The Crayon Box

Bitter Love is out!

2008-07-22T08:01:00.005-04:00

I'm so excited!

Blood Lines: Bitter Love released overnight last night!

Blurb:

Amaretto is out for a night on the town, a little dinner, a little dancing, maybe a little getting lucky...until he gets a stake in the back. Good thing he really is a vampire.

After getting knocked out by his prey, the would-be vampire hunter, Leif comes to...tied up and at the sexy vampire's mercy. His wannabe slayer days are over. Now he's got no choice but to team up with Amaretto and catch the rogue vampire terrorizing his city.

Soon, their nights are spent pursuing the killer and building sexual tension between them. Leif can't be attracted to a vampire, can he? The sex is hot and there's definitely something there, but Amaretto's not into forevers. Still, he's never been so tempted to try something long term as he is with Leif. When Leif takes off and gets himself into trouble with the killer, who's all too human, it's up to Amaretto to figure out how to save him and whether he can find a love that's never bitter, only sweet.

To read an excerpt.

May the muses have vampires

Mechele

The week in review

2008-07-19T10:55:00.002-04:00

1. I've added 6 K and hope to add another 1 K today to Dark Raiders. I'm about 20-25 K from the end. I can now count out scenes! So I hope the end goes quickly. Especially as I need to write the next Settler's Mine like...oh, yesterday. LOL. Editing DR will be after SM is started and will take lots of time. I already know of a few problems but feel it's better to push ahead right now than go back and fix.

2. Crit partners got DR. *bites nails* One thing I like that I'm doing may not be liked by everyone... And lord help them, it's a mess and I know it. Shy and Melissa big *muahs* to you.

3. Girls Scouts is still taking over the house. And my life eeeeek. My youngest is joining a troop made up of girls from an existing troop so we are trying to earn the badges that they earned last year so she won't feel left out. It takes time.

4. I know where DR is going. Big relief. I hope it works out like that in my mind.

5. Proofing edits are back to the editor for Bitter Love which releases...next week (hopefully)!

6. Line edits are back to the editor on Law's Deliverance!

7. Oldest was at drama camp this week. She loved every minute of it. Did a peformance on Friday.

8. At said drama camp they did raffles. One was Camp Rock, one was Shrek, one was Hannah Montana. The proceeds to benefit a good cause. WE WON THE HANNAH MONTANA RAFFLE! I'm still in shock. We don't usually win things. It had a big stuffed white cat, HM notebooks, pens, folders, and a backpack. LOL The kids are ecstatic.

9. Been reading a book on animal rescue, post-Katrina. Amazing stories. I really hope one thing we learned from Katrina is that asking people to evacuate without their pets isn't productive. People died because they had no way out, shelters wouldn't take the pets, and they wouldn't leave them behind. *looks at diva kitty and neurotic dog*

May the muses have raffles
Mechele

Chat tonight

2008-07-16T08:07:00.002-04:00

With pals, Melissa Lopez and Marissa Alwin at 9 PM EST at MSpot. Both myself and my cowritten author ego, Melany Logen have releases over the next few weeks, so I'm sure there will be lots to talk about. Come on by.

Mechele

Blogging at Ladies of the Club

2008-07-14T10:47:00.001-04:00

On reading tastes

Mechele

The week in review

2008-07-11T11:08:00.004-04:00

1. 10 K has been added to Dark Raiders! I haven't had a 10 K week in a long time so I'm thrilled.

2. It looks like Girl Scouts ransacked our house. Both girls just joined troops so their stuff is all over. I was a Girl Scout for 11 years, more years ago than I care to remember. LOL. I'm happy with this turn of events.

3. Diva Kitty is still deathly afraid of storms. We've had many.

4. The Library episode of Dr. Who rocked! I finally watched the second part.

5. Deadliest Catch's Phil Harris is going through some heartbreaking stuff. But it cracks me up when he sneaks out to smoke, because that was my dad.

6. I'm not sure I know where Dark Raiders is going. I have written a synopsis but something doesn't feel right. It will be interesting to work out.

