or scuffing along the spine. My misfortune is your gain! Starting today through ABADDON's release on Sept. 27, I'm offering damaged copies of SETTING SUNS for $10 and NOCTURNE for $12. Only while the damaged copies last! Once they're gone, it goes back up to the regular price, folks. Order by emailing me at elizabethdonald at yahoo dot com - the web site(s) are still selling undamaged copies at full price. • The "Make Way For New Shirts" Sale! The CafePress shop will get a complete makeover soon, with a new look, new stuff, new designs and all-new merchandise. So now's your last chance to get most of the products currently available on the site! Drop over and pick something ...

16,772 / 90,000 (18.6%) I think I shall set a goal of a minimum of 1,000 words a day. At that rate, I'll be done in less than three months. She said laughing. Today's research was the St. Louis RV Show. Cat Suarez lives in an RV full-time, and it's a major part of her character. But I'd never been in one. So the boy and I trucked out to the RV show and poked around inside RVs larger than my first apartment and RVs small enough that the eight-year-old and I could barely turn around in them. Took a mountain of pictures. Most of my questions were answered. Yes, Cat could live quite comfortably full-time in an RV, using the life insurance money from her mother's death (don't know if that little detail will actually be in the book or in my head.) Yes, she can have a landline phone, if she's using an RV park that provides such services. That solves a major problem for me, not so much for the reader.* She can hitch her Jeep behind it easily, and pretty...

Yellow Roses: 15,505 / 90,000 (17.2%) Not much progress, but between my aching head and my aching arm and my generally cranky disposition, it's not so bad. I think I need to step it up, though. I'm coming up on the first major change, and I expect that'll slow me down some. No research today. But tomorrow is the St. Louis RV Show, and I intend to go nose around. I need to get a feel for an RV to really visualize Cat's dwelling place. She is without a doubt the most fucked-up person I've ever written who wasn't a practicing psychopath. I love her so. Mark, however, is giving me fits. He's such a nice, sensitive guy. Bleech. I think he needs to develop some unattractive personality traits, because right now he's The Perfect Man, and that's just so boring. They're going to be rooting for him to get a bullet to the chest if I don't rough him up a little. Whaddya think, folks? Excessive nosiness? It is a common flaw in reporters. So I...

Complete with a list of Thank-Yous for what might be the best Dragoncon ever, despite insane crowds. Onward! Lesson One: Thou Shalt Not Overestimate Even the TSA's Ability To Fuck Up Your Plans. Because then you end up waiting endless hours in airports for your plane. I arrived two hours too early for my outgoing flight and a brilliant three and a half hours early for the return flight, expecting that I'd be caught in the Line From Hell returning from Labor Day travel. Instead, I find myself paying $7.95 to some network called Boing for the privilege of catching up on my email as I wait. What can I say? The Starbucks is closed for construction. Airports are fun, but they're not THAT fun. Let's not be neurotic. Lesson Two: In Atlanta, the American Luggage Concourse Is Beneath Mordor. Don't believe the flight attendant when she says you just have to go to carousel two. She means the carousel two in the American baggage claim area, which is not with the rest of the ba...