Milestones and suchlike.

Nocturne has just passed the Milestone of Destinah, 15,000 words. It's already turned into a characterocracy of Biblical proportions...all three of the main characters keep running off with scenes, saying things I didn't expect, and generally hijacking my story. So...hooray!

Also, we're getting down to the last few days of NaNoWriMo, so here's a shout-out to all those who've already crossed the 50,000 mark. Congrats and well done!

For those of you still working your way towards it, keep going! You have time, you'll make it.

Tuesday is your last chance to vote for Between Brothers at The Romance Erotica Connection. C'mon, you know you want to. ;) The book is in the running for Erotica Cover, Hottest Male Lead (Darren Knight), and Steamiest Sex Scene. Also, cover artist Amanda Kelsey is in the running for Artist of the Year. She's the one responsible for creating the epic win that is the cover of Between Brothers, so she deserves it!

And finally, Monday is the day. Yes, my loyal blog minions, Rules of Engagement will be released. Hells. Yes. It's currently listed on the publisher's website, and I will post here as additional links become available.

Now, since I've reached my word count quota for the day, off to edit World Enough and Time...

Friday Mancandy - Soaking Wet

Why yes, it is Friday again here in Japanistan, and yes, you read the title right. This week's Friday Mancandy features men...soaking wet.

Do I really need to explain why? I mean, seriously...
What's not to love about a man who's freaking drenched?
Especially since being dripping wet is really an all-purpose look, whether he's in a casual mood...
Or perhaps dressed a bit more professionally...
Hell, one of the reasons Joaquin Phoenix went batshit crazy was that he was just too damned hot. If they didn't keep him like this...
...then this would happen:
And of course, some men look so good this way, it becomes their natural environment.

Particularly if they are Australian and go by the name "Ian Thorpe":
Oh, but what good is a picture of a swimmer without a good look at his chest and shoulders?

Fortunately, I found such a picture:
And, as I've mentioned before, we here at Adventures in Navy Wifing do not discriminate...and let's face it, this looks pretty good on teh laydeez too:
But there exists one thing that is exponentially hotter than a sexy man or gorgeous woman who is soaked to the skin.

Simple math would indicate this should be twice as hot, but oh no, it's much...much...MUCH hotter.

That would be...

Quite simply...

THE RAIN KISS.

Particularly when it involves, oh, Hugh Jackman?
Or perhaps some Jonathon Rhys Meyers...
This concludes this week's Friday Mancandy. Tomorrow, a more sensible blog that will most likely be writing-related. Next week? Who knows? :D Just a reminder, feel free to comment/e-mail with suggestions for themes and new faces.

I hope you've all enjoyed.

Just an observation...

I've been observing people around me lately, as well as the way they interact online, or the things they talk about, etc, and just had a few thoughts.

To illustrate these thoughts, let's take a hypothetical couple and scrutinize them a bit.

We'll call them...oh, hell...Dick and Jane. Because that's completely and totally uncreative and cliched. So...see Dick and Jane.

Now, let's say Dick and Jane are married. Jane works outside the home. In fact, she makes more money than Dick. Dick, however, controls the finances. He demands to know every penny she spends...not only how much and on what, but why. Her $10 book purchase may as well be a capitol crime, but she may as well just accept that he'll indulge in a little $50 luxury at his discretion.

When Jane wants to go anywhere without Dick, she'd also damn well better explain where she's going, with whom, why, and when she'll be home. And if Dick calls while she's out, she'd better not get pissy with him, because he's just checking to see what she's doing, where she is, when she's coming home, if she's spent any money, etc...even if he just did the same thing 20 minutes ago. This is all assuming that Dick gave Jane permission to go out in the first place.

When Jane gets home from work, she checks her Facebook page and quietly groans to herself because Dick has - once again - used his status message to let the world know he's frustrated with some menial sin of hers. I'm not talking about good-humored potshots or playing around...I mean venting publicly, airing dirty laundry, and making Jane look like a complete and utter douchebag. She doesn't dare reply, because it'll just invite conflict...and it'll invite outsiders into said conflict. Retaliating with a similarly passive aggressive message is right out for the same reason. Besides, by now, all of his friends/family are pretty well convinced that Jane is a good-for-nothing bitch anyway, so there's no point in trying to argue. Instead, she just quietly goes about her business.