7. I watched several episodes of Walking with Dinosaurs by the BBC. I rented the DVD from the library. I love dinosaurs *G*. My favorite so far is the one on the Diplodocus.

8. I'm a major geek. We have a 10 gallon tank that right now houses one old fish. The others have gone onto better places. The tank isn't in the best place to be a fish tank because it's in direct light and algae builds up. So I'm debating what to do with it next. I had thought about a turtle because I love turtles. So I researched. Yes, geeky me got a book from the library. And the tank isn't big enough. So I thought about frogs. But most of those you have to feed live food to. I'm not sure I can do that. There is one that is aquatic that doesn't take live food. But it's aquatic, which would make the tank have the same problem as the fish tank. I've debated a salt water tank as well. Have a book on hold at the library on that. I've also thought about hermit crabs. LOL we shall see.

next week, the oldest has drama camp and I have the youngest without her playmate for all five days. So posting maybe sparse again. But here's hoping to another great week of writing.

May the muses have life to live
Mechele

Hanging out my shingle

2008-07-07T11:33:00.002-04:00

Gone writing.

The kidlets have a camp through Thursday in the mornings so my focus this week will be...writing. Can we say...written 4 K already this week? *dances*

See you on the flipside.
Mechele

Happy Fourth of July!

2008-07-04T07:00:00.000-04:00

Thursday Thirteen

2008-07-03T10:54:00.000-04:00

13 serieses the oldest kidlet enjoys by Mechele

We went to the library yesterday. I’m so thrilled that we carted away a truckload of books. If I don’t do anything else right with my kids, I’m bound and determined they will be readers LOL.

1. Animorphs. She’s only got six more regular books plus a couple of special ones

2. Nancy Drew. She’s read all the ones at her old school library. And is excited about going to a different school in the fall to see what they have.

3. The Hardy Boys

4. Boxcar Children.

5. The Three Investigators

6. Encyclopedia Brown

7. Trixie Belden. Yes, you are seeing a trend here with the mysteries LOL.

8. American Girl Mysteries. She’s just starting this one. Got two books today.

9. Fairy Realms

10. Secrets of Droon. The series that started her off on chapter books. Thanks Mari. She’s read all the ones released but when the next one comes out, I know she’ll want to read it. Even if she can in like two seconds *sigh*.

11. Avalon

12. Harry Potter. Yes, she’s read them all. She rereads them, especially when we are out of “fresh” books. And she’s looking so forward to the movie in November. She and her best friend are already plotting to go together.

13. The Black Stallion. Technically she hasn’t started this one yet. But she wants to. She’s lost my copy of the first one *sigh* and wants to start there.

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Cliffhangers

2008-06-30T09:19:00.002-04:00

Oh, how they drive me nuts.

I believe the Dr. Who second parter has already aired and we taped...I'm dying to see part two of the Library episode. The man who wrote this two parter also wrote the Blink episode, one of the creepiest stories EVER. I've had dreams about it.

And I will be sitting in front of my TV tomorrow night to see what happens on Deadliest Catch with Phil, the ailing crab boat captain. They've been teasing me all week with short commercials...

May the muses have desperate times
Mechele

Yes, I know it's Thursday

2008-06-26T10:20:00.003-04:00

The Thursday Thirteen will return eventually. But not today.

I will share three things I've learned.

1. Stomach flus SUCK. Especially the lingering ones.

2. A now 7 year old (as of today!) can bounce off the walls just from sheer happiness.

3. Summer can be fun.

Mechele

Looking back

2008-06-25T17:35:00.002-04:00

Because my stack of magazines and promo stuff was threatening collapse and I decided if I was going to be in this biz for the long haul (*grins* I am), I needed to start an album for stuff like reviews, covers, promo goodies, conferences, etc. It's going to take me a long while to finish what I've already collected.

I did a page for the first three Blood Lines, Blood Kiss, Conduit, and Crimson's Rose. It's really neat looking back, reading older reviews, especially as Bitter Love gears up for release.

May the muses look back
Mechele

Wanna see?

2008-06-23T17:00:00.001-04:00

The land of edits

2008-06-20T08:24:00.001-04:00

I'm up to my neck in edits for Blood Lines 5: Bitter Love and Law's Deliverance. See you on the flip side.

