Haus of Rhi

I've been struggling recently over which project to work on. Had little in the way of writing energy, thanks to the distraction -- in part -- of DEoH releasing. With that behind me, and off to as good a start as I was able to give it, my brain finally seems content to move on. Which direction, though, is another matter entirely. I have this tome of a project, so large as to be daunting. And then there's the sequel to DEoH that needs some plotting. And the sequel to Black, which has admittedly stalled a good bit for the time being. I have been leery of sinking myself into the heavy rewrites of the trunked novel, in fear of getting lost and never surfacing again. And then, there's nothing quite like churning out 20k on a full-length novel project without any notion as to whether it works. At all. Enter The Beta, swooping in like Superman to save the day.

I've accumulated three days' worth of longhand writing that needs transcribed. Want, desperately, to get it done before my days off Sunday and Monday, because I always feel so unproductive when I do nothing but type things I've already written. The upsides -- I'm writing again, on my lunch breaks, and the transcription process allows me to edit/polish as I go. Instead of wondering what sort of shite I typed the day previous when I sit down to the computer to work. The downsides -- I rarely get anything 'new' written, and sometimes berate myself for being unproductive as a result. There were a few people who read the original version of the Trunked Novel and loved it. Were annoyed, even, that I failed to finish the second volume of it in that incarnation. The problem was I stopped feeling the main character. I matured and evolved to a place where I could no longer relate, could no longer functionally channel her. One way or another, the entire story would n...

Apparently I have such a coffee kink that I have transformed into a mug collector. This is not something that happened consciously. But I got so excited about this new acquisition, that it caught me by surprise. So I started doing a mental tally of all the mugs I have. The octagonal diner cups; Taz; wolf; funny shapes and melded, marbled colors; the Cascade Mountains and now, Sergei's Luscious Neck. The latter two are posing here on the writing desk: Art, and Art. I can has Twins. Obviously they're fraternal, duh.  I gave up trying to get a portrait of Sergei that didn't have a glare. The mug is metal, so it's impossible I guess. A picture of Sergei, on a metal meg. Oh, the irony. *mwahahaha* But! Now He Can Come to Work With Me. Which is so awesome, I can't even describe. I am now officially a coffee mug whore. I expect I shall acquire one for each cover art, come to think of it. Because I'm loving this one so hard. I need to be transcribing. Two ...

Another "Dark Edge of Honor" giveaway! In case you missed your chance last week and want another stab, the benevolent Vivien Dean is holding a giveaway on her blog. Click the link above and leave a comment to enter. Giveaway ends 9 a.m. on Monday, 29 August. Open worldwide. *warnings* This book is a dark and gritty military science fiction novel, in addition to being a gay romance. It includes scenes of torture, dubious consent, and violence involving the main characters. You must be the age of consent in your country to receive the prize.

Not much to say today. Release week for DEoH has been a very unique and new experience for me. So I'll leave you with... Iron Mike, a photo essay.

I'd just like to say that it was thrill enough to see my and Aleks' book on the top of the "Most Popular" list weeks before its release. That alone was, to be honest, more than I'd dreamed of. But two days after, to have it sitting on the top yet again... I am humbled by the volume of attention this implies. From Aleks' fans, and others. Thank you. Seeing DEoH on that list will not get old, let me tell you. Curious to see how long it will stay  there, myself. Anyone willing to place some wagers? What are the odds? I'm not ordinarily the betting sort, to be honest. But I do love numbers. And I've no sales stats to play with, so I'm totally twiddling my thumbs right now. *twitches* Right. Like I don't have other stories to write, yeah? *laughs* Okay, I'll stop wishing for statistical data that I don't have access to, and sales figures that I can't have, and go back to what I get paid for. Giving Good Book. Oh, and all th...

DEoH is released for purchase, in both e-book and audio formats. I was so happy, I forgot to make a blog post yesterday. I spent the morning sleeping in, actually and by the time I rolled out of bed, I think my co-writer was starting to think the world really was  flat and I'd fallen off the edge and would never be heard from again. I made up for it by popping in on his fan-group chatroom and gabbing with the fans for a bit. And I still have no understanding of what algorithm this "Most Popular" list on Carina's website uses, but DEoH is sitting in second place. Page views? Purchases? I'm actually dying to know how they calculate that list ranking *lol* Kind of a "yeah my book's on there, but what's it mean? " sort of reaction. I'm looking forward to seeing the reactions and reviews of readers trickle in as they finish reading. Will be interesting to see. And I'm going to make an attempt at writing, later today, after I get this ...

I'm taking all of next week off from my regular day-job so that I can celebrate DEoH's release-- Snoopy-Dancing and Grinning Like an Institutionalized Loon. Without scaring the customers. It's not really  a vacation, because I'm still working, after a fashion. If it were a real vacation, I wouldn't be staying at home, that's for sure. If I could take a real  week's vacation, I'd be here: Best View Ever, Bora Bora Hammock. However, I'm not. I'm in my little writer corner all week long, availing myself to fans and readers and bloggers and such, doing all the marketing and promo stuff that a good little author does. [Yes, Good Little Author. Pat me on the head and give me a cookie now!] But I think I'll keep this picture handy. As my desktop background or something, perhaps. Because, woohoo, that's gorgeous ain't it? They have restaurants with extreme al fresco dining, where the tables and chairs are in the water. One d...

It's official: Black has found a home at Riptide Publishing . A newly formed, not-yet-launched small press, Riptide has gathered together a bevy of reputable names for its stable in its first-round selection. There's no such thing as open subs at this joint. It's by invitation or referral only. And Black is sitting pretty over there, grinning like a loon and feeling a tad bit out of place to say the least. Sort of like the college quarterback that gets picked up as a first-round draft pick by the team they've grown up rooting for. Then again, seeing as how I  am one of the first-round selections... perhaps that isn't an entirely accurate analogy. But it's kinda how the "n00b" over here feels. Just a wee bit. I mean, check out that list of authors! It's like a who's who in M/M. Makes me feel a little... well. A few different songs come to mind.

Mike is my character from the soon-to-be-released 'Dark Edge of Honor.' I’ve been acquainted with a number of different veterans and soldiers through the years, but there was one specifically—a person I don’t know, and never met—that sparked the beginnings of this story and was the avatar of the spirit behind him. Late in 2009, I stumbled rather deliberately upon the website of photojournalist Michael Yon and delved into the dispatches from his 2005 embed with deployed troops in Iraq. One of them stopped me in my tracks. Entitled “Gates of Fire,” (click here for the link to Yon's full dispatch) it recounted an incident involving the Deuce Four’s Lt. Colonel Kurilla and Command Sergeant Major Prosser which Yon witnessed, camera in hand.