A Change of Address

To streamline my life, which has gotten complicated for some reason, I'm blogging on only one site from this point on - my Jana Oliver blog on the main website. I will continue to check here on LJ to see what you folks are up to, however, and post as needed. Can't miss your exploits.

If you want to follow my doings there are many ways to achieve that:
Twitter (crazyauthorgirl)Facebook.com/JanaOliver 
JanaOliver.com
DemonTrappers.com
DemonTrappers.co.uk
TimeRovers.com

Now you know why life has gotten complicated!

Happy Holidays to One and All! Here's hoping 2011 is a WAY better year for all of us.

Jana

Busy, Busy

Busy, busy. But getting better. That's the weather forecast in Jana's world. The first weekend of the month began in North Carolina. When we were driving out of Atlanta it began to sleet. Yuck. Then we get twenty minutes from home and I realize I didn't pack the camera or (more important) the video projector for my talk in Charlotte. Dumb. So we drive home, get said items, and head back north again and by this time the sucky weather had passed.
The projector and portable screen are merely contingency plans (I've learned the hard way on that score) and definitely not needed at the Hickory Tavern in NW Charlotte. The room was huge, with massive open windows, and there was big projector screen. Unfortunately it was way sunny so some of the images got a bit bleached out, but overall it went really well. The Charlotte folks were so gracious and so many of them were at the beginning of their writer journey. After the event the Spouse and I adjourned to a Panera, commandeered a table and eat bread bowl soup while I edited a non-fiction article. Yum. I love soup this time of year.

Thanksgiving Day went very well. We had a wonderful turkey dinner, just the two of us. The kitchen cabinet painting was in full swing so things were a mess, but I didn't care. It was great to break out the good china, sit in the dining room (the kitchen table was full of stuff from the cabinets) and have a really fine meal.

Many things are In The Works. On the US side, DEMON TRAPPER'S DAUGHTER is garnering reviews. My marketing lady tells me that there will be the first two chapters of the book posted on WordsNStuff.net closer to publication. And there will be special short story about Riley's first solo trapping adventure entitled RETRO DEMONOLOGY.

On the UK side we've created a Google map that shows some of the places used in the series and we're developing a Picasa photo site so folks can check out pictures of those sites. Reviews are rolling in over there as well and the first few on Amazon have been amazing. Another trip to Oakland Cemetery is in the works, but this time it won't be purely for reference. I wanted to give my new camera road test before we go on the road, but the Kitchen Cabinet Painting Project chewed up all of last weekend. And where are you off to now, Ms. Oliver? South Georgia. But I'll tell you more about that later this week.

Wishing all my US friends and readers a belated Happy Thanksgiving. Despite all the gloomy news we are forced to endure 24/7, we have much to be thankful for. And I'm very thankful for all of you.

Temptation on the Doorstep

A new post on Temptation at my website blog!

http://www.janaoliver.com/blog/

Bug Photo of the Day

Little miracles abound around us. Or in this case are hiding in some bushes my husband was dutifully trimming. When something flew out of them, he checked it out, figuring it was a grasshopper.

Nope, something way cooler. There, on his rake handle was the lovely praying mantis. Husband is a bit concerned that the one shorter antenna occurred because of his trimming efforts, but the wee beastie seems to be fine otherwise. Now deposited into our Japanese maple, I'm sure he (or she) is looking for the next meal. It was at least 3-1/2 inches long, if not more. Yet another reason to get a higher quality digital camera than the one I own.

Cemetery Tales

The word came down from my editor -- thou shalt provide an author photograph for thy book cover. Cue squee of excitement at the thought of the book cover, followed by "Oh no!" I HATE getting photographed. My bangs have a will of their own and a camera's lens is never kind, adding even more pounds to my well-rounded frame.

However, when one's author photo is at least ten years (and umpty odd pounds lighter) than the real you, it's time to make amends. In my case it'd been six years, lots of pounds and the loss of the long red hair since my last sitting in 2003.

Amends were taken -- as in hauling my behind to my hair stylist, the ever talented Eli Boursarkis (Image Salon). Eli has been instrumental in helping me to go "silver" (as he puts it) and so he was delighted when I told him we could be completely funky this time around. He used semi-permanent color as I still want to gracefully go gray down the line, but kicked it up a notch. So now I'm this lovely chestnut brown with black chunky lowlights and a few blonde highlights on the tips. It rocks. Like. Totally. (Yes, I've been immersed in Y.A. fiction a little too long.) This is close to my original hair color before Nature decided to show me a lesson or two. And it will be perfect for Dragon*Con!!

Off to Oakland Cemetery with more wardrobe changes than Paris Hilton. Well, not quite -- a couple change o' shirts and a couple hats. Matt the Photographer (see above) from One Six Photography met us at the cemetery office and off we went. At six in the evening it's still really light and there was a breeze so we kept wandering around and shooting based on places that had interesting textures, shadows, you name it. I went back and forth between a denim jacket (yes it was hot) and an emerald green shirt. I figure between Matt's talent and Photoshop we'll end up with something that will work quite nicely. Unlike the last couple of weeks, it did not rain and the light wind made the temperature (87 degrees) bearable.

