A Light Through the Darkness

Memo: Recruitment information
From: Rear Admiral Ismael Hayden, Department of Magical Investigation, The Pentagon

If you are reading this, you have been selected to join a very select group of individuals. The Department of Magical Investigation is the only thing protecting this nation from danger of a magical or psionic nature. The recent upswing in activity has forced us to open our doors, and we look to you to help us control the situation.

You may have heard rumors that the StarChild has begun the Cleansing, and that the Four Horsemen have been unleashed. Despite what the nation has been told, this is in fact true. Attached is the brief with all the information you will need to begin your investigations. Read it, and then report back here for your next assignment.

Your country depends upon you. Do not disappoint us.

Attachment: Dark Moon Seasons Brief

Not only is it Friday, but it's a JEANS DAY Friday at work, so I'm very comfortable. The sun is shining, it's supposed to hit 70 degrees F today, and life is good. Royalty check came in yesterday, I have books, I just dropped books off at the post office for former contest winners and I'm contemplating writing again.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day as well! Don't forget to enter the contest for signed copies of Horseman, Seasons and Relief!!!

Yes, I will be uploading more, but you can check out what I have so far up here.

And yes, the fabulous designs that won my contest last year (yeah, I'm SOOO behind) will be up as well. I just have to upload the designs themselves.

If you review, or know someone who does, and would like a review e-copy of the upcoming Dark Moon Seasons, please email me at val at vg-ford dot com.

Yep, pro wrestling. Hubby and I adore watching it - it's so interesting to see the storylines! Really, the creative teams are impressive to me as a writer. And nope, not apologizing at all for that.

Today, I have writer's group at 3 pm, but I need to clean beforehand. Hubby was awesome and let me sleep until 11 am - I'm on my 2nd cup of tea and have had breakfast. Now, I need to start soup going and finish laundry before I head out. No writing today - I'm still in prewrite mode, but I'm bringing the computer with me and I'll upload what I have for Ally and Dan so far today.

I also need to get the press kit that I owe out (guilt, guilt!), finish the back cover for Seasons and do two crits for DII. I might be going on LOA again over there - depends on how family stuff goes. But right now, I want to do some while I can. And I'm working on some lovely gauntlets for a friend that I have to start today.

So here's the to-do list today:

1. Make chicken soup It's actually more like chicken a la king, although it might thin out as it cooks...
2. Fold and put away laundry
3. Put together and email press kit
4. Email Seasons back copy to Gwen
5. 2 crits for DII
6. Upload notes for Midsummer
7. Start Gauntlets
8. Pick up garlic bread

Okay, off to be productive. And I need more tea.

Day 1 of Happiness?

Finishing my Christmas story BEFORE Christmas EVE!

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In other news, Dark Moon Seasons has been turned into my publisher. As soon as I have dates, there will be a countdown clock.

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It is still snowing. Bleah.

**

I am off for the remainder of the day to play WoW with my sweetie and drink. It's a good thing.

Yay, I can see the weekend!!!

Thank you to everyone who sent me hugs - sorry I didn't respond before, but we were literally flat out. I finally got to sleep in this morning (until NINE! Bliss!) and woke in a pool of sunlight and kittens. I could get used to that.

So, here's the updates:

School: Passed Algebra with a 98 for the semester - go me! (I will deny unto my dying day the rumor that I never opened the book when I wasn't in class. I flipped through it when I got it...)

Paralegal - I'm not so sure. I'll find out next Monday. I'm HOPEFUL of a B - but we'll see. My class participation and two of my quizzes may have done me in.

Weight: I had no access to a scale yesterday, but I weighed in today!

Starting weight: 291 lbs.
Current weight: 289.6 lbs
Change: 1.4 lbs

I went up .2 lbs. Considering my eating habits for the past week (I was LIVING on junk food. And takeout. And cola.) I am very, very pleased with this. I didn't pack a lunch today (bad me) but I am drinking seltzer and iced tea and hot tea, not cola. And I will be home for a good meal for dinner. And I went for a walk today on lunch! It was GORGEOUS out - I was listening to the John Tesh Radio Show Wednesday night (go ahead, laugh, but it's got a TON of good information for your life, and lots of 80s soft rock), and apparently one of the best things for your blood pressure, especially in stressful situations, is a walk in the woods. And the NH woods are full of color now. If it's as sunny tomorrow, I might bring my camera with me.

