Favourite lines from last week

As of Friday I’m six chapters into the 2nd draft of Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic  – aka Dowser #2 – which means the novel is approximately a third done. I wanted to treat you to a bit of Jade by sharing my favourite bits so far. Warning, while these might be deemed as gems by myself, they have not been vetted by the editor, or betas, or proofed at all.

Chapter One:

“I’d known him for three months now and it still freaked me out when he looked at me too closely. Usually I pretended he was wearing some human expression when he did this stare, no talk thing. This time I imagined him frowning — I doodled it in my mind with a black marker over his —”

Chapter Two:

“Great, now with the running. The running always led places I really didn’t want to go. Like into blood and mayhem. Well, I guess I had just walked into the last batch of those …”

“Then I got hit by a bear.”

Chapter Three:

“Still, no trace of Kandy or Kett. No other magical glimmers, either. I was utterly useless. And utterly lost. Thank God my chocolate bar hadn’t completely washed away. Yes, I checked. I’m aware that reflects badly on me.”

“Desmond was absolutely gorgeous and dangerous in cat form. But, as a man, he was hard – almost overly muscled – and exceedingly difficult.

And completely naked.

Okay, Jesus. Of course, he was naked.

And now I was staring.”

Chapter Four:

“I put the SUV in park and loosened my seat belt thinking Desmond would want to drive, but after scowling at me for a beat, he simply crossed around to the door behind me. I checked out his backside in my side view mirror. What? I hadn’t seen him naked from behind.”

Chapter Five:

“I was haunted from within — from everything my sister did, and everything I didn’t stop her from doing.”

“You have remained silent for three minutes, Dowser,” Kett said. “I believe that may be a record of some sort.” Great, the vampire was attempting a joke. I was fairly certain that was one of the signs of the apocalypse.

“I was so going to run out of chocolate before Britannia Beach. No wonder Kandy stayed in wolf form. This way she had a major excuse for not participating in what masqueraded as a conversation, but was really just a sausage swing and measure.”

Chapter Six:

“A necromancer was sitting on my front stoop. Okay, I didn’t have a front stoop. A necromancer was sitting on the front steps of my apartment. A fledgling necromancer to be more exact.”

“Mort sided up to me, placing me between her and Kandy. The werewolf noticed and offered another spine-tingling grin. “Don’t let the blondness fool you, fledgling. The witch stabbed a 900-pound grizzly in the ass today. She just keeps her claws better hidden and painted pink.”

“My cat Lester loved marshmallows, even untoasted,” I said to Mort as I reached out to the magic surrounding the door, walls, and windows of my home. “If you accidentally left the bag out he’d totally molest it.”

“What?”

“Your magic tastes like toasted marshmallows.”

“And, so? Your cat is going to molest me?”

chocolate cosmos
The accidentally snipped chocolate cosmos I’ve been sniffing all morning. Yes, it actually smells like chocolate!!

P.S. You can still win a Cupcakes (Etc) signed paperback through Goodreads this week. 800 people have signed up so far.

cherry blossoms in the rain

This morning we had a wicked rainstorm in Vancouver, but, by the time I was walking home from my errands, the sun was burning off the clouds and the air was so, so sweet. The cherry and magnolia trees all along the boulevards are (almost) in full bloom; their heavenly scent triggered even further by the rain.

In the garden my dwarf stella cherry tree is just starting to bloom … I snapped this with my iPhone right before I came inside to – once again – chain myself to the computer.

Stella Cherry Tree Blossom

Now the sun is out and I’m inputing numbers into spreadsheets. Death and taxes, right?
————-
WIP: taxes – yuck!
On the headphones: “Don’t You Worry Child” by Swedish House Mafia
Pen of the day: blue ink bic
Chocolate of the day: fresco 214 (74% single origin Madagascar). I’m attempting to savour the last piece as I write this, damn!

The 1st day of spring in Vancouver…

… looks like this:

nectarine in bloom, march 21, 2013

At least in my garden … under glass and against the south-facing wall of the house. So I’m trying to make you snow-covered Easterners jealous … but not too jealous.

———-

Photo info:
Subject: Golden Prolific Nectarine, 4 years old
Camera: Canon SLR – EOS digital Rebel XTi. 35mm camera lens
Date: March 21, 2013, afternoon

Writing update:
I just finished – like minutes ago – the second draft of the next novel, Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic. It’s an urban fantasy (adult). After I do another pass I’ll send it off to the editor, Scott, and the cover artist, Irene. YAY!!

Eating:
Mario’s Chocolate Gelato – SO YUMMY!!!!

Cats:
Only Parker is currently on the desk. Darby is surfing a sunbeam in the the kitchen, and Leo is in his box on the back counter, where else would he be at 3:34pm on a Thursday?

Raindrops on roses …

I ran the halloween pumpkins out to the compose between rain showers this morning, and, upon returning to the house, I saw this beauty tucked up underneath the eave of the studio window.

I should have run inside for the SLR, but I was afraid it would start raining again in the time it would take me to get it. I snapped this with my iPhone.

Happy November 1, 2012!!

Post No Bills

I discovered this amusing series of photos while walking down West 4th Avenue in Kitsilano on July 28, 2012 – yes, I’ve been remiss in posting it.

