Book Trailer madness

I’ve been wanting to have a go at Book Trailers for a while now so decided to head over to YouTube to have a look-see what other people are doing, what I like, what I don’t .. you know the drill. I can’t ignore it any longer. If I want to be part of this business it’s something that I need to tackle.

Anyway, I stumbled across this and thought you might get a giggle from it.

So yeah, I’ve been dabbling with my little video thingo. Lord it is time consuming. I guess once I know what I’m doing it won’t be so bad but just sourcing the images is driving me nuts. I haven’t even really put anything together yet!! Probably because I don’t have a book that I’m specifically ‘creating’ for. So I’m just blundering around and getting fed up before I even start LOL!

It takes endless hours with no time constraints and a fair bit of concentration. Something that I obviously lack. But I guess I’ll keep coming back to it.

I must admit that I’m a bit bored at the moment. Yes, yes, I have housework to do. There’s always housework to do but I’d obviously rather be doing something creative (apart from the dreaded book trailer LOL!). I’ve mostly done my covers for this month although I’m waiting on a ‘Yay’ or ‘Nay’ for the final one. Maybe I’ll settle my creative urges and do a banner or something. Anyone want a banner?

Hitting the Hot Spot

 

I’m going to be blogging over at TEB’s blog – Hitting the Hot Spot today so head on over to see what I have to say

Cheers!

Lyn

Pleasing the Messenger

Oooh … that was quick! Pleasing the Messenger cover has been released over at TEB.

Pleasing the Messenger by C.S. Chatterly is Book Three in the Uniform Behaviour series. Can you tell? LOL. I am hoping this is it for the series because I’m starting to have trouble finding suitable male faces. The hardest part of being a cover artist is finding stock. Then to add to my stock woes is my personal taste. All these guy’s I find extremely attractive. Yes. There were other men in suitable poses but I just couldn’t bring myself to use them because they didn’t appeal to my taste. Sad really. But that is how the cookie crumbles. *sigh* One day I’ll get myself a good camera and perhaps (perhaps) hire a couple of models to create my own personal stock. Stock that hasn’t been used to death.

Anyway, back to the cover. Took a little while to find the male model. The first guy I had was a bit young but Claire and I managed to scrape up this handsome young fellow. Hmm .. nice jawline.

Then came the battle to find a suitable scene on the bottom. The story is set during an ice storm in Eastern Texas. I tried to keep the terrain as realistic as possible, hence a Texas mountain image (mind you I have no idea if there are mountains in Eastern Texas) Ah the joys of artistic license LOL!. Unfortunately no sign of ice/snow but I guess we can’t have it all. Right? Anyway, I think it works well for the series. Two covers with the ’snow’ effect would have been too much I think.

Well. I’m off to try and come up with a worthy Blog entry for Hitting the Hot Spot on Sunday. OMG! I have no idea what I’ll blog about. Well, covers of course. Duh! But in what context, I’m not yet sure. Any ideas?

Office Advances

Here’s the latest cover released at TEB!

Office Advances by Carol Lynne is book 8 in the Campus Craving Series so there’s nothing new to the layout. This one is based more in the business sector, hence the city backdrop and the guy’s in suits. That’s actually Sydney up there – had to support my home town LOL! The guy’s were easy enough. All I had to do was add some curly hair to the guy at the front but it’s hardly noticeable. Yeah. So after the initial searching for suitable stock that had the guy’s giving off the right vibe it all came together rather easily.

Head Phone Thingo’s

So I’ve bought myself these nifty little head phone thingo’s. It all came about the other night when I was trying to catch up on Moonlight on my Computer and dear Hubby was trying to watch a movie. The computer is in the lounge room so we had this battle of the speakers happening and it got to the point that my head was so close to the monitor & speakers that I was being blinded by the screen LOL! Hence the nifty little head phone thingo’s

I like them. They make me feel like I’m part of the 21st Century and that I know what I’m doing. They have a nifty little arm (thingo) that makes me look like a telephone operator and are all shiny and silver. That’s very much what they look like too. I had the choice of those little thingos you stick in your ears, but I’ve never had much luck with those in the past. They always feel like they’re going to fall out. Anyway, so now I can listen to music or movies on my dear old putty and not upset the rest of the household. Gee I love technology.

Now speaking of music. I’ve read on a few blogs that my author friends create play lists for their WIP’s. I have to ask – how do you concentrate on your writing when you have someone talking/singing in your ear? Do you prefer just music or it doesn’t really bother you? Either way, I’m so far behind the times when it comes to music and can be quite selective to what I do listen to despite being pretty willing to listen to most genre’s. So can any of you lovely people out there suggest some good music to help inspire me?

