Author: Jonathon

Congrats to Rosemary Potter of Rosemary’s Romance Books in Brisbane Australia for being Romantic Time’s bookseller of the year. Jon and I have actually partied with Rosemary and her fellow Aussies. If we ever do get me on a plane all the way to Australia it will be, in no small part, due to Rosemary and company. No plans to go just yet, sorry gals. Though the stop off in Hawaii to rest before heading on the last leg to down under has it’s appeal.
It was also at the RT convention Jon, Charles, and I, first realized that maybe there is more to a convention than just work. Okay, Jon and I realized it. Charles quickly discovered that he couldn’t body guard and dance at the same time. Part of the fun we had at that con was due to Rosemary and Cherie, and the rest of you from Down Under. Also, that convention was in no small part fun thanks to the fans and forum members that came to see us in Florida.
We are going to try and socialize more at the conventions this summer. No promises, but it is nice to actually meet and greet with people enough to know who you are congratulating. Again, bravo to Rosemary.

Check out the following link: http://www.marvel.com/videos/Laurell_K.Hamilton_Chat for the video that Laurell Recorded at BEA.

I did something unprecedented, I volunteered to buy new technology today. Usually you have to drag me kicking and screaming to change any tech that’s working. What prompted this unheard of change on my part? That we’ve had two different people from two different publishing responsibilities remind us of things that need doing that Jon and I both thought we’d already done. It just slipped through the increasingly complex schedule. We discussed putting up a huge white board, but I realized I was being a big baby. I had to bite the electronic bullet and join the tech revolution if it would help me keep track of everything and save my wall space.
Jon has informed me dinner is ready, “Thunderbirds are go,” was what he said, but I understood. I love our home. Where else can that be the cry that tells you dinner is ready.
I actually didn’t get back to the blog until today. Sorry about that. I have used the phone once, and had the interesting experience of not being able to dial out, because it had the key lock on, and I could not remember how to turn it off. I knew there would be a learning curve and a lot of, “Jon, help,” calls on my part, but it has a calender. It’s just that the calender I want comes with way more buttons than I ever wanted to see on my phone. Even Jon can’t figure out how to get the head set it comes with to work with it. It works with his phone, but not mine, how weird is that?
They’re about to change the laws her in Missouri that while in a car you must use a headset or a bluetooth system that allows you to talk while driving, hands free. A good rule, but I’m fighting to stay ahead of the change over. Jon is going to have to get me a new headset or we go in and see if the store can get the one we have to work. You never know on new tech not everything goes into the manuals. I learned that little fact when I was an editor for Xerox, and helped put out the manuals that went with their tech. To make deadlines they’d leave out little details that they could catch on the next edition of the manual. It was more important to make deadlines than to get it right, or even working really. This is a trend that has continued in computers, I’ve noticed. Sadly. I resent being people’s test audience for computer stuff. Remember the old days when they actually paid people to test beta rather than used their customers? Ah, the stone age of computers. The tech maybe getting better but the customer service seems to be suffering.
I’m sure I’ll learn to use my phone, eventually. I’m sure I’ll be able to access the nifty calender features which is why I bought the blasted thing, but today I am officially discouraged. I mean, what the hell was I thinking? I got the phone out in the store, and the clerk said, “Wow, way more tech than I could ever deal with,” not a good sign.

Laurell K Hamilton A Lick Of Frost Auction
As part of the post Wolf Howl, we always donate the portion Laurell read to be auctioned by the Sanctuary. So here is your chance to get the actual pages Laurell read from.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Laurell-K-Hamilton-LICK-OF-FROST-Manuscript-Anita-Book_W0QQitemZ130130619988QQihZ003QQcategoryZ29223QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemOr
eBay Item number: 130130619988
Ends July 8th.
All proceeds go to The Wild Canid Center.
Darla

