And, I know it’s cliché, but I looked sweet (I was a nerd/theater weirdo in high school), and it was one of those movie moments where you say “hi” and they hop up and hug you and then introduce you around the table. He was there with his big brother. Big brother smiled big and said “Hi” and I mentioned I was from the same hometown. You could see him mentally flip through all 4000 residents of the little town we grew up in to try to figure out which one I was.

It was awesome.

Also, just attended a soft opening at a local restaurant: Uchiko. Wow. Went with one of Scott’s coworkers who is (in)famous around local restaurants for his friendly demeanor, awesome taste and ability to pack down obscene amounts of food.

I kept up with him.

If you’re ever in the Austin area, go to Uchiko. Tell Mare and Tim I said “Hi”. Eat the mackerel sashimi. You won’t be sorry.

…and then lose the notebook you put the schedule in?

*sigh*

It’s not really that bad. I think I just left it at the theater on Sunday. And I basically remember the schedule. But! The exciting part is that the schedule is all about finishing my manuscript and querying it by next Monday! Yup! I’m that close to finishing my third novel. Biiiiiig thanks to Jenna and the Pitts for helping me see what I need to do to whip it into shape. I’m really proud of it! Watch out NYC, here I come!

Oops. I was out of town again for part of it, and as anyone who regularly reads has noticed, I don’t blog when I’m oot. But really…. other than my sister coming into town, not much has happened. Let’s see, if I ever actually updated my Twitter account, the last two weeks might have gone like this:

• 5/25 Happy Birthday to Scott! (my husband)
• 5/27 Laura’s staying the night!!! I miss my sister.
• 5/28 Baked a chocolate hazelnut torte with ganache icing; everybody approved. Yay for flourless deserts that don’t suck!
• 6/01 Einherjar Day. The Asatruar have made Memorial Day a religious holiday. Viking-kin promoting gratitude toward and the honoring of those who died in battle to a religious duty? Go figure. But as the daughter and granddaughter of veterans… I like it.
• 6/02 Out at the lake for nearly a week – came home with a tan and not a burn. Yay sunscreen!
• 6/03 OK, I am now officially obsessed with Big Bang Theory. I have memorized the theme song and sing it all day long, much to the annoyance of, well, me. I’m the only one here.
• 6/04 Lighting for Charlie Cox (I did the lighting design for Paradox Players latest show) opened well. I’m still mad at the board, but I’ve mostly figured out what I’m doing with it. Programmers should not be in charge of labeling buttons on a device intended for artists. (and this is coming from an ex-programmer who moved into the arts)
• 6/05 Thanks to the ARWA critiquers for giving me my first comments on TJC (see earlier article on my latest WIP… that’s work in progress for the non-writers). You have stoked my enthusiasm!
• 6/06 Doors are all installed in the addition! One more item on the endless checklist checked!
• 6/07 Happy 1st birthday to Miss A!!!! What a precious little person you are. And good for you for disdaining the cupcake. May you reach your 30th birthday with the same disinterest. Your hips will thank you.
• 6/08 Don’t want to edit AAE, I want to write TJC. (hmm… maybe critique session enthusiasm has its down sides) But… but…. but… I’m soooooo close to being DONE with AAE. Then I’ll have something new to shop around. And I need to get it out there before angels are sooooo last week. And I’ve PROMISED myself I’ll have it done before conference starts on July 27th. Which is absolutely easy-peasey doable…. if I sit down and edit.

My last two weeks in a nutshell. Jet-setting, globe-hopping, party-hearty, celebutante fascinating me.

…and found this link which made my day in laughter. It’s  by travel writer Matt Gibson, and it’s on the dangers of picking a foreign language name when you don’t… quite… get the associated content of said name.

Though I must defend one of the names, Cash, as something that I have used for a character in a novel. But in my book, it’s the nickname of someone who’s real name is Cassius (a Latin name pronounced CASH-us (or CASS-ee-us in old, old Latin, but most people use the medieval Latin pronunciation now)), not a name in it’s own right. And if my name was Cassius, I might shorten it, too.

Otherwise… I’m finally at work on my epic fantasy of Heaven and Hell whose name I’m not telling the general public because I’m so dern excited about it. (I usually am lukewarm on my titles, but this one was so obvious and perfect… and I keep checking Amazon because I’m frankly shocked that it’s not already the title of a book.) Anywho, I was having a rough time because in the story there’s this initial brouhaha that happens… and then there’s a loooong time where stuff happens which is important, but the enormity of the stakes aren’t yet evident. And as any writer knows, stakes are key. But, thanks to my spate of fantasy reading, I’ve figured it out. Multiple plot threads. Der… I’ve been reading too many urban fantasies and romances where the plot necessarily centers on one or two people, and really, that’s not gonna work for this story. So now I have the plot line that’s going on in Heaven (the original one) and the plot line that’s going on in Hell (the new one that’s got very obvious stakes)… and eventually they are going to come together at the magical twisty moment in which the intensity of the stakes for all concerned get ratcheted up to epic.

I think I’d been worried that I wasn’t capable of balancing multiple plot lines (I almost wrote plot loins… I must be in RWA), but now that I’ve accepted the challenge, it’s really exciting and words are just flowing onto each new blank page. I’ve found that I need to work on one story and then open a new document and write another one, and then I’ll start putting them together. But I LOVE characters. I love their diversity and their strengths and weaknesses. I love bad guys with bits of good and good guys who fail. I love how viewpoint often determines who’s the hero and who’s the villain. And in a story about betrayal and forgiveness, having multiple viewpoints is exactly what I needed to add facets and shadings to questions of what is good and what is evil.

So… I’ve started on a blurb already, and here it is (and, OK, nobody reads my blog, so I’ll include the title):

The Judas Club is an epic fantasy of Heaven and Hell where angels, demons, the damned and the blessed struggle for identity and meaning after the worths of their souls have been judged – and the story of the Black Angels who straddle both worlds, braving Hell to offer the lost a second chance at salvation. (Here I need to figure out how to sum up in one or two sentences what the main characters’ GMCs (goal/motivation/conflicts) are (and there’re six of them – two Black Angels, a soul in Heaven, a soul in Hell, a demon and an angel). I’ll likely have to pick a couple and leave out the rest.) Until Jeshua of Bethlehem brings them all together to once again turn the establishment on its head – and dare the most dangerous rescue mission in the history of Heaven or Hell.

Wanna read it? I know I want to write it! It’s my fourth novel, and I’m drafting it now!!

Finished the rough draft of my 3rd novel on Friday; I’m really excited about that. I have 2 novels complete, including edits, 3 in various drafting stages, and now 1 with a rough completed. I’ll need to sit on it awhile before I can look at it with a fresh eye and be anything resembling useful at editing, but it’s a major step to have written that awesome The End.

Now it’s on to a short story that I started awhile back think I can finish pretty quickly. This one I think I’ll actually try submitting around to see how it goes…

It was a weeding the yard sort of day; not very exciting, but quite productive. Eventually I’m going to have a house with curb appeal, and that’ll be sweet. Now if I can just make myself vacuum on a regular basis.

Have you been watching Alex Reads Twilight? If not, here’s the first one, but if you want a good laugh you should check ‘em all out. He’s done through chapter 13 and they’re pretty much a riot.