Ah, at last!

I have a break. An unplanned one that started out a little stressed, but is wrapping up fairly quickly. The nice thing is I will have time to sit and write for a long stretch at last.

Paul has been bugging me to hurry up and finish up the second book in the Jess Barker series, so I can get on to "his" book in the series. Jess, in the meantime, has been harrassing me to hurry up and finish edits on the first book and hit up more agents.

The Scot is patiently waiting in the wings, while I do more research. Merie has been unusually quiet, while Collie has been chattering like crazy of late. I think it has something to do with the weather as she's not happy about the weird weather pattern we've been having. I, however, have been loving it!

Jess and Paul will be appeased. There is a competition coming up that I think fits Jess pretty well. I'll be checking into that tomorrow and see if it's a good fit for Jess' book or not. I'm crossing my fingers that it is.

My Characters Wreak Havoc - Again!

I'm SO glad to know that I'm not alone in having people in my head telling me their stories. But I often wonder if other writers have characters that make them laugh at inappropriate times and buy way too many of something.

For example, The Scot has me buying sewing machines like they're going out of style. I did manage to stop him after my last two acquistions: a gorgeous White treadle machine and an old Kenmore in amazing shape. But now I have to work on getting some of these machines out of my house, and try to get back at least what they cost me to begin with.  I am learning quite a bit about their mechanics though, and how to fix them, so there is a positive side to his "influence.  I mean really, how many of these can you keep around?

Jess had me laughing all morning with comments like: "Just because you're dead doesn't mean you can't be a complete asshat!" and "You're dead. I'm alive. Get over it and let me get some damn sleep!".  And the one that made me really snort today: "Honey, your boobs are all crooked, here let me fix 'em." (She was helping Jolita into a new costume).

Since I've been sick and on cold meds, when I laugh my co-workers stare at me strangely and ask if I'm okay.  What makes it funnier to me is her thick Texas drawl and the way some of her dead groupies whine at her.  Visuals of Jolita in a bad costume don't help any either, especially given that she looks a lot like the ever-gorgeous RuPaul.

Then there's Merie. She gives me images of God (who's a woman by the way) grabbing Satan by his blond curly locks, looking into his baby blue eyes and shaking him like a ragdoll while she chastises him for something evil he had his minions do. Again. And she has a habit of doing so at the most inappropriate times, like when I'm in the middle of some really difficult tech problem or on the phone with a customer or in a meeting with the owners of the company.

And finally, there's Collie. My fey-hybrid who's basically a  supermodel and an environmentalist - of which I am most definitely neither! She rants at me for throwing something out that she feels should be recycled. Actually, she's kind of annoying, but I adore Bambi, her vegan fey-hybrid servant who chastises Collie as much as Collie chastises me.

On the other hand, Collie does give me some really fun craft ideas. She's behind some of my latest additions to my fabric stash, and encourages me in trying new shopping bag designs to put on my etsy shop (www.etsy.com/pyrhaven). Bambi gave me the idea of modifying some apron designs that are really cute, but that makes my fabric stash grow even more.

I wonder if the IRS would understand writing off a fabric stash as a "mental health" issue?

Merie on The Rapture (a.k.a. "The Big Flop")

Okay, so the world didn't end on Saturday at 6pm EST as per Harold Camping's prediction. Which is a real bummer because I was hoping to join the post-rapture looting parties and score me a much coveted 2011 Ford Mustang.

Merie has been chiming in ever since I figured out what the stupidly annoying billboard was about off the local freeway (or Expressway for MidWesterners). She started out with little signs and comments like "oh, you silly humans!". That has since grown to more vocal statements about how silly the male humans can be, especially when they think they're so much smarter than their Creator.

She's had me typing little snippets here and there, even some handwritten stuff - my eyes will hate me later as even I have issues reading my handwriting. I really need to find a good tool for syncing all this stuff up and preferable not in the "cloud" as I don't always have internet access. Just another thing to add to my ever expanding "to do" list. Summer's always have me busy and this one it's going to have me running like spinning dervish. Wish me luck!

