Blinks Bleary Eyes

Zombie Sock Monkey would eat my brains...if I had any left!

Even I can’t believe how long it’s been since I last posted on the blog!

A few things have happened, like Thanksgiving here in the States.  It was a lovely meal with lovely family gathered together.  We held the big sit-down dinner at our house and the food (potluck) was wonderful! I am lucky to have a family full of great cooks!

Of course about a week before the holiday, I had the urge to spruce up the house a bit.  Usually I resist the urge and then the day before the event I find myself wielding a paintbrush.  So this year I gave in early, and with the hubby’s help, we painted our hallways and lower kitchen cupboards.

Hallway is a nice pumpkin-brown and white, and the lower cupboards are fire engine red.  Yes. That’s how we roll.

What else have I been doing? Writing!

The revisions for COLD COPPER, book #3 in the Age of Steam steampunk series landed at the same time as I needed to be putting together cover copy material for the new Shame and Terric book.  On top of that, of course, is the fact that I am currently still writing the Shame and Terric book and it is due the first of the year.

Last week I knocked out COLD COPPER revisions, rolling through 114,000 words, adding a few things I thought it needed, and addressing my editor’s suggestions.  Sent that off on Thursday.

Friday and over the weekend, I pulled together cover material for the Shame and Terric book.

For cover material, I gather up:

  • Series title ideas
  • List of possible book titles
  • Short “back cover style” description of book
  • Descriptions of main characters, clothing, and weapons, etc.
  • Photos of main characters
  • Scene ideas for the cover
  • Photos of scene ideas for the cover
  • A “chunk” of the book-in-progress for the back cover editors to pull excerpts from

Sent that off today.

Now the only deadline I have on my plate is to finish the Shame and Terric book by early January.  The book isn’t even halfway written. So I have a daunting mountain to climb in the next couple weeks, right in the middle of the holidays, natch.  But I must be perfectly honest here: the Shame and Terric book is a lot of fun to write, and Shame makes me laugh.  So even though I have a lot of words between here and The End, I know it’s going to be a fun ride!

Oh, and stay tuned.  As soon as my editor gives me the okay this week, I’ll announce the actual titles of the Shame and Terric series and (hopefully) the titles of both book 1 and book 2!  Who knows? I might even post an excerpt.

🙂

5 Comments

    • Devon

      Roswita–Here’s the notes I made on the zombie sock monkey. I hope they’re helpful!

      Zombie Sock Monkey Cozy was a modification of a couple different cup cozies, but the one I followed the most was Margaret MacInnis’s Mugg’s Monkey pattern:

      http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/muggs-monkey-coffee-cup-cosy-warmer-protector

      I loved the look of Franne’s Sock Monkey which is modified from Alejandra Quiroz George Sock Monkey pattern:

      http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/george—sock-monkey-cup-cozy

      so I used that “look” when piecing the regular sock monkeys together.

      Given the chance to knit the zombie sock monkey again, I’d do it all the same, except for the muzzle, which I would knit with short rows like the heel of a sock.

      Other hints on the zombie: Green, white, and red seemed like the best combinations of colors so that he was recognized as a sock monkey, and not as some kind of Frankenstein monster.

      The eye buttons were flat with a matte finish and a cloudy white streak through them. I tried dozen of buttons and those seemed the best. Remember to give your zombie a grin on one side of his stitched up mouth. He looks real cunning and sneaky that way.

  • Tanya M

    Oh I will beg and plead as much as you’d like for an excerpt from the Shame/Terric book!!! I cant wait to read the completed book when it comes out!!!

  • Deborah Blake

    You forgot to mention that you still have to be doing promo for Magic for a Price. There’s that, too.

    As a woman who spent last weekend doing mostly-final revisions on a 103K word book, you have my sympathy. And YAY SHAME!

    (Have you no Shame? No, not yet–Devon is still writing him.)

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