Dick brags about how well-trained she is. He keeps her on a short leash, and by golly, she'd better like it.

I think you get the idea.

Sounds like a pretty oppressive situation for Jane, doesn't it? Suddenly the name "Dick" is much more apropos, and I think we'd all be telling our good friend Jane to either put her foot down or use it to boot Dick's sorry ass out the door.

So...

Let's switch the roles.

Same scenario, same behavior, but now Jane's the controlling, oppressive twunt.

Why is it suddenly okay now?

ARRRRRR

Okay. Let's get something straight here.

Pirates shaped like Johnny Depp?

HOT. Case in point:
However...Pirates who steal unreleased books and put them out on the internet for people to download?

NOT FUCKING COOL.

Not that it's cool to pirate books that are already released, but come on! At least this narrows the list of possible guilty parties, since only a handful of people had copies.

A special note to whoever leaked it:
In your darkest hour and most desperate moment,
may your local pharmacy run out
of Preparation H.

Moving on to considerably less irritating topics, I may have to make a trip back to the States in 2010. My parents have already tried to lure me back with Spock the Kitten, but now they've added this little piece of cuteness to the mix...Chase, the King Charles Spaniel puppy:
"Arrrr...I'm vicious..."
So, to summarize:

Sexy pirates? WIN!
Cute puppies? WIN!
Pirating books? FAIL.

This is hysterical...

Okay, this has to be one of the funniest Twilight spoofs ever.

Yes. EVER. Especially since it exemplifies just how freaking creepy Edward Cullen really is...

Vodka Enough and Video Games.

World Enough and Time is done. A little over 93,000 words, many of them being dirty words. I'm actually quite happy with it. Usually I'm sick of a story by this point, but I never really reached the "oh for fuck's sake, isn't it done yet?" point with this book.

Anyway, it's vodka and video games tonight, then tomorrow, Nocturne begins.

And vodka and video games wouldn't be complete without a little mancandy, so if y'all don't mind indulging me, I think I'd like a little bite o' Jonathon Rhys Meyers...

The Annual Christmas Letter

Dear friends & family,

The annual “here’s what we’ve been doing” letter is a tradition for many families, and Eddie and I have decided to join in the festivities. So, without further ado…

Living in Japan has been both exciting and challenging. Driving on the left side of the road was intimidating at first, but is much easier now that Lori is driving instead of Eddie. Learning the language would probably be easier if we’d bought Japanese language books instead of Swahili, but we’ve learned to communicate with the locals through the use of gestures, pictures, and the medium of dance, so we’re getting by. Language aside, one of the difficulties has been keeping track of two currency systems, as we use both dollars and yen here (dollars on base, yen off). For the sake of simplicity and consistency, we are appealing to the Japanese and U.S. governments to convert all currency on Okinawa to the peso.

It’s been a roller coaster of a year, and Eddie’s career definitely had its ups and downs. After scoring exceptionally high on all his tests, as well as being in the right time and place to administer the Heimlich Maneuver to a choking Commodore, he was promoted numerous pay grades and became a two star Admiral. Sadly, this promotion didn’t last long. While he proved to be a competent leader and looked pretty damned good in the uniform, he took the fall for the infamous – and still mostly classified – scandal known only as “The Tickle-Me-Elmo Incident”. He was promptly brought back down to the rank of Second Class Petty Officer. At least they let him keep the uniform.

Lori also had some highs and lows. Using only a can of WD-40, some grapes, and a half-chewed cat toy, she discovered cold fusion. The science community was all abuzz and she was subsequently nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics. However, an unfortunate clerical error put her on the short list for the Literature prize instead, and she was summarily disqualified due to allegations of plagiarizing Chaucer and Hemingway. To make matters worse, while she was testifying and pleading her innocence, the only prototype and all copies of the plans were stolen. The investigation continues, but Polynesian Mafia is thought to be responsible.

