Special Agent Mauve now permafree

Special Agent Mauve-Origins is now permafree on Amazon and available for free on Smashwords, ibook, and many other sites.

I'm working on part two right now and there's an evil cat in it, based off several resident felines. It's a little ironic that I take a break from editing Feet of Clay to write this and one of these jerks knocks the Q off my keyboard and I can't find the key to put it back on.

I type on a USB keyboard and there is still one on my laptop keyboard, but switching between the two is awkward. I'm also realizing how much I previously undervalued that letter. As I sit here lamenting my lack of the Q key, one of the resident weirdos is just sitting behind me licking my back. He's probably going to weird out in a few minutes and go leaping across the room. This cat previously hated my guts, but he got into a fight with one of the other cats and I had to take him to the vet to get an abscess on his leg drained. He had to stay in the bathroom for a week and after a week of watching me use the toilet and shower, he now likes me. He's lived here 10 years and has hated me up until we bonded in the bathroom.

Special Agent Mauve part two will be coming out shortly. Feet of Clay is done aside from writing the blurb. I have been putting off writing the blurb for a month now because the thought makes me feel squirrely. I've been editing in my blanket fort so I don't have to do it. Sometimes there is ice cream and Netflix. Sometimes I suck my thumb and curl into the fetal position when I think about the blurb.

Next up, once I get over my blurb issues is a fantasy novel and I got the idea for a horror novel when I couldn't sleep. Because really, who wants to stick to one genre? I know the entire plot for the fantasy novel, since it's been in my head so long, but just the general idea for the horror. The rest will probably come to me at 3am when I'm trying to sleep, like always

Not adulting this month

Feet of Clay is finished. The cover is nearly finished. It's been finished since the beginning of May. Why is it not published you ask? Because I wrote the damned thing and still have no idea how to write the blurb for it, nor which genre box to put it in.

So I've been refusing to adult and write it. Everything I've ever written has been re-edited, including Midnight's Sonata, which is over 500 pages. It needed it because I found a random 3 one of these asshole cats inserted. I also started part 2 of my Special Agent Mauve series.

There's a bunch of twists in Feet of Clay and I want to write a blurb that hooks people without giving it away. I've also chatted with a friend and she believes it kinda, sorta, MAYBE could fit under dark romance, but I would have to put a warning about the end so that I don't piss people off.

I've looked at several dark romance books on Goodreads and while it kinda sorta fits there, it also doesn't. It's about a couple and a relationship. It wouldn't go under women's fiction because it's told from the point of view of the guy. The girl intentionally remains a mystery until the end, when I give her a voice through journal entries.

I went to New Orleans yesterday to see a touring show at the Saenger. I brought my Kindle so that I could finish reading the novella's I'm reviewing and my tablet JUST IN CASE I decided to adult and write the blurb. My kindle battery died right after we finished eating and got back into the car on the way to the theatre so I couldn't read.

One would think not being able to read on an hour drive home would force me to adult and write the blurb, but I gleefully stuck my fingers in my ears and said NEENER NEENER NEENER and played on facebook the entire drive home.

Eventually, I will put my big girl panties on and force myself to sit down and write this blurb like a grown ass adult.

Speaking of Special Agent Mauve, while I was in New Orleans, a rather bold pigeon crossed my path trying to eat garbage off the street. There are no attack pigeons in the second part of Special Agent Mauve like there is in the first, but there is a rather tech savvy cat that is based off my foster cat.

My foster cat is still available for adoption if anyone is looking for a cat who likes to snuggle, but also knows how to do things to your computer that causes it to blare showtunes at 2AM

Feet of Clay, new reviews, and upcoming works

I've finally finished Feet of Clay and it's going through rewrite now. I have no idea how this would fit in any of the genres on Amazon though. It's about a relationship, but a messed up one and people are supposed to be conflicted on if they want these people to end up together or not. So it's not romance. There's a few sex scenes in it, but I wanted to take a shower after writing them, even though there is nothing kinky or dirty about it. It's definitely not erotica.

