Divagations

nikkigrind, sorry this took so long. I actually haven't seen any of the movies, so it was a bit of a head-scratcher. I hope the result isn't too bad. It's been so long since i wrote in this verse... So here we go. 400 words of Spike~Maryan bonding. I hope you'll enjoy.

( Bad Boys )

1. As i was telling my dearest <lj user=kantayra> a few minutes after midnight, being 31 doesn't feel any different from 30. And 30 didn't feel all that different from 18. I keep waiting for the day when I'll feel 'grown up', and it's still not there.

2. Hubby baked me pancakes this morning. And he's supposed to bake me a marble cake later.

3. Just released a new story today, called Blurred Nights. If you remember my Blurred Bloodlines/Memories fanfics, this story and the two that will follow are loosely based on these. I've got sample chapters on my writing website if you want a peek.

4. First birthday in my new home. W00t!

5. Gay ninjas are frighteningly addictive.

6. My loot this year... Got an eliptical trainer machine from hubby - although i've had it for 2 months now. Got a coral bracelet from my brother - although it was just a random gift i happened to receive yesterday. Got a shirt from my parents - although it's stuck somewhere in the mail. And i'll buy myself a watch band sometime today as i've been watchless for a week and i hate not having a watch.

7. I will send good vibes toward <lj user=darsynia> but i will not bug her.

8. <lj user=riccadonna> made me a birthday drawing! It's got Spike in it! *loves*

9. On my current tv-watching list, in no particular order - Heroes, House, Primeval, the Sarah Connor's chronicles, Supernatural, Project Runway, Pushing Daisies, Naruto.

10. I lied. I'm too boring to find 31 things to say.

*facepalm* If someone find my life, can you please return it to me? I swear, it feels like i haven't had a minute to myself since i started the new job. Between the commute and the long hours, i'm out of the house 11 hours a day. I'm suddenly wondering why i wanted a house so much when all i can do when i get home is chill on the sofa. Or rake leaves. *shakes fist at stupid damn-old-and-damn-big ashtree*

Of course, i feel like i have no life, and at the same time i've managed to write almost 40K worth of naruto fic in the past month. I don't think i've ever written a buffy fic that fast - and i *know* i don't write original fic anywhere near that speed. Damn but those gay ninjas are addictive :P

My weekend list behind the cut, <lj-cut text="nothing to see, move along">

-> post podcast #6
-> bug Darsy about next chapters
-> edit Blurred Nights
-> bug 'tayra about rest of BN
-> write chapter 3 of Haldae
-> bug someone about betaing it
-> update website
-> make some noise about release of Rules & Rewards
-> write 3000 words of OOTB8 (just imagine they're gay ninjas and just GET WRITING, damnit!)
-> rake leaves
-> water what needs to be watered
-> pull out some weeds
-> transplant parsley
-> clean bathroom
-> fold laundry
-> get on that damn torture machine for 2 hours over 2 days
-> straighten living room
-> straighten computer room
-> straighten bedroom #2
-> clean kitchen
-> put soup to cook for monday night
-> tell 'tayra how much she rocks
-> stop procrastinating
-> take hubby to see that hutch thing
-> play taxi sunday
-> figure out what i want for my birthday and tell my mom

With the new job killing me ded every day, i almost forgot i had a story coming out today... *facepalm*
It's one more installment in the Out of the Box series. At the origin, this was two very short Buffy fics - I can hardly believe what it has become after two years of playing with it! I would certainly not have taken it so far if it had remained a fanfic. Three more installments to come, and the story of Anando and Virginia will be told. I already know i'll miss them when that happens...

I'm putting an excerpt behind the cut if you care to have a look <lj-cut>

I did as he said, more aware now that I didn't have the protection of
the jacket anymore that I had never worn so little in public. It felt
as though all eyes were on me.

"Good girl," Anando murmured as though guessing I needed to be
reassured. "Now go down to the dance floor. I want to see you dance in
this dress."