Last May, we received an e-mail from a previously unknown relative in Nigeria, claiming that we’d been left a substantial sum of money, which would be given to us if we promptly e-mailed them our banking information. We thought it was a scam, but they just seemed so darn nice, so we gave them the information. As expected, we received $65,000,000 the next morning. But fools and their money are soon parted, and after three solid days of drinking copious amounts of Habu sake, the money was gone. Witnesses say that we blew most of it trying to learn the complex Japanese gambling game of Pachinko. The rest was spent on colorful knickknacks and socks.

Oh, and somewhere amidst all this excitement, Eddie became a supervisor for Harbor Patrol and joined the command’s color guard, and Lori sold four books, two of which were released in late 2009.

Here’s to more highs and fewer lows in 2010.

All the best, happy whatever-holiday-you-choos

e-to-celebrate-or-just-enjoy-the-damned-season-if-you-aren’t-the-celebratory type,

Eddie, Lori, Annie, & Midget

A nice sunny day at the beach...in November.

Since it's late November, and Eddie had the day off, we could think of no other way to spend a chilly 80 degree day than a trip to the beach. That, and I'd never driven on the expressway, and wanted to give it a go. So, we headed north, towards Nago, and found this little beach, aptly called "Nago Citizens Beach".

And there, we parked Hoopedy 2.0, a car which I totally love because a) I get to drive it and b) it runs. Here it is, in all its beater glory:
Then, onto the beach...
Yes, the beach:
Now, all those rocks off to the left are lava rock, which are both sharp and slippery. Naturally, we climbed on them.
And Eddie's got some captain in him...
I found this really pretty tidal pool up on top of said lava rock...
And in it, I found fishies...
Which Eddie promptly scared away by falling into said pool...(unfortunately, I didn't get a pic until after he'd righted himself, but I got to laugh at him for having a wet butt for the rest of the afternoon):
Once we were through terrifying the fish and risking our lives on the treacherous, pointy rocks, we continued down the beach...
Where we found the obligatory hermit crab.
"MY ROCK! No can haz..."
And if you look closely, you'll see another crab:
Hahaha, bet you all thought something was going to jump out at you. I still can't believe how many of you I startled with that ghost picture. Seriously.

ANYWAY. Moving right along...

As I've mentioned in previous blog entries, there are tombs and shrines all over this island, and you never know when you'll stumble across one. I honestly don't know if this is a tomb or a shrine (looks like a grave, but I have no idea):
Then, on the beach, we saw another (just below the treeline, slightly to the right of center, above that light grey slab of cement):
A closer look:
To add to the day's excitement, Eddie found a stick.
Yes. A stick.

Once he was finally persuaded to put the stick down and move on, we headed back. And I randomly took a picture of a plant.
We passed by a barber shop, and evidently this particular establishment condones running with scissors. I'm not sure if this applies to animated barber poles only, but there you go.
A cute little birdie by the canal...hopefully Libbie can help me identify it...I'm guessing some sort of Kingfisher type of creature?
A really bad picture of a really cute gecko...
After a day in the heat (did I mention it's November?), we were both thirsty. Decisions, decisions:
Selecting a drink here is more challenging than you might think. First, the sheer quantity of available options. Second, the language barrier. I hate tea, so I try to avoid anything that might BE tea. Today, I tried something that looked like pineapple juice.

Now, you know how orange juice has varying amounts of "pulp"? This would qualify as "insanely uber high pulp". Except, instead of shredded bits of pineapple, it contained large globs of what can only be described as pineapple-flavored snot.

Next time, I'll stick with iced coffee...

Speaking of language barriers:
Uhhh...

Most of it is pretty self-explanatory, though I thought I would zoom in on some of the highlights:
Um. Okay.

I'm pretty sure I know what this one means...
...clearly, it says, "No Running Away Screaming Like a Little Girl When a Habu Tries to Take Your Beer".

So there you have it....another day in paradise. Hard to believe we've already been here a year. And it still hasn't gotten old.

I heart Okinawa. More pictures to come soon!

Also, just a quick writerly update...World Enough and Time is in the homestretch, and my guess is that if it's not done tomorrow, it'll be done the next day. Only 8 chapters remain, every one of which is at least started. Of course, as usual, I left myself a whole bunch of those scenes (tm). Why I do this to myself, I don't know. But rest assured, I will be tearing my hair out about it tomorrow.

