Oh, journal! What a long, strange couple of months it's been. I almost don't even know where to start.

Since it's November, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo as I do every year. I've written close to 60K words on an Epic Zombie Masterpiece that is currently lacking zombies. I nearly gave myself a week long heart attack when my computer caught a nasty virus about a week and a half ago and I had to reformat the hard drive. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue since I keep all the important stuff on my external hard drive. However, this virus snuck in and hid all my external hard drive files.

I went from being at 32K words on my NaNo story to...OMG!WHERE'D IT GO? over the course of one agonizing night. I persevered and kept writing, despite not knowing what was going to happen with the first half of my novel or even if I'd be able to retrieve it. Fortunately, I have an awesome cousin who popped over one night and found all the files and fixed them up for me right good.

This was just about the most fantastic thing ever and I'm so thrilled to say that everything has now been recovered and backed up in triplicate. Also, I have so kicked NaNo's ass this year.

I've been very neglectful of all my online sites lately as I attempted to get things up and running, blah, blah, blah. However, Twitter and I have become extremely close and I'm turning into an insane tweeter. INSANE.

I won't be such a stranger in the future. I promise. I think.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org.

I started a marathon Buffy rewatch the other day and I'm halfway through season 2 now. Cole's watching it with me because the family that watches Buffy together, stays together. Now, I don't think I've watched Buffy since season 7 ended all those years ago. That's a cushion of a lot of years we're looking at. For the most part, the show has held up nicely. And then Buffy holds up her pager and tells Giles "If the apocalypse comes, beep me" and I dissolve into giggles.

Also, those huge ass computer monitors Willow's using in the library? Do you remember when the monitor took up the entire desktop? I DO!

Anyway. I have some GREAT Twitter conversations to share...

I bought a pair of fishnet thigh highs the other day and tweeted that I couldn't decide if I'm looked like a hooker or the leg lamp from A Christmas Story. Amanda came back with this...


And this...

Bwahahahahaha!

Meanwhile, despite what I say about him publicly, Keith Melton is slightly amusing. He might lie all the time but he comes up with little nuggets like this upon occasion to make up for it...


Have I ever mentioned that Jodi Redford and I bonded over the lack of puffer fish sex in books? True story. We have a long, complex relationship based on amphibious critters. Could you imagine the two of us meeting in real life?


And finally... I'm working on another story. One spawned on Twitter by an off the cuff tweet, it's taken on a life of its own and ... well, it's weird.


Yep. Now I'm going to go stalk... I mean, talk to people on Twitter to see what other little gems pop up.

Randomly, I'll be in Menlo Park tomorrow at Kepler's Books to meet Scott Westerfeld. He wrote the amazing Uglies books and the steampunk-y Leviathan trilogy. If anyone's going to be around, I'll be the one taking pictures of my feet and talking loudly about the delicious hard cider I can get at the bar next to the bookstore.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org.

Today I discovered Nutella. Apparently, people feel very strongly about Nutella because as soon as I started tweeting about it the replies started coming in.



-and-



*blink, blink*

I had no idea Nutella was such a driving force...

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org.

I've been spending A LOT of time on twitter lately. A LOT!

Allow me to illustrate this statement:

Yes, werewolves are a common theme in my tweets. That and severed heads. Go figure.


Rehvenge is my book boyfriend from the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. When Rehvenge tweets me I lose all ability to form sentences.


Smurf Boobs. Smurf boobs and quirk. *nods*

So, yeah. Since this was a tiny, tiny snapshot of how I spend my days while at work, you can imagine how some of these conversations evolve. You can apparently always find me on Twitter. Join me and be afraid!

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org.

Arrgh! Yesterday got away from me so today I'm making an effort to get this journal done early. Look at me, being all proactive and stuff!

So. Since last I posted an update that didn't involve 9,000 book review links, things have been happening. Not really. I'm just as boring as always but I'm going to make it seem interesting so you'll be all "Dude! Things happen!" Yeah. It'll be awesome.

School's in full swing for Cole. I had to go in and talk to his counselor because he's the only 7th grader in his Algebra 1 class and I wanted to make sure he was where he was supposed to be. It turns out he's exactly where he's supposed to be since he scored ridiculously high on his state test scores. He hated the class the first week (what with being the youngest and the only one who didn't know anyone) but it seems like it's coming together for him. Which is good because I don't want him dreading a class he's going to have all year when he's only in the 2nd week of school.

