Kendra Leigh Castle

Not much to report this week, I’m afraid.  I’m neck-deep in vampires (which I suppose is appropriate), and that’s pretty mcuh going to be my life for the next month and a half!  The Countdown to Chewie continues…we’ll be picking him up two weeks from today   And I got a lovely review for Renegade Angel from Terra over at Yankee Romance Reviewers, which is also where I’ll be having my launch day party.  It was a blurry week, not helped by the fact that some random dude thought my cell number was the number for a taxi service and started calling a about 4 am a couple of nights ago!  I spent yesterday in a sleep-deprived haze.  I did turn the phone off, but I’m not a very heavy sleeper, and if you wake me up at that hour, it takes me FOREVER to get back to sleep.  I finally drifted back off about 6, but had to get up at 7, so that was almost pointless.  Naturally, the husband was out of town for the Night of the Creepy Phone Calls.  I’m still dragging some today.  This is why I rarely go bar-hopping anymore…it takes me a week to recover!  Dude, I’m getting old.

That’s about it here…yes, boring as hell, I know!  I’m busy wishing I was at RWA National in Orlando with Marie and the Cat Master, though I wouldn’t be getting any work done.  It sounds so FUN!  But it’s in NYC next year, and I WILL be there.  Cheryl even managed to find a cute guy to take a picture of!  Not that I had any doubts she’d manage it  

I’ve been listening to a lot of music this week, so I’ll leave you for the weekend with some stuff that’s been getting my mental wheels turning as I write my way through a vampire club called Mabon, where all manner of debauchery is the norm and my poor heroine is trying really, REALLY hard not to stare (and failing, naturally).  As usual, I’ve managed to write a conflicted secondary character who I’m already a little bit in love with.  Guess he’ll need his own book one day!  Enjoy the tunes, and your weekend.

I will admit to kind of loving Jared Leto.  So pretty.  So attractive in guyliner.  He really ought to consider being a vampire

Somehow, it’s Monday again

I feel like I’m finally starting to get my feet back under me after last week.  For anyone out there who doesn’t follow me on facebook, which is a place where I contentedly fritter away valuable writing time on a regular basis, I lost my oldest Pekingese, Fizgig, last Wednesday.  Didn’t feel like blogging about it on Friday, and still can’t look at his picture without crying like a baby, so I’m not going to say much about it except that I’m still in the process of mourning him.  He had lived a good life for 13 years, and he was beautiful, and I miss him.  And that, as Forrest Gump might say, “is all I got to say about that.”  But to those of you who’ve expressed your condolences, please know that I’ve really appreciated them.

Now, on to lighter things!  I have finally managed to find my instructions for getting my mug, plus the cover of Renegade Angel, up on the very cool Nocturne Authors website.  Click HERE to check it all out…in another month I get to be front page material!  September might wind up  being pretty cool if I can stay sane.  I’ll be doing a bit of guest blogging, running some contests, and generally promoting the tale of my sexy fallen angel, Raum, and the half-human woman of his dreams (or is it nightmares?) Ember.  Fun stuff!  Except that I also have that incredibly frightening September 15 deadline I need to hit for my cat-shifting vampire story, and while I am SO loving discovering this story as I’m writing it, WOW is it gonna be tight!  I can do it.  I’m on track.  But I see some pain in my future, because my best-laid plans tend to get blown all to hell on a regular basis.

And then, of course, there is the impending arrival of Chewie.  In less than three weeks.  Do you see the potential for chaos here?  Hmm…methinks that behind this sweet face may be some devilment.

   Hope you all had a good weekend!

A present for you…

Go ahead.  Take the bottle.  You know you want to

I was going through some of my stuff earlier (as I prepare to actually do some, you know, WORK today, LOL) and ran across this hottie who Donna sent me for my birthday last month.  I haven’t really begun to think about Book 2 in the vampire series yet, apart from knowing who the hero is and basically what his issue will be.  But…seeing him today got me thinking what an EXCELLENT vampire he’d make.  What do you think, ladies?  Hero material?  His name will be Jaden, and he’ll actually be appearing pretty soon in the book I’m working on right now. 

They’re already starting work on a cover for the book that is currently called Dark Awakening.  Is that not AWESOME?!  I’m amazed.  And terrified.  I must finish this book!!  They did ask what my hero looked like, in detail.  In reply, I sent this picture…MsM, you’ll appreciate this

That’s my Tynan. *happy sigh*

Hope you all have a Monday that’s full of inspiration!