Once World Enough and Time is done, it's on with Nocturne, which I will be spending some time outlining this evening. I had planned to make Nocturne a novella (roughly 20-40,000 words), but I have a funny feeling it'll be standard novel length (over 60,000). We shall see. If that's the case, then it will also be the story with which I cross the million word mark.

Yes, my loyal blog minions...the millionth word is on the horizon. Less than 75,000 words to go. Stay tuned...

Friday Mancandy II - Just for Vanessa

In order to persuade a certain someone into beta reading a certain book, I have been asked to provide a "better" picture of Taylor Lautner. Given that mancandy is in the eye of the beholder, I will let her decide which of the following is suitable...

Not wet enough?
Not half-naked enough?
Hmm...starting to see the attraction here...

Never let it be said that I can't be bought.

Friday Mancandy - Leather Jackets

It's that time again. Time for another installment of Friday Mancandy.

This week's theme: Leather jackets.

I mean, really, there's nothing quite like the way a leather jacket looks on a guy. Or the way it smells. Or the sound when it moves. Or the- *cough* Anyway...men in leather jackets:

Men such as Tim Kelleher...
And as long as we're on the subject of "sexy men from 30 Seconds to Mars", how about the other three? A leatherclad trifecta of Jared, Shannon, and Tomo:
A few other treats for the retinas:
I have never wanted to be a camera so much in my life:
Some Hugh Laurie...
Another of the usual suspects wandering through encased in black leather...
More black leather...
And while black leather is certainly my favorite, we here at Adventures in Navy Wifing will certainly not discriminate against brown leather, particularly when it's on something like this:
Or, even better...

This...
Also, never let it be said that I can't be bought. Scarlett, you may wish to skip this next bit.

Have you stopped reading?

Okay, onward...For no other reason than the fact I'm hoping to bribe/blackmail/plead/threaten them into beta reading World Enough and Time when it's finished (and when both of their schedules let up), may I present the following for Libbie:
And Vanessa:
Ladies, consider yourselves bribed.

This concludes this week's Friday Mancandy. As always, if you have a suggestion for mancandy specimens or themes, do feel free to comment or shoot me an e-mail.

Randomness.

Nothing too terribly exciting going on the last few days. I've been grinding through World Enough and Time, which broke 75,000 words last night. Today, I expect to hit 80,000. The closer I get to finishing it, the happier I am with the story, which is a good sign, I hope. My female main character was inching dangerously close to TSTL (that's "too stupid to live") because of the reasons behind some of her actions, but once I clarified her motivations, she moved safely back into the realms of a sympathetic, believable character. Not that I write stupid people, but she would have come across that way to a reader because while her motivations were clear *to me*, I wasn't conveying it properly on the page. Fortunately, I have my trusty, if bitchy and demanding, writing partner to help me sort these things and keep me from making an ass of myself.

And I totally didn't get myself choked up with the final 7 chapters...

So anyway, the story is coming along. I expect it'll be done in the next week or so, since it seems to be creeping up on the dreaded 100,000 word mark. As soon as it's finished, I have another project already in the offing, one that will most likely be the one to carry me past that million word mark. That project would be Nocturne, so titled by the Almighty Title Ninja.

In other news, the release date for Rules of Engagement is fast approaching, so I've been wangsting and losing sleep over that. This is normal. No cause for concern. Expect plenty more wangsting between now and November 30, and likely some after that too.

Rejections are trickling in from the last batch of queries, but maybe a full or partial request will find its way to me too. The full manuscript of With The Band was rejected, which was a bummer, but I sent it out the very next day to a larger press. So, we'll see what happens there. Fingers crossed. I still have two other fulls out there (Luke Boydston's Baby and Breaking the Rules), plus a couple dozen queries and a short story submission. Here's hoping for some happy news in the near future. :D

Eddie and I are going out again this weekend to take pics around the island, so expect another "Look! We live on a tropical island and you don't!" blog post in the very near future.

In the meantime, a pic of Tim Kelleher as a sneak peek of tomorrow's Friday Mancandy:
What's the theme for tomorrow? You'll just have to wait and see...

A website! I has it!