In the post of 9,000 links, I mentioned that I signed up for a week long Read-A-Thon with some of my book blogging buddies. I set a goal for myself to read 15 books over the week. I picked all the books ahead of time because I work better when I have a plan and all that jazz. I read 13 of the 15 I picked plus another 5 random books that popped up on my radar. EIGHTEEN BOOKS, PEOPLE! I had to push myself for those last few and I think I took a 5 hour nap after the week was over, but... I had FUN!

In more recent news, on Friday when I was taking the dogs on a walk I found a kitten sitting by a tree. The poor thing barely moved when the dogs lunged over to sniff it and I couldn't in good conscience leave it there. So I tromped home, got our cat carrier, did some kitten rescue, brought it home, fed it and let it get its strength up. When Heather and Hailey got home, we went out to make sure there weren't any other kittens tucked away in the same area. Sure enough, we found a second one. We managed to wrangle that one into the cat carrier (after my mom was bit and clawed and dripped blood all over the sidewalk) and brought it home to regain its strength with its sibling. Currently, both kittens are ensconced in our downstairs bathroom with food, water and a nice warm bed. My mom's on industrial sized antibiotics and it looks like we have 2 new cats.

I have MORE to talk about but I'm going to save it for later. Unless I forget.

Meanwhile, books...
Book #352 - The Line (Line #1) by Teri Hall - I didn't love this book. I wanted to but I had some issues with the simplified writing and the fact that there was no resolution AT ALL to the storyline. That said, I now feel a deep, dark urge to read the next book just so I can get some closure.
Book #353 - Soul Survivor by Misty Evans - Time travel, soul mates and one seriously nasty bad guy.
Book #354 - The Iron Daughter (Iron Fey #2) by Julie Kagawa - I love this series. Which is a good thing since I'm going to be zipping through the next book so I can review book 4 before it comes out in October.
In My Mailbox - I know this looks like I scored a lot of books this week but it's only because I forgot to post last week's IMM and had to combine it with this week's. So, you know. I did score a lot but it was over a two week period.

I'm off to shower so I can pretend to be productive today!
Later.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org.

So. It looks like I'm back form my unintended hiatus. I have no excuse except that I wasn't in the mood to journal. So, I didn't. Yeah. I'm planning on putting a second post up sometime in the very near future to babble about eveyrthing that's happened to me these last few weeks, but this post is going to be all about books. Sorry. See, I joined a week long read-a-thon and read a ridiculous amount of books and I've been posting reviews like a crazy woman. Which isn't all that different from what I normally do except that I got to brag over that week about how many books I read. It was awesome.

Anyway. I have close to 40 books I've reviewed and haven't posted here and I'm nothing if not determined to wear my fingers to the bone typing up links and witty remarks.

Let's get to it!

