funny business...

Now, this vamp thing I'm supposed to be writing was in my mind first as a 'funny' vamp story... sort of lots of cute humour, not exactly Buffy style, but definitely a bit of a bloodsucking giggle. Needless to say, though, the best laid plans of mice and third rate authors never run true to course, and as I'm attempting to write it [hah!] it just doesn't seem to be turning out cute and funny at all... well, not very. [not that very much of it *is* turning out... this has got to be the slowest and most agonising production of mine so far!]

Thing is, I can't be funny to order. If I try to be funny, it comes out frivolous at best and clunky at worst [I've recently been told this... so it's the actual truth...] I *can* be funny, on occasion, but only when I'm completely not thinking about it and I'm in touch with my inner comedienne on a subconscious level. Otherwise, embarrassing, embarrassing, embarrassing...

So, need to rethink the tone of Buddies Don't Bite... And I'm wondering if a change of title might help... BDB suggests the lighthearted approach... maybe I need something just a tad more angsty? It's not going to be a total doom and gloom jobbie, and there may even be some wit and irony if I can get with the programme, but I've definitely got to go back and look at things again...

Any suggestions for a title? It's about a girl whose friend is a vampire, but she doesn't know it! But when they get to be more than friends, the truth sprouts fangs...

In other news, I've wasted most of the day again... on stuff. Fiddling with my Google Calendar and with Omnidrive, and uploading a new and extremely pink 'look' for my PortiaDaCosta.com web site. I really don't know what the hell got into me with the latter... I've gone pink crazy, what with my MySpace too... It's not as if I'm particularly the pink and feminine type, as anyone who's met me will attest... Just one of yet another of my current mental aberrations, I think... I'm probably just going completely dotty in my old age!

--
Telly: new LOCI... swoon... thanks Eliza!!!
Chocolate: Lindt and one of those green triangle things
Mood: fed up with own procrastination
Writing: not a f***ing thing today... again...
Reading: Thunderball - Ian Fleming... slowly, but at least I'm reading something!
RSI: bit sore...

my name is Wendy and I'm a writing avoider

I haven't done a bloody thing at my WIP for a week! Isn't that terrible? And it wouldn't be so bad if I had something else to show for it... but I don't really have all that much. I did some web work for clients, which was productive, and so much more fun now I have Dreamweaver on my lappie, and I did finally start work on bringing my '06 accounts up to date [agh, working on the old PC is a nightmare now... much more RSI from that than there is from dear old lappie!] but not a lot other than that, apart from fashioning a few home made book banners with newly installed Photoshop... oh, and of course, my MySpace redesign [out of necessity] and time spent exploring and refinding as many of my old friends as I can [again, out of necessity]. All that has disconnected me from writing, big style...

And I'm not sure today will be all that great for a big new productivity push either. Himself has some domestic reorganisation in mind, and yours truly will have to be involved in that whether she likes it or not... and once I've spent any length of time lugging around boxes, books, papers etc etc, writing is the last thing I feel like doing! Lying around watching the telly... or just vegetating like a zombie will be all I'm fit for...

But tomorrow... ah, tomorrow... I will do better!

Famous last words... ;)

look wot I made!

Isn't it pweddy?

Click on it to find out more....

In news other than me going bonkers!

Gawd, what a strange day yesterday... and this morning, a bit, too. So many things to be wrangled with... Enjoyed working on some websites though, now that I have Dreamweaver on the lappie... Makes things so much easier and faster! So that's something... But some of the other stuff.... eek!

Some progress on the MySpace front. Have already got nearly 100 friends... people seem very glad to get me back, and I'm pleased with my pretty new design!

Portia's MySpace

In other news... some very, very good news that I've been meaning to post for a few days!

Two bloggers have named me amongst their top reading finds for 2006!

One is Regency Author and Blogger Janet Mullany, posting at the Risky Regencies Blog and the other is reader and reviewer Rosario posting in her Reading Journal... To say I'm thrilled by these mentions is putting it mildly! I'm all of a flutter with excitement!

[And many thanks to Alison Kent for pointing me in the direction of the last one...]

I also discovered I'd got a couple of trackbacks from the excerpt from Continuum I just posted! One is from author Anais Nohant, who is a great friend of mine from MySpace and wonderfully supportive of my writing, and another is from Kevin Steel, a Canadian writer whose name I've inadvertently given to the hero of Continuum! I was most surprised to read Kevin's blogpost, but I found it really entertaining... He says he's not going to read Continuum, but I hope that he'll relent and give it a try some day... His namesake does have a lot of fun!!!

Aaaagghh!

Agh! I was going to write today... but it's just turned into one of those days... with stuff... endless stuff to sort out!

Bloody good job I'm not on any deadlines... sigh...

a bit of Continuum....

There's a new excerpt over at Portia's Prose... It's from CONTINUUM, my current release in the UK, which will be rereleased in America on 6th February...

