Just a quick one--gotta go watch Castle.

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 9
Time spent writing - off and on over the weekend
Current page count - 340
Intriguing things - brothers who aren't brothers
Annoyances - story taking forever to get to the final scenes
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - ate chocolate and cake over the weekend. Not good for the diet, but might good for the belly and soul :)
Muse food - Torchwood. Final episode. Wow. Great writing, but totally, awesomely, sad.

well, episode 3 of Torchwood continued the great action of the previous episodes. The first half hour was more getting the gang back together and having a bit of fun, but the underlying threat was still there and still building. The second half ramped up the action (a little), and the tension (a lot). Love the way the aliens arrived, loved the ghostly bits we saw of them, loved the smileys on the contact lenses, and can't wait to start getting some answers! But the big question right now is, why did Jack do what he did back in 1965?

Story update–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 11
Time spent writing - 6 hrs (with breaks)
Current page count - 327
Intriguing things - silver removed, discussions about a bad cop underway.
Annoyances - damn cliffhanger endings on torchwood!
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - went shopping. Tip to self--don't buy pants on sale without trying them on. If they suck--and they did!--you can't return them.
Muse food - watched the taped episode of Being Human. Funny and yet sad. Loving this series almost as much as Torchwood.

episode 2 of Torchwood--children of earth was on tonight, and it was another cracker. I wondered how they were going to get around what they did to Jack, and I have to say, it was awesome. Gruesome, but awesome. The story and tension continues to build nicely and I can't wait for episode three. I'm damn glad it'll be on tomorrow night! Here's the update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 7
Time spent writing - 5 (with breaks)
Current page count - 316
Intriguing things - a gun fight, silver bullets, and a vamp up to no good
Annoyances - getting lots of ideas that need to go into the earlier sections of the book
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - the diet is slipping, Must get back to it :(
Muse food - naked Captain Jack!

Wow.

Just…wow.

That’s all I can really say. Brilliant set up, brilliant episode. And I can’t wait to see how they get Jack out of this one.

well, I did finally hit my target, although it took me most of the weekend to get there. I'm now officially sitting at 300 pages done, and on the downhill run to the finish. Ideally, I'd like to get the rest of the book finished within the next two weeks, as that will not only give me time to edit it properly, but it'll give my beta readers time to read it. Hopefully, the ruddy thing will all make sense, because I'm still not entirely sure it's working. Here's the official update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 10
Time spent writing - wrote in fits and starts over the weekend
Current page count - 300
Intriguing things - an escape from a dangerous situation. A plan of revenge underway
Annoyances - the goddamn dog farting constantly! My study is too small for such a smelly barrage!
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - did a whole heap of gardening over the weekend. Oh, and built a bookcase :)
Muse food - pancakes, strawberries, cranberries and lashings of cream. Yum. (Okay, it's more warm-my-belly food than muse food, but that's beside the point :) )

Chris, a fellow lulu and very good friend, reaches a magical birthday number today! Woohoo! :) Happy Birthday, Chris. Hope the day is a good one.

Also, fellow dame Jenna is giving away a copy of Karen Chance's Curse of Dawn over on Deadline Dames, so check that out if you want a free book :) . Here’s the update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 9
Time spent writing - 7 (with breaks)
Current page count - 277
Intriguing things - her brother has been kidnapped.
Annoyances - not sure this story is headed the right way
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - having a hot cup of chocolate while watching the Supernatural boys
Muse food - watching the Supernatural boys :)

originally I thought it was going to take days...even weeks...for us to get hot water back, because most of the local supply/install places were flat out, and the city places don't cater for us country folks. But I was talking (aka bitching) to my neighbour, and he asked if I'd tried the local plumbing supply place. Now, I didn't even know we had a local plumbing supply place, so off I tootle. They just happened to have the perfect hot water service in stock, so I bought it. They delivered fasto-pronto, and the delivery guy asks if I have a plumber yet. When I say no, he gives me the name and number of a local guy. I ring local guy and he says he can come out that afternoon. And the best bit--he didn't cost a fortune. Gotta love living in the country on occassions like this :) Here's the update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 10
Time spent writing - 8 (with breaks)
Current page count - 236
Intriguing things - a cop up to no good
Annoyances - Story feeling like it's dragging
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - didn't get to the gym thursday or friday, so I did 45 min of the walk/run/hill program on the treadmill yesterday
Muse food - watched the first episode of Being Human--what a great concept! A ghost, a vampire and a werewolf, all trying to be 'human' while forces outside their personal lives want otherwise. It'll be interesting to see where they take this one

