biancadarc.com Blog

Please Say a Prayer

…if you’re so inclined, for my Mom. She’s having surgery today and they’re taking biopsies. A lot of you have met my Mom at conferences she’s been at with me. We’re very close and I honestly don’t know what I’ll do if she turns out to be sicker than we think.

So healing thoughts and prayers are more than welcome and much appreciated today and in the days to come. Thanks.

Snuggies

I recently bought Snuggies for everyone in my family. I’d intended to save them for Christmas presents, but with my Mom being sick and me being cold, I decided to give them to everyone early. I have to say, I am seriously impressed by the Snuggie!

At first I wasn’t sure about it. I figured it might be some el cheapo fabric thing. I mean, you don’t really know what you’re getting when you buy something from a TV commercial. I bypassed the telemarketers and bought mine from a combination of eBay and Amazon. (Had to go different places to get the colors I wanted.)

Anyway, I really like the Snuggie! It’s made of nice fleece fabric and is well sewn. I bought the leopard print one for myself and various other colors for everyone in my family. My Mom has hardly taken it off since I gave it to her! My Dad likes his too. My brother and his wife don’t have theirs yet (they’re still in the mail), but I have no doubt my sis-in-law will like hers. Not sure about my brother. He’s very tall, so it probably won’t cover his feet. I’ll have to wait and see what he thinks.

In the meantime, I figured I’d let you all know that if you were on the fence about getting a Snuggie, don’t be! They’re really great!

If you don’t know what I’m talking about (my brother has never seen a Snuggie commercial – can you believe it?), here’s a link to the commercial for the Snuggie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S455cx_R32E

And if you haven’t seen it all yet, now they make Snuggies for your dog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-q4kZDIfk0

Copyedits Done

Huzzah! The copyedits are done! Long live the copyedits!

Mass quantities of chocolate, pencil lead, and erasers were consumed, but they are done. Now I have to package them up and get to the post office to return them to my editor.

I had a neat moment while I worked on them. I’ve been sitting with my Mom as she tries her best to rest in preparation for her surgery. While sitting at the table working, she told me she remembered watching her uncle do the same when she was a child. I got a shiver down my spine. Let me explain why…

Her uncle was a famous poet  and writer, in his time. There are museum exhibits in Europe of his life and work to which my mother donated many papers, portraits and other materials, which passed to her after he died (well before I was born). He had no children and he loved her as if she were his own daughter. Part of the reason had to be because she looked a lot like his wife, who was my grandfather’s sister. He left his author’s rights to her in his will, which unfortunately were lost over time and the distance of an ocean.

Even though I never met him, I have heard stories about him my entire life. He’s been a huge influence on everything I’ve done in my life and I can truly say, he’s always been one of my heroes. The idea that I ended up doing something he also did — of course his work was on a much grander scale — touched me deeply. I doubt I’ll ever reach the level of success he did, but it’s comforting in an odd way to know a little of what he experienced in his work.

Forgot to Say…

In my post about copyedits yesterday I forgot to mention I have also learned that chocolate is an essential tool in doing copyedits.

That is all.

*chomp, chomp, chomp*

Working on Copyedits

This weekend, I’m making a big push to get my copyedits of ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD done. It’s funny… I’m not used to this kind of thing from my prior experience with small press publishers. In the small press, we do everything electronically, making intense use of the “Track Changes” function in Word. We usually do two rounds of edits with our editor, then get a FLE (Final Line Editor) – a fresh set of editor eyes – to read it and give a final round of edits.

My experience with the big boy press so far has been a lot different. For one thing, they use paper. Reams and reams of paper. I’ve had to learn a new set of markings called “Proofreader’s Marks” which I call hieroglyphics. LOL. I keep a little cheat sheet next to me as I sort through these mounds of paper so I can do my best to figure out what the heck these notations are all over the pages.

The manuscript I’m working on at the moment was edited by someone after my own heart. She actually color coded the marks. I love it! If you have to make a mess on a giant wad of paper, you should at least make it an organized, color-coded mess. hee hee.

It’s slow going because I need to figure out what the hieroglyphics mean and then figure out what the color coding means and then look at the changes made and either agree to them or try to fix them some other way. (Using the eraser end of the pencil a LOT.)

