Jennifer Lyon

Archive for the 'Witch and Wizard' Category

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Friday, March 4th, 2016
Happy Friday Even If The Book Won…

Yep, my book has won the battle. I made the decision (subject to change at the editing stage as my editor is made of awesome sauce) to give into the book and let it be a three book series. This was so not the plan…

Wizard is LAUGHING HIS ASS OFF.  And when he catches his breath enough to talk, all he can get out is, “I told you so,” before he starts laughing again. You see I came to him  a few days, weeks, months ago and said, “I think this needs to be a three book series. But I want it to be one book, because there will be a whole Savaged Illusions Rock Band series, so it’ll be confusing if one character has three books.”

Wizard asked, “So this story needs to be three books to make it good?”

“Well it’s big but if I write it tightly enough I can get it in one book. Maybe.”

Wizard responded, “Do what’s right for the book.”

“But…” and finally I stopped to talking to him because frankly, his logical ass was getting on my nerves. Just saying…

But I digress. So yesterday, a full day after I made the decision, which is a long time for me because I generally tell Wizard everything, I confessed the book had to be a three book series. Then I had to listen to him laughing and flinging out “I told you so’s.” But then he went to the store and bought me chocolate and jelly beans…so maybe I’ll keep him.

Okay so why am I doing this? Because in the end, no matter that this will triple my production and marketing costs, and push back my release dates, what matters the most to me in the end is that I give readers the best story I can.  The story needs the time and extra pages to develop to its fullest potential. But I will wait until all the books are done then release them close together so readers aren’t left hanging.

And that my friends is how the book won :-)

Work on our floors will start next week, but we won’t know for sure what date until the tile gets here from Texas. If it arrives today or tomorrow, then demo will start Monday. Either way, this weekend, I’ll be writing and packing/moving things out of the way. What are you doing?

Just a quick programming reminder that on Monday New York Times bestseller, M.J. Rose, the founder of  Authorbuzz.com, and co-founder with Liz Berry of 1001 Dark Nights will be sharing sharing 7 Marketing and Publicity Points. Be sure to check it out!

 

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016
Wednesday Worthy

I registered for the RWA Conference in San Diego and I’m excited about that. I am NOT excited about the hotel bill, though. Sheesh. Everytime I book a conference, I’m stunned at the cost of the hotel. But this year, Wizard swears he’ll go with me…we shall see :-)

And speaking of Wizard, we were in the grocery store yesterday morning. They all know us there. Well they’ve known me for years, and are now getting very accustomed to Wizard. The produce guy has figured out that Wizard is…shall we say…selective (and by selective, I mean PICKY!). So the produce guy tells me the asparagus is really good.

Wizard made a gagging sound. And there may have been begging, as in “No asparagus, Witch, please!” He’s begging because I will get him to eat it and he knows it :-)  I happily bought the asparagus :-) :-)

The produce guy laughed, but he must have felt sorry for Wizard and wanted to help him, so he asked Wizard, “What vegetables do you like?”

Wizard didn’t miss a beat. “Popcorn.” Then he went on to describe all the way he liked popcorn.

Produce guy cracked up.

Later, I realized Wizard was missing and found him with Produce Guy who had opened a banana and was teaching Wizard how to add chocolate and bake the banana to make a dessert.  Wizard bought the chocolate to try it.

All this is happening right there among the lonely vegetables. Produce guy was supposed to steer Wizard to vegetables, NOT desserts!

Men.

And speaking of men, it’s time for our Worthy candidate. So I had this picture in color already, and I was *meh* about it. Then I found it in black and white, and I like it better. It reminds me a little bit of Linc from Caged Magic. But what I think isn’t important, it’s all about what YOU think!

 

Sexy fashion portrait of a hot male model with muscular body posing in studio looking at camera.

So is he worthy?

 

Monday, September 28th, 2015
Weekend Roundup!

Okay, so Wizard is trying to convince me that if I drink beer — which I don’t like — I can lower my risk of heart disease by 30%. He heard that in some “study” on TV:

“Witch, did you hear that? You can lower your risk of heart disease by drinking beer!”

Me, “I don’t like beer.” I don’t care that he drinks it, I just can’t do it. Ugh.

“But you’d look so sexy.”  (Okay I can’t help his weird fixation on this. Sorry!)

Me, “Not happening.”

“But it’s good for you.”

Me, “I’ll take my chances. Besides the red wine I’m drinking occasionally–” I frowned at the loud choking sound coming from Wizard. I glared at him. “Did you want to say something?”

“Uh..no? You only drink wine every night…uh occasionally.”

I wisely let that go. “Anyway, I’ll take my chances on heart disease. I’m not drinking beer.”

He tried another tactic. “I’ll eat broccoli if you try beer.”

I fixed another glare on him. “You’ll eat your broccoli anyway.” I stopped negotiating on vegetables a long time ago and just put them on his plate. He eats them unless they are something he truly hates like Brussel sprouts or lima beans. Otherwise, he eats them because I want him healthy and he knows it. But I wasn’t done. “It’s a stupid study anyway.”