Someone suggested Dark Romance to me and I'm not sure if that would be it either. He turns her into an addict and she turns him into an alcoholic. There's really nothing romantic about the relationship other than he really tries hard to make it work. I'll figure it out eventually.

Special Agent-Mauve got it's first 5 star review on Amazon and someone said it was both snarky and they enjoyed reading something that did not take itself seriously. That was what I was going for with it. I mean, there are attack pigeons in this book. The ending, what happens during her first mission, really happened to me in real life when my parents had us going on youth group trips. It's one of my most unpleasant memories, but I can life about it now.

Snarky and not taking life seriously is pretty much how I live my life, which isn't really that evident by my first novel, Midnight's Sonata, nor Feet of Clay. Those both have a little of me in there and are about serious subjects, but really, where I am now in life is that when life throws me a curve ball, I try to laugh about it.

I'm going to write a sequel to Special Agent-Mauve and I already have an idea for what that is going to be. My next book, after Feet of Clay is published, is going to be a fantasy novel I've had in the back of my head for years. Because really, who wants to be pigeonholed into one genre?

Dream vomit

I dream vomited another short story. I may expand on it eventually. Everything I've published this year has been dream vomit.

I've had sleep issues for as long as I can remember. I drove my mother crazy. I'm the oldest and everyone told her babies just sleep all the time. Then I showed up and never slept. I eventually had a sleep study done and found the right medication to knock me out and keep me out. I'm not even going to discuss the conversation that was had in the surgery room when they dosed me to knock me out and five minutes later, I'm still complaining about how much it burns in my IV and they had to dose me again. I think it has something to do with being a ginger. I read an article about it years ago.

I still have nights where I don't sleep well. Monday night was one of those nights. Then the lawn guys showed up at something like, 6AM. I dreamed "Flash-A Death Story"  sometime Monday morning.

Kate is driving home from her shift at the hospital. She knows she should take a nap somewhere before she leaves, but she needs to let her dog out. The road is not well lit and she misses her turn. As she goes over the train tracks, there is no barrier or light telling her to stop, but as she crosses, she sees the train coming. FLASH. There is a white light. Another FLASH. She wakes up naked on white stairs with people talking over her. She wakes up again and she's being experimented on. Is she in hell, purgatory, or something worse?

Now available on Amazon

Feet of Clay-A playlist

If you've read Midnight's Sonata, I'm also a musician. I play both the cello and the piano and compose. I've recently decided to teach myself the guitar, but first need to acquire one. I've been listening to a lot of music lately and thought about what "Feet of Clay" would be if told through music. I make a lot of mixed CD's for my car because not only is driving the perfect time to sing at the top of my lungs, most people I listen to are not generally played on the radio. So I decided to describe "Feet of Clay" just with music. I'm linking to YouTube videos so you can listen to them.

The setting is in a very small town and I would have to describe it with Tom Waits "A Little Drop of Poison I like my town, with a little drop of poison. Nobody knows they're lining up to go insane.

I would have to describe my main character, Taylor, with Tracy Chapman's "First Try"

Can't run fast enough

Can't hide, I can't fly.

I'm struggling with the limits of this ordinary life.

Can't say what I mean

Can't love from the heart

 Can't trust in the mercy and the goodness in the world

. Can't learn to accept that it's alright

,  To struggle with the limits of this ordinary life.

Later on in the book, when we get to know her and her problems, I think she would tell the lyrics to Tracy Chapman's Unsung Psalm to my other main character, Max. No, she doesn't die!

But I'm feeling hot and bothered under the collar
I feel the sweat breaking out on my brow
I feel the heat and I know it's the passion
The love I can't disavow

If this is a dream wake me up now
If this is a movie let's edit these scenes out
It would be a PG instead of an X-rated life
If I'd lived right

Some would call me a cheat call me a liar
Say that I've been defeated by the basest desired
Yes I have strayed and succumbed to my vices
But I tried to live right

But I have no regrets no guilt in my heart
I only feel sadness for any pain that I've caused
I guess I wouldn't bother to worry at all
If I'd lived right

Do you live by the book do you play by the rules?
Do you care what is thought by others about you?
If this day is all that is promised to you
Do you life for the future the present the past?