Book #315 - Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick - A gorgeous post-apocalyptic tale of survival. It gave me chills. Seriously.
Book #316 - The Aviator (Fantasies of New Europa #3) by Morgan Karpiel - Sexy steampunk! With airships and spunky women! Sweet!
Book #317 - A Bloody Good Secret (Secret McQueen #2) by Sierra Dean - I love this series. It's so fun you'll hardly be able to handle it.
Book #318 - The Seeking Kiss (Midnight Playground #1) by Eden Bradley - Vampires in a sex club. Yeah, I liked it!
Book #319 - Kiera's Moon by Lizzy Ford - I love Lizzy Ford's writing. Everything she's written makes me grin.
Book #320 - Destiny United (Shadows of Destiny #2) by Leia Shaw - A fun fantasy with vampires and fae!
Book #321 - Out in Blue (Return to Sanctuary #1) by Sarah Gilman - Loved the mythology for this one, with the angels being feared and demons being their protectors.
Book #322 - Motor City Fae (Urban Arcana #1) by Cindy Spencer Pape - Fabulous, fabulous series. I'm a little mad at myself for waiting so long to start it.
Book #323 - Greywalker (Greywalker #1) by Kat Richardson - I didn't love this book but it has some interesting mythology and I've been told the later books really pick up.
Book #324 - Bound by Blood by P.A. Lupton - FBI agent meets vamps. Chaos descends.
Book #325 - Motor City Wolf (Urban Arcana #3) by Cindy Spencer Pape - Like I said, love this series.
Book #326 - The Champion (Fantasies of New Europa #4) by Morgan Karpiel - More sexy steampunk!
Book #327 - Lord of Rage (Royal House of Shadows #2) by Jill Monroe - Love the Goldilocks feel to this one.
Book #328 - Captive Surrender by Linda Mooney - Sexy sci-fi! Aliens and humans cohabitating! Awesome!
Book #329 - Wild & Steamy Anthology - Definitely worth it for the Jill Myles story alone. *wink*
Book #330 - Alien Revealed (The Confederacy Treaty #1) by Lilly Cain - My string of sexy sci-fi books continues!
Book #331 - Maddy's Oasis by LIzzy Ford - I even like Lizzy Ford's non-paranormal books!
Book #332 - BIG Temptation by Robin L. Rotham - Steamy, naughty fun!
Book #333 - Raphael (Vampires in America #1) by D.B. Reynolds - This one was gooooood. I picke dup book 2 from the library this week.
Book #334 - Mojo Queen by Sonya Clark - Loved the worldbuilding and that the main dude wasn't really a good guy.
Book #335 - The Perfect Creation (Creations #1) by Marie Harte - And another sexy sci-fi to extend my streak!
Book #336 - Pack Challenge (Magnus Pack #1) by Shelly Laurenston - This whole series is HILARIOUS! I highly recommend it.
Book #337 - Tempest Rising (Jane True #1) by Nicole Peeler - I liked it, but I'm not in love with this series yet.
Book #338 - The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade - LOVED this one. It was funny and sad all at the same time.
Book #339 - Spiderwork (Apocalypto #2) by L.K. Rigel - There's something about this series that keeps me coming back for more.
Book #340 - Firelight (Firelight #1) by Sophie Jordan - I really liked this book except that I wanted to punch the mom in the throat. Yep, I wanted to give her a full-on throat chop.
Book #341 - Exotic Indulgence by Vivian Arend, Lexxie Couper, Jess Dee - There's some serious menage action in this book.
Book #342 - The Demon Trapper's Daughter (Demon Trappers #1) by Jana Oliver - I'm dying to read the next in this series now.
Book #343 - Queen of the Dead (The Ghost and the Goth #2) by Stacey Kade - This series just keeps getting better.
Book #344 - Eighth Grade Bites (The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod #1) by Heather Brewer - Fun, but not one that grabbed me and tried to strangle me into submission.
Book #345 - Vampire in Denial (Blood Ties #1) by Dale Mayer - I really liked this book even with the killer cliffhanger.
Book #346 - Out of Time by Monique Martin - And this book is why I should read the synopsis right before I start the book. You know, so I won't be surprised by the vampires.
Book #347 - Dangerous Designs by Dale Mayer - This had a very cool alternate dimension vibe going on.
Book #348 - The Darkest Fire (Lords of the Underworld #0.5) by Gena Showalter - Decent, but I wish I had read a few of the LotU books first.
Book #349 - In Bed with a Highlander (Highlander 31) by Maya Banks - The trailer for this book is freaking HILARIOUS! GO WATCH IT NOW!
Book #350 - The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld #1) by Gena Showalter - Now, this was the book I should have read first in the series (instead of the prequel). Fab!
Book #351 - Staked (Time Brokers #1) by Sandra Edwards - Interesting, but it needed a little more fleshing out.

Dear GAWD! That's all the reviews. *whimper* And I didn't even get to the non-review posts. Yikes.
Maybe that'll be later tonight.
For now, I'm sure I should do some work or something.
later.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org.

Between last night and this afternoon I had the strangest Twitter conversation. The strangest. It started between author Jodi Redford and I and ended up as a 5+ way convo between several authors and myself. What was it about? Mainly, puffer fish and all the sex that they don't have. O.o Yes, you read that correctly.

Somehow in the middle of all that I managed to finish reading Maximum Witch by Jodi Redford. This book is the whole reason the puffer fish conversation started and when I reviewed it this morning I wrote "Jodi Redford writes the best non-puffer fish sex I've read all week." Well, you can see that quote in all it's glory on Jodi's website now. There was even talk of glittery gif puffer fish to accent it.

Don't be jealous that you didn't think up a quote that spaztastic first. Some of us are just gifted in ways that defy explanation.

It probably goes without saying that I had a lot of coffee today (hence the continuation of the puffer fish convo) but that entire tweet stream is motherfucking gold, people. If you're not following me and everyone I follow on Twitter, you're totally missing out. Totally.

Anyway. I have a bunch of book stuff to catch up on. Are you ready to rumble?!?
Book #312 - Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel #4) by Felicity Heaton - Sexy angels and the women they worship. Niiiiice.
Book #313 - Maximum Witch (That Old Black Magic #3) by Jodi Redford - There is no puffer fish or sea horse sex in this book. But that shark shifter is mighty tasty!
Book #314 - Anasazi (Sense of Truth #2) by Emma Michaels - I liekd this one more than the first book. Plus? Pretty cover!
Book Blogger Hop & Follow Friday - Crazy book titles, reading habits and book covers that make me swoon!
Spotlight On... Amanda J. Greene's Caressed by Moonlight - Amanda's book gets a new cover on it's rerelease! Sweet!