So, the hot water unit decided to crap out today, meaning we have no hot water. Why do these things happen at the most inconvenient times? It's a pain in the rear, I tell you (as is trying to get someone out to replace the thing ASAP. People obviously do not want money in this place.) Anyway, here's the update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 9
Time spent writing - 6 (with breaks)
Current page count - 219
Intriguing things - not sure that there is anything interesting or intriguing happening
Annoyances - see the above comment
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - taking it easy during training thanks to archilles strain
Muse food - watching the Scottish architect on The Home Show :)

where the muse cannot concentrate and it would be easier pulling teeth than getting words on the page. I'm pretty sure this whole scene is bin material. It moves slower than a damn tortoise, but I keep telling myself it doesn't matter. Crap can be fixed--but the crap must exist on the page before any fixing happens. Here's the official update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 7
Time spent writing - 6 (with lots of breaks)
Current page count - 210
Intriguing things - A wolf just tried to sneak a kiss from Riley. A very bad mistake.
Annoyances - the words on page are sucky
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - resting foot--hurt my achilles at gym today
Muse food - checking out the great artwork over at deviant art.

I didn't get to the gym today. After braving the cold to walk the dogs (and getting a headache from said cold and soaked to the skin to boot), I decided to just stay inside and keep warm. So, I had plenty of time to write today, and although it sometimes felt like I was writing nothing better than shite, I managed to get plenty of pages done and the plot is rolling along nicely. And even if it is shite, it's words on page and I can always fix them later. Here's the official update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 13
Time spent writing - 8 hrs (with breaks)
Current page count - 179
Intriguing things - Riley distrusting her brother
Annoyances - Do you know how cold it is outside? Brrrrrrr (shivering)
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - Belgian hot chocolate drink. Yummy, and 99% fat free
Muse food - The Mentalist--season end episode and Simon Baker in top form

When I walk the dogs, they're mostly off leash, because there's a lot of walking tracks, back roads and paddocks near where we live, and at the hour we're out, there's not many people up and about. So the dogs run about, roll in things, eat crap, and generally have a damn good time. There's also a herd of kangaroos who live in the nearby hills and we come across them quite often. I've never worried about the dogs chasing them because, (a) the roos usually spot us coming, and if they don't, I wave my arms about like a loon so they know we're there, and (b) because my dogs are fat and lazy, and generally give up after a few minutes of running. The only time I've ever called the dogs off is when the roos are near the fences--the baby roos can't jump that high, and they can't climb through the wire quickly enough to get out of the dogs way.

That changed this morning.

A mum roo and her baby were up near the houses. I didn't even see them, but I did see the mum roo sprinting away, and then I heard Ella making this horrible noise. I ran up the hill from the walking track to see what she was doing and all I saw was legs. Baby roo legs. I don't think I've run so damn fast in my life. Ella had the baby pinned and was really attacking her--ever tried to haul a 50 kg dog off it's prey? It ain't easy. I did eventually get her restrained, and the baby roo hopped away. It had a wonky leg, and fell over several times, but it did put weight on it, so I'm hoping like hell it didn't sustain any real damage. But I tell you, I was shaking. Ella is the gentlest dog out, but she's also a lab and they're hunting dogs, and that instinct is in her. It was scary to see her going at the roo (although I was never afraid that she'd lash out at me.) The trouble is, now that she's caught a roo, she's got the taste for it, so I'll have to restrain her from now on. I can't risk her catching--and perhaps next time killing--another little roo.

Now I've just got my fingers crossed that the little roo found her mum okay and that she really will be fine. Here's the writing update.

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 6
Time spent writing - 1.30
Current page count - 161
Intriguing things - Riley is naked in the middle of a desert.
Annoyances - don't know enough about policing practices in remote Aussie communities
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - lunch with my sister and a friend I've known for 37 years.
Muse food - supernatural is on tonight!

The fab Richelle Mead is running a couple of contests for Aussie residents only. Head on over to her blog to check out the details. There's an early copy of Blood Promise or another Vampire Academy book up for grabs.

I didn’t do a whole lot today. I painted the walls in the living room and the laundry, and managed to get more paint on me than the walls, I think. My dad the painter would be horrified. lol. Here’s the update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 5
Time spent writing - 1.30 hrs (at night)
Current page count - 155
Intriguing things - Riley’s had a brain fade. She’s just met her brother. It makes sense in the story. Really.
Annoyances - 5 pages short of my weekly target. Not likely to make it up next week.
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - A whole day of rest–aside from the wall painting.
Muse food </i>- marathon star trek session–watched Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock & The Voyage Home

yes, I sucumbed and joined the twittering generation. I can be found rambling here for those who are at all interested :)

the booksigning I did at Book Express in Western Australia made the local papers. Click here if you want to see a jpg of the article. Oh, and the pic is pre-chocolate hair (and you can see the reason I went darker--it was getting far too light for my skin tone). Thanks muchly to Karen for sending me the copy! Here's the Thursday update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 10
Time spent writing - 6 hours (with breaks)
Current page count - 140
Intriguing things - story continues to deviate from outline. Quinn now the one in danger.
Annoyances - the story continuing to deviate from outline.
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - The desk.
Taking care of Keri - big session at the gym which I will probably regret tomorrow!
Muse food - bought the first 5 Star Trek movies--love the original cast :)

two of my fellow Deadline Dames have new releases today, so check them out if you feel inclined Just click the covers to head on over to their websites:

