Author: Jonathon

I’m doing the blog at the beginning of the day instead of the end so I’ll be sure and get it done today.
Yesterday I did twenty pages on the novel-lite, or is it novellite. Since Jon coined the word to mean a book that is too long to be a novella, but not as long as my usual books, we can decide the spelling for it ourselves. Jon prefers the hyphen, and I prefer without. What do you guys think?
But twenty pages in the morning, so very soon the novellite will either be done in record time or it’s a novel. I’m still not sure which and I’m still happy with that. I have no idea why the uncertainty of it isn’t bothering me, but it isn’t. Maybe because I’m having too much fun to worry about it. Maybe.
One of the interesting things I learned from working on the original script with Jon for the comic book prequel to GUILTY PLEASURES was that in the afternoon if I work on something new and different, I’m fresher the next morning for the first draft book stuff. So, as an experiment I’m going to try and work on the rewrite in the afternoon and continue to work on the new Anita book in the morning. Now, first draft of Anita and Merry are very hard to do back and forth. Because it’s hard to clear one character voice from your mind, but this draft of FROST is basically looking for notes. I’m putting in eye color, physical description, checking my Gaelic spelling, or letting someone else do it. Gaelic spelling also changes from region to region, so the spelling can change with what book you pick up to use and who they spoke to in what part of the isles.
There are about four scenes that may need rewriting beyond just notes. I’m sure about what to do in the scene with the lawyers, but the other scenes are still percolating in my subconscious.
Since I’m still not a hundred percent certain how to rewrite, or even if two of the scenes need rewriting at all, I think I’ll let it set. Writing a novel for me is often like painting a portrait or a landscape. It’s not what you’re painting but the technique. The layers of technique and color and wash that go into a painting are more what I’m referring to. All you artists out there will go well she’s pretty vague about it. Yeah, I am. It’s been awhile since I had art in college. It’s been awhile since I was an art editor and worked with someone who actually did lovely water colors. I remember the talks, and what it looked like, but not what the nomenclature is. Sorry, but every job has its vocabulary. The fact that I cannot draw has always been a disappoint to me.
The rewrite will have several layers, and I can do the easy one first, and still keep happily along on the new book. When I get into the meat and potatoes of the scenes I’ve decided do need redoing, then I may have to take a few days away from the Jason story to just finish up Merry. Jason’s voice is very strong in my head right now and I think he’d interfere with any other first draft stuff, and extensive rewriting is sometimes very close to that for me.

It has been a lovely relaxing weekend because of finishing A LICK OF FROST on Friday afternoon. It meant I could let the writing for the weekend and spend time with the family. Which I have done.
But Sunday afternoon is a special time to relax here. The three of us, Jon, Trinity, and myself each do our own thing, that we consider most relaxing. For Jon and Trin sometimes it’s a computer game, or music to listen to, or video or tivoed show that no one else is that eager to watch. For me, it’s either reading, usually for research. Catching up on all those magazines that keep coming in the mail, or I keep buying at the news stand. But just lately I’ve given myself permission to write on something that I simply want to write on. Not what is due next, but what tickles my fancy.
I know how weird is it that my idea of relaxation is to write something else. I’ve spent the last few years trying to relax the way most people relax and just getting more and more frustrated. So instead of trying to fit myself into a mold that is not me, I’ve embraced what truly makes me happy. One of those things is writing.
Today I worked on the Jason novel/ or novel-lite. I still don’t know which it will be. Which would usually bug me, but seems strangely pleasing to my muse, and me. The uncertainty is oddly relaxing. Not sure why.
Jon and I did some editing on the art for our comic prequel to GUILTY PLEASURES. We also looked over some art for the hardback, or is it trade paperback of the collected first six issues of the Anita comic. We saw some of the colored pages for the intro we did. Very cool.
But all the work we had to do, is done. The work I wanted to do is done. So good night all. Pleasant dreams.

I reread yesterday’s post and realized I forgot a few things.
First, the way I wrote the blog it looks like the Merry series is also at Penguin/Putnam with Anita, which is not true. Merry is at Random House. Like having your kids go to different colleges, sometimes with sport’s schedules that conflict.
