Blog Chain Blatherskite

This go around is not only exciting for me, but I have great news to share! Elana, who was before me in the chain (http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com/ ) is a quarter finalist in the Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award Contest! And guess what? So is another of our talented Blog Chain members, H.L. Dyer! Talk about being surrounded by talent! You can read an excerpt and leave a review (which can help them in the final judging) by following these links :

http://www.amazon.com/Control-Issues-Amazon-Breakthrough-Novel/dp/B001UG3BNG

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG3AYQ

Okay, back to our blog chain. I was a bit over-excited this time around. Author of the soon to be released The Hollow, Jessica Verday (http://jessicaverday.blogspot.com/) started this chain and uber talented Mary (not sure how much I can say about her current project) Lindsey (http://marylindsey.wordpress.com/) will be the next link in this chain.

Here's our task:

WRITE! I want a short story people. 100 words, 300 words, 500 words, 1,000 words - whatever you're comfortable with! The only requirement I have is that the theme of the story have something to do with HEARTS. Someone stealing someone else's heart. Someone pining away for true love. A thief of hearts... Go wild!!

So here is my contribution...

Lissette watched the couple walk down the lit path through the park. She could smell them; each human had their own distinct perfume. Hiding in the shadow of a large Oak she licked her lips. It would be nothing to take them both, to feed on their warm pulsing blood until their heart stopped pumping. She knew he would come then.

A thrill ran through her cold body. It was as close to being alive as she’d been for centuries. The mere thought of the Gede made her feel. She hadn’t felt anything, aside from the hunger for blood, in so long. It was foreign, yet not unpleasant.

Unsure why the council of elders had an interest in this particular Gede, a God of death and libido, Lissette knew better than to ask. She had not survived alone in the dark underworld this long without learning to watch and listen. She had made herself an asset to the elders, but she also knew they felt no loyalty to her or any other of their underlings.

Deciding on an easier kill that would draw far less attention, Lissette scanned the vast park for a random homeless person. In a far corner of the park, about two hundred yards away, she could hear a man’s voice. She listened intently as he bragged to his companions about beating a woman and leaving her for dead. She could hear the man’s heart race as he relived the violation that he had inflicted before the beating. Just retelling it excited him. His two companions didn’t seem to share his rapid pulse. She could actually smell the fear emanating from one of them.

“Nothing like a bit of street justice to make a girl feel better” Lissette murmured to herself. Not that she really cared about the woman he had spoken of, she had done worse herself. She knew that this would make for a very angry ghost, one that she could easily control to draw the Gede to her.

It was over before either of his companions realized what was happening. She had started to drain the man before he could even register her presence. The other two men ran without looking back. Warmth flooded down Lissette’s throat. She could hear the man’s heart pounding in his chest. She listened as she drank, waiting for it to slow.

Seconds before she completely drained him, forcing his heart to stop pumping, she reached down, shoving her hand through his shirt, entering his humanly frail skin. Reaching up behind his rib cage, her hand instinctively found his heart, her fingers wrapping around the moist organ. She gave a quick yank and the arteries tore away. Pulling it from his body, she held the heart in front of his face. Lissette spoke to the man looking into his dimming eyes, “You belong to me now”.

She would wait; wait for Gerard, the strongest of the Gede, to find her. She knew he would come and she wondered what his blood would taste like. She had smelled it. It was unlike anything she’d ever experienced, the blood of a God. It made her light headed just thinking about it. Someday, she would grasp Gerard’s heart, beating and strong, unlike the slippery useless flesh still dripping in her fingers.

Preview for tomorrows blog chain post...

I usually tend to half way dread my turn in the blog chain. It's a tad bit daunting being in a chain full of VERY talented writers, and I always feel a bit intimidated by most of them. This time around, I have found myself so excited by our topic that I not only wrote the post days early, but I am having issues with patience about posting it!

That being said, I ran across the best pictures and decided I would post them today as a type of segue for tomorrows blog chain...and yes, they are a bit of a hint too! Be sure that you come back tomorrow and if the **Haitian Voodoo Priestess is reading this, I'll apologize in advance...

