I just ran over to the nearest Postal Annex to send a fax. The clerk kept giving me little glances — like she wanted to stare, but was too polite. And I couldn’t figure out why until I remembered that, while I was writing, my hair had felt really hot and annoying, so I’d pulled it back (and I write better with it pulled back, anyway.)

Except this time, my bangs had been annoying me, too. So I’d grabbed a little rubber band, and made a ponytail out of them. So there I was, stubby ponytail in back, and a thin ponytail in front, dangling over my forehead like a flaccid unicorn horn — because I’m just special that way.

*headdesk*

Giant robots. Cleavage. Tea.

(H/T to b.)

Also, if you click through to YouTube, there are quite a few other short animated films by the same studio — almost all of them worth a watch (or two.) Content Warning: Some adult/disturbing themes.

Jigglypuff

Or so my daughter just told me. Here’s why:

And, I can’t believe I just posted a Pokemon clip on my blog. But I’ll admit I laughed out loud when I saw the pink puffball bitchslap.

…I don’t even know what the world is coming to.

I kind of can’t help myself. But even if I could, I probably would look in, anyway, because I’m always fascinated by the inside of other people’s houses … even when this habit has led to my seeing certain scenes that I’d rather not have seen, including one in my in-laws’ neighbors’ bedroom that left me incapable of humping my husband for a month. And if you’ve ever seen my husband with his shirt off,* you would know that was a nasty, nasty scene, indeed.

Also, if you are reading a book, I will contort my body and my eyeballs any way possible to see the title and author. That isn’t me being nosy, I swear — it’s part of my job.

–
*I really hope that you haven’t.

So, on Twitter, Maili said: The crucial question is where about on the cover will the little airship be placed?

I’m guessing it will be in the background. As long as it’s not here –

As long as it's not here, it's all good.

– it’s all good.

…the airships in the Iron Seas world don’t look like that, anyway. (Of course, neither do the smokestacks and the jacket, but as long as there are gears and mantitty to say STEAMPUNK ROMANCE, I’m A-OK.)

…and to relate this post to romance novels, that metaphorically resembles the decision that an emotionally stunted hero must make at the book’s climax. It also explains why dogs like to hump my leg — they are channeling their inner stunted alpha.

I think that makes me a doormat by default, though.

***

Also, I’m starting to plan the website update in preparation for the new steampunk series. Is there anything on this site that you’d like to see that isn’t currently available? Anything about the current site that you wish wasn’t there, or that you wish was done differently?

I think I will call this color: Flickering Candle on a Winter’s Day.

Flickering Candle on a Winter's Day MB#2874

(No, I didn’t cut my hair. I just pulled it back really tightly,  so that I wouldn’t see it out of the corner of my eye and think my house was on fire.)

Also, that orange note in the background is my plotting note for Demon Blood, Chapter 21. It says: DEACON REALIZES WHAT AN ASS HE IS.

This may seem like a weird thing to blog about, but it sent me into a crazy happy dance. All of the anthologies I’ve been in easily, easily outsell my single-author, full-length titles. So seeing that one of the single titles has generated enough interest (positive or negative, it’s all good to me, because it meant that someone read the book) and that more readers have made an effort to review it even though fewer readers actually own the book as do the anthologies…well, it just feels like some kind of milestone*.

::happy dance::

—–

*Probably because Amazon is so big and visible — because there are tons of other reviews elsewhere. I just don’t obsessively check my numbers everywhere, so this was a bit more in-my-face. Yay for obsessive Amazon ranking-checking!  :-D

Congratulations, Steph! If you will contact me with the e-mail address that you want me to send the book to, I’ll send it over ASAP.

Also! This time, I’m over LB’s blog, creating motivational posters out of Glamour Shots … and other shots. LB is giving away a copy of DEMON FORGED to one lucky commenter, so stop by!

And it’s DEMON MOON day at VampFanGirl’s Guardian extravaganza!