Second, I’m finished with the first draft of A LICK OF FROST. That doesn’t mean it’s done. I took my own advice on my first draft. The advice I give beginning writers is not to get bogged down in the first draft. The example I usually give is from my own first book, NIGHTSEER. There was a moment when I had to get her undressed for the night, and I had no idea what a society equivalent to about 1300 to 1400s would wear under their clothes. But I was smart. Instead of running off to the library and researching 14th century underwear I just typed, “NOTES; WHAT DOES 14TH CENTURY UNDERWEAR LOOK LIKE,” and kept writing.
My early second drafts were almost entirely just filling in the holes of research questions. The third draft was when the actually polishing of the writing began. Now, that predicates on the idea that the writer has done enough preliminary research that it’s just minor stuff that needs to be rechecked. I’d researched weapons, religion, folklore, blacksmith, but had forgotten to research clothes and what people ate and how they cooked it. Small stuff. I’d also been making notes for this world since late high school. It really was my first dream.
In A LICK OF FROST what I made notes for was, names of characters and physical descriptions, especially of eyes. When I first created my version of the sidhe, the high court of faerie, I had this neat idea. I read one account of a man who had met one of the sidhe. He described her as beautiful, then said she had three eyes. Now I’d read all sorts of true accounts of people that had interacted with the fey. I studied reports of people from the 1700s and before, and after, that said they’d been abducted not by aliens, but by fairies. They do not describe anyone as beautiful that has three eyes, or any extra bits. That is like considered a sign of being ‘evil’. So, how to reconcile beauty with three eyes?
I walked around for a day or so, trying to decide what it meant. I passed a news stand and saw a cat magazine. It had a gorgeous cat on the cover with a closeup showing it’s eyes. Eyes that had three distinct rings of color in it’s iris. I knew what I thought the man had meant when he said the beautiful woman had three eyes.
So I gave most of the sidhe multi-colored irises. Great idea, very visual. Problem, it’s sometimes hard enough to remember who has gray eyes, or brown, or blue, but then also to remember who has three rings of different shades of blue, and who has grey rings, or which of them has eyes that are just green. It makes a small problem that most writers have with a large cast of characters even harder. Yes, yes, if I would just keep that running list of physically characteristics on file, I wouldn’t have to worry about it. I’ve been meaning to do that for years. I just never quite do it.
So, FROST, is full of notes saying something along the line, “What color are his eyes?” New character names. I am dyslexic. It went recognized for years. Only when my daughter was diagnosed did it come out. It made so much sense. I can’t spell because the blasted letters in the middle don’t stay still. They will actually switch on me. Not every day, not every hour, just periodically. It means that Gaelic is a very difficult language for me to make certain I’ve got my middle vowels correct. In fact, there are one or two of the names that are not spelled correctly because the day my editor asked me to check I switched letters. I didn’t know I was dyslexic, so I didn’t know I did it. You can’t fix something you don’t know you do.
So, now I’ve taken to making notes; and saying name of person, give their title or job, or whatever. I’ll look up the names later, and have someone who is not dyslexic make certain I haven’t switched the middle of the word around. I have two college degrees and I’ve been a professional writer for over a decade, and no one figured this out. But hey, I know now.
So, on Monday afternoon I will begin the second draft of FROST. It will be simply filling in the notes. The third draft will be fixing things I know need fixing. Interestingly enough by freeing myself up to not have to polish as I go, I’ve kept a running list of the places I wasn’t sure of, things that worked, but could be better. Things that didn’t work, but I wasn’t sure what to do at the time. As long as the point or event doesn’t change the main plot you can make a note and fix it later. Fiction is great, you can always rewrite.

I finished A LICK OF FROST today. Merry and the gang’s newest adventure all done. Yea!
My publicist, Craig, tells me that a copy of THE HARLEQUIN fresh off the presses is on it’s way to me. It’s nice to have one book done before the next one arrives on the doorstep.