That got his attention. “What about the study saying red wine is good for you?”

What the hell kind of logic is this? Wine obviously trumps beer in any study. Seriously I sometimes wonder how Wizard accumulated all those degrees. But I explained it slowly. “The wine study is a true medical breakthrough. The beer one is stupid college kids making up an excuse to drink and play beer pong.”

He gave me a look as if he had me cornered. “How do you know that?”

I considered that for a moment. “Same way I know that if you keep harping on this, you’ll be having lima beans for dinner tomorrow night.”

He made a hilarious face of disgust.  “I’m done talking to you.”

LOLOL!! I won! I’d totally have done the happy dance, but the last time I tried to dance, I managed to (mildly) tear my Achilles so I settled for gloating :-)

Otherwise, I had a great weekend. Saturday I went to lunch and shopping with my sister, Biker Witch And we may have indulged in some incredible cheesecake <g> Sunday I wrote, getting to know my characters and really loving just letting myself work on a the early part of a book without too much external pressure. Then last night, Wizard and I had some wine and made steak and lobster.

How was your weekend?

And just a reminder:

7 days until release

Wednesday, February 18th, 2015
Wednesday Worthy and Wizard’s Commentary on 50 Shades

So…Wizard and I saw Fifty Shade of Grey. I’m not going to give my opinion again because I’ve said it in a few places, and who really cares what I think? I just support writers hitting mega success. But I know you all care what Wizard thinks, right? No worries I asked him for you!

We’ll just skip over his opinion of Dakota Johnson because I think you all can guess that :-) I mean come on, hot, cute naked girl? Last time I checked, Wizard had red blood laced with testosterone running in his veins.

So I asked Wizard, “What did you think of Christian Grey in the movie?” I SWEAR I’M NOT MAKING THIS UP.

He looked at me and said, “I’m Batman.”

Only he said it like this audio clip:

Okay, now I’ve heard a ton of commentary abut Fifty Shades but this is new.  Confused, I’m asked the obvious,  “WHAT????”

Wizard explained, “That Christian guy just kept showing up out of nowhere rescuing Ana. Every time I was waiting for him to say,  “I’m Batman.”

I laughed so hard. Where the heck does he come up with this stuff? BATMAN??? Now all I can hear is “I’m Batman” over and over and I laughed the rest of the day. Every time Wizard walked by me, I was like, “Say it again!”

So that is Wizard’s rather unique commentary on Fifty Shades of Grey.

And now, of course, Batman is on my mind, which naturally makes me think of Christian Bale. So guess who is our hunk candidate today?

Christian Bale BatmanWhat do you think, is he worthy?

Monday, December 8th, 2014
Weekend Roundup

I’ve bought one Christmas present, that’s progress right? LOL! I’ll get on it soon. But first I have to finish this revision. I wanted to finish the revision over the weekend, then spend a few days cleaning it up. However BLB (Youngest Son and yeah, I know I should quit calling him BLB but it kind of stuck) came over Sunday. Wizard was gone racing, and BLB and I talked and talked. He’s doing amazing and worth any lost writing time to hang out with him.

Now for a quick subject change, somewhere around four in the morning on Sunday I realized that I had NOT yet pre-ordered our own Silver Jame’s book COWGIRLS DON’T CRY. I literally woke up and thought, Holy Crap, why haven’t I pre-ordered that? While Silver is a multi-published successful author, this is her first traditionally published book and that is a very special milestone. So yesterday I pre-ordered it at Amazon for my Kindle. Here’s the link   I’m looking forward to reading it when it releases January 1st!

And last, I’m sorry to say that Siri (my cell phone, a now outdated iPhone 4s) has been leaving threatening messages for Sammy (Wizard’s dumb Samsung–so dumb all it can do is talk and text. Barely).  Sammy keeps TOUCHING Siri. It’s creepy. For instance, I’ll put Siri on the charger, and when I go back, Sammy is right next to her TOUCHING her. But yesterday, we started finding little yellow post it notes stuck to Sammy with threats. Stuff like frying his battery, or dropping him down the garbage disposal.

Things are getting a little scary here :-)

I’ve tried to have a talk with Siri and tell her that violence isn’t the solution. I don’t know if she’s hearing me….

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

Friday, November 14th, 2014
Happy Friday & Writer’s Block

So last night at dinner, Wizard and I were talking about Writer’s Block.

But before I get to that conversation,  while I was cooking dinner Wizard got super suspicious. “What are you doing?”

“Cooking.” I was actually cutting up fresh broccoli to steam. We were having chicken, rice and broccoli.

But Wizard had a problem with that. However he knows better than to say, I don’t want vegetables because that conversation never goes well for him. Instead, he’s employed this new tactic of acting like I’m trying to get him fat. With vegetables. Seriously. So he says in a completely annoyed voice, “You’re making THREE things for dinner? Isn’t that too much? We agreed to cut back.”

