Delilah Part 2

Looks like my kitty has a bladder infection, which is what's making her so nauseous. I'm picking up medicine from the kitty pharmacy (kitty pharmacy? Who knew?) tomorrow. I have to give it to her mixed with food.

Looks like my Lila is getting some tuna! And thank God it wasn't more serious! With an older animal, you just never know.

Uh-Oh...

What with my sick kitty, I forgot to mention I have an interview up on Make-Believe Mondays! So go on over and check it out. I mention Loki, Belle, and whether or not I write when the voices aren't talking...

Delilah

My kitty, Delilah, is at the vet today. She's been vomiting a lot, and I'm worried about her. So the vet is holding her for observations and blood work. Hopefully it will turn out to be a stomach virus or something simple, and not worms or the start of kidney failure.

Wanna see her? She's lookin' pretty good for an old gal. She's fifteen years old:


Isn't she pretty?

Clever Little Monkey

My four year old is playing with his crayons today while I grind. He comes over to where I'm working on my laptop and says, "I need to build a rainbow pyramid."

"With what, baby?" Mommy asks absently.

"My crayons."

Mommy, having been here, done this, says, "You can't do that, they're round. They'll fall."

Mommy's clever little monkey thinks about it for a moment. "What about you?"

Mommy, without thinking about it, says, "You can't do that, they'll fall over."

"No, you."

Mommy sighs. "Baby, you can't..." Mommy catches on. His cleverness came from somewhere, after all. "I can't do that, either."

"Aw, tartar sauce." He stops, those little four year old brows furrowing. "Can Daddy do it?"

"No, no matter how much your father wishes he could, even he can't bend the laws of physics."

"Oh."

"Can Mommy work now?"

"Can I play the drums?"

"Ummm.... hmmm.... so, tell me more about the rainbow pyramid?"

So the Meat Grinds Slooowly...

Of course, being ahead of schedule and all, this week in edits has gone by like frozen molasses on a flat surface. Why, you ask? Because of one word: children.

My older boy is moping because school starts tomorrow. In honor of this, he's been asking both Dusty and I "Are you done working yet?" every fifteen minutes.

My younger boy, however, is working on becoming a musician. He's been banging on every available surface with a pair of spoons, trying to "pway the drums!" like the robots in Animusic.

Oh, the pain.

So the fifty to seventy five pages of editing I wanted to get done in the last two days boiled down to thirty. Thirty long, hard-battled pages.

I hope to have Dare to Believe edited, syopsis'd and sent in by the end of the week, with Bella Luna being finished and sent to my beta readers by the end of next week.

Don't be surprised if there's a strange scene in one of them where a set of drums gets smashed...

Off To The Meat Grinder

I have two novels going through the grinder this week. Bella Luna got finished ahead of schedule (YAY!), which means the cowboy story that's been in the back of my head may get written! Which is why you now see Save a Horse... as one of my works in progress.

Dare to Believe, the first of the Gray Court series, is also going through the meat grinder for the second time. I've heard back from my betas, and there are one or two changes they suggested I make before I send this poor, long-awaited Sidhe to his just reward (we hope!). Poor fella. He got shunted aside for some silly story having to do with WerePumas. But, hey, he's Sidhe; they're nothing if not patient.

Sweet, Sweet Dreams...

It's out!

And the Winner Is...

FOXYLLADY!

You've won the free digital copy of Sweet Dreams! If you haven't already received it, please email me at danamariebell@gmail.com! And thanks to everyone who participated!

Samhain Cafe Chat Tonight

I'll be on the Samhain Cafe tonight from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST, chatting about Sweet Dreams. If your free, join the group and ask me whatever questions you'd like!

I'm so excited! Tomorrow's the day!

Scarlet Boa Contest!

I entered some dialog in Stella Cameron's Scarlet Boa contest this year. I'd tell you which entry is mine, but I want people to vote for the one they liked best. So go on over and take a look at what's there, because the first round of voting ends August 12th!

The finalists in the contest will be announced August 13th, so I'll be sure to let you know if I fall in that category or not.

Is It Tuesday Yet?

I know, I know, TGIF... unless you're book releases on a Tuesday. Then it's TGIT.

Dancing butterflies? Check.
Nauseau? Check.
Headache? Check.
Husband shaking his head and reminding me to breathe? Check.

And this is five days away from the event. Imagine how I'm going to be on Tuesday! I have fewer moments when I submit a manuscript! For some reason, release day is a lot more nerve-wracking for me. To keep me calm, Dusty's offered to bring me home wine, Godiva chocolates, and a naked Brendan Frasier.

Okay, maybe not. (One can hope, right?)

What I Did On My Summer Vacation...

1. Managed not to kill the children and eat them.
2. Went to Disney World and discovered the wonderful power of the Electronic Scooter. Whee!
3. Discovered that pre-school in my area costs an arm, leg, and your soul.
4. Dyed my hair blue, then purpley-pink.
5. ...

So, are you wondering about number 4? Wanna see?

Before you shake your heads and sigh (like my mother) or say, "What the hell did you do to your hair?!?" (like my father) or tell me "You know, this is why I get paid to do hair" (like my sister), just remember, they already said it.

Manic Panic Ultra-Violet was the first one I tried, and it came out blue. Then, after two washes, it just came out. So I don't have any pictures, since it was in my hair long enough to for me to wonder, how do purple and red make blue?

Manic Panic Vampire Red, however, seems to be sticking around for the duration. As fuschia. NOT red. Although Dusty will argue with his dying breath that it's light red, not pink, because real men don't say pink.

Now, I won't lie to you: I had hoped the purple would stick, because I really wanted purple streaks in my hair. But I promised my oldest boy (who detests purple) that I would give the red a try.

Well, son, I tried it. Hope you like pink. (And don't listen to your father OR grandfather... fuchsia is PINK!)

It's Over

The contest for Sweet Dreams is now over. The winner will be announced here and on my website on August 11th!

I'll be using a lovely thing called Excel and a Random Number Generator to find the winner, so all of you who've entered, cross your fingers!