I swear. I’m not dead.

I am in Florida for the annual DSP sleepover and zombie crawl….er workshop.

Had a lovely visit with Rick Reed and Friends (mostly because I dunno what name they want to use here) and then Jaime Samms came in and we went to dinner. Jaime and daughter crashed in my room last night before they head off to great and bigger rooms with the person whom they love more and I get a new roommate… Mary.

It’s like Cell Block Tango but with less murdery bits.

Stayed up to 2 talking. Which is normal. Which is why it becomes a zombie crawl. There are teeny gators in the atrium area of this hotel. I’ll grab a new picture of them today when they’re awake.

Going to work on the Dirty Heart blog tour stuff….and then… ONTO THE NEXT CAMEL!

Kai 2 is finished and has been sent in.

I’ve been a bit AWOL mostly because I’m rounding the corner of finishing Kai 2. Towards the end of a book I get into a roll of hatred of words. Seriously, hatred. Like I have to go into blind typing because I don’t want to see the Word document. It get better. I just get brain blocked and have to push through it. I think a lot of us do that. Just pull the band-aid off. *grins*

Dirty Heart is around the corner, March 21st. I imagine as the day grows closer, I’ll get more maudlin. I imagine I’ll feel worse about Sinners because unlike Cole, there won’t be any coming back to Miki and the boys. It’s hard to say goodbye in some ways but others, it’s okay. Because you know, HEAs.

I actually like HEAs. I do. I work them into everything. Because really, deep down inside, I want there to be a happy.

I also want to talk about the evolution of the Dirty series covers. Because we’ve reached the end of the books, we can look at them in spectrum. The point of the covers was to start off with Cole’s life in the cold lonely he was in—the purples and blues. Then as his life with Jae went on, the covers would warm up to the russets and bronzes. It takes time and there’s a few hiccups along the way but in the end, there’s a hell of a lot of warmth. Notice the shift after Laundry. *grins*

Now I have to rebrand the Hellsinger books….and soon. I just have to find that right… flavour.

* I thank Gay Book Reviews for the book graphic base. I was going to do one but they did one before me so… *slides into my bag and trots off* so smooches and thank you.

I am so done with adulting and it’s not even 9 am.

Part of the biggest problem with owning a classic car is finding parts. Oh there are TONS of places that carry parts and you see everything you’d ever need… until that moment when you need that ONE thing then it’s like chasing ghosts through a maze.

Currently, my Firebird has no seats. Or rather it HAS seats but the seats sit too high and are too thick. So there’s not much room between the seat and the steering wheel and my head hits the roof. No Bueno. These are Scat Pro 80 1300s and the Gods of Summit Racing… notably Corky… have been trying to get an answer from the vendor about the seat height of the Scat Pro 80 1000s. Because in the photos, they look like they scoop down more like the original seats where as the 1300s are like a Jeep seat, which wasn’t apparent until they arrived, were mounted on a separate set of brackets then bolted into the Firebird.

That aside, the car runs beautifully. Just with no seats. Well working seats. The mechanics are probably sick of looking at Tengu as much as I am sick of not having him. The old seats can’t be put in. The brackets are just screwed and well, original parts. It’s time for them to go away.

Oddly enough, this little seat issue eats a lot of time. So much research to be done on what is going to be a straight bolt in versus a bracket bolt in which add inches to the seat height. Since the Firebird already has a well under the seat mounts which then drops down into the space under the dash, there’s not a lot of wiggle room for those seats to go up in height.

This is my life. So much of my time is spent on one form of research or another. And it’s odd because so much information goes into killing someone. We often joke that the FBI or other law agencies would be alarmed to dig out our browser history but then go… oh wait, writer.

For instance, I have an entire folder of bullet entrance and exit hole photos with calibers marked off, covering both hard and soft materials. Because you need to know these things when shooting cinder block, wood and um… melons. LOTS OF MELONS.

Pumpkins are also good because um… splatter.

And we have an incoming message from Summit! WOOOOOOOT! Hopefully it’s good news.

Heading back home today. And it is with a very heavy heart.

But ah, I will see my puppy and I’m sure the cat will glance in my general direction.

HUGE thunderstorm rolled over us in the wee hours of the morning and is lingering. I fly out later this evening.

Now, I head upstairs to make kim chee fried rice for the last time this visit.