It's good news day again, so let's jump right into the goodish stuff.

The holiday trailer I made for NAL is now available here (my bit is in the fourth segment). I had far too much fun making it, so I hope you all enjoy it.

It's been wickedly cold here in the PNW (it was all of 14 out when I got up this morning), but sunny, and I'll take sunshine however I can get it. I'm also using a brand new SADD lamp that actually managed to clear up a headache I had been nursing for the last few hours. It's really amazing how a little light therapy can perk up your mood.

The snow you see in the picture is from last year, by the way. Thus far this winter we've been snow-free.

The Ben and Fran book is progressing nicely, although I had to go back in today and make Fran's life a little more hellish, since I felt she was having things far too easy. The Christmas tree was put up without the hub swearing once, although the traditional holiday bloodletting was accomplished via the saw used to cut off the base of the tree (it wouldn't be Christmas without blood on the tree, now would it?). And although I'm saddened that my beloved old girl isn't here to rub her face in the tree, as she used to do every year, I've brought out her furry winter coat and set it near the tree in memory of her.

We won't go into how odd a blue dog coat looks there.

So, how's your Tuesday going? What's all the good news going down?

May I present Tito to you all?



He looks a bit peeved in the picture above, but I assure you he's worth the time spent eyeballing his pictures.



For one thing, he's got green eyes. GREEN EYES!



He also looks good naked. Er...the parts that I've seen. Not that I've seen him in person, but the parts I've seen online. That is, I haven't seen his PARTS online, just pictures of some bits of his naked flesh. As in chest. Like above. That's it, naked chest. Ahem. Where was I?



Oh, he also has that intense stare down well. That's always bonus points in my bits. BOOKS, that's always bonus points in my books, I meant to say.

My, it's a little hot in here, isn't it? Think I'll go find a fan or something...

At long last, after many votes by interested persons, the numbers are in, and two contest suggestions were tied for most popular: an Internet scavenger hunt, and a brief note about what Katie Mac book setting you'd like to live in, and why.

Since I'm late on the book I'm writing now, not to mention that whole holiday thing zooming up on us, I opted to not spend hours hunting down things to use in a scavenger hunt, and instead will choose the second option.

The person who suggested the winning idea will receive a Steamed ARC. As for the rest of you...sharpen your pencils!


WHAT: Write a brief statement of which Katie Mac book setting you'd like to live in, and your reasons for doing so. It can be a specific place (the attic in Drake's house), a location (Budapest), or even a historical time period (Regency England). Entries should be no more than 500 words.

WHEN: Contest runs from December 3, 2009 to midnight (Pacific Time) December 15th, 2009.

HOW MANY: Five entries will be randomly drawn from the entry pool, and awarded ARCs.

HOW OFTEN: You may enter as many times as you like, but each entry must be different.

WHO? Send your entry to katie@katiemacalister.com with something in the subject line mentioning the contest (so your entry doesn't get stuck in the dreaded reader mail queue).


Note: I like the scavenger hunt idea a lot, and will likely use it in the Love in the Time of Dragons contest. So those of you who voted for that hang tight!

All right, who's the wise guy who threw December on us? I'm not even remotely ready for it! Mentally, I think I'm back in August. And pleh. Book due in a month. Think I'm going to have to crank up the daily wad amount so I can have the holidays off.

Good news for the week: writing is going well, Me and My Shadow is doing well, and other than the fact that it's December (mutter, grumble), all is happy happy at Rancho Doghair.

Today is the last day to post your questions to be answered by my Darling Agent Michelle! Post 'em here, post 'em on the original entry, e-mail 'em to me--I don't care how you do it, just post your questions today. I shall gather them all up and send them to Michelle tomorrow.

Wait...it's December? Doesn't that mean we can play Christmas music without anyone snarking? Wooties! Off I go to do dig out my Christmas mix CDs. Feel free to share your own good news for the week. Now, where's that stack of burnable CDs...

Dishy guy time! Today I have Andreas for you all.



What can I say? I fell victim to his manly stubble. You guys know how weak I am in the face of some really good stubble.



