Can't Talk - Very Busy!

Got lots going on. No time to blog or cartoon. Going on vacation very soon. See my erotica blog to find out what's up. Not pornographic but not work safe, okay? I'll post in a week or so.

Demon By Day now available from Mojocastle.com

Huge news. My first book, Demon By Day is now available from Mojocastle Press. Here's the blurb:

In the twilight realm of Daeva Shudra, there dwells an ancient race of demons. Once the most powerful beings on earth, the Daeva must hide in their underground city or be burned to ashes by the sun. The world above belongs to mortals now, inferior creatures with limited abilities for magic, easy prey for demonkind.

Between the two races comes Orziel, a half-breed struggling to survive the deadly schemes of his immortal kin. His only weapons are his vicious beauty and ruthless cunning. Otherwise, he is powerless and despised. But lack of power doesn’t check Orziel’s pride or ambition. All his life he’s lied, seduced, and betrayed to get whatever he’s wanted, including his lover, the demon prince Asheru. When Empress Shebazael claims Asheru as her own, Orziel swears he’ll do whatever it takes to take back what’s his, regardless of the consequences.

The half-demon travels to the surface, in search of a mortal sorcerer to aid him in his quest. But things go awry when Orziel seduces Jarresh, a beautiful youth with no magic beyond his capacity for love. Will Orziel stand by the only person who’s ever truly cared for him, or will he betray Jarresh to carry out his revenge?

I'll be selling print copies of the book at Balticon. If you're there and you want one, just grab me by the arm and let me know. And if you're interested in hearing the audio promo I put together for the book, check out this week's episode of the Heat Flash podcast. Heat Flash is my free weekly podcast of erotic short fiction. There's a new story every Friday. The promo for Demon By Day is at the end of this week's episode, so take a listen!
That's all I've got for now. I've got to get some sleep so I can drive up to Balticon tomorrow morning. I'll try to post a few entries while I'm there.

Just Another Day In The Office

We had a fun weekend at La Casa Madden. On Saturday morning, after going through karate and swimming lessons, Cassie suddenly came down sick - temperature of 103 degrees, chills, sore throat, aches and pains. I promptly put the Princess to bed and babied her with juice, sherbet, Disney movies, whatever would keep her content while she rested. She puked once, all over the couch and herself, and complained of being cold and unable to sleep, but otherwise she was okay. Well, not **okay** okay -- she was looking pretty pale and scrawny -- but I knew with enough viewings of Beauty and the Beast, she'd live.

Cassie's illness sort of threw all our weekend plans into a tailspin, however. We missed her best buddy's birthday bowling party that afternoon, and I have heard nothing but, "But I wanted to go bowling!" and "I LOVE bowling!" ever since. Cassie doesn't even know what bowling is, but man she sure wanted to go to that party. Michael did get some house work done that he'd been planning, but since I spent so much time tending to Cassie, my plans to rapidly accomplish my work went down the tubes real quick. Tasks that should have taken an hour tops took five. I just couldn't concentrate when all I could hear is this tiny, whiny little voice in the background going, "But I LOVE bowling!" Mary, if you're reading this, we are taking the kids bowling SOON. Otherwise I may just have to throw myself through a window to escape that sound.

So I was all discombobulated as usual this weekend... the weekend that I had to proof my final novel galley, the weekend that I had to do up promo materials for a convention I'm headed off to in a few days, the weekend I had hoped would go so smoothly. Nothing new. Just another day in the office.

Terms Of Endearment And Other Weird Crap I Say To My Kids

I came up with some new lovey-dovey things to say to the kids. Earlier this week, I started telling Sam she smells like sunshine and kisses. She does, actually. She plays outside a lot so she smells like a warm, sunny day, and she's so soft and cuddly these days that I can't resist kissing her. So she smells like sunshine and kisses. Cassie smells a bit like her preschool most of her time, meaning she smells vaguely of the disinfectant they use to hose everything down. Man, all that disinfectant and Cass still brings home the creeping crud five times a year. But I didn't want to tell Cassie she smelled like disinfectant because that's no fun, so instead I told her...

"Honey, you smell like rainbows and fairy farts!"

You know that went over well.

Belated Happy Mother's Day

I spent most of the weekend working on this cartoon (hurray, just what I needed - another really fun, really addictive hobby that sucks up a lot of my time...). I had meant to put it up Sunday, but then I got caught up doing the interview for the Balticon Podcast, so I figured I'd post this first thing Monday morning, only then I woke up feeling sick, so...

Here's this past weekend's cartoon!



And yes, that is me, both my kids, and Michael in the picture in the background. Happy Belated Mother's Day.

