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It’s been one of those days when I’m wondering at the wisdom of this many different balls in the air. I’ve got three pages for Merry so far. I owe myself one more page. When I left it before lunch, I was happy to do so, because I needed to think about the scene a little. It needed to cook, and simmering during lunch was great, but . . .

We hit a comic book deadline today. As in, colors were due for our approval, and needed to go to the next stage, today. Also, the end of Guilty Pleasures, the novel, is very cinematic. I am very visually oriented, and tend to see things in a very movie way, and I write that way. It’s one of the reasons script is fairly easy for me. But, though the end of Guilty Pleasures works great as a novel, and would make a kick ass movie ending. For a comic, though a visual medium like movies, it’s not a movie. Comic lacks movement, and if you have straight action with no dialogue, and no movement, just images, well, it just seemed a little flat. Our editor Jordan sent us stuff, and suggested this fact, but honestly until you have colors on the pictures sometimes you don’t know if it works, as is, you need to see the image finished, then suddenly it’s still flat, even with color. I agreed, and I spent the afternoon adding new dialogue. Mostly internal Anita dialogue, but Nikolaos got some more dialogue, too. Edward even got a line or so, of new stuff. So, when you see issue twelve of the comic book of Guilty Pleasures, you’ll get some brand new stuff, because the visuals needed more. But, let me just say, the visuals are amazing. Ron and June out did themselves in these last pages. Nikolaos’s death scene is spec-freaking-tacular.

So, new stuff in the comic, who knew? It’s funny how every story telling medium has it’s own challenges, strengths and weaknesses.

Oh, and for those who wondered I’ve been averaging about six pages a day on SWALLOWING DARKNESS. I’m still hoping to get it done before BLOOD NOIR comes out on the 27th, but no longer positive. Sigh. But Merry writes a little slower than Antia, she always has. But then every book has it’s own rythme. SWALLOWING DARKNESS seems to take more energy, more something out of me, then the last Merry book did. BLOOD NOIR wrote smooth and fast.

I’m also getting more interview requests for BLOOD NOIR. The e-mails are easier because I have time to answer and can answer at my leisure, sort of, they do have deadlines. But the downside to e-mails interviews is that I can take my time, and tend to agonize over the answers. A live phone or radio interview, well, it’s done, over, and you don’t time to pick at it. Admittedly, sometimes you get off the phone, or step out of the station, and think, damn, I can’t believe I said that. That’s the downside to those kinds of interviews. But I’m letting the e-mail ones take up too much time, and linger too long on my desk. I’ve got to get faster.

It has been one of those days when everything seems to be eating my time. It’s all necessary. It’s all business. But as the release of BLOOD NOIR gets closer, my nerves get more frayed. It’s always like this before the release of a book. I guess it’s my version of opening night nerves. This is book # 25, if you count all I’ve published, and I still get nervous. One friend, who doesn’t really understand me, yet, told me, "If it doesn’t make you happy, do something else." No, my measure for happy at work is when it stops making me nervous, it’s time to do something else. Because the day I stop worrying about how a book will do, and how you guys will receive it, is the day it doesn’t matter to me. When it doesn’t matter, then it’s time to move on. But, my anxiety is right on schedule, so I guess we’re safe. I’ll keep writing, you keep reading, and the cycle of publishing will continue.

Right now, I’m going to go drive the Foose. Yes, I owe myself one more page, but my stress level is high enough I need to calm down, and driving my Mustang is one of the top three ways I relax now. The first two? Long, hot bath, and the other one requires more than just me to participate. Jon is on kid and dinner duty, so it’s a little hard to add one more thing to his list. Yeah, I know, only I would think of sex as something to put on the to-do list. But, hey, if you don’t schedule it, it doesn’t happen as often. I actually put the last big night in my day planner, along with notes on what I had planned for my sweetie. Prior planning prevents poor performance, isn’t just a phrase for the armed forces.

Oh, and Darla wanted me to put the Full Moon Sale for the fan club at the bottom of today’s blog. So here is the address for it. https://www.laurellkhamilton.com/Merchandise/Goodies.html. She’s got some cool stuff on sale, and I think having a once a month sale for our lycanthrope friends is just too fun.