Okay. I'm going to crack open my Epic Werewolf Masterpiece #1 (and there's a story about how I cut over half the book because I was unhappy with how my two halves weren't matching up) and WRITE!
Later, skaters!

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org.

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening babysitting my baby nephew Ryan. I love the kid but when he cries for 30 minutes straight because he's too tired to do anything else... not fun. Anyway. That's obviously why I didn't journal yesterday. You know, since I vowed that I would get back to blogging on a more regular basis. Sadly, I was tired by the time I got home. I went to bed. The end.

Okay. I have books. Books, books, books.
Book #311 - Cipher (Southern Arcana #4) by Moira Rogers - As usual, I'm all crazy fangirly about this series. Waffles! And Alpha werewolves! Awesome!
Teaser Tuesday - Werewolves, angels and ... actually, I don't know what the 3rd book is about. I've only read, like, 3 pages.

I'm going to go find the naughtiest book on my Kindle and read it. Later.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org.

Uggh. I don't want to talk about how many days it's been since I last blogged. Terrible, Kelly. Absolutely terrible.

The problem with not blogging on a regular basis is that I have all these brilliant things to talk about and by the time a few days have passed they've all fractured inside my head and I'm left with bits and pieces. These bits and pieces don't make sense now. It's like watching the last three minutes of The Matrix, the middle three minutes of Matrix Reloaded and the first three minutes of Matrix Revolutions. THERE IS NO CONTINUITY LEFT! I'm looking for some and I end up with "Hailey is shiny!" and "Bwahahaha! RUBY!"

No one wants to read about that!

However, since I'm talking about random things, I watched Mega Python vs Gatoroid this morning on Netflix. Wow. Just... wow. It was so bad I couldn't stop watching. I'm sorry but Tiffany overacts and Debbie Gibson... well, she overacts, too. There was a lot of overacting. And a lot of giant pythons and swelled up gators. Honestly, I couldn't make that up. Well, I could. But I didn't.

Anyway. Books.
Book #306 - Haunting the Night (Past Midnight #2.5) by Mara Purnhagen - A fun little novella that bridges the events from book 2 to book 3.
Book #307 - Crossroads (Southern Arcana #2) by Moira Rogers - This was the only book in the SA series I hadn't reviewed on my blog and I wanted to get it up before I read book 4. So, here it is.
Book #308 - Lucifera's Pet by M.T. Murphy - I have ridiculous amounts of love for this book. It was so bloody and yet it was such an interesting love story.
Book #309 - Lord of the Vampires (Royal House of Shadows #1) by Gena Showalter - Not great, but a good start to a new series and one that I had fun reading.
Book #310 - Beyond the Grave (Past Midnight #3) by Mara Purnhagen - A nice wrap up for the series.
In My Mailbox - Lots and lots of freebies this week.

Okay. I'm off. I'm vowing to myself that I won't let so many days go between blogging from now on. Vowing.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org.

Where did this week go? It can't be Thursday night already. It can't be. I'm sure it's only Monday. Possibly Tuesday.

I came home from work today and took a nap. After I dragged myself out of bed I managed to wander downstairs and collapse in an ungainly heap at the kitchen table while my sister made spaghetti. I told her that I had the weirdest dream while I was napping and she was all "How the hell can you dream during a nap? When I nap I can hear Hailey talking and stuff." Me - "I don't know. I sleep hard."

Don't other people dream when they nap? I mean, I know normal people don't nap for 2 to 3 hours at a time so maybe I'm just freaky like that. Whatever. It was a weird, cool, awesome dream I had during my nap. I was pleased to have had it.

I do this whole book thing. Occasionally. Every once in a while.
Book #303 - A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan - This book really surprised me. It was sad and sweet and I'm glad to have read it.
Book #304 - Kiss of Midnight (Midnight Breed #1) by Lara Adrian - Decent, but not great. Still, I'll probably continue with the series.
Book #305 - Where Demons Fear to Tread (The Company of Angels #1) by Stephanie Chong - Another one that wasn't great but it was still pretty interesting.
Book Blogger Hop & Follow Friday - Books I want to get my hands on and books that made an impression on me. When I was young. And impressionable.

I have to work tomorrow. Part of me wishes I didn't have to. And part of me is excited because I'll be alone in the office and can listen to obnoxious music and talk to myself while reading. :D
Later.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.org.