Mechele

Chat tonight

2008-06-18T19:39:00.001-04:00

Chat is tonight at M-Spot with pals, Melissa Lopez and Mari from Marissa Alwin. 9 EST. http://melissa-lopez.com/chat.html We have a lot of fun talking so come join the party!

Thud

2008-06-17T08:18:00.000-04:00

That's the sound of me fainting.

Because two little kidlets cleaned the mess up that they made in their room yesterday before 8 and without an act of yelling by their mother.

And the youngest kidlet requested cut up celery and cucumber for breakfast. This from the child who's taken to being devious and sneaking candy.

It's going to be an interesting day.

May the muses have clean rooms
Mechele

On the first day of Summer Vacation

2008-06-16T07:33:00.005-04:00

The youngest kidlet got up at a little after 5. Why yes, that's earlier than we get up during the school year, where the last week, I had to drag them, prying their fingers, from the bed. The oldest got up at 6:30.

As I stayed up until after midnight last night working on edits...I think I'm going to need a nap LOL. We have first line edits on Law's Deliverance. Whoo hooo. I also realized I'm probably going to get edits on Bitter Love soon. I have the preliminary copy of Bitter Love's cover *grins* that I'll share when I can.

All good things must come to an end. I was eliminated in the TRS Divas contest. I'm disappointed because it was a LOT of fun. Congrats to the contestants still competing. Voting on Round 5 opens today.

Not sure if I posted this or not but the last time Diva Kitty went to the vet for clipping her nails, they suggested sedation. Yes, Diva Kitty wants what she wants when she wants it and woe to you who tries to do what she doesn't want. They gave me sedation medicine and said we could try it ourselves if we wanted. (ETA: though the sedation medicine might have done us some good, I meant we could try trimming the cat's nails ourselves. LOL and thanks to Treva Harte who caught that and cracked me up with her reply.)

Next time, I'm waiting two hours. I wasn't sure when the medicine would kick in. We tried too early and got hissy, spitty kitty. Did manage to get her nails trimmed. But after a couple of hours, she was pretty much drunk LOL. Couldn't walk a straight line. And kept following me around.

I'm off to work on edits and nurse my poor sunburned back.

May the muses have editors
Mechele

The unofficial start of summer

2008-06-13T19:55:00.003-04:00

the kidlets are out of school. Yesterday was the 3rd and 4th grade awards assembly, which was why no Thursday Thirteen.

Today, we went to a friend's pool for the afternoon.

LOL now life gets very interesting...

I'm still writing backward. They lied and said it was more scene that turned into two. I hope to finish that up over the weekend.

Tomorrow, I'll be chatting at Joyfully Reviewed's Yahoo loop. I don't think I'll be popping in until about 4 PM EST. But plenty of Loose Id authors will be keeping you busy.

May the muses have pools
Mechele

Tell me once, tell me twice

2008-06-11T08:48:00.001-04:00

Allie Boniface was so nice. To do an interview with me.

Mechele

Blogging at the Hussies and other updates

2008-06-10T08:28:00.006-04:00

I blogged over at the Hussies blog on being men. Thanks so much to them for letting me take over!

It's really disconcerting when you look at the temperature for Wednesday and say, "Oh wow! It's only going to be 90!" Kind of sad really. Three weeks ago, 90 was hot. It's been over 90 for a week. We've hit 100 the last three days. Today is going to be close to 100 or right at it. Not to mention, it's been humid.

Voting has opened in the TRS Diva Contest for Round 4. Go vote for your favorite.

Writing has slowed down but I hope to get some done this week if it kills me. I'm almost done with the writing backwards LOL. So can move forward after one more scene.

May the muses have heroes
Mechele

Blogging and Divas

2008-06-09T11:33:00.002-04:00

I blogged today over at Ladies of the Club on Internet rules for authors. Go add to the list.

Voting will go live sometime today for Round 4 in the Romance Studio's Diva contest. It's anonymous excerpts. Go read and vote for your favorite.

May the muses think before they hit send
Mechele

It's hot...

