Paint

Been in the process of painting my house the past week or so. It's something I've been meaning to do for a long time now, but never found the time or energy for it. Then, I woke up on a mission to get rid of all the beige ugliness in my house. I'd chosen colors long ago, and my rental company approved them AND told me I wouldn't have to repaint when I eventually move, so it was just my laziness keeping me from the work.
I'm done with the dining room, kitchen, master bed, bath and separate shower/toilet area. All in a lovely pale violet-silvery-grey. Next is the living room, but I'll need a ladder to finish it. In any case, I'm quite proud of myself. And, my house looks so much prettier for the effort!

Stuff

Finally got to talk to my mom about Penny #1. She's always very busy and hadn't had time to read it until a few weeks ago. She had a few little edits for me, but nothing major, which was a bit surprising - I thought she'd be a lot more critical. The one word she didn't seem to like me using was "stuff". It actually made me laugh the number of times she pointed it out, saying it sounded juvenile, when it was usually part of a character's dialogue. I try not to edit when people are speaking, only because it's the way people speak. Not everyone can form perfect sentences every time they open their mouthes, so it would make sense that Odette would say something like "Yeah, I know it's weird and stuff, but I'm cool with it." Actually, I did use the word "stuff" where I could have used the word "shit", but I think there's enough swearing in the book already LOL! She said she really liked the book overall, and she reads all the time, so she's got a good handle on things.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit more confident now that I have her approval. Its not that I need it, but it's nice to have all the same.

Sometimes, when I second-guess myself, I worry that I don't have the dedication it takes to become an author...
Then I tell myself to STFU and get back to typing XD

Video games

I am horribly addicted to video games. However, I was not impressed with the new Skyrim that everyone seems to be on about. I ended up trading it in for the new Spyro game, Skylanders. Have to say, kinda love it. Now the problem is that the little figures that you need to play the game are IMPOSSIBLE to find. I guess everyone got the game for christmas, so every store that carries them is currently sold out (on a side note, Monster High seems to be sold out everywhere too...).

So, now my goal for the week is to re-write chapter 1 of Penny #1. Why? Because, while I'm very happy with it and the information it gives to the reader, it's not one of those "grab the readers from the first paragraph" chapters... Granted, some of my favorite books aren't that type (Dead Until Dark, the first Sookie Stackhouse book has a slow-ish start, but I still loved it), but it seems that if I don't make it instantly interesting, I may not get a publisher... Now, it's just a matter of changing the plot slightly and keeping everything together enough that I don't lose it all together.
All this while ignoring the call of the video games *looks at the TV in the living room*.
This is not going to be easy.

I need a massage.

But, then again, who couldn't benefit from one? I think that'll be my quest for the day.

Power Struggle

You never know how important having electricity is until it's gone. My power has been out since noon, and no one at the power company can give me a straight answer as to why, but they keep changing the estimated time it will be back on. 3:30, 5:00, 5:30, 7:00... No idea what it is now, I'm sick of calling them... My entire street is out, but once you turn the corner my neighbors have power, so it feels a little creepy driving in here.
Zombie apocalypse on Majorama Dr!!! Actually, that's not a half bad book title LOL!

Medieval Times

I'm sitting outside the Kissimmee Medieval Times while I wait for some friends to arrive. As I'm sitting here, I wonder to myself if I'll ever write anything historical. The first romances I ever read were historical, but I honestly don't think I'll ever write one, solely because I don't know enough about day to day living of the time. That's not to say that I wouldn't want to learn about them, I just think I like the modern era much better. I do think I could, someday, write a fantasy that was somewhat medieval, but I think I'd rather create my own world for that.

Anyway, I'm off to see my friends as the Prince and Princess tonight, and smile because they are one of the sexiest couples I know lol!

Covers

Got the disappointing news today that I will most likely have NO say in my cover art... This really sucks, as I'm SO picky about covers! Hell, I won't even buy a book most of the time if I think it has a stupid/ugly/boring/laughable cover! Not unless a friend or friends recommend it to me strongly! Even then, I have to roll my eyes at some of the pictures.

Also, I know I want my cover to be striking - something that would prompt an inquisitive soul to ask the reader, if they saw them with the book, what the book is and is about. Something graphic or unusual. I dunno... Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but people DO judge books by their covers, and I've already compromised my name so I didn't alienate my audience, why would I want a cover that would compromise it further?

I write therefore I am.

Was just given the unsolicited "advice" that I shouldn't write the second book if I haven't sold the first one yet. You know what I say? Fuck that. Even if no publisher on earth wants to buy Penny (which, I'm pretty confident will NOT be the case), I'm STILL going to write the second. And third. And fourth. And you know why? Because I want to.
An artist creates because she has the passion to create; Not because she wants the world to unanimously enjoy it, not because she wants to make money, but because she loves creating.

I love writing Penny and all the characters in this silly little world I've created. They make me happy, and that's all I truly ask of them.

Kyne is a cocky little shit

That is all.

Re-writes...

The reason it's been taking me so long to finish Penny #2 is because I was not at all happy with the direction it was going in. I'm proud of the work I put in it, and I still really like a lot of the scenes I had written out, but it just wasn't what I wanted it to be.
So, it's taken me a while, but I think I've finally come up with the new direction I want to send the book in. Right now, it's fleshing out that idea and incorporating what I already have, or tossing the existing work out completely (which, as anyone who's ever created anything they're proud of knows, is not easy).

Cheers!
-SH

Join ALL the social media networks.

Okay, I think I've got all the links here. I just wish everything could be more connected so I didn't need to update 50 pages separately...

Official Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/authorsarahhobson Tumblr - http://authorsarahhobson.tumblr.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/AuthorSHobson Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/authorsarahhobson Google+ - http://gplus.to/authorsarahcullen

Oh, and Penny has her own blog too:
http://vampirepenny.blogspot.com