That is currently the word count for CURSE OF THE DJINN. I am so excited. I thought it was going to head towards 80,00 words but after chatting with Ms. Knowitall Kaz Mahoney aka kazdreamer and an intense discussion of word count etc.  I've revised the amount of wordage and also discovered that it was a weight off my shoulders...this means that not only will the book be shorter than initially thought, but also a faster book to write AND read.  And lo and behold, once those shackles fell off, the action started. 

I have also got a website to go with the book, even if it takes ten years to sell the book. Buying the domain name was a way to inspire me and keep me motivated.  My friend Neil C Ford from Twitter kindly helped me set up the site.  It's amazing.  I love it - it matches the book as it is a little dark and it has flames.  It suits me as I am a bit of a pyro.  ;-)

Here's the link to it - please let me know what you think: http://curseofthedjinn.com/ .  It is very new.  VERY new - 2 posts only.  Also, please leave comments on the site - that way it actually looks like people have stopped by!  It has to be moderated so I'll make sure to pop by and do my admin thing.

Other reasons why today is a winning day:

1.  Am currently reading suzannemcleod 's newest offering:  Cold Kiss of Death and it is genuinely good.  Suzanne is a heroine to me - I got the chance to read her first book in the series - Sweet Scent of Blood and I did enjoy it.  It was very well written but a bit hesitant in some places.  Gah - talk about author development from one book to the next!  No sense of hesitancy in Cold Kiss - it is just BAM! into the action with a strong voice for the heroine and situations that make you go, "oh crap"...

2.  Received some absolutely amazing books today in the post from various publishers, amongst them Robin Hobb's newest release: The Dragon Keeper published by HarperVoyager.  I am dying to read it - especially as she will be in the UK next week promoting it.  She will be doing a signing over at Forbidden Planet on Saturday, 13th July.  I don't own any of her other books anymore - I have read them so often both before we moved to the UK and whilst we were here, as they were released.  I gave them away since...am now very tempted to buy them again.  Especially as they've redone them in some lovely covers.

3.  My boss is now away in the States for a week - which means a relatively stress-free period for me, unless consultants decide to visit from afar.  *grumbles* this means touching up WIP and maybe actually getting a chance to write and having a real lunch as opposed to a snatched sarnie infront of the computer or kitchen.

4.  markdj1973  is giving me serious competition in the writing department - he has fallen into the habit of writing in the evenings with the same ease that he can DM a RPG.  Drives me nuts.  I love him/hate him.  But, at this moment in time, I am chuffed that he's writing and proud of it too as he's very good.  **Applauds!!**

And there are more reasons, I'm sure, but right now, I'm so drowsy from sitting in the park for a full hour - absolutely bliss.  I may "work" from the park tomorrow.

Wow.  Today was busy.  markdj1973 left at stupid-o-clock to go fishing.  I mean, it was like three a.m. or something, I kid you not.  I rolled out of bed at around eight and walked into the dining room and was faced with the books which had all arrived this week from various publishers.  I panicked and immediately started unpacking shelves, getting rid of duplicates into a crate or books I knew I would not read / aren't my scene to go to the charity shop on Friday, and shelving the books which had taken over the dining room table.

I felt a bit better but then discovered that I was starving.  So I had some toast and eggs.  Yum! I accidentally turned on Twitter and chatted for ages to various people.  Then decided that the books upstairs needed reshelving too.  So I did that.  Then I thought, wow, I really need to bake something as you know, I've not baked in ages.  So I trundled downstairs and discovered that I had no flour.  Oh noes! So then I had to put on some face powder and lippy as I am a bit ghostly without it and took myself off to the corner shop.

Got back home, had my spag bol from M&S for lunch and baked two lovely Victorian sponges from Rachel Allen's excellent Bake recipe book.  Then I plugged my memory stick into the laptop and started writing.  I managed a measly 2000 words.  Being distracted by research on plagues, the Louvre's Near East exhibition online and also more research into scrying and biblical times.

I am the queen of procrastination.  God.  I have no willpower at all.  If markdj1973 doesn't drag me off to a coffee shop to write, I genuinely waste my time at home - especially when I am on my own.  I always manage to "discover" things to do.  Oh, I also washed all our towels and almost killed myself by trying to frigging take down the curtains.  Am woefully too short for that.  I wanted to wash the curtains too.  Go figure. Oh, and I cleaned the kitchen.  But I didn't wash the floor. 

