Liebe me, liebe me...

...say that you liebe me like Penelope Crowe, author of 100 Unfortunate Days does. Thanks, Ms. Crowe, for passing this Liebster on to me. Readers, if you're in the mood for something dark and quirky, check out a free sample of 100 Unfortunate Days; if this doesn't wig you out, I don't know what will, fo' shizzle.

There are numerous steps involved in the acceptance of a Liebster: stating 11 things about yourself, answering 11 questions asked by the person granting you the award, nominating 11 other bloggers for a Liebster and concocting 11 questions for them to answer. Well, if you've been following along this week, you know I worked crazy hours at my day job and am pretty dang beat. Also, I've received this bad boy a few times, now, and the third one (I think) very recently indeed. So I'll tackle the 11 questions asked of me but won't be tagging peeps or making up questions for them, this time around. Anyone interested in claiming this Liebster/answering these questions (even if only in the comments), please feel free to do so.

And now, to Ms. Crowe's questions:

1. What projects have you just finished--and what are you working on now?

I've been editing my Greek mythological romance, That Fatal Kiss, with an eye to self-publishing it later this year, possibly September. After that, I plan to work on a "sampler" of three short supernatural romances, two of which sort of introduce the location of, and a couple of characters from, my next novel, a contemporary supernatural romance called Bedeviled (this will be the first book in a trilogy).

2. Do you have any hidden talents?

Nah, but I got a couple of shekels in my piggy bank. (See what I did there? Talents/shekels were/are units of monetary currency. Didja geddit? Didja, didja, huh, huh???)

3. If you had NO limitations and were a guaranteed success--what project would you undertake?

I'd produce/direct a mini-series of my fave Jane Austen novel, Northanger Abbey. And I wouldn't just hire the eye candy du jour to play the leads, but folks I truly felt bring the roles to life (as Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth did for Pride and Prejudice).

4. Please tell us three things on your bucket list.

Uh...well, I'd love to visit Jerusalem and walk where Jesus walked. Hmmm...This is tough. All my crazy dreams are goals I intend to see through to fruition...maybe I don't get the point of bucket lists...

5. What is the best and worst part of writing?

The best: like sex, it engrosses and revs me up. (Woof!) The worst: like sex, I never want to stop doing it but reality will intrude, damn it...

6. What character in a book or movie do you relate to the most?

Little Red Riding Hood. I've lived a very sheltered life and fell prey to wolves before learning some very difficult and painful lessons.

7. Are you more athletic or aesthetic?

Aesthetic.

8. Do you believe in anything supernatural? If so, what.

I believe that everything's possible (ghosts, werewolves, vampires, sea creatures, legit wicked witches, etc.). The only supernatural beings I feel in my heart and soul to be real are God, His Holy Posse, plus the Devil and his cursed crew.

9. What makes you happy?

Singing my songs with like-music-minded band members backing me up, sex, writing, sex, reading, sex, chocolate, sex, live open-air concerts by my fave bands, sex, realio-trulio good coffee (light, with half and half), sex, losing myself in a theater to portrayals of humorous horror, sex...I did mention sex, right? I'd hate to leave it out, inadvertently.

10. If you could be smarter or better looking--which would you choose and why?

Hmmm! Actually, I'd choose to be brasher, less self-restrictive/censoring.

11.  Whom do you admire the most and how does this person inspire you?

Just generally, I admire people who feel particular passions burning inside their hearts and actively seek to release that fire into the world, despite the doubting voices (both internal and external).

So, yeah, if any of you are inclined to answer these questions, either on your own blog or here in the comments, I'd love to read whatcha gots to say. Meanwhile...

Writerly Things ~ Collage Me, If You Can!

These are a few of my writerly things...

On a recent visit to my friend Andrea Teagan's blog (The Enchanted Writer), I read with pleasure her post "How to Make a Story Inspiration Collage." The basic gist of the project is to make a visual representation of a current work in progress (or WIP) and have it readily visible for when you're writing and feel yourself getting a bit stuck. The instructions are simple and I remember thinking that just going through the process of making the collage would probably stir up all sorts of ideas for your WIP. My next thought was, "Hang on; I totally made one of these for my (as yet unpublished) novel, Bedeviled !

I dunno about y'all but, as I write, I tend to need firm mental images of real-life folks to fill in these sort of abstract characters who're clambering out of my head and onto paper (yes, paper, as I tend to write my first drafts longhand). They're actors, usually, though sometimes they're folks with whom I'm personally acquainted - which isn't to say I'm basing the characters on the folks, just that these are the visuals I've got when I'm writing the characters.

Anyway, at some point that I worked on Bedeviled, I felt myself stall and so I put together a collage which, I must admit, is not as grand as the collage Andrea posted on her site but worked the necessary writerly mojo for me. There are two panels to this collage, which I've scanned and elaborated upon, below. My character's names come first (followed by the names of the dudes I visualize as I write, in parentheses).

Clockwise from the top: Ardos (Thomas Gibson); some random beach, somewhere; Father Gianni (William Hurt); me and my Sis on a wintry Robert Moses Beach, Long Island, NY; Gavin (Gerard Butler); and Mike (Samuel West).

Clockwise from the upper left: Cadzick (John Cusack); me and my Sis on her alma mater's campus (I envision this space as belonging to the chapel in my story); Gabe (Matthew McConaughey); Rafe (my friend, singer-songwriter Tama Waipara); a snippet from some magazine which perfectly summarized the basic themes of the story; a clawed hand belonging to no one in particular...as far as I know.

I've been thinking of Bedeviled as a supernatural thriller for quite some time but, lately, have desired to take it in more of a romantic direction - which is to say, rather than starting with the Main Character's love life at its crisis point (and having very little interaction between her and her fella except for the beginning and end of the tale), I want to tell the same crazy story while also showing the developing relationship between Madeleine (my main chick) and Gavin (her main squeeze). So, yeah; I've a fair bit of revising to do (and then some - what I've got in mind is a gargantuan process which will undoubtedly take me all summer to complete). Am I daunted? Hells, yeah. Can I make it happen? Sho, 'nuff. Probably. (God willing!)