I almost started asking him if he would dance with me, and remembered
at the last second that he hadn't asked me a question. I managed,
also, not to look around for him. I knew he had to be there, very
close, and just seeing his eyes would have helped me go on, like his
voice had. I breathed in deeply as I moved over to the staircase and
started walking down to the lower level of the club. I kept repeating
to myself that I needed to follow his voice, and that nothing else but
his voice existed. The people around me, the eyes following my path,
were of no consequence. My own desires were secondary. Anando would
take care of them, and me.

"Doing very well, Virginia," he praised me when I reached the dance
floor. "Very well, indeed. Dance for me. Just follow the music. Raise
your head a little… yes. Just like that. Do you know how beautiful you
are?"

With my head thrown back, I could finally see him, leaning against
railway of the catwalk just above the dance floor. Before I knew it, I
was smiling. Every step I had taken so far had been for him; now it
was easier to tell myself that there was no one here but him, no one
seeing me but him. Never looking away, I passed my tongue over my lips
and ran my hands along my body, not really touching but giving a
convincing illusion of it, if the way he shifted before discreetly
adjusting himself was any clue.

"Are you wet, Virginia? Do you enjoy putting yourself on display for
me like this? I know I am enjoying it very much."

"I am too, Anando."

Just as I finished talking, a man stepped in front of me and, meeting
my eyes and smiling at me, joined my dance. I started moving back, but
Anando stopped me.

"Go ahead, dance with him. Put your hands on his shoulders."

I didn't want to. My Lady, you know how much I didn't want to. Anando
wanted me to do it, however, and that was the game I had chosen for
us. So, I did as he asked. The man in front of me smiled more widely,
but it was the approval in Anando's voice that made me relax.

"Yes, like that. Get closer to him. Can you make him hard, Virginia?
Can you make him as hard as you made me? Don't answer. Just show me."

...


~~

http://www.alinarpublishing.com/books.php?title=Out%20of%20the%20Box%207

Alinar released another of my short stories today. It used to be a Wes/Willow fic... until I completely rewrote it and doubled the number of words!

It's a bit different for me for two reasons. First, there are still vampires in the story, but they are secondary characters for once and let humans have the center stage. I know, i was shocked too :P
Also, this is a somewhat darker story than what I often write - darker throughout, and with an
ending more ambiguous than the traditional HEA.

Yesterday i posted an audio excerpt on my podcast and website read by the wonderful darsynia. And there's also a different excerpt on the Alinar site if you want to give it a try.

And again... W00t!</lj>

I have a job!

The commute is going to be hell, it's only part time and the hours are urgh, but hey! Job! Shiny!

I have curtains! W00t! 75% off at Bed Bath and Beyond and they look pretty nice methinks. I do need to take pictures soon.

In non house-related news, i posted a new installment to my podcast/audiobook. W00t again! If you want to see/hear, go to http://original.kallysten.net/podcast.html

And I have a request... if you know someone who likes audiobooks and you think might a vamp romance podcast, I'd be very grateful if you passed along the link and suggested they give it a try. :)

I don't know which of my neighbors does it, but someone brings my trash cans from the curb to my garage after the garbage truck comes around. I wish i knew who it is so i could thank them. Very nice neighbors all around, so far.

So, after a week, the boxes are almost all undone. I've got 4 or 5 boxes left to unpack. There's still stuff lying here and there, but i'll get back to it when i'm done typing this and hopefully make my living room presentable.

My first project was to make a wooden frame above the fireplace and we mounted the tv in the middle. It looks pretty neat if i do say so myself, though i still need to varnish the wood. I'll post pics, probably tomorrow.