Eighteen pages today. It reads well but I’m unsure about it. The book is oddly structured. On one hand it is Jason’s book and we’re going home to see where he grew up and his old friends. But it’s also a mystery, and I’m trying to balance the old home week with the mystery. I’m left today wondering if I’ve strayed down memory lane too much, or just about right. Jon’s volunteered to read it and see what he thinks, and we may do that, or I may just push through. I know there is only about another short chapter before we hit the mystery harder. I mean it’s been fun seeing some of Jason’s old friends, old girlfriends, and such. It’s left Anita not knowing how to behave. I mean they are lovers, but they aren’t really girlfriend and boyfriend, so are you jealous, or is it okay. An interesting dilemma.
I guess part of the problem is I can’t figure out how I would feel, so it’s hard to put myself in Anita’s place. She and I are both looking forward to shooting something and leaving the awkward social sitations behind. Yea, violence!

Saturday morning, everyone else still up stairs. This is like my only hour of no one but me all week. Funny, I spent most of my life very isolated just me and my grandmother. When we went back to visit once when Trinity was small she turned to me after an hour and said, “It’s so quiet, and there’s nothing to do.” I said two things, “Welcome to my childhood.” And something she’d heard before, “Do you have an imagination?” “Yes.” “Then use it. If you have an imagination you can never be bored.” It’s always worked for me. The inside of my head has always been a carnival of fun.
I was a very hard kid to punish. Sit me in a corner, I made up stories. Send me to my room, yay, I could read. Spanking or hitting always worked, I mean corporal punishment is corporal punishment. Though, that waned in my grandmother’s repertoire when I would do something I knew I shouldn’t, then turn myself in for the spanking immediately with a detailed list of what I’d done. At least once I even cut the switch off the honeysuckle bush so it was at hand. Punishment over and I could get on with my day. One memorable summer day I got three spankings. One for plotting to runaway because she was so mean. My grandmother was definitely of the old school. If you think that was mean, I’ll show you mean. Or the battle cry of my childhood, “You want something to cry about, I’ll give you something to cry about.” I learned not to cry.
She finally found a punishment when I was in double digits that was truly punishment. Send me outside, and frisk me at the door for a book. Send me outside where I felt on display for the neighborhood children. Who were not my friends. At least two of them had stolen things when they came over, so I ceased wanting them to play with me. Funny that. I was puzzled by most of the kids I grew up with, and them with me, I think. I was painfully shy at that point in my life. Those of you who have seen me at signings may find that hard to credit, but trust me, I was terrified of people well into my early teens. It’s why I joined speech team and drama so I could get over it. Deep end of the pool and all that.
I’m going to get another cup of tea, and enjoy this rare silence, just me and the dogs. Have a good Saturday, guys, be safe, have fun.

Fourteen pages for the day on the new book. The mystery deepens. Anita’s getting to see Jason meet up with some good friends from high school. People who knew Jason when.
I’m waiting for an interview to phone, I won’t say who, or where, until I know when it will run, so you guys don’t ask Darla and the mods when it will be out, because they won’t know.
I’m glad you guys are enjoying the video from THE HARLEQUIN signing at the Science Center. Jon and all of us here are learning lots about doing video for the computer. Ah, another new technology to fear or embrace. But wait, I tend to embrace them and still be nervous about them. Interesting.
I’m actually a little stiff today from the run yesterday. Cool. But I need newer running shoes, different running shorts, and a way to keep my phone from flying out of my pocket. I’d never tried to run with a phone before. Now I remember why.
I’m either going to do light weights today, or just a low treadmill, something so I won’t be so stiff tomorrow it will be uncomfortable. Though, frankly, lazy sounds good, and a hot bath sounds better than any of the above. But, wait, if I do the treadmill then I can do the bath afterwards. It’s not like it’s mutually exclusive, right?
Phone’s ringing, gotta catch the interview. Tell you about when I can.