First time with Kevin...

Do let me know what you think... and if you're a Kevin Bacon fan... well... the name isn't a coincidence! :)

bollocking, follocking hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As if I haven't enough to do... my bloody MySpace profile disappeared off the face of the earth overnight, taking my carefully nurtured fold of nearly four hundred lovely friends with it! To say I'm vexed is putting it mildly... and on a day when I had a pile of jobs I ought to be doing, plus a lot of irritation on other scores too, I've had to spend hours setting up a new profile!

Now it's not looking too bad, apart from one quirk that won't fix no matter what I do... and I've even got a small, gathering band of returned friends, bless their kindly hearts, but it's not the useful social network it was before... It'll take time to build it up again, and it'll just have to be a v. gradual process, but if you're on MySpace, and would like to be my friend, why not pop along and give me the old 'add'...

Portia Da Costa's Myspace

I would post a ton of other stuff and ranting, but it's mid afternoon, and I've gotta get something else, other than bleedin' MySpace tweaking done now, so I'll leave it for the time being...

--
Telly: Steal This Movie
Chocolate: lots!
Mood: vile
Writing: you jest
Reading: myspace profile tutorials and crap
RSI: not too bad

thanks for the memory...

Well, it seems to be working again... Blogger that is...

Anyway, am v. pleased with my technical prowess today, even if I haven't done any writing as yet. My one gig module of RAM arrived this morning, and I was able to install it myself, without need for calling on the services of 'a man'! Am most chuffed about this, and have been able to install Dreamweaver now, on my lappie, which is going to speed up web updating for both my clients and me...

In fact I've finally managed to update my main website...

testing...

Blogger seems to be acting a bit weird, and the bar thing at the top isn't showing for me...

--
Telly: Steal This Movie
Chocolate: Hotel Chocolat
Mood: OK
Writing: nothing today so far
Reading: Thunderball - Ian Fleming
RSI: not bad

suite seventeen

I've left it a bit late to post today, and am feeling tired, but the big news of the day is that I've heard back from the editor about Suite Seventeen and he enjoyed it! And said some lovely things about it! Don't think there'll be much in the way of tweakage to be done, if any... So that's a big relief!

I've also done final tweakery of Watching the Detective and sent it off to my agent, and another short story off to a very famous and highly regarded editor in hopes that she'll like it for a collection... so fingers crossed for those two, eh?

chocolate dilemma

It's January, and the time of year when folk tend to think about weight issues. Both himself and I said, many a time before Christmas, that after the festive season, we'd both like to lose a bit... Not a resolution, mind you, just a guideline as Capt. Jack Sparrow would say... I should have started to trim back on fattening stuff now, but it's v. difficult when there are still loads of luscious goodies in the house. Not having had a total blow out over Christmas, and having indulged fairly modestly, there are still boxes of chocolates and biscuits and whatnot lying around the house... and some with 'eat by' dates that mean I'll have to partake of them fairly soon. All of which isn't all that conducive to healthy eating and the reduction of inches around my blubberous tum, hips, bum and thighs. This morning, I freely admit that I've just opened a rather large box of Hotel Chocolat's sublime Christmas Collecion... sigh... and gosh, are they yummy! I've only eaten two so far, and I'm going to try and only eat them in twos, but the fillings sound utterly heavenly! Champagne Sparkle, Plum Truffle, Praline Feast and Warming Rum Truffle to name but a few... mmmm.....

Oh, and on top of all this, we went out for fish and chips last night too. My waistline is doomed, I tell you, doomed!

I'm not very focused writingwise at the moment either... Still haven't edited Watching the Detective and am in 'oh, no, I can't look at it!' mode... Now this is all bollocks, because it might be okay once I open the file [or at least tolerable] but I'm just frozen with it for now... I suppose, mainly, that's because I'm stressed by various writing-related issues... promo, 'waiting', etc etc... all things that the true professional author takes in her/his stride, but which do my head in and provoke endless moaning and bellyaching... If I spent all the time that I spend stressing and complaining in actually doing something about these issues, I'd probably be a much more successful writer... but I yam wot I yam... and things ain't likely to change without a brain transplant.

--
Telly: Blue Planet
Chocolate: Hotel Chocolat Christmas Collection
Mood: irritated with self and stuff
Writing: **** all
Reading: Thunderball - Ian Fleming
RSI: so so

ack, everything in favour's against me...

A wasted day... cleaning up, sorting books, trying to get a memory upgrade for my lappie organised... did a nifty post here... then the broadband went down, and I lost it all! Grrrrrrr!

Still, Criminal Intent has just been on... and that's enough to calm the savage beast... or stir it up more than ever, if you know what I mean... nudge nudge... wink wink...

Isn't he pretty?



--
Telly: LOCI... nuff said
Chocolate: caffe latte chox... yum
Mood: not too bad, considering
Writing: nowt today
Reading: Thunderball - Ian Fleming
RSI: so so