Need to Write, Chaos Reigns again

I have a day job, one that I actually enjoy greatly, but it does get in the way of writing sometimes. Today is one of those days. I can't seem to focus and am taking a time out to jot a few things down here just to relieve some of the chaos.

Part of the wandering brain and Jess' fussing at me may be due, in part, to the fact that my beloved pickup truck is currently at the mechanic. It's possible that the transmission or transfer case may need replacement and if the bill is too steep I won't be able to get it fixed. Which has my hubby nudging me, gently, to the possibility it may be time to replace it. I really don't want to do that, I'd rather restore it. Fact is though I need a vehicle, my job is not conducive to alternative modes of transportation.

So Jess is fussing that I should keep it. I've had it a long time, it's got tons of miles on it and still runs really well, and fact is I really do love my truck. Jess has an old truck too, one that was her grandfather's and I understand the weird love for their trucks that truck owners have. Even more so than anyone with a muscle car. Perhaps because our trucks bail us (and often our friends) out when things are tight and a true workhorse is needed. Jess will never let her grandfather's truck go again and it's a big part of what's keeping her sober. Paul saved it once already for her; he may not be so willing if she falls horrible again.

Merie's quieter today while Collie's gotten more vocal about stupid humans and why can't I just grow wings like her and fly around. Yeah, right like that'll work! Elephants can't fly for a reason, and my ever-expanding butt is in the same boat as elephants. Collie's being very unreasonable for some reason that even Bambi can't fathom. She is coming-of-age in faerie terms, so maybe it's a version of faerie PMS kicking in that I haven't yet to "see". Or maybe she's just being pissy because the weather is so weird lately.

Who knows? My characters are what they are, volatile personalities in their own ways. I just wish we had that brain-to-PC-interface done already so I could quickly download all of their chattering into their various story lines.

I still wonder some days if I'm slipping into dementia early.

Time for my own "Coming Out", so come meet Merie

Now that I no longer work where I used to, I can finally step out of my writer's closet and say "I wrote a book!" on my various social networks and tell folks about my characters. Merie would not have been taken well where I used to work, for SO many reasons, but a big part of it being that in Merie's world, God's a woman and none of the world's religions are correct.

If feels great to be able to openly talk about my writing now. Several of the students where I used to work heard about Jess, some from the very beginnings of her presence. Many have laughed with me at the antics of Merie, Jess, and Paul.

So Merie and I are coming out together tonight. Mainly because even thinking about Merie (pronounced more like May-ree) and her world makes me smile.

Merie makes me laugh often - and usually inappropriately - during the workday. You see she gives me mental images of God, who is a woman, grabbing Satan by his curly, blond locks and shaking him like a rag doll all while talking to her Chosen or Satan himself. God has a definite love/hate relationship with Satan and while she could wipe him from existence, she keeps him around...perhaps for stress relief.

The Chosen were created by God to save humankind from itself and are most easily described as Angel/Human hybrids - without the wings. They are the protectors of humankind (which is on version 2.0). Merie is a "baby" in terms of Chosen, at a mere 413 years old, she's Jesus' half sister. And yep, Jesus, a big metro-sexual, is still around and preparing for his second-coming. He makes me laugh too.

God is beautiful, loving, scary and fierce. Picture a carmel-brown colored woman who looks kind of like the Greek's depiction of the Goddess Athena, only really, really TALL. God, is understandably, an awesome engineer and Satan (a.k.a. Stan) looks like an adult version of a cherub, standing somewhere around 6'7".

Every Chosen has special capabilities. Merie's special abilities allow her to manipulate the earth's energy (which makes moving really easy) and she can restore barren earth to agricultural viability. There's a catch though; she can only heal barren or human-damaged earth at God's command. To do otherwise could throw a wrench in God's plans and no Chosen wants to do that.

Merie's being sidetracked to determine how an area in North Dakota has been damaged by an oil leak when it was not in God's Plan. God gave humans free will because it was the right thing to do, but it keeps coming back to bite her in the butt. At least God has a sense of humor about it. And because it's a free will issue, God doesn't know the details of the who/what/when/where/why of it all. Merie keeps running into Satan, who keeps breaking out of his cage, and learns in the process that sometimes Satan doesn't lie and that sometimes, God is not only loving, but really funny too.