Pluses -- Matt's shot in the cemetery before so he knew cool places to go. There were No Mosquitoes. We're swarmed with the bloodsuckers in our neighborhood, but there were NONE down at the cemetery. The occasional gnat or butterfly, but that's it. I didn't even both to pull out the bug spray. And Matt and I talked cameras cuz, well, ya just got to! He made some recommendations on Canon digitals and I'm doing some serious pondering in that direction.

Now I wait and see what miracles Matt is able to perform. I had tons of fun and have promised myself that in a couple years, I'm doing it all over again. Yes, it was that painless.

MobileMe Fail

Annoyed, we are. I'm willing to embrace new technology as long as it works. I eagerly embraced MobileMe so that my emails could be "pushed" to my iPhone as compared to going through my regular web address wherein I have to check for new emails or wait for them to be delivered at a particular time. Not that my life is so on the edge that I need to read my emails "instantly" but still, it's way cool, okay? I ran their sixty day trial -- no hassles. A little light on options, but it had possibilities that it might grow into something really nice. I moved my primary business contacts to MobileMe and life was good.

Then Apple changed their software somewhere along the way. So not good.

My agent was the first to point out things were not kosher. My emails to her didn't bother to wrap. Instead, they were one long line disappearing off the end of the page and into infinitely. Gads. So I tested this issue with some friends. Almost all of them had a problem. Drat. Digging through the stacks of info on Apple's website reveals they know of this problem and haven't bothered to correct it. When I go to send an email, part of the time I get an error message that requires me to refresh the MobileMe page, then send the email. What is with that? No formatting options have been added, etc. etc. Did I mention this service costs $99/year? Ah, that got your attention. Inelegantly designed software is tolerable if it's free. It's not when it costs $$, especially for what is to be my business account which is a reflection of "moi" online. (To their credit, Apple offers a refund if you cancel within forty-five days. That date approacheth.)

I'm currently checking out GoDaddy. Their hosted exchange accounts offer Microsoft 2007 software as part of the package. The Alpha Geek tells me that MS Outlook '07 is a good thing (and he's SO not a Microsoft guy). I've be less likely to get caught in a spam trap as compared to using Yahoo or Gmail. I'll need to do some more due diligence. I don't want to keep annoying my contacts by changing email addresses every day or so.

So no gold star for you, Apple. I love your iPhone. Adore it. I can't stand your MobileMe. Fix it and maybe someday I'll give it another try. For now, I'm cozying up to your competitors.

If any of you have experience with GoDaddy or any other service, let me hear your thoughts.

Of Technology & Cranky Computers

Words you do not want to see on your computer screen:

Operating System Not Found

Sigh. This was not on the 'new' eMachine I bought, but my trusty and deeply cool Dell Mini 9 which I purchased last November. It doesn't have a hard drive, more of a glorified flash drive, which means that full backup I did last week is not going to be able to be reloaded anytime soon. So I called Dell, talked to some delightful East Indian gentlemen, and the computer will be zinging it's way to wherever to be fixed (it's under warranty). When it gets back I am to call them and they will walk me through putting all the goodies back on the machine. Actually, I'll have the spouse do that since he's Alpha Geek of the household.

I find it suspicious that only a few days after the new machine arrives in the house the Dell goes toes up. A fit of pique maybe? Like a cat eying a newborn and knowing it's penultimate place has been usurped? Let's just hope they never make truly sentient computers or they'll spend all their time sulking and plotting unholy revenge for slights imagined and otherwise. So take a few moments and tell your computer you love it. If not, it may find a way to get even.

(For those writers out there who wince at such news, I didn't lose a bit of my work. That automatic full system backup onto the Seagate drive saved my a**. Huzzah!)

Technology Fights Back

The plan for a fun weekend was thwarted by technology. Or in this case my Dell Inspiron 600m. I've had this computer for six years, written a squillon words on it, toted it all over the planet and now it's finally doing a dying swan routine. (To be honest, it doesn't owe me anything and I've been tickled it's lasted this long.) Husband, an Alpha Geek, recommended I use the spare desktop we have in the basement for the audio equipment. So we toted it upstairs, starting loading software until I tried to put on the MS Home and Office and I got the "Need Service Pack 2" message. So I loaded SP2 and the machine promptly crashed. At which point my beloved spouse says, "You know, I've had troubles like that before." Now he tells me after I've blown hours mussing with this thing.

I must admit that I felt the overwhelming urge to bury his remains in the back garden, but Georgia has a death penalty and I'm not sure that homicide secondary to computer failure is a legal defense. To his credit, he reloaded the system after repartitioning some of the drives. It works okay, but neither of us are convinced it'll behave itself in the future.