I remember a song quite a few years ago where images of a sci-fi story I’d been working on would always pop into my head. I’m kicking myself now that I never got the name of the song. I doubt very much that I’d be able to track it down without hearing it. Anyway, I’ve just downloaded: Look After You – The Fray, Into Dust – Mazzy Star, Believe – The Bravery, Sleep – Meiko, The Mating Game – Bitter Sweet, Drowning – Stereophonics. These are all from the Moonlight soundtrack – well, not that there is an official soundtrack as such, but these are the songs that have been used.

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll update my latest cover released over at TEB! Yes, it’s sad. I know. I’m one of those people who need to pace their blog. I can go days without having something to blog about and then BAM! There are two or three different things to write about all at once. That’s where my internal organiser kicks in and tries to get value out of those ideas by pacing them out over a few days. LOL!

Oh dear, I’m rambling now. Best get back to my covers.

Valentines – pphhfft!

Happy Valentines Day to those of you who celebrate this day.

Hubby and I no longer celebrate V-Day because we’re married LOL! Nah, we don’t like how it’s become so commercialised. I don’t expect hubby to bring home a $30 bunch of roses that only cost $12 a few days before. Even the cards are getting ridiculously priced. We just can’t afford these luxuries. Anyway, hubby insists that he won’t be told what day of the year he’s going to buy me some chocolates or flowers. Not that he does that anyway

I have to admit that the retail push on these ‘holidays/occasions’ really bugs me. We’re losing the true meaning behind these occasions and all the while we’re being forced into debt just so we can participate. And can you imagine the hell these young men are going through in an attempt to keep their partners happy on Valentines day? Just a card is no longer acceptable.

Having worked in an office for many years I really do pity the poor fellow who doesn’t send flowers to his girlfriends work. Because not only does she need to know he loves her, but the whole office needs to know as well. Then there’s the competition on who get’s the biggest bunch of flowers – all this while the poor boyfriend/partner is going into hoc just to prove to his partner that he loves her.

Then there’s all the girls huddled in the tea-room taking bets on who’s going to get proposed to and how it’s going to be done. LOL! Oh, I’m so glad I’m past all that

Ah yes, the joys of Valentines day. Oh it’s all romantic and all but I’d rather celebrate our relationship on a day chosen by us, thank you very much.

Hmmm .. then again if Valentines day involved painting a heart on this young fellow, gee .. I reckon I could be converted LOL!

Moonlight canned

I don’t know what free to air TV stations are like in other parts of the world but I am mighty pee’d off with Chanel 9 here in AUS atm. They’ve stopped airing the TV show ‘Moonlight‘. It was one of the very few shows that I actually took the time out to watch (the other being the Aussie version of So You Think You Can Dance.)I don’t understand. It won the people’s choice award and had a fantastic following here in Australia. And it wasn’t because one of our own Actors, Alex O’Loughlin held the lead roll as Private Detective come Vampire, Mick St. John.

So, why does Channel 9 think so little of it’s viewers? There was no warning, no announcement, nothing, nada, zip! They just dropped it like a hot potato and had the hide to put some garbage movie re-run on.

They go on and on about their ratings (or lack of) and yet they do this to their viewers. And it hasn’t just been with this show. Numerous times in the past they have stopped airing shows for a couple of weeks, for no good reason. Replacing them with repeats or absolute mind-numbing crud. But just dropping a show half way through because the ‘Ratings’ season is starting really annoys me. Surely it’s not that hard to plan a show so that it doesn’t overstep it’s place and muscle in on the ‘ratings’ shows. Perhaps they were worried that the show would detract from their ‘ratings’ shows? The vibe from numerous forums are that Nine are not the least bit interested in their viewers thoughts on the topic. They just don’t care. It’s like giving a child a lolly and then taking it away. Nice. Real nice.

Moonlight got as far as Episode 8, I think. Unfortunately I came into the series late (as we tend to watch PayTV before FTA) and then I was away and missed a few episodes, so all in all I probably got to see 3 or 4 episodes. But despite this the show had me hook, line and sinker. I LOVE it as it’s one of my favourite topics. Vampires

Anyway, up your’s Channel 9. I’ve since managed to source the remaining Episodes (including the ones I missed) on YouTube and am now up to date, no thanks to you! Don’t expect my patronage any time soon. Get your act together and show your viewers a little more respect. The least – THE LEAST – you could have done was put up an advert announcing the shows cancellation!

Sorry folks, I don’t usually get so wrapped up in these sorts of things but I really am over the disrespect shown to viewers. I mean, where would the TV stations be without us?