I’m so on to him. “Oh don’t worry.”

Now he’s worried. “Why not?”

I held up the plate of fresh broccoli all prepped to steam. “I’m cooking this broccoli juussstttt to piss you off.”

He burst into laughter. That was the last I heard about the broccoli. He even ate some of it.

Okay so while eating dinner, Wizard says, “So what’s the deal with your book. I thought you were happy writing this.”

“I am.”

“Uh huh. You’re burping puppies and rainbows, Sunshine.”

“What???” I mean seriously, what?

“I didn’t want to say farting puppies and rainbows at the dinner table.”

<<Insert loud choking. Do not try to drink water and NOT laugh at the same time. I was NOT laughing. >>

Anyhow…once I recovered, he said, “So do you have writer’s block or something?”

“Ugh, not writer’s block. Me and Batman pretty much agree on writer’s block.”

Holy Writer's Block Batman

Now that Wizard had that visual in his head, he said, “So what is it?”

“Middle of the book craziness. Here’s the thing, Linc lost control of his bloodlust and tried to attack Risa (He didn’t touch her, she’s fine). He’s been working to build her trust and then this…so I have to figure out how to come back from that. I’ve written probably six different scenes, and now I’m taking apart three of them and putting those together into the scene I think will work. That will show that she was betrayed and upset, while understanding that this is his reality and WHY he needs her to break the curse that causes the bloodlust. This scene needs to have emotional impact and ultimately bring them closer together and build on their connection so the reader can feel it and believe in them.

But I won’t know if I’ve succeeded until I try to  write the NEXT scene. If I’ve hit the right emotions in my characters, then the next scene will practically write itself. But if I’m stuck and hating it, or feel like the scene is sinking in quick sand, then I did something wrong and have to go back for the millionth time.”

I blurted all this out in agonizing detail, then I looked at him “Does that make sense?” I don’t know. At this point I’m always feeling lost and unsure. Wondering if I’m in over my head and doubting even my ability to breathe without a cheat sheet.

I was expecting him to say, “You’re making this too hard or too complicated.” He’s told me that before.

But no. Instead he leans over and says, “Yep. You have to get this right or the rest won’t work.”

I swear, it was like a massive stone was lifted off my chest. Now let’s hope Wizard is right. Because you know, this is the same man who thinks vegetables are going to make him fat :-)

So this weekend, I’m going shopping with a friend. Her daughter is getting married next year and we’re looking for the perfect mother of the bride dress. Plus we’ll have lunch. It’ll be fun!

What are you doing this weekend?

Friday, October 10th, 2014

When I run into people who read my blog I usually get one of two reactions: Either they asked how Bailey’s doing because everyone knows I luuvvv Bailey dog (and Cookie and Corky!) or they ask, “Do you make up the stuff about you and Wizard?”

Umm, if I was going to make up stuff about me and Wizard, wouldn’t I try to make myself look a little better? But now that Wizard is on Face Book and pretty much outted himself as my husband, I have proof. I actually had screen shots, but I deleted them by accident. (Don’t ask…I’m deep in revisions!) So ALREADY on Wizard’s FB we have a battle going over getting a puppy. His cousins and friends are getting in on the act and it’s pretty funny.

So finally Wizard posted this (since I deleted the screen shot before comments,  I recreated it exactly as he posted it)

Wizard got me a puppy

“Ok I give up. I got Jennifer a new puppy. Now is everybody happy??? I have way too much time on hand.”

That is not a real dog! That’s a beloved stuffed dog that belonged to one of my kids when he was little! Here’s the thing, I was WORKING, not paying any attention to Wizard while he did all this. Then the post popped up in my FB feed.

“WIZARD!!!! You can’t do that! That’s not a dog!”

Evil laugher came from the other room. “You saw my post?”

“That’s…” Damn it I won’t laugh. “I’m not laughing!”

“You’re laughing.”

Well of course I was, it was funny. But he can’t make me admit it. “I’m ignoring you. I’m busy WORKING!”

“And laughing.”

I refused to discuss this anymore and kept on working. Then I got an idea. Wizard wants a Mustang and has for years and years. In the comments of his post, I put this:

Shelby GT/SC

“That’s so mean! See the picture for my official response :-)”

An hour later, Wizard yelled at me. “You can’t do that!”

“Ha! Who do you think you’re messing with? It’s on, Wizard!”

Then we both busted up laughing because we have regressed to unsupervised four year olds.

So for those of you who wonder do Witch and Wizard really act like that?  We totally do. We had to be adults all the years we raised our kids. We’re over it and are having way too much fun :-) And by the way, one of his friends said, “Have fun sleeping on the couch, buddy.” LOLOL!!! Wizard CAN have a Mustang, but I get any dog I want with no complaints if he ever gets one. We’ve had that deal for years.

So my weekend plans are working, then making lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting. It was Special K’s birthday this week, and she requested those cupcakes when we go see her on Sunday.  Much as I love her, I’d make anything she wanted!

What are your plans?

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