Scarlet Letters

Finally finished sketching out the end of Swamp Thing. Granted, it's rough draft, and it's probably the roughest rough draft I've ever done. In the end it was 45,880 words, which is not long enough. There's still a scene unwritten - hell, probably a lot of scenes unwritten. Usually I'd like to let a draft lie fallow for six weeks before starting the rewrite. I can't do that this time - my deadline is Dec. 1. The good news is that the rewrite is always much more fun than the first draft. The framework is there - now I get to play. Description, characterization, additional detail, the little tidbits that turn a story into a world. My characters always change over the course of the first draft, but this book took that concept and ran with it. Kancethedrus in particular bears only the thinnest resemblance to the man I thought he was when I began. Alesia softened a bit too much, I think - and her resurrection needs to have a stronger effect on her. Tam's personal...

ABADDON is finally available on Amazon! Woo hoo! Yes, you can still order it from me. Yes, Amazon's offering it two bucks cheaper, but you don't get it signed. No, I don't care which way you get it as long as you get it. Here's what I do care about: Reviews! Ratings! Do me a favor and click through, tell them what you think. Be honest if you must. :) Right now there are no tags or notices of any kind, and Amazon is the only place where reviews actually sell (or don't sell) a book. Thank you!

Looks like we're going to Nashville! I just found out about this yesterday. The Nashville Comic and Horror Festival is this weekend at the state fairgrounds. A flurry of phone calls to my publisher, the convention organizer and lining up crash space - it's good to have friends - and it seems like it's time to strap on the guitar! The festival is 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville. Admission is $10 a day, with coupons available at local comic shops. There's gaming, tournaments and media guests from the very best in hack-n-slash. :) PLEASE come! I'll have copies of ABADDON and other books (thank you Jasmine-Jade!) and since they have no time to advertise me, I'll be very very bored without my dear fans dropping by! Possibly we could arrange a dinner Saturday night if there's enough interest. For more information, check out their web site at http://comiccitytn.com/hfest08_home.html. See you in Mu...

My son's guitar lesson takes place at the famous Mojo's Music, around the corner from the library. While he was learning his riffs, I dropped by the library to pay off my constantly recurring debt and pick up the research materials I had requested through interlibrary loan. So I sat in one of the comfy chairs and began to read. Presently a young mother came by with a baby in a stroller. She was trying to look at some titles and the baby was fussy. So I made faces. I smiled, stuck out my tongue, waved, played peek-a-boo. The baby was laughing and mimicking me. But the mother was a little discomfited. Shortly I had to leave, but as I was walking out I couldn't help wondering why she had looked at me that way. After all, it was just faces. Then I realized. I had been reading a book titled, in big letters, "A History of Cannibalism."

For once, it's not going to be my exhaustive minute-by-minute recap. I'm too dang tired. THURSDAY The party was lovely. Attendance was a lot lighter than I wanted, but I think there were several factors working against me. The Blum House was the perfect setting for a vampire party, and my crew was the absolute best. Thanks in abundance to Jason Gish and Alesia Clardy of Focused Attention Entertainment for the music, as well as volunteer caterers and assistants Tammie Bush, Fiona Morales, Chris Koppenhofer, Kiwi Carlisle, Chris Harrison, Shawn Montgomery, Selena Rochlis, Anna Genoese, Jozelle Dyer, Becky Zoole and especially my assistant, Katie Yates (who was crowned with a tiara as queen of the evening for the work she'd done in party prep)./ I could not have asked for a more perfect evening, and if the numbers were low, it was still worth it. I don't know if I'll do it again, unless I had a better plan for bringing people in. But if I did, I would do it exactly the...