Give me a break!

Fare thee well old, stinky, yucky carpet …. (seems one of my cats is having a bit of separation anxiety, he’s the black blob up the top)

aaaaand hello ……. TERMITES??

Blood and bloody ashes they’re back.

Yup, it seems we’re inundated with the little bastards. Hubby found them when he was pulling up the carpet in the lounge-room. Frig & fricken hell!!!

We had the little buggers a few years back and managed to poison them off. But it seems they’ve returned. Luckily they have only eaten along the piece of timber that is used to hold the carpet down and haven’t gotten into the skirting boards. Mind you we don’t know what it looks like in the walls. Either way our pest man was there within the hour (god love him) and he’s baited them again. Unfortunately we couldn’t find where they were coming from as there were no obvious nests.

However, this had hubby worried and he’d been stewing on it all day. Anyway, it got the better of him at 9:30pm last night so off he goes under the house again. This time with Grandpa in tow. Well, they finally found the nest. Right below the bathroom would you believe it. Gee if that’s not an excuse for a bathroom reno well then I don’t know what is LOL!

Anyway, seems the bastards have also gotten into the wall behind our bedhead. We can plainly see where they are as there are depressions in the fibro. I always told hubby that I could hear a scratching sound. He thought I was being silly. Anyway, to add to the ever expanding reno bill we’ve ALSO found them in the kitchen cupboard which resides right next to the fridge, which I inadvertently put my finger through. I also recall reporting a chewing sound coming from that cupboard too and was once again ignored *rolls eyes*.

So the pest man is back today, injecting poison this time (he’s brought out the big guns). So any money we’ve managed to pull together to finally add value to this dump of a house is now being spent de-bugging and re-building it.

So there we have it. Our house is it’s own little ecosystem in itself! Fleas, cockroaches, red-back spiders and now termites. Yippee!

*sigh* I need a stiff drink.

Oh, and the flooring arrived yesterday but our excitement has been tainted as you can imagine.

*Edited to add pic of Redback for you Kelly They’re not that big of course, but you get the picture*

Sensual Spell

I’m back! Had a very nice time. The house we stayed in was right on the bay. Here’s my lazy attempt at a panoramic view LOL. I took looking out from the back door. Unfortunately it was the day we were leaving and the weather was crappy – typical! Every other day had been gorgeous. But you get the idea.

We fed the pelicans, watched the dolphins, went swimming, got sunburnt *rolls eyes*, ate well, drank well. *sigh* Yes. We had a good time It is good to be home though. I was a bit over the upheaval of all this recent travel.

Aaanyway, so back to the real world. I’ve just punted the kiddies off to school and preschool. Hallelujah and pass the gin! Would you believe they almost didn’t make it. Of course with all the rain we’ve been having here the bridge went under last night (flooded). It was lapping at the bridge when I drove the kids over this morning. Goes to show how desperate I am to get them out of my hair! LOL. Yeah, I know. I’m not much of a mother. Hubby and Grandpa are over on the ‘other side’ so it’s not like I’ve just dumped them and headed for the hills

I have another four covers lined up with TEB so I’ll be working on those this week. In between trying to track down a new vanity for the bathroom YAY!! OH, and it seems hubby is feeling rather generous at the moment (must have been the week off work ) He’s ordered me some new flooring from our shop! At the moment we’ve got old lino (or Linoleum for non Aussies) in the kitchen/dining and filthy, filthy carpet in the lounge.

With two kids endlessly vomiting, spilling red drink and many other things, drawing, traipsing mud in well you can imagine what it looks like. It’s to the point where I’m too embarrassed to have someone come in and professionally clean it. And then there’s the nice little flea ecosystem that has set itself up in there, thanks to our two cats. Yes carpet, it’s time to GO!

So life is good or will be, once the work is done

Alright I have a new cover just released as ‘Coming soon’ over at TEB …

Sensual Spell by Rachel Carrington – I enjoyed this cover and it came together pretty easily. This is pretty much what I had in mind from the start, although the heart sparkles are looking a bit weak now that I look at it. Still, I think it’s effective It really is getting hard to find stock models with expression on their face. This woman is what I wanted, cocky, sure of herself, cheeky and content (well, who wouldn’t be considering what’s in her arms). Most of the stock models look like they’ve had an overdose of Botox. Ugh! I’d better not bore you with my ’stock’ gripes.

Well it’s pouring down again so it’s not looking good for ‘kid free’ time over the next few days. Then again, if they get stuck over the ‘other side’ with dad & grandpa … well, let’s just say that I won’t be too heartbroken