2008-06-08T12:48:00.002-04:00

Pooh said to no one in particular.

Funny the lines you remember from kid's books.

The temperature outside says 100. Not heat index. Not humidity. Actual temperature. And it's only June.

Days until the end of school 4.5. Amount I'm panicking about all I have to do, oh about 150%.

May the muses have air conditioning
Mechele

Thursday Thirteen

2008-06-05T08:18:00.002-04:00

13 things on my summer wish list by Mechele

1. Write. I have to finish Dark Raiders and start the next Settler’s Mine. I’m behind *sigh* due to the cold.

2. Go to the library at least biweekly. My oldest loves to read and is reading several serieses. I’m hoping in the next year, my youngest will make the leap to chapter books. She’s going to be reading to me and picking her own books.

3. Spend time with grandma. I’m hoping we see lots of her this summer.

4. Go to Busch Gardens several times. The kids love it, and it’s pretty much going to be our vacation this year.

5. Spend lots of time at the pool. Let’s see, gymnastics practice is 12:30 to 2:30 two days a week. Why yes, that’s the hottest part of the day. LOL I see pool visits on those two days and I’m thinking at least one more during the week. The youngest has also said, “You know I could practice in my bathing suit instead of a leo…”

6. Spend time with my sisters. I went to Tennessee with them and had a ball even in the short time we were there.

7. Go to the Richmond Zoo. We didn’t last summer  so I definitely want to try this summer. You can feed the giraffes!

8. Go to Maymont. We love walking around and looking at the animals.

9. Write. Did I mention this one already?

10. Find fireworks on the 4th. We did last year, which was fun.

11. Have picnics. We have a great park system. All the more reason to do picnics.

12. Survive the critter camp the girls are doing at the local SPCA without adopting a new pet LOL.

13. Eat lots of watermelon.

I do live

2008-06-04T09:05:00.003-04:00

That's about all I can say right now. I have a cold. It's kicking my butt.

I had a whirlwind trip to Tennessee with both sisters to see my niece. We drove two days and visted one day. I hope next trip to stay longer LOL.

The end of school is coming with blinding speed. I know once I have two kidlets at home...my writing will be coming first before blogging. I have so much work to do. I'll post here as I can. Dark Raiders is going well at least. I'm still writing backwards, which is odd but working.

May the muses have work to do
Mechele

Thursday Thirteen

2008-05-29T09:00:00.008-04:00

13 things that make me laugh by Mechele

Thanks for the help finding links to the hubby.

There are so many things that make me laugh LOL. I can't list them all.

1. My youngest. She has an off the wall sense of humor. We often get the giggles together.

2. My hubby. Yes, you still make me laugh.

3.
Larry Miller's The five stages of drinking

4. Pachelbel bedtime

5. Pachelbel Rant

6. Jeff Dunham with Peanut and Jose Jalapeno (on a stick)

7. Chad Vader

8. Citibank Father/Son commercial

9. Citibank Identity Theft protection

10. Paul Thorn with Joanie, the Jehovah Witness Stripper

(It's not politically correct but it does make me laugh.)

11. A man Named Jayne by the Great Luke Ski

12.
Tom Smith's I'm on Firefly

13. The Great Luke Ski with You might be a Trekkie if...

Bonus: It doesn't make me laugh but I love this song. We bought it *G* along with a few of his others.

Jonathan Coulton's Code Monkey

Veterans 2: Nothing to Lose

2008-05-28T09:45:00.002-04:00

Isn't it lovely? *strokes it*

Mechele

The Crayon Box

Bitter Love is out!

The week in review

Chat tonight

Blogging at Ladies of the Club

The week in review

Hanging out my shingle

Happy Fourth of July!

Thursday Thirteen

Cliffhangers

Yes, I know it's Thursday

Looking back

Wanna see?

The land of edits

Chat tonight

**Thud**

On the first day of Summer Vacation

The unofficial start of summer

Tell me once, tell me twice

Blogging at the Hussies and other updates

Blogging and Divas

It's hot...

Thursday Thirteen

I do live

Thursday Thirteen

Veterans 2: Nothing to Lose

Thud