Instead of maintaining two writing blogs, I've merged everything together into one site. As of about five minutes ago, my website is live at:

http://www.loriawitt.com/

I'm still ironing out a few things, tweaking some formatting, etc., but there it is. Of course, this blog will still be updated, and there will still be discussions of all things writerly. You can't get rid of me that easily. ;)

The hour of my conquest is nigh.

Tonight, I crossed 900,000 words. Word #900,000 was "folded", since you asked.

100,000 to go. 45 days remaining of 2009.

1 million? Prepare to be my bitch.

What's in a Name? Aggravation, That's What.

Having vanquished my daily goal of 5,000 words fairly early in the evening, I decided to take a little break from World Enough and Time. It's passed the 60,000 word mark and is clipping along quite nicely, with a few problems working themselves out (with the help, of course, of Her Royal Highness, the Ever-Demanding Never-Forgiving Queen of All Things Unholy and Smutlike, Scarlett). So, with a little time on my hands, I thought I'd start tinkering with my next project.

I have my characters picked out. I'm nearly to the point of figuring out their story. At the moment, I'm trying to figure out their names. And by "trying to figure out their names", I mean "scouring a book of baby names, trying to find a decent name I haven't used before, and cursing loud enough to startle my pets". You see, my loyal blog minions, a character has to have just the right name.

First, I'd just like to say that if you advertise a book as having "55,000+ names" in it, it's cheating to have 10 variations of one name, 14 of another, and 20 of another. Cheating bastards. Anyway...

When I first started writing romance, it wasn't that difficult. There are a lot of names out there that I like, so I just grabbed one from the ether, stuck it on a character, and moved forward. Beat the hell out of making up new names like I did when I was writing fantasy.

Now, however, I've burned through most of my favorites: Liam. Jason. Connor. Dustin. Brandon. Christian. Ethan. Ian. Bastian. In theory, I could use them again, but the names become almost synonymous with the characters. It's like giving two of your kids the same name. Even with a different surname, it just wouldn't work. So, new names every time.

To complicate matters, Scarlett has snagged some of the cool names too, which I won't repeat here because I don't know if she'd want me to. Using one of hers would a) be like reusing one of my own and b) probably piss her off (and she can get mean).

So that also eliminates quite a few names. Oh, but the difficulty doesn't stop there.

I don't know if this is a problem for writers of other genres, but erotica presents one particular spot of bother with names: using the name of someone you know. Look, my genre of choice makes family gatherings awkward enough without having to explain why any character involved in any kind of sex scene shares a name with any relative. So there goes Eddie, David, Daniel, Kevin, James, Mike, Patrick, and plenty of other common names.

Then of course, there's my notorious celebrity crushes. On that off chance I ever become famous myself and, by some twist of fate, meet one of them in person, I'd really rather not have the awkward discussion of "Um, about that one character..." That, and, well, let's get real. Even though I really, really like the names and always have, anyone who knows me is going to raise an eyebrow if I name a love interest Jared, Colin, or Shannon. So, scratch those three off the list, along with Hugh, Gerard, and Joaquin.

And let's not forget the names that are also double entendres. I mean, could you really keep a straight face reading a sex scene involving Lance, Randy, Rod, Peter, Dick, or Willy? I might as well just call him Horny McLongshlong.

So now, most of the names I like have been used. Either by me, Scarlett, a celebrity, the slang vernacular, or some inconsiderate parent naming their kid.

Now you see why naming characters presents such a headache now. *sigh* At this rate, in a year's time, I'm going to have to go back to my old standby from my fantasy writing days: Making up names. Either that, or I'm just going to bite the bullet, accept that family gatherings will always be awkward, and just start using names of people I know.

I shall now remove my tongue from my cheek, get back to the book of "55,000+" *cough*bullshit*cough* names, and bestow names upon my characters...

Hmm. I stand corrected.

So we visited the haunted hotel yesterday, and Lori the Sometimes Skeptical Skeptic was anything but convinced. I mean really...ghosts? Granted, I have shared a house with...well, I lived in a house where some very weird things happened, and I saw some odd things in Colonial Williamsburg...but, let's just say I have to see something with my own eyes to be convinced.

Eddie was creeped out. Legends abound about strange and crazy things happening. But me? Not so much. Messy concrete building. Empty. End of.