Happy Friday, everyone!  Another end to another busy week.  It’s still hotter than hell here, but it did rain ONCE for a little while this week.  Ugh.  But it’s all good, because the hubby and I are blowing town this weekend for his buddy’s wedding in Annapolis, in which Brian is serving as best man.  I won’t know a soul but the groom, but I’m sure I’ll manage.  I’ve been accused in the past of being…chatty…while under the influence.  Okay, actually, my mouth runs all the time, it’s just worse when I’m drinking.  Just call me Fun Kendra.  So I’ve got my party dress, my toes are painted metallic easter egg purple, and I’m ready to gooooo!  Watch, I’ll have one drink and fall asleep.  I think the real Fun Kendra retired after college.  Still, I love Annapolis.  Reminds me of back when Brian and I were dating.  and we got engaged there, on a bench by the water   Yes, I know.  Awwwwww

So I got a lotta writing done this week, and re-read Nora Roberts’ Heaven and Earth for the book club I’m hosting next week.  Forgot just how much I enjoyed that one, but I do love me some classic Nora.  Also, I am terrified of what I will make for food for this book club event.  Ack, entertainment anxiety!  

Anyway, you all enjoy your weekend.  A lot of you saw the latest in the puppy saga on my Facebook, but if you didn’t, not only are we getting a brown Newfie puppy, but the people who had the brown pick of the current litter had to back out, so instead of waiting until the end of September we’re getting Baby Chewie in just a month!  Different parents than I showed you, but mama is brown and daddy is black and they’re both gorgeous.  And Chewie…well, he’s a big boy already in comparison to his siblings, but he was born first out of the nine puppies, and the breeder said he likes to EAT.  You can tell.  He’s a chubber.

Here’s some party music to head into the weekend with.  Have a great one!

I got a Bigass Box O’ Books in the mail today!  YAY!!  I am always amazed at the little nudges the universe sends me when I can’t seem to settle down and do what I need to do (and today, surprise, that would be getting my butt to stick in the chair to be productive).  These books are just beautiful, and seeing my story in print, with my little Dear Reader letter in the front…wow.  Just WOW.  It seriously never gets old.  I am so proud of this story, and I can’t wait for you all to read it.  There really isn’t anything like the feeling of holding a book in your hands and knowing you created every bit of the story inside.  And I need to mention one more thing, just one more time…YAY!

Okay, as promised, here’s a look at the parents of our someday-puppy, who will be born in about a month!  Unfortunately, these aren’t pictures I myself took…I felt a little weird lugging my big camera into our initial meet and greet, but when we go out to choose which puppy will be ours at the three-week-old mark, I’ll have got a nice excuse to take some shots:-)  The black dog is Solomon, who is HUGE, and such a love…he’s just so freaking huggable, and that’s what he enjoys, which is great.  He also gives high-fives!  Um, and he drools, but we’re aware of the drooling thing with Newfoundlands.  It’s cool.  The brown and white (her coloring is called Landseer) is Honey Bear, the mama.  Again, a big, quiet sweetheart, and the picture doesn’t do how pretty she is justice.  I got some kisses and hugs from her too!  the kids were so all about these dogs…my son Jack, who’s not quite five, climbed all over them and they didn’t bat an eye.  There’s a reason that Nana in the original, written version of  Peter Pan was a Newf.  Had to laugh, though…my husband was the biggest kid of all around these gentle giants.  He wrapped his arms around Solomon and just kept saying, “He’s so awesome!”  It is fortunate for the breeder that it’s impossible to smuggle a 160-lb. dog out of a house, or I think Brian would have tried it.  We’re probably going to name the puppy (who will be a brown male) Chewie (yep, as in “Chewbacca”) as long as he doesn’t turn out to just not fit that at all.  But I bet he will.

This summer has turned out funny, not at all what I’d hoped or thought.  I was overjoyed at the news of my sale to GCP, of course, and I wouldn’t change that for anything!  But there’s been an excess of sad to temper it.  Sweet Casper found his forever home yesterday with a nice couple who have no kids or other animals, and I think he’ll do beautifully in that environment.  I still cried, but it’s all for the best.  I wanted him to find his place quickly, and he did, thanks to the wonderful rescue.  At the same time, my 13-year-old Peke baby, Fizgig, has about reached the end of his run, because bad news seems to run in packs.  We’ve known this was coming, but there are some unhappy things there that are quite imminent.  Won’t bore you with it, but it’s been very much on my mind.  Well, obviously, or I wouldn’t be going on about it.  Sorry!