If there is one thing I know I know I will die
If anyone cares some stranger my critique my life
I may be revered or defamed and decried
But I tried to live right

When we first meet Max, he's definitely more like Tom Waits "Temptation"  

I know that she is made of smoke
but I've lost my way
she knows that I am broke
so that I must play
temptation, temptation, temptation
oh, whoa, temptation, temptation, I can't resist
Dutch pink and Italian blue
she is waiting there for you
my will has disappeared
now my confusions oh so clear
temptation, temptation, temptation

I can't resist

After he commits an unforgivable sin, we have Leonard Cohen's "I Can't Forget"

 

I stumbled out of bed
I got ready for the struggle
I smoked a cigarette
And I tightened up my gut
I said this can't be me
Must be my double
And I can't forget, I can't forget

My two characters have been dancing around each other, the truth has been revealed, demons have been faced, and I am almost finished. I am now at a point where decisions must be made. Max is thinking along the lines of Tom Waits "The Part You Throw Away"

Will you loose the flowers
Hold on to the vase
Will you wipe all those teardrops
Away from your fase
I can't help thinking
As I close the door
I have done all of this
Many times before

The bone must go
The wish can stay
The kiss don't know
What the lips will say

Forget I've hurt you
Put stones in your bed
And remember to never
Mind instead

I will be writing an ending soon, but this is the soundtrack so far

Writing and things

I've just discovered that my first novel, Midnight's Sonata, which was released in January, has hit the pirating sites. They have my cover, synopsis, and a file they are claiming is mine. I'm pretty sure it's really malware as the file they have for download is twice the size of my master file. If it's not, I hope the people pirating at least pop over and leave a review.

I'm getting close to finishing my second novel, Feet of Clay, but right now, the cat desires that I play fetch with her. My little dog has not figured fetch out yet and the pit bull will play it for a little while, but after about the fifth time of throwing the ball, she just stares at me with this look on her face like, "I can't believe you just did that!" This cat cannot get enough of fetch and will play it for hours. She just dropped a hair tie on my keyboard, so it's fetch time.

I edited my short story, Special Agent Mauve for the first edition after sending it to a friend to see what she thought. There are now attack stalker pigeons. Because there needed to be, dammit. I also went on YouTube and watched several Krav Maga training videos so I could flesh out the real training and her getting knocked on her ass. I've started planning the second edition, but research is crucial.

I have a friend on Facebook who is about as far on the other end of the political spectrum as me as possible. I met him because he is awesome and adopted one of my foster kittens and friended me in the store. We will go into epic, 150 comment political Facebook debates that generally end with kitten pictures. I like people who have totally different beliefs than me that can hold civil debates about it. He got me up to speed on some of the training that will be in the second story for Special Agent Mauve.

I do have to add, there are movies I watch while I write. I watch them over and over, depending on what I'm writing. There were several that I watched over and over while I was writing Midnight's Sonata. There are those I watch while writing Feet of Clay. Sometimes it's because of the story, sometimes it's because someone in the movie reminds me of one of my characters.

For Special Agent Mauve, I binged watched all three Naked Gun movies and True Lies. Which is why the stalker pigeons were desperately needed.

I should be wrapping Feet of Clay up soon and will be looking for ARC reviewers

I've published a short story that I hopefully intend to turn into a series. It was another dream I had while half asleep, half awake.

An anonymous hacker group called "The Arm" has hacked the databases of almost all the secret agencies in the world and released the real names of every agent and people being actively recruited. All the agents have gone into hiding, as well as the recruits. Our heroine works a dead in job at the lowest totem in the insurance world. She used to watch James Bond movies with her father growing up. She views this as a chance to become a secret agent. Now that there is an agent shortage, online programs have popped up to become a secret agent. She signs up for a correspondence course to learn to be a secret agent. The course wants her to do the physical training on her own. She doesn't have much money, so she trained herself to fight using Tae Bo YouTube videos and she teaches herself to shoot with a potato gun.

She's ready to rule the world as a secret agent

Special Agent: Mauve-Origins is available on Amazon kindle. It's a short read, but I'm hoping to have longer editions for the next chapters due out pretty soon