Forty Minutes and Counting...

I have 36 days until the sequel to Prophecy of Days - The Daykeeper's Grimoire is due to the publisher and I am FREAKING OUT about this impending deadline.

Anyone have any great tips for writing under pressure?

I just got a good one today from author Teri Hall, who coincidentally also has a January 4 deadline for her second book, the sequel to The Line. Here’s her new trick:

• Internet off.
• Email off.
• Already peed.
• Already have drink in front of you.
• Set timer where you cannot see it for 40 minutes.
• Start writing and don’t stop until the timer goes off.

I’m going to try two sessions of it tonight!

Any other ideas?

Where the Banshees live, and they do live well...

This weekend my daughter got a package from her godfather Daves, who is an expatriate living and working in London. In it were two things we quite enjoyed: a bag of Shrimps & Bananas, possibly the world’s strangest sweet or “candy foam” as it’s called on the package and a miniature build-your-own-Stonehenge kit, complete with perfect placement instructions. It totally reminded me of the tiny Stonehenge set in Spinal Tap, which is my favorite part of the movie. Remember this?



This gift was perfectly timed – the same day we got the package from London, Prophecy of Days went up on Amazon UK! It’s surprisingly fun to see the British pound sign next to the book.

Long live the Queen! And thanks, Daves!

The Dark Faerie Tales site has featured Prophecy of Days as the Waiting on Wednesday pick! Totally exciting - the cover looks gorgeous on her dark and beautiful website. Thanks Angela!

Check it out here!

Happy Hoo Oc To You!

Since I’m mildly obsessed with the Maya calendar system, I’ve been enforcing the celebration of our Maya birthdays around here. You can imagine how difficult that has been with children, especially since your birthday rolls around every 260 days!

Tomorrow is Hoo Oc (Five Dog), which happens to be Scott’s birthday. Look at how beautiful tomorrow's date is in its full glyphic expression:

It has been 1,870,870 days since the beginning of the Long Count calendar—the calendar that’s got everyone in a froth because it ends on December 12, 2012.

1,870,870 days down, 1130 days to go…

Want a pictograph of a special day? Click here!

Writers are weird, man!

There’s an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal about how writers write. I found it really fascinating—especially Richard Powers who lays around in bed speaking his novels aloud and Nicholson Baker who wakes at 4 a.m. to write in gray on a black screen so he can’t see it, then goes back to bed and wakes at 8:30 to edit what he had written in his semi-lucid state. Writers are an odd lot!

For more, check out the WSJ article here.

And in other news, The Book Resort featured a little interview with me today. Read all about my fascinating relationship with the Golden Oreo, among other tidbits.

Kindle Giveaway!

The Universe doled out a new Kindle to authors Laura and Lisa (The Haunting of Pemberly Brown, Sourcebooks 2011) and they’re generously passing it along to one lucky blog reader. Go here to enter. Gifts passed on via The Universe generally have magical powers, so don’t dawdle my friends! The bonus is that Lisa And Laura’s blog also happens to be hilarious.

Prospect of Owning Magical Kindle

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Endlessly Funny Blog

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Great Use of Your Time

Gnomeo, Gnomeo wherefore art thou, Gnomeo?

For Halloween this year the kids went as Gnomeo and Juliet.

Gnomeo’s hat made him easy to find when we went downtown for the parade.

My favorite costume? The guy who put a Fortune Telling Booth over his Segway and cruised around. Look at the throngs of people behind him - the whole town shows up to walk down Main Street.

Gnomeo tried his luck with Zoltar (see the tiny red hat tip? He's got a couple of G-Men watching his back...). Gnomeo's fortune: Smartees.