Another thing – since these are copyedits, there are all kinds of weird markings in there for the typesetter. Weird symbols that tell them where to insert spaces or chapter headings or italics or whatever. Things I don’t have to really worry about, but that catch my eye because I have to look at them to make sure they’re not something meant for me.

I’m about mid-way through the manuscript now and I’ve only found two – count ‘em, TWO – pages without any markings on them. LOL! When I first saw all the notes I got really, really scared, but it’s really not that bad. Most of the hieroglyphics aren’t meant for me, which makes it easier now that I’m learning to read the marks.

Still, what a learning curve!

Writing: Spreadsheets & Calculations

I’m addicted to spreadsheets. Excel is a necessity for me. Right next to Word. So it should come as no surprise that with all my new deadlines and an increasingly hectic home life, I’ve been staring at my spreadsheets for hours on end, trying to figure a way to fit in all the work I need to do over the next few weeks – plus all the family stuff. (My mom is having lung surgery next week and has moved into my place for the duration.)

As an example, I had a first round of edits on my upcoming cat shifter novel (Cat’s Cradle) for Samhain due yesterday. I was a day later than my estimate, and handed it in this morning. My bad. I also got copyedits from Kensington in the mail on Monday (Once Bitten, Twice Dead) that are due soon.

I used to just float along and try to get as much done each day as possible. But with everything that’s going on, I can’t just coast anymore. So I’ve started setting a new goal. I’ve always had writing goals – anywhere from 2-5k words per day, which has dropped to 500-1000 words now that I’m too busy to really do much. Now I have a page goal for edits each day as well.

I simply take the page count and divide by the number of days I have to get the job done. With my copyedits, it means I have to get roughly 30 pages of edits done per day. Judging by how long it took me to do about half that today, 30 pages will equal roughly an hour or two per day. I may not always have the time, depending on what’s going on in the next weeks, but at least now I can gauge what I’m in for. If I have extra time on one day, I’ll work ahead for the future days where I might not have as much time.

Wish me luck. This system *should* work, but it’s new to me, so I’ll have to give it a whirl and refine my spreadsheets some more as I work the plan.

DRAGON STORM Excerpt

Here’s a little excerpt from my upcoming book, DRAGON STORM. Enjoy!

Copyright © 2009 Bianca D’Arc

Days later, they were flying to the Northern Lair, as scheduled, when a freak storm came upon them.

The sky burned black and green, a roiling mass of clouds and electricity. The two black dragons powered through the gusts that threatened to down them. Their task was clear, their mission imperative. They had to make it through the storm to their destination. Turning back was no longer an option. They were too far into the storm.

Lightning arced from cloud to cloud, barely missing the twin black dragons as they darted to and fro, flying as they’d never flown before. The elder of the two—by minutes only—cried out as a jolt of electricity rode up his left leg and through his entire body. His brother came to his aid immediately, only to be hit by the same bolt of lightning, traveling from the cloud, through the first black dragon, arcing into the second and back to into the angry black and green clouds.

Time ceased to exist as the two dragons were tossed into a vortex and spun. Sky became earth, and earth became sky. Over and over they tumbled, each certain the hard landing to come might be their very last. Their massive wings beat franticly, trying to regain some equilibrium, but neither of the two dragons could discern what was up and what was down as they were pulled and stretched by currents greater than even their own immense strength.

Darius came awake in the middle of a forest. One wing was badly damaged, bloodied and torn undoubtedly from his trip through the leafy canopy. Looking upward, he could see the hole he’d made on his way down. He craned his long black neck to seek a similar pattern. His brother had to be nearby somewhere, but the trees here were too dense to navigate in his bulky dragon form.

Marshalling his strength, he changed from dragon to human, willing his clothing back from wherever it went when he changed. While some of his injuries improved in the magical transition, his left arm was still a mess. Nothing broken, thank goodness. Only a long, shallow gash graced his arm from shoulder to elbow. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. Nothing looked familiar. Nothing at all.

When the storm had come upon them—so suddenly it didn’t seem natural—they’d been flying northward over their own territory. They’d grown up in Draconia, learned to fly there and knew every inch of forest and field. This pine forest was familiar, yet not. This wasn’t like any of the forests in his homeland. It looked different, sounded different and even smelled different.

He also scented something that immediately raised the short hairs on the back of his neck.

Magic.

The air reeked of the residual scent of massive and powerful magic.