Update time:
New pages - 4
Time spent writing - roughly 2 hours
Current page count - 124
Intriguing things - Riley just got shot with silver. This is so not in the outline
Annoyances - too little writing time.
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - desk
Taking care of Keri - strolling through the Vic market, checking out all the sights, sounds and smells.
Muse food - watching the second Mummy movie. Love a bit of Brendon Fraser

I didn’t start writing until late in the afternoon, but the muse was rolling along quite nicely, and I managed to get a decent amount of writing done for a change. Today and tomorrow are stuffed, writing wise, as I have solicitors and hospitals to visit, and I always find them draining events. Which means I’ll have to try and catch up over the weekend, because I really need to hit my target of 50 pages a week or I’m going to be in trouble. Here’s the update:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 10
Time spent writing - roughly 6 hours (with breaks)
Current page count - 120
Intriguing things - Brothel owners being hunted, which is not in the outline. Liking the chocolate hair.
Annoyances - too much to do outside of writing these next couple of days, so writing time will be short.
Music - Dralion & Varekai
Location - desk
Taking care of Keri - sitting down with a (low fat) hot chocolate watching supernatural.
Muse food - Dean in skinny red shorts. lol

After a lovely lunch with Iris and Chris yesterday, I rolled toward the city to have dinner with Mel, and then we went to the Pink concert. She totally rocked. That woman is amazing–-a fantastic voice live, and a brilliant show. She’s in town for months…and months (I think she has something like 16 concerts in Melboune alone), so if you get the chance to see her, do it. It’s simply the best concert I’ve ever seen.

On Friday, Kasey and I checked out Wolverine. Loved it. Okay, it wasn’t a brilliant bit of movie making and yep there were some plot moments that didn’t really make sense, but did I care? Not a damn bit. I went there to watch a fun, exciting movie, and that’s exactly what I got. With the bonus of Hugh naked as well. How could you go wrong? I thought the story of the two brothers was well done, and that it dovetailed nicely back into the first movie. And I wouldn’t mind seeing a movie about Gambit–that dude looked interesting. (I’m not a comic book fan, so I don’t know all the history–which is probably why I enjoyed the movie so much).

Here’s the update–such as it is:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - 0
Time spent writing - also a big fat 0
Current page count - 110
Intriguing things - chocolate hair. Love the colour, but dithering as to whether it suits.
Annoyances - can’t think of any.
Music - Pink! Live in concert–brilliant stiff
Location - writing wise, no where
Taking care of Keri - Mum and daughter night out–pancake parlour for dinner, then checking out wolverine
Muse food - how good did Hugh look in that movie?

It's my turn to post over at the Deadline Dames today, so head on over there is you want to read it. Here's my writing update for Thursday:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - five
Time spent writing - three hours
Current page count - 110
Intriguing things - the love scene was written. Things about to go to hell in a handbasket
Annoyances - wet feet leading to half frozen toes when walking the dogs. Man it gets cold up here in Kilmore!
Music - Back to The Script today
Location - The desk. Word.
Taking care of Keri - Visiting fellow Lulu Robyn and finally meeting her beautiful little girl!
Muse food - A piece of Boston Bun from Ferguson's. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I didn’t go to the gym today, which totally threw out the body clock and confused the dogs. They kept looking at me, wondering what the hell I was doing there disturbing their sleep. lol. But I had a builder in today, repairing the holes caused by taking out the old upright gas heater. He’s also installing some shelves in the laundry, which means I can get rid of the ratty metal unit I’ve been using. He hasn’t finished yet, so I’ll be home tomorrow as well. Which might be a good thing, because tomorrow was weigh-in day at the gym–and though I haven’t been eating chocolate, I also haven’t been sticking strictly to the diet. :)

But good progress was had on Riley 9. Here’s the rundown:

Story–Captured by Vengeance

New pages - Eleven
Time spent writing - ten hours, off and on
Current page count - 105
Intriguing things - Quinn apparently co-owns a spa and pampering resort in St. Kilda. He and Riley are currently making full use of it.
Annoyances - Trying to write a love scene when there’s all this hammering and sawing going on. Said love scene was eventually skipped, and will be written when there’s less distractions.
Music - Cirque Du Soleil, Varekai
Location - The desk. Word.
Taking care of Keri - another cuppa tea in front of the TV, this time watching The Mentalist.
Muse food - A low fat white chocolate drink for afternoon tea–-delicious, but low in calories. The muse was in heaven (but still couldn’t produce that love scene).