Shameless plug

I got an email from my good friend Kate, today. It’s been a good 12 months since we’ve spoken. Oh, we’ve traded Christmas cards and the like but unfortunately life has us both firmly in it’s grasp. It’s sad when you just never quite get around to picking up the phone and giving someone a call isn’t it. I’m terrible for that kind of thing but I get all nervous when it comes to making phone calls. I have absolutely no idea why.

Anyway, Kate’s email proudly announced a new business venture. It started with an invention her hubby came up with for their wayward dog Dave (or ‘Strewth’ as I seem to recall him being named in his early days) and it’s called the Walk-Me Slip Harness. They now have their own website and are taking orders. I’m not sure if they’ve had international sales, but I guess there is always a first? So if anyone has troubles walking their dog get onto this product ’cause it really does work!

I was also sadly advised that Dave had recently passed away. No doubt he’s up in heaven, running rings around his old mates, Nugget and Kelly. Cheers old fella!

Now on a lighter note … in all my boredom (yes, I’ll do anything to avoid housework) I decided to create a mock-promo of a sequel to Dakota’s ‘Sweet Dreams’. Those of us who frequent her blog will possibly recall a comment in a recent review, touching on the topic of ‘Wet Dreams’. Well. Of course I couldn’t resist, so in honour of Dakota’s fantastic book, here is a mock-promo (meaning totally PRETEND! that is of course unless she decides otherwise *wink-wink, nudge-nudge*) advertising the next book in her ‘Dreams’ series

**Again, Dakota has NOT written this book. There is no series at this stage. It is a fabrication and has totally stemmed from recent comments on her blog.**

Enjoy m’dear and congratulations on a fantastic review!!!

All things cowboyish

Ugh! I just got a message back regarding my most recent cover. It seems that the hero in the book was actually a Native American with long hair and not just a ‘cowboy’ as stated on the form. Of course I had a ‘cowboy’ with short hair and facial stubble. Sheesh! I’m not a mind reader. We fill out a form for a reason folks! So now I’m off to hunt down a replacement *grumble, grumble*

Hopefully it won’t take too long to find something suitable. Not that there’s a lot of American Indian stock available out there .. which means I’ll have to add long hair to a ‘cowboy’. I’m not good with hair. Anyway, I guess it’s not the end of the world.

And since we’re on the topic of all things ‘cowboyish’ (ooh look, there’s a word for you AJ!) my 6yo daughter had her first riding lesson yesterday. Well. The word ‘Lesson’ might be stretching it! From what I could see it’s learn as you go LOL! They just plonked them on these horses and then headed off into the bush on a trail ride for 2 hours! Cripes!! I almost died of a heart attack. There were no leads or anything … just a long line of terrified little girls with big, buggy eyes LOL!

I think I needed a stiff drink as I watched them disappear into the sunset. My daughter is a little on the timid side when it comes to new things. I’m surprised she pulled herself together to even get on the horse, let alone be left to their own devices. She found herself on a showy little Palomino called Kahlua (aptly named as I could have done with a few myself!). There she is in the picture. LOL! Look at her shoulders she looks like she’s ready to implode He was a sweet little pony though.

But you know what when they came back she looked amazingly comfortable. She was twisting around in the saddle to talk to her cousin and looking quite animated. So who know’s. Perhaps she’s got my horse riding abilities. YAY! Finally something we can do together

Mind you it was a struggle to convince her father. He’s a ‘team sports’ kinda guy. ‘Horse riding is not sport’ he tells me. Yeah. Right! It’s only been in the OLYMPICS for the last 100 years! (hmm .. don’t quote me on that ’cause I can’t be bothered googling to find out ).

Anyway, the thing is she made it back on one piece and with a smile on her face and I don’t have to explain to my husband why his 6year old daughter is in intensive care! Yay for me!!

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*