“I don’t think we’re in Draconia anymore.”

“No kidding.”

Darius was relieved to hear the voice of his twin strong in his mind.

“Where in the hells are you?”

“Step to your right and look up about twenty feet.”

He did, relieved to see the black dragon clinging to a solid-looking pine tree. Connor was in better shape than Darius, with no visible injuries. He was relieved they’d both survived that wild trip.

“Well, we wanted adventure,” Darius mused, looking around.

“Looks like we got it.”

Coming November 17th from Samhain Publishing.

DRAGON STORM on Coming Soon Page!

First, let’s admire the cover…

It’s a little different from my other dragon covers but I think it fits the story, for the most part. Many thanks to the artist, Kanaxa, for putting up with all my little requests. I’m sure I must’ve driven her crazy, but I think the end result was worth it, don’t you?

Here’s the blurb:

Dragon Storm by Bianca D’Arc
Length: Novel
Price: $5.50
Publication Date: November 17, 2009

Their love will span the ages… and two very different worlds.

Caught in a magical storm and deposited on modern-day Earth, twin dragon princes Darius and Connor are looking for a way home. Instead they find something most unexpected—their mate. The one woman who holds both their hearts in the palm of her healing hand—along with secrets about her origins that link their shared destinies.

When Josie patches up the injured man on her doorstep, her snowcat instincts tell her he’s much more than a man. And so is his brother. She also knows her dragon lovers cannot fly free on Earth. The only way to return them to their rightful place is to face the failures of her past, and leave the safety of her Oregon cabin to seek her estranged grandfather’s counsel. There she learns the painful truth: returning Darius and Connor to where they belong could mean giving up everything. Even her only chance for true love.

But fate has other plans for the trio. Magic swirls all around them. Whether it is for good or ill, only time will tell…

Warning: This book contains red hot twin action ménage a trois, a wild cat woman and two hunky dragon studs in black leather.

You can check out the Samhain Publishing Coming Soon page for more info and an excerpt (which I’ll post here tomorrow).

AAD Registration Extended

The organizers asked me to post this – great news!…

Due to a glitch with the hotel, we were able to reopen registrationfor the Authors After Dark Paranormal weekend ’til Sept. 20th! So many fantastic authors have signed up to come, give away goodies and sign books on Saturday.

Registration is $175 and includes 4 meals, 2 parties(a candy shoppe PJ party and a Masquerade ball), a cocktail hour, a slew of reader focused events, Author-lead mini events and tons of free books and goodies! And we are even doing a charity raffle to benefit the ACN and a local no kill shelter, Pets Alive! we have over 25 gift baskets too!

Your room is $99 a night, double occupancy, and can be booked through the info on the AAD website on the Registration page.

So who is going to be there? Well…

Jacquelyn Frank, Sunny, Joey W. Hill,Stella and Audra Price, Bianca D’Arc, Rosemary Laurey, Jennifer Armintrout, Madeline Oh, Georgia Evans, Mechele Armstrong, Samantha Sommersby, Cat Johnson, Cathy Clamp, Eliza Gayle, Diana Castilleja, Leigh Ellwood, Tilly Greene, Selena Illyria, Stephanie Julian, Judi Fennell, Kayleigh Jamison, Donna Grant, Robin T. Popp, Linda Mooney, Mima, Teresa Noelle Roberts, and JoLynne Valerie

The authors are fantastic, the goodies are fantastic, the books are beyond a doubt amazing. We got the Authors, and the books, and the amazing events. All we need is YOU!

To register, join us at http://www.authorsafterdark.net/register.html We are looking forward to having you hangout with us this year and hope to see you there!

Pre-Order Link Round Up

Thanks to everyone who told me my new books were available for pre-order elsewhere than Amazon. Here’s a (probably incomplete) round up of the links for pre-ordering my upcoming print books:

HALF PAST DEAD: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BooksAMillion

INFERNO: Amazon, BooksAMillion

If you know of more places where these books can be pre-ordered, feel free to let me know! I’m collecting links.

Someone in the know told me that print runs are influenced by pre-orders nowadays, so particularly in the case of HALF PAST DEAD, if you plan on buying the book anyway, pre-ordering it could maybe help us get a slightly larger print run. (I could be all wet on this, but the reasoning presented to me by this person made sense, so until I hear otherwise, I’ll go with that.)