In all the spider invasion stuff I sort of forgot that THE HARLEQUIN is number five on the New York Times list. Two weeks in the top five with a hardback with the summer line up at it’s toughest is pretty damn good. The fact that it slipped my mind to blog about it says just how much the whole creepie-crawlie situation is preying on my mind. I’m trying to be big and brave, but apparently my subconscious is not fooled.
So, two weeks in the top five, very cool.
I’ve finished eight pages on the new book. Notice I’m not calling it a novel-lite anymore, it’s a novel. I’m closing in on 250 pages and no end in sight, so it’s a book-book.
I did something this morning that I hadn’t done in months. I ran. I took our big puppy, Pippin, and we went for a walk. When our muscles were warmed up (the air was warm from the beginning, it’s like breathing soup) we ran. I do mean run. I ran like hell then had to stop. My asthma does not like summer, or fall, or spring. It’s one of the reasons I gave up jogging, because I can only run for a little while then I have to stop and control my breathing. I’ve found that what I can do is more like sprint, walk, sprint, walk. Run until I think my ability to breath is about to stop, then get it under control, then run a little more. My asthma is not going away, so if I’m ever going back to jogging, this is the only compromise I can figure out. It works; though, God, knows what the neighbors think hearing me fight for breath at the end of each sprint. It felt good to sweat. It felt good to run full out, even if only for a little while.
Back in college when I could do a six minute mile, I did not have asthma. I remember what it feels like to be able to run and breath at the same time. Oh, I did the stupid crap and ran while I threw up to the side from heat and dehydration, but not being able to breath, you just can’t push through that. It is incredibly frustrating. But since my body isn’t going to get any better except through exercise, I’m going to work with what I have, and see how it goes. Wish me good luck. I actually tired the puppy out. (By the way he’s either going to be four or five this year so he’s grown up enough to run with me without danger of injuring growing bones and ligaments. Apparently we’re going to call him the big puppy until he’s old and grey. Those crazy nicknames, you never know what will stick.)

Darla and the spider day 2
Still not sure what kind of spider it was. Without my glasses I couldn’t see it well enough to tell. And one reason I may be having no problems is I think it was on the cable and when I felt the sting I jerked my hand back before it got me good.
I want to say thanks for all the kind thoughts and prayers! And all the remedies! But looking around I did find that reaction can vary and that there is more than one type of recluse spider around. So no telling which is responsible for the lack of problems I am having. Wrong spider, wrong type, didn’t sting me very much, just doesn’t affect me. All of the above?
Laurell is almost postive that it was a recluse. As I said, no one at the hospital seemed willing to look once they found out it was alive in there. The mark still looks more like a mosquito bite today and just a wee bit itchy. But it seems I am fortunately, no worse for wear. But given how hard this month has been, I am really looking forward to July. (Need a run down? My computer blew up and I am still reloading software, I got about 20 chigger bites at the wolf howl, had a wisdom tooth pulled and then the spider bit me). All of which is putting me behind again. No more missed work for me darn it!
Hopefully, the spider it is enjoying its new home outdoors and away from me. With any luck, that will be my last negative spider encounter and things will go smoother from here on out. So is it July yet?
Darla

I am fine. No, the hospital wouldn’t look in the containter. Watching the nurse slam the tupperware container when I told her it was still alive was rather amusing. Hey, I needed the laugh at that point. They weren’t happy I brought it with me alive either. But no matter the doctor says the treatment is the same irregardless of the spider, though some others have told me different. And that my immediately washing it with hot water and soap was perfect thing to do. The swelling has gone down and it looks more like a mosquito bite than anything else. And I turned the spider loose outdoors. I couldn’t bring myself to squash it. I guess I startled it as badly as it scared me.
It isn’t the bite that is the danger the doctor tells me. But secondary infection that can set in. So as long as it doesn’t seem to be infected, I am to leave it alone. Though I will say them telling me my blood pressure was a bit high did get a response from me. You think? Gosh, not like I didn’t have a reason. Okay, I am not the most graceful under pressure. But it is nice to know it wasn’t nearly as bad as I have been led to think. Whoo!
Darla