You wouldn’t really think of fall as being a time for rebirth, for new life.  But it looks like this fall is going to be just that for this family.  My writing career will be coming back to life, and we’ll have a young, furry life in the house again.  I love that time of year anyway, so I’m hoping it infuses some joy back into the house (with the kids back in school as the icing on this cake, I’m sure it will!).  Right about now, everyone here is just tired.  Been a hell of a month.  But I am keeping on writing those sexy vampires, with some spicy werewolf action thrown in on the side, and it’s a nice place to bury myself when I’m not sure where else to go!

Hmm, I guess it can’t be September yet…I’ve got a lot of pages to write between now and then!  Still, in this heat, and what with everything, it’s not wrong to start dreaming of a nip in the air and the leaves turning red and gold, is it?

I could use a little Jacob Black to lighten up my day!  I don’t care.  If ogling him is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.

So those of you who visit me on facebook know that the puppy we’ve had for a month, Casper, had to go back to the rescue.  We tried REALLY hard, and despite the fact that he was absolutely nothing like a Great Pyrenees in temperment (being high energy and high maintenance 24-7 are NOT hallmarks of that breed, who even as puppies tend to be a bit easier going), we were willing to work through his behavior issues and deal with the fact that he was more of an arctic mix, with very different needs.  We even had a trainer lined up to come to the house this weekend.  The big problem, the insurmountable problem, was that Casper’s bad behavior with my big baby kitty, Bruno, was escalating.  It was clear to everyone, vet included, that Casper was half Husky, and his personality and instincts are classic Husky.  Sadly, one thing Huskies are noted for is having one of the highest prey drives of any breed, and of being utterly untrustworthy with small animals, cats in particular.  This is not to say that there aren’t Huskies out there who live peacefully with cats, but it would be more the exception than the rule, and there are many cases of Huskies who have seemed to live fine with a particular cat for several years before getting a wild hair one day and shredding them while the owner is gone.  It’s just in them.  Rescue Huskies are almost never placed with cat families.  And our sweet Casper, who is a joyful, happy puppy in other ways, has an incredibly strong hunting instinct.  The last couple of days, he’d gotten so he’d not only stare intensely and stalk the cat, but grab him roughly by the neck with his mouth.  No amount of hissing or swatting by Bruno had ever done anything but further excite the dog, and I guess I should have seen this coming the very first time he cornered the cat and made him cry a few weeks ago.  I just thought we could fix it.  I would never forgive myself if anything happened to Bruno that I could have prevented.  Anyway, end of story, the rescue coordinator completely agreed that it was unworkable, he is back in temp boarding until they can find him a foster and/or a good home, and we are puppy-less once more.  Lots of tears here.  He’s a good boy, and will make someone a wonderful pet as long as they go in understanding what he is and what he needs.  They’re going to keep me in the loop on him finding a new home.  I want to know he’s okay.  Hopefully, as a beautiful 5-month-old baby, he’ll find his forever home quickly.  They’re using some pictures I took of him, and this time, he is being advertised as a Husky mix, no cats, no small kids.  The breed write-up is just totally different than that of a Pyr.  But I guess we’ve helped in some small way…the next people will want him for what he is. 

I’ll tell you what, though, this all sucked HARDCORE.  We have decided we are going to try again this fall with a new fur baby, but this time, we are going to work with a good breeder and get a purebred.  Rescue is wonderful, but considering what happened this time and how awful everyone here feels losing a puppy we were quite attached to, we feel like we need to be 100% sure of the breed and the temperment of the parents.  I do NOT want to go through this again!  So we will be doing what we had initially planned quite some time ago, and getting a Newfoundland puppy.  He will be born in a month, and ready to come home at the end of September/beginning of October.  By then, we’ll all have recovered from this mess, hopefully stopped crying intermittently, and be ready to jump in again.  This weekend we go to visit the parents, and I’m going to take some pictures, so I’ll share those then.

