I’m working, and completely brain dead.  So I’m just going to ask a question for those of you inclined to answer. Who is one of your favorite heroines from books, and why do you think you connected so strongly with her?

We had a blast with Bailey Dog! He was a really good boy while he was visiting, but sadly, we had to take him back home last night.

Total bummer. I wanted to keep him forever.

The flaw in that plan, aside from the fact that he belongs to my middle son and loves him more than anything, is that I spent more time playing with Bailey than working.  Even worse–Broken Leg Boy would throw Bailey’s toys into my office. Then Bailey would run in and it was all over.  I would leave work to play again.

BLB found that vastly amusing. He’s evil like that. Much like his father, Wizard. Sigh.

I also got to go out and have lunch with a friend on Saturday. That was lovely.

I got one set of revision suggestions back on FORBIDDEN MAGIC–I’m very pleased with the work my awesome friend, Laura Wright, did on Ram’s novella. Now it’s up to me to figure out how to incorporate her suggestions. The second set of revision suggestions will be coming soon.  Then I’ll get it done and off to copy editing.

I have to say that I’ve been getting tremendous and very touching support from fans on this venture into self publishing. I wish I had to the words to describe what it means to me that readers love the Wing Slayer Hunter world as I do.  It makes me feel very lucky!

How was your weekend?

I did something I never do last night.  Something wild and wicked. I am such a bad witch.

I ordered desert. Molten Chocolate Cake. YUM!!!

Wizard and I went out to dinner since Broken Leg Boy was at his girlfriend’s house. I had my normal chicken fajita, partly because I like it and partly because it helps me keep my weight where I want it.

But then Wizard asked a sneaky and devious question

“Do you want to get a (alcoholic) drink or dessert?”

I looked up from the dessert menu I was drooling over. “Is this a trick? We never order dessert.” We hardly ever order a drink either, but still…I was confused.

He grinned. “What can I say, you have a way with desserts. Choose.”

And I did–Chocolate Molten Cake. The two of us attacked that cake!

And so it’s official. When we first married, Wizard hardly ever ate dessert. But now I have fully and completely corrupted him. After all, it’s no fun being wicked alone Although I must pay for being wicked tomorrow and cut down a bit.

Now for some updates on what I’m doing professionally.

Two of my author friends are reading Ram’s novella, FORBIDDEN MAGIC for story editing. One of them has said that she’s reading it now and it’s good. Well actually she said, “Jen, this is really good! You’re back!”  Which was super cool. For so long I was a little lost, but that’s another blog. I know her, and there will be revision suggestions, as well as suggestions from the other author-friend. Once I do that, I’ve lined up a copy editor and a format person as well. So far–it’s looking like April is doable.

I love this story.  Ram has so much depth to him, and it takes a really special woman to even begin to bring that out. And the heroine is different which makes it feel fresher to me. Both of them are special to me. And so are Linc and Eli, and all their stories are a bit interwoven. I can’t wait to get them all written.

And lastly, in between all this, I’m going back to work on the dragons. My synopsis is good, very solid (that’s according to my agent). But the chapters needed work. After all this time away, I looked it over yesterday and have a much clearer view, I think. Hopefully I can do that pretty quickly.

Of course, Broken Leg Boy comes first.  We’re entering a new phase now as he begins to working on walking. His recovery is long. More surgeries are very possible.  So we take each day as it comes and hope for the best.

I’m reading THE SENTINEL MAGE by Emily Gee. I’d never heard of this book (that I can remember) but it came across my desk. I didn’t have high hopes. I’m almost half way in and am pleasantly surprised. It’s different. I guess it’d come under the category of Fantasy, and I’m not sure if there’s a true romance in here or not yet. But I’m enjoying it so far.

So what are you all reading?

I’ve had an annoying sinus headache weekend so I’m boring and annoyed.  Hopefully the headache is better by the time this blog posts. So let’s not talk about my weekend, instead I’d rather hear about your weekend.

I found this on the Behler Blog, totally cracked me up!

Yesterday was Broken Leg Boy’s birthday and filled with heavy food…ugh! And then there was the Death by Candy Cake. Normally I bake the cake myself, then let BLB frost and candy coat it. This time, however, BLB insisted on “helping” bake the cake.

His help consisted of him balancing on his crutches and dumping obscene amounts of chocolate chunks and two kinds of M&Ms in the batter. I told him it was too much candy and the cake won’t come out this way.

He insisted it would.

Now we have this leaning tower cake, covered in candy…sigh.  I’m not even going to take a picture, it’s too embarrassing. I’m typing this blog before we’ve eaten any cake, so I can’t say if it’s safe to eat or not.

So while we were out to dinner, we were describing for Wizard how the cake was crumbling and we were “pasting” it back together with frosting. Then being the witty witch that I am, I mentioned that it took a metal plate and seven pins to save the cake.

Wizard laughed.

BLB (who has the metal plant and seven pins in his leg) did not.  Well he tried not to laugh, but I saw him grin.

Okay and I’ll admit it–however good or bad the cake turns out to be, BLB and I had fun making it!

Have a great weekend!

The winner of the signed copy of ETERNAL CAPTIVE by Laura Wright, book mark and key ring mint holder is:

VIKI!

Viki send me your mailing address at Jenniferlyonbooks@gmail.com or Jenapodaca@aol.com and I’ll get the book out to you soon.

Next is a Huge Witchy Congrats to Kate Carlisle for hitting #15 on the New York Times list with her latest Bibliophile Mystery, ONE BOOK IN THE GRAVE. Let’s all toast Kate with Appleitnis!

And that brings me to my Question of the Day. Does the fact that a book (or author) hit the New York Times or USA Today list influence your book buying decision in any way?