Well...erm...color me convinced.

While going through my photos, I looked a bit closer at one of them, and what I saw can't be explained away as a simple speck on the lens, optical illusion or anything else.

Here's the pic:
Now you can't see much here, because it's a bit small. However, if you click here, it'll appear larger. Click on it and look very, very closely at the shapes and shadows on the wall on the right. Trust me. It's there.

Spooooooooky.

NaNo? Consider yourself owned.

50,001 words. NaNoWriMo? Won.

I was going to aim for something higher for this month, but as mentioned in a previous blog entry, I'm reining back the competition just a wee bit. World Enough and Time seems to want to progress a little slower than a lot of my books, and my competitive streak was getting in the way of focusing on the story.

But, whatever the case...NaNo. Won. 50,000 words done.

Congrats to all the other participants who've already cracked 50K, and good luck to those who are still working on it. There's still plenty of time, don't you dare give up now!

The "Haunted" Hotel.

So, after visiting Nagasu...Nakaga...the castle we visited today, we followed our own curiosity and a couple of brave souls across the courtyard to this strange concrete structure that we'd been eyeing from a distance:
Very odd indeed.
At first we thought it was part of the castle compound, but the architecture is entirely too modern. Still, it was strange, so we had to check it out. And, upon asking someone who'd been in it a few times, we found out that it is the legendary haunted hotel we've been hearing about.

Naturally, we had to get a closer look.

This is the rather worn sign on the front of it. "Royal" is about the only word I could make out. Now, the pic is small, but if you click on it to make it larger, you will notice a FLOATING ORB on the upper right hand corner. A ghost, perhaps???
Actually, it's just a bird.

Anyway, since this place is supposedly haunted, is completely abandoned, huge, empty, and falling apart, there was really only one thing we could do.

We went inside.
Hmm. Not exactly five-star service here, but given the circumstances, I suppose it'll have to do. We showed ourselves past the lobby and wandered down the hallways...
Every room and hallway in the building (well, from what we could see) was littered with debris: Broken glass, rusted equipment, wood, masonry, chunks of concrete, broken tiles, and plenty of stuff undoubtedly left behind by vandals. And trespassers (like us, but we left nothing behind, 'cause that's how we roll).
Another room...ooh, spooooooky...
Another long hallway...this place is flippin' HUGE...
So huge, in fact, that we didn't even get to this part of the hotel:
Mostly because someone who shall remain unnamed by goes by Eddie wussed out. Allegedly, his footwear was unsuitable because of the broken glass (well, he was wearing flip-flops), but I have my suspicions that it was creeping him out.

Can't totally blame him. The place is a bit eerie, if only from a "what if there's someone else in this building?" standpoint. Hell, even the bathrooms were a little creepy:
Oddly enough, we found out later there is someone else in the building. A monk has apparently taken up residence in the hotel and set up an altar, which he uses to keep the restless spirits of the hotel at peace.

Haunted or not, the place is cool, and I have every intention of going back to take more pictures. Maybe we'll run into the monk. Or, maybe we'll just get some cool artistic shots like we usually try to do...
Even broken glass makes for some funky shots...

So that was the end of our tour of the "haunted" hotel. On our way out, we pondered when we should come back and visit again, preferably with better shoes and fully charged batteries in our camera flashes. During this conversation, as we walked away from the strange building, I paused and looked back.

And it was then, my loyal blog minions, that I saw something I didn't notice on the way in.



The hairs stood on the back of my neck...



A chill ran down my spine...



And in a somewhat unsettled voice, I said unto my husband...



..."Oops."

Another Day, Another Castle

*yawn* Another castle. Boooring.

Haha, what am I saying? I love castles. Especially here in Okinawa, where we can wander along the walls, taunt the laws of gravity, climb all over stuff, and generally have far too much fun for our own good. That, and castles are just freaking cool.

Today we went to visit the Nakag... Nagaku...Naguska...
Nakagusuku. Yeah, that one.

We parked, bought our tickets, and headed up the steep - but conveniently paved - trail that leads up to the castle. During our ascent, Eddie wasn't paying attention and managed to walk into a low-hanging branch.
You may think that hurt, but I'm sure it was nowhere near as painful as when I nearly ruptured my spleen laughing.