Writing: Tonight, I'll be working on the edits for Snow. This weekend, after I send those off to the lovely domynoe, I'll pull out the edits for Seasons. And I still have to sign up at NaNo - I'm signing up and I'll be posting word counts, but it's going to be for Belladonna Dreams. My goal on that is to have it ready to go out the beginning of 2009.

Work: I made it through the three days of hell this week. I'm on the downward slope now. One month from tomorrow, I will start 401k training. I can make this. I can.

And I registered to vote today. Go me! Also indulged in a little retail therapy and bought two pairs of new shoes. I'm cleaning out my shoe closet tonight and donating most of them to Goodwill - I'm past my "omg they're so CUTE!" phase and into my "I need shoes that look good and have some support as well" phase.

Work: No packing last night - I'm contemplating coming in Monday and doing a bunch of stuff while no one is at work to bother me. We were busy, so I got good stats but no packing.

The good news? I'm not on the phones until TUESDAY. YAY!!!

School: The good news is that they've scheduled no OT for the first week of classes. But I still haven't heard from my director if I can get out at 4:30 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays when we don't have OT. I'm hoping so, but we'll see.

I got my books Tuesday, and I turn in my paper today, so this semester is in the books. Unless I totally bomb the paper (which I doubt), I should pull an A this semester too. If only I'd done this well in college the first time... oh well.

Writing: Snow continues apace. I need to get in touch with some folks regarding Elements and I need to get the revisions in for Seasons. I also have two crits I need to do for DII, and I need to clean my writing desk up. I'm also working on the first chapter for the podcast of Horseman - I'll be looking for some beta "listeners" for my efforts. Anyone want to volunteer? I'll warn you now - it's not going to be nearly as spiffy as Tee's stuff, but I'm hoping it won't be too horrible. I just need to make sure I'm audible and stuff. Email me or comment and let me know if you want this inflicted on you at some point in September.

Yes, I have typed THE END in Dark Moon Seasons!!!! Soooo exciting!

Now my editor gets it. :D And I get some time to work on Belladonna Dreams and Lavender.

Final metrics:

starting count: 85332
ending count: 88694
change: +3362

starting line:
Chaos Lords? What is she talking about? There are no such thing.. Diana followed Nikki’s gaze and her eyes widened. On the wall over Chrys’ head was a blur, a shimmer – two images trying to hold the same spot and failing. One was the image of St. Catherine that Chrys had said was speaking to her, leaning over her with a hand resting on Chrys’ shoulder. But the other…Diana blinked, hoping the image would go away, but it didn’t.

ending line:
And you, I will kill.

darling:
Doom couldn’t answer. As he stared at her, the front of the house exploded.

Power poured over them, spreading out like a deadly flood from the young man who stood in the shattered remains of the foyer, his eyes burning, and Doom did the only thing he could: he began to shoot, even as the officers around him began to scream in agony. The Horseman turned to look at him, and Doom faltered for a moment, then fired again. He clearly saw the bullet rip through the young man’s chest...and then the hole closed, and the Horseman pointed at him.

Doom felt his skin crawl, as if a hundred thousand ants had been dumped upon his hands, and looked down. Then he screamed.

The flesh on his hands was turning black and peeling away, revealing the disintegrating flesh beneath. He staggered backwards, the bloodstained gun falling from his nerveless fingers to discharge into the vehicle in front of him. The sounds of his own screaming faded from his ears, replaced with the pounding of a heart that was being slowly starved of oxygen as the blood that was supposed to flow in his veins poured from the remains of his hands. More blood began to pour from his nose as the Horseman continued to point at him, and Doom stumbled, falling to his knees in a pool of crimson.

His last coherent thought was that at least he’d tried to stop them.

**

utilitygeek, is that a good enough death for you? And you get several pages before that (and dialogue!)

starting count: 84380
ending count: 85095
change: +715

starting line:
Shit.

ending line:
For the second time in ten minutes, Diana’s world came to a stupefied halt as she stared at the girl who had haunted her dreams for most of the past two months.

darling:
She really hadn’t changed much: same blonde hair, same blue eyes, same cold haughtiness wrapped in almost childlike innocence. Funny how some people would look the same at sixty as they did at sixteen.

**

Someone's dead! And the showdown has started. We have Chrys, Nikki, Thom, Diana, Cleo and Alex all in one place.

Can we say boom, ladies and gentlemen?