Ugh.  Long week.  Tell me something good, people!  Anything fun to share?  Now that the dust is settling, I’m just writing, which is going to be my primary occupation until September 15th.  And somewhere in here, I need to tweak my outline for that werewolf book I want to do for Nocturne.  My editor there is pretty awesome, has been great at teaching me what I need to do differently when writing category, and she has just a few extra things she wants me to incorporate into the storyline.  But she loves the idea and the chapters so far, so I feel pretty confident that you’ll be seeing Jenner and Mia and their adventures with his werewolf pack in the woods of Northern PA.  They may even get a whole series.  That’s part of the idea, and I’d love that   It surprised me, how much I missed werewolves!  Must be the power of Jacob’s smolder.  But damn do I need a new office chair, and soon, as this is rapidly turning into a full-time job.  Oddly enough, it had not seemed that way up until recently. But I guess that’s what happens as you actually start to have a career!

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!  I’ll be back on Monday with pictures and pithy commentary, as usual.

As you read this, I am cruising down the highway in a seated position, probably humming to myself and definitely BORED.  I love visiting my parents, but the drive back is pretty dull.  Not much to look at but road, which I guess is good for not getting distracted…but then again, I get distracted just by being bored.  It’s a vicious cycle. 

So it’s back to the grind for me.  I sent the fun werewolf proposal off yesterday after giving it one more read (yup, Julia became Mia, and all was well).  I could see that being a category series, if it works out.  Apparently I missed my werewolves a little bit, LOL, which I already knew.  Speaking of, if anyone out there hasn’t read any of the MacInnes Werewolves trilogy and wants to, I’ve discovered they’re out of print, so snatch up a copy if you see it.  The good thing is, they’re still available secondhand since they’re not old, and they’re also available in e-book.  That bit of info made me very glad I kept two copies of each book just for me on my shelf!

Anyway, I’ll go home, I’ll put stuff away, and I’ll get my butt in the chair and WRITE.  I’ve got a five page a day quota to meet to reach my deadline, so I’m thinking I need a better office chair.  The one I have is pretty, but it kills my back.  Any of you have any suggestions for a good, not hideously expensive desk chair? 

Hope everyone had a good Fourth.  We cooked out, pigged out, and watched fireworks on the beach, which was pretty much just how I wanted to spend it.  And now…back to reality.  Boo.  Hiss.  Have a great Monday, everyone!  And enjoy the pic of Keifer, the non-sparkly vampire.  I looooved him as the Lost Boys’ David way back when. 

So I’m not quite late with this post!  Okay, well…maybe a little

Hazards of vacation: forgetting what day it is, among other things.  By the time I realized it was Friday, I had to get ready to get out the door!  It was Spend Mah Birfday Money day at the Carolina Place Mall, and I must say, I think I succeeded admirably.  Fabulous new wide-legged jeans that are cut more like trousers and look like something out of the fabulous Forties, a few tops, a big long sweater to replace the gross old flannel of Brian’s I tend to wrap up in (which is not to say I’ll ditch the flannel completely, but really, I should have an attractive alternative for SOMETIMES), and most importantly, a plush Mr. Pricklepants for my desk.  He’s going to sit by the Cheshire Cat, I think.  Who, you ask, is Mr. Pricklepants?  Well, you really have to see Toy Story 3, but he’s a very cuddly thespian who wears leiderhosen and is, um, a hedgehog.  Went to see that movie yesterday in 3-D and it was SO good, and a lovely way to round out the story of Woody, Buzz & Co., but yes, I did cry.  My kids didn’t, but I think you have to be an adult to really understand what was sad about it.  At least the toys ended up okay, and that made me smile. 

In other “Yay!” type news, I finished up my werewolf story proposal for Nocturne, which will now head out for (hopeful) approval after I give it one more look tomorrow.  Wish I could have done another fallen angel, but they know what sells for them far better than I, and werewolves are ALWAYS fun!  I may have to change the heroine’s name.  I’ve got too many “J” names going on in there, and it’s getting weird.  I’m thinking Mia, maybe, instead of Julia.  Anyway, back to the vampire book tomorrow!  My brain is probably going to explode by the end of the summer.  It could happen.

Have a WONDERFUL Fourth of July weekend, everyone!  I’ll be heading home Monday, which means back to reality for me, but before then we’re having the big cookout here with family.  Dad says Casper has made this visit “interesting.”  Yeah…his interesting-ness made us decide to have a dog trainer come out to the house next weekend to teach us how to train this wild white animal, because oh my God.  Seriously.  Hope you all have a holiday that’s more fun than “interesting”!