Just to keep track... ( cut 'cause it got long )

Apartment --> empty
House --> full of boxes and furniture
Kally's feet --> ouchy
Kally --> ded
bank account --> getting emptier with every trip to Home Depot

and now i will eat pie. Because i have pie and i worked hard doing the moving stuff since saturday and today i had an interview and i'm not sure how i managed to be coherent but the guy seemed happy with what he heard and tomorrow i have to keep unpacking and painting above the fireplace so we can put up hubby's flatscreen tv so that i can finally watch any olympic event at all and run off sentences are evil and i'm off.

PS - Did i mention i iz ded?

-> kantayra, bless her evil soul, corrupted me thoroughly. She lured me into the Naruto fandom and i'm actually writing fanfic for it. The scary part is that i'm writing that more easily than i've written jossverse fic or original stories in quite a while.

-> i'm posting again on LJ and fanfiction.net. I guess I can't hold grudges. Not abandoning IJ, though. I actually do like Tweak.

-> we signed the papers for the house yesterday. We get the keys Friday. Move should be over by Monday/Tuesday. Meep.

and the lie... -> i found a job. It's a lie because as necessary as subbing may be for my employers and for my bank account, i HATE it.

Pick 10 people and give them the "you make my day" award in no particular order. If you're picked, you are charged with picking 10 of your own (unless you've already done it).

♥ kantayra
♥ sockherder
♥ debxena
♥ ladycat777
♥ darsynia
♥ moscow_watcher
♥ greenstone
♥ marishna
♥ thisficklemob
♥ fierceanteater

Now, be honest. Raise your hand if you think it's ridiculous it took me more than a month to write a 1000 words epilogue.

*raises both hands*

In my defense, i was totally caught in my next novel-length ebook, which i finished this weekend at 61k. It's called Blurred Nights and it should be out for my birthday and i'm terribly excited and nervous to hear what my dearest 'tayra will say about it.

But i was talking about A New Dawn, wasn't I? I owe replies to comments and i'll try to do that today. So don't be surprised if you get long overdue comments notices :P

iseult1124, here's the epilogue to your story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it. I'll give it a last edit and send the entire thing to you soon if you want.

And to all the readers who cared enough to leave feedback, whether it was once or for every chapter - thank you. If/when i write more fanfic, it'll be because of/thanks to you.

Previously on AND: Spike did something very stupid. Or very courageous. Buffy is still debating which it was.

( Read more... )

I've recently joined an authors' critic group. some of the advice i've received there, a lot of it about 'tightening' my writing, is invaluable and i hope i can learn from it. Other stuff leaves me intensely frustrated.

What i submitted to them was the first chapter of my next vamp novel. A couple of the group members have commented on how vampires are passe, and nobody writing vamps ever found success since Anne Rice. (Just there... lots of snerking on my part. Anita Blake/Twilight series, just to name the two that popped to the top of my head). I'm all for getting criticism about *how* i'm writing, but the questioning about *what* i'm writing doesn't strike me as too constructive. I write what pleases me, what i have fun writing. Promise me i'll become a bestseller author by writing the next 'american novel' and i still will write vamps/supernatural because i can't write what i don't enjoy.

Second point of frustration from me... i'm getting criticism for using 'cliche' (vampires with above-human strength and senses for example) and the same people complain when i break the cliches (why, no, my vamps don't turn into homicidal maniacs when they smell blood, why should they?). Looks like a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of thing to me.

So, yeah. Venting here as it is considered bad form to argue on the group. I think i'm going to take the actual sentence writing advice, and not pay too close attention to the 'vamp' comments

Apparently i'm unable to do something without guilting myself into it these days. Fun. Let's see what I should have done in the past week and procrastinated on.