Anyway, on to the castle...

But wait! ADD moment...

A BUG!
Okay...really moving on to the castle this time.

See? CASTLE:
One of several cool archways:
Another view of the archway, with Eddie to show scale:
Well, not really. He wouldn't get out of my picture. So...well...there he is.

The paved trail ended, and we continued up very steep steps to the various tiers of the castle. Not just up, but also down...specifically, down to the one of the wells. The well itself wasn't anything spectacular (Imagine, if you will, a bathtub-sized basin made of stone, full of murky water and weeds, with a few coins people have thrown in over time), but the staircase made for a cool shot:
We continued going up, up, and up, until we were in the courtyard of one of the upper tiers, where I found this sign:
Oh, lead me not into temptation, for I know the way myself. Then there was this sign:
Presumably, this means "Quickly! Climb up onto the wall before you miss something cool! Go! What are you waiting for???"

So, naturally, I did...and this is what I saw:
And this...
And this...
Did I mention that we freaking LIVE here? God I love this place.

There was also this lovely building...
Not exactly sure what it is, but we intend to find out and summarily pay it a visit. We continued wandering along the walls...
More walls and cool views...
Until ADD struck again!

ZOMG! SPIDER!
I tried to get a size comparison of the spider vs Eddie's hand, but that's as close as he would put his hand...
Wandering down the path, we saw this sign, and I suddenly had a craving for a chocolate chip cookie...
There was also a very strange concrete structure just past the castle, but it looked decidedly more modern than the castle. Curiosity - and the fact that other people were wandering towards/around/in it - drew us down the path, and we learned that this is the allegedly haunted hotel we've heard so much about...
Naturally, we went in and wandered around a bit. Those pics are for another blog entry, though.

The Plot Bunny Ninja Strikes Again

So I was having another wangst attack about World Enough and Time. Yes, another one. As much as I love this story, it's been kicking my ass. It seems my characters have chosen a set of conflicts that could, if handled improperly, wander into such forbidden territories as "a heroine that's too stupid to live (or TSTL)" or "well, that was an easy resolution".

Naturally, I did the only thing I can do when wangst attacks: I spoke to Scarlett and...well...wangsted.

And Scarlett, the bestower of all things wisdomlike, said unto me: "Why don't you have Connor (*mumble*), (*whisper*), and (*mutter*)? Which would make it more believable when Dani (*mumblemutter*)." Of course those weren't the actual words used, but I'm not giving away my story here.

Anyway, she wasn't finished. She also suggested a few lines of dialogue for them to exchange during a particularly heated moment...which caused some gears to turn in mah brainz...which in turn spawned a few more such lines of dialogue...which subsequently resulted in an entirely new, conflict-riddled, emotions-running-high chapter near the end.

I'm still taking today off to go out photographically documentalizing life in Japanistansylvania, but tomorrow? Oh, it's on. This book is slow-going, but I think it'l be worth it in the end. At least one chapter is one of my top 10 favorite chapters ever (out of anything I've written). It just needed a little Scarlett magic to keep Dani from being TSTL and keep the conflict believable.

So...naturally...I must pay her, and the currency for her help is Purefoy:
Now, off to wander around Okinawa and cause trouble. Tomorrow? Connor, it is ON...

Thank You.

With the release date of Rules of Engagement fast approaching, I need to give thanks to a few particular people.

When I first decided to write a male/male romance, it was, to say the least, uncharted territory. This particularly applies to the more intimate scenes, and I was concerned about making glaring, facepalm-worthy mistakes.

So, while I was outlining the book, I posted on Absolute Write in search of gay/bisexual/bi-curious men who would be willing to answer some rather intimate questions. The response was tremendous. The answers were much more revealing than I anticipated, and I can't thank all of you enough for the insights to gay sexuality and relationship dynamics. They proved more than useful for Rules of Engagement, and I've kept them in mind while writing subsequent male/male novels, including Nine Tenths of the Law and The Distance Between Us, both of which are slated for release in 2010.

I promised anonymity for all those who answered, and I stand by that. I'm not revealing any names or identities. I just wanted to thank you all for your help.

So...thank you.