Years ago when I first contemplated doing two continuing series simultaneously I knew it would be hard. But I didn’t realize just how much more work it would be. It’s sort of like people who have only one child and think how much harder can two kids be? Lots. My friends that have more than one child say the work quadruples. Well, it’s sort of the same way for literary creations.
I’ve been writing Anita since 1987. Yeah, how weird is that. Anita Blake first came into being on paper for me in 1987. The first short story which has now seen print in STRANGE CANDY, my short story anthology, was rejected by everyone. I got the nicest rejections. Most of them loved the story, but they didn’t know what to do with it. It wasn’t quite horror, or fantasy, or mystery, or . . . And yet it was all of them.
In the late ’80s no one was buying mixed genre. But I loved Anita and her world. I loved them both enough to write an entire book set in the world with Anita. The confusion the magazines had had with the short story should have clued me in that the book, which I finished around 1991, maybe early ’92, would have the same problems.
Strangely, it didn’t occur to me. I’d written something unique and different. At the time no one was doing what I do. There was no such sub category as paranormal romance, or even urban fantasy. There were a few books out, and there was Charles De Lint, but that was it.
GUILTY PLEASURES was rejected by everybody. Mystery houses thought it was horror. The horror publishers thought it was fantasy, or not scary enough because my vampires were out of the closet. One editor wanted me to rewrite the book so that my vampires would be like everyone else’s vampires a deep dark secret. I refused. What intrigued me from the beginning was our modern world having to deal with real monsters, not as something hidden, but as a truth. Again I got some wonderful rejections, but they were still rejections. It would take over two years for someone to take a chance on me.
Penguin/Putnam bought the book. Gave me a three book contract, and I knew there would be more books. I knew that this time, unlike my first series, there would be at least three adventures. My first ever novel, NIGHTSEER, had it’s direct sequel rejected by my first editor for lacking that certain “Je ne sais quoi”. Which is basically French for “I don’t know what”. You can’t rewrite if that’s the only feedback you get.
After watching my first dream die so abruptly having a three book contract was like heaven. I knew I had at least three books to set up my world, and explore my characters. It was truly a dream come true.
Anita’s adventures were selling well, and climbing up the lists, when I decided to do the Merry series. Why do another series if the first one was successful?
I’d written the fifth Anita book, BLOODY BONES. I’d written all five books pretty much back to back. I took a little time off, but I was then, and am now, a big believer on getting the early books of a series out to the fans as soon as you can. People who like to read series books like to know more is coming.
But one night just after finishing BLOODY BONES I had a dream. I dreamt that I was me, but I was trapped in an Anita plot. I had a gun, and a shoulder holster and I was with Edward. We were supposed to be body guarding some man. We were trapped in a narrow stairwell with a crowd of people. There was no way to keep our man safe, no way with just two of us in such a crowd, and . . . I woke up in a cold sweat thinking. Thinking that it was real. Thinking that this land of guns and assassins and scary stuff was real.
The next morning I decided I had to write something else next. I needed to clear my imagination. I did not want anymore Anita anxiety dreams. Merry and her world came out of that need for a break between books.
I now have the amazing experience of having two best selling series. Merry started as a vacation for my muse, and now she’s a serious contender. Who knew?

Several of you guys have asked where I got my terms for my weranimal nomenclature. Some of you have asked for specific words, others just in general. Sorry to disappoint some of you who thought my terms were general use. They are not. They are new and fresh to me and my writing.
People have been asking about the terminology of my wereanimal societies. Where did I get them? I did research not into actual weranimal societies. Sorry, folks, but it’s fiction. But into mythology, folklore, heraldry, entomology, ancient languages, and the history of names.
Example: Ulfric is old Norse or old German for wolf king. It seemed utterly logical to use that for the head of my werewolf pack.
Example: Sk?ll and Hati are the wolves that chase the sun and moon in Norse mythology. When they catch them it will be the end of the world. Sköll is the head enforcer or bodyguard for the Ulfric. Hati is the second in command enforcer. Richard’s Sk?ll is Jamil. His Hati is Shang-Da.