** http://terrirainer.blogspot.com/2008/09/open-apology-to-vodou-priestess.html

My First Book Trailer

Okay, after the last blog chain post, I felt the need to create my own book trailer. Here's my second attempt, hopefully I'll get better at it!

Blog Chain Blatherskite

This blog chain was started by Heather (http://hldyer.wordpress.com/ ). Elana was before me (http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com/ ) and then Leah will follow (http://leahclifford.livejournal.com/ ).

Here’s the question:

What plans do YOU have to market your novel? How will you make sure the public finds your work?

As I read all of the informative posts before me, I was amazed at the creativity of my fellow blog chain gang. Everything from perfume, necklace and bracelet giveaways to guest blogging, radio interviews, book trailers and even an original soundtrack were mentioned or shared in this chain. Talk about creativity!

Well, I think that’s all good, and it certainly will take a ton of hard work and dedication. That’s why I can’t believe no one has mentioned my own personal marketing goal.

One word:

OPRAH!

You are pretty much guaranteed a spot on the best seller list if she so much as whispers the name of your book, so that’s my plan A.

Now, if I fail to get Oprah’s attention (I did say “if”), then plan B involves Kelly Rippa and her Trashy Beach Reads segment.

There you have it, my marketing plan. I’ll start working on that plan C as soon as I finish taking notes on this particular blog chain.

So how about you, know anybody that works at Harpo?

All Things Toilet

Okay, maybe I shouldn't have titled this "All Things Toilet", because really, there are some places I do not want to go again (http://terrirainer.blogspot.com/2008/01/sharing-and-poopnot-always-good-thing.html).

Now that you know we won't be speaking of "the poop incident", you can breathe a sigh of relief (I know you were secretly breathing out of your mouth in anticipation of the imagined smell).

Toilets, strange blog topic you might say...not if you're me. Yesterday was a day filled with the word toilet. Let us begin with toilet paper. Does anyone out there really give toilet paper a lot of thought? Sure, if you run out, it's fore-most on your mind. But normally, who would think about it, right? Uh, me, that's who. I think this is a recent occurrence. Maybe adult-on-set-toilet-paper-OCD. Let me explain.

I was always a Charmin type of girl. No thought there. It was soft, yet sturdy. Great combination. As long as you put it on the holder the right way (tears over the top, not under) then it was all good. Until we moved over a year ago. Apparently, when we upgraded in square footage, we downgraded in plumbing size. I got tired of clogged toilets, so I started my search for the "right" toilet paper.

Scott Soft is not only thick enough, but it also didn't clog my toilets. The only problem is, when my husband goes to the store, it's the small things (like the word "soft") that he over-looks. There fore I end up with plain Scott which is like wiping your arse with a minute amount of rice paper...no matter the colossal wad that you have in your hand.

Don't get me wrong, I love that I have a husband who helps out by going to the grocery store, but lets face it folks, when you get older, toilet paper becomes more of a priority. Gone are the days of wild carefree peeing and wiping with a wad of McDonald's napkins from your car, cause you were too drunk to realize you had to go before you left the bar. Not that I ever did this, I just heard stories.

Subject change...on to toilet seats. You would think that the toilet seat and the toilet paper would be related as much as I obsessed over the weekend about both, but alas, they are not even remotely connected. Let's try and make a long story short (I know, I know...as if I could).

My son has spent his own money to redecorate his bathroom. It's all done in hunting/wildlife. We started looking at toilet seats. Since he had spent his own money, we told him we would buy him a new toilet seat. Found the perfect one. Easy, right? Uh, no.

He has an elongated toilet seat (that sounded a bit...uh, bad). Hard to find a the seat he wants in elongated without paying double. I'm sorry, but I have a problem paying $70 for a new seat for a freakin toilet.

So, instead of writing, I spent about six hours looking for this ridiculous (yet cool) elongated fishing lure or deer seat. I'm still looking BTW.

So, that's how my weekend went. I hope everybody else out there was far more productive than I. As for today, I am getting ready to pick my daughter up from the high school amidst a circus of protesters. More on that next time!