I Was Interviewed For The Balticon Podcast!

On the writing/podcasting/would-be professional front, I was interviewed this past weekend by Paul Fischer of the Balticon Podcast. The interview is here.

Paul talked to myself and fellow erotica writer Nobilis about erotica podcasting, writing sexy stories, family values for erotica writers, and everything in between. We also talked a bit about what we'll be doing at Balticon this coming Memorial Day weekend, where Nobilis and I will both be guests working on the adults' new media track for the convention. We had a great time discussing all the naughtiness we plan to get into, so take a listen to the interview and check out some of the rest of the Balticon podcast. Also stop by and listen to Paul's podcast (one of my all time favorites), the ADD Cast.

Keep in mind, we are talking about erotica here, and the talk naturually gets rather explicit, so don't listen to this any place where you might get into trouble, like say... church or work?

Mama Got Back!

I have a confession to make. I am addicted. I know I shouldn't have, but last night I stayed up waaaaay to late playing with Manga Studio and drew another cartoon. I can't help it. I love to cartoon! And Manga Studio is so much fun to work with. I'm a graphics junkie!

But that's not really the addiction I wanted to talk about. No, I want to discuss the **other** addiction. The BIG addiction. The addiction that's getting to be a pain in my ass.

I am addicted to calories.

Yeah, I know. Shut up, you can't be addicted to calories you moron. Everybody has to eat **something**.

I don't usually talk about my weight here in the blog, mainly because so many of my friends look at me when I say anything about it and go, "But you look so frikkin' thin!" To which I always say, "That's because I keep all my fat cleverly concealed in my ass!" And I have to admit, I'm not really overweight. I have a shape and it's not round, it's hourglass. But there's a little more sand in the hourglass these days and that's getting to be a problem.

The problem started waaaaay back when, during my second pregnancy. I put on very little weight during that pregnancy, only 17 lbs. And then afterward I dropped weight like nobody's business. I mean, I didn't have to do anything, the fat just melted off of me like snow in July. So what's the problem with that, you ask. Well, for starters, I lost too much weight the year after Sam was born. Ask my best friend Mary. I got so thin she urged me to see a doctor and have some tests run. The tests all came back negative for whatever it was they tested me for, so I was all right. It was just hormones, my doctor said. My metabolism was running a little fast because of post-pregnancy hormones and breast feeding. It would slow down eventually and then I'd go back to my normal weight.

Except that in the interim, I got into some bad eating habits. Like say, polishing off a bowl of ice cream before going to bed every night, and drinking lots of coffee and tea with sugar and milk in it, and eating just about anything else under the sun because I kept losing weight and nothing, I mean nothing stuck to my ribs.

Until one day something did stick to my ribs and then my weight loss slowed. That's right, it slowed and then before you knew it, my weight crept back up to normal and then a little beyond.

I was fine with that for a while. I was a little heavier than I was used to, but only a couple of pounds and all my clothes still fit, so I was good with it. I mean honestly, I had a nice hourglass figure, right?

But then I stopped breastfeeding Sam and I started gaining more weight. And then my hormones started going wonky twice a month and that brings us to the current situation.

Two times a month, I suddenly pack on an extra five pounds and it takes me two weeks to get rid of it, just in time to pack it back on again. It's a menstrual thing, I know it is, and the weight is mostly water weight, but it's also some weight that I put on because I get these horrendous cravings for sweets and salty foods. During those two times of the month I will mindlessly devour anything I find that is not nailed down or else is not one of my kids. And on a few occasions, I have even considered eating the kids, the cravings were that bad. So I'm constantly gaining and lose those same five pounds and while I'm still not fat, I'm running into this little problem.

None of my damn clothes fit half the time.

I do not have the money to buy a whole new wardrobe. Really, I don't. I just bought new shorts because summer is coming and I know my capris will not fit during those "fat" times. But I can't afford anything else. And I don't want to own a second set of clothes just to have for those "fat" times of the month. I don't have the closet space for it. It's driving me crazy. I know in another week I'll be back to a comfortable weight and my clothing will fit just fine (and some pieces will even be a bit loose), but right now I feel like the Sausage Queen of Hamburg, I'm that swollen with water weight.

What to do? I looked up "water retention" on Web MD to see if there was anything I could do without getting a prescription, and all they told me was exercise and drink lots of water. Taking in more water is supposed to convince my body to not hold onto so much extra fluid. So I've been exercising and drinking water until I feel like my back teeth are floating. And my weight hasn't budged.

Oh well, the hazards of getting older. "One day I shall wear purple" and all that crap. Just as long as I've got something to cover my ass.