-> chapter 18 of Blurred Nights
-> chapter 19 of Blurred Nights
-> chapter 20 of Blurred Nights
-> epilogue of Blurred Nights
-> edits on Blurred Nights
-> epilogue of A New Dawn
-> next part of Sweeter
-> answer feedback and good wishes
-> email L.
-> send podcasting except to Darsynia
-> remove switchplates
-> pack bedroom
-> call electricity people
-> call phone people
-> call mortgage people

home front
-> we found a new house (!)
-> we made an offer, got a counter offer and recountered in turn
-> our last offer was accepted (!)
-> we signed the new mortgage papers
-> we went to three different insurance agencies, spent between 45 minutes to 2 hours (!) in each getting quote on home insurance, car insurance and life.
-> we had the house inspected this morning. A few weird electrical stuff, the garage door doesn't close properly, we were hunting down the phone outlets, there might be asbestos around some pipes (yikes!) and squirrels apparently think the attic is nice, but no deal breaker so far.
-> waiting to talk back to our agent to see what to do about the electrical and maybe!asbestos situation.

writing
-> i've been on a good streak writing a vamp novel i should have finished a week ago. I'm hoping to finish next week.
-> i haven't touched Sweeter in far too long, and for that i apologize to my filter!readers. I haven't given up on the story, i've just been both very busy elsewhere and a bit stuck as to how i want to proceed next. I don't want to throw characterization completely through the window so i'm thinking this one through.
-> the epilogue of A New Dawn... *sigh* it's coming, i swear. I know what i'm going to write and how it'll end. I just don't manage to get it out when i open the file. I think part of my problem comes from not having a fic lined up after this one. I do want to keep writing in the jossverse and i guess i'm a bit afraid that if i finish this one without knowing what i'll write next, i won't write anything at all. Sorry to those of you who are waiting for it.

job
-> nothing to say

movies
-> recently saw Wall-E, Wanted and Hancock. Enjoyed all 3 very much.

I just launched a podcast for my original stories, starting with Aria & Will, which was my free serial for a year and half. The lovely Darsynia from LJ does the reading and i edit the file with some music and transitions. Very fun to do... and fun to listen to, i hope. Give it a try if you want, and tell me what you think

http://original.kallysten.net/podcast.html

Honestly, you'd think i murder kittens in my spare time with the karma i have.

The house we put an offer on? The bank accepted someone else's offer on it.

I think i'll just go back to bed and stay there a month or two.

I had an interview two weeks ago. I didn't say anything because i didn't want to jinx it. I shouldn't have worried about that. They weren't interested in me. I should have known, seeing how i applied last year and they didn't care for me then either. There's just no openings and i have this feeling come september i'll be back to being a day to day sub. Fantastic. Sometimes i wonder why i decided teaching would be a good idea. I had a boring but safe job in a bank, when i quit to go teach my manager said she was sorry, and that she would have recommended me for a promotion if she had known i wanted something better. I wish i could get a do over, stay with the bank, not get 20k in debt for college, and not have to worry every frakking summer about what i'll do next school year.

I'm so tired of it actually that i've been looking at random job apprenticeships. I could become a bricklayer. wait. Bad back. That'd never work. Electrician? Why not. I'd love, love, love to find some kind of craft apprenticeship that could end in a job like they feature on This Old House like restoration, working with glass or tiles. There's nothing like that in Cleveland as far as i can find, though. And can you tell i have way too much time to watch DIY network?

Going to end the rant now.

To those of you waiting for the AND epilogue - it's coming. The muse is not amused by the lack of job situation, but it''ll come.

Hubby had the day off so we went to see a double feature. First Wanted, then Wall-E. Which brings me to these observations.

a. Whiplash like whoa
b. I simply cannot get enough of Morgan Freeman swearing. It's always so unexpected, it cracks me up to no end.
c. Now i want to read the comic Wanted was based on. Of course i'll probably be disappointed, but maybe not.
d. Wall-E is made of cute.
e. Another thing that cracks me up: BNL could easily be replaced by Disney and it would all still make sense. Which makes me wonder if Pixar was developing Wall-E before Disney bought them. Or if they did it after. Either way, rather ironic.
f. Loved and recommend both, though they could hardly be any more different from each other.

Well, it looks like i'll be down in Columbus on Friday and saturday for Origins. Anyone else going?