Eventually I gave in and ordered a refurbished computer. I don't usually buy used, but I figured I'd give it a shot this time ($199). If it doesn't work, the "No Lemon" clause in the warranty will give me an out if they can't fix it. Meanwhile I'll do ferious backups like I've been doing with the old Dell and use my new(er) Lilliputian Dell as a secondary computer.

The weekend is over. I'm back to the keyboard hammering away on the word count and for some reason I don't remember having much fun. Bah.

Shifting Gears

Today is the transition day between family and profession as I wash clothes, pack and get ready to head for Washington, D.C. tomorrow. But more on that later. This last weekend it was all about family as the husband and I flew to Iowa to celebrate his mom's 90th birthday. She had been quite ill earlier in the year and we weren't particularly sure she'd make this milestone, but she did. And in great shape. Her health has improved greatly and she was in high spirits. Once we convinced her that tooling around in a wheelchair made it easier on all of us, we schlepped her around for food and some sightseeing. On Sunday my husband's uncle (Mel) and his wife (Wanda) drove down to the Quad Cities and we shared a lunch of KFC and a gorgeous birthday cake with the mum-in-law. I know there are wives out there who can't stand their m-i-l. I adore mine. Probably because she's a lot like me, which is scary. So the weekend was very good on many levels and I'm glad she was around to share it.

Today I'm gearing up for the Romance Writers annual convention (which moves cities every year). This year it's in D.C. and that means I get to hang with my writing buddy and occasional roomie, Jean Marie Ward. We're going to spend some time wandering around the big city since the last time (my birthday last November) I was quite ill with a cold. This time I'm in fine shape so there will be considerable walking. I'm packing my Tevas. Mrs. Ward is a consummate hiker, even in heels, and she knows the city intimately. There'll be some research stuff, some good food and lots of fun. The conference starts (for me) on Thursday and goes through Saturday. Lots of panels caught my eye. I need to meet with my fabulous agent and the Prism Award ceremony is Thurs. evening. (MADMAN'S DANCE is up for one of those little beauties in the time travel category.) After that is the Death by Chocolate Party hosted by the Kiss of Death Chapter of RWA. One of the highlights of my trip: my first official St. Martin's Press publisher party is Friday evening. I admit, there has been some fussing around as to what to wear since the Powers That Be will be in residence. Over the course of the convention I'm hoping to catch up with a lot of author buddies and have a grand time. It's back home on Sunday. I'll try to do a recap on Monday once I sort out the brain.

The fact that I've not been doing so many conventions this year has made me majorly productive (the first draft of the first book in the Demon Trappers Series is already done) and I'm not so wasted. So it's all good. More later. Have a great week. I know I will.

To Gray or Not to Gray

Aging gracefully is for the birds. I consider aging a full contact sport requiring a lot of fortitude and an equal amount of attitude. I don't fear it, I'm just not going to let it roll over me.

However, I did decide after my latest birthday to give in just a little in the matter of my hair color. My natural color was brown. I was nearly blonde as a kid, then it got darker and more medium brown. Then darker brown just about the time I started turning gray (age 40). In 2000 I went red. I was tired of brown and red sounded exciting. They got the slogan wrong: it's redheads who have more fun. Redheads can be sassy and no one is surprised. We're not considered dumb, but intelligent and "brassy". So I hung with the "reds" for over eight years, but every time I colored my hair there was more salt and pepper to be covered. Some folks are blessed with that cool silvery gray (like my hubby). You've seen them. I especially admire ladies with that thick silver hair. Mine's not thick, but it is silvery, so this last time to the hair stylist I gave him the word: we're growing out the gray (or grey if you're British). He was surprised, but agreed there were certain things we could do to mitigate the suckiness of the grow out period of approximately one year or so.

So he put in some honey gold auburn highlights to take the color out of the part of the hair that has been dyed and gave me a wonderful cut. And now we grow. It looks kinda funky with the now muted lighter sections of hair and the gray/black growout, but so far it doesn't look like I've spaced off a trip to the salon. It will eventually. My dear stylist said it wasn't usual for a woman to ask to go gray. Most are very keen to cover up the passage of time. But that's my mantra: be unique.

In about a year the gray/black combo will be completely revealed and I'll have to change makeup yet again to accommodate. I have no doubt it'll look great. So I leave the red haircoloring I'm not using to those out there who do (you know who you are!) Red on, ladies!

P.S. This whole thing must be working as the cashier at Fuddruckers gave hubby and I the Senior Discount the other day and neither of us asked. Where I'm tickled to save the two bucks, somehow it's sorta painful to know it was offered in the first place. Had to be because of hubby. Yeah, that's it.

Yet another Postscript: Today is hubby's birthday. We spent it plowing around the mall, picking up some amazing bargains and then a wonderful dinner at P.F. Chang's. Then some video time with our Netflix addiction augmented by his very own Naked Newt wine. He pronounced the day a success. My job is done.