The Difficulties in Describing Color

Since I've been a bad, bad blogger I thought I'd give you a glimpse of the ball gown Michaela's wearing to the Fairy Ball:

From Sears. If I could fit into this, I would so wear it to RT in April.

Isn't it pretty? But that color... how do you describe that color without the reader thinking "Joker on a rampage through the jewelry district"? Or "Barney in a rainstorm"? Yes, it's pale lavendar mesh over mint green (with sparkles!), but the reader is going to think "purple" and "green" and...

You get the idea.

So I'll have to describe the effect the two colors have on one another just as much as the colors themselves. It's something I don't always get right, but I have beta readers who have no trouble asking me what the hell I was smoking when I came up with that idea.

"And I thought vegetarian vampires were strange."

Fifty (Per)Cent and a Print Date

I know it's been a while since I posted, but I wanted to leave the Contest post up as long as possible. With all the funky weather around here, I haven't gotten as much work done as I would have liked, but more than I'd hoped for.

These have seen a lot of use this week. That and enough Aleve to fell an elephant.

Since I'm hurting today, I'm just going to hit the highlights:

1. Galley (aka print) edits for Artistic Vision are done. The print release date: October 12, 2012.

2. Final line edits have been turned in for Howl For Me. Unless there's a last-last-minute issue, it's done and ready to come out in March.

3. My Romantic Times Convention schedule has been pretty much finalized. I'll post that on my website soon, so people know where I'm going to be and when.

4. I broke the 50% mark on The Hob this week, which, considering how the weather's been, I consider a triumph. I've made notes of what's going on in the next chapter, it's just a matter of sitting down and writing it. A fairy ball, a fight, Oberon making an unexpected appearance. Oh, and smex.

So that's it! I'm still (yes, STILL) waiting on Cynful. I need to hunt some people down and threaten them with my cane.

Okay, maybe not. I could totally hobble away with their coffee maker, though. That would get things going, now wouldn't it?

Oh, and one more thing. I'm so not cooking dinner tonight.

I know what I want... if only Dusty could cook. And man, that looks GOOD. The site calls it Grandma Pizza.

CONTEST!

It's contest time! Want to win a free download of Howl For Me?

All you have to do is go to my website and click on the Write to Dana button. Enter your name or handle, your preferred ebook format and your email address. That's it!

One entry per person. Any entries without a name, email address or ebook format choice will be disqualified (if you forget, you can send a second, corrected entry in. I'm not a total meanie).

The winner will be announced March 12th. Good luck!

Please note: Howl For Me is M/M. Yes, man-bits touch man-bits. Frequently, and with great gusto.

Pain, Pain, and... Oh Yeah. Pain.

This week has been a little rough on my joints. Thank you, Puxatawney Phil. Another six weeks of winter, eh? Remind me to look up groundhog recipes later.

So I've been using some highly recommended arthritis gloves to keep my joints warm at night, since I've been waking up with stiff, sore fingers recently. I picked up a second, lighter pair for while I work, and I've found they're pretty comfortable.

And stylish. If you're a Golden Girl.

I wound up taking Monday off completely, spending the day in my ultra-deluxe hospital bed so my knees remained elevated and, of course, rocking the arthritis gloves. The same thing wound up happening Wednesday, but I made sure I got my wordcount in before retiring to my room like Scarlett O'Hara, sweeping my pain-train behind me.

I don't think there's enough brocade here for Ms. O'Hara. Or curtains. You can never have too many curtains.

Anyway, other than my knees and hands taking one for the team, work has gone well. I've hit my word count every day except Monday, and realized something. I have a habit of taking one day a week to do things like website maintenance, blog posting, ordering promo or doing edits/paperwork. So I set WriteWay to a four day a week writing schedule, and promptly whimpered at what it did to my daily minimum word count.

If you're lazy and you know it, clap your hands!

 Surprisingly enough, I did not resort to Dragon NaturallySpeaking this week. I think my stylish gloves worked.

You want them. You know you do.

Print Release Dates, Quarter Mark, and Boys Being Boys

This has been a busy week. I've almost hit the quarter mark on the rough draft of The Hob, I got my February newsletter out, and I updated my website to show the two new contracts I got and the print release date of Artistic Vision. All during a week when the kids had half days.

The devastating results of Fart Wars. Thank God they didn't use action figures.

I kid you not. I'm trying to write a scene where Robin thinks perhaps Michaela might be the one in Shane's sculpture of his future, when I hear the children making fart noises at one another. I turn to look, and they are literally lifting their butts at each other and pretending to fart. I kept waiting for them to hold up score cards.

Or get a panel of impartial judges.

Thankfully, Robin and Michaela are getting along like oil and fire, so the writing went well despite the despairing cries of "Cheater! That was a real fart!" and questions like "If I use a lot of spit, does that make it a wet fart?"

I love my life. Really.