Then I also researched the competition I am using as a deadline for my WIP and am wondering if what I've done even remotely fits their remit.  But then, it's a completely open competition so who knows, right? The YA genre is massive, so maybe they would love an action adventure story set in modern times with twists of supernatural thrown in?

Ack! No self-doubt.  Go away.  Go away.

Time for some tv and dinner once the boy gets home with his hunter-gatherer fish he had caught. 

I am very very very very far from finished on WIP.  I snuck in a twenty minute high-voltage typing episode this morning though and have turned a very secondary minor character into an enigmatic stranger.  *shows off her writing muscles*

Then I thought...I wonder what it would look like when it's printed off?  So I did.  I printed off the WIP and it looks so pretty.  Also, it is such concrete evidence of my hard work up to now that it's encouraged me to not give up, to shove my doubts away and continue writing because dammit, I'm better than the doubts creeping around.

Off I go to lunch, clutching MS to read the most recent stuff to determine if I'm going the correct route.

Am a shiny happy Liz today.

1. Is Djinn packed with enough adventure? And is that adventure handled too glibly? i.e. not enough danger, easy ways out...
2. Is the writing any good? i.e. does my 14yo main character actually act / talk / appear as a 14yo character?
3. Am I creating too many talky episodes in which the two characters can figure out what their next step should be?
4. Should I send in a man with a gun...or more likely, a paranormal to threaten them a bit and scare them?
5. More importantly why the frigging heck am I doing this again?!?!?

It's silly, I know.  I think yesterday and today are complete write-off days for me.  I am in a MOOD.  And do you know what?  I totally blame the gorram moon.  Did you see it last night?  How could any sane person sleep? Honestly - it was fracking huge and glowy - what's up with that?

And you know what's even more annoying?  markdj1973 saying "There, there, little werewolf girl," in this patronising way. Argh!

It was funny, actually. But only much later.

I am going to try not to turn the tv on this coming week - just writing.  Lots and lots of writing. Sadly I have an entire office full of people here this week, so no sneaky writing either.  How is that for annoying?

On Friday afternoon I walked the long drudgy walk home from the station and happened past a group of young kids being shepherded along by their older sibling.

The older sibling was incredibly attractive in that way that only hyper-aware teen boys striving for coolness and succeeding at it to their own amazinement, can be.  In Britknee's words, paraphrased: no longer a boy, not yet a man.  I did a double take and tried to surreptitiously stare as they came walking towards me.  Here was the perfect heartbreak hero for any teen novel ever written. 

He looked American - too well dressed for my neighbourhood in which the teens tended to chavness. Well kept medium length hair, wearing one of those weird floppy snood type hats which I've only ever seen Josh Hartnett and Johnny Depp pull off successfully.  He had on a pair of jeans that actually fit as opposed to the ones the boys wear these days that either make them look like they have crapped in their trousers or  jeans so tight they have no hope in ever fathering kids in their lives (this is not necessarily a bad thing!).  He had on a t-shirt over which he wore a boys' cardigan.  He looked, for lack of a better phrase, well turned out.  And I think this is what took me by surprise.  He was attractive - boy next door attractive - but the way he carried himself and spoke to his younger charges made me grin to myself.  He just FIT the role of so many young male characters I've been reading about recently in my YA novel reading.  He also made me think about my own male character I am writing about. 

And because I was grinning at him as they strolled past, I think he may have thought I was ogling him in an inappropriate way...but really all it was was thinking "Yeah, I can quite easily transform my main character in Djinn to dress and act similarly."  Clearly well turned out boy was thinking: "I should listen to mom more and wear decent clothes cos even old crones like that one fancied the pants off me."

As you can tell from the subject heading, we went to see Star Trek.  I remember watching the show when I was little but have never really watched it with the intensity that some others have, so my history and knowledge of ST is a bit rubbish.

Having said that, I LOVED the Romulans as they were portrayed last night.  Eric Bana did an excellent role as Nero and every time they came on screen I squirmed a little in happiness as boy, they look like punk space elves with guns, tattoos and a kick-ass attitude.  I love Eric Bana.  I love the Romulans.  I am a ba-a-a-d girl.

And proud.