An entire block is under construction between Yew and Maple (??) and some brilliant person posted these photos on the plywood wall built between the sidewalk and the site. I’ve included my favourite “Bills” in the photo series above, but there were easily 20+ photos (if memory serves).

Thank you for the laugh, Anonymous Vancouver street artist … a tip of the blog to you!

A conversation with Leo about the blueberry box

Image

“That blueberry box is clearly too small for you, Leo.”

Leo blatantly ignores Meghan, even though she just so happens to feed him regularly and provide such things as blueberries boxes, looms, and other great places to nap.

“And it’s hanging half off the counter. You might tip and fall.”

Leo continues to ignore Meghan, who is obviously exaggerating as humans have such a propensity to do.

“Fine. I’ll just post a picture of you on the blog then.”

Leo, not even remotely motivated by this nothing of a threat, doesn’t bother to crack an eye for the pictures. What does he care of the blog when he has this perfectly sized box to nap in?

The Anatomy of a Book Cover

Irene Langholm recently re-envisioned the book cover for After The Virus and the amount of work she put into it was crazy and amazing at the same time. So I thought you all might like to see what an artist does when pitched a basic plot from an author … through concept … to completion.

I am absolutely infatuated with the finished product, BTW (in case there was any lingering doubt). Click the image to get a closer look:

The Anatomy of a Book Cover – After The Virus –  by Irene Langholm

Finished cover and sources:

http://irenelangholm.deviantart.com/art/After-the-Virus-310887976

Stock used:
http://freetextures.deviantart.com/art/Texture10-asphalt-67439625
http://waxsphere-stock.deviantart.com/art/asphalt-stock-50308707
http://arkaydo.deviantart.com/art/asphalt-texture-171800902
http://darkrose42-stock.deviantart.com/art/Army-56617154
http://pendlestock.deviantart.com/art/Fossil-120329445
http://hatestock.deviantart.com/art/Paper-stock-9-91944104
http://bashcorpo.deviantart.com/art/Grungy-paper-texture-v-1-22965919
http://agent-kstock.deviantart.com/art/snowy-mountains-75365193
http://hoschie-stock.deviantart.com/art/street-47084536
http://rml-stock.deviantart.com/art/Street-Stock-05-75324962
http://sirius-sdz.deviantart.com/art/texture-100-106021598
http://babybird-stock.deviantart.com/art/White-crumbled-paper-texture-48496295

Ah, Vancouver in the spring …

The sun comes out, trees begin to bloom, and my love affair with Vancouver begins anew. I no longer find myself rushing to and from the house, but rather taking little moments to wander through the garden to see what is new each sunny day.

Today the three-year-old dwarf nectarine tree is in full bloom, so I grabbed this picture right before I holed back up in the office for the remainder of the day.

While walking to Pilates this morning I found this lovely scene in my neighbour’s yard (I believe that is a weeping cherry tree?):

And, on my way home, I couldn’t help but grab a shot of this gorgeous white cherry tree in full bloom. I love the contrast of the almost fluffy blossoms against the rough, stapled wood of the electrical pole.

So with that indulgent morning walk to keep me going while confined to the office, I happily get back to writing.

All shots were taken with an iPhone 4s, and ever so slightly tweaked in photoshop.

—————

Writing update: just in case you were wondering about upcoming projects, Spirit Binder (Paranormal Fantasy) is currently with the story editor and cover artist. Expected release date is May 15, 2012. The sequel to Spirit Binder, Time Walker,  (Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy) is currently being drafted, with a fall release in mind. After The Virus should be available in paperback for it’s 1st anniversary in June 2012. YAY!!

Vancouver City – a view from Jericho Beach

I have discovered that the iPhone 4s camera does this interesting thing… when you zoom and shoot over water and underneath an expansive sky (though perhaps the sky/water element isn’t completely necessary, just all my shots have been such) then the resulting picture looks like a watercolour effect has been added. Case in point, the following photograph was taken on our walk along the seawall yesterday (Sunday, Feb 5) in the early afternoon on slightly cloudy day:

I’ve touched up the levels, but haven’t added any effects. Interesting, huh?

Photos from the Seawall

It is a winter wonderland in Vancouver today and, with the forecast predicting pissing rain for the next couple of days, we decided a lunch time walk was in order. The photo opportunities were numerous and these are a few that I grabbed with the iPhone:

It is so strange – such a strange juxtaposition – to see snow on the beach. Beaches, even growing up here on the WetCoast, seem analogous with summer and sunshine specifically.

Here a fountain is almost completely crusted in ice… I imagine the city has the water on so the pipes don’t freeze…

Duck. Duck. Goose? I think this might be a goose – perhaps a domesticated type that was released into the “wilds” of Granville Island? Here he/she is chilling with the ducks. I have sent this photo to my Dad, who, I have no doubt, will be able to identity this water fowl.

Ah, a Great Blue Heron… while you can almost always spot these amazing birds down at Granville Island it is rare to get this close to one… at least for me… here he is eyeballing me pretty closely, but, based on the amount of water fowl we saw near shore on our walk, it must be a pretty good day for fishing so he put up with getting his picture taken.