Almost There

Good news, everyone,

It looks like the website will be finished very soon.  It might not be done by the end of the week, but I'm down to just the finishing touches.  I think that it's turned out pretty well, and I hope that you all like it.  As soon as I finish, I'll add a link to the website on the blog and there will be a link to the blog from the website as well.

Currently, I'm working on "Blood Rain" and I've written nearly 75,000 words.  It's very close to the end.  I think I have about three or four more chapters to go.  I've got the teaser intro to the novel under writing samples in the website.  I hope you enjoy it.  When I'm done, I'll take a little break and start writing the notes for the second book in the series.  My goals are to get the book, the website, and the design of my business cards, done by the time I go to the beach in July.  (My family always goes to the beach around July 4th, kind of a little tradition that we have, and I don't want to be stressing out over anything.)

While I'm at the beach, I might do a little work.  I was thinking I could work on those notes for the second book, as well as read, read, read.  I've already read three and a half books by four different authors over the past two months or so.  I'm trying to expose myself to different writers and different writing styles.  I love Jim Butcher to death, but I do need a little variety in who I read.  For a long time, I was reading the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera, so I didn't have time to vary my authors much. 

I finished The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman recently.  I highly recommend it.  It is extremely dark for a children's novel and is a very interesting rewrite of The Jungle Book.  Like I said, I've been reading lots of books lately, so I can't do an in depth review of all of them right now, but I probably will in the future.  In the meantime, here are some mini-reviews. 

I read Laurell K. Hamilton's "Guilty Pleasures" and really enjoyed it.  It's an urban fantasy story about Anita Blake, someone who raises the dead and hunts vampires.  I enjoyed the personality of the main character immensely, and the book was a very fast read.  I was extremely sad when one of my favorite characters died in the book, but I'm not telling you who it was.  Spoilers aren't fun for anyone.  I'm hoping to read another of the Anita Blake series while I'm at the beach.

As a change of pace, I also read a romance by Sherrilyn Kenyon, the first of the "Dark Hunter" series.  I don't read romance very often, so I might not be the best person to ask to review it, but I did enjoy the book.  The universe that it is set in is very interesting.  The characters remind me of the White Wolf game "Scion."  The male love interest was an immortal man working for the Greek goddess Artemis to kill the corrupted sons and daughters of Apollo.  The only way to get his soul back from Artemis was to put his trust in the love of a woman, something that had burned him before.

Currently, I'm reading "Mistborn" by Brandon Sanderson.  It took me a little time to get into it, but I really like the way magic works in his universe.  I'll probably be reading more by him in the future as well.  I might write a review when I'm finished.

Well, sorry I talked your ear off again.  I need to get back to work on my writing.  Wish me luck on meeting my personal deadlines, for once.  ;-)