I have two competitions running over at my blog at present - www.myfavouritebooks.blogspot.com .

The first is: win a party favour from THE KEEPER by Natasha Mostert - I'm not telling you what it is, but it is so cute and original, you'll want it!  Rules are on the blog on the right hand side of the page.  This one is open world-wide.

Second competition: if you are keen to read about the first female Templar in modern society, enter the competition for Sarwat Chadda's The Devil's Kiss, published by Puffin Books this week.  It is a wild ride people - I have five copies of The Devil's Kiss to give away, so do enter.  Please note:  UK citizens only.

We had a blas at Sci Fi London this weekend - long ass blog on the blog about it, along with a description of some of the panels we attended. I've not put this up on the blog yet, but there is a freebie from Sci Fi London which we will give away - an address book with the Sci Fi London logo decal on the cover - nifty address book made from some kind of metal-type material.  So, indestructable, methinks.  I've not thrown it at the wall yet.  So, if you are interested in this one, comment below and I'll choose a winner later this week.  UK only, purely because it is so gorram heavy!

Onto other non-advertising news - made tremendous headway with the YA novel yesterday - wrote and wrote and wrote and am now convinced I've got no more story left in my head...so need to refeul and am currently reading two amazing novels: SJ Bolton's Awakening and Midwinter by Michael Sturgiss.  Two very different books, coming from different places but people, they are amazing.

Have also found the interview on the BBC's website with the creator of Being Human - which is an excellent and inspiring read.  Also, for £1.99 pop over to Amazon and buy a copy of Lola Jaye's absolutely life affirming, dream reaching booklet called Reaching for the Stars.  An amazing read brimming with lessons and positive vibes - even if you think it's not for you, trust me, it is.  I am not the huggy feely type (must remain hardheaded blogger!) but this had me in gales of giggles and tears and I attribute my word-vomit this weekend past on the YA totally to Reaching for the Stars.

That's all for now!  Enter the competitions, they're free!

Yay! kazdreamer is back! Let insanity commence / continue.  I miss my email buddies loads when they disappear away on holiday / business / studying - people like Kaz and skarrah and tinachristopher keep me grounded during the week and evenings when it feels like I'm losing it.
 
On Thursday it is hubby's (markdj1973 ) birthday and I've been panicking for ages what to buy him.  So instead of one thing I've decided on several things.  Hopefully he'll like his treats.  If not, he can forget about dinner for the next month!

This weekend is Sci Fi London and I am very excited as this is the first year that they are doing panels and talks about writing, genre writing, etc.  Check it out: http://www.sci-fi-london.com/festival/2009/programme/lab/ .

It is also the Hastings Green Man Festival and we try to go when we can.  However, we were planning to go this year but I've just discovered that there may be a blogger get together in London and to be frank, I'd rather hang out with bloggery mates than travel all the way down to Hastings and get stuck in traffic.  So maybe I send Mark off to Green Man Festival and I attend the blogger drinkies event and then we can swop notes?

I'm running this mini horror blog over at www.myfavouritebooks.blogspot.com and there is an interview with Joseph D'Lacey, author or Meat and Garbage Man.  I have got THREE copies of Garbage Man to give away by the end of this week.  So far, I have one entry from the UK and several from abroad, which I can't honour as the competition states UK only and several others (which I've determined is spam, wanting to sell me various questionable items).

So, if anyone is in the mood to read some horror this Summer - pop over to the blog and enter the comp! Simply email us via the blog's email address and your name will go into a hat - you'll get an email on Friday to say if you've won...if you've won.

No, it's not me auditioning for the next Romero movie...or in fact, for the next Pirates of the Caribbean flick...I just feel like I need more brains. 

The week in Malta was lovely - got to relax and be genuinely pleased when we got home.  There genuinely is no place like home, even if the weather is a bit ech. Then we had Eastercon which was simply amazing - I had so much fun.  And both Mark and I got recognised by various authors and people because of the blog so that is truly flattering. And we spoke to so many authors and people in the industry - plus we went to various panels and I got several books signed by various authors...my name is up for next year's Con already!

