Vampires Keeping Me Up At Night

I know this is a bit late, but it's Halloween once again, the time for ghosts, ghouls and other nasties, but more specifically it's a time of vampires. And this year, let's celebrate the vampire hunters, the slayers of the undead Children of the Night in film and television and literature. And considering I've recently attened the Theater of the Vampires Ball in New Orleans with special guest Laurell K Hamilton, let's celebrate her very own slayer: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter. I've just finished reading the fifth book in her very long running series, Bloody Bones, and honestly I was hooked again. Serephina, the town's master vampire, is described so beautifully and wonderfully spooky that the book's weaknesses disappeared for me completely. Reading a captivating chapter like that is the kind of stuff that inspires me most to continue to write, even when I'm in hopeless despair. But Anita Blake is a richly deep and complex character, and after hearing

The Theatre of the Vampires Ball . We had originally planned to attend the ball as the hooded-cloaked vampires of the theatre as seen in Interview with the Vampire , but the trip was nearly in jeapordy, so costumes were out of the question until last night. I need help finding a costume, quickly. Laurell K. Hamilton is one of the guests this year, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a suitable Anita Blake-inspired costume. I'm not exactly Jean-Claude material. I just don't have the hair for it...

I lost my job as I was hospitalized with atrial fibrillation. Interesting, huh? I was in shock for quite a while, and then I realized I hated the job anyway. So I'm a statistic again and proud of it. Power to the People! We're headed to New Orleans in a few days, and I swear I need this. Granted, while the heart issues were giving me non-stop grief the past month, my doc gave me a clean bill of health, so I eliminated quite a bit of depression. So I plan on just living life. Me and my dog chillen at home and I'll continue to write. God, I thank you for the faith and the good heart, but I wish I could consistently write and finish this book and get it published. My attention span has to focus... There's so much more I should add, considering the length of time that I've been away from this diary, but I want to chill. I want to think about another ARVLFC vampire ball again and beignets and cafe au lait and Bourbon St music. Tomorrow: MNF and Baltimore Ravens.

What do you do when you realize that everything that you've written is a mish-mash of everything that you've read? I went to bed the other night, after several plot-altering editions to the first book, and blushed, turned red all over, and realized that the changes were way too similar to my favorite vampire series! Seriously, I'm shell-shocked and completely feeling helplessness right now...

I have no idea why I keep avoiding this blog. I haven't written in months, but yesterday, or the day before that, I opened book two up and jumped right into a new chapter. After an incredibly painful Orioles loss last night, it's easy to avoiding watching them the next day, and I find myself needing to write only when this happens. I'll be back later to summarize the new chapter, which I'm finding very fun to write. Birdland, baby. It's a bitch...

My girlfriend spent most of Tuesday reading UNIQUE . She helped me to find about five holes in the plot, so I'm glad for her time. This has coerced me into hiring a book doctor, if anything. Plus, she kinda got off on it...

Perhaps my anticipation got the better of me, but after submitting my email to Angry Robot Books this morning, I reread the synopsis I provided, and blushed. It was just not a very good indicator of my writing, I fear. It told the story in a very abridged and rigid way. I'm not proud. Excitement turned to defeat. I'd better get started on another two-page synopsis and hit the agents again...

Angry Robot Books are having an open submission month all this March, and I'm elbow deep in polish at the moment. I've been writing the two-page synopsis the past night or two, and I'm happy with it so far. I've even contacted David Frankland with a cover art query, as I've become a big fan of his colorful work. Fingers crossed. Angry Robot looks very promising and feels like the perfect publisher for UNIQUE. I have hope, dear online diary, that this story will take it to 11 all night long...!

Revelations are fun. And usually they come out of nowhere. I was in the shower this morning, and I realized how I could bring a character from book 1 full-circle in the ending. He's the protagonist's dad, duh! Needless to say I didn't want to leave for work. So tonight I'll open the story and fix three big holes that have left a void in my gut.

I have no idea where my work ethic went. I haven't opened the story in weeks. I don't have anything to write. Perhaps one day in the near future I'll look at this online journal and my bi-polar personality will jump off of these cyber-pages. Whatever it is, it's pretty sad. I don't like the roller coaster ride. I'd rather it be more like a train ride, a steady, progressing pace than the up and down I'm used to.

Right now, it's a white-out; snow has covered everything. And lightning is lighting the earth up in blinding white brilliance - I'm in awe. Thunder now, rattling windows and echoing into oblivion. Candles are lit and I'm reading a ghost story and I'm feeling euphoric now. Diet Pepsi and Op, what a feeling.

Okay, before I get started on the updates for Book Two, I'll just say that the Rivalry is dead. The Steelers punished the Ravens, on then went on to beat the Jets, and will probably enjoy their 3rd Lombardi trophy in six years this February. The Ravens are now second fiddle in their division. There is no comparison. They are no longer a threat. That breaks my heart. But I have hope for the O's more than I've had in over thirteen years. Bring on spring... Book Two is now close to 25K words, and the plot is unfolding all around each and every paragraph. I may not be able to tie it up in 100,000 words, so this book may also be a Part 1/Part 2. We'll see. But there is a rhythm I'm developing with this book. I don't exactly know what that means at the moment, though I'm hoping to understand it soon. I've been fairly quiet on the query letter front suddenly. I have yet to hear from Michelle Brower, so maybe I'll start sending out more letters in February (

The Ravens play the Pittsburgh Steelers tonight, and I have to admit, I don't feel good about it at all. In fact, the Ravens even lost in my dreams last night. Palamalu even haunts my dreams... Unfortunately the hype leading up to this game has kept me from putting my focused mind toward writing book two. This game is just controlling every aspect of my life. Thankfully, one way or the other, it's over tonight. Tomorrow things should be back to normal, and I can spend a few hours with the manuscript. There is so much about the plot that I've yet to discover, so that's helping to keep me interested. And as of today, no word yet on my query from Michelle Brower... Go Ravens!

Update #1: I am really making strides with the second book. I'm at about 20K words in, or a fifth of the completed manuscript. The plot is coming together much better since I began using leftover characters from the first story. Revenge is driving the protagonist forward, and I'm just going along with the ride. I'm debating on keeping the title WITNESS or to go with something a bit more revenge-inspired. Update #2: I've decided to keep/revert the first book's title THE UNIQUE DESTRUCTION OF AN ORDINARY SOUL , and keep it under the series name of THE DISPLACED VAMPIRE . As the snow falls tonight, I'll be writing by the candlelight... Tonight I plan to mail out a query letter to Michelle Brower of Folio Literary Agency. So, wish me luck!

Well, the Ravens won quite handedly in KC today. So now it's off to Pittsburgh. How perfect is that? It seems it could only really be that way... The O's continued to improve this week, so heading into FanFest later this month is going to be very exciting. This is Birdland, baby - and I love it! April really cannot not come soon enough. So, I managed to get my stories off of my infected laptop, and have transplanted them onto another. I'm elbow deep in book two, and enjoying the hell out of the revenge-centric plot. Off tomorrow, so I'll be writing all day.

So apparently I've been naughty, because my computer has fallen ill. It's contracted some virus, and I haven't been able to write for over a week. It's frustrating, because I don't have the money to repair the laptop. And I have all of this inspiration for book two in my head! I have seven speculated books in their infancy plus the sequel and my latest two revisions for Displaced on the hard drive. I pray that they are not gone forever... But there is cause for optimism! The Ravens are once again in the playoffs. The O's are making a ton of good moves, and I really believe that 2011 will be a winning season for the team. I've received tickets to the Baltimore Grand Prix, I'll be attending Preakness, so it will be an all-Baltimore year for me.