I used a lot of Norse stuff for Richard’s pack and for the Verne’s pack in Tennessee. It just seemed a natural fit. I also studied real wolves to help me get some of the greetings between pack members and the rituals. Just a few of the books I’ve used for the wolves and some of the other weranimal research are: The Wolf, the ecology and behavior of an endangered species, by L. David Mech; Of Wolves and Men by Barry Holstun Lopez; A Lycanthropy Reader, Werewolves in Western Culture, by Charlotte F. Otten; and The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland. I also visited some of the Greek and Roman myths. Dictionary of Mythology by Bergen Evans (it has more than just Greek and Roman but it was the first source where I found the intriguing story of King Lycaon.) Who’s Who in Classical Mythology by Michael Grant and John Hazel has a longer version of his story. I took fictional liberties with it and changed a king that had been punished by the Gods by being turned into a wolf to a king that was a werewolf and did not hide the fact. The first in recorded history to do so. The werewolves call themselves the Lukoi in his honor. His name is one of the basis for the word lycanthropy.
Lycanthropy is a word that originally only refers to werewolves, but it is the most common word for shapeshifting in Western culture so I decided that over a number of years it would simply become a word for all shapeshifting. Most people don’t know their Greek and Latin roots anyway.
Lupa, the head female werewolf, is again based on Latin, as is the wolf meeting place, the Lupanar. Lupa is also very close to the word for wolf in Spanish and French.
Many books have come out since I did the initial research, or I discovered them after I’d done much of my research. Exploring the Northern Tradition by Galina Krasskova; The Werewolf Book by Brad Steiger are but a few. I have shelves of books on wolf, big cat, and other related animal and myth research.
The leopards owe much of their naming conventions to the myth and culture of India. I have yet to find a book that satisfies my research needs as well for Indian research. Two of the ones I’ve found the most useful have been; Indian Mythology by Devdutt Pattanaik, and The Myths and Gods of India by Alain Danielou.
I have not found just one book that has done for leopards and other big cats what the wolf books have done for the wolves, but here are the main books I used at the beginning. Wild Cats of the World by Mel Sunquist and Fiona Sunquist; Big Cats by Tom Brakefield; and Wild Cats of the World by Barbara Sleeper, photographs and drawings by Art Wolfe. It’s much easier to find books on tigers or lions than on leopards for some reason.
A very helpful general book is GODDESSES IN WORLD MYTHOLOGY by Martha Ann and Dorothy Myers Imel. It covers a lot of the world and lesser known Deities. I’d love it if someone would do an equivalent book on Gods. But everyone seems to think Gods have had too much press. Trust me I have not found a single book that had as much well researched information on male Deities as this one book has on female Deities.
One last book that was very helpful was SYMBOLIC AND MYTHOLOGICAL ANIMALS by J. C. Cooper.
For our friend that asked about bears I haven’t found a book that really made me happy, but here are two useful ones; Bear Attacks, Their Causes and Avoidance, by Stephen Herrero; and A Celebration of Power and Beauty BEARS by Rebecca L. Grambo with Photographs by Daniel J. Cox. Some of the best up close and personal bear photos I’ve found.
This touches only part of the research I did for my wereanimals societies. I continue to research and look for more sources. I’m doing tigers and lions right now. And still looking for that perfect leopard book.
I remember now why I didn’t want to answer this question; its a long answer, but so many of you had asked about where I got my animal and wereanimal research I thought you deserved as good an answer as I could give you. Short of me listing another twenty plus books you’ve got the answer. Most of the unlisted books are ones I’ve not had time to read that much in, or have not been happy with. Rather than saying something negative about the author, who I’m sure did their best, I’ll just not list them. I actually found one book on Indian mythology that is still in it’s plastic wrap. I remember why I’ve almost stopped reading other people’s fiction. I’m too busy researching my own.

Happy Beltane, a day late.
So close to the end of A LICK OF FROST that it’s almost painful. Every day this week I thought I’d be done, but instead I’m over four hundred pages and still going. Maybe tomorrow will see it through.
The toads in the water garden are having a convention. Jon just counted 21 of them. It’s a record number.
Tomorrow afternoon instead of getting to work on the new novel/novel-lite about Jason stuff, I think I’ll have to clear out all the e-mails and other misc. stuff that has been too long on the desk. I was hoping I’d be completely done with FROST before I took time to do busy work, but some busy work comes with deadlines. Sigh.
One of the things I’ve noticed is that the more successful you are at your chosen business, the more stuff comes along to interfere with the actual doing of the business that made you successful in the first place.

It was a ninja theme at our house tonight. Trinity was at her father’s house this weekend, so we Tivoed a couple of shows that we knew she’d want to watch. One was from earlier in the week, but the other was Saturday night. Tonight we finally all got to see the newest episode of Naruto, and Mythbusters Ninja myths. The latter was too cool. The former is progressing a little slow for my taste, but still good. I’m ready for the villain to be killed, but then I’m always impatient about stuff like that.
Mythbusters is one of our favorite shows. It’s educational, fun, and family safe, with maybe one or two rare exceptions early in the show’s history.
For those of you who think I spend all my time shooting guns, or having deviant sex, sorry to disappoint with a dose of reality. But it’s a school night, no time for hobbies.

I haven’t written a blog in a few days because I don’t know quite what to say.
I know there are blogs out there where people tell the most intimate details of their lives. Some are real, some are fake, as we discovered with a certain scandal a few months back. But real, or false, they tell their most personal stuff on their blogs. They treat the blog as if it’s a private diary, then post it so that thousands can read it.
I don’t get that. Protect your boundaries people. Protect yourself. Sharing everything is like giving all of yourself away to strangers. Some seem to get a thrill out of it, like a type of voyeurism. Some actually seem to make a network of friends to help them through their personal troubles. If it works for you, fine, but it would not work for me. Too many people take the information and use it for cruel purposes. And strangers on the Internet are not always what they seem, and certainly not always as friendly as they seem. So I’ll air on the side of caution. How cautious the rest of you are out there in cyberland is up to you, but do bear in mind that Trojan horse is a term alive and well in the modern tech. It’s still a term that can mean something very bad.
I’ve had a lot going on, all good, but personal. I can tell you we have a pair of robins in our holly tree. They have four babies. We have cardinals nesting in the rose bush. It’s the same pair that got their nest destroyed in a storm last year, by choosing a rose bush too flimsy to hold up. This pair has a real thing for roses when it comes to nest building. They even built a false one in a different rose bush nearer the house.
I can tell you that I’m almost done with A LICK OF FROST. Maybe by the end of this week, the first draft will be done. Strange, but this book I know what holes I’m leaving open behind me that will need to be filled, but the book is writing at such a pace that I know it’s better to leave the holes and come back, then fill as I go. When a book keeps a nice steady burn like this, you just feed the fire and worry about the messy bits later. Unless you want to derail yourself, which I do not.
I have about forty pages of the Jason novel/novel-lite done. It’s good and it’s fun, and I still don’t know if it’s going to be about two hundred pages, or about four. There’s a plot point that I’ll hit when I have time again to work on it (I am only working on it when I have my day’s deadlines met.). When I hit that plot point depending on what happens there, I’ll know whether it’s short or not so short. I am content to let the plot and the characters run. I find this new role for Jason to be interesting. I love having written a character for years and suddenly discovering new depths. People ask, how do you stay interested in a long running series. Answer, my characters are like my friends, I don’t grow tired of people that interest me. I find that if your careful, and listen more than you talk, you’ll find that even your longest time friends will surprise you with revelations and news. Not everyone blurts out all of them all at once. Most people keep their secrets, not on purpose, not to deceive, but because it’s personal and it’s no one’s business. They keep their secretest until it’s time to share. I think it makes the sharing all the more special.

Jon and I are officially done with the second half of the comic special. Yea!
I did six pages on Merry this morning. I’ve outlined to almost the end. I’m not sure what the last scene will be. I’ve narrowed it down to about five possibilities. If you don’t see a scene at the end of this book it will be at the beginning of the next one. I actually did six pages of actual book, and six pages of outline. The book is almost toast.
I hadn’t had a chance to work on the Jason novel/novel-lite since Sunday. But because we finished yesterday on the comic, and I needed to let the outline on LICK OF FROST soak over night in my imagination, I ended up with a few hours this afternoon. I’ve been editing the pages I’d already done, but this book is really pushing, so when I had a chance today I took it.
I did sixteen pages to add to the sixteen or seventeen I’d already done. Not bad for a couple of hours. Jon came over to discuss dinner. I said I’d be right over. Ten more pages later, I was done for the day. So, twenty-six pages in one day. Forty something all together in two days time. No, not two days. Two afternoons of about two hours a piece. The last time I hit the beginning of a book this hard was MICAH. It’ s writing fast and hard. And I’m having fun. What could be better?

I just did sixteen pages in about two hours, maybe a little less. What I meant to do was just go up to my office for a few minutes. I was thinking about working on the Merry book, but . . . I’d done work yesterday and I find that one day off a weekend from the book refreshes me for Monday.
I called several places I’ve been trying to get a hold of for exercise stuff. Every one’s closed on Sunday, go figure.
I’ve had this idea kicking around in my head for awhile. It’s been poking at me, much the way the idea for the novel-lite MICAH did. So, as with MICAH, I thought I’ll just sit down and give myself a few pages to take the pressure off. Like I said, I have sixteen pages, and an outline for the next chapter, and notes for the rest of the book to about the early middle. Beyond that, I’m not certain. It depends on whether this is a normal size novel, or another novel-lite.
If it’s a novel-lite then I have to stay on target and not throw in so many tangential mysteries. If it’s a novel than I can throw in anything I want including the bathroom sink. I had to fight with MICAH not go get distracted, too. One idea will always give me more ideas, and sometimes it’s hard to tell if an idea belongs in this book or the next one.
What is this novel/ novel-lite idea about? You really want to know? If I tell you, do you promise not to bug Darla and the other board moderators. If this is a novel, then it’s the next novel for Anita. But if it’s a novel-lite, it may not be next at all after THE HARLEQUIN. It may be two books, or more down the road. So, please do not bug everyone and ask when will I finish, because I don’t know. I have to finish A LICK OF FROST first, then rewrite it. Jon and I have to finish up the comic script. I have to attend to my actually deadlines before I can go chasing rabbits.
But I like this rabbit. I like it very much. It was fun to write and it was quick. Quick like a bunny is a good sign.
If you promise not to pester people about when it will come out, because they won’t know, or for details, which they won’t have, I’ll tell you what the idea is about. Do you promise? Really, promise? Sigh. No one will know anything about this book. I don’t know when I will get to finish it. So, no clue when it will come out. I hope that’s clear to everyone. Here goes . . .
Remember the Jason idea that I mentioned in both a blog and in person at a question and answer session at more than one signing. Well, this is the Jason idea. He’s been walking into my imagination at the oddest times lately. I’ll be doing something completely unrelated, and there he is. Or, I’ll be writing something else and he’ll pop in. Sometimes, it’s just a look, a gesture, his smile. He’s been much on my mind. Finally, today, apparently, his idea had reached critical mass, and boom!
I now have almost as many pages of this book as I do of the book that I thought was going to be the next Anita book. Not to mention the out of town research I was going to do, for yet another book, if I actually do manage to finish FROST early.
If it’s a novel-lite than it can be finished in weeks, a month at the outside. If it’s a whole novel, then months, like normal. I have to confess that a novel-lite sounds like fun.
I should have known Jason was talking hard in my head when I purposefully tried not to use his mug this morning. You know the one that has the picture of him as a wolf and says, “Taking one for the team, anytime, anywhere.” I knew I was fighting off an Anita idea so I tried to use a more neutral mug. I thought I had. But when I got to my office this morning I was carrying Jason’s mug. Sometimes my fictional characters are sneaky pushy. Jason doesn’t mind being called sneaky. He looks at it this way, he’s not one of my main guys, so he has to be sneakier. He’s happy and I’m happy.