But since all of that, I've been struggling to function properly.  It's like I left half my brain in Bradford...or along the A1.  I had some break throughs about my WIP (thanks to brainstorming with Tina and Mark) and also plotting wise and getting various artefacts researched enough that they look viable in the context of the writing. But that's it.  I've not written more than 1000 words in about two, now almost three weeks.  And when I open the document to work on it, I literally merely pootle along at such a slow pace that grannies in their zimmerframes can bypass me at speed, leaving me in the far distance. And it's not even that I've lost my enthusiasm for my story, I haven't - I think about it constantly! - I just feel like I can't escape this dull droning in my head.  I hate it, I hate how completely useless it makes me feel. It's like I've trapped the story in my head and the plot and story is trying to batter their way out of this invisible square.

To be honest, I think I am tired.  Late nights and very early mornings, running around at work like a lunatic whilst other people are on holiday, getting home late, reading as much as I can so I can keep MFB going, interviewing people, setting up meetings and dates, plotting interview questions, writing reviews well enough in advance so that I am ahead of the pack - it does not make for a very creative atmosphere.  And after watching a few minutes of The Dog Whisperer last night, and listening to this couple chat about the changes they had to make in their lives in order for their dog to be  happy and how who they are reflected on their dog...I stopped short.  Changes? What are they?  But then I started thinking...

When last did I have a weekend free - both days - where I could indulge in writing?  When last didn't I connect to the internet to twitter and network? When last did I cook a simply stunning meal for the pure joy of it, instead of just throwing something together for a quick dinner because it was late?

And so I've resolved: changes are being made from this weekend on: long lazy weekends are a must.  Two books a week to read, no more (I usually have about four or more going) than two, did you hear me?!?  No more endless twittering or facebooking - it is just an excuse.  I will bring my laptop into work every day from now on, until Curse is finished - I can write in my local Starschmucks or even the park as I have a set of keys to it - but only when it's sunny. I will also have to write in the evenings - so, light fresh dinners - i.e. grilled fish or chicken and salads which will take a minimum of fuss to prepare but they count high in tastiness and healthness. Weekends will be geared to larger meals and inviting friends around.  Realised that - apart from Tina who swung by Monday this week - we've not had any of our friends over to our house since last year...which is unheard of.  We used to entertain so much - at least twice a month. Maybe we should move the books out of the passage so they can find the dining room and lounge...

So, this is my resolve: get it written, tidy up the life!

Thanks for listening...

My friend Jamie sent this onto me and ye gods, I just have to share it - it is just that bit .... wow.

I have come down with a head cold - not as bad as the one I had over Xmas and NY, but pretty bad.  And it's completely wiped me of energy and the will to live.  I am in work, with nothing to do.  I am considering going home but am stricken with guilt - as going home is close to a) giving up and b) skiving off = none of which I am good at.

But it makes complete sense at the end of the day - I don't want to be sick over the weekend as there is an FP signing happening and we will be visiting friends on Sunday.

On the other hand, the week has been made up out of some good too - have had some lovely young adult/teen books turn up to review from various publishers and have managed to up my grand total of the WIP for the Chickenhouse competition to 14k, so that's pretty good. Have also been invited to a Scholastic author event this evening which I will definitely attend - I am geek enough to go, no matter what.  Besides, I want to meet author MG Harris who has written the Joshua Files and which I am finding very entertaining to read.

Further good news: we leave for Malta next week Friday - colour me happy.  Yet another reason to shake this bloody cold. I am looking at what books to take with.  Do I take one chunky book to read or do I take several slim ones?  Naturally the laptop will be going with so I will get some "work" done.  Apparently the hotel has free wireless internet - hmmm. I may be able to Twitter and LJ once we get there...or I can practice not knowing how to use teh internets at all!

I was in fits of laughter this morning when I heard this on the news - in fact, I was laughing so much I couldn't actually do my make-up and I had tears running down my face.  Then Mark pointed out that the actual article was on the BBC website which I subsequently had to find it so that I could repost it here .  I am not laughing at the actual home-invasion, I am sure that must have been terrifying - I am merely laughing at the hero's first thought that a lunatic ninja was attacking them.  Because, you know, lunatic ninjas do that often.  Especially in Australia. 

The article from the BBC website

A man in Australia suffered scratched buttocks and shredded underpants wrestling with a kangaroo after it smashed through his bedroom window.

Beat Ettlin, his wife and daughter cowered beneath their blankets as it jumped on their bed.

But it then bounded into the room of the Ettlins' young son, who screamed, and Mr Ettlin was forced to act.

Mr Ettlin struggled to get the hopping marsupial into a headlock and drag it to the front door.

Shoved outside, wounded, it disappeared into a nearby reserve outside Canberra.

Inside, the animal - which Mr Ettlin said was about his own height, 5 ft 9 in (175cm) - had gouged holes in the furniture and smeared blood over the walls as it bounced around the house.

"I just kept holding the covers over my head and felt the kangaroo jumping on top of us," recalled Mr Ettlin's wife, Verity Beman.

She described her husband as "a hero: a hero in Bonds undies" - referring to a brand of underwear popular in Australia.

Mr Ettlin, who is 42 and originally from Switzerland, described himself as a lucky man.

"My initial thought when I was half awake was, 'it's a lunatic ninja coming through the window'," he said.

Kangaroos are common around the outskirts of Canberra, but only rarely invade homes, experts say.
 

Am proudly 11k into my current WIP for the Chickenhouse / Times children's author competition.  Only about 65k to go, at a push.

*is nervous*

*but excited*

I make no qualms about it - I am a sucker for a pretty cover. 

So, when I spotted Wildthorn, published by PanMacmillan here in the UK, I gots to have it!  So I set the ball rolling, not expecting anything for a couple of days at least...

And I just got back to my desk from lunch and there it was...waiting for me.  So very pretty...



I've skimmed the first page and it looks very interesting indeed.  Will report back with a review. 

As someone who works in the West End, it's become commonplace for me to spot famous people - between markdj1973 we've spotted:

Madonna (she almost ran me over on her stupid bicycle)
Timothy Dalton
David Walliams
Julian Sands
Purdy...I forget her name...the woman from Absolutely Fabulous - ah, Joanna Lumley
Crocodile Dundee actor - also drawn a blank on his name
Tom Cruise
Bill Clinton - eejit got the entire Waterstones on Piccadilly closed because he happened to be there!
Johnny Depp, just glimpsed
and others I can't remember right now as I've had too much sugar...

and last night, we got to spot:



Marton Csokas - he was in XXX with Vin Diesel, he was also in Lord of the Rings and various other movies including Kingdom of Heaven etc.

It took me quite a little while to figure out who he was - he was with an elderly couple and a lovely young woman at Browns on St Martin's Lane for dinner.  I spotted him and mentioned to Mark and our friend Lida, whom we were having dinner with, that there was a celev at the next table.

Mark took it in his stride, Lida however almost fainted.  She is not used to London or the West End.  She comes from a teeny town in Scotland, two hours away from Edinburgh by train.  She ogled Marton and then couldn't stop laughing, saying she is keen to move to London, if she could celebrity spot all the time.  Hee hee - it made us laugh.  You get so used to seeing famous / semi-famous people that you don't even really WANT to notice them because it would sort of shatter your own veneer of coolness.  But it was nice to see a good looking guy treat whom I assumed was his girlfriend and the elderly couple, with such grace and affection.  It sort of shatters the Hollywood stereotype of the bad boys wreaking havoc wherever they can!

Dinner again tonight in the West End.  The partying just never stops!

For those of you who do not know this amazing author, all I can say is: shame on you and get reading! 

He is one of Spain's foremost authors and his works have been translated in several languages, including English.  And very well, I may add, with vivid descriptions and interesting characters. 

One of his characters of his most recent novels is called Captain Alatriste - the book was made into a movie starring Vigo Mortensen and I don't think we've seen it in the UK yet - but by all counts, it looks daring and wild - pretty much the same as the books. 

One of is earlier books, The Dumas Club, was filmed too and starred Johnny Depp - the movie was called The Ninth Gate.  It did not do justice to the book, at all.

This is a quote from Mr. Perez-Reverte's site which I find tremendously inspirational:

Erasing the boundary between history and fiction, and in the end being unable to differentiate between the real and the imagined, is a source of particular pleasure for the author. After all, that is why I write novels.

I personally have come across two books recently by authors who did this:  Jo Graham's (jo_graham ) newest Hand of Isis and Marie Brennan's (swan_tower ) Midnight Never Come.

I've completely lost why I started this random rambling...oh, the quote.  Are there quotes out there, readerly, writerly, personally, that you find motivates and inspires you?  I also have a coan, as I'm writing something I think to myself:  "How would Guilermo del Toro film this?"