Even if the stubbler has a worried look. I wonder if he's heard he made DGM, and is worried about hordes of women asking to feel his stubble.



Did I mention he has blue eyes?

We had Ask Editor Laura, and now it's time to put my darling agent Michelle under the microscope! You guys know what to do--post your questions to DA Michelle here, and I'll collect them and send them to her. I will not pass along questions concerning submitting books to her--if you're interested in that, you can visit her website and look at the requirements.

But if you've ever wondered what an agent does, what she does for me, how many times a week I call her up and giggle into her voice mail, etc., now's the time to post those questions! I'll collect them for a few days, then zap them off to her.

I was going to use an older guy for today's DGM, but then I saw Nir, and I figured I'd give those of you who like your eye candy fresh a chance to enjoy him.



He certainly does know how to do brooding well, doesn't he?



I mean, shoot, even lying wet and naked on the sand, he's brooding. Maybe the sand is chafing?



I, for one, would be perfectly agreeable to looking at him again in about ten years. Maybe seven. Oh, what the heck, five.

Clunk.

Clunk.

Clunk.

Hear that? It's the sound of me banging my head on my desk. Yes, as those of you who wander the Twitter path know, I had a moment yesterday afternoon when it suddenly struck me that I'd made a serious error in the plotting of the book I'm writing now, and I needed to stop and do some serious replotting in order to fix things.

Normally such moments are about relatively minor things, but this one...*clunk*

So I spent part of last night, and most of this morning working out a replotted structure. This isn't a huge deal, as Editor Laura, in consideration of the Swineyness that held the hub and I in its viral grip a few weeks ago, gave me some extra time to write this book, and thus it's not due in ten days (when it should have been turned in). But still, it's a quarter written and now I have to tear bits of it apart and add new stuff. The good news is that most of what I've written can be worked into the new vision of the book. Yay for salvaging that love scene!

That's what's consuming me today. No actual writing of the story itself, just writing pages and pages of plot. So. Much. Fun.

Clunk.

Happy Friday, everyone!

The hub is home again today (although he is feeling much better, and thanks all of you who sent him warm fuzzies). I have high hopes that he shall return to work tomorrow, hurrah! Normally I don't mind him underfoot...er...home, but not when I'm writing. Especially when I'm trying to write something requiring a lot of focus, like a love scene (and for the record, it's not the idea of a love scene that makes me so focused, it's trying to A) write something that suits the characters and B) isn't the same love scene used over and over and over again).

Even though my daily wad o' writing is a bit short today, I'm calling it good and going to take care of other pressing matters (reader e-mail! Black dragon sept membership cards! Updating my websites!). And maybe, just maybe, get a little play time in to see how the Sims 3 World Adventures is.

Fingers crossed that tomorrow brings with it a hub off to work, and lots of peace and quiet so I can deal with Fran pouncing on Ben.

Break out your good gnus, everyone! My happy dance this week continues to be in gratitude for everyone's support of Me and My Shadow, and for the fact that it's sticking to the bestseller lists, woohoo.

I'm also very pleased that while the hub is sick again with the second round of the swine flu (evidently it's quite common to get hit with another round 2-3 weeks after you've made a "recovery"), he's not contagious, so I can stop threatening to do mean things to him with a grapefruit knife and two egg cups. Now if his meds would just kick in so the poor guy can stop coughing up his lungs...

In other fine news, the official Me and My Shadow chat is coming up this Saturday. Did you all read about it in the newsletter? I surely hope so. We have a fun time at the chats, even if they are a bit crazy, but luckily the chat wranglers keep everyone (mostly) sane.

And last but not least, the new Ben and Fran book is chugging along nicely despite Mr. Katie being home sick. Oh, sure, I'm having to forcefully kick the Vikings out of scenes where I want other things to happen than them being their outrageous selves, but that's all well and good. I think we've come to an understanding, now: I let them steal some scenes, and they graciously go off to pillage electronics stores and let my other characters have a little attention.

I'm thinking a shower scene